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The Ethical Teaching
OF Jesus

The Ethical Teachin^g
OF Jesus

BY

CHARLES AUGUSTUS BRIGGS, D.D., D.Litt.
II I
Professor of Theological Encyclopaedia and Symbolics
The Union Theological Seminary, Ne-w Yorh

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1904

COPYKIGHT 1904
By CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

Published September, 1904

PHESS Of
The new Era Printing Company
Lancaster. Pa.

TO

MORRIS K. JESUP, LL.D.

THIS BOOK

IS DEDICATED

IN ADMIRATION AND LOYE

PREFACE.

This book originated from a course of lectures,
which were prepared for the students of the Union
Theological Seminary, in the fulfilment of my duty
as Professor of Biblical Theology. The field of Bib
lical Theology may be divided into three divisions.
Biblical Religion, Biblical Faith, and Biblical Ethics
(see General Introduction to the Study of Holy
Scripture pp. 604 sq). After the completion of the
courses on Biblical Eeligion and Biblical Faith I
undertook an inductive study of Biblical Ethics.
This I found to be a comparatively unexplored field ;
for most scholars have devoted their attention to the
central theme, the Biblical Faith: many to the Re
ligion of the Old Testament; but few to the Ethics,
either of the Old Testament, or the New Testament ;
and these few have for the most part considered the
subject on the basis of selected passages for homi
letical or practical purposes from the point of view
of the ethical Philosophy, which they held. My atten
tion was first given to the ethics of the Old Testa
ment, after which I made a complete inductive study
of the Ethics of Jesus. This study was revised sev
eral times as the lectures were repeated to different
classes. Two additional revisions have been made since, in
vii

vm PREFACE.
the preparation of this volume ; the first based on the
separation of the material of each of the four Gospels
by itself; the second on the basis of my more recent
views as to the development of the life and teaching
of Jesus as set forth in the volume entitled: New
Light on the Life of Jesus.
The greater portion of the Ethical Teaching of
Jesus was given by him in the form of Hebrew Wis
dom, in accordance with the method of the rabbis and
wise men of his people. This method was poetic in
form, with measured lines and occasionally strophical
organization. The Gospels which recorded this
Teaching were, as I think, originally written in the
Hebrew language. When these were translated into
Greek and incorporated in the canonical Gospels, the
Hebrew form was to some extent obscured by con
densation, by explanatory additions, and by the
neglect of the parallelisms of thought and statement.
But one familiar with the form and methods of
Hebrew Wisdom, does not find it difficult to discern
the original form, in all essential particulars, under
lying the several versions in the Gospels. This vol
ume undertakes to give these sayings of Jesus in
their original forms. These doubtless vary in some
respects from Jesus' exact sayings, but not in any
very important degree. It has been impracticable
in most cases to give the evidence for these originals
without making the volume too technical, and so de
feating the purpose I have in view, to set forth plainly
the ethical Teaching of Jesus. I have however given

PREFACE. IX
the evidence in a sufficient number of cases to exhibit
the processes by which I arrived at the results.
This inductive study of the ethical Teaching of
Jesus brought a great surprise to me. Ethical opin
ions which I had held for the greater portion of my
life vanished when I saw clearly what Jesus himself
taught. His teaching as to Holy Love came upon me
like a new revelation from God. It gave for the first
time, unity to his teachings, and cleared up the diffi
culties, apparently irreconcilable before, which en
veloped his sayings in the Sermon on the Mount.
Furthermore Jesus' teaching as to the liberty of
Love enables us to reconcile Jesus with his most able
and brilliant disciple St. Paul, whose principle of the
liberty of Faith has been made so much of in modem
times ; but whose principle of the liberty of Love has
been so commonly overlooked. (See I Cor. XIII.)
It also enables us to reconcile the principle and prac
tice of Holy Love in the primitive Church, with the
teachings of Jesus and his apostles. (See article on
Sanctification by Love, the Churchman, May, 1903 ;
and article on Catholic, the name and the thing. The
American Journal of Theology, July, 1903.)
Jesus' teaching as to holy Love, I did not under
stand until a few years ago ; and not to the full extent
that is set forth in this book, until I made my final re
vision of the subject. I cannot therefore anticipate
that these teachings will at once be accepted by all
my readers. Many of them doubtless have prej
udices to overcome due to their previous ethical

X PREFACE.
training and long-cherished opinions. However the
interpretations of the Ethics of Jesus, as given in
this book, are not novel. They are in fact in all
essential particulars, in harmony with the interpre
tations of the Fathers of the Christian Church, and
with the general opinion of the Christian World for
the greater part of its history. I am fully convinced
that Jesus' principle of voluntary love is the great
transforming principle of Christianity, the material
principle of sanctification, and the principle specially
adapted to this modern ethical period of the world.
When it once lays hold of Christian people, as it
surely will ere long, the Christian Church will enter
into a new and more fruitful age.

CONTENTS. Pagh.
I. The Sources of the Teaching op Jesus. . . 1
II. The Form and Method of the Teaching
OF Jesus  14
III. The Will of the Father  34
IV. The Word of Jesus  47
V. The Kingdom op God  59
VI. Repentance and Faith  68
VII. The Two Wats  82
VIII. Godlike Love  97
IX. Christlike Love  114
X. Casuistry  127
XI. The Law  143
XII. Righteousness  158
XIII. Pharisaism  167
XIV. Sin and Judgment  188
XV. Service and Reward  207
XVI. Counsels of Perfection  224
XVII. Counting the Cost  242
XVIII. The Church and Society  259
Index  281

THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.

The Sources op the Teaching op Jesus.
The Teaching of Jesus is given chiefly in the four
Gospels. But we may also find specimens in the
Book of Acts, the Epistles,^ and early Christian writ
ings f and also in the recently discovered fragments
of the Logia of Jesus.^
The four Gospels give the Teaching of Jesus in
varied proportions and in varied forms. They are
not independent sources, and, in their present form,
none of them are primary. They are all secondary
to earlier gospels which underlie them and which they
used as sources.
1. The Gospel of Mark is nearest to its original.
It was probably written in the Hebrew language for
Jewish Christians. It was certainly written under
the influence of St. Peter, as early Christian tradition
coming from the second Christian century reports.
It was subsequently translated into Greek for the use
of the Eoman Christians in general; its Hebraisms
1 Acts XX. 35; 1 Cor. vii. 10-11.
2 Resch, Aussercanonische Paralleltexte zu den Eva-ngelien, 1893-
1896. "Sayings of Our Lord, discovered and edited by R. P. Grenfell and
A. S. Hunt, 1897.
1 1

2 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
and Aramaisms were explained for their benefit ; and
sundry additions were made from other sources of in
formation. It is probable that the Gospel was a first
volume, and that it was continued in a second volume
giving the narrative of the Jerusalem Church, which
is the chief source of the early chapters of the Book
of Acts ; and that the story of the Eesurrection was
given in the second narrative.^ Later this story
was condensed and added to the text of the Gospel by
another hand to give it a better ending when separ
ated from its second part.
The Gospel of Mark is one of the sources of the
Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Whether it was used
by the author of the Gospel of John is disputed,
though most critics hold that opinion. The Teaching
given in this Gospel is limited in amount. It aimed
to give chiefly facts and events in the ministry of
Jesus that would show that he was the Son of God.
2. The Gospel of Matthew was not written by the
apostle Matthew; but it used two earlier gospels,
whose material it arranged chiefly in topical order.
It depends on the Gospel of Mark for the facts and
events of the ministry of Jesus. But it also uses a
gospel, written by St. Matthew the apostle, under
the title of Logia, in the Hebrew language, according
to the testimony of Papias of the early second cen-
tury.2 rjijjg material derived from this Logia of St.
' New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 112 sq.
2 Eusebius' Church History, translated and edited by A. C. Mc-
Giffert, 1890, pp. 170-173.

SOURCES OF TEACHING OF JESUS. -3
Matthew constitutes its most characteristic feature.
It was not unnatural therefore that the Gospel of
Matthew should take the name and authority of its
chief source, especially after that source had been
long lost. It is in dispute among scholars whether
the original Logia of St. Matthew contained inci
dents as well as teaching, and also as to the extent
of the teaching. The view that I have long advo
cated^ and still maintain is that the Logia of St.
Matthew contained incidents, only to a very limited
extent, as introductory to sayings of Jesus. The
Logia consisted essentially of the Teaching of Jesus.
But even this was limited to that teaching which was
in the form of Hebrew Wisdom, such as that which
this Gospel gives in three groups— (a) The Sermon
on the Mount, (6) the Commission of the Twelve, (c)
the Woes upon the Pharisees. It did not contain
the parables, with the exception of a few in the form
of Hebrew Wisdom, which may be called germs of
parables, in the gnomic form. It did not contain the
eschatological discourse. It did not contain con
versations with the disciples or the Pharisees, ex
cept so far as these assumed the forms of Hebrew
Wisdom. Some of this material derived from the
Logia is also found in the Gospel of Mark, and often
in this case it appears twice in Matthew and Luke,
once in correspondence with Mark and again as de
rived from the Logia.
1 See New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 128 sq.

4 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
The question therefore arises whether the Gospel
of Mark used the Logia^ or whether it derived these
sayings of Jesus from the teaching of St. Peter. The
former is favoured,— (1) by the fact that these say
ings in Mark are attached to incidents as in Luke,
and (2) they are often introduced by the formula—
Jesus said. The latter of these features appears in
the recently discovered collection of the logia of
Jesus. Therefore it would seem that the Gospel of
Mark cites the Logia more closely than the other Gos
pels. The difficulty with this supposition is, that it
is hard to explain why this Gospel uses so few of
these sayings of the Logia, if the author had them
all in written form before him. It is also difficult
to explain the place of some of them. For it may be
shown that they are not always given in their original
place, but sometimes in a topical place. On the
whole, therefore, it is most probable that the original
Mark did not use the Logia of St. Matthew. The
most of the logia given by it were appended for
topical reasons to the Greek translation. The few
remaining ones are closely attached to narratives,
and came from the memory of St. Peter.
The Gospel of Matthew also used for its story of
the infancy of Jesus a poetic Hebrew source. The
parables were probably derived from an oral source
and grouped : {a) The parables of the kingdom at the
seaside, (&) the parables of the last journey to Jeru-
1 The Vse of the Logia of Matthew in the Gospel of Mark in
Journal of BibUcal Literature and Exegesis, 1904.

SOURCES OF TEACHING OF JESUS. &
salem, (c) the parables of the kingdom, attached to
the conflict with the Pharisees in Passion week ; (4)
the parables attached to the eschatological discourse.
The story of the Eesurrection was probably derived
from the Jerusalem source of Acts.^ The Logia of
St. Matthew was written in the Hebrew language
and gave the Wisdom of Jesus for the use of Jewish
Christians of Palestine and the Eastern Dispersion.
It was written some time before the destruction of
Jerusalem, either in Jerusalem, Galilee, or Perea.
In the present Gospel of Matthew all its sources were
translated from Hebrew into Greek for a wider use
especially in Syria.
3. The Gospel of Luke, as its author tells us, was
composed by the use of several sources, oral as well
as written.^ St. Luke the beloved physician,^ the
disciple of St. Paul, was undoubtedly the author of
the Gospel and probably also of the Book of Acts.
His chief source for both was Mark's Gospel and
story of the Church of Jerusalem. But he also uses
the Logia of the apostle Matthew. He uses the
Logia however differently from its use in the Gospel
of Matthew. He gives the sayings of Jesus, which
Matthew groups topically, chiefly in connection with
incidents, a large proportion of which latter are
unknown to Matthew and Mark. Luke gives the ma
terial derived from Mark, and attaches some of the

^New Light on thc Life of Jesus, p. 114.
2 Lk. i. 1-4.
a Col. iv. 14.

6 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
logia of Matthew to that material. Then he gives
a number of incidents from another source to which
he attaches many other of the logia.
These logia, as we know, were derived from the
Logia of the apostle Matthew, and it is probable that
Luke adheres closer to the original in his arrange
ment than our Gospel of Matthew does. The same
must be said of several of the parables, which Luke
gives here, that Matthew attaches to groups. These
parables, while substantially the same as those of
Matthew, are yet so different in form and language
that one cannot think of a written source. This sec
tion of Luke also contains a large number of parables
of a different type altogether from those given in
Mark and Matthew. It is possible that these were
derived from a written source, but not probable. If
there was a written source for the Perean ministry
of this section of Luke, it is difficult to explain the
few incidents and the large amount of teaching. It
seems most probable that, in this section, Luke fol
lowed, in the main, the Logia of Matthew, in his
arrangement of the material, and gave the other ma
terial derived from oral testimony as best he could,
in connection with these logia. It is possible that he
derived this information from Thomas or Matthew,
or both, who were probably with Jesus during the
Perean ministry.^
The gospel of the infancy of Jesus was derived
from two Hebrew poetical sources. The story of
' New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 76 sq.

SOURCES OF TEACHING OF JESUS. "
Luke is chiefly composed of prose seams to these
poetic extracts.^ It is altogether probable that Luke
made a journey from Eome to Palestine to prepare
for his Gospel and the Book of Acts, and it may be
that there was a Syrian as well as a Eoman edition,
with the variants which appear in the Oriental and
Westem texts.^ It is quite certain that St. Luke did
not use the present Gospel of Matthew, and it is
probable that some of the material of the present
Gospel of Mark was unknown to him. He seems to
have used the Greek Mark of the second hand, but not
the final Mark. These three Gospels are named the
Synoptic Gospels over against the Fourth Gospel
which is of a different character.
The Gospel of Mark, having been used by the two
others, its presentation of the Teaching of Jesus is
of primary importance. The others give it with cer
tain modifications which are either condensations or
explanatory amplifications.
The Logia of St. Matthew underlies the three Gos
pels, therefore the originals of the words of Jesus
can be determined only by the use of the principles
of Textual Criticism to determine the parent of two,
three, or more variant readings. So far as the
Teaching of Jesus is peculiar to one of these Gospels
we must accept that teaching as it is given, except so
far as we may be guided by the form and method of
Jesus, and the method of use of the original in other

1 New Light o-n the Life of Jesus, pp. 159 sq.
s Blass, Philology of the Gospels, 1898, pp. 90 sq.

8 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
passages of that Gospel, to find the original under
lying that use.
4. The Fourth Gospel bears the name of John and
it is attached traditionally to the apostle John, al
though the name of a presbyter John is mixed with
that of the apostle in early Christian tradition, and
some moderns attribute to him the Fourth Gospel.
The Fourth Gospel has little to say of the Galilean
ministry— the theme of Mark, and of the Gospel of
Matthew which depends upon it. It agrees with
Luke. in recognizing a Perean ministry, although it
abstains from giving material relating to it. The
ministry of Jesus, according to the Fourth Gospel,
was chiefly in Jerusalem. The author abstains from
giving the ministry in Galilee and Perea for certain
reasons. What were these reasons 1 Was it because
he knew of the synoptic Gospels and did not care to
narrate what they had given so well I Was the Fourth
Gospel supplementary as ancient tradition has it?
Was it because the author had a special interest in
the Jerusalem ministry and a special reason there
fore to tell of it, and did he regard the other ministry
as comparatively unimportant?
There are few events common to the Fourth Gos
pel and the Synoptists except the introductory minis
try of the Baptist, the Healing of the nobleman's son
in Galilee, the Feeding of the multitudes, and the
story of the Passion ; and in all these there is addi
tional material to that given in the Synoptists. May
we trace the hand of a supplementer here also ? The

SOURCES OF TEACHING OF JESUS. 9
events of the ministry prior to the Passion are few ;
the chief material is teaching.
When we examine these incidents, which are the
basis of the teaching, we do not find such a dispro
portionate presentation of the ministry in Jerusalem
as first appears. If one starts with the presupposi
tion, based upon St. Mark's Gospel, that the Galilean
ministry was the principal ministry of Jesus, then
the Gospel of John gives disproportionate space to
the ministry in Jerusalem. But if on the other hand
we take the statements of the four Gospels as essen
tially historical ; that there were ministries in Galilee,
Perea, Jerusalem and Samaria,— then in fact it is
just the Gospel of John which is most comprehensive
in its statements, for it alone gives important events
and teaching in all these parts of the Holy Land.
And it is a priori most probable that the most im
portant events and teaching would be in Jerusalem,
leading on by inevitable development to the crisis in
Jerusalem. The Gospel of John gives an earlier
ministry in Galilee than the Synoptists, mentions the
chief miracle of the second ministry in Galilee, and
the crisis in Galilee connected with the Feeding of
the Multitudes and Jesus ' recognition as Messiah by
St. Peter and the Twelve. Four miracles are men
tioned in Galilee to three in Jerusalem. Indeed the
proportions of John are more comprehensive than
those of any of the Synoptists, even Luke. When
now we examine the teaching of the Fourth Gospel,
it is very different in form and context. The Wis-

10 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
dom of Jesus, as derived from the Logia, is only
given in a few specimens. There are no real para
bles but instead of them a few beautiful allegories.
The chief feature of the instruction that is common
to the Synoptists, is that given especially by Mark-
conversations with the disciples and the Pharisees,
and even these are transformed.
This omission of the wisdom of Jesus and his
parables must have had a reason. This reason could
hardly have been that of a supplementer, else he
would have given other specimens of Jesus' wisdom
and parables than those given by the Synoptists. But
in fact he does not,— he omits this kind of teaching
and limits himself to another kind. This was evi
dently intentional,— it was to concentrate the atten
tion upon that kind of teaching which revealed most
clearly the Messiahship and divine Sonship of Jesus.
It was not the teaching of the people, but the higher
teaching of his chosen disciples, and the challenge of
the teachers of Israel to accept him as the Messiah.
This kind of teaching, in the very nature of the case,
could not come in the Galilean ministry except at its
close. It must appear rather in the Jerusalem min
istry. And it was for this didactic purpose that the
story of the Jerusalem ministry was so much more
important to this evangelist than the others. If, as
we have elsewhere suggested, St. John and St.
James,^ alone of the Twelve, accompanied Jesus dur
ing the greater part of this Jerusalem ministry, and
1 New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 42 sq.

SOURCES OF TEACHING OF JESUS. H
if Jerusalem was the region of their missionary work
ing,— then there was a special reason also for their
interest in the Jerusalem ministry, and a special
reason why St. John should tell of it. Inevitably
the Galilean ministry which preceded it would not
appear so important, and would be treated in the
summary manner in which it is treated in the Fourth
Gospel. When we examine this Gospel closely and compare
the few incidents common to it and the Synoptists, it
is evident that these incidents are not given in the
Fourth Gospel in chronological order. A criticism
of the discourses yields the same result. The Fourth
Gospel is dominated by a topical interest, still more
than the first Gospel; and a later dogmatic purpose
is still more evident.
If the materials of incident and discourse have
been arranged by the present author for topical and
dogmatic reasons, and critics can detect the seams
and irregularities, it is evident that the material came
from the author's sources and not from himself. It
is possible that some of this material came from the
Synoptists ; but it is evident that the most of it came
from an independent source. It is thus probable
that the Fourth Gospel was named the Gospel of
John because a gospel of the apostle underlies it,
just as the Logia of the apostle Matthew underlies
the Gospel of Matthew.
The question now arises whether this material was
the oral teaching of the apostle John, as the oral teach-

12 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
ing of the apostle Peter underlies Mark ; or whether
there was a written gospel of St. John underlying
John as a written Logia of St. Matthew underlies the
Gospel of Matthew. Wendt favours the former sup
position.^ The latter seems to me more probable. It
is possible to suppose that the apostle in his teach
ing told of certain events in the ministry of Jesus,
and gave Jesus ' teaching at different times, without
regard to chronological arrangement, or even topical
arrangement, except so far as it may have suited his
purpose at the time. But the difficulty with this sup
position is that the present arrangement of the ma
terial cannot be explained in that way. As Wendt
shows in several instances, which may be largely
increased, there has been a change from an original
and better order. These changes imply a written
original where the material was in a more natural
order. Were these changes intentional or uninten
tional? The latter supposition may explain a few
of these cases. But the greater number of them can
only be explained by the intention of the author to
give them an order more in accordance with his dog
matic purpose.
A criticism of the material shows that there
have been two hands, and in some cases three,
at work upon this Gospel. There are differences
of language, style, historical situation and con
ception between these writers. The original John
was doubtless written in the Hebrew language. That
1 Das Johannesevangelium, 1900, s. 217 sq.

SOURCES OF TEACHING OF JESUS. 13
explains best the Hebraisms of this Gospel. It was
translated, and its material was rearranged and re-
composed, for dogmatic purposes, by the second
author, who was doubtless a pupil of the great
apostle. In the study of the teaching of Jesus in the Fourth
Gospel we must first distinguish between that which
came from the original gospel, and the dogmatic
amplification of the author of the present Gospel.
We must then endeavor to find the original thought,
whieh underlies the material derived from the origi
nal gospel, by seeking the Hebrew thought which
has been not only translated, but also transformed
by the writer. Great help in this is given so soon as
the material is readjusted to its chronological order
in harmony with the Synoptic Gospels. This proc
ess is not so difficult or uncertain in its results as
some may think. For, as we shall show in our next
chapter, the form and method of the Teaching of
Jesus may be accurately defined. The essentials of
His teaching may be clearly stated. The order of
development in his teaching may be seen, at least in
some measure. And we may say, with confidence,
that the additions of the evangelists, their condensa
tions, amplifications, and variations, are normal and
correct. They do not change the substance, but only
the forms and relations of the Teaching of Jesus.

II.
The Form and Method op the Teaching op Jesus.
The Teaching of Jesus as it appears in the four
Gospels and in early Christian Literature, has certain
forms and methods which it is necessary to consider
before we can understand its substance. These
forms and methods were those of his own time, used
by the religious teachers among the Jews. Jesus
appears as a rabbi among rabbis. The two chief
methods of teaching in the time of Jesus were distin
guished as Halacha and Haggada.^ The Halacha was
exposition and application of the Law, usually in the
form of dialogue between the master and his pupils,
with questions and answer. This method and form
appear in the Mishna and the Beraitha and also in
later strata of the Talmuds. It was also essentially
the method of Socrates, the prince of the philosophers
of Greece. The Haggada was the more popular
method, embracing the illustrative teaching of his
toric fiction as well as stories of the imagination, both
in a prose form; and similes, allegories, enigmas,
and shrewd sayings, in the poetic forms of Hebrew
Wisdom. The earliest tract of the Mishna, the Say
ings of the Fathers, contains fine specimens of the
latter, which had however more ample representation
1 General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture, pp. 430 sq.,
437 sq. 14

FORM AND METHOD. 15
in the apocryphal Wisdom of Sirach, and Wisdom
of Solomon, and in the canonical Proverbs, Job and
Ecclesiastes. The former appears in the Old Testa
ment in the stories of Euth, Jonah, Esther, and
Daniel; and in the Apocrypha, in Tobit, IV Macca
bees, Judith, and in the Greek additions to Daniel,
Esther and Ezra. It also appears in many beautiful
stories in the Talmud and early Jewish Litera
ture. Jesus, in his instruction, uses all these methods
and all these forms. In all the Gospels he appears as
rabbi, teacher and master. He is compared with
other rabbis of the people. The distinctive feature
in his teaching was not in form and method, but in
this one thing. He spake with authority. Instead
of appealing to Eabbinical authorities, he did not
hesitate to oppose those authorities and the authority
of the traditional Law.^ Thus he came into conflict
with the rabbis of his time, and one of the most char
acteristic features of his life was his continual dis
cussions with them.
The most striking feature of the Teaching of
Jesus, and that which has received the most consid
eration, is his parables.
I. The parables of Jesus are the choicest speci
mens of parabolic teaching in the world 's literature.
They are easily superior to all that Jewish literature
contains, in the form and method in which they are
told. These parables are of two kinds.
iMt. V. 21-48; Mk. i. 21-28.

16 SOURCES OF TEACHING OF JESUS.
(A) The parables of the Kingdom. Some of
these are given by Mark on different occasions. In
this Luke agrees with Mark. But Matthew gathers
them in four groups. (L) By the Sea.^
(1) The Sower.
(2) The Tares.
(3) The Mustard-seed.
(4) The Leaven.
(5) The Hidden Treasure.
(6) The Pearl of Great Price.
(7) The Drag-net.
(8) The Householder.
Only one of these, that of the Sower, is given by
Luke here.^ Mark gives also the parable of the Mus
tard-seed,* which is used by Luke with the parable
of the Leaven in connection with the Perean minis
try.* Mark^ also gives in this connection one pecu
liar to himself: the parable of the Seed Growing
Secretly. It is probable that the parable of the Sower
was the only one spoken by Jesus on this occasion.
The others were added by the evangelists here for
topical reasons. The parable of the Sower is ex
plained by Jesus, in Mark, followed by Matthew and
Luke, as having the purpose of concealing a mystery,
to be revealed only to the initiated. "Unto you is

'- Mt. xiii. 1-53. 2 Lk. viii. 4-15.
» Mk. iv. 1-20, 30-32. - Lk. xiii. 18-19, 20-21.
6 Mk. iv. 26-29.

FORM AND METHOD. 17
given the mystery of the Kingdom of God; but unto
them that are without, all things are done in par
ables: that seeing they may see, and not perceive;
and hearing they may hear, and not understand."^
These parables all belong to the class of enigmas;
they need a clue, a key which Jesus gave to his dis
ciples, but to no others. This is true of all the par
ables of the kingdom, for the reason that the king
dom was for the most part future and even eschato
logical. Three other groups are given in Matthew.
(II.) On the last Journey to Jerusalem.
(1) The parable germ of the lost Sheep.^
(2) The unmerciful Servant.^
(3) The Labourers in the vineyard.*
Two of these are peculiar to Matthew and are par
ables of the kingdom. The parable germ is of a dif
ferent character, and as it is given more completely
in Luke,® we shall consider it there.
(III.) Parables of Warning in Passion-week.
(1) The Two Sons.«
(2) The Wicked Husbandmen.'^
(3) The Marriage Feast.*
Only one of these, the Wicked Husbandmen, com
mon to the three Synoptists, really belongs here."
iMk. iv. 11-22; Mt. xiii. 11-13; Lk. viii. 10.
2Mt. xviii. 12-14. ' Mt. xviii. 23-3a.
: Mt. XX. 1-16. 5 Lk. xv. 4-7.
6 Mt. xxi. 28-32. ' Mt. xxi. 33-41.
• Mt. x.xii. 1-14. 'Mk. xii. 1-9; Lk. xx. 9-16.
2

18 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
The parable of the Two Sons is peculiar to Matthew;
that of the Marriage Feast is given by Luke else
where.^ (IV.) Parables attached to the Eschatological
Discourse.
(1) The Fig-tree.2
(2) The Unwatchful Householder.^
(3) The Two Servants."
(4) The Virgins.'
(5) The Talents.^
Only one of these, that of the Fig-tree, belongs here
according to the three evangelists,'' the other four are
given by Luke at an earlier date, the last two in
somewhat different forms.®
(B) Luke gives four parables, which it derives
from Mark ; the Sower, the Mustard-seed, the Wicked
Husbandmen, and the Fig-tree. These are in Mat
thew also. Seven it has in common with Matthew,
though different in form and detail, namely— the
Leaven, the Lost Sheep, the Unwatchful Servant, the
Two Servants, the Great Supper, the Pounds, the
Virgins. Thirteen of its parables are not in the
other Gospels.

' Lk. xiv. 15-24. a Mt. xxiv. 32-3S.
3 Mt. xxiv. 43-44. « Mt. xxiv. 45-51.
5Mt. xxv. 1-11. 6Mt. xxv. 14-30.
'Mk. xiii. 28-29; Lk. xxi. 29-31.
8Lk. xii. 39-40, 42-46, 35-38; xix 11-28.

FORM AND METHOD. 19
(I.) In the GalileoM Ministry.
(1) The two Debtors.i
(II.) In the Perean Ministry.
(2) The Good Samaritan.^
(3) The Friend at Midnight.^'
(4) The Eich Fool.*
(5) The Chief Seats at Feasts.'
(6) The Feast for the Poor.«
(7) The Lost Coin.^
(8) The Prodigal Son.®
(9) The Wise Servant.''
(10) Dives and Lazarus.^ "^
(11) The Unprofitable Servant."
(12) The Unjust Judge.i2
(13) The Pharisee and Publican.^*
These are of an entirely different character from
the parables of the kingdom. They are not enig
matical; but are illustrative. They are parables of
divine love and salvation. Jesus either applies them
himself, or lets those who hear them, apply them
themselves. These, with one exception, belong to
the Perean ministry and represent a later stage of
instruction than those given by the sea in the Gali-

'i Lk. vii. 41-42. 2 Lk. x. 30-37.
3 Lk. xi. 5-8. = Lk. xii. 13-21.
5 Lk. xiv. 7-11. ¦ Lk. xiv. 12-14.
'Lk. XV. 8-10. 'Lk. xv. 11-32.
9Lk. xvi. 1-8. "Lk. xvi. 19-31.
" Lk. xvii. 7-10. " Lk. xviii. 1-8.
"Lk. xviii. 9-14.

20 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
lean ministry. Parables of the kingdom come again
in Passion-week and on the last journey to Jeru
salem, because the situation made it necessary that
the teaching of Jesus should be eschatological.
(C) The Gospel of John contains no parables
such as we have seen in the two previous groups.
But it incidentally refers to parabolic teaching.^ It
also gives the allegories of the Good Shepherd,^ and
of the Vine,* which in some respects resemble par
ables. It is probable that these have been trans
formed by the author, so that their original Jewish
parabolic form has been abandoned for the form of
the allegory of Greek Literature.*
In all this kind of instruction of Jesus, it is neces
sary to consider the special form and method in order
to understand it. The author of the Fourth Gospel
has indeed pointed the way for us. We must trans
late the parabolic form into the forms of Western
and modern thought in order to understand the sub
stance of the teaching.
II. The greater part of the Teaching of Jesus, as
it appears in Matthew and Luke, is in the gnomic
form of Hebrew Wisdom. This for the most part
was derived by these Gospels from the Logia of the
apostle Matthew. Some few of the logia are given
in the present Mark ; and still fewer in the Gospel of
1 Jn. X. 6. 2 Jn. X. 1-21. » Jn. xv. 1-8.
*It should also be said that "parable" in the Greek word used,
TrapapoXr/, stands for the Hebrew Swn, and comprehends in the Gos
pels a considerable number of logia in the form of emblems, or com
parisons, as well as those which are usually regarded as parables.

FORM AND METHOD. 21
John. All of these came from a Hebrew original,
arranged in the parallelisms of Hebrew poetry, dis
tich, tristich, tetrastich, pentastich, octastich, nono-
stich, decastich; and they have the measures of
Hebrew poetry, trimeters, tetrameters, pentameters
and hexameters.^ They sometimes have strophical
organization, but none of them is of any great length.
All of the Gospels disregard more or less the poetic
structure. The logia are sometimes condensed, and
sometimes enlarged by explanatory statements; but
it is quite easy to find their original form, and so get
the very words of Jesus in the form in which he
uttered them. Seldom do the Synoptic Gospels do
more than translate their originals into correspond
ing words in Greek. Fortunately we have several of
these logia in the Fourth Gospel which we may com
pare with their originals in the Synoptists, and so
discern the author's method of dealing with them.
(1) "For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet
hath no honour in his own country."^ This is
attached to the story of the going through Samaria
to Galilee. But it is followed by the statement: "So
when he came into Galilee; the Galileans received
him, having seen all the things that he did in Jeru
salem at the Feast; for they also went unto the
Feast." But this last verse is contradictory to the
previous one, if they belonged together, the first
implying an impending rejection in Galilee, when
1 General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture, pp. 385 sq.
2 Jn. iv. 43-45.

22 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
the last asserts his acceptance by the Galileans. This
verse is indeed preparatory to the story of the heal
ing of the nobleman's son on the second journey to
Galilee; and it represents a different situation alto
gether from the narrative which closes with v. 44.
There is a clear evidence of displacement of the origi
nal order. The story of the Samaritan journey was
really subsequent to the narratives beginning with
V. 45. The Synoptic Gospels give this Logion with
the rejection at Nazareth.
"A prophet is not without honour, save in his own
country, and among his own Mn, and in his own
house."^ "A prophet is not without honour, save in his' own
country, and in his own house."^
"No prophet is acceptable in his own country."^
It is evident that Luke is nearer to the original
logion than Matthew and Mark, which enlarge the
original— "w his own country." This alone is com
mon to them all, and was sufficient. Luke alone gives
us the similar saying: "Physician, heal thyself,"
which, as we would infer, contains the original paral
lel member of the distich. Fortunately the recently
discovered collection of logia of Jesus* gives us a
couplet which guides to the original, which was prob
ably as follows:
"A prophet hath no honour in his oivn country.
A physician doth not worh cures with them that know him."

; Mle. vi. 4. 2 Mt. xiii. 57. » Lk. iv. 23-24.
« Sayings of our Lord, Grenfell and Hunt, p. 14.

FORM AND METHOD. 23
In this case the Gospel of John is nearest to the
original logion. There can be no doubt that the re
jection at Nazareth was the occasion of the utterance.
We may safely say that the journey through Samaria
immediately preceded that rejection in the original
Gospel of St. John.^ The use of this logion seems
to imply that the story of that rejection was in the
original, and that it was omitted by the second author
of the Fourth Gospel.
(2) "He that loveth his life loseth it; and he that
hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life
eternal."^ This same logion is given in the Synoptists.* The
two uses in Matthew and Luke are due to the fact
that one of these is derived from Mark in connection
with the story of Jesus ' prediction of his impending
death and resurrection, at the close of the Galilean
ministry. The other uses were derived from the
Logia of St. Matthew, and were attached by Matthew
to the Commission of the Twelve, but by Luke to the
early eschatological discourse on the last journey to
Jerusalem. The Gospel of John gives the logion in
the last days of Passion-week in Jerusalem itself.
It is evident that it belongs somewhere in the last
week of Jesus ' life. The time of Luke 's eschatolog
ical discourse is near to the time of Mark's predic
tion of the death and resurrection. It is possible
' New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 45-46, 151-152.
2 Jn. xii. 25.
3 Mt. X. 39, xvi. 25; Mk. viii. 35; Lk. ix. 24, xvii. 33.

24 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
that they are coincident in time. The connection of
Mark is most probable in itself. The logion was
given in its present place in John because of the
reference to the death of Jesus which precedes it.
When the version of John is compared with those of
the Synoptists, it is evident that, while the antithe
tical parallelism has been preserved, in other re
spects the language of the original has been entirely
transformed. It is possible that this was due not to
the original gospel of St. John, but to the author of
the present Gospel. The original was doubtless as
follows :
" Whoso findeth his life shall lose it;
But whoso loseth his life shall find it."^
(3) "A servant is not greater than his lord;
Neither is one that is sent greater than he that sent him." '
"He thai receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me;
And he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me."'
Both of these are attached by Matthew to the Com
mission of the Twelve.* Luke gives the former in
connection with its version of the Sermon on the
Mount,' the latter in connection with the Commission
of the Seventy.® These logia seem out of place, and
indeed to be tacked on, in both the passages of Luke.
They are still less appropriate in Matthew. They
' See General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture, pp.
69 sq.; where I show that the couplet in this form explains all the
versions of it in the four Gospels.
2 Jn. xiii. 16. 3 Jn. xiii. 20. <¦ Mt. x. 24, 40.
6 Lk. vi. 40. ¦= Lk. x. 16.

FORM AND METHOD. 25
seem much more appropriate to the situation where
they are given in John, and they seem nearer to the
original in John. It is evident however that this
gospel uses but little of the Wisdom of Jesus, be
cause it does not come within the scope of its plan to
use it.
So far as this method of Wisdom is concerned, we
must know its poetic form, the nature of the paral
lelism and take account of its poetic conception, be
fore we can safely understand its teaching.
III. A considerable portion of the Teaching of
Jesus is of the nature of Halacha, especially in the
Gospels of Mark and John. It is probable that his
teaching in the synagogues was chiefly of this kind,
as it was an interpretation and application of the
Scriptures of the Old Testament. A good example
of this is given in the discourse in the synagogue of
Nazareth when he was rejected. Luke only gives the
theme of the discourse.^ It was an exposition and
application of the prophecy of Isaiah.^ But it was
accompanied with specimens of his wisdom, as is evi
dent not only from the logion given,* but also from
the statements of Matthew and Mark.* Another dis
course is reported at a much later date in the syna
gogue of Capernaum, in John only.' In this Jesus
presents himself as the bread of life, probably as the
context shows, on the basis of the story of the giving
of the manna in the wilderness. His discourses in

> Lk. iv. 16-30. 2 Isa. ixi. 1 sq. ' Lk. iv. 23-24.
4 Mt. xiii. 54; Mk. vi. 2. « Jn. vi. 22-59.

26 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
the synagogues are not given elsewhere, though they
constituted a large part of his earlier ministry. The
Halacha preserved for us in Mark and the other Syn
optists, is chiefly that used in dicussions with the
Pharisees. In these discussions Jesus employed the
method of reasoning of the rabbis of his time, and
these methods must be considered with all their faults
if we are to get a true understanding of his teaching.^
This method was convincing to the rabbis of his time,
however little some of it may satisfy modern reason
ing. The first example of this reasoning given by
Mark^ is the argument to justify his forgiveness of
the sin of the paralytic. This is an argument from
greater to less. Many others are given in Mark as
follows :
(&) The justification of himself for eating with
publicans and sinners.*
(c) The argument as to the time of fasting,* to
which a logion is appended, which Luke calls a par
able. (d) The justification of his disciples for plucking
ears of grain on the Sabbath.'
(e) The justification of his healing the man with
the withered hand on the Sabbath.®

1 General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture, pp. 430 sq.,
437 sq.
2Mk. ii. 1-12; Mt. ix. 2-8; Lk. v. 17-26.
3Mk. ii. 17; Mt. ix. 12-13; Lk. v. 31-32.
* Mk. ii. 19-20; Mt. ix. 15; Lk. v. 34-35.
sMk. ii. 25-28; Mt. xii. 3-8; Lk. vi. 3-5.
• Mk. iii. 4; Mt. xii. 11-12; Lk. vi. 9.

FORM AND METHOD. 27
(/) The argument as to Beelzebub casting out
devils.^ ig) The argument as to eating without previous
ceremonial purification.^
(h) The argument with his disciples as to the
leaven of the Pharisees.*
(i) The discussion as to who is greatest in the
kingdom.* (j) The argument with John against forbidding
one not a disciple to cast out devils.'
(k) The argument as to divorce,® to which a
logion is added in Mark and Matthew, and an addi
tional logion in Matthew.
(l) Argument with the young ruler and the counsel
of perfection.'^
(m) Eeproof of the ambition of James and John.*
(n) Justification of Mary for anointing him.''
(o) Justification for his cleansing the temple."
ip) Argument with the Pharisees as to authority."
(q) Argument with the Herodians as to tribute.^^

1 Mk. iii. 22-27; Mt. xii. 22-29; Lk. xi. 14-22.
2 Mk. vii. 6-23 ; Mt. xv. 3-20 ; ef . Lk. xi. 37-40.
3Mk. viii. 14-21; Mt. xvi. 5-12; cf. Lk. xii. 1.
*Uk. ix. 33-37; Mt. xviii. 1-5; Lk. ix. 46-48.
EMk. ix. 38-40; Lk. ix. 49-50.
6 Mk. X. 2-12; Mt. xix. 3-12.
'Mk. x. 17-31; Mt. xix. 16-30; Lk. xviii. 18-30.
8 Mk. X. 35-45 ; Mt. xx. 20-28. Logia are added which appear in
Lk. xxii. 25-26.
9Mk. xiv. 3-9; Mt. xxvi. 6-13; Jn. xii. 1-8.
10 Mk. xi. 15-19; Mt. xxi. 12-17; Lk. xix. 45-48; Jn. ii. 16.
" Mk. xi. 27-33 ; Mt. xxi. 23-27 ; Lk. xx. 1-8.
12 Mk. xii. 13-17; Mt. xxii. 15-22; Lk. xx. 20-26.

28 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
(r) Argument with the Sadducees as to the Eesur
rection.^ (s) Argument with a Pharisee as to the Law.^
(t) The argument as to David's son.*
(u) The praise of the widow casting her mite.*
The Gospel of Matthew depends upon Mark for all
this material and adds nothing to it. Luke gives
little that is additional.
(a) The question as to the Law, which is probably
a confusion of I and s of Mark, as a basis for the
parable of the Good Samaritan.'
(b) The justification of his healing the woman on
the Sabbath.®
(c) The justification of his healing the man with
dropsy on the Sabbath.''
The Gospel of John agrees with the Gospel of
Mark in giving chiefly Halacha. These are to a
great extent buried in the present arrangement of the
discourses of John, but it is not difficult to discern
them. (a) The argument with Nicodemus.*
(b) The argument with the disciples."
(c) Justification of his healing the infirm man on
the Sabbath.i»

iMk. xii. 18-27; Mt. xxii. 23-33; Lk. xx. 27Ht0.
2Mk. xii. 28-34; Mt. xxii. 34-40.
3 Mk. xii. 35-37 ; Mt. xxii. 41-46 ; Lk. xx. 41-44.
«Mk. xii. 41-44; Lk. xxi. 1-4.
6 Lk. X. 25-28. 6 Lk. xiii. 10-17. ' Lk. xiv. 1-6.
8 Jn. iii. 1-12. 9 Jn. iv. 31-38.
" Jn. V. 2-47, continued in vii. 14r-24.

FORM AND METHOD. 29
(d) Discussion with the Pharisees as to sin and
his preexistence.^
(e) Discussion as to sin and its punishment.^
(/) Discussion with the Pharisees as to the Son of
God.* (g) The Discussion with the disciples at the Last
Supper.* (h) The discussion with Peter as to love.'
These Halacha of John's Gospel are doubtless
from the original gospel of St. John, but they have
been worked over by the author of the present gospel
and have received a dogmatic form as well as inter
pretations and applications.
IV. Jesus was not only a teacher, a rabbi, but he
was a prophet, and therefore his teaching assumes
the prophetic type. Even in the Haggada and
Halacha, the prophetic element is preeminent. But
we have also in the Gospels material which is apart
from rabbinical methods and which finds its preced
ents in the Old Testament prophets. It was in
deed as a prophet that Mark represents Jesus
as going into Galilee after the death of John
the Baptist, preaching that the Kingdom of God
was at hand and calling the people to repentance
unto Salvation.® Luke represents that he went in the
power of the divine Spirit. His miracle-working
was the work of a prophet, and his preaching was

1 Jn. viii. 31-59. " Jn. ix. 1-3, 40-41. 3 Jn. x. 24-39.
* Jn. xiv. 1 sq. ^ Jn. xxi. 15-23.
6 Mk. i. 14-15 ; Mt. iv. 17 ; Lk. iv. 14-15.

30 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
also that of a prophet. There are in the Synoptic
Gospels only two discourses which may be regarded
as prophetic discourses, namely the final eschatolog
ical discourse,^ and the earlier eschatological dis
course,^ both of which are combined in Matthew.*
These are apocalyptic in character. But besides these
discourses, there are a number of lesser prophetic
words, which remind us rather of the earlier prophets
of action of the Old Testament than of the later pro
phetic writers. His words to the messengers of John
the Baptist* are prophetic words, especially when he
calls attention to the fact that the poor have good
tidings preached to them, and in his reference to the
Baptist's relation to himself, although in the Gospels
these are mingled with logia. The prophetic ele
ment appears in Mark especially at the close of the
Galilean ministry in his prediction of his death and
resurrection,' in his rebuke of the ambition of James
and John,® in his prediction of the betrayal of Judas
and the fall of Peter.'' Jesus acts as a prophet in
his symbolic blessing of little children;* and in his
cursing of the fig-tree® and in his cleansing of the
- Mk. xiii; Lk. xxi. 2 Lk. xvii. 22-37.
3 Mt. xxiv. See Messiah of the Gospels, chap. IV.
« Lk. vii. 18-35; Mt. xi. 2-19.
SMk. viii. 31-ix. 1; Mt. xvi. 21-28; Lk. ix. 22-27; also Mk. ix.
30-32; Mt. xvii. 22-23; Lk. ix. 43-45.
6 Mk. X. 35-45 ; Mt. xx. 20-28.
'Mk. xiv. 18-21, 27-31; Mt. xxvi. 21-25, 31-35; Lk. xxii. 21-23,
31-34; Jn. xiii. 21-30, 36-38.
= Mlc. ix. 33-37; Mt. xviii. 1-5; Lk. ix. 46-48; also Mk. x. 13-16;
Mt. xix. 13-15; Lk. xviii. 15-17.
9Mk. xi. 12-14; Mt. xxi. 18-19.

FORM AND METHOD. 31
temple.^ The call to repentance comes out strongly
in Luke.^
In the Gospel of John this feature is also prominent
in a large number of passages. Jesus appears as a
prophet.* (a) With the woman of Samaria.*
(&) In the temple at the feast of Tabernacles.'
(c) At the Feast of Dedication.®
{d) To the blind man in Jerusalem.''
(e) To Martha in his discourse as to resurrec
tion.* (/) To the Greeks in the temple.®
{g) In his words as to judgment.
{h) In predictions at the last Supper."
{%) In post-resurrection predictions."
{j) In the intercessory prayer .^^
Jesus was also a prophet in his symbolic actions :
(a) In the washing of his disciples' feet with its
interpretation.^* (&) In the breathing on his disciples to indicate
the coming of the Holy Spirit.^*
It has become evident in the progress of our
studies that while for the most part we may distin
guish the four great methods of Jesus in his teach-
'- Mk. xi. 15-19; Mt. xxi. 12-17; Lk. xix. 45-48.
: Lk. xiii. 1-9. = Jn. iv. 4-26.
• Jn. vii. 33-34, 37-38. * jn. viii. 12-29.
« Jn. ix. 35-39. ' Jn. xi. 25 sq.
8 Jn. xii. 20-36. ' Jn. xii. 44-50.
10 Jn. xiii. 31-35, xiv. 12-30. " Jn. xv. 8-xvi. 33.
12 Jn. xvii. " Jn- xiii. 4-20.
Hjn. XX. 22-23.

32 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
ing and preaching, yet they not infrequently overlap,
especially in the material as given to us in the pres
ent arrangement of the Gospels. If we had the origi
nals, these would probably appear more carefully
distinguished. And yet even if we had the originals,
it would doubtless appear that Jesus sometimes com
bined two or more methods at one time.
There is a wonderful variety and beauty as well
as simplicity and grandeur in this Teaching of Jesus.
It is incomparably superior in every one of its forms
and methods to the teaching of the greatest rabbis of
his times, if we may judge of them from all that has
been preserved in the Talmuds. We have rich and
varied material which yields the most important re
sults as to substance as well as form. We study the
form of his teaching in order that we may the better
understand its substance. The form has given that
substance a stereotyped permanence which enables us
to be sure that we have the Teaching of Jesus him
self and of no other. It is not difficult to determine
the additions and changes made by the evangelists or
by oral tradition in the transmission of the Teaching
from Jesus himself to the form in which it appears
in the four Gospels.
The methods of Jesus were followed by his dis
ciples only in part in their preaching and teaching in
the Orient, in the early apostolic times. These
methods were not suited to the Greek and Eoman
world, for whom, for the most part, the New Testa
ment Writings in their present form were prepared.

FORM AND METHOD. 33
And therefore the type of Jesus' Teaching may
readily be distinguished from the Graeco-Eoman type
in which the New Testament writers set it. The
methods of Jesus were indeed given over by the early
Christians to the Jewish enemies of Christianity.
And therefore the Teaching of Jesus by a remarkable
historic situation became stereotyped in a form which
has remained forever that of the Master himself and
which cannot be mistaken for another's. It is not
difficult therefore to get close to the very words of
the Master himself in the very forms in which he
himself gave them to his disciples.

III.
The Will of the Father.
The earliest incident mentioned in the Gospels in
connection with Jesus, in which we can find ethical
content, is given in Luke.^
At twelve years of age Jesus goes with his parents
to Jerusalem and is left behind by mistake. When
they anxiously return to seek him, they find him with
the rabbis in the temple's outer courts, hearing in
struction and asking questions. When his parents
remonstrate with him he gives as his excuse : ' ' Knew
ye not that I must be about my Father 's business ? ' '*
Jesus here conceives it as his ethical norm to be
occupied in doing the business, the affairs, and we
may say the will of the Father. He knows God as
his own Father, and he is so assured of his sonship
that his will is ethically one with the will of God, and
he knows that his task is to be engaged in the affairs
of God.
Jesus remained in obscurity in Nazareth, working
as a worker in wood, and growing in knowledge and
in grace, until he was about thirty years of age.
Doubtless this was in fulfilment of the will of God as

1 Lk. ii. 40-52.
2 So A.V. ; the R.V. " In my Father's house," although a correct
explanation of the Greek phrase, and suited in some respects to the
situation, is not so appropriate as the A.V. See Messiah of the
Gospels, p. 234. 34

THE WILL OF THE FATHER. 35
known to him in his inmost consciousness. Other
wise it is difficult to explain this long obscurity in his
short life.
He then went down to the Jordan, probably after
the feast of Tabernacles, to be baptized by John the
Baptist. The divine approval of him is expressed
by the theophanic voice :
" Thou art my beloved son.
In Thee I am well pleased." *
Jesus is thus recognized as the Son of God, in the
Messianic sense, as beloved and accepted, and espe
cially as entirely approved by his Father, as entirely
conformed to His will. This is in fact an approval
of all the life of Jesus up to the hour of baptism, and
also of his action in receiving the baptism of John
the Baptist.
Immediately after his baptism, Jesus underwent
his great temptation. In this temptation^ he holds
forth the word of God as the norm of his own con
duct, and appeals to it in response to every test.
Mark simply mentions the temptation, but gives no
account of its nature, or the results of it. The temp
tation according to Matthew and Luke, was to rise
above the will of God in the exercise of his authority
as the Messiah. Jesus declines to do this, but sub
mits himself to the divine will.
{a) He is tempted to work a miracle, which would
have been little more than the one he subsequently

: Mk. i. 11; Lk. iii. 22; cf. Mt. iii. 17; Jn. i. 34.
2Mk. i. 12-13; Mt. iv. 1-11; Lk. iv. 1-13.

36 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
wrought when feeding the multitude. There was a
sufficient motive, here as there, namely hunger. But
Jesus was in the wilderness for the higher task of
communion with God, in order to prepare for his
Messianic activity, which he was about to begin. To
this situation the word applied :
"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God." '
Man should live in accordance with the will of
God, as coming from the mouth of God. This is oral,
rather than written guidance.^ This was in anti
thesis with the manna of the wilderness; not by
manna only, but by the Word of God. Jesus thus
recognizes for himself and his disciples that the word
of God is the food of the soul, and that this is ever to
be ethically higher than the satisfaction of the hunger
of the body. It is a yielding to temptation when
the hunger of the soul is neglected in order to satisfy
the hunger of the body. There are times when the
soul should be so absorbed in feeding upon the word
of God, that the hunger of the body will not be ex
perienced, or if experienced, will be altogether
neglected. Jesus was so engaged at the time. He
was in the ecstatic state, absorbed in communion with
God. To turn away from the inward communion to
the outward feeding, would have been a yielding to
temptation, and the commission of sin.
(&) The second temptation was for Jesus to test
a divine word by casting himself from the pinnacle
1 Dt. viii. 3. 2 Luke omits the second half of the command.

THE WILL OF THE FATHER. 37
of the temple, and appearing as the Son of Man from
the clouds. This temptation to act as the Son of
Man from heaven, the triumphant, royal Messiah of
the second Advent, of apocalyptic prophecy, when
he had come as the Messiah of the first Advent, the
Messiah of suffering and preaching, according to the
will of his Father, was rejected by applying another
divine word: " Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God."i The experience of Moses^ in tempting God, was a
warning not only to Israel, but to Jesus and his dis
ciples. To act as the Messiah of the second Advent
prematurely, would have been to reject his call as the
Messiah of suffering of the first Advent, and would
have been a sin.
(c) The third temptation was to assume Messianic
authority in submitting to the Satan, the prince of
the world. This is repulsed by : " Thou shalt wor
ship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou
serve. ' '*
God is the supreme and only one to reverence
and worship. To do homage to Satan, even so far as
to recognize him as rightful prince of this world,
would be for Jesus to dishonour his own mission,
which had as one of its chief aims to destroy the
power of Satan and restore mankind to the supreme
dominion of God.
In all these cases Jesus applies Deuteronomic prin
ciples, rather than to rise above them in the assertion

> Dt. vi. 16. - Nu. 20. 3Dt. vi. 13.

38 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
of his Messianic authority. He thus recognizes the
Deuteronomic Law, and, through the Law, God as
the ethical norm to which he and his are ethically
bound. During the Galilean ministry on one occasion,
while teaching, surrounded by a crowd, his mother
and brethren desire to speak with him. He im
proves the opportunity to teach the supreme impor
tance of doing the will of God.^
" Whosoever doeth the Will of God,
The same is my brother and my mother." ^
The Will of God is an ethical norm higher than
any commands, and nearest to God Himself. Jesus '
conception is that all such as follow this norm are
thereby in a relation to God which constitutes them
one family, and that those in this family of God are
closer than members of a family, who are bound by
ties of physical descent.*
At the close of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said :
" Not every one that saith unto me. Lord, Lord,
Shall enter into the kingdom of God;
But he that doeth the will of my Father." *
This is condensed in Luke' into : ' ' And why call
ye me. Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I
1 Mk. iii. 31-35; Mt. xii. 46-50; Lk. viii. 19-21.
2 Such was the logion in its original form. See General Intro
duction to the Study of Holy Scripture, pp. 305 sq. where I have
discussed it.
3 It is quite natural therefore that Matthew should change " God "
of the original text to " Father which is in heaven."
* Mt. vii. 21. 5 Lk. vi. 46.

THE WILL OF THE FATHER. 39
say?" Here the profession of allegiance to Christ,
the recognition of his sovereignty and lordship is
in antithesis with doing the Father's Will. The
Father's Will is the supreme ethical norm of the
disciple; conformity to that Will is necessary in
order to enter the kingdom of God: profession of
faith in Jesus Christ, in the recognition of him as
sovereign lord, is not sufficient. One who bases his
hopes of entrance into the kingdom of glory on that
alone, will certainly fail.
In the early Perean ministry, Jesus, in response to
the request of his disciples, teaches them a form of
prayer.^ The original was probably :
" Father, hallowed be Thy name ;
Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
against us.
Bring us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil."
There are five petitions; the first and second be
long under this head, the others will be considered
later in appropriate connections.^ The disciples of
Jesus are to pray to God as their Father, and ap
proach Him as children. His name is to be hallowed
by them, and their first petition is that it may be hal
lowed by all. The second petition is that the
Father's kingdom may come, and His dominion ex-

1 Lk. xi. 2-4. It is given in a fuller form in Mt. vi. 9-13 in con
nection with the Sermon on the Mount; but out of plaee. Both de
rive it from the Logia of the apostle Matthew.
2 See pp. 73, 118.

40 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
tend over all. This implies that the Father's will
shall be done everywhere and by all. This second
half of the second petition was omitted by Luke,
because it is really implied in the first half. For
how could the kingdom of God come, unless the
King's will were done in His kingdom? Matthew
however, not only gives it, but adds to it: "As in
heaven, so on earth"; in accordance with his con
stant use of heaven in connection with Father and
kingdom. This section of the prayer therefore
teaches that the supreme ethical desire of the dis
ciple should be the Father's will in the Father's
kingdom. This attitude of the son to the Father is illustrated
in the logia which follow.^ They appear in
Matthew's version of the Sermon on the Mount.
Luke's place was more appropriate. The original
was somewhat as follows :
" Ask and it shall be given unto you.
Seek and ye shall find.
Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
For everyone that asketh, receiveth.
And he that seeketh, findeth;
And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened."
This is the attitude of the child to God His Father.
Those in the filial relation may rely on the Father's
love. No others can lay claim to the child's privi
lege. This is fortified by the beautiful illustration
which follows:
iLk. xi. 9-13; Mt. vii. 7-11.

THE WILL OF THE FATHEB. 41
" What sort of a person among you is he whose son asketh ?
If he ask a loaf, will he give him a stone?
And if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent ?
And if he ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion?
If therefore ye, being evil, know how to give, to your children.
Much more will the Father give to those that ask Him."'
About the same time a woman, filled with enthu
siasm said unto him :"
" Blessed is the womb that bare thee :
(Blessed) are the breasts that suckled thee."
Jesus replied:
" Blessed are they that hear the word of God :
(Blessed are they) that keep (His will).""
Hearing the word of God, keeping, observing, doing
His will, is what constitutes true happiness for man.
The Gospel of John agrees with the Synoptists in
this teaching of Jesus, that the Will of the Father is
his supreme norm. In the Jerusalem ministry the
same conception appears as in the Galilean ministry
of Mark and Matthew, and the Perean ministry of
Luke. At the feast of Pentecost* Jesus said: "I seek not
mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me."

1 The first clause I venture to restore conjecturally and provision
ally. It is of great difficulty in both evangelists, due probably to an
obscure original. The fourth line is given by Luke alone, but is so
graphic that it is probably original. Luke substitutes for " good
things " of Matthew, the " Holy Spirit." This was not original.
It is quite true as an interpretation, although it takes the sentence
out of its original reference to bodily needs. Probably the original
left the object understood, but not expressed.
2 Lk. xi. 27-28.
3 These couplets have been condensed into prose sentences.
• Jn. V. 30.

42 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
The will of the Son is entirely subordinated to and
merged in the Will of the Father. The Father sent
him, and his mission is to do the will of the Father,
and this is what he seeks above all to do.
At the feast of Tabernacles Jesus said: "If any
man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the
teaching, whether it be of God, or I speak from
myself. ' '^ The teaching of Jesus is not, as he says in
the previous verse, his own personal teaching which
he gives on his own original authority, but the teach
ing of the Father who sent him with the teaching.
Therefore those who really have the will to do the
Will of the Father should receive the teaching, not
simply as the teacher's teaching, but as the Father's
teaching. There need be no doubt, because the will
ingness to do the Will of the Father opens the eyes
of the understanding, so as to see and know whether
the teaching is the Father 's or not. Jesus here rep
resents that there is an ethical relation in his teaching
between knowing and doing. It is not always, first
knowing and then doing ; but in fact doing often pre
cedes knowing. The knowledge of a higher teaching
depends upon the practice of a lower. There can be
no great advance in Christian knowledge beyond
Christian practice ; for the very reason that Christian
Imowledge contains all important ethical substance
and relations.
At the feast of Dedication Jesus said:
" I do always the things that are pleasing to Him."''
1 Jn. vii. 17. 2 Jn. viii. 29.

THE WILL OF THE FATHEB. 43
Those things that please Him are parallel with His
Will. This reminds us of the words of the the-
ophany to Jesus, the Son, in whom the Father was
well pleased. The Father is always well pleased
with the Son, because the Son always does the things
which please the Father.
It is in accordance with these words of Jesus as
to his own motives, purposes and doings, that he
should claim to be sinless. He says: "Which of
you convicteth me of sin? If I say the truth, why
do ye not believe me ? He that is of God, heareth the
words of God : For this cause ye hear them not, be
cause ye are not of God. ' '^
Jesus was speaking to them words of God, the
truth from God. If they were disciples of God, as
they ought to have been, under the teaching of the
Old Testament, they would recognize the words of
God in the teaching of Jesus. Familiarity with the
words of God enables one to recognize other such
words wherever one is found, and from whom so
ever they come. When such a word is not recog
nized, it gives evidence of lack of familiarity with
God's words and with God Himself.
Again Jesus said: "I know Him and keep His
word."^ Keeping His word is, as we have seen in
the Synoptists, a parallel idea to doing His Will.
On Jesus' journey through Samaria to Galilee* he
said in connection with the coming of the Samaritans
' Jn. viii. 46-47. 2 jn. viii. 55. 3 Jn. iv. 34.

44 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
to listen to him: "My meat is to do the will of Him
that sent me, and to accomplish His work. ' '^
The will of God was the meat of Jesus, that which
he craved and laboured for more than for food.
This is the same Deuteronomic thought that we have
studied in connection with his temptation.^ The ac
complishment of the work is in accordance with the
commission. Jesus was sent to do a work, and his
ethical aim was to do that work in accordance with
the Will of God.
In his discourse in the synagogue of Capernaum
Jesus exhorts the people to have the same hunger of
soul. "Work not for the meat which perisheth, but
for the meat which abideth unto etemal life, which
the Son of Man will give unto you."* Jesus' meat
was doing the Will of God and fulfilling the work of
God. The meat is here explained as something
which Jesus, the Son of Man, gives unto the disciple.
That which he gives, as we see from the context, is
the Will of God, and the work of God. The first
question of the hearers is as to the work of God.
"What must we do, that we may work the works of
God?" Jesus answers: "This is the work of God, that
ye believe on him whom He hath sent."* The first
work is to believe in the messenger who comes from
God to declare the Will of God. This is not the only
1 Probably this was a logion, the second line of the original begin
ning with " My drink is."
2 Mt. iv. 4. 3 Jn. vi. 27. « Jn. vi. 28-29.

THE WILL OF THE FATHEB. 45
work of God, or the chief work of God, but the first
work of God in the order of the works when Jesus
the Messiah stands before them. As he said: "I
am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will,
but the will of Him that sent me." He then states
the Will of the Father. "This is the will of Him
that sent me, that of all that which He hath given me
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the
last day. For this is the Will of my Father, that
every one that beholdeth the Son and believeth on
him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him
up at the last day. ' '^
The disciple is to believe on Jesus as the one sent
by God to declare His Will and His works, and then
make that Will and those works his meat, as Jesus
did; and as an inevitable consequence he will have
etemal life and a part in the resurrection.
The theophanic voice, at the transfiguration, again
recognized Jesus: "This is My beloved Son: hear
ye him. ' '^ This sets the seal of the divine approval
to the ministry of Jesus which was nearing its com
pletion. Jesus, in his agony in Gethsemane, submits him
self to the Will of the Father in his prayer.
"Father, all things are possible unto Thee; remove
this cup from me : howbeit not what I will, but what
1 Jn. vi. 38-40.
2 Mk. ix. 7 ; Lk. i.\. 35, my " chosen " is a variation of translation
" beloved." Mt. xvii. 5 agrees with Luke in this phrase, but adds
" in whom I am well pleased," which may have been taken frQm the,
words of the previous theophany at the Baptism.

46 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
Thou wilt."i Matthew and Luke depend on Mark
for this narrative and give essentially the same
thing.2 In his supreme hour Jesus submits himself
to the Will of the Father, even to the shameful death
of the cross.
In his last prayer before departing from this earth
to the Father, Jesus said: "I glorified Thee on the
earth, having accomplished the work which Thou
hast given me to do."* From the beginning to the
end of his life, Jesus had done the Will of the Father.
He had finally accomplished all that Will in his work
on earth, and he had taught his disciples to do the
same.

1 Mk. xiv. 36. 2 Mt. xxvi. 39 ; Lk. xxii. 42. 3 jn. xvii. 4.

IV.
The Wobd op Jesus.
Immediately after his inauguration by baptism
with the divine Spirit, and his victory over the
temptations of the devil, Jesus began to gather dis
ciples. In the valley of the Jordan, two of the dis
ciples of John the Baptist followed him, Andrew and
probably John. On the following day he called
Philip to follow him.^ These became his disciples
and went with him to Cana of Galilee. Then they
left him for a season. Soon afterwards he went to
the shore of the Sea of Galilee and finding the four
fishermen, Andrew, Simon, James and John, he calls
them to abandon their fishing and become fishers of
men.^ These go with him to Capernaum the home
of Simon and Andrew.* Soon afterwards he called
Matthew, the publican, who abandoned all and fol
lowed him after a farewell feast given to his friends.*
It is evident that these all recognized Jesus as a
prophet of God; and their prompt obedience to his
call to the abandonment of property and family and
all that they held dear, showed that they regarded
the Word of Jesus as the rule of their life. These six
were disciples in a special sense. But there were
doubtless many others who were disciples in a more
' Jn. i. 35-43. 2 Mk. i. 16-20. 3Mk. i. 21-30. *Mk. ii. 13-17.
47

48 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
general sense. For during this time he went about
Galilee preaching in the synagogues of the different
cities and working miracles.
Soon after the call of Matthew Jesus^ goes down
with his special disciples into the valley of the Jor
dan and preaches repentance and baptism, alongside
of John the Baptist, and is so successful, winning
more disciples than the Baptist, that the Pharisees
are stirred up against him and he prudently retires
into Galilee.^
Jesus now begins his ministry in Galilee with
vigour. The Baptist is about this time cast into
prison, and all eyes are turned to Jesus. He
preaches repentance in view of the nearness of the
kingdom of God. He makes a second tour in Galilee
and is followed by multitudes, who listen, to his
teaching and witness his miracles. His disciples
have become a great multitude and he now selects
Twelve of them to be with him constantly and assist
him in his work.* We thus have two classes of dis
ciples, the disciples in general and the Twelve in
particular. All these disciples, as disciples, heard
his words and were obligated to obey them. The
Twelve were called to do more than this, namely to
follow him in a special ministry. The Twelve were
installed in their office by a discourse called the
Sermon on the Mount, which gives instruction in part
applicable to them in particular, in part to all the
1 New Light on the Life of Jesus, p. 13. 2 jn jii 22-iv. 3.
'Mk. iii. 13-19; Lk. vi. 12-19.

THE WOBD OF JESUS. 49
disciples, giving especially the great ethical princi
ples of the kingdom of God.
After several months of special training in his
company, Jesus sends forth the Twelve in pairs to
carry on his work in Galilee, while he himself departs
on his mission to Perea and Jerusalem.^ On this
occasion he gives them a discourse of solemn charge
and commission. In the meanwhile many other dis
ciples have been called to special service as his com
panions. Out of these he selects Seventy to go be
fore him and prepare his way in Perea and Judea.^
We thus have three groups of disciples distinguished.
Jesus continues to make disciples and gains many
others by the preaching of the Twelve and the
Seventy. He also continues to call others to follow
him in the special ministry. Are we to suppose that
these were being prepared for a third group of min
isters, or were they to be merged in the group of the
Seventy? We have no evidence in the Gospels to
decide this question. The Book of Acts tells us that
one hundred and twenty brethren were assembled in
Jerusalem for the selection of the successor of
Judas,* and St. Paul tells us that Jesus after his
resurrection appeared to above five hundred breth
ren.* Are we to suppose that these brethren were
disciples in general, or selected disciples who had the
special call? However this may be, it is evident that
Jesus had many hundreds of disciples, and that he
• New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 40 sq.
2 New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 32 sq.
> Acts i. 15-26. • 1 Cor. xv. 6.
4

50 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
had selected from these, first the Twelve, then the
Seventy, then an indefinite number of others, with
the special call to abandon all things and follow
him. The disciples of Jesus, of all groups, recognized
him as a teacher come from God, and as a prophet
with the divine word upon his lips. His Word was
the divine word, and all faithful disciples heard and
obeyed it. Jesus' Word indeed was with such in
trinsic authority that it compelled obedience or rejec-
tion.i As Jesus himself said, it had judicial power
in it wherever it was proclaimed.^
At the close of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus
gives a logion of warning, and a parable contrasting
those who hear and do, with those who hear but do
not, that is, the faithful with the unfaithful disciples.
The logion of warning is :
" Not everyone that saith unto me. Lord, Lord,
Shall enter into the kingdom of God;
But he that doeth the will of my Father." "
Luke has it in the form of personal address, which
is more suitable to the original discourse :
"Why call ye me. Lord, Lord,
And do not the things which I say ?" *
Doing the teachings of Jesus is an ethical norm,
corresponding with that of following him. This is
1 Mt. vii. 29. 2 Jn. xii. 48.
3 Mt. vii. 21, " which is in heaven " is an explanatory addition
of Matthew; and "heaven" is a substitute for "God."
< Lk. vi. 46.

THE WOBD OF JESUS. 51
not satisfied by merely recognizing him as sovereign
Lord. Doing is the determinative factor and not
merely professing.
Matthew modifies the original couplet of Jesus, in
order to make it correspond with the form of the
logion which he adds^ from another occasion. This
Gospel also substitutes the Will of the Father for the
Word of Jesus, from the consciousness that they are
really the same. But the originality of the term
"Word" of Jesus is verified by the parable which
follows :
"I. Every one which heareth these words of mine and doeth
them.
Shall be likened unto a wise man.
Which built his house upon the rock:
And the rain descended, and the floods came.
And the winds blew, and beat upon that house;
And it fell not; for it was founded upon the rock.
II. But every one which heareth these words of mine and doeth
them not.
Shall be likened unto a foolish man.
Which built his house upon the sand:
And the rain descended, and the floods came.
And the winds blew, and smote upon that house;
And it fell; and great was the fall thereof."'
At the feast of Dedication Jesus makes his Word
the test of life and death : "Verily, verily, I say unto
you, he that heareth my Word and believeth him that
sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judg-
I Mt. vii. 22-23 ; Lk. xiii. 25-27.
2 Mt. vii. 24-27 ; Lk. vi. 47-49. See General Introduction to the
Study of Holy Scripture, p. 404.

52 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
ment, but hath passed out of death into life."^ This
in the form of a Hebrew logion would be :
" He that heareth my Word, hath eternal life ;
He that believeth on Him that sent me, cometh not into
judgment."
Hearing the Word of Jesus is here connected with
believing on the Father that sent him. His words
are the Father's words which he has been sent to
teach, requiring faith. They are life-giving words
which enable those who hear them, in the pregnant
sense of obedience to them, to sustain the tests of
judgment. This is explained by the final author of
the Gospel. "The hour cometh, in which all that
are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come
forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrec
tion of life; and they that have done ill, unto the
resurrection of judgment."^ At the judgment, those
who hear the words of Jesus are those who have done
good ; that is, they have heard in the pregnant sense,
and have followed his words fully in the good deeds
these words teach, as norms of life and conduct.
The hearing results, according to the words of Jesus,
in having etemal life and freedom from judgment.
That is explained by the second hand, as having the
resurrection to approval and accordingly life, as
opposed to the evil doers, who have the resurrection
to condemnation.
In the parable of the Sower,* Jesus is the sower of
the good seed in the minds of the disciples. This
1 Jn. V. 24. 2 Jn. y. 28-29. 3 Mk. iv. 1-20.

THE WOBD OF JESUS. 53
seed is his Word. The everlasting future depends
upon whether this word grows to maturity and bears
fruit, and upon the quantity of the harvest. Accord
ingly Jesus gives the logion of warning, only one
line of which has been preserved :
" Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." '
Probably the other line was, as suggested by
Matthew: Who hath eyes to see, let him see. For
Matthew adds in this connection the supplementary :
" Blessed are your eyes, for they see ;
And (blessed are) your ears, for they hear.
(For verily I say unto you).
Many prophets and righteous men desired
To see the things which ye see, and saw them not;
And to hear the things which ye hear, a.nd heard them not." '
When Jesus commissioned the Twelve for their
mission in Galilee, he gave them his Word to teach
and preach, and made them his representatives, so
that their word was his Word and it had the same
judicial power.* He said to them:
" And whatever house shall not receive you.
And whoever shall not hear your words.
As ye go forth out of that city.
Shake off the dust from your feet
For a testimony against them.""
The same word essentially is given in the Com-

iMk. iv. 9; Mt. xiii. 9, 43; Lk. viii. 8.
2Mt. xiii. 16-17.
3 Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 182 sq.
*Mt. x. 14; Mk. vi. 11; Lk. ix. 5. The above seems the original
of the three versions.

54 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OP JESUS.
mission of the Seventy.^ To this a logion is added
which is difficult to place.
" He that heareth you, heareth me ;
He that rejecteth you, rejecteth me;
He that receiveth me, receiveth Him that sent me ;
He that rejecteth me, rejecteth Him that sent me." '
This logion is given in a condensed form in John* in
connection with the discourse at the Lord's Supper.
The ethical lesson of the story of Martha and Mary
seems to come under the general idea of this chap
ter.* The event was at Bethany near Jerusalem at
the feast of Tabernacles. Jesus said to Martha:
"Martha, thou art anxious and troubled about many
things : there is need of few. For Mary hath chosen
the good part, which shall not be taken away from
her.'" There is a contrast between the active Martha, who,
as mistress of the house, was over anxious and over
troubled about the entertainment of her guest, and
the contemplative Mary, who was so absorbed in the
teachings of Jesus that she had forgotten all about
her household duties. Mary had chosen the supreme
good, the ethical norm, the teachings of Jesus, and
she would not be called away from that to active em
ployment about other things, however important they
might be under other circumstances. Martha is re
proved for her troubling herself about many things,
'Lk. X. 10-11. 2Lk. X. 16; Mt. x. 40.
3 Jn, xiii. 20. ^ Lk. x. 38-42.
6 eapvfid^i! is d-Ka^-le-y. It is possible therefore that nspifivgc is an
explanatory addition.

THE WOBD OF JESUS. 55
when only few things were needed. Her over-occu
pation in caring for the needs of the body, even in
the laudable grace of hospitality, was really a failure
to embrace the unique privilege of absorbing the
teaching of Jesus. It is often said that if Martha
had not been troubled about these many things, Jesus
would have fallen short in his entertainment. But
it is overlooked that Jesus would not be entertained
with many things but with few.^ If Martha had
been content with the few, she would not have found
fault with Mary and might have had time to attend
to Jesus' teaching herself. Mary represents in all
ages the consecrated woman who has devoted herself
to Christ and his kingdom; the holy virgins who
have been, through the Christian centuries, among
the most potent influences for the extension, as well
as for the ethical advance of the kingdom of God.
At the feast of Dedication Jesus said to the Phari
sees: "If ye were blind, ye would have no sin: but
now ye say 'we see'; your sin remaineth. "^
They, with open eyes, rejected the Word of Jesus ;
and therefore their wilful rejection of his Word was
the culmination cf that sin for which they would be
condemned in the day of judgment.
iThe substitution of "one" (Tisch, A.V., R.V.), and the addi
tion of "one" (W. H.), are due to the interpretation that this
refers to the choice of Mary. But there is really a reference to the
few things needed for the entertainment of Jesus over against the
many things that Martha was troubled about.
2 Jn. ix. 41. See p. 170. New Light on the Life of Jesus, p. 155,
for the historic occasion of these words.

56 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
In his discourse in the synagogue of Capernaum
Jesus said: "The words that I have spoken unto
you are spirit, and are life."^
When Simon as the representative of the Twelve
recognized Jesus as the Messiah, he said, "Lord, to
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. "2
In his last discourse in the temple, in Passion
Week, Jesus said:* "He that believeth on me, be
lieveth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he
that beholdeth me, beholdeth him that sent me. I
am come a light into the world, that whosoever be
lieveth on me may not abide in the darkness. And
if any man hear my sayings and keep them not, I
judge him not ; for I came not to judge the world, but
to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and re
ceiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him;
the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the
last day. For I spake not from myself, but the
Father which sent me, he hath given me a command
ment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
And I know that his commandment is life etemal:
the things therefore which I speat, even as the
Father hath said unto me, so I speak."
Hearing the sayings of Jesus and keeping them, is
1 Jn. vi. 63. See New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 95-6 for the
historic occasion.
2 Jn. vi. 68. These words supplement those of the recognition, Mk.
viii. 27-30. But there is no reason to doubt their accuracy. See
New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 47-48.
3 Jn. xii. 44-50.

THE WOBD OF JESUS. 57
the essential thing. Alongside of it is believing in
him as the light of the world. The sayings of Jesus
are those which the Father sent him to say : they are
the Father's commands, and so hearing and keeping
them wins eternal life from the Father. By them
men will be judged. The words of Jesus will be the
test by which men will be accepted, or condemned.
The Law of the Old Testament has passed out of
view. The commandments of God through Jesus
have taken its place in this Gospel.
In his discourse to his disciples, probably after his
resurrection, Jesus said with regard to his perse
cutors •} ' ' Eemember the word that I said unto you,
a servant is not greater than his lord.^ If they perse
cuted me, they will also persecute you; if they kept
my word, they will keep yours also. But all these
things will they do unto you for my name 's sake,* be
cause they know not Him that sent me. If I had not
come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin:
but now they have no excuse for their sin. He that
hateth me, hateth my Father also. If I had not done
among them the works which none other did, they
had not had sin; but now have they both seen and
hated both me and my Father."*
Jesus spoke to them words from God, and accom
panied these words with works sufficient to convince
them. They had no excuse for their refusal to accept
1 New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 120 sq.
2 See Jn. xiii. 16; Mt. x. 24; Lk. vi. 40.
3Mt. X. 22; xxiv. 9; Mk. xiii. 13; Lk. xxi. 17.
* Jn. XV. 20-24.

58 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
him ; still less for rejecting him and hating him. In
hating him they hated also the Father who sent him.
In his final commission of the apostolic ministry
Jesus again makes his words the test words. He
said :^ " All authority hath been given unto me.
Go ye therefore into all the earth.
And make disciples of all nations.
Baptize them into my name.
And teach them to keep my commands.
And I am with you until the End." '
This is condensed in the addition to Mark:^ "Go
ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to the
whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized
will be saved ; but he that disbelieveth shall be con
demned. ' '
In his final prayer for his disciples* Jesus said:
' ' The words which Thou gavest me I have given unto
them; and they received them, and knew of a truth
that I came forth from Thee, and they believed that
Thou didst send me. ... I have given them Thy
word. ... I pray ... for them also that shall be
lieve on me through their word."
Thus the Word of .Jesus has the same normative
authority as the Will of the Father. It is indeed the
last and highest expression of the Will of the ^Father.
1 Mt. xxviii. 18-20. This in my opinion was the original form of
this logion. The trinitarian Baptismal formula was later than the
usage of the books of Acts, and it makes the line too long for the
measures. For a detailed study of this commission, see Article I.,
The Apostolic Commission, in Studies in Honor of B. L. Gildersleeve,
p. 14.
2Mk. xvi. 15-16, see p. 70. 2 jn. xvii. 8-20, see p. 81.

The Kingdom oe God.
The kingdom of God is so closely associated with
the Will of God that they are combined in the same
petition of the Lord's prayer.
" Father, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done." *
The Will of God is accomplished in the kingdom
of God. Jesus as the Messiah came to do the Will of
the Father and to establish His kingdom among men.
The theme of his preaching when he went into Galilee
was : ' ' The kingdom of God is at hand. ' '^ This was
essentially his Gospel. The kingdom was one of
the most frequent subjects of his teaching. This
term is used by all the Gospels save Matthew which
uses "kingdom of heaven." This latter is however
a peculiarity of Matthew, resembling the use of
"heavenly" with "Father."* After the manner of
the Jews of the time, this gospel uses heaven for God.
When Jesus commissioned the Twelve he gave them
the same message,* and subsequently the Seventy
also.' The kingdom of God is the kingdom of the Old
Testament in institution and in prophecy.® God was
the king of that kingdom. The reigning king of the
•Mt. vi. 10; Lk. xi. 2. 2Mk. i. 15; Mt. iv. 17.
'Messiah of the Gospels, p. 79. * Mk. vi. 12; Mt. ix. 7; Lk. ix. 2.
' Lk. X. 9. ^ Messianic Prophecy, pp. 492 sq.
59

60 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
dynasty of David was the son of God and the divine
representative. The advent of the kingdom involved
the advent of God Himself, and also the advent of the
Messianic king. Jesus never speaks of the kingdom
of the Messiah. His Messiahship remains in the
background of his teaching until near the close of his
ministry. Jesus ' teaching as to the kingdom is usually veiled
in parables, which can be understood only by his dis
ciples, and by these only after he has given them the
key in esoteric instruction. This kind of teaching
began in his discourse by the seaside in the second
stage of his Galilean ministry. Mark gives three par
ables of the kingdom here ; Luke but one ; Matthew
as many as eight.^ Three only really belong here,
and possibly not all of these, namely, the parable of
the Sower, common to all with its interpretation ; the
parable of the Tares, peculiar to Matthew with its
interpretation; the parable of the Seed growing
secretly, peculiar to Mark, but without interpretation.
The other parables have been added for topical rea
sons as parables of the kingdom, but really they pre
sent the kingdom from different points of view. The
common feature of the three parables is the good
seed, sown by Jesus. This good seed is the
word of Jesus which is planted by his teaching
in the minds of his hearers. These minds are, in the
parable of the Sower, like different kinds of soil.
They are described as the superficial, the obdurate,
IMk. iv. 1-34; Mt. xiii. 1-53; Lk. viii. 4-18.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 61
the preoccupied, in whom the good seed of the word
remains unfruitful. Only the open-minded and
attentive are fruitful and some of these are exceed
ingly fruitful. It is evident from this parable that
Jesus conceives of the kingdom of God as established
in the minds of men by the word which he taught,
and that it was by hearing and doing his word that
the kingdom grew among men.
The parable of the Seed growing secretly takes up
the fruitful seed of the parable of the Sower, and
may thus be regarded as supplementary thereto. It
graphically describes the growth of the good seed in
successive stages, the sowing of the seed, the appear
ing of the tender blade in the ground, the growth of
the ear, and last of all the harvest. It represents
the coining as a gradual growth through the develop
ment of the word of Jesus in the mind, and in a fruit
ful Hfe.
The parable of the Tares may also be regarded as
supplementary, for it takes up the growth of the good
seed in the midst of evil seed. In the parable of the
Sower there are thorns, here there are tares which
so greatly resemble the wheat that they cannot be dis
tinguished until the ear begins to form into fruit;
when it is too late to remove them. The tares are
plants of the devil. It was not said in the parable of
the Sower that the thorns came from the devil ; but it
was suggested, because his activity was mentioned
in connection with the removal of the good seed from
the minds of the superficial.

62 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
The three parables deal with essentially the same
theme, the Word of Jesus in the mind and life of
men. The parable of the Sower lays stress on the
origin of the kingdom, the parable of the Seed grow
ing secretly upon its gradual growth, the parable of
the tares upon its consummation. Thus we have the
kingdom as established by Jesus, the kingdom in its
growth in the world, and the kingdom in its consum
mation. Jesus uses the kingdom in these three dif
ferent phases and it is not always easy to distinguish
them.^ 1. The kingdom as established by Jesus in the
parable of the Sower, was by his preaching the Word
of God. This is connected with a call to repentance
and to faith in Jesus and his Word. Jesus calls men
to enter his kingdom. The parable of the Marriage
feast^ represents the calls going forth to those who
would naturally be regarded as the appropriate
guests. When these excuse themselves, the poor
and the sick are invited, and become the guests.
These are doubtless the publicans and sinners. So
Jesus said in his Woes upon the Pharisees that the
Pharisees shut the kingdom against men, "for ye
enter not in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that
are entering in, to enter."*
So in the parable of the Two Sons,* the one who
promised to go and did not is the Pharisee, the other
who refused to go, and subsequently repented and
» Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 316 sq. 'Lk. xiv. 15-24 ; Mt. xxii. 1-10.
» Mt. xxiii. 13. « Mt. xxi. 28-32.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 63
went, represents the publicans and harlots, who enter
the kingdom of God before the Pharisees, for they
repent and believe.
Inthe parable of the King's Son,^ Jesus represents
that the vineyard of God, the kingdom of God, which
the Pharisees held in trust, would be taken away
from them, because of their rejection and killing of
the King's Son, and given to others. That is, the
kingdom of God of the Old Testament was to pass
out of the hands of the Pharisees into the hands of
those who accepted the King's Son, namely the dis
ciples of Jesus.
So Jesus said to Nicodemus that birth from heaven
by the water and the Spirit was necessary in order
to see the kingdom and enter into it.^ This evidently
refers to baptism by the Spirit and by water; the
extemal ceremony representing and sealing the
internal change. The baptism by the Spirit here
is evidently the baptism which Jesus has the author
ity to impart, and which in fact he first imparted on
the day of Pentecost when he established his king
dom among men. So Jesus said to Pilate at the in
quiry in the Praetorium just before his crucifixion:
"My kingdom is not of this world," "I am a king.
To this end have I been born, and to this end am I
come into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth. ' '* Thus his kingdom is a kingdom which
he established by being witness to the truth; it is a
iMt. xxi. 33-46; Mk. xii. 1-12; Lk. xx. 9-19.
2Jn. iii. 3-7. 3 jn. xviii. 33-38.

64 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
kingdom of truth. It is heavenly in its origin and
not earthly. It is in accordance with this conception
that Jesus, in his Perean ministry, said to the Phari
sees who inquired when the kingdom of God should
come: "The kingdom of God cometh not with ob
servation : neither shall they say, Lo, here ! or, There !
for lo, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you."^
The kingdom of God was present to the Pharisees in
the king Jesus whom they did not recognize; in his
disciples whom he had gathered by his teaching and
preaching, and whom the Pharisees did not estimate.
It was yet in an unorganized condition. It was in
the stage of planting. The seed was still beneath the
surface of the ground. The word was in the minds
of the disciples. It had not yet had time to sprout
forth even in the blade.
2. The kingdom of God, according to the preaching
and the prediction of Jesus, was near at hand. Jesus
said to his disciples in a logion, which is now out of
place, but doubtless was given toward the close of his
ministry : " There be some of them that stand here.
Who shall in no wise taste of death.
Till they see the kingdom of God." ^
This implies that during the generation then upon
the stage of history the kingdom of God would be
established. It is in accord with this that Jesus said
in another logion which also seems out of place :
" This generation shall not pass away
Till all things be accomplished." '
1 Lk. xvii. 20-21. 2 Mk. ix. 1; Mt. xvi. 28; Lk. ix. 27.
3Mk. xiii. 30; Mt. xxiv. 34; Lk. xxi. 32.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 65
At the institution of the Lord's Supper Jesus said:
" I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine.
Till that day when I drink it new in the kingdom (of God)." *
This is a prediction that ere another supper the king
dom of God would be established.
When Simon, as the spokesman of the Twelve,
recognized Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus named him
Peter and made him the rock of his house and the
porter of his kingdom. This certainly implied that
St. Peter would in his ministry be the chief means of
establishing the kingdom and opening its doors to
men.^ In his farewell discourse* he instructed his
disciples to remain in Jerusalem until they were en
dowed with the power of the Spirit.
The advent of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost
was thus the establishment of the kingdom in an
organic form, visible and tangible. The tender blade
had appeared. The kingdom now had its period of
growth in the world as the parable of the Seed grow
ing secretly and the parable of the Tares show ; the
one gives its normal growth, the other its growth in
the midst of conflict with evil. This also appears in
other parables probably coming from the Perean
ministry. The parable of the Grain of Mustard
Seed* contrasts the smallness of the seed time with
the greatness of the consummation. The parable of
the Leaven' represents the growth of the kingdom as
a process of leavening.
1 Mk. xiv. 25. 2 Mt. xvi. 17-19. 3 Lk. xxiv. 49.
*Mk. iv. 30-32; Mt. xiii. 21-32; Lk. xiii. 18-19.
6Mt. xiii. 33; Lk. xiii. 20-21.
5

66 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
A number of parables, especially late in Jesus'
ministry, represent the kingdom as composed of
various kinds of servants. The parable of Labour
ers in the vineyard^ represents the householder sum
moning his labourers at different times in accordance
with his purpose and rewarding them according to
his good will. The parable of the Pounds,^ which
is only another version of the parable of the Talents,*
represents that the king during his absence gave his
servants trusts of various values. When he re
turns he rewards those that use their trusts and
punishes those who do not use them. In the parable
of the Virgins,* he teaches that the servants should
have their loins girded and their lamps burning to
welcome their lord on his return from the marriage
feast. In several parables' Jesus urges the servants
to be faithful and watchful.
3. The consummation of the kingdom appears in
many of the passages already considered, as the time
of harvest and the time of reward and punishment,
when Jesus comes in his second Advent. The par
able of the Drag-net represents this judgment as the
separation of good and bad fishes after they have
been landed on the shore.® In a beautiful logion, the
king separates between the sheep and the goats,
assigns his rewards and punishments in accordance
with works.'' It is this kingdom of judgment which
is to be feared above all by the wicked, and sought
• Mt. XX. 1-15. 2 Lk. xix. 11-28. ' Mt. xxv. 14 sq.
*Mt. xxv. 1-13; Lk. xii. 35-36.
^Mk. xiii. 34-37; Mt. xxiv. 42-51; Lk. xii. 37-48.
6 Mt. xiii. 47-50. 'Mt. . xxv. 31-46. See p. 203, 204.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 67
above all by the righteous. To the righteous it is
the supreme object of pursuit. They seek first the
kingdom of God.^ It is the Father's good pleasure
to give it to the little flock.^ The parables of the
Treasure hid in the field* and of the Merchant seek
ing choice pearls,* represent the kingdom as worth
all things else, and requiring the parting with all
things in order to obtain it. So Jesus pronounces his
disciples who have become voluntarily poor, as
blessed, because theirs is the kingdom.' And he tells
the Twelve that inasmuch as they have forsaken all,
he appointed them the kingdom, and that they should
sit at the royal table and share in his government of
the kingdom.® Those that trusted in their riches on
the other hand would find it exceedingly hard to
enter into the kingdom at all.''
It is evident from Jesus' teaching as to the king
dom of God that it is essentially ethical in character.
Jesus himself teaches the word which those in the
kingdom are to hear and obey. He assigns the tasks
which are to be faithfully fulfilled. He calls to a
service of love which has exceeding great rewards.
The kingdom can be entered only by a moral change
through repentance and faith. Those who enter it
can only grow in it by fidelity and love. No one can
enter the kingdom of glory who has not been
approved by the judgment of Jesus as worthy
through works of love.

1 Mt. vi. 33; Lk. xii. 31. 2 Lk. xii. 32.
3 Mt. xiii. 44. ' Mt. xiii. 45-46.
« Mt. V. 3. « Lk. xxii. 28-30 ; Mt. xix. 28.
»Mk. X. 23-27; Mt. xix. 23-26; Lk. xviii. 24-27.

VI.
Eepentance and Faith.
Jesus in his preaching attached repentance to the
kingdom, because it is repentance which alone can
gain admission to the kingdom. Eepentance, in the
teaching of the Old Testament prophets, is a turning
away from sin and a turning unto God;^ it is a re
turning so far as it applies to the people of God who
have fallen away from their God into sin. Sin is
essentially failure from the norm of duty, transgres
sion of Law, a turning aside from the way of right
eousness. The way in which sin is to be forgiven,
covered over and obliterated, is by returning to God.
Eepentance is the great word in the teaching of John
the Baptist. It is in Greek, a change of mind,^ that
is in the religious and ethical sphere, as to sin and as
to God. Those who repent of their sins receive re
mission of sin and are baptized as a sign that their
sins are washed away. Jesus accordingly preached
repentance in order to remission of sins, and made it
a condition of entrance into the kingdom of God. He
also made baptism a seal of the purification and re
mission, as an external ceremony of entrance into the
kingdom. In his Galilean ministry Jesus said to the para-

BEPENT ANCE AND FAITH. 69
lytic t ' ' Son thy sins are forgiven thee, ' ' and then he
healed him. It is said that he did this ' ' seeing their
faith. ' '^ Faith in this case must therefore imply re
pentance, and constitute its positive side of turning
unto Christ.
Soon afterwards, at Matthew's feast, Jesus justi
fies himself for eating with publicans and sinners by
saying: "I came not to call the righteous, but sin
ners."^ Luke adds to this sentence of Jesus, "to re
pentance" which certainly was implied, although it
could hardly have been original.
In his ministry alongside of John the Baptist, in
the valley of the Jordan, Jesus authorized his dis
ciples to baptize those who repented, just as the Bap
tist did ;* and it is altogether probable that this prac
tice continued during his ministry, although nothing
more is said of it in the Gospels, except in the dis
course with Nicodemus,* and in the final commission
of the Ministry. In the discourse with Nicodemus,
probably at the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus repre
sents that birth of the water and the Spirit is neces
sary to enter the kingdom ; that is, baptism by water
and the divine Spirit, the internal as well as the ex
ternal baptism. This internal change through the
divine Spirit, is a change of mind and of life such
as is designated elsewhere by repentance and faith.
In his final commission Jesus tells his disciples:

I Mk. ii. 5; Mt. ix. 2; Lk. v. 30.
2Mk. ii. 17; Mt. ix. 13; Lk. v. 32.
3 Jn. iv. 1-2. * Jn. iii. 5.

70 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
"All authority hath been given unto me.
Go ye therefore into all the earth
And make disciples of all nations.
Baptize them into my name
And teach them to keep my commands.
And I am with you unto the End." ^
Jesus usually requires some expression of repent
ance and faith in those whom he heals. This often
appears in the form of obedience to his command
which works the cure. It would be too much to say
however that he never works cures without repent
ance and faith; for there are many narratives of
cures which do not furnish sufficient evidence of any
such change in those who were cured.
Jesus, either before leaving Galilee for the feast of
Pentecost, or on his return after the feast, gives abso
lution to a penitent woman because of her faith and
love.^ It will repay us to consider the passage with
some care, for it is not without difficulty.
A dissolute woman, wept at Jesus' feet, so that
they were wet with her tears. Then she wiped them
with her hair, and anointed them with ointment,
which she had brought for the purpose. Jesus ' host
was a Pharisee, and he objected that Jesus allowed
this disreputable woman to touch him. Jesus re
plies by first giving a parable, showing that a man
will love that creditor the most, whose forgiven debt
is the largest. This parable he applies to his host, a
Pharisee, and this woman. The host showed no

1 Mt. xxviii. 19-20. Cf. Mk. xvi. 15-17. See p. 58.
2 Lk. vii. 47-50.

BEPENTANCE AND FAITH. 71
great love for Jesus, because he was not a penitent
sinner and did not seek forgiveness. He had granted
the hospitality of his table, but he had not treated
Jesus as a guest of honour ; for he had not attended
to the bathing of his feet, or the anointing of his
head, in accordance with the custom for honoured
guests at feasts in the time of Jesus. The woman
however showed great love for Jesus, because she
wept penitential tears in streams over his feet, and
then wiped them and kissed them repeatedly; and
she anointed them with ointment. She did it because
she was a penitent sinner, and loved greatly the Lord
who forgave her much. On this Jesus bases the
principle which he now states : ' ' Her sins, which are
many, are forgiven; for she loved much. But to
whom little is forgiven (the same) loveth little."
Then he said unto her: "Thy sins are forgiven."
< ' Thy faith hath saved thee ; go in peace. ' '^
This passage is a battle ground between Protest
ants and Eoman Catholics. The Eoman Catholic in
terpretation is that love here precedes forgiveness,
the Protestant that love is the evidence of forgive
ness already received. In the parable, love is the
love of gratitude for sins already forgiven. In the
application, the love of the woman is contrasted with
the lack of love on the part of the Pharisee. The
parallel clause: "But to whom little is forgiven (the
same) loveth little" justifies the interpretation of
"for she loved much" as an evidence that much for-

1 Lk. vii. 47-50.

72 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
giveness was already experienced. But when Jesus
pronounced absolution after this exhibition of her
love, in the parallel clauses, "Thy sins are forgiven
thee" and "Thy faith hath saved thee," it seems to
favour the Eoman Catholic opinion that her love pre
ceded the forgiveness and was the recipient of for
giveness. Jesus does not pronounce absolution until
after the wonderful love of the woman has been
shown by her acts. But her loving deeds were an
evidence of her faith in Jesus. Here faith was ex
hibiting itself in extraordinary love, such as Christ
himself shows and advises in his disciples. How
could such faith and love be in the woman, unless she
had already experienced forgiveness, before Jesus
himself absolved her? The words of Jesus were the
confirming words of an already existing experience.
The passage has nothing to do with the doctrine of
justification by faith, in the limits of the Protestant
theology ; but with salvation by faith and forgiveness
of sins as connected with the experience of love.
There is a relation between love and forgiveness, but
that relation is not defined in its chronological or
logical order. There is indeed a love of penitence
which may precede absolution, and a love of grati
tude that follows ; but who shall say when the one
passes over into the other, or when and how they
intermingle. At the feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem Jesus said :
"He that heareth my word, and believeth Him that
sent me, hath everlasting life, and cometh not into

BEPENTANCE AND FAITH. 73
judgment, but hath passed out of death into life."^
It is characteristic of this gospel that it uses life for
the kingdom of God of the Synoptists. The entering
into life is thus the same as entering the kingdom.
It is by hearing the words of Jesus and by faith.
On the last day of the feast of Tabernacles Jesus
said: "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and
drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture
hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. "^ Coming to Christ with thirst of soul is
only another form of believing in Christ.
It was in the early Perean ministry that Jesus gave
the Lord's Prayer.* The two closing petitions be
long here. "And forgive us our trespasses, as we
also have forgiven those who trespass against us;
and bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil. ' ' The forgiveness of God is the measure of our
forgiveness of men. This is emphasized in the sub
sequent logion.
" If ye forgive men their trespasses.
Tour Father will forgive you also (your trespasses) ;
But if ye do not forgive men their trespasses,
Neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." '
We are in peril from evil, and not only need for
giveness for the evil already experienced, but we
need restraint from temptation and deliverance
from evil, that we may sin no more. Eepentance in-

1 Jn. V. 24. 2 Jn. vii. 37-38.
3 See pp. 39 sq. * Mk. vi. 12-15; Lk. xi. 4.

74 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
volves both : the former the negative side, the latter
the positive side.
Jesus in Perea gives a solemn warning to repent.^
He said that the Galilaeans slain by Pilate were not
sinners above all Galilaeans ; that those upon whom
the tower of Siloam fell were not offenders above all
the men that dwell in Jerusalem, but that his hearers
shared in the common sinfulness, and therefore:
"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."
Jesus did not mean that they would perish in the
same way, but he probably meant in similar calam
ities which were about to come on the Jewish people
in Galilee and Jerusalem, unless they repented of
their sins and did the will of God after the example
of their Messiah.
Not far from this time Jesus probably gave the
three parables of Eepentance.^ The parable of the
Lost Sheep is pointed by the word : ' ' There shall be
joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth (more),
than over ninety and nine righteous persons, which
need no repentance. ' '* The parable of the Lost Coin
similarly has attached to it the lesson: "There is
joy in the presence of the angels of God over
one sinner that repenteth."* The prodigal son re
pents and says : "I will arise and go to my father, and
will say unto him: father, I have sinned against
heaven, and in thy sight, I am no more worthy to be
called thy son."'
' Lk. xiii. 1-5. 2 Lk. xv. 3 Lk. xv. 7.
* Lk. XV. 10. sLk. XV. 18-19; cf. v. 21.

BEPENTANCE AND FAITH. 75
At the feast of Dedication in Jerusalem Jesus said
to the Jews: "Except ye believe that I am (he),
ye shall die in your sins."^ He said to the one
healed of his blindness: " 'Dost thou believe on the
Son of God?' He answered and said: 'And who is
he. Lord? that I may believe on him?' Jesus said
unto him : ' Thou hast both seen him, and he it is that
speaketh with thee.' And he said, 'Lord, I be
lieve.' "^ In his allegory of the Good Shepherd
Jesus said : "I am the door : by me if any man enter
in, he shall be saved." "Ye believe not, because ye
are not of my sheep."* To Martha, Jesus said: "I
am the resurrection, and the life : he that believeth on
me, though he die, yet shall he live : And whosoever
liveth and believeth on me shall never die."* She
said: "I have believed that thou art the Messiah,
the Son of God, he that cometh into the world. ' "
On his journey northward through Samaria, many
Samaritans believed on him as the Messiah after
they had seen and heard him.®
Entering Nazareth he proclaimed to his townsmen
in the synagogue that he was the Messianic prophet,
but was rejected by them. He marvels at their un
belief.' On the return of the Twelve from their Mis
sion Jesus said :^
" Woe unto thee, Chorazin !
Woe unto thee, Bethsaida !

1 Jn. viii. 24. 2 Jn. ix. 35-38. » Jn. x : 9, 20.
• Jn. xi. 2.5-26. =Jn. xi. 27. <¦ Jn. iv. 35-42.
' Lk. iv. 16-30; Mt. xiii. 54-58; Mk. vi. 1-6.
8Mt. xi. 20-24; Lk. x. 12-15.

76 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
For if in Tyre and Sidon had been done
The mighty works which were done in you.
Long ago would they have repented.
Sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
(Howbeit I say unto you).
It will be more tolerable in the Judgment
For Tyre and Sidon than for you.
And thou, Capernaum !
Shalt thou be exalted unto heaven?
Thou shalt be brought down unto Hades:
For if in Sodom had been done
The mighty works which were done in thee.
It would have remained until this day.
(Howbeit I say unto you),'
It will be more tolerable in the Judgment
For the land of Sodom than for you."
In the synagogue of Capernaum Jesus presents
himself as the bread of life. In this discourse he
said :^ ' ' This is the work of God, that ye believe on
him whom he hath sent." "I am the bread of life:
he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that
believeth on me shall never thirst. " " This is the will
of my Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son,
and believeth on him, should have eternal life, and I
will raise him up at the last day." "He that be
lieveth hath eternal life. ' '
At Caesarea Philippi, Simon as the spokesman of
the Twelve, said in confession: "Thou art the
Messiah."* This is given in John* subsequent to
1 This sentence is probably an addition of the evangelist to
emphasize the refrain. See Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 240-241.
> Jn. vi. 29-47. 3Mk. viii. 27-30; Mt. xvi. 13-16; Lk. xviii. 18-21.
•Jn. vi. 69.

BEPENTANCE AND FAITH. 77
the discourse in the synagogue of Capernaum. "We
have believed and know that thou art the Holy One
of God."
On his last journey to Jerusalem, by way of Perea,
Jesus gave the parable of the Pharisee and the Publi
can.^ The Pharisee had nothing to repent of. In
his prayer he said : ' ' God, I thank thee that I am not
as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week;
I give tithes of all that I get." The Publican said:
"God cover^ over me, the sinner." Jesus said:
"This man went down to his house justified rather
than the other. ' '* Both Pharisee and Publican wor
shipped the same God, in the same place, in the tem
ple, at the same hour of prayer, the time of the morn
ing sacrifice. The words used by the Publican imply
the sacrificial act. Possibly he had in mind:
" Help us, 0 God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy name ;
And deliver us, and cover over our sins, for Thy name's sake."*
Each of the sacrifices covered over the sinner in
some way; but especially the sin offering with its
blood applied to the divine altar covered over the
guilt which defiled it. The person thus covered over
1 Lk. xviii. 9-14.
2 Cf. Pss. Ixv. 4, Ixviii. 38, in the Greek Version for the same word
llaaiaaSai ='i^'i. The technical term for the covering over sins by
the sacrifice of the sin offering. The translation of A.V. R.V. "be
merciful " is incorrect and leads the mind away from the ritual of
the sacrifice.
3 The logion v. 14b. belongs elsewhere, Mt. xxiii. 12; Lk. xiv. 11.
See p. 210.
< Ps. Lxxix. 9.

78 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
according to the Hebrew ritual was justified and
accepted with God. The Publican made confession
of sin, and a penitential prayer, and was justified in
the temple worship in the observance of the appro
priate ritual. The Pharisee on the other hand
claimed from God justification as a right. He was
entitled to it by his scrupulous fulfilment of the Law,
and that not only of the Ten Words, and the other
ethical parts of the Law, but also of the ceremonial
parts in the matters of fasting and tithing, in which
he went beyond the written Law. Jesus intimates
that the Pharisee was not justified. He was not
justified in the way of covering over sins, because he
did not confess that he was a sinner and take the
ritual method of procuring such justification. He
relied on his legal righteousness ; so that, if there was
a flaw in that, he failed of justification. Jesus inti
mates that there was a flaw in his legal righteousness,
and that he returned home self -deceived and deluded,
an unjustified man. The Pharisaic legal works of
fasting and tithing did not avail. They were not
what God required. They were not the excesses
which pleased him, and had merit in them. The
Pharisees were rebuked by Jesus elsewhere, because
of their neglect of the weightier matters of the Law,
such as kindness and justice, for the sake of the
merit of scrupulous obedience to the minute details
of the ceremonial Law. This Pharisee was doubt
less one of that sort.^

' See pp. 173

BEPENTANCE AND FAITH. 79
On this same journey Jesus took the little children
in his arms and blessed them, and in connection
therewith gave an instructive logion. This appears
in various forms in the double report.^ It is given
most fully in Matthew. The original was probably
as follows: " Suffer little children to come unto me ;
Forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God.
Except ye turn and become as little children.
Ye shall in no case enter the kingdom of God.
Whosoever shall humble himself as a little child.
The same shall be greatest in the kingdom of God."
At Jericho, Zaccheus, a rich publican, seeing Jesus
on his journey, and being recognized by him, invites
Jesus to partake of his hospitality. Jesus' accept
ance brought upon him the usual reproach that he
associated with publicans and sinners. But Jesus
had in view the salvation of this publican. He came
to seek and to save the lost. Zaccheus was at once
brought to repentance and salvation. His repent
ance showed itself in a penance of extraordinary
restitution. He acknowledged that he had sinned as
a publican, and he determined so far as possible to
right all wrongs. "If I have wrongfully exacted
aught of any man, I restore fourfold. ' '^
It was probably in Perea that Jesus gave the par
able of the Two Sons, which however is given by
iMk. ix. 33-37; x. 13-16; Mt. XYiJl, 1-5; xix, 13-15; Us. ix.
46-48; xviii. 15-17.
«Lk. xix, 8.

80 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
Matthew in the group of parables on the third day of
Passion Week. The one of these sons, the Pharisee,
promised to go and work in the vineyard and went
not. The other, representing the publican and
sinner, refused to go, but "afterward he repented
himself and went." Jesus said: "The publicans
and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before
you. For John came unto you in the way of right
eousness, and ye believed him not : but the publicans
and the harlots believed him : and ye when ye saw it,
did not even repent yourselves afterward, that ye
might believe him."^
In Passion Week in Jerusalem Jesus said in the
temple: "While ye have the light, believe on the
light, that ye may become sons of light. " "He that
believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that
set me. And he that beholdeth me beholdeth him
that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that
whosoever believeth on me may not abide in the dark
ness."^ In his last discourse he said to Simon: "I made
supplication for thee that thy faith fail not : and do
thou, when once thou hast turned again, stablish thy
brethren. ' '*
He said to Thomas : "I am the way, and the truth,
and the life ; no one cometh unto the Father, but by
me."* He said to Philip: "Believe me that I am in the
Father and the Father in me : or else believe me for
iMt. xxi, 28-32. 2 Jn. xii. 36-46. 3Lk. x.xii. 32. < Jn. xiv. 6.

BEPENTANCE AND FAITH. 81
the very works' sake." "He that believeth on
me, the works that I do, shall he do also ; and greater
than these shall he do, because I go unto the
Father.'" The disciples say: "Now know we that thou
knowest all things, and needest not that any man
should ask thee : by this we believe that thou comest
forth from God. ' '^
In his intercessory prayer Jesus said: "The words
which thou gavest me, I have given unto them ; and
they received (them) and knew of a truth that I came
forth from Thee, and they believed that thou didst
send me." "Neither for these only do I pray, but
for them also that believe on me through their
word."* In his commission of the ministry Jesus said:
" Whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven ;
Whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." '

1 Jn. xiv. 11-12. 2 Jn. xvi. 30. 3 jn. xvii. 8-20. • Jn. xx. 23.

VII.
The Two Ways.
In Old Testament Ethics there are two ways, the
way of blessing in keeping the Law ; the way of curs
ing in disobedience to the Law; the way of life and
the way of death.^ So in the teaching of Jesus there
are two ways ; the way to the kingdom of glory, the
way of life ; and the way to Gehenna, or the way of
death. This antithesis receives a deeper and a
broader meaning in the teaching of Jesus in accord
ance with his conception of the kingdom. The king
dom of grace which he established in the world, may
be entered by publicans and sinners through repent
ance, faith, and baptism by the divine Spirit ; but the
kingdom of glory can be entered only after a severe
testing by the judge, Jesus himself. Jesus, in his
teaching, first draws this antithesis in the introduc
tion and conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount.
The introduction is given in a series of Beatitudes
and Woes. The Beatitudes were probably but the
four given in Luke. The direct address is preserved
there, and the antithetical Woes show the form of
Luke to be original. Besides Matthew adds several
interpreting phrases, which are correct so far as they
go, but which at the same time, limit and narrow the
teachings of our Lord.
1 See Ps. i. 82

THE TWO WAYS. 83
L
" Blessed are ye poor ; for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are ye that hunger; for ye shall be filled.
Blessed are ye that weep ; for ye shall laugh.
Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you;
For in the same manner did their fathers unto the prophets.
II.
Woe unto you rich! for ye have received consolation.
Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger.
Woe imto you that laugh! for ye shall mourn.
Woe unto you when men speak well of you !
For in the same manner did their fathers to the false prophets."
These Beatitudes set forth the character of those
whom Jesus regards as worthy of the kingdom of
God; those who not only enter it, but have the full
right to it. They greatly err who suppose that Jesus
is here comforting the poor, the hungry, the mourn
ers, and such as are treated contemptuously by men.
He has in mind, according to the scope of this entire
discourse, those who renounce all things for the sake
of the kingdom of God: not those who are poor by
circumstance, but those who are voluntarily poor,
those who have renounced property and goods, in
order to follow Christ and to minister to others.
Matthew inserts "in spirit," and so qualifies "the
poor" to "poor in spirit." This is a proper quali
fication and interpretation, if we take it as Matthew
evidently meant it, to exclude the reference to those
who are merely poor, and so transfer the poverty to

IMt. V. 3-12; Lk. vi. 20-26. See Messiah of the Gospels, pp.
171 sq.

84 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
the disposition of the heart. But he did not mean to
limit the words of Jesus here, so as to make them
teach that the poverty that Jesus speaks of is merely
in ' ' the spirit. " It is real poverty that Jesus had in
mind. By "in spirit" Matthew means voluntary
poverty, a poverty of spirit which involves a poverty
of life.i
Not the poor as such, can claim the kingdom of
God as theirs. They have no right given to them by
their involuntary poverty, or by their failure to se
cure wealth. The rich are not excluded from the
kingdom by their involuntary wealth, or by their suc
cess in the accumulation of wealth. It is only a
voluntary poverty whose motive is Christian love,
that has a claim to the kingdom.
The same is the explanation of the other beatitudes.
Hunger and weeping as such, have no claim to re
wards in the kingdom of God, when they are involun
tary and the result of failures in life, whether on the
part of the people themselves or others. It is volun
tary hunger and voluntary weeping that Jesus has in
mind: that is, such hunger as Jesus himself pre-
1 This is precisely what Jesus meant when he said to the young
ruler later : " Sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me" (Mk. x. 16-22;
Mt. xix. 16-22; Lk. xviii. 18-23) ; and when he said in comment
on the failure to respond to this call : " How hardly shall they that
have riches enter into the kingdom of God! " Mk. x. 23. See p. 237.
The early Fathers so understood it. Clement of Alexandria says
commenting on this passage : " It is not the poor simply, but those
that have wished to become poor for righteousness sake, that he
pronounces blessed — those who have refused the honors of the world
in order to attain the good." Stromata IV. 6.

THE TWO WATS. 85
ferred to suffer in the wilderness, rather than work
a miracle to satisfy it; such hunger as the disciple
must be willing to suffer in the work of the kingdom
of God.^ The weeping is the weeping of self denial,
of the assumption of the cross, the sundering of all
ties, the undergoing of suffering in the work of the
kingdom. The fourth beatitude has been enlarged in both
versions. The phrase that is common and is justified
by the antithesis is : " Blessed are ye when men shall
reproach you." This is enlarged in Luke by the
addition of the phrases : ' ' shall hate you, and when
they shall separate you, and cast out your name as
evil," and all this "for the Son of man's sake."
Matthew enlarges first by a parallel beatitude:
• This is in accordance with the teaching of Jesus, Mt. x. 9-10 :
" Get you no gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses ; no wallet
for your journey, neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff; for the
labourer is worthy of his food." The context indicates that their
food would sometimes be refused them and they would have to suffer
for food. See pp. 225 sq. Here again Matthew qualifies the verb by
inserting the accusative rfpi SLKaioavvriv. This should not be translated
" after righteousness " but " as to," " with respect to righteousness " ;
a hunger and thirst due to the righteousness of the Kingdom. This
was the interpretation of the early Church. It is also characteristic
of the author of the canonical Matthew to lay stress on righteousness
(see pp. 158 sg.). The underlying thought of Jesus was certainly that
those who suffered the pangs of hunger, because of their earnestly
seeking the kingdom, would be filled. The language of the canonical
Matthew especially in the English Versions has led to the misin
terpretation of these words, as if they referred to the disposition of
the soul after righteousness rather than to the appetite of hunger.
That interpretation is certainly erroneous. The thought of Jesus
is clearly in this context, voluntary suffering of hunger, just as he
himself suffered it for the sake of the righteousness of the kingdom
of God.

86 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
"Blessed are they that have been persecuted for
righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven," and then in the Beatitude itself by: "and
persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you
falsely, for my sake. ' ' The reward is also enlarged
in both versions. In the original it was a sufficient
reward that they were treated as the prophets of God
always have been treated. But Luke adds: "Ee
joice in that day, and leap : for behold, your reward
is great in heaven." Matthew adds: "Eejoice, and
be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in
heaven. ' '
It is evident that the fourth Beatitude refers to the
persecution of those who are doing the work of the
kingdom. If our interpretation of these beatitudes is cor
rect, Jesus is pronouncing blessedness upon his faith
ful disciples, who follow him in response to his
call; those who have voluntarily assumed poverty,
hunger, sorrow and persecution in the ministry of
the kingdom. These beatitudes therefore present
the ideals of the highest type of Christian life, the
life of entire consecration and absolute devotion to
the service of Christ. They do not present a new
decalogue in place of the old decalogue. They do
not give a series of laws to be followed as a discipline
by all the disciples.^
' They present a call to advance beyond Law into the liberty of
love and to let love have its proper course in the voluntary renuncia
tion of all things for Christ, and the cheerful assumption of the
cross with its poverty, hunger, sorrow and persecution. The re
wards of such a life are great in heaven and in the kingdom of glory.
(See pp. 238 sq.) .

THE TWO WAYS. 87
The antithetical woes given by Luke, which are
evidently original, were woes upon the rich, the full,
the joyous, and those who are approved and honoured
by men. It is evident again that Jesus is not dealing
with the rich as such, the joyous as such, the hon
oured of men as such. The scope of the blessings
and the woes is in the relation of men to the kingdom.
The woe is upon the rich who do not use their riches
for the advancement of the kingdom of God; upon
those who feast and enjoy themselves without regard
to the needs of the hungry and the suffering of
others; upon those who find their reward in the
approval and flattering regards of their fellow-men.^
Jesus is thinking here of the hypocritical rich, the
selfish, the exacting, the inconsiderately prosperous,
those who do not consider the poor, or the interests
of the kingdom of God.^
1 These remind us of the woes later pronounced upon the Pharisees
by Jesus. See pp. 173 sq.
' Cf. Dives and the rich Fool of the later parables. See pp. 190, 268
sq. Christian ministers often make grave mistakes in their use of these
Beatitudes, especially in our time, when it is the fashion in some
quarters to make poverty in itself a, merit, and wealth in itself a
damning sin. There is no merit in poverty unless it is voluntary,
and has been the result of the voluntary relinquishment of riches.
There is no demerit in wealth, unless it refuses to heed the call of
Jesus to use that wealth for the relief of human woe and for the
redemption of mankind. The measure of that use can only be de
termined by the rich man himself in the presence of God and under
the call of Jesus. Experience shows that men who have gained their
wealth by their great business ability, are able to do more for their
fellowmen and for Christ's cause by using their capital as a talent
put in their trust by the Master, and that they can give the kingdom
of God greater revenue through their skilful management of this
capital, than if it were all relinquished and given into the hands

88 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
The four additional beatitudes given by Matthew
alone are appropriate here for the reason that they
are cognate in teaching. These are in accord partly
with the teaching of Jesus elsewhere, and partly with
the teaching of the Old Testament.
1. " Blessed are the meek ; for they shall inherit the land."
This is a word of the Old Testament. The meek are
the afflicted of the Psalter, who suffer persecution
from the enemies of the kingdom of God.^ They will
inherit the land of promise, which is essentially the
same as the kingdom of God.
2. "Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy."
These are they who are kind and compassionate to
others, having the kindness of God and of Christ.^
3. " Blessed are the pure in mind ; for they shall see God."
These are the pure in mind of the Psalter* who have
an acknowledged right to be the guests of God in Zion.
They are permitted to dwell in His presence and to
seek His face in the sacred places.
4. " Blessed are the peacemakers ; for they shall be called sons
of God."

of less skilful ecclesiastical financiers. No man, or church, has any
right to lay down a law for these gifts of love. There is only one
principle for the rich and poor, and for all men, and that is love to
Christ. The compulsory relinquishment of wealth and undergoing
of the cross, is not meritorious, whether that compulsion is physical,
or from civil or ecclesiastical law. It is the voluntary, loving re
nunciation of wealth and rights, above and beyond Law, that is
alone meritorious in the sight of Christ and God.
' New Hebrew Lexicon, BDB ; the word '3j;.
2 It is probable that the original Hebrew was n*Dn and non. See
pp. 115, 174 sq. 3 Pss. xxiv. 4; Ixxiii. 1.

THE TWO WAYS. 89
These are they who take part in the work which is
especially that of Christ himself, reconciling men to
God and to one another. It is a divine work as it is
a work of love, and those who engage in it are sons of
God just as those who have the perfect love are sons
of God.^ These four beatitudes give additional
qualifications of those who will shine in the kingdom
of glory.
The Sermon on the Mount concludes with several
antitheses of a similar character to the introduction.
Luke is to be followed for this material rather than
Matthew. The first of these is an antithesis of good and evil
trees.2 The original of the parable of the Trees,
which underlies the three versions, was probably
this. " The good tree bringeth not forth evil fruit.
And the evil tree bringeth not forth good fruit.
By their fruits ye know them.
1 Lk. vi. 35-36. See pp. 106-108.
2Mt. vii. 15 introduces the parable of the trees and their fruit.
" Beware of the false prophets.
Who come unto you in sheep's clothing;
Within they are ravening wolves.
By their fruits ye shall know them.''
This is not given in Luke and seems to be too early in the teaching
of Jesus. It is however appropriately introduced here as an
illustration of the parable. The Parable is given in Mt. vii. 16-20;
Lk. vi. 43-44, and in another version in Mt. xii. 33. It is difficult
to decide which is the more original, all the more that Luke gives
an additional Logion vi. 45, which is not in Mt. vii., but is in Mt. xii.
34-35. Weiss and Wendt think that the latter is given by Mt. xii.
in its appropriate place. But Luke here, as elsewhere, is more
correct.

90 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
Do men gather figs of thorns?
Or do they gather grapes from brambles ?
Every tree is known by its own fruits."
The ethical principle is, that just as a tree is known
by its fruits so a man is known by his conduct,
whether he is a good, or a bad man. We must judge
by deeds not by words.*
The second antithesis is between the good and the
evil treasure.^
" The good man out of his good treasure ' bringeth forth good
things ;
And the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil
things :
Out of the abundance of the mind his mouth speaketh."
The evil-minded speak evil; the good-minded speak
good. Men may be hypocritical and speak good
when they are evil, but the reverse can hardly be true.
Good men cannot speak evil. And even hypocrites
do not always keep their tongues in check. A little
carelessness, a loose rein, and evil runs over their
lips and tongue ; so that eventually they are detected.
The third antithesis is between the wise and the
foolish builder. The one hears the words of Jesus
and does them. The other hears and does them not.

1 The sentence : " Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit
is hewn down and cast into the fire " ; is probably an addition.
2 Lk. vi. 45. This is given by Mt. xii. 34-35 in another connection.
Luke is here correct.
'' rrji Kapdia; is not in the best texts of Matthew. It is an insertion
of Luke to explain and prepare for the use of KapSia in the appli
cation, which in his text follows the logion, while Matthew lets it
precede and so connects it with the direct address to the Pharisees.

THE TWO WAYS. 91
The former is compared to one who builds his house
upon the rock, the latter to one who builds his house
upon the sand. The storm of judgment comes. The
one house withstands the storm, and remains safe
and sound. The other is overcome and falls in great
disaster.* We shall now consider those other passages re
lating to the antithesis of the two ways, which are at
tached to the Sermon on the Mount by Matthew, al
though they really belong elsewhere as given in other
passages of the Evangelists. A logion is attached to
Jesus' interpretation of the law against adultery.^
It probably belongs to the Perean ministry. We
may arrange the latter logion, which comes first and
is common to the three evangelists, thus :
" Woe unto the world, because of occasions of stumbling !
It must needs be that occasions of stumbling come;
But woe to that man through whom the occasions of stumbling
come!
If anyone cause one of these little ones to stumble.
It were better that a great millstone were hanged about his
neck.
And that he should be sunk in the depth of the sea."
The little ones of Christ are protected against those
who would injure them, by a woe upon their oppres
sors, more fearful than a terrible death. This pen-
' See pp. 51 sq.
2Mt. v. 29-30. But in Mk. ix. 43-48; Mt. xviii. 8-9, it is at
tached to the incident of Blessing little Children. It is there pre
ceded by a cognate logion which may be indeed part of the same,
namely Mk. ix. 42; Mt. xviii. 6-7. But this latter is given by Lk.
xvii. 1-2.

92 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
alty is now brought out in the three triplets that
follow •}
"If thy hand cause thee to stumble, cut it off;
It is better for thee maimed to enter into life.
Than to have two hands and be cast into Gehenna.
If thy foot cause thee to stumble, cut it off;
It is better for thee halt to enter into life.
Than to have two feet and be cast into Gehenna.
If thine eye cause thee to stumble, cast it out;
It is better for thee with one eye to enter into life,
Than to have two eyes and be cast into Gehenna."
The several versions use life and kingdom of God
as substitutes one for the other. Gehenna is ex
plained in the various versions by "unquenchable
fire"; "where their worm dieth not and the fire is
not quenched"; "everlasting fire"; and "Gehenna
of fire. "2
In answer to the question "Are they few that be
saved?" Jesus gives a touching logion, probably
during the Perean ministry.* Salvation to Jesus,
means in this context as usual, that salvation which
consists in entrance into the kingdom of glory, after
having been approved by an act of judgment at its
gates.*

iMt. v. 29-30; xviii. 8-9; Mk. ix. 43-48.
2 See General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture, pp.
90, 91.
3Mt. vii. 13-14, 21-23 which is given in its historical position in
Lk. xiii. 23-30.
* Owing to a very modern use of salvation as applying to the be
ginning of a Christian life and the entrance into the kingdom of
grace by faith and baptism, this passage is ordinarily misapplied to
conversion. (See Messiah of fhe Gospels, pp. 204 sq.)

THE TWO WAYS. 93
The two versions lead to this original.
" Strive to enter in through the narrow gate,
For broad is the way that leadeth unto Apoleia,
And many are they who enter thereby.
For straightened is the way that leadeth unto Life,
And few are they who find it."
Apoleia is the Abaddon of the Old Testament, the
place of the lost immediately after death. A broad
way through this world leadeth thither, and the mass
of mankind go on that way until they die and enter
therein. The life is the life everlasting, correspond
ing with kingdom of glory, which lies beyond the
judgment day, at the time of the resurrection. A
narrow gate must be entered then and a straightened
way leads on through this world until that day is
reached ; therefore few find it.
Luke gives, immediately after the previous logion,
condensed by him, another logion which is closely
related to it,* The original was probably the fol
lowing :
" When once the master of the house has risen up.
And when he has shut the door,
And ye begin to stand without.
And to knock at the door
And to say : ' Lord, Lord,
Open the door unto us.'
He will answer and say unto you:
' I know you not whence you are.'

1 Lk. xiii. 25 sq. Matthew gives it in a condensed form im
mediately before the closing logion of the Sermon on the Mount,
Mt. vii. 22-23.

94 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
Then ye will begin to say : ' Lord, Lord,
Did we not eat and drink in thy presence?
Didst thou not teach in our streets?
Did we not prophesy by thy name?
Did we not by thy name cast out demons?
Did we not many miracles by thy name ? '
Then he will answer and say unto you,
' I know you not whence you are.' " '
Here we have a judgment scene at the close of the
dispensation. The pleas are touching and appar
ently strong. Those who plead recognize Jesus as
sovereign lord. They have been his disciples. They
have been admitted to the familiarity of his meals.
They have had apostolic privileges. They have pro
phesied, cast out demons, and wrought miracles in
his name. What more could they have done? What
apostle could have done more? And yet they are re
jected! The reason is very evident. They had no
real acquaintance with the Lord. As the evangelist
explains, they were workers of iniquity, they were
evil-doers. Another logion is given here by Luke, which seems
to be in its appropriate place, and yet it is given by
Matthew in connection with another story.^ The
version of Matthew is fuller and nearer the original.
It is appropriate for study here.
" Many will come from the East and the West,
And will sit down in the kingdom of God
With Abraham, Isaac and Jacob:
But the children of the kingdom will be cast into Gehenna."
1 The last line, " Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity," is an
addition of the evangelist. 2Mt. viii. 11-12.

THE TWO WAYS. 95
The children of the kingdom are those who belong
to the kingdom and have an inheritance in it ; namely
just those professing Christians of Luke, or the chil
dren of Abraham, of Matthew. But they will be
shut out as workers of iniquity, when men from all
parts of the earth will enter after being approved at
the gate.*
A concluding logion, a couplet, is now given.^ The
version of Luke is fullest, and seems to be the most
original. " Behold there are last which shall be first.
And there are first which shall be last."
Those first in call and privilege of inheritance,
anticipated, preceded, and their places in the king
dom taken, by those who came long afterwards,
and who used their late call and advantage to the
full. It is ever so in morals: it is ever so in
life. We may conclude with another logion, inserted in
the Sermon on the Mount by Matthew, which puts in
antithesis God and Mammon.* Luke attaches it to
the parable of the Unjust Steward, where it probably
belongs :

1 Lk. adds to flrst line " from the north and the south," to the
third "all the prophets"; but these were not original. Matthew
substitutes for Gehenna of the original " into outer darkness " and
further explains it as usual by: "there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth."
2Mt. vi. 24; Lk. xvi. 13.
3 Mk. x. 34, and Mt. xx. 16.

96 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
" No one can serve two masters ;
For either he will hate the one and love the other;
Or else he will hold to one and despise the other:
Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."
Men must take their choice between God as the Mas
ter, the supreme ethical norm, or Gold. They can
not divide service between the two. They cannot
serve God and Mammon at the same time.

vni.
Godlike Love.
The great theme of the Sermon on the Mount was
Love. Immediately after the Beatitudes Matthew*
inserts a number of ethical logia, which are given
elsewhere with more propriety in Luke.^ It then
gives a long discussion as to the Law* which could
hardly have been given prior to the Perean ministry,
or the close of the Galilean ministry ; probably some
time during the former, as we should judge from
some similar logia in Luke.* Even this discourse
has other elements mixed with it that are given else
where." But Luke lets the teaching of Jesus as to Love
immediately follow the Beatitudes and he is doubt
less correct. He begins this part of the discourse of
Jesus with the words: "But I say unto you." The
clause to which this is an antithesis does not appear
in Luke. It is however given in Matthew in the so-
called lex talionis, and in this Matthew is doubtless
correct. Jesus said: "Ye have heard that it was
said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' "®
1 Mt. V. 13-16.
2Lk. viii. 16; xi. 33; xiv. 34-35. Cf. Mk. iv. 21; ix. 50.
3Lk. V. 17-37.
*Lk. xvi. 17-18; xii. .58-59.
6Mk. ix. 43-47; Mt. xviii. 8-9; Mk. x. 11; Mt. xix. 9.
«Mt. V. 38.
7 97

98 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
This law is in the Covenant code in connection with
the pentade of injuries to the person.
' ' But if hurt transpire, thou shalt give person for
person, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand,
foot for foot, burning for buming, wound for wound,
bruise for bruise."*
"Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for
tooth; according as one puts a blemish in a man, so
shall it be put in him. ' '^
"Person for person, eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot. ' '*
This legal principle is thus in three different codes.
The common language is what is quoted by Jesus.
He is here dealing, therefore, with the three primary
codes of the Old Testament Law, and not with any
traditional use or interpretation of them. It is evi
dent that Jesus rises far above these rules. He does
not antagonize them.
He does not oppose the lex talionis, as a prin
ciple of judicial procedure; but he advises his dis
ciples not to exact their rights in damages from
others. The Old Testament did not require a man to
insist upon damages in kind. It allowed compensa
tion except for murder. But Jesus goes further and
counsels his disciioles to suffer wrong without de
manding punishment in kind, or even compensation.
The original at the basis of both versions was prob
ably: 1 Ex. xxi. 23-25. 2 Lv. xxiv. 20 (H). 3Dt. xix. 21.

GODLIKE LOYE. 99
" But I say unto you : resist not evil.
Whosoever smiteth thee on the cheek.
Turn him the other also.
Whosoever taketh away thy coat,
Let him have thy cloak also.
Whosoever compelleth thee to go a mile.
Go with him twain.
Whosoever would borrow of thee.
Give him what he asketh.
Whosoever taketh away thy goods.
Ask them not again from him. .
As ye would that men should do to you.
Do ye also to them likewise."
1. The smiting on the cheek, according to the lex
talionis, would grant the right that the smiter should
be smitten in the same place in retribution. Jesus
says: do not exact this just retribution allowed by
Law; rather let him smite again.
2. The Law gives the creditor the right to the
under garment, but not to the outer garment, except
during the day-time,* because it was the poor man's
covering at night. Jesus says: do not claim your
reserved right ; let him have the outer garment also.
3. There were restrictions to forced service ex
acted by public officials. A man might appeal to his
legal rights, not to go more than a mile. Jesus says :
no, forego your right; go with him two miles.
4. When a man would borrow, and asks ; give him
what he has no right to claim.
5. If a man take away your goods secretly or
violently without permission, he has no right to them,
1 Ex. xxii. 26-27; Dt. xxiv. 13.

100 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
they are not his ; but suffer the wrong, do him no in
jury by asking for their return.
All these illustrations cluster about personal
rights, about which men make much. Most of the
litigation and strife of social and commercial life is
just here. Jesus urges not to insist on rights, but
rather to submit to wrongs. Luke gives a general
principle of guidance as a summing up,* namely the
so-called Golden Eule. It is similar to a favorite
saying of Eabbi Hillel.^ Tobit* also has it: "Do
that to no man which thou hatest. ' '*
The implication here is that you would not have
others act to you on the principles of strict retribu
tive justice. You would not wish them to withhold
from you everything except your rights. You would
not be pleased if all your fellow-men acted towards
you on exact justice, fencing you off from everything
to which you had no right, and strictly shutting you
up within your rights. Life would be intolerable on
this mechanical principle. As we would have kind
ness from others we should do kindness to them.
This is another mode of stating that love is the
supreme test.
All this is in the sphere of the liberty of Christian
love. It is not a Christian law in place of a lower
Jewish law. No one has a right to exact such self-
sacrificing conduct of another. You cannot trans-
1 This is given by Mt. vii. 12 out of plaee.
2 Talm. Babli. Sahb., p. 31. " Quod tibi ipsi odiosum est, proximo
ne facias, nam haec est tota lex."
3Tob. iv. 15. * Messiah of Gospels, p. 7.

GODLIKE LOVE. 101
form a loving deed into a rightful duty ; for it is the
very nature of love that it transcends duty: it ex
ceeds rights of all kinds. Such doing to others in
accordance with the principle of love is not blind. It
recognizes the rights of others and the just limits to
their claims, when it is ready to exceed them. It
sees clearly its own rights, when it is willing to
forego them. Love is the guide in every case, and it
is free to act, or not to act, in accordance with its
own higher instincts.
There are those who have supposed that Jesus was
instituting a new law, or new pentade of rights in
contradiction to the pentade in the Law.* This is not
so. If so, he would be violating the Law, which he
expressly disclaims.^ He does not deny the legal
rightfulness of the lex talionis. Courts of justice
must now as ever proceed on that principle. But
Jesus calls upon his disciples to rise above Law into
the liberty of love, and not to claim their rights ; but
to forego the desire to injure others by retributive
justice. We cannot however make even this teaching of
Jesus into a law to Christians without destroying the
liberty of love. All such conduct is what may be
called work of supererogation ; that which Law can
not ask ; that which duty does not exact. There are
circumstances indeed when love shows that these ex
hortations of Jesus cannot safely be followed. It is
safe to say that love forbids a man in many cases to
I Ex. 21. 2Mt. V. 17.

102 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
exact blow for blow ; but there are other cases where
the safety of the community requires that assault and
battery should be punished, not only by the authori
ties, but by the individual in defence of himself or
family. God punishes men. Does he violate love
by so doing? Civil law and eccelesiastical law punish
injuries to persons. Is all crime to escape punish
ment? Non-resistance may become an encourage
ment to crime; in such a case love demands resist
ance. But the principle that Jesus lays down, is a
guiding principle. Better suffer wrong twice over
than do wrong once. Be patient and forbearing
under injuries. Turning the other cheek may be
done in defiance, entirely contrary to the spirit of the
exhortation. If it can be done in love, it may be
done. If it cannot be done freely in love, it cannot be
done as Jesus exhorts.
Two of these illustrations have to do with unjust
exactions : one of a creditor, the other of a tyrannical
official. Let the creditor have more than his due, rather
than less ; better that he should wrong you, than that
you should wrong him. This precept also has its
limitations. It is capable of abuse, by the selfish
and the criminal. If your loving act should be trans
formed into a right of the creditor, it would cease to
have the freedom of the loving act. There are laws of
property, which the Christian must adhere to for the
sake of others. There are circumstances under
which it is more of a sacrifice to seek redress than to

GODLIKE LOYE. 103
forego it. Love may demand the hardship of mak
ing the resistance to wrongs against property for the
good of society. The principle of love and the dis
position to relinquish rights rather than enforce
them, should dominate the Christian in all commer
cial transactions. Better to be a lamb than a bull
or a bear; and yet the Christian may have to be a
bear, fighting for his cubs, and a bull battling for his
herd. Let the public officer exact of you more than his
right, rather than show any disrespect to public
authority. There are limits to this also. The public
officer may be a tyrant to be overthrown for the pub
lic good, or a scoundrel to be resisted and forced
from his office for the benefit of society. The prin
ciple of love will determine every case of casuistry
here also.
The last cases are cases in which the poor ask for
relief, either in the form of a gift, or of a loan. We
should have the spirit of kindness and brotherly love
to relieve by giving a loan to those in necessity. But
there are limits here also. Better make mistakes in
giving and loaning than in withholding needed help.
But we should not give or loan when we have suffi
cient reason to think that the gift or loan will do
harm rather than good; e. g., when it would be an
encouragement to a life of improvidence, or to a life
of professional begging. The principle of love then
commands us to withhold the gift or loan. Giving
and loaning to the poor should be done wisely and

104 TEE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
systematically, not indiscriminately and without
knowledge. There are those who oppose systematic
help and encourage indiscriminate giving on the
basis of these words of Jesus, but wrongly so. Here,
as in all cases, the precepts have to be taken to the
fire of love to be read aright in any given case.
This giving and loaning has nothing whatever to
do with the giving and loaning for commercial en
terprises,' the giving or loaning money or property
to increase the gains of others. Jesus does not con
template such a commercial situation, and his pre
cepts as to giving and loaning do not apply to it.
We have to consider that Jesus has started out with
the lex talionis, the law of exact retribution. He ex
horts us not to exact retribution for our own individ
ual injuries, but rather in the spirit of love to suffer
much greater injury than to do injury even in just
retribution; not to exact our rights; not to resist
wrongs, commercial, political or social; but rather
to suffer greater wrongs than to do wrongs. ' ' Suffer
wrong rather than do wrong; submit to injustice
rather than be unjust; forfeit your rights rather
than deprive others of their rights"; that is his
teaching. The lex talionis leads in necessary sequence to its
antithesis, the principle of love. The traditional
Law which Jesus cites, was :
"Te have heard that it was said.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy." '

> Mt. V. 43.

GODLIKE LOVE. 105
This is omitted by Luke, but is really required by the
adversative clause in which Jesus introduces the ex
hortation of love. The law of love is :*
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
"The stranger that sojourneth with you shall be
unto you as the homebom among you, and thou shalt
love him as thyself. "^ The stranger is included
with the native as an object of love. But this
stranger was one dwelling in the land; an alien
neighbor. The law commands to exterminate the enemy, the
Canaanites. "But of the cities of these peoples, which the Lord
thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, thou shalt
save alive nothing that breatheth : but thou shalt put
them under the ban ; the Hittite and the Amorite, the
Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebu
site."* "Thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek
from under heaven."*
"An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into
the assembly of Yahweh; even to the tenth genera
tion shall none belonging to them enter into the as-
sembly of Yahweh forever. Thou shalt not seek
their peace, nor their prosperity all thy days for
ever.'" These laws found expression in the spirit
of the Prophets and psalmists.

•Lv. xix. 18. 2Lv. xix. 34.
3Dt. XX. 16-18. *Dt. xxv. 17-19.
' Dt. xxiii. 3-6.

106 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
" O daughter of BabJ^lon, that art to be destroyed ;
Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones
against the rock." ^
Compare Nehemiah 's curses on Tobiah, the Ammon
ite, and Sanballat. "Cover not their iniquity, and let
not their sin be blotted out from before thee. ' '^ The
traditional law as to hating enemies had a sufficient
basis in the teaching of the Old Testament.
But Jesus builds on the law of love of the code of
Holiness, and extends it beyond the neighbor,
whether native or foreign, to the enemy.
His sentences of love are among the grandest in
the Gospels. A careful study of the parallels,* leads
to the opinion that the original of Jesus ' words was
as follows.
" Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you.
Bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefuUy
use you. n.
If ye love them that love you, what thank have ye?
For even publicans love those that love them;
If ye do good to them that do good to you, what thank
have ye?
For even sinners do good to those that do good to them;
And if ye salute your brethren, what do ye more than others ?
For even the Gentiles salute their brethren;
And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what
thank have ye?
For even sinners lend to sinners to receive again as much.

» Ps. exxxvii. 8-9. 2 Ne. iv. 5. » Mt. v. 44-48 ; Lk. vi. 27-36.

GODLIKE LOVE. 107
III.
Love your enemies, and do good without hoping to receive ;
And your reward will be great, and ye will be sons of the
Most High;
Who maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good.
Who sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Who is kind toward the thankful and the evil.
Be ye therefore loving as your Father is loving."
Thus Jesus sums up all human conduct in love,
love to all, love even to enemies, persecutors, the
worst of men. There are four distinct clauses of
love. 1. Love yoiir enemies. Even publicans give love
for love. The Christian exceeds that measure of
quid pro quo, and loves those who love not, and even
those who hate. This is the excess of love, which
has merit in it, which cannot be repaid by those who
are the recipients of it.
2. Do good to them that hate you. Even sinners
repay kind deeds with kind deeds; that is in the
realm of rights. But the Christian exceeds that
measure and does deeds of kindness to those that
hate him, and are unkind and unjust to him; he re
wards good for evil. Here is the merit of the excess
of love which those who receive it cannot repay.
3. Bless them that curse you. The Gentiles salute
their brethren, when they meet. It is right so to do.
The Christian exceeds; he salutes with a blessing
those who will not salute him. He blesses with
blessings those who meet him with curses. Here
again love exceeds rights and gains a merit which is
above law.

108 THE ETHICAL- TEACHING OF JESVS.
4. Pray for them that despitefuUy use you.
Matthew sharpens it into "persecute you." We
would expect a sentence constructed like the previous
ones. Even the Gentiles pray for those who wish
them well. But pray ye for those who do not wish
you well ; those who insult and abuse you. It is not
easy to show the connection of the fourth couplet of
II. with this clause. The introduction of the sentence
respecting lending seems inappropriate, and yet
there may have been a connection through an under
lying thought. For it is evident that that which calls
for prayer from others most easily is loaning or giv
ing to them in their need. Such loaning brings down
blessings of the poor upon the head of those who
lend. They pray: " The Lord reward you. " From
this point of view the sentence respecting lending
may be germane to the thought of prayer for those
that despitefuUy use you. Furthermore, especially
in the Orient, those who are open to insult are the
poor and the needy. Asking for alms, or for a loan,
gives the opportunity for brutal insult and maltreat
ment. Accordingly Jesus says: Sinners lend to
sinners, expecting an equitable return. It is a com
mercial matter with them, an equivalence of rights.
But the Christian lends to those who are unable to
repay. He lends to those who would insult him. He
intercedes with God on behalf of those who persecute
him. There is merit in this excessive love.
Thus at all points Christian love rises above rights
and duties, and knows no limits to its own outreach-

GODLIKE LOVE. 109
ing benefaction. Love to men finds its only measure
in the love of God to men. God is the one great
Lover and the one great Giver. He loves, and gives
in love, to the good and the evil alike ; to the just and
the unjust alike ; to the unthankful and the evil alike.
He is the all-loving. The Christian disciple is to be
like the Father, all loving, and thus be the child of
the Father, who alone can give the reward for all the
abounding excesses of love.
Luke uses the term "merciful." This is suitable
to the context, which sets forth the kindness of God
and makes Him the model of all love. Matthew sub
stitutes for it the more technical "perfect." The
perfection of the Christian, as the perfection of God,
is in holy love, especially in the form of loving deeds
to others.*
Matthew and Luke give, as part of the Sermon on
the Mount, the advice of Jesus respecting love as
exhibited in the estimation of others.^ Luke adds
other material. A careful study of the two reports
gives the following original.*
' riXsioc is used xix. 21 also, nowhere else in the Gospels, in both
cases interpretations of the author of the Gospel and not used by
Jesus. The difference between Matthew and Luke here is due to
a difference in meaning of om in Hebrew and Aramaic. In Aramaic
Dni, means love. This is suited to the context and was doubtless
the word Jesus used. This justifies Matthew's interpretation rt/leiof.
But Luke's o'tKripftuv corresponds with the Hebrew Dim and implies
a Hebrew logion at the basis of his report. xp'?<"'of ^^ Heb. a'aa.
2 This is another form of hypocrisy and very appropriate in con
nection with the three already given by Matthew, but omitted by
Luke. 3 Compare also the logion, Mk. iv. 24 b.

110 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
" Judge not and ye shall not be judged.
Release and ye shall be released.'
Give and good measure shall be given to you.^
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged;
And with what measure ye measure, it shall be measured to
you."
Be loving in your estimation of others. Condemn
them not, but acquit them. Give them good measure
in all your dealings with them. Do all this in tho
eyes of God, who will judge you as you judge them,
and give to you in the same measure of rewards and
punishments you give to them.
Matthew enforces this by a parable of the mote and
the beam.*
" Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye,
But considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Or how canst thou say to thy brother : ' Brother,
Let me cast out the mote that is in thine eye ' ;
When thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine
own eye?
1 " Condemn not and ye will not be condemned " of Luke seems
to be simply explanatory of " judge not." Judge and release are
the two antithetical and complementary parts.
2 This is not given in Matthew, but seems to be original from the
reference to measure given by both Matthew and Luke below, and
by Mk. iv. 24. It is possible however that Mark gives the original
place. But the line " pressed down, shaken together, running over,
shall they give into your bosom " ; while it may be original, yet is
in different style from the context and was probably added as an
enlargement upon good measure.
3 This he does not call a parable. But Luke introduces it by
using the term parable and two sentences which are appropriate to
the context; the one used by Jesus in Mt. xv. 14, with reference
to the Pharisees, the other in Mt. x. 24 where it seems to be in a
better connection. Neither of them belongs here. They disturb the
sequence, which i§ go powerful in Matthew.

GODLIKE LOVE. HI
Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye.
And then shalt thou see clearly,
To cast out the mote that is in thy brother's eye."
The "mote" is rather a splinter. The " beam " is
a log, beam, rafter.
Jesus conceives that it is a hypocrite who is judg
ing here. He is severe in his condemnation of
others, unwilling to condone an offence, insisting oil
the full measure of punishment, when he himself is
immensely more guilty than the man he condemns.
He who is guilty himself is not competent to judge
others. Innocence is needed in order to see clearly
and discriminate between that which is right and that
which is wrong.
A man's sense of personal sinfulness should make
him reluctant to condemn other sinners, and should
rather lead him to be charitable towards them. A
man's liability to temptation should make him con
siderate to those who have fallen in temptation. As
the sentence of Wisdom saith : ' ' Love covereth over
all transgressions. ' '* Anger stirreth up strife : love
does not; love will not search out evil in a man, but
will rather cover it up. Love will not be ready to con
demn, but will always prefer to acquit; will never
condemn until forced to do so.
This passage is aimed at censoriousness towards
our fellowmen, the condemnation of private persons
by private persons. It does not forbid judgment in
courts of justice. There judgment must be pro-
iPr. X. 12; cf. 1 Peter iv. 8.

112 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
nounced on the evidence, and on the evidence men
must be condemned or acquitted. No more does it
forbid us from forming judgments on persons and
things, which force themselves upon us, and where
a decision is necessary in order to right conduct. It
does not teach us to withhold our opinion of great
public questions, or of the conduct of men in our
circle of acquaintance. We must condemn evil and
acquit the good. We must constantly form judg
ments as to what we should do in relation to others.
But the warning is that we should first execute judg
ment on ourselves, before we attempt it upon others :
and that we should not judge others unless we have
an imperative call so to do, in the way of positive
duty. A higher law may suspend for a time the
lower law and require its suspension, but it must be
clearly a higher law. Judge not unless you must, is
therefore a safe rule ; and we must only judge when
higher interests compel us so to do, and then our
judgment should be prompted by love.*
Jesus, in the body of the Sermon on the Mount,
thus sets forth the great principle of his kingdom:
the principle of God-like Love. This is a love which
rises far above rights and Law into the liberty of
Godlikeness. It is manifested on the negative side
' Several passages have been interpolated into the discourse at this
point. (o) The pasage Mt. vii. 6 did not originally belong to this
context, see p. 180. (6) The passage Mt. vii. 7-11 is given by Lk.
xi. 9-13 in circumstances which seem to be original, see p. 40. (c)
Mt. vii. 12 has been considered in its proper connection according to
the order of Lk. vi. 31, see p. 100. (d) Mt. vii. 13-14 is given in
better context in Lk. xiii. 23-24, see p. 93.

GODLIKE LOVE. 113
in the patient endurance of wrong, the relinquish
ment of rights, and selfsacrifice for the good of
others. On the positive side it is manifested in kind
ness and in loving deeds, in charitable judgment of
men in their words and deeds, and a doing good to all
men as God does, whether they are good or evil,
friends or enemies. Such Love constitutes Chris
tian Perfection.*

1 It is evident that his apostles so understood him, see 1 Pt. ii.
19-23; iii. 8-9; iv. 8-9; Jas. ii. 8-9; iii. 13-18; iv. 11-12; Gal. v. 6,
13-25; 1 Cor. xiii. Rom. xii. 9-21; xiv. 13-19; Eph. iv. 31-v. 2; Phil.
ii. 1-8; Col. iii. 12-14. So did the early fathers, see Hermas, Sim.
V. 3; Ignatius, Ep. 9-10; Clement, Eom. xlix. 1; Irenseus, Haer. iv.
7, 8, 9; Dionysius, Epist. ad. Soter. (Eusebius, C. H. iv. 23, 10.)
It is only in modern times and chiefly in the Protestant world that
Jesus has been so generally misunderstood as making Christianity
a higher Law.

IX.
Christlikb Love.
Love, in the teaching of Jesus is sometimes
brought under the category of Law as obligatory,
sometimes is given apart from all Law as in the
realm of liberty for those who would be Godlike and
Christlike. We shall first consider the love of Jesus himself.
His miracles, with few exceptions, were evidently
miracles of love. They were chiefly cures and provis
ions for the bodily needs of men. His love impelled
him to work miracles, at great cost to himself; as in
his Sabbath cures, which so bitterly excited the Phari
sees against him; and especially in his healing the
blind man at the feast of Dedication; and in his
raising of Lazarus from the dead, which more than
anything else brought on the crisis and hastened his
death.* In his introductory Galilean ministry, after he
called Matthew the publican to be his disciple, he
partakes of his hospitality in a farewell feast.^ The
Pharisees murmur because Jesus ate with publicans
and sinners; that is, sat at table with them and had
fellowship with them. Jesus gives the reason in a
logion. ' New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 81 sq.; 91 sq.
2Mt. ix. 9-13; Mk. ii. 13-17; Lk. v. 27-32.
114

CHRISTLIKE LOVE.

115

" They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they
that are sick.
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." '
Jesus was not associating with the publicans and
sinners in the way of social enjoyment. It was not
a question of appropriate companionship. He was
acting as a good physician. His work was among
those who needed him, and not among those who
needed him not. He came to call the sinners, as
Luke rightly interprets, "to repentance," to make
them righteous, so that they might be in accordance
with the holy will of God. The quotation from
Hosea is apt; it indicates what one of the earliest
prophets taught of God's requirements.
"I desire kindness and not sacrifice;
And the knowledge of God, more than burnt-offering."
Jesus was acting in accordance with the prophet's
teaching and the Pharisees were not. He was kind,
loving, merciful to sinners. In this he was the model
for those who are called to follow him.
In the introduction to the mission of the Twelve,
Matthew tells us that Jesus, "when he saw the
multitudes, was moved with compassion for them,
because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep
not having a shepherd."^ Jesus' bowels of sym-
I Matthew, Mark and Luke give both lines. Luke adds to the
second " repentance," which is of the nature of an interpretation.
Matthew adds a citation from Hos. vi. 6 (Greek version) repeated
in Mt. xii. 7. It is exceedingly apt. But in its present order in
Matthew it is interjected between the two lines of the couplet, and
therefore can not be in its original place.
2 Mt. ix. 36-38.

116 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
pathy were moved towards the multitude. Matthew
gives a logion here which is given by Luke in con
nection with the mission of the Seventy.*
" The harvest is plenteous, but the labourers are few.
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest.
That he send forth labourers into his harvest."
His disciples were to have the same bowels of
compassion as their Master had.
On the way from Galilee to Jerusalem to the feast
of Tabernacles,^ James and John would bid fire to
come down from heaven and consume the Samari
tans, who were not hospitable to Jesus and his apos
tles on their way to Jerusalem. But Jesus rebuked
them. Thus he condemned a vindictive and revenge
ful spirit in two of the Twelve.*
During the Perean ministry Jesus gives the three
parables of Love.* The love of seeking the one lost
sheep and the one lost coin, is the love of the Messiah
in seeking sinners and leading them to repentance.
The love of the Father is in welcoming back the
prodigal son, when he comes with penitence, con
fession, and vows of a new life. The father was
moved with compassion, and ran and fell on his neck,
iMt. x. 2; Messiah of the Gospels, p. 238. 2 x.k. ix. 51-56.
3 There are several additions in ancient Mss. here which illus
trate how the text was enlarged for purposes of explanation. Thus
some Mss. add " even as Elijah did"; others: " For the Son of Man
came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them " ; also " ye know
not what manner of spirit ye are of." These were all very good and
proper, but none of them belong to the text of Luke, still less to
the words of Jesus and his apostles at this time.
* Lk. XV.

CHBISTLIKE LOVE. 117
and kissed him. The father makes him a guest of
honour, with the best robe, the ring and shoes, the
fatted calf, and music and dancing. The elder
brother is the ideal Pharisee, and the Pharisaic ideal
of what God and His Messiah should be. The
prodigal son, who transgressed the commandments
and wasted his property in an evil life, deserved
anger and punishment; not love and gifts. If God
dealt with men according to rights. He would deal
with them in that way. But He does not so deal with
them. He deals with them in love, forgiveness and
gifts to the unworthy. That is the Christian way.
The Pharisaic way is unchristian and anti-christian.
In the Perean ministry, Jesus gave the principle
of love renewed and varied explanations in relation
to his disciples. Soon after the journey through
Samaria to Jerusalem, probably soon after the feast
of Tabernacles, in Jerusalem, Jesus gave the par
able of the Good Samaritan. This is appended by
Luke to the question of the lawyer as to the Law.
Jesus sums up the Law in the two commands:
' ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength ; and
thy neighbor as thyself."*
A man was left by thieves, stripped, and half dead

• Lk. X. 25-37. This incident, or another like it, is given in Mk.
xii. 28-34; Mt. xxii. 34-40, in Jerusalem, in the conflicts of Passion
Week ; but Luke omits it there. At all events, so far as the summing
up of the Law in love, it is the same there as here. But the parable
is given only by Luke. It is in response to the question : " Who is
my neighbor ? "

118 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
from blows. The priest passed by on the other side
of the way, ignoring him; so also the Levite. The
Samaritan was moved with compassion, bound up
the sufferer's wounds, brought him to an inn, took
care of him, and left means for his support until his
recovery. The one that proved neighbor unto him
that fell among the robbers was the Samaritan, who
showed mercy on him. Jesus said : " Go and do thou
likewise." This was a practical exhibition of love
to an enemy; for the Jews and Samaritans were
hostile. The priest and Levite were afraid of viola
ting the ceremonial law by contact with a wounded
man, and so regarded the ceremonial law as above
mercy. The Samaritan was extraordinarily kind to
his enemy.
In the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer, given
probably in the earlier Perean ministry,* Jesus
taught his disciples to pray :
" Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass
against us." ^
To this Matthew attaches a logion:*
" For if ye forgive men their trespasses.
Your Father will also forgive you.
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses.
Neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
The love of the Messiah himself is set forth in the
allegory of the Good Shepherd, given at the feast of
Dedication. "I came that they may have life, and
'See p. 39. 'Lk. xi. 3; Mt. vi. 12; cf. Mk. xi. 25.
3 Mt. vi. 14-15.

CHBISTLIKE LOVE. 119
may have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd layeth down his life for his sheep.
... I lay down my life for the sheep. . . . Therefore
doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life,
that I may take it again. No one taketh it away from
me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority
to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again.
This commandment received I from my Father."*
Clearly this was a voluntary relinquishment of life
in the service and defence of his flock, that exhibited
the love of the Messiah, and made him the especial
object of the divine love. It is just this voluntari
ness and freedom of holy love which is its glory.
The principle of forgiveness is set forth in a reply
to a question of St. Peter^ in connection with the
blessing of little children. ' ' Lord, how oft shall my
brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until
seven times?" Jesus saith unto him: "I say not
unto thee. Until seven times ; but Until seventy times
seven." Luke gives a logion on the same subject in
connection with the logion as to stumbling. Inas
much as Matthew attaches this latter logion to the
same incident as the question of St. Peter, it is prob
able that they were spoken at about the same time on
the last journey to Jerusalem through Perea.
"If thy brother sin, rebuke him;
And if he repent, forgive him;
And if he sin against thee seven times in the day,
And seven times turn again unto thee.
And say, I repent ; thou shalt forgive him." '

1 Jn. X. 10-18. 2 Mt. xviii. 21-22. 3Lk. xvii. 3; Mt. xviii. 15.

120 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
The passage in Matthew introduces the parable of
the Unmerciful Servant.* The king is long-suffer
ing, and has bowels of compassion, and forgives ten
thousand talents to one of his servants.^ This ser
vant ought to have followed the example of his
sovereign, and forgiven his debtor one hundred
denaries. As his lord tells him, "Thou oughtest to
have had pity on thy fellow-servant, even as I had
pity on thee. ' ' But he did not. He did the reverse.
He was unpitying, cruel and severe. He shut his
underservant up in prison until he could pay him
all. The unmerciful servant is summoned before the
judgment throne, the forgiveness is recalled, and he
is dealt with in accordance with the lex talionis, and
suffers as he made the other man suffer, in accord
ance with his deserts.
On the basis of this story rises the rule, "So also
my Father will do to you, if ye forgive not each one
his brother from your hearts." God will forgive
only those who forgive. He will deal in accordance
with the lex talionis with those who appeal to the
lex talionis. Those who act in accordance with the
loving God will enjoy His love. Those who insist on
rights, will have to pay God His dues in righteous
retribution. The parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard,* on
the same journey, also illustrates the liberty and the
1 Mt. xviii. 22-35.
2 An enormous sum^ one talent = 6000 denaries, ten thousand
talents ^60 million denaries, 100 denaries =; about $15.
3 Mt. XX. 1-16.

CHBISTLIKE LOVE. I2l
excess of love. Here several groups of men were
hired, the one group at the dawn for a full day's
work, was engaged for a denarius a day. The others
at different hours were engaged for the sum the em
ployer might deem right. He paid them all the same
sum, whether they worked all day or a half day, or
only for a few hours. This did not seem equitable to
those who had worked the whole day through. And
it would not have been equitable, if the employer had
undertaken to deal with them all in accordance with
the value of their services. He did not so undertake.
He agreed with those first employed for a definite
sum, one denarius for the day. He paid them that
sum. He did his duty by them. They received the
full measure of their rights and no more. He agreed
with the others to pay them what was right. Some
of these should have received three quarters of a
denarius, others half, others one quarter of that sum.
He would have dealt with them righteously if he had
paid them no more. But to these he gives more than
their rightful claim. He makes them gifts in excess
of their rights, to some more, to some less, as seems
best to him, making the sum for all up to the full
price of the day 's work. In other words he was just
to the first group ; he was just and kind to the other
groups. The first group had no need of his kind
ness, for they could earn a full day's wage. The
others had need of his kindness, because they were
unable to earn a full day's wage. He required them
to earn what they could earn, and in kindness made

122 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
up to them the balance of a full day's work which
they could not earn for lack of employment.
We fail to get the full meaning of Jesus' words,
because of the common use of good as synonymous^
with just, when it is really synonymous with kind.*
"Is thine eye evil, because I am good?" is the same
as saying: "Art thou envious, because I am kind?"
The employer had a right to do what he deemed best
with his own property. He had a right to be gen
erous beyond the dues he paid. But in his gener
osity he must be free. There is no love in such a
case without freedom, no kindness that is not spon
taneous, no generosity than can be compelled.
The principle of love appears in its grandeur in
the great farewell discourse of Jesus.^
Jesus said: "A new commandment I give unto
you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved
you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all
men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love
one to another. ' '*
Love of the neighbor is a command of the Holiness
Code, of the Pentateuch.* It required love of Chris
tians one to another. The newness of this command
is not therefore in brotherly love as such ; it is in its
measure, "as I have loved you" ; a love of self sacri
fice in ministry. Christ's love is the new law of love.
It is here given as a commandment. In the Synop
tists it was given, as in the realm of freedom, beyond
'New Hebrew Lexicon B.D.B. my article aiu.
2Jn. xiii.-xv. (Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 288 sq.)
3 Jn. xiii. 34-35. 'See pp. 156 sq.

CHBISTLIKE LOVE. 123
the scope of the Law. Is there any inconsistency
here? We observe that Jesus is dealing with broth
erly love, not with love to enemies; love between
brethren, not the love which foregoes rights and
makes sacrifices for the salvation of men. He is
dealing with a love which is still in the realm of Law
according to the Old Testament, and he makes that
legal relation of love into a new law by making him
self the model of it. He enlarges the scope of the
Law and makes it new, just as in his exposition of
the law of murder, he carries it back into the insult
ing word and the feeling of anger.* He teaches here
as in the Synoptists that love is the sum of the Law,
the law of laws; and here he attaches it to himself,
and so makes the love of himself the new law of
laws in the realm of Law. That by no means contra
dicts the teaching of the Synoptists that love in its
perfection transcends all Law in the sphere of the
liberty of the child of God, pursuing counsels of per
fection. Jesus continued : " If ye love me, ye will keep my
commandments. . . . He that hath my command
ments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me : and
he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and
I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him.
... If a man love me, he will keep my word: and
my Father will love him, and we will come unto
him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth
me not, keepeth not my words : and the word which
ye hear is not mine, but tbe Father's who sent me."^
'See pp. 147 sq. ^¦in. xiv. 15, 21, 23-24.

124 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
The previous passages made the love of Christ
the law of Christian brotherly love. This passage
makes love to Christ the fundamental principle of all
obedience to the commandments. The command
ments of Christ, his words, are now exclusively be
fore the mind. The laws of the Old Testament are
entirely out of mind. These commands and words
are God's; the Son has given them from the Father.
Love to him implies law-keeping. Law-breaking
implies the absence of all love to him. In the Synop
tists all the Law is summed up in love to God, and
love to the neighbor. Here there is a marked ad
vance. All is summed up in one simple principle:
love to Christ. Such a love is rewarded at once in
this life with the divine indwelling. Father, Son
and Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity, come to such a
man and dwell in him.
"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much
fruit, and so shall ye be my disciples. Even as the
Father hath loved me, I also have loved you : abide ye
in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall
abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's
commandments, and abide in His love. These things
have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you,
and your joy may be full. This is my command
ment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved
you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man
lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends,
if ye do the things which I command you. . . . These
things I command you, that ye love one another."*
» Jn. XV. 8-14.

CHBISTLIKE LOVE. 125
All this is still in the realm of Law. Love is here
the crown of the Law. The Father loved the Son
and the Son abode in the Father's love, because he
kept the Father's commandments. The disciples
must keep the commandments of Jesus, if they are to
abide in his love and be loved by him. Only by keep
ing the commands of Jesus can they continue to be
his friends. He has laid down his life for them as
the greatest token of his love. They cannot have a
greater love. It is worth their while to retain that
love and friendship by keeping his commands. The
command, which twice more he reiterates is, that his
disciples shall love one another as he loved them.
Jesus, in this discourse, has his own disciples in
mind, and not the outer world. He is inculcating
brotherly love among Christians, and not the self-
sacrificing love of the Christian in relation to the
outer world. Thus his law of love seems to fall
short of the liberty of love of the Synoptists. And
undoubtedly it does, if we consider it in its compre
hension. The love of God, towards the law-breaker
and the law-keeper alike, is much grander than His
love to those only who keep his commands. The
love of Jesus to his murderers rises higher than his
love to those who keep his commands. The ex
hortation to love your enemies is vastly more sub
lime than the command to love your Christian
brethren. And yet, that Jesus in this discourse
limits himself to the narrower sphere of the disciples
and the realm of Law, has its advantages. For in

126 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
one respect, the Gospel of John rises higher in its
conception of the Law than the Synoptists. It
makes love to Jesus the one thing in which all law-
keeping is summed up, and it makes the love of Jesus
the law of all conduct to Christian brethren. The
Old Testament Law has disappeared in the Law of
Christ. The reconciliation of the Synoptists with this
Gospel may be found in this, that the love of
Christ is the law of laws, so far as the obedience to
law is concerned : but it is also the supreme principle
of the freedom of sonship beyond the sphere of Law ;
for he who would pursue the counsels of perfection
will not only love within the boundaries of Law and
right and duty, but will also be Godlike and Christ
like in his love to the world, to enemies, to wicked
men ; and in all those relations where Law and right
and duty do not call.
This kind of supererogatory love we have seen in
the love of the Good Shepherd. The author of our
Gospel sees its highest expression in God, who "so
loved the world, as to give His only-begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth on him might not perish,
but have everlasting life."*
'Jn. iii. 16.

Casuistry.
Casuistry arises from a conflict of duties. Cases
of conscience arise out of the application of Law to
conduct. The legal attitude of mind seeks to deter
mine these questions by a logical unfolding of Law.
It thus increases exactions and obligations, and
makes the Law more complex and difficult. While it
solves some questions, it originates many more. It
constantly increases the number of difficulties, and
the Law becomes an intolerable yoke, and life is made
miserable; as St. Peter said to the Council of Jeru
salem: "Now therefore why tempt ye God, that ye
should put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples,
which neither our fathers, nor we, were able to
bear?"* So St. Paul says: "By the works of the
Law shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for
through the Law cometh the knowledge of sin."^
Jesus in his teaching so emphasized the principle
of love in his own conduct and that of his disciples,
making love rather than Law, the guiding principle
of life; that there inevitably arose questions of
casuistry, especially where Law and Love seemed to
come in conflict.
Casuistry begins in the teaching of Jesus in con
nection with the law of the Sabbath. This law had

' Acts XV. 10. 2 ^om. iii. 20.
127

128 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
been so sharpened and elaborated by rabbinical punc
tiliousness that it had become, not only a distinctive
mark of a true Israelite, but also a badge of the
Pharisaic party. Jesus, in no instance, violates the
law of the Sabbath, or justifies any such violation;
but he came into constant conflict with the Pharisaic
interpretation and application of the law to specific
acts. One might think that it would have been more
prudent for Jesus to have avoided antagonizing the
Pharisees at this their most sensitive point ; or at least
that he might have avoided pressing so frequently
this sore question upon them. But a careful con
sideration shows that this conflict was unavoidable,
and that he could not prevent its frequent recurrence.
The Pharisees had so interpreted the Sabbath law as
to make it conflict with the practice of love. Jesus
and his disciples could not live a life of love, with
out a conflict with Pharisaism of ever-increasing
sharpness. The questions of conscience as to the
Sabbath were decided one way by the Pharisaic
Halacha, in a reverse way by the divine love of
Jesus and his disciples.
Casuistry begins on the Sabbath after the first
Passover of Jesus' ministry.* The disciples of
Jesus, passing through the grain fields on the Sab
bath, pluck the ripe ears, and rub out the grains, and
eat them to satisfy their hunger.^ This was not re
garded as trespass in the East, in the time of Jesus ;

' New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 13 sq.
2Mk. ii. 23-28; Mt. xii. 1-8; Lk. vi. 1-5.

CASUISTBY. 129
and it is not so regarded at the present time. Even
horses are sometimes permitted to graze when horse
men ride through the grain fields. The Pharisees
objected to the conduct of the disciples, because it
was a violation of the Sabbath law. The violation
was not in the eating, but in the labour of plucking
and rubbing out the grain. Jesus justifies his dis
ciples. He is dealing, not with the Sabbath law
itself, but with a specific application of the Sabbath
law to a particular case. That the Sabbath law pro
hibits labour is evident from the fourth of the Ten
Words* and other passages in the Law. But nowhere
in the Old Testament can one find any such case as
the prohibiting on the Sabbath of the plucking of
grain to eat. The Pharisees insisted that their tradi
tional application of the Sabbath law was binding,
and that the disciples of Jesus had violated the Sab
bath. Jesus does not take time to challenge their
specific interpretation. He prefers to raise the ques
tion between a higher and a lower law. Granting for
a moment that the disciples had technically broken
the Sabbath ; yet they were hungry, and the satisfac
tion of their hunger was of more importance ethically
than the keeping of the Sabbath. He justifies this
by an historical reference to the case of David's vio
lation of the priestly law. The law of the Priest
code is^ that only the priest should eat the shew-
bread; and yet,* David ate it. He violated the
priestly law because he and his men were hungry.
'Ex. XX. 8-11; Dt. v. 12-15. 2 Ly. xxiv. 9. 3i gam. xxi. 4-6.
9

130 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
He regarded the relief of the hunger of his men and
himself as of more importance than the reservation
of the holy bread for the priests. Jesus justifies
David, and justifies his own disciples. The Sabbath
law and the laws of consecrated things must yield to
the law of kindness and the principle of love.
The second case under the Sabbath law is the
action of Jesus himself.* The Pharisees complained
that Jesus violated the Sabbath by healing the man
with the withered hand. All that was done by Jesus,
according to the story, was commanding the sick man
to stand forth, and then to stretch out his hand. The
man stood forth and stretched out his hand, and he
was healed. Nothing could be simpler. It is diffi
cult to see any kind of work in this. Jesus justified
himself by saying:
" Is it more lawful on the Sabbath,
To do good, or to do harm;
To save a life or to kill? "
The saving of life, the doing a good deed, is the
doing that which is ethically right. The doing of an
injury, the destruction of life is the doing wrong.
When this alternative is presented on the Sabbath,
and to save life requires labour and to destroy it re
quires no labour, shall a man do wrong because it is
the Sabbath day? The law of observance of the Sab
bath must yield to the higher principle of restoring
from an injury, of saving life.
Jesus does not in these passages come in conflict
'Mk. iii. 1-6; Mt. xii. 9-14; Lk. vi. 6-11.

CASUISTBY. 131
with the importance of sacred times and consecrated
things, even ethically. But he makes human suffer
ing and peril to life worse ethically, than violation
of the Sabbath ; and the removal of suffering, and the
salvation of life he makes more important than the
observance of the Sabbath, and the hallowing of
sacred things. Man is more sacred than any, or all,
sacred things.
What indeed was Jesus to do under these circum
stances? The withered man was before him. He
had the power to cure him. His love impelled him
to cure. Was he to refrain because of Pharisaic
scruples ? He was in a dilemma, it is true. He must
offend the Pharisees and bring reproach and hos
tility upon himself ; or he must offend against divine
love. Jesus does not hesitate. He loves and he
cures in love, and he takes the consequences.
At the feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem, Jesus
heals an infirm man at the Pool of Bethesda on the
Sabbath.* In this case he commands the man:
"Arise, take up thy bed, and walk." The bed was
simply the mat-like bed of the times, and not any
thing difficult or laborious to carry. The Pharisees
objected: "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful
for thee to take up thy bed. ' ' When they found out
that it was Jesus who had commanded him to do this,
they "persecuted" him, "because he did these things
on the Sabbath. ' ' Jesus justifies himself by saying :
"My Father worketh even until now, and I work."
J Jn. V. 1-9.

132 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
He, as the Father's son, worketh on as the Father
works on. The Sabbath was God's rest day after
the creation;* and yet God did not cease to work.
He continued to work His works of providence and
redemption right on from the creation until now. So
Jesus works the works of God, as God's own Son, on
the Sabbath as on other days. The Sabbath law
against works must yield to the Son's redemptive
activity, as it yields to divine activity in redemption.
The Jews sought to kill Jesus for two reasons,
according to the second author of the Gospel: (1)
because be broke the Sabbath; (2) because he made
himself equal with God. In neither was he at fault.
He did not say that he was equal with God. He said
that he was the Father 's own son, and that he worked
the works the Father sent him to work ; the same kind
of redemptive works that the" Father has never ceased
working on the Sabbath and on all days since the
creation. Soon after, referring to the same healing, Jesus
said:^ "If a man receiveth circumcision on the Sab
bath, that the law of Moses may not Be broken ; are
ye wroth with me, because I made a man every whit
whole on the Sabbath?" The initial ceremony of
circumcision was more important than the observ
ance of the Sabbath. The Sabbath must be broken
by such labour as may be necessary for the purposes
of circumcision. Then still more may it be broken
for the higher purposes of love, such as healing the
1 Gen. ii. 1-3. 2 jn. yii. 22-23.

CASUISTBY. 133
sick. In all law, the lower must yield to the higher.
In the Perean ministry Jesus healed a woman on
the Sabbath. "He laid his hands upon her; and
immediately she was made straight, and glorified
God."* The ruler of the Synagogue said: "There
are six days in which men ought to work: in them
therefore come and be healed, and not on the day of
the Sabbath. But the Lord answered him, and said :
' Ye hypocrites, doth not each one of you on the Sab
bath loose his ox, or his ass, from the stall, and lead
him away to watering? And ought not this woman,
being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath
bound, lo, eighteen years, to have been loosed from
this bond on the day of the Sabbath ? ' "
Labour of mercy to animals or men is lawful. It
may violate the Sabbath; but doing mercy is more
important than the keeping of the Sabbath, and the
lower must always yield to the higher.
A short time afterwards Jesus took a man with
the dropsy, and healed him on the Sabbath and let
him go,- and said, justifying his act: "Which of you
shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a well, and will
not straightway draw him up on a Sabbath day?"
This involves the same higher law of mercy.*
'Lk. xiii. 10-17. 2Lk. xiv. 1-11.
3 It is also noteworthy that it is not regarded by the Pharisees, or
Jesus as a violation of the Sabbath, that he, and a sufiicient num
ber to make a choice of chief seats necessary, were invited to a,
feast at the house of a Pharisee on the Sabbath. Attendance at a
large dinner-party in modern times has sometimes been regarded as
a violation of the Sabbath, owing to a rigorous interpretation of
the Sabbath law of the Old Testament, contrary to this precedent
in which there is an agreement of the Pharisees and Jesus.

134 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
The most serious case was at the feast of Dedica
tion in Jerusalem, when Jesus healed the blind man.*
Some Pharisees said: "This man is not from God,
because he keepeth not the Sabbath. ' ' Jesus had re
stored sight to the man bom blind. In this case it
would seem that he did unnecessary labour. He
spat on the ground, made clay of the spittle, anointed
the man's eyes with the clay, and sent him to wash
in the pool of Siloam. Ordinarily he wrought
miracles by a word or a touch. He does not explain
here, or elsewhere the method of his miracles. If he
used unusual means, and bade the man do unneces
sary labour, it might be said that he came into con
flict with the law of the Sabbath without sufficient
reason. But if he deemed all these things important
for the redemptive purposes of the cure, they came
within th^ sphere where the lower must yield to the
higher. Indeed it might be said, as it would be said
by all in our day, that any or all labour required to
heal a sick man is justifiable even with the strictest
rules of Sabbath observance. And if Jesus meant
to teach no more than this, in addition to making
the cure itself, the object lesson was a sufficient
justification of the unusual mode of working the
miracle. Another question of casuistry arose between Jesus
and the Pharisees under the laws of Purification.
Luke gives an account of the Pharisees objecting to
Jesus' conduct, because he did not use ceremonial
' Jn. ix.

CASUISTBY. 135
baptism before eating.* In Matthew the Pharisees
call Jesus' attention to the neglect of certain cere
monial baptisms on the part of his disciples. They
had eaten a meal, "with common hands. "^ This is
explained as "unwashed." This washing of the
hands was not a requirement of the Law, but a tradi
tion of the elders. It was not a washing to cleanse
the hands, but for ceremonial purification. The bap
tisms, or ceremonial purifications of the Law, are
given in the priestly legislation of the Pentateuch.
But these precepts were unfolded in the traditional
applications of ceremonial customs ; and these tradi
tional applications became a traditional Law, which
was regarded as obligatory no less than the written
Law. Jesus defends his disciples for their violation of
the traditional Law, and charges the Pharisaic law
yers in the words of the prophet Isaiah:* "Well did
Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
' This people honoureth me with their lips.
But their heart is far from me.
But in vain do they worship me.
Teaching (as their) doctrines the precepts of men.'
'Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the
tradition of men. ' And he said unto them, ' Full well
do ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may
keep your tradition.' "* The traditional Law was not
'Lk. xi. 37-41; Mk. vii. 1-23; Mt. xv. 1-20 give the same dis
cussion in connection with his disciples in the last weeks of the
Galilean ministry. See New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 69, 84-5.
2 Mk. vii. 2. 3 Is. xxix. 13. * Mk. vii. 0-9.

136 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
always a legitimate interpretation and application
of the Pentateuchal Law. In some cases it came in
conflict with it and violated it. There is a constant
tendency in tradition to make void and nullify older
Law. Jesus gives a case to justify his statement. This
case is one of the most important and practical that
could be selected, namely the fifth of the Ten Words,
the fundamental parental law.*
' ' Honour thy father and thy mother. ' '
This is the simple and original law. Jesus does
not give the motive of the law, which is contained in
the Deuteronomic and priestly redaction, namely
"that thy days may be long (and that it may go
well with thee), upon the land which Yahweh thy
God giveth thee."^ But, instead, he cites from the
covenant code,* "Whosoever curseth his father, or
his mother, shall be put to a violent death." The
same law recurs in the Holiness Code.* Over against
these fundamental parental laws, the traditional law
said:^ "If a man shall say to his father or his
mother. That wherewith thou mightest have been
profited by me is Corban, that is to say : Given, ye no
longer suffer him to do aught for this father or his
mother. ' '^

' According to Mark, Moses said it ; according to Matthew, God
said it. It is probable that Matthew generalizes.
2 Ex. XX. 12; Dt. V. 16. 3 Ex. xxi. 17. * Lv. xx. 9.
6Mk. vii. 11-12; comp. Mt. xv. 5-6.
6 Mark gives the original Kopjiav and then translates it Sapov. Mat
thew gives only S&pov. Koppav is the Hebrew ]31p according to usage,
in the Priest's code, applied to offerings of money or goods to God.
The Aramaic form is laiip.

CASUISTBY. 137
The Law required the positive honour, and the
doing of whatever honour requires ; namely, the sup
port of weak and poor parents by their children.
The Law prohibited the reverse; cursing or dishon
ouring. Jesus conceived that parents were dishon
oured when their children refused them what was due
them of sustenance. But the traditional law excused
from the obligation to sustain parents, if the ex
penditure was instead consecrated to ritualistic wor
ship. Jesus and the Pharisees here came in conflict
as to the relative importance of the ceremonial wor
ship and the parental law. Which is the higher?
Doubtless the Pharisee would have acknowledged
that the letter of the written law was more important
than the unwritten traditional law. But the case that
Jesus gives involves an interpretation of the written
law. The written law says: "Thou shalt honour"
—"Thou shalt not curse." Jesus gives the legiti
mate deduction: Thou shalt honour and not curse,
by giving parents their proper support. The Phari
sees regarded the support of the worship of God as
of more importance than the support of parents.
This question of relative importance Jesus decides
in favour of duties to parents.
Jesus discussed the question of divorce with the
Pharisees and his disciples.* The Pharisees asked
him : " Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife ? ' '
Jesus answered: "What did Moses command you?"
The Law determines what is lawful. They said:

1 Mk. X. 2-12; Mt. xix. 3-12; also Mt. v. 31-32; Lk. xvi. 18.

138 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
"Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement and
put her away."* "When a man taketh a wife, and
marrieth her, then it shall be, if she find no favour
in his eyes, because he hath found some unseemly
thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorce
ment, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his
house. And when she is departed out of his house,
she may go and become another man's wife."
This law was variously interpreted by the Phari
sees as to the ground of divorce ; some being stricter
than others in their explanation of the phrase "un
seemly thing"; but in other respects the law was
plain enough and agreed to by all. Jesus now states
his opinion : ' ' For your hardness of heart he wrote
you this commandment. But from the beginning of
the creation, male and female made he them. For
this cause shall a man leave his father and mother,
and shall cleave to his wife ; and the twain shall be
come one flesh : so that they are no more twain, but
one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder."^
This argument is in the form of a Halacha.^ Jesus
shows that the original principle of marriage had to
be broken in a measure by the Deuteronomic provis
ion for divorce, because of circumstances which
made it impracticable to enforce the original ideal.
Jesus reasserts the original ideal as a restriction
upon the law of divorce; thus urging that it should
not be used except in the highest necessity, and better
' Dt. xxiv. 1-2. 2 Jn. i. 27; ii. 24. 3 gee pp. 25 sq.

CASUISTRY. 139
not at all. Here Jesus recognizes the principle of
casuistry in the Deuteronomic Law ; and therefore in
the use of all law. He does not set up a new law to
abrogate the law of Deuteronomy : but he appeals to
the original principle in Genesis and recognizes that
it permits of no divorce at all; and urges that that
principle be followed rather than the permission
of divorce, as the context implies, so far as prac
ticable, unless such "hardness of heart" continue
as to make the Deuteronomic provision temporarily
expedient. It is altogether improper to interpret Jesus here
as abrogating the law of divorce, and making a law
against divorce ; he is asserting essentially the prin
ciple of casuistry, which recognized divorce as per
missible only because of hardness of heart; and not
to be justified in itself. In other words divorce in
any case involves the sin of hardness of heart in any
one who takes advantage of the concession of the
Law. This argument could not be challenged, and yet
it involved grave practical difficulties to which Jesus '
attention was called by his disciples. In response
Jesus gave a logion, which appears in different ver
sions in the several Gospels. The original was
doubtless this :
" Whosoever putteth away his wife committeth adultery.
Whosoever putteth away her husband committeth adultery."
This is as much as to say that marriage should
be indissoluble, and that whoever dissolves it is

140 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
guilty of adultery, whether man or woman. Here
Jesus does not think merely of the physical act of
adultery; but goes back of it to the more intemal
spiritual relations ; and regards the separation itself
as adulterous, without regard to any adulterous act,
and even if no such act had been committed. In
fact he regards the "hardness of heart" which found
in the spouse "the unseemly thing" and used it as
a justification of divorce, as in itself already adultery.
This is on the same principle that he uses elsewhere
when he interprets adultery as in the glance of the
eye, without regard to its consequences in act.*
The several evangelists and St. Paul give various
qualifications of this logion in the nature of interpre
tations and practical applications, recognizing that
Jesus had in mind the principle of casuistry and
the hardness of the hearts of even his own disciples ;
and that it might still be necessary to commit the
lesser sin of adultery by divorce, rather than other
and greater sins of adultery in other ways. Thus
Matthew^ inserts the clause ' ' except for fornication. ' '
It is probable that this is to be interpreted of fornica
tion before marriage, which was not discovered until
after marriage; for if the sin had been committed
after marriage, it would have been adultery and not
fornication. The other explanatory statements en
deavor to bring the adultery of the divorce itself into
connection with the act of real adultery: by remar
riage,* and causing the woman to commit adultery by
1 Mt. V. 28. 2 Mt. V. 32; xix. 9. 3 Mk. x. 11-12; Lk. xvi. 18.

CASUISTRY. 141
constraining her to take another man ; or by a man 's
entering into marriage with a divorced woman.*
None of these was in the original logion, but all
were situations which arose practically as the re
sults of divorce. St. Paul also gives his own inter
pretation to this logion,^ advising that when a Chris
tian and an unbeliever are married, they should not
separate; but "if the unbelieving departeth, let him
depart: the brother or the sister is not under bond
age in such cases." This is a case where one party
insists upon divorce. The other cannot prevent it.
The innocent party is not under bondage ; that is, is
released from the marriage tie by the divorce made
by the guilty party.
Thus the Gospel of Matthew gives us one excep
tion, fornication; St. Paul another, abandonment;
which qualify the logion of Jesus, and make divorce
justifiable, under these circumstances. This can
only be explained on the same principle that Jesus
used to explain the Deuteronomic law of divorce;
namely that the ideal of the indissolubility of the
marriage tie cannot always be enforced, owing to the
hardness of men's hearts; that if one of the parties
breaks the tie, the other cannot longer be held in
bondage to it, and that there is a kind of sin which
in itself, in its very nature, dissolves the union.*
As St. Paul says, the innocent party is not in bond-

1 Lk. xvi. 18. 2 1 Cor. vii. 8-16.
3 See also General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture,
pp. 86-88.

142 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
age. So we may say, Jesus did not put the Church
or the State in bondage. He did not give a new law ;
but he gave an advice, a counsel, as to the perfect
state of marriage, which should be held up as an
ideal by all his followers; but which cannot always
be attained in that state of society which now exists.
All attempts to force this ideal upon a society,
whose ethical and religious character is so justly de
scribed as "hardness of heart," bring forth many
more evils than they cure.

XI.
The Law.
Jesus did not come to interpret and apply the Law
of the Old Testament as another and higher scribe
of the type of Ezra and his successors. He did not
come to give a new Law in place of the Law of Moses.
He came to preach the kingdom of God, and to teach
its great principle of divine Love. He was led to
discuss the Law as an ethical principle only because
the Pharisee lawyers charged him with violating the
Law in his teaching as to love and as to questions of
casuistry. It is not likely therefore that the dis
cussion as to Law came so early as the Sermon on
the Mount, where Matthew gives it. It belongs
rather to the Perean ministry where just such dis
cussions appear in the narrative of Luke. This dis
cussion is cited from the Logia of Matthew. It was
not given by Luke because the question of the Law
had no importance to the Roman community for
which he prepared his Gospel. It is evident that
this discourse is a rejoinder to Pharisees who
charged him with violating the Law and teaching his
disciples to violate it. Accordingly he says:
' ' Think not that I came to destroy the Law (or the
Prophets) ; I came not to destroy, but to fulfil. For
verily (I say unto you). Till heaven and earth pass
away, one jot (or one tittle) shall in nq -^is^
143

144 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
pass away from the Law, till all things be accom
plished. ' '*
Luke^ gives a parallel to this in another connection
in the Perean ministry : ' ' The Law and the Prophets
were until John: from that time the kingdom of
God is preached, as good tidings, and everyone en
tereth violently into it. But it is easier for heaven
and earth to pass away, than for one tittle of the law
to fall."
Matthew* gives a parallel to Luke in another con
nection when John the Baptist sends messengers to
Jesus: "And from the days of John the Baptist
until now the kingdom (of heaven) suffereth vio
lence, and men of violence take it by force. For all
the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John."
This is omitted in the parallel of Luke.*
It seems altogether probable therefore that we
have to do with detached sayings of Jesus, and that
Matthew gives two parallel sayings, spoken on dif
ferent occasions. They should be considered there
fore as detached sayings.
The original of the first of these was probably :
" I came not to break the Law,
But on the contrary to fulfil the Law."
The other words are interpretative additions.
Jesus' purpose was not to break the Law, but to
obey it ; not to teach his disciples to violate the Law,
but to teach them to obey it. The antithesis is be
tween violation and obedience. He regards the Law
'Mt. V. 17-18. 2Lk. xvi. 16-17. 3 Mt. xi. 12-13. ¦* Lk. vii. 18-35.

THE LAW. 145
of the Old Testament in its entirety as an ethical
norm. The parallel verse was probably originally:
" Until heaven and earth pass away.
One jot shall not pass away from the Law." '
In other words the Law is world-long ; it will never
be done away with. This word, uttered on another
occasion, intensifies the previous word, by giving a
temporal reference to the fulfilment.
Other logia are now given, which seem to have ac
companied and explained it. The first of these was :
" Whosoever shall break the least commandment.
And teach men to break it,
Shall be called least in the kingdom of God.
Whosoever shall do the least commandment.
And teach men to do it.
Shall be called greatest in the kingdom of God."
Two things are emphasized, doing and teaching.
But they are united as an ethical pair. Even the
least command should be obeyed and not violated.
A violation of the least command of the Law makes
the teacher least in the kingdom. He who would be
greatest in the kingdom, must obey and teach the
least. The relative rank in the kingdom of God de
pends upon the degree of obedience to the commands
of the Law.
Jesus selects two of the Ten Words :2 the law
against murder, and the law against adultery.
' The iura is an interpretation suitable for the Greek reader. The
final clause is an enlargement.
2Mt. V. 21 sq.
10

146 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
I. The law of murder.
Jesus said: "Ye have heard that it was said to
them of old time. Thou shalt not kill ; and whosoever
shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgment."
Here we have, not only the law against murder in
the Ten Words,* but also the judicial determination
of a case. This is considered in the Covenant Code.^
"Whoso smiteth a man and he die, shall be put to
a violent death. But as for the one who hath not
hunted after him, but God hath caused him to fall
into his hands, I will appoint thee a place whither he
may flee. But if a man act passionately against his
neighbor to slay him by craft; from my altar thou
shalt take him to die. " So in the code of Holiness :
"A man, when he smiteth any human person shall
be put to a violent death. ' '*
The case where the man does not hunt for the one
killed is given in the Deuteronomic code* "without
knowledge, he not hating him yesterday and the day
before"; and in the Priest's Code® "if accidentally,
without enmity he push or cast any vessel upon him
without intent." The case of intentional murder is
an act of violent passion and of craft. In the
Deuteronomic code* it is " if there be any man hating
his neighbor, and he lie in wait for him and rise up
against him and smite a person and he die." In the
Priest's code''' "if in hatred he push him or cast any-
'Ex. XX. 13; Dt. v. 17. 2 Ex. xxi. 12-14.
3Lv. xxiv. 17; Code of H., that section of the Priestly legislation
which is characterized by the stress it lays on Holiness. See Higher
Criticism of the Hexateuch, p. 129.
*Dt. xix. 4. 3 Nu. xx-xv. 22. « Dt. xix. 11. 'Nu. xxxv. 20-21.

THE LAW. 147
thing upon him designedly, so that he died ; or if in
enmity he hath smitten him with his hand, so that
he died."
In preexilic Judaism there were cities of refuge,
and judges to decide these cases. In postexilic
Judaism it was a question to come before the courts
of justice. Jesus is thus not only dealing with the
original Word of the Ten Words, but with its tradi
tional enforcement. He sets his unfolding of the
law over against the traditional interpretation.*
" Whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of
the judgment.
Whosoever shall say, ' Raea ' shall be in danger of the council.
Whosoever shall say, ' Thou fool ! ' shall be in danger of
Gehenna."
The Codes recognized the distinction between mur
der from hatred and enmity, and murder without in
tent, showing that murder has its essential guilt in
the anger that urges to the deed. But they did not
recognize that anger was punishable unless it re
sulted in murder. Here Jesus raises the feeling of
anger to the height of guilt under the law of murder.
The murderous disposition is to be condemned as
well as the murderous act, and especially when ex
pressed in the words ' ' Raea ' ' and ' ' Fool. ' '^
These words would provoke strife and so might
lead to the act of murder. It is the murderous word

1 Mt. V. 22.
2spn Aramaic emphatic, is equivalent to pn Hebrew; ef. d'E'JN
n'p'l; Ju. ix. 4, xi. 3, vain, light worthless fellows. ^33 is the impudent
fool of Ps. xiv. 1. "To his brother" in the second line and "of
fire " in the third line are explanatory additions.

148 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
that Jesus has in mind. Accordingly he extends the
law of murder so as to cover disposition and word,
as well as deed. He shows however, a gradation of
guilt. The disposition of anger is not so guilty as
the word; therefore it is to be condemned by the
local court. The word "Raea" is more guilty,
and is to be condemned by the higher court, the
national sanhedrim. The word ' ' fool ' ' is still more
guilty, and is to be condemned by the divine judg
ment which consigns to Gehenna. Of course the
deed of murder is still more guilty, but Jesus does
not descend to that depth.
What now shall we say to this enlargement of the
law of murder by Jesus himself. He starts with the
feeling of anger in the heart, which unfolds into the
murderous word and deed; this is the antithesis to
love, which covers all duties to the neighbor. But
are these commands of an absolute character? Is
anger always unlawful? May we never call anyone
an empty pate, or a fool ? Jesus himself used worse
words than these in addressing the Pharisees, if we
can rely upon the statements of the Gospels. He
calls them fools, and blind, using the same word he
condemns here as incurring the liability of Gehenna.
He calls them hypocrites, blind guides, serpents,
vipers by birth, and tells them they are doomed to
Gehenna.* Jesus was also angry, Mark narrates:^
"when he had looked round about on them with
anger, being grieved at the hardening of their
' See pp. 185 sq. 2 Mk. iii. 5.

THE LAW. 149
heart." Was he guilty of violating his own com
mands ? Can Jesus do with impunity what he forbids
his disciples to do? Is there one law of ethics for
Jesus and another for us? That cannot be, unless he
ceases to be our ethical norm; and that would be to
destroy the fundamental principle of New Testament
Ethics. We are obliged again to consider that all ethical
laws are relative, and that no one of them can be com
plete in itself. We have to appeal from them at
times to the higher and the highest norm. There is
a peril in too close adherence to any mere precept, or
legal phrase.
There are times and circumstances under which it
is lawful to kill. God kills men in great wrath. He
is not guilty.* He is ethically perfect when He does
so; because it is right to kill the wicked that they
may not destroy the moral order of society. It is
lawful for the State to kill, when men disobey Law.
The divine laws attach the death penalty to many
crimes and sins. It is lawful to kill in war. It has
always been recognized as lawful to kill in self-de
fence, and to protect innocence and virtue.
Jesus is dealing with unlawful, wicked killing,
which alone can be called murder. If it is law
ful to kill, it is also lawful to be angry. There
is holy anger in the Christian as well as in Christ.
"The wrath of the Lamb" is the most dreadful
conception of the Apocalypse.^ There are times

' See p. 199 sq. 2 Rev. vi. 16.

150 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
when holy anger should blaze against wickedness;
and men are most like Jesus when they are on fire
against the Pharisees of their time. Jesus is here
exposing wicked anger, unjustifiable anger; and
asserting that murderous anger is wicked, even if it
never take shape in the criminal deed.
So still more it is right at times to call things by
their right names, and to expose the emptiness and
folly of men. There is a wicked calling of names;
and there is a righteous calling of names. There is a
calling of names, which is killing and murderous;
and there is a calling of names in the full sense of
responsibility in the presence of the righteous God.
The teaching of Jesus here is that the law of murder
reaches back of the deed into the word, and back of
the word into the heart ; and that the guilt of murder
lies fundamentally in the angry heart of man.
At the same time we have to consider that anger is
serious; and we should beware lest it be sinful and
murderous. The calling of names is perilous; and
we should beware lest we do it in a wicked, unchris
tian and murderous spirit. The test of all is holy
love. That anger, and that calling of names, and
that killing, which can be reconciled with holy love
is righteous; that which cannot be so reconciled is
sinful. This was evidently in the mind of Jesus,
from his reduction of murder to anger, the anti
thesis to holy love. And it is clear in the illustra
tions which follow, whether used on this occasion or
not. The first of these is a command to be recon-

THE LAW. 151
ciled to one's brother.* This is more important
ethically than the offering of sacrifice. The restora
tion of loving relations between men is to be sought
first. That is primary : worship is secondary. Such
a reconciliation may not be possible, but it is the duty
of a man to seek it. The context of the second of
these illustrations is better in Luke, and this may
give us the real occasion of this discourse.^
" As thou art going with thine adversary before the magistrate,
On the way give diligence to be quit of him:
Lest haply he drag thee unto the judge.
And the judge deliver thee to the officer.
And the officer cast thee into prison.
Thou shalt by no means come out thence.
Till thou hast paid the last mite."
The teaching here is : If there is a just claim, settle
it, and do not wait for the penalty ; settle it with the
one to whom it is due, and do not go through a judi
cial process which will eventually make you pay
dearly. IL The law against adultery.
This law is the seventh Word of the Tables.* Here
Jesus limits himself to that word. He interprets
this law in the same way as the other. Adultery is
not only in act, but also in disposition. He does not
speak of the emotion, or the word here as in the pre
vious illustration, but of the eye.* He might have
spoken of the murderous look, the killing glance, in
the previous illustration. But he is not giving a
1 Mt. V. 23-24. 2Mt. V. 25-26; Lk. xii. 58-59.
3 Ex. XX. 14 J Dt. V. 18. 'Mt. v. 27-28.

152 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
complete statement in either case. Murderous anger
and word do not exclude the murderous eye, in the
previous command. So the adulterous glance does
not exclude the guilt of the adulterous word, or the
adulterous desire. Jesus in his interpretation of the
two laws gives some phases of violation in the one
case, others in the other case, but all phases are
applicable to both cases and indeed all cases.
" Everyone that looketh on a woman to lust after her.
Hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." '
This same conception is found in Job.^
"I have made a covenant for mine eye.
How then could I attentively consider a maiden ? "
III. The law of oaths.
Jesus next considers the law respecting oaths:*
"Again, ye have heard that it was said to them of
old time. Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt
perform unto the Lord thine oaths. ' ' The Old Testa
ment laws are:

' Matthew appends to the interpretation of this command two
logia, already considered as belonging to other circumstances. These
circumstances probably gave the occasion for this discussion. (1)
Mt. V. 29-30; Mk. ix. 43-48; Mt. xviii. 8-9; see p. 92. (2) Mt. v.
31-32; Lk. xvi. 18; Mk. x. 1-12; Mt. xix. 1-12; see p. 137 sq.
Matthew's connection gives an application of the words of Jesus,
under other circumstances, to the law against adultery. The appli
cation is that of our Gospel of Matthew, and not that of Jesus; and
yet it is entirely proper. The adulterous eye suggests the command
to put out the eye, rather than let it cast us into Gehenna by
adulterous glances. The warning against adultery suggests the
logion of Jesus, where he represents that any divorce whatever is
adultery. 2 Job xxxi. 1. 3Mt. V. 33-37.

THE LAW. 153
" And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, so that thou pro
fane the name of thy God." '
" When a man voweth a vow unto Yahweh, or sweareth an oath
to bind himself with a bond, he shall not profane his word ;
he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his
mouth." "
" When thou vowest a vow unto Yahweh thy God, thou shalt not
be slack to pay it : for Yahweh thy God will surely require
it of thee; and it would be sin in thee. But if thou shalt
forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. That which is
gone out of thy lips thou shalt observe and do; according
as thou hast vowed unto Yahweh thy God, a freewill offer
ing, which thou hast promised with thy mouth." '
These lines may be summed up in the percept
"Fulfil your oaths to the Lord." "Do not swear
falsely. ' ' But Jesus gives the law a deeper meaning.
" Verily ye shall not swear any oath at all.
Ye shall not swear by heaven, for it is God's throne:
Ye shall not swear by earth, for it is the footstool of His feet :
Ye shall not swear by Jerusalem, for it is the royal city:
Ye shall not swear by the head, for ye cannot change it.'
Only let your words be Yea, yea; or Nay, nay:
And whatsoever is more than these, is of evil."
Heaven, earth, Jerusalem, are all alike inseparably
connected with God. To swear by them is to swear
by God. The oath by the head is rejected because
of the inability of the man to change it ; for that is in
the power of God alone. Jesus exhorts not to swear
any of these oaths, which, as the other passage
shows, they were accustomed to swear without feel
ing their binding force.^ What shall we say then of
'Lv. xix. 12. 2NU. xxx. 2. ^Bt. xxiii. 21-23. ^See p. 185.
* " One hair, white or black " is an explanatory addition.

154 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
the oath to God? Does Jesus mean to exclude that
also? Certainly not. He means to teach that the
Pharisaic casuistry as to oaths is to be rejected; that
no oaths are of light importance; that they all in
volve God. The alternative is therefore to swear by
God when necessary, or swear not at all. The nor
mal course is to swear not at all ; but to speak simply
and plainly and briefly: yes, or no. Anything be
yond that springs out of evil. It is either because a
man wishes to deceive, or he fears lest he may be sus
pected of untruthfulness.
It has been held that Jesus here forbids oaths in
the name of God in courts of justice. This would
make Jesus inconsistent with himself ; for he himself
swears by the living God, the oath put to him by the
high-priest.* He does not forbid oaths in courts of
justice; but oaths in connection with vows, promises
and bargains. A Christian's word should be suffi
cient. But what of those who are not Christians?
Shall we exact oaths of them? If they do not under
stand the principles of Jesus, but regard an oath as
essential to speaking and holding to the truth, it
would seem to be necessary to treat them in the stage
of ethical development in which they live. The
Christian's ideal is not, and cannot be, the ideal for
those who are not Christians.^
'Mt. xxvi. 63-66; Mk. xiv. 61-64 and Lk. xxii. 66-71, do not re
port the oath.
2 The discourse in Matthew now gives another example from the
Law, the Lex Talionis. This law is not discussed in the same way
as the other. It is now interpreted and given a deeper and richer
meaning. It is brought into antithesis with the principle of love.
This latter really belongs to the Sermon on the Mount as we have

THE LAW. 155
The Gospels give no less than three occasions in
which Jesus gives his summary of the Law in answer
to questions. The earliest is the one when he gives
his parable of the Good Samaritan as an exposition
of love to the neighbor. The next is on his last jour
ney to Jerusalem, in connection with which he gives
the counsel of perfection. These are considered
more appropriately in other chapters.* So far as
they give Jesus' summary of the Law, they are not
so full as the last incident and add nothing of im
portance thereto. This last incident is a question as
to the Law put by a Pharisee lawyer, in Passion
Week in Jerusalem.
According to Mark one of the scribes inquired of
him: "What commandment is first of all?"^ Accord
ing to Matthew it was a lawyer. But he greatly
abbreviates the story of Mark. The scope of the
inquiry is the whole Law of the Old Testament and
not the Ten Words. What command in the whole
Law ranks first, highest and greatest? or possibly, in
what can it all be summed up ? Jesus answers from
the Deuteronomic code. "Hear, 0 Israel; Yahweh
our God, Yahweh is one. ' '* This is first, greatest and

seen. It is probable that the use of the lex talionis here was the
reason why the Gospel of Matthew introduced the discourse as to the
Law in this place, taking it from a different place in the Logia of
Matthew. See p. 97 sq. ' See pp. 232 sq.
2Mk. xii. 28-34; Mt. xxii. 34^0; Lk. x. 25-28.
3Dt. vi. 4. This is the well-known Shemah, so called from the
flrst Hebrew word of the sentence, yav. It was the fundamental
principle of Judaism.

156 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
the sum of all. The one God of Israel is the being
in whom all the Law is summed up. It all comes
from Him and leads to Him. Jesus however gives a
more practical answer by summing up the Law under
two heads. ' ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
strength. ' '* The first command is to love God, abso
lutely and entirely, with all the faculties and powers
of man's nature. There is nothing new in this teach
ing of Jesus. It is a renewal of the teaching of
Deuteronomy.^ It was well known to all the Jews.
Jesus adds a second to the first command.* "The
second is this : Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy
self." This command is from the Holiness code.*
It is the climax to a series of laws with reference to
neighbors, summing them up. Jesus takes it and
makes it the summing up of all duties to men. This
law is not original with Jesus, but he gives it greater
comprehension. The scribe recognizes the truth of Jesus' words.
He also draws a legitimate consequence that: "of a

' It is not to be supposed that Jesus miscited to the lawyer in any
way, on this occasion, this fundamental law of Israel, used in daily
worship. Mark follows the original, but inserts Smvota. This use of
Siavoia is probably due to the Greek Version, which uses it for 33S.
It is not likely that Jesus used this doublet of Kapdla. Matthew
singularly omits iaxi^C and gives KapSla, -ipvxri and Siavoia. It is prob
able that Sidvoia, was added as an explanation of KapSla in Mark
or as a doublet as in the previous passage, and so was copied into
the other Gospels.
2 Dt. vi. 5. The 1 is the 1 of consequence in Deuteronomy. " There
fore thou shalt love, etc." The Kai of the Gospel is Hebraistic.
3 Jilk. xii. 31. « Lv. xix. 18.

THE LAW. 157
truth. Master, thou hast well said that He is one ; and
there is none other but He : and to love Him with all
the heart and with all the understanding and with all
the strength and to love his neighbor as himself, is
much more than all whole burnt-offerings and peace-
offerings. ' '
According to Matthew Jesus said : "On these two
commandments hangeth the whole Law and the proph
ets."* According to Mark^ "when Jesus saw that
he answered discreetly he said unto him: Thou art
not far from the kingdom of God. ' ' This scribe un
derstood that the Law is summed up in love ; and so
he had all that the Law could give him; and was
prepared for the kingdom of God, and was not far
from it. He had not yet learned the principle of love
that Jesus taught, as over and above all Law, in its
voluntariness, and therefore he had not entered the
kingdom. It is just this distinction between the law of love
and the Godlike liberty of love which distinguishes
the dispensation of the Law from the dispensation
of the Gospel.
'Mt. xxii. 40. This is a, variation of Mt. vii. 12: " For this is the
Law and the Prophets," and is not original.
2 Mk. xii. 34.

xn.
Righteousness.
Righteousness was a term of frequent use among
the Pharisees to indicate entire conformity to the
Law of God. So it was much used by the Pharisee
Paul, after he became a Christian, in order to show
the antithesis between legal righteousness, and the
righteousness of faith. Jesus used the term little, if
at all. It is not used by Jesus according to any of
the Gospels but Matthew; and the uses in Matthew
are chiefly, if not altogether, of the nature of explana
tions. The reason why Jesus avoided the term, was
probably partly from the Pharisaic misuse of it, to
avoid misunderstanding and controversy ; and partly
because his teaching had other ends in view than the
exposition of righteousness and Law. At the same
time, even if Jesus never used the term, he did dis
cuss ethical questions, which are rightly brought
under the category of righteousness ; and the author
of the Gospel of Matthew does not misrepresent Jesus
when he puts the term righteousness in his mouth.
The first use of righteousness in the Gospel, in the
order of time, was at the Baptism of Jesus.* On this
occasion Matthew reports that John the Baptist was
reluctant to baptize Jesus, because he recognized his
own inferiority to the one whom he had heralded.
'Mt. iii. 15. 158

RIGHTEOUSNESS. 159
Jesus replies: "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness. ' '
This is not mentioned in the other Gospels. It
may be an interpretation of the situation by the
evangelist, or it may be that the evangelist had heard
from tradition that Jesus made this reply. If so, it
is more likely that Jesus used the term: "the will of
the Father. ' ' The theophanic voice approving Jesus
as the beloved son, in whom the Father was well
pleased, would suit that phrase better ; and it would
suit better Jesus ' terminology.*
It is important to notice however what righteous
ness means here. It is not conformity to Law or the
Prophets, or even to the Rabbinical traditional Law.
It is the submission to the ceremony of Baptism,
which John the Baptist had introduced, as a sign of
preparation for the kingdom of God. It is true that
righteousness among the Pharisees covered ceremo
nial acts as well as ethical acts. But the significant
thing is that Jesus regarded submission to this cere
mony of baptism, as righteousness ; doubtless because
he knew that it was the will of his Father that he
should do so.
We next meet with the term righteousness in the
beatitude of the hungry in the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew gives it thus : ' ' Blessed are they that hun
ger and thirst after righteousness. ' '^ But the beati
tude in Luke has not the word righteousness ; and we
may be sure that righteousness here is an explana-
I See p. 35. 2Mt. v. 6. See p. 83.

160 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
tory addition by Matthew's Gospel, to indicate that
the hunger is not simply the animal appetite; not
merely the appetite of the soul to do the will of God ;
but it is the voluntary hunger which is endured for
righteousness' sake, that which the disciple is com
pelled to suffer in doing the will of God; because of
righteousness.* For the same reason it is added by
Matthew to the beatitude of the Persecuted,^ where
Luke gives— "for the Son of Man's sake"; both of
which are without doubt explanatory additions of the
evangelists. The Sermon on the Mount gives several other uses
of righteousness, but these are in passages which
probably belong to the Perean ministry. The exhor
tation : ' ' But seek ye first his kingdom and his right
eousness"* is given in Luke* without the term "right
eousness, ' ' so that righteousness is here again an ex
planatory addition. Luke very properly gives king
dom alone.
These uses of righteousness by Matthew in the Ser
mon on the Mount are ethical rather than ceremonial.
Righteousness stands for the kingdom of God, and a
life of voluntary hunger, and of suffering persecu
tion for Christ's sake. It has no relation to right
eousness in the Pharisaic use of the term.
There are two other uses of righteousness in the
Sermon on the Mount, which are more important for
' It is altogether probable that the accusative Sixaoav-vTiv is the ac
cusative with respect to, as to, because of, and not the accusative
giving the object of the verb. See p. 87.
2 Mt. V. 10. 3 Mt. vi. 33. * Lk. xii. 31.

RIGHT EO USNE8S. 161
our purpose, because they set the righteousness of
the disciples of Jesus in antithesis to the righteous
ness of the Pharisees. This antithesis could hardly
have been earlier than the Perean ministry, and it
doubtless goes with the discussion with the Pharisees
during that period. It is furthermore probable that
these two passages belong to the same time and the
same discourse. In a logion attached to Jesus' dis
cussion as to the Law,* he said : ' ' Except your right
eousness shall exceed that of the scribes (and Phari
sees) ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of
heaven." Here the righteousness of the scribes is
said to be not sufficient to enter into the kingdom.
The disciples of Jesus must have a higher righteous
ness. The righteousness of the Pharisees is a legal
righteousness— often it is mere profession without
practice; but even when conduct and doctrine corre
spond, it is still insufficient, for it remains in the legal
stage at the very best.
So Jesus said to the Pharisee, who recognized that
love in obedience to the Law was more than sacrifice,
that while he was not far from the kingdom, he was
not yet in it. So he said to the Pharisee chief, Nico
demus, that a birth from heaven and of the Spirit
was necessary in order to see and enter the kingdom.
So St. Paul, the Pharisee, who had lived a blameless
legal life, had to be transformed into a Christian by
going higher than the legal righteousness into the
righteousness of faith.

' Mt. V. 20.
11

162 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
The superior righteousness that Jesus had in mind,
was not therefore greater conformity to Law, in con
duct, speech and mind, — although that was required;
— but more than that, the righteousness of the king
dom, a righteousness inspired by a personal relation
ship to the Father and the Son, and animated by the
principle of Christlike love.
The saying as to righteousness probably intro
duced a beautiful and touching logion.* Here again
we do not know whether Jesus used the term right
eousness or not ; but in any case he used some term,
which meant the same thing, so far as the usage of
St. Paul and apostolic Christianity are concerned.
Jesus takes three illustrations, almsgiving, prayer
and fasting. These are all comprehended under the
term righteousness, in the usage of the time, and so
we must consider them. Jesus tells how the scribes
do these things, in order to set forth how his disciples
are to do them. The scribes do their righteousness
to be seen of men, to meet public approval. Their
norm is the opinion of men, and accordingly they re
ceive their reward in the approval of men. The dis
ciple is to do his righteous acts after the norm of
God's love, and so gets his reward from the approval
of God, whose all-seeing eye rests upon him. Thus
again all acts of righteousness are to be done before
the eyes of God, after Him, as the supreme ethical
norm. It is not difficult to restore the three strophes of
eight lines each, with the introductory sentence; al-
' Mt. vi. 1-6, 16-18.

RIGHTEOUSNESS. 163
though Matthew, in accordance with its custom, en
larges and explains, or else abbreviates, here and
there. " Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men.
Else ye have no reward with your Father.
I.
When ye do alms, ye shall not be as the hypocrites;
For they sound a trumpet before them in the synagogues,'
In order that they may have glory of men.
Verily they have received their reward.
But thou, when thou doest alms.
Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth,
In order that thine alms may be in secret.
And thy Father, which seeth in secret, will recompense thee.
II.
And when ye pray, ye shall not be as the hypocrites ;
For they love to stand in the synagogues and ' the streets,
In order that they may be seen of men to pray.
Verily they have received their reward.
But thou, when thou prayest.
Enter into thine inner chamber, and close the door,
And pray to thy Father, which is in secret.
And thy Father, which seeth in secret will recompense thee.^
IIL
And when ye fast, ye shall not be as the hypocrites.
They are of sad countenance; because they disfigure their
faces.
In order that they may be seen of men to fast.
Verily they have received their reward.

1 " And on the streets " is an addition to the logion, so also " cor
ners of."
2Mt. vi. 7-15, was taken from another context in order to bring
together other material relating to prayer. Lk. xi. 1-3 gives us the
time and occasion (see p. 117).

164 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
But thou when thou fastest.
Anoint thy head and wash thy face.
In order that thou mayest be seen of thy Father, which is in
secret.
And thy Father, which seeth in secret, will recompense thee."
Almsgiving, prayer and fasting, are religious acts ;
they are in the sphere of religion rather than morals.
We have only to consider the ethical principles which
underlie them. The hypocrites do these acts of right
eousness, not because of any intemal, ethical im
pulse; or from compliance with any proper ethical
norm ; but simply and alone for such rewards as they
may derive from the approval of public opinion.
They have observed custom and kept the Law, and are
therefore righteous in their own opinion and that of
their fellow men. Almsgiving, prayer, fasting, are
indeed acts of righteousness for the Christian; but
their internal motive should be love, and their ethical
norm God's secret approval.*
It is evident from these passages that Jesus had
an entirely different conception of righteousness
from that of the Pharisees. Righteousness in the
kingdom of God, indeed, embraced the keeping of the
divine Law, and the observance of the ceremonies of
the Law, prayer, fasting and almsgiving ; but in addi
tion the Teaching of John the Baptist and the Teach-
iThe passage Mt. vi. 19-34 has been inserted from other connec
tions, Mt. vi. 19-21 = Lk. xii. 33-34; Mt. vi. 22-23 = Lk. xi. 34-36;
Mt. vi. 24 = Lk. xvi. 13; Mt. vi. 25-34 = Lk. xii. 22-32. Luke
gives the right place in all these cases. See pp. 209 sq., 212 sq., 245.
That which originally followed the passage just considered was Mt.
vii. 1-5 = Lk. vi. 37-42.

BIGHTEOUSNESS. 165
ing of Jesus, and all that these implied. The king
dom of God had its righteousness, which was so much
higher than that of the Law, that the legal righteous
ness of the Pharisees, at the best, could not gain an
entrance into the kingdom.
Luke gives the parable of the Pharisee and the
Publican, which properly may be considered here.
The Pharisee, in his self -righteousness, stands pray
ing in the temple, at the hour of sacrifice. He prays
thus: "God, I thank thee that I am not as the rest
of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. I fast twice in the week ; I give tithes
of all that I get. ' '* In prayer to God, he asserts that
he has not violated the Law of God. He has more
over kept the traditional customs for fencing in the
Law. He is a true Pharisee, after the Law and tra
ditions perfectly righteous. He relies upon his right
eousness for justification before God. He does not
give himself the entire credit for his righteousness.
He thanks God for it ; the hour of sacrifice is to him
a time of thank-offering, and not of sin-offering.
Over against him Jesus sets the despised publi
can, who also stands praying in the temple at the
same hour of sacrifice. He says: "God cover over
me a sinner."^ He recognizes that he is a sinner,
and prays God to cover over his sins and obliterate
them. Jesus said: "This man went down to his
house justified, rather than the other." The publi
can was justified, because his sins were covered over
'Lk. xviii. 11-12. See p. 173 sq. ^See p. 78.

166 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
and obliterated by God's love. He had repented,
and by repentance had entered the kingdom of God;
and so shared in the righteousness of the kingdom.
It is doubtful whether Jesus used this word justifi
cation, which may have come from the interpretation
of St. Luke the pupil of St. Paul; but Jesus used
some word that was its real equivalent. Suppose we
should say: this man went down to his house well
pleasing, or acceptable to God, rather than the other?
Either of these words would be words common in con
nection with sacrifices, and would be in accord with
the terminology of Jesus. This would be in accord
ance with the teaching of Jesus elsewhere; that the
Pharisee at the best, could not enter the kingdom of
God and be accepted of God in the kingdom of His
love. He must first repent and accept the teachings
of the King, and his principles of love. The publican
here, as the publicans elsewhere, repented when
Jesus came to them, and in their repentance became
his disciples and entered the kingdom ; and so began
to live in the higher righteousness of Love.

xni.
Pharisaism.
The Pharisees were a religious party among the
Jews, whose chief characteristic was zeal for the
Law. This zeal manifested itself in the utmost scru
pulosity as to details. The letter of the Law was
unfolded to the utmost logical consequences, and the
inevitable result was innumerable questions of casuis
try, with hair-splitting distinctions. The motive was
undoubtedly to make a fence about the Law ; remove
every possibility of its infraction, and secure its ob
servance with the utmost strictness and comprehen
sion. Thus the religion, doctrine, and ethics of the
Pharisees became legalized, and everything was
measured by the letter of the Law. Men who had
this zeal for the Law in their hearts, as St. Paul,
Gamaliel and Nicodemus, agonized in their effort to
attain justification by it. Such men, as Jesus said,
were not far from the kingdom of God.* Such Phari
sees easily became Christians. But there were many
others to whom the letter of the Law became suffi
cient, and by whom its true spirit was disregarded.
They felt justified by its external observance, and
gave themselves free range in other respects. They
were content if they kept safely within the bounds of
external obedience, and felt free to do any amount
'See p. 157. 167

168 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
of wickedness in secret, and even in public, beyond
the range of its prohibitions. They became, by an
inevitable process of moral decay, hypocrites.
The Pharisees were the chief religious party
among the Jews at the time of Jesus. There were in
Palestine besides, the mystic sect of Essenes. So far
as it appears in the narratives of the Gospels Jesus
came into no relation with them. Jesus had no as
cetic tendencies. The Sadducees were the sacerdotal
party, with little influence among the people. Jesus
came into conflict with them only in his maintenance
of the doctrine of the Resurrection. The Herodians
were a political, rather than a religious party. Jesus
came into conflict with them only so far as they were
disposed to resist his Messianic claims. But the
Pharisees, as the deeply religious and legal party,
were his real opponents ; and it was this party that
entered into conflict with him early in his ministry,
and finally forced the issue that led to his crucifixion.
In the Gospel of John the term Jews'- takes the place
of Pharisees by the second hand ; because at that time
the Jews, who did not embrace Christianity after the
destruction of Jerusalem, especially in Asia, were
really all Pharisees, and the two terms were practi
cally identical.
The Pharisees were of all classes of the people, who
embraced Pharisaic principles. But the chief Phari
sees were either rulers of synagogues, or else rabbis
and teachers, or scribes, or lawyers, who devoted

1 See New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 144, 145.

PHABI8AI8M. 169
themselves especially to the study of the Law and its
explanation. Jesus in his earliest ministry excites the hostility
of the Pharisees by his asserting his authority as the
Son of man to forgive sin, by associating with publi
cans and sinners, and by differences in teaching as
to Fasting and Purifications.
The jealousy of the Pharisees was excited by the
success of Jesus in the Jordan valley in winning dis
ciples.* Their interests were opposed to the growth
of a new religious party. Their enmity increased
still more owing to the violation of their Sabbath cus
toms by Jesus and his disciples. Jesus rebukes the
Pharisees at the Feast of Pentecost and exposes their
inconsistency. "I know you, that ye have not the
love of God in yourselves. ' '^
This was their radical defect. They observed the
letter of the Law. But love, the true spirit and sum
of the Law, they had not. "How can ye believe,
which receive glory one of another, and the glory that
cometh from the only God ye seek not?"* They
sought and found the glory of men. They did not
seek and did not find the glory of God ; that is, they
were satisfied with the approval of men, and cared
not for the approval of God. ' ' Think not that I will
accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth
you, even Moses, on whom ye have set your hope."*
They did indeed make Moses their master; but they
did not have the spirit of Moses, and they did not
' New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 80 sq. 2 jjj y 42.
3 Jn. V. 44. ' Jn. v. 45.

170 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
follow the intrinsic teaching of Moses. "For if ye
believed Moses, ye would believe me: for he wrote
of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall
ye believe my work?"* The prophetic element in
the Law was as important as the legal element. This
they neglected ; and while they did not deny it, they
did not really believe it ; and therefore they could not
see its fulfilment in Jesus.
At the feast of Tabernacles Jesus said: "Did not
Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you doeth
the Law?"^ They did not do the Law because they
violated its most essential principle, the law of love,
in objecting to the healing of men on the Sabbath.
At the feast of Dedication he said to the Pharisees :
"Ye know neither me, nor my Father: if ye knew
me, ye would know my Father also."* The reverse
is suggested, that if they knew the Father they would
know him. "If God were your Father, ye would
love me: for I came forth and am come from God;
... ye are of your father the devil. "* " He that is
of God heareth the words of God. For this cause ye
hear them not, because ye are not of God. ' '^
The Pharisees asked him: "Are we blind also?"
Jesus said: "If ye were blind, ye would have no sin.
But now ye say. We see : your sin remaineth. ' '*
The Pharisees were not really sons of God, and
therefore they could not recognize Jesus as the Son
of God. They were evil-minded and were under the
influence of the devil rather than God.

' Jn. V. 46-47. 2 jn. yii. 19. 3 Jn. viii. 19.
* Jn. viii. 42-44. « Jn. viii. 47. » Jn. ix. 41.

PHABISAISM. 171
Several conflicts with the Pharisees involving
Jesus' estimation of Pharisaism are given by Luke.*
They are in logia attached to incidents, derived from
the Logia of Matthew. They really belong to the late
Galilean ministry, subsequent to the Feeding of the
Multitudes. The most important of these is the
series of Woes pronounced by Jesus upon the Phari
see scribes and lawyers. Matthew's Gospel gives
them with the other Woes of Passion-week in Jeru-
salem^ for topical reasons. Luke gives a con
siderable number of them. The group of Woes in
Luke is attached to a meal at a Pharisee 's table, men
tioned by Luke alone.* In connection with this meal,
a discussion arose as to ceremonial purification be
fore eating.* The story in Mark and Matthew is in
serted without any apparent connection with the pre
vious or subsequent context. Evidently Luke de
rives his material from an independent source and
that was probably the Logia of Matthew. The diffi
culty is that Mark and Matthew place the story with
the material of the late Galilean ministry ; Luke, with
the material of the Perean ministry. The former
omit the Woes; the latter omits the charge against
'Lk. xi. 29-32, 37-52, 53-xii. 1. 2Mt. xxiii. 3Lk. xi. 37-52.
* According to Luke it appears that it was Jesus himself who
neglected the ceremonial purification. But this is not altogether
certain, for the verb is passive and without subject, and it may be
interpreted as having an indefinite subject rather than the subject
of the previous clause. If this be so, it may have referred originally
to the disciples, and thus be another version of the same discussion
given in Mk. vii. 1-23, Mt. xv. 1-20, omitted by Luke in that con
nection.

172 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
the Pharisees of making void the Law by their tra
ditions, with the specimen of the parental law; and
also the discussion as to the inner and the outer, al
though it grew out of the Woes upon the Pharisees.
On the whole it is probable that we have different
versions of the same story. Jesus said to the Phari
sees : "Why do ye also transgress the commandment
of God because of your tradition. ... Ye have made
void the word of God because of your tradition."*
This is more original than Mark: "Ye leave the
commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of
men. And he said unto them : Full well do ye reject
the commandments of God that ye may keep your
tradition."^ The latter verse seems to be only a
variant of the former. The example which Jesus
gives is the violation of the parental law in the inter
est of the korban, a gift to the altar of God.* This is
in entire accordance with his charge against them in
the Gospel of John, that they really violated the
Law of Moses in their teaching and practice. This
leads to the rebuke: "Now do ye Pharisees cleanse
the outside of the cup and of the platter; but your
inward part is full of extortion and wickedness. Ye
foolish ones, did not He that made the outside make
the inside also? Howbeit give for alms those things
which are within; and behold, all things are clean
unto you."*
This is given in Matthew in the form of a Woe:
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
1 Mt. XV. 3-6. 2 Mk. vii. 8-9. 3 gee p. 136. « Lk. xi. 39-41.

PHARISAISM. 173
for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plat
ter, but within they are full from extortion and excess.
Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the
cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may
become clean also."* Inasmuch as this begins a
series of Woes in Luke, it is probable that Matthew's
version is correct in introducing it also by a Woe.
The original in the Logia was probably this :
" Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees,
Who cleanse the outside of the cup and platter.
But within are full of extortion and wickedness!
Fools, did He not make the outside and the inside?
Cleanse the inside of the cup and platter.
And the outside will be clean to you also." '
According to this the Pharisees were concerned for
external purity and not for intemal purity.
Four other Woes are added which probably belong
here. The original of the first was probably :
" Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees,
Who tithe mint, anise and cummin,
And pass over justice and love and fidelity!
Ye blind, these ye ought to have done.
And those ye ought not to have left undone.
Ye strain at the gnat and swallow the camel." '
The Pharisees passed over the most important parts
1 Mt. xxiii. 25-26.
'The phrase of Lk. Mrs e^s-ij/ioaii-irriv ia rendered by Delitzsch npIsS isn.
If we could find in Matthew an original lat and in Luke an original
IpIS, the differences might have originated from confusion.
3 The variations in both Mt. xxiii. 23-24, Lk. xi. 42 are partly con
densations, partly explanations of this common original. Matthew
inserts " weightier matters of the law." Luke omits -n-iauc and trans.-
lates non very properly by a-ydK?/ tov Ocov,

174 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
of the Law, and insisted upon minor things beyond
the Law. They ought to have done the former even
if they neglected the latter. They did not neglect the
minor things, but they neglected the major.
The law of tithes is given in several passages of
the Pentateuch.* The tithe was of cattle and grain,
oil and wine, things suitable for offerings. "The
tithe of thy grain, or of thy wine, or of thine oil."^
"The tithe of thy grain, of thy wine, and of thine
oil."* The fullest law is : "And all the tithe of the
land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit
of the tree, is Yahweh 's; it is holy unto Yahweh."
. . . "And all the tithe of the herd or the flock, what
soever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy
unto Yahweh. ' '*
There is no evidence that the law of tithing was
meant to include the small seeds, anise and cummin,
etc. Yet zeal to tithe these might be commended,
provided it was accompanied with zeal for the more
important things. These are in the estimation of
Jesus, as of the Old Testament, justice and kind
ness.^ " He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good ;
And what doth Yahweh require of thee.
But to do justice and love kindness
And walk humbly with thy God?"°

'Nu. xviii. 21-32; Lv. xxvii. 30-33; Dt. xii. 17-18; xiv. 22-29.
2Dt. xii. 17. 3Dt. xiv. 23. <Lv. xxvii. 30-32. e Mic. vi. 8.
" Luke has been doubtless influenced by this passage to interpret
non on its divine side as piety, love to God; whereas Matthew couples
naxnon which in usage must be interpreted on the human side as
kindness aqd fidelity to men.

PHABISAISM. 175
" Let not kindness and fidelity forsake thee :
Bind them about thy neck;
Write them upon the table of thine heart:
So shalt thou find favour and good repute.
In the sight of God and man." '
"For kindness I delight in, and not peace offering;
And the knowledge of God, rather than whole bumt offer
ings." '
Thus Jesus makes duty to man, the duty of justice,
kindness and fidelity, vastly more important than
paying tithes to God.*
The third Woe is condensed in Luke.* But
Matthew" gives it more fully. The original had
probably six lines as the others.
"Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees,
Who are like whited sepulchres outwardly.
But inwardly are full of bones and all uucleanness;
And men walk over them and know it not.
Ye appear outwardly righteous unto men.
But inwardly ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity."
This doubtless belongs here, because it returns to the
antithesis between the inner and the outer, which
was the occasion of the Woes. The Pharisees hav
ing only an outward righteousness, were inwardly
hypocrites. Two Woes are now added to the lawyers, who like
the scribes are Pharisaic teachers. These are intro
duced by the remonstrance of a lawyer. "And one
1 Pr. iii. 3-4. 2 Ho. vi. 6.
3 Lk. xi. 43 does not belong here. It has been brought in here for
topical reasons. It doubtless belongs in Passion-week where it is
given by Lk. xx. 46 ; Mk. xii. 38-39 ; Mt. xxiii. 6-7.
? Lk. xi. 44. " Mt. xxiii. 27-28.

176 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
of the lawyers answering saith unto him: 'Master,
in saying this thou reproachest us also.' " Jesus
accepts this statement and gives two Woes to the
lawyer,* which are interrupted by a Woe which is
inappropriate here, but belongs to the Woes of Pas
sion-week. These are also brief. The original was
probably :
" Woe unto you lawyers, Pharisees,
Who bind heavy burdens and grievous to be bome.
But will not touch the burdens with one of your fingers."
These are the exactions of the Law, as interpreted by
the lawyers. They become a yoke, which, as St. Peter
told the Council of Jerusalem, was intolerable.^ The
lawyers made the yoke heavy for others. They gave
no help to bear it; they had no kindness or mercy.
The three lines are probably only a part of the logion.
The original of the two versions of the next Woe
was probably:
" Woe unto you lawyers, Pharisees,
Who shut the kingdom of God against men.
And take away from them the key of knowledge!
Ye will not enter the kingdom of God yourselves.
And ye will not suffer those that would enter, to enter." '
The scribes would not enter the kingdom themselves ;
they could not, because they would not do the com
mands they themselves taught the people to do. But
not only this, they prevented the people from going
into the kingdom by shutting the gates against them.
They took away the key of knowledge; they taught
'Lk. xi. 45-52; Mt. xxiii. 4. 2 Acts xv. 10.
»Mt. xxiii. 13; Lk. xi. 52.

PHABISAISM. 177
them falsely, namely, to do things which would pre
vent their entrance into the kingdom.
This discourse concludes with a prophecy which
Jesus puts in the form of a citation from divine Wis
dom.* The original was probably :
" Behold I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes :
Some of them shall ye kill and crucify;
And some of them shall ye scourge and persecute:
That upon you may come all the righteous blood.
From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zachariah.
All these things shall come upon this generation."
This is followed by a lament over Jerusalem :^
" O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets.
And stonest them that are sent unto thee!
How often would I have gathered thy children.
As a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,
And ye would not !
Behold your house is left unto you desolate ! "
And a final couplet :
" Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say.
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."
Luke gives in this connection Jesus' warning to the
disciples against the Pharisees: "Beware ye of the
leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."*
'Mt. xxiii. 34-36; Lk. xi. 49-51.
2Mt. xxiii. 37-39; Lk. xiii. 34-35 in different connections; but it
certainly belongs here.
' In Lk. xii. 1. It appears in a sentence taken out of its original
connection and so abridged as not to give good sense. This is given by
Mt. xvi. 6 and Mk. viii. 15 in a different connection, after the feed
ing of the multitudes, when the disoiples had taken the boat across
the sea. There can be little doubt that this is the proper place.
Mark gives it in the form " Take heed, beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." Matthew gives it in the form:
12

178 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
Neither Mark nor Luke gives any explanation of it,
but Matthew gives an explanation. "Then under
stood they how that he bade them not beware of the
leaven of bread, but of the teachings of the Phari
sees. ' ' But this is probably explanatory on the part
of the Gospel.
A logion is given by Luke which appears more
fully in Mark and Matthew.* This is attached by
Mark and Matthew to another with reference to the
charge that Jesus cast out devils through the power
of the devil. Luke attaches it to another with refer
ence to speaking under the guidance of the Spirit.
Both of these are topical connections. In the one
case it is a warning to the Pharisees against blas
phemy : in the other case it is a general warning.^
Luke gives the demand for a sign with a logion
just before the discussion as to purification already
considered ;* and in connection with the discussion as
to Beelzebub. Matthew gives it in the same connec
tion.* But it is omitted in the parallel of Mark and
has only topical justification here.^
The Pharisees indeed tempt him to give a sign,
meaning by that, not a miracle, but some theophanic
" Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sad
ducees. It is altogether probable that only " Pharisees " was in
the original. The other parties were added by the evangelists from
a later point of view.
'Lk. xii. 10; Mk. iii. 28-29; Mt. xii. 31-32; see p. 193.
2 See New Light on the Life of Jesus, p. 68.
3Lk. xi. 29-32; see p. 179. «Mt. xii. 38-42.
This is really the same incident reported in Mt. xvi. 1-4; Mk.
viii. 11-12.

PHARISAISM. 179
sign. Mark* has: "There shall no sign be given
unto this generation." This is however incorrect,
for the three other versions have: "but the sign of
Jonah." To this Matthew and Luke add a logion.^
It is evident therefore that the place in Matthew and
Luke is due to the logion of the Logia of Matthew
upon which they built. The order of Matthew is
preferable. The original was probably :
" The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment.
And shall condemn the men of this generation:
For they repented at the preaching of Jonah;
But behold a greater than Jonah is here.
The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment,
And shall condemn the men of this generation:
For she came from the ends of the earth for the wisdom of
Solomon ;
But behold a greater than Solomon is here."
This sign seeking seems to be the same as that
reported in John.* Matthew* gives a logion which
appears in another form and connection in Luke.*
" (Ye say) in the evening, '(it will be) fine weather, for the
heaven is red:'
In the morning, ' (it will be) foul weather, for the heaven is
red.'
When ye see a cloud rising in the West, ' there cometh a
shower ;'
When ye see a South wind blowing, ' there will be a scorch
ing heat.'
Ye know how to discern the face of the heavens ;
But ye cannot discern the signs of the times."
'Mk. viii. 12. 2Mt. xii. 40-42; Lk. xi. 30-32.
3 Jn. vi. * Mt. xvi. 2-3 ; Lk. xii. 54-56.

180 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
A logion is given in Matthew* which is peculiar to
that Gospel, and which it is difficult to place. The
context condemns a hypocritical judgment of others,
and therefore suggests that hypocrites are in the
mind of the evangelist in his interpretation of this
enigmatical gnome of Jesus. It probably belongs to
the time of the final struggle with the Pharisees in
Galilee. " Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,
Neither cast your pearls before the swine;
Lest haply they trample them under their feet.
And turn and rend you."
Dogs and swine stand for the violent and unclean.
The Jews used these terms for the Gentiles. Jesus
is not thinking of them. He is rather thinking of the
Pharisees and their disciples, whom he represents as
unclean within, and elsewhere calls serpents. The
holy things of the disciple are the holy teachings of
Jesus, the pearls of heavenly wisdom. Such teach
ings as Jesus has been giving to his disciples, are
for those who can appreciate them, not for those who
in impurity and cruelty would take advantage of
them. Think of talking to dogs and swine about
Christian love, or counsels of perfection! Teach
them that it is Christian not to resist evil, and they
will take advantage of it and do Christians all the
evil they can. Teach them that a Christian should
not refuse to give to those who ask of him, and they
will strip him of all that he has. Teach them that
1 Mt. vii. 6.

PHARISAISM. 181
the Christian should not resist evil, or forced service,
and they will make Christians their slaves. Teach
them that the Christian should seek the kingdom and
not be anxious for other things ; they will rejoice and
take possession of these other things. Teach them
that the Christian should not judge, and they will
take all the judgment into their own hands; and a
fine judgment of iniquity it will be.
In other words the holy teachings of Jesus, his
pearls of heavenly wisdom, are for the initiated;
those who are called to be his disciples and are in
vited to seek the kingdom. They are not to be
thrown before the enemies of the kingdom to lay bare
the hearts of Christians and expose them to the mer
ciless. The holy things are for holy men and wo
men. The pearls are for the true disciples, who sell
all that they have to secure them.
The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican
makes very evident Jesus' estimation of Pharisees.
They had a complacent, self-satisfied condition of
mind due to the strict observance of the moral and
ceremonial Law, without thought of repentance, or
any further need for acceptance with God. Jesus
esteems this conformity to external Law as lower
than repentance and entrance into the kingdom of
love. It is evident, in the discussions of Jesus with
the Pharisees in Jerusalem, that they were not really
desirous of knowing the truth, or of submitting to
the authority of God. They challenged Jesus' au
thority as they had that of John the Baptist; but

182 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
they would not honestly consider the evidences pre
sented to them by Jesus. Jesus having exposed
their insincerity, and their purpose to put him to
death without cause and in violation of Law, in the
interest of their party, pronounces a second series
of Woes upon them. These we may arrange as fol
lows. Jesus begins with a recognition of the posi
tion and authority of the Pharisee scribes :
" The scribes (the Pharisees) sit on Moses' seat :
All things therefore whatsoever they bid you.
These do and observe;
But do not ye after their works;
For they say and do not." *
The scribes teach what should be done, but they
themselves do it not. Jesus ' ethics require that men
should both do and teach. Doing and teaching must
correspond. The scribes teach one thing and do an
other, so that while their teachings may be in accord
ance with the ethical laws of God, their doings ex
clude them from God's approval. Jesus represents
that the scribes sit on Moses' seat; that is in the seat
of authority, as lawful interpreters and executors of
the Law. They have authority and the correspond
ing duty to teach the Law. When Jesus says that
the people may do what they say, though not what
they do, he seems on the surface to endorse their
teachings ; and yet as we have elsewhere seen, he not
infrequently attacks their teachings as violations of
Law, and their doctrine as corrupting leaven. The
IMt. xxiii. 2-3.

PHABISAISM. 183
imperatives are not mandatory, but permissive. In
the terse, sententious teaching of Jesus we cannot
reasonably anticipate that he will guard himself at
all points. He has here to deal with conduct, which
does not correspond with right teaching. Elsewhere
he shows errors in their teaching also. Jesus insists
that the ethical norm requires conduct as well as doc
trine, and that doctrine without conduct is not suffi
cient for entrance to the kingdom of God. Jesus
then unfolds the falseness of Pharisaic works.*
" But all their works they do for to be seen of men :
For they make broad their phylacteries.
And enlarge the borders of their garments." '
Their deeds, their observance of legal righteous
ness, was not with God's will in view, as an ethical
norm ; but the opinion of the public as to the law was
their ideal of right. Public opinion and not God's
will was their ethical ideal.*
' Mt. xxiii. 4 does not belong here. It was introduced from another
context given in Lk. xi. 46.
2 The (pvTiaKT^pia were the I'Sbh, little leather boxes which contained
written on parchment the words Ex. xiii. 9 ; Dt. vi. 8 ; xi. 18. The
KpaaireSa were the M'S'S, the holy fringe, the badge of the true
Israelite. 3 The laws upon which the wearing of phylacteries was based, are:
(a) Ex. xii. 2-10 the Law of the Passover. (6) Ex. xiii. 11-16 the
consecration of the first-born closing with "And it shall be for a
sign upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes." (c)
Dt. vi. 4-9 the Shemah (see p. 155) closing with: "And thou shalt
bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be for front
lets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the door
posts of thy house, and upon they gates." {d) Dt. xi. 18-21, " There
fore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul ;
and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall
be for frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your

184 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
There were two phylacteries, one bound with
leather straps upon the forehead, the other upon the
arm. These were made large, not to be signs and
memorials to them of their fidelity to the Law, but to
the public that they were keeping the Law. Those
things which had been provided as faithful reminders
of obligation to keep the Law, were thus degraded
into ostentatious symbols of righteousness before the
public* The original of the introductory Woe was prob
ably: " Woe '' unto you scribes, Pharisees !
Who love salutations in the marketplaces.
And chief seats in the synagogues.
And chief places at feasts,
And to be called of men, Eabbi;
Who devour widows' houses.
While they make long prayers."
children, talking of them, when thou sittest down in thine house,
and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and
when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door
posts of thine house, and upon thy gates; that your days may be
multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land which
Yahweh sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the
heavens above the earth." (e) Nu. xv. 38-39, " Speak unto the
children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the
borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that
they put upon the fringe of each border a cord of blue; and it shall
be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember
all the commandments of Yahweh, and do them, etc."
'Mt. xxiii. 8-12 is an insertion from another place which disturbs
the order of the thought. See p. 264 sq., where it is considered.
2 The first Woe is without the word " Woe " in Matthew, Mark and
Luke in this connection, but it is given in Lk. xi. 43. It was omitted
in the condensation of Mk. xii. 38-40, Lk. xx. 45-47, and Mt. xxiii. 6
was assimilated. The Woe is implied in the phrase of Mark, Luke:
" These shall receive greater condemnation."

PHABISAISM. 185
This is an exhibition of their conduct in public; the
love of public approval, and greed for honours, con
nected with injustice and cruelty to widows, who
were in the ancient Law conceived as especially un
der the protection of God.
The second Woe is only a tetrastich:
" Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees !
For you compass sea and land
To make one proselyte, and when he is become so.
Ye make him twofold more a son of Gehenna than your
selves." '
Their zeal was to make proselytes to themselves, not
to the kingdom of God; and so these proselytes be
came like their teachers and, not subject to the same
traditional and inherited restraint, they inevitably
became worse than their masters. These masters
are doomed to Gehenna as their ultimate place ; much
more their depraved disciples.
The third Woe was with reference to their making
void the law of vows. The original was probably:^
" Woe unto you, ye blind guides ! who say.
Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing;
But whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is
a debtor.
Ye fools and blind (Pharisees) :
For whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that hath
sanctified the gold?
He therefore that sweareth by the temple,
Sweareth by it, and by Him that dwelleth therein.

'Mt. xxiii. 15. 2 Mt. xxiii. 16-22.

186 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
(Woe unto you, ye blind guides ! who say,)
Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing;
But whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, he is
a debtor.
Ye (fools) and blind (Pharisees) :
For whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth
the gift?
He therefore that sweareth by the altar,
Sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
Woe unto you, ye blind guides! who say,
Whosoever shall swear by (the throne of God, it is nothing;)
But whosoever shall swear by the heaven, he is a debtor.
Ye fools and blind Pharisees :
For whether is greater, the heaven, or the throne that sacti-
fieth the heaven?
He therefore that sweareth by the heaven,
Sweareth by the throne of God, and Him that sitteth
thereon." ^
The law of vows is this :^ " If a man vow a vow un
to the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a
bond, he shall not break his word; he shall do ac
cording to all that proceedeth out of his mouth."
There were releases for those under authority, as
wife and children, but not for a man. He had how
ever right of redemption.* The Pharisees seem to
have introduced a very remarkable casuistry into the
matter of vows, which Jesus ridicules in a most thor
oughgoing manner. The Pharisees seemed to think
that an oath of devotion of sacred things was binding
' The last strophe of this logion has been greatly condensed in the
Gospel and it is necessary to restore it by conjecture in accordance
with the two synonymous strophes; cf. the similar restoration, pp.
201, 202.
' Nu. xxx. 2. 3Ly. xxvii.

PHABISAISM. 187
in some circumstances and not in others, and the dif
ferences in these circumstances were simply the de
grees of sacredness attached to the thing by which
they swore. They recognized the oath by the gold
of the temple and the korban of the altar as binding,
but not that by the temple, or the altar itself. Of
course the golden plated interior of the temple and
the korban on the altar were more sacred than the
exterior temple and the altar; and it might be sup
posed that the difference in sanctity of objects in
creased the sanctity of the oath; but they failed to
see what Jesus brings out, that the altar carries with
it the offering on it; and the temple its gold; and
the throne of God heaven. The gold is hallowed by
the temple, and the korban by the altar, and heaven
by the throne of God in it. The sanctity of the place
consecrates all objects in the place; so he that swear
eth by the temple and the altar and the throne of
God, sweareth by God, who Himself inhabits them
all. The last strophe has been abridged by Matthew,
who uses part of its material however elsewhere,*
where he also gives other instances, namely Jerusa
lem, the royal city, and the head of man. All this
casuistry on the part of the Pharisees really de
stroyed the sanctity of the vow, and violated the Law
of God which they professed to honour and obey.
The final Woe of this group^ was originally prob
ably thus :
'Mt. v. 34.
2Mt. xxiii. 29-32; Lk. xi. 47^8.

188 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
"Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees!
Who build the sepulchres of the prophets.
And garnish the tombs of the righteous.
And say : If we had been in the days of our fathers.
We should not have been partakers in their blood.
Ye are witnesses that ye are the sons of those that slew them;
Ye fill up the measure of your fathers' guilt."
The Pharisees pretended to honour the prophets by
building their tombs. But they had the same spirit
of persecution that their fathers had. They are fill
ing up the measure of their fathers' guilt by doing
precisely what the fathers had done.
There is a great difference in these Woes in the
epithets ascribed to the Pharisees. "Hypocrites" is
the most common term, then "blind guides," and
"fools* and blind," or simply "blind." What is the
ethical significance of these terms applied by Jesus
to the Pharisees? It is probable that "hypocrites"
is not original. It was probably an interpretation of
Matthew. But the other terms seem to be original.
The Pharisees were not safe guides to the people;
they were blind and would lead their disciples into
the ditch. They were not wise, but unwise, and real
fools in their teaching and conduct. Matthew gives
a final warning :
" Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers.
How shall ye escape the judgment of Gehenna?"^

' fiupoi of Matthew is weakened into a<ppovEg of Luke.
2 Mt. xxiii. 33.

XIV.
Sin and Judgment.
Jesus at first in his teaching touches Sin only indi
rectly and by antithesis with his norm of conduct.
He preaches at the beginning repentance, as did
John the Baptist. This is essential to the forgive
ness of sins and entrance into the kingdom of God.
Repentance implies on the negative side, turning
away from sin ; a change of mind as to sin. Sinners
are summoned to repentance. Jesus justifies himself
for keeping company with publicans and sinners, by
the assertion that he came, not to call the righteous,
but sinners.* He devoted his attention to sinners, that
is as the context shows, those who recognized them
selves to be sinners, and were such in the public esti
mation. He did not, at this time, consider the
righteous, that is those who were righteous in their
own estimation and in the estimation of others.
So later on, in the Perean ministry, he states that
he came to seek the lost and to save them. He con
siders sinners as those who have wandered from the
way like lost sheep, and so are in great peril. His
mission was to bring them back to the right way, and
the right place. This he illustrated by the three par
ables : the Shepherd seeking the lost Sheep ; the Wo
man searching for the lost Coin ; and the Father wel-
' See p. 114. 189

190 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
coming back the prodigal Son. In all such cases
Jesus is tender and loving and exceedingly mild to
sinners. So especially in the case of the sinful
woman, whom he forgives much in response to a
great love.* In the Sermon on the Mount, in antithe
sis with his blessings, he pronounces woes upon the
rich, the full, the joyous and the popular. These
are in antithesis with those who are poor and hungry,
who weep for the sake of the kingdom of God, and
who are persecuted by those who in their prosperity
disregard the kingdom. They are more fully de
scribed in the parables of the Perean ministry, where
Jesus vividly pictures the greedy, grasping rich, and
prosperous. The occasion of this was the desire of a
brother to share in the paternal inheritance.^ In
this passage Jesus comes in contact with a right of
property, and in some respects the most sacred of
these, a brother's right to share in the inheritance
of his father. Whether this was a rightful claim or
not, we do not know. At all events Jesus declines to
interpose in his behalf. Instead of doing this, he
dissuades him from seeking his supposed rights, and
bids him beware of covetousness. "For a man's
life consisteth not in the abundance of the things
which he possesseth. "*
This is illustrated by the parable of the Rich Fool,
who kept enlarging his possessions and increasing
his pleasures, until one night God said unto him:
"Thou fool, this night is thy life required of thee;
'See p. 70 sq. ^Ik. xii. 13-21. 3 Lk. xii. 15.

SIN AND JUDGMENT. 191
and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall
they be?"* This rich man dies and is stripped in
an instant of all his vast possessions. Nothing is
left him, but his bare self, and the account he must
give of the use of his wealth. This illustrates the
teaching, that life does not consist in the possessions
which a man may have. On this is based the appli
cation^ " So is he that layeth up treasure for himself,
and is not rich toward God." The rich fool was
laying up treasure for himself, and eventually in the
course of nature is stripped bare of it. The life of
a man should be spent in becoming rich toward God :
that is, in laying up a store of merit toward God, by
so using wealth in holy love to God and man, that
recompense can be made only by God himself.
This is more fully set forth in the parable of
Dives and Lazarus.* Dives was another such rich
fool as the one described in the previous parable.
He was rich, and expended his wealth upon his ward
robe and table. When he died he went to Hades, and
to the place of punishment in Hades, where he was
in torment in the flames. He, in his lifetime, received
his good things and enjoyed them, and when removed
from them, he became utterly destitute. Lazarus
was a sick and sore beggar at his gate, content if he
could get the crumbs from the rich man's table and
share them with the dogs. He died and went to
Abraham's bosom, the place of blessedness in Hades.
He received in this life his evil things. We are led

'Lk. xii. 20. 2 Lk. xii. 21. 3 Lk. xvi. 19-31.

192 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
to infer the character of the two from their place of
destination. But a further hint of the character of
Dives is given in his own words, where he desires
that Lazarus may be sent to warn his brethren to
repent, lest they go also to the place of torment.
Dives was not only a rich man, but a selfish, bad
man, who indulged himself, and neglected the poor
at his gates. He laid up no treasure in heaven, but
rather earned penalty in Hades. Lazarus was re
warded, not because he was poor, but because he
was good. The dogs were fond of him— an uncom
mon thing in the East. Dives had treasure on
earth, but not in heaven. Lazarus had treasure in
heaven, but none on earth.
Jesus in an early logion in the Galilean ministry,
made the Will of the Father the ethical norm, and the
not doing that Will sin.* So at the close of the Ser
mon on the Mount, it is a sin involving sure destruc
tion not to do the words of Jesus himself.^ In his
Commission of the Twelve and of the Seventy, the
disciples were to testify against the sin of those who
did not receive them as messengers of God, and fol
low their preaching. And on their return Jesus said
that it would be more tolerable in the Judgment for
Tyre and Sodom, than for those cities which rejected
his teaching and that of his disciples.*
Jesus came into conflict with the Pharisees as to
questions of casuistry, when he showed that it was a
sin to violate the principle of love, rather than the
letter of the Sabbath Law.* He asserted in his dis-
'See p. 38. 2 See p. 51. 3 gee p. 53 sq. * See p. 130 sq.

SIN AND JUDGMENT. 193
cussions as to the Law, that the Law was more
searching in its requirements than the Pharisees rec
ognized, as it demanded not merely external con
formity in literal, logical obedience, but also the in
ternal conformity of speech, look and mind ; and that
therefore merely external conformity without inter
nal conformity was hypocrisy.* This is exactly what
Jesus charges against the Pharisees, whom he repre
sents as hypocrites, in their own conduct ; and also as
blind guides misleading others, serpents, children
of the devil, because they tempted and misled others
to sin, and made them children of Gehenna, doomed
to final judgment in Gehenna.^
Jesus, in his Perean ministry, distinguishes be
tween sins that are pardonable, and a sin that is
unpardonable.* The original at the basis of the ver
sions was probably this :
" All their sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men.
And all their blasphemies wherewithsoever they blaspheme:
But whosoever shall blaspheme against the Spirit, shall not
be forgiven.
Whosoever shall speak against the Son of man, it shall be
forgiven (him) :
But whosoever shall speak against the Spirit, it shall not be
forgiven (him).
Neither in this age, nor in the age which is to come." *
This passage brings before us very clearly the dif
ferences in degrees of sin, when the same act of sin
' See p. 145. 2 See p. 185 sq.
3 Mk. iii. 28-29; Mt. xii. 31-32; Lk. xii. 10.
• See The Incarnation of the Lord, p. 18.
]3

194 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
is directed towards different objects. The blas
phemy of the Son of Man, the Messiah, is a sin of
serious degree; it is a sin against an ethical norm
higher than the Law; and yet it is pardonable: but
the sin against the divine Spirit is higher still, the
supreme sin ; and so blasphemy against the Spirit is
unpardonable. This is variously stated; by Luke
simply as unpardonable; by Mark as unpardonable
in the everlasting time, because it is an everlasting
sin; by Matthew as a sin which cannot be pardoned
in either of the two divisions of time: namely this
age of the world, or the coming age of the Messiah.
This raises the question, which is not answered,
whether other sins may be pardoned in the coming
age, if they should not be pardoned here.*
At the feast of Dedication, Jesus said: "Every
one that committeth sin is the bondsman of sin."^
This is a reiteration of a conception of sin familiar
to the Old Testament religion, where, as in the story
of Cain and Abel,* sin is conceived as a wild beast,
trying to enter a man and get possession of him. A
similar idea is at the basis of the conception of
demoniacal possession, especially in this passage:
" The unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man,
Passeth through waterless places, seeking rest and finding
none.
He saith ' I will return unto my house whence I came out ' ;
And when he is come, he findeth it swept and garnished.

' See Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 180-181.
2 Jn. viii. 34. sQen. iv. 7; cf. Ps. xix. 1. ix. 13.

SIN AND JUDGMENT. 195
Then goeth he, and taketh seven other spirits, more evil than
himself.
And they enter in and dwell there:
And the last state of that man is worse than the first." ^
We may now consider the consequences of sin as
stated by Jesus at the feast of Dedication.^ Looking
at the man blind from birth, the disciples asked
Jesus: "Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that
he should be born blind?" That is, they regarded
the blindness of the man as a penalty for sin: but
they did not know whether it was a penalty for the
sin of the man himself, or a penalty for the sins of
his parents. Jesus denies both of these alternatives :
' ' Neither did this man sin, nor his parents ' ' ; that is,
in reply to the question "that he should be bom
blind." His blindness was not a penalty for sin.
Jesus indicates that there was another purpose in
the plan of God, namely, "that the works of God
should be made manifest in him, ' ' that is, that Jesus
might heal him of his blindness. Jesus did not say
that this was the only reason of his blindness ; but
that the purpose he mentioned was a reason. It is
of some importance that we have this word of Jesus
against the current view of that time, that there is a
necessary connection between sin and disease.
Disease may be the result of sin; it often is such
a result, but it is not always so. Sometimes the in
nocent suffer more in this world than the guilty ; and
a cruel wrong would often be done, if we should infer
sinfulness from sickness and misery. The friends
' Mt. xii. 43^5; Lk. xi. 24-26.
n Jn. ix. 2-3.

196 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
of Job tried this, and were rebuked for it. But the
error persisted among the Jews, notwithstanding the
story of Job. And it persists among Christians not
withstanding the teaching of Jesus.
In this connection Jesus said: "For judgment
came I into this world, that they which see not may
see; and that they which see may become blind.
Those of the Pharisees which were with him heard
these things, and said unto him: Are we also blind!
Jesus said unto them: If ye were blind, ye would
have no sin; but now ye say. We see; your sin re
maineth."* A sin of blindness and ignorance is,
comparatively speaking, no sin ; but a sin of sight, of
knowledge, is a sin where guilt abides.
Similarly at his last discourse in Jerusalem,^ Jesus
said : "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they
had not had sin; but now they have no excuse for
their sin." "If I had not done among them the
works which none other did, they had not had sin;
but now have they both seen and hated both me and
my Father."
Jesus in his late Galilean ministry comes to the
consideration of sin from the contrast between the in
ward and the outward in the matter of purification.
The occasion is given by the objection of the Phari
sees to his disciples for not making ceremonial ablu
tions before meals. He considers the ceremonial
laws of purification in relation to internal ethical
principles.* 1 Jn. ix. 39-41. 2 jn. xv. 22, 24.
3 Mk. vii. 14-25; Mt. xv. 10-20; Kow6i = hn. See Lv. x. 10. A
person became ndb or ^n ceremonially by contact with dead bodies.

SIN AND JUDGMENT. 197
According to the sensitive Levitical conception, as
elaborated from the Levitical laws into the Pharisaic
usage, the peril of defilement was constantly great;
and ceremonies were often repeated to avoid any pos
sibility of such uucleanness. The Pharisees magni
fied the conception of the sources of uucleanness so
as to lose sight of ethical considerations. They
merged, as it were, the ethical in the physical, the
moral in the ceremonial.
Jesus now made a strong antithesis to all this ex
ternal, purely physical source of uucleanness. The
common basis for Mark and Matthew was probably
this: " That which cometh into the man defileth not ;
On the contrary that defileth which cometh out of the man." '
Defilement comes from within a man and not from
without a man. The heart is the seat of the moral
character in Old and New Testaments. Jesus, in an
additional couplet, specifies some of this defilement.
In the original he mentioned only evil thoughts and
violations of the 6th, 7th and Sth commandments.
" Out of the heart of man proceedeth evil thoughts.
Murders, adulteries, thefts and suchlike." ^

by issues, and by the use of unclean animals; and the ceremonial
purifications were to remove this uncleanness.
'Mk. vii. 15; Mt. xv. 11.
2The original logion doubtless contained only those given above.
Besides these there are two common to Matthew and Mark, -Kopvelai
and fi'Xaoijiiiij.'i.a. Only one is peculiar to Matthew -fevSo/iapTvpiai.
Mark has then seven others: ir'Aeovc^iai, -KmripiaL, dd'Xoi, daiX-yeia,
(Kp-da^/ibg iro-i>rip6g, v-izcp-q^avla, afpoavvj;. Harnack and Resch are of the
opinion that the list in the logion was much shorter even than Mat
thew's list, and that it closed with the words Kal rd bfioia Tovroig,

198 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
The evangelists add other specifications and so do
other early Christian writers. Those of Jesus were
only violations of the Ten Commandments. The
additions cover the ground of post-exilic Biblical
ethics, as well as of Biblical ethics and even New Tes
tament ethics and Christian ethics.
Jesus is virtually taking the position that ethical
defilement is the real defilement; and that it comes
out of the man himself, and not merely from his ex
temal organism, from his body and its appetites.
Sin is not physical from without ; it is not even phys
ical from within. The heart, the intellectual and
moral nature of man, is the fountain source of his
ethical defilement. His heart is defiled, and the de
filement of the heart comes out in speech and be
haviour. Man in his inner nature is ethically defiled.
It is thus evident that while Jesus is very tender
and mild in his judgment of sinners, and of sin, so
far as it is a sin of ignorance, a sin of the poor and
despised people; he is very severe and stem in his
judgment of sins of knowledge, and of sins of the
rich, the mighty and the leamed. Sin is taken out
from under the category of Law and put in the light
of the Will of the Father and the Words of the Son.
It is tested not only by duty but by love. It is taken
apart from the estimation of men, and put in the esti-
on the ground of Gal. v. 19-21 and the catalogues of such sins in
De aleatoribus, c. 5 : Pseudo. Clem. i. 8 ; Herm. Mand. viii. 5 ;
Epiphan. Haer. Iviii. 2. In the Didache the list is much longer, men
tioning in all no less than twenty-four specific sins. Furthermore it
omits from those mentioned in the Gospels dae^yeia, l3Xaa<liri/iia, afpoavv?;,
df-SaTijiof -KovJipog, and Sia?M-ywpol irovi/poc.

SIN AND JUDGMENT. 199
mation of the Searcher of hearts. Sin has its seat
in the innermost man, and especially in the mind.
When it is enthroned there, external conformity to
Law amounts to but little. It rather enhances the
guilt of the sin, because it shows that the avoidance
of sin is simply and alone from the fear of men, and
not from the fear of God; for that which God sees,
the inner man, remains altogether sinful. That only
is righteous in the man which his fellow men can see
and estimate. Hypocrisy, moral blindness and the
craftiness of the serpent, intensify the guilt. To
Jesus, sin reaches its intensity in blasphemy of the
divine Spirit, in opposing and misrepresenting his
divine work of teaching and training men for the
kingdom of God.
Jesus' conception of sin can be understood fully
only when we have studied his judgment scenes. He
emphasizes the fact that judgment extends to the
words of a man.
" Every idle word that men speak.
They shall give account thereof in the (day of) Judgment.
For by thy words thou shalt be justified.
And by thy words thou shalt be condemned." ^
The (day of) Judgment here, according to the usage
of Matthew,^ is the final judgment at the end of the
Dispensation. Then not only deeds will be taken
into consideration, whether they confonn to the eth
ical ideal, but also words. Some words will condemn
and so exclude from the kingdom. Other words will
be approved and justified.
' Mt. xii. 36-37. 2 See Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 310 sq.

200 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
Jesus gives a number of parables which involve
the judgment at the end of the age of the world.
When interpreting the parable of the Tares, Jesus
said:* "The Son of man shall send forth his angels,
and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things
that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity, and
shall cast them into the furnace of fire : there shall
be the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then shall
the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom
of their Father."
Jesus said in his application of the parable of the
Drag-net:^ "So shall it be at the End of the Age:
the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from
among the righteous and shall cast them into the fur
nace of fire. There shall be the weeping and gnash
ing of teeth."*
Here at the end of the age is a judgment of men.
The angels separate the two classes, as the result of
that judgment ; the wicked, the doers of iniquity are
cast into Gehenna, and the righteous shine as the sun
in the kingdom of glory.
The parable of the Marriage Feast* presents three
classes: (1) the Pharisees who refuse the call and
who murder the prophets; (2) the publicans and sin-
' Mt. xiii. 41-43; see Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 208 sq.
Mt. xiii. 49-50; see Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 209 sq.
3 Mt. adds as usual the interpretation : " There shall be the weeping
and gnashing of teeth," and substitutes for an original Gehenna its
interpretation " the furnace of fire." Neither of these expressions
did Jesus himself use. These judgment scenes are based on Dan.
xii. 2-3.
' Mt. xxii. 1-14; cf. Lk. xiv. 15-24; Messiah of the Gospels, p. 216,

SIN AND JUDGMENT. 201
ners who come without the wedding-robe; (3) the
publicans and sinners who come with the wedding-
robe. It is common to interpret the wedding-robe as
if it were Christ's righteousness, imputed to the sin
ner to cover his nakedness in sin ; but there is nothing
in text, or context to suggest such a reference ; and
there is nothing of the kind in the teaching of Jesus.
He teaches in the previous parable, what he teaches
throughout, that men after repentance must do the
will of God; be conformed in conduct to the ethical
ideal. This is what Jesus means here by the wed
ding garment, a character which has been gained by
good conduct, good works, a good heart. The man
without the wedding garment is a wicked man, like
the corresponding evil doer of the other passages.
He has come professing repentance, but there is no
reality in it; there are no good deeds to attest it.
Therefore he receives the same punishment that they
received. ' ' Then the king said to his servants : Bind
him hand and foot, and cast him out into the outer
darkness;* for many are called, but few chosen. "^
The outer darkness is in antithesis with the light of
the festal hall.
The parable of the unfaithful Servant* puts in
antithesis, faithful and unfaithful servants; not be
lievers and unbelievers, as they are so often inter-

' " There shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth," the usual
phrase of Matthew, is added.
2 Mt. xxii. 13-14.
3Cf. parallel places in Mt. xxiv. 45-51; Lk. xii. 41-46; Messiah of
the Gospels, pp. 221 sq.

202 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
preted. The faithful servant is one who is faithful
to his lord in the administration of the affairs of the
household, who is careful, provident and obedient
to his lord. The unfaithful servant is wasteful, ex
travagant, quarrelsome, intemperate. His punish
ment in the day of judgment is: that his master
' ' shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with
the unfaithful."*
Luke gives supplementary material here, which is
omitted by Matthew. The original logion, apart
from explanatory insertions and minor changes, was
probably this:
" He who knew his lord's will and did it not.
Shall be beaten with many stripes;
But he who knew it not and did it not.
Shall be beaten with few stripes.
To whomsoever much is given.
Of him shall much be required;
To whom they commit much.
Of him wiU they ask the more." '
The Will of the Lord is the ethical norm common
to both servants. They agree in the act of trans
gression, and are therefore guilty and will receive
punishment. They differ in knowledge of the Will
of God; and accordingly there is a distinction be
tween wilful transgression, and transgression by
neglect, carelessness, inattention and other circum
stances of ignorance. There are degrees of con-

' So Luke ; but Matthew has " with the hypocrites " and also
' there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth," as usual.
2 Lk. xii. 47-48.

SIN AND JUDGMENT. 203
formity to the ethical norm and degrees of trans
gression. There are accordingly degrees of guilt
and of punishment. This punishment takes place at
the day of judgment. Therefore there are different
degrees of punishment in Gehenna. It is not said
whether this is a difference in duration of punish
ment, or in severity of punishment. The analogy of
human punishment would favour both difference of
time and degree. At the same time the story sug
gests that stripes, however severe, complete the pun
ishment, and are followed by a release from punish
ment after the penalty has been exacted.
The parables of the Talents and the Pounds, while
dealing chiefly with the rewards of the faithful, also
condemn the unfaithful servant who neglected to use
his trust. The parable of the Virgins also presents
the condemnation of the foolish virgins, who ne
glected to prepare for their Lord, and were not
watchful for his advent. These prepare us for the
judgment scene depicted by Jesus.*
I.
" When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the
angels with him.
Then shall he sit on the throne of his glory:
And before him will be gathered all the nations:
And he shall separate them one from another.
As the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats :
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats
on the left.

I Mt. xxv. 31-46; see General Introduction to the Study of Holy
Scripture, p. 405, where I have discussed the relation of the present
version to the original.

204 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
II.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand.
Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom.
Which was prepared for you from the foundation of the
world :
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty,
and ye gave me drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed
me:
I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came
unto me.
in.
Then shall the righteous answer him. Lord,
When saw we thee an hungred and fed thee? or athirst and
gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked,
and clothed thee?
When saw we thee sick, and visited thee? or in prison, and
came unto thee?
And the King shall answer and say unto them. Verily I say
unto you.
Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these least of my brethren,
ye did it unto me. IV.
Then shall the King say also unto them on the left hand.
Depart from me, ye cursed, into Gehenna,
Which is prepared for the devil and his angels:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was
thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye
clothed me not;
I was sick, and ye visited me not: I was in prison, and ye
came not unto me.

SIN AND JUDGMENT. 205
V.
Then shall the wicked answer him, Lord,
When saw we thee an hungred (and did not give thee meat),
or athirst (and gave thee not to drink) ;
(When saw we thee) a stranger (and took thee not in), or
naked (and clothed thee not) ;
(When saw we thee) sick (and did not visit thee), or in
prison (and did not come unto thee).
Then shall he answer and say unto them. Verily I say unto
you.
Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these, ye
did it not unto me." ^
It is evident that this is a judgment by Jesus the
Messiah at the end of the Age of this world, at his
second Advent, and that it is according to works.
The works here are good works, deeds of kindness
and of Christian love. Both classes of men make
profession of his lordship. Neither are conscious
of any personal service required by Christ, which
they have neglected. Both of these classes are ap
parently professing Christians.^ They say "Lord,"
and are evidently unconscious of any neglect of duty,
or any kind of law-breaking. They are innocent in
their own eyes. But Jesus pronounces them ac
cursed, and assigns them to Gehenna, because of
their failure in deeds of Christ-like love. The right
eous are approved for their deeds of love. Here
' The evangelist adds as an explanatory clause : " And these shall
go away into eternal punishment; but the righteous into eternal
life." 2 They are like those of Mt. vii. 22-23, who say: "Lord, Lord";
and claim intimacy with him, and apostolic service; and yet were
workers of iniquity. See p. 50.

206 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
again Jesus rises to the ethical norm, which he has
taught elsewhere, that love is righteousness; the
righteous are those, who do deeds of love ; and upon
just such deeds their everlasting future will depend.
These loving deeds will receive approval and reward
in the kingdom of glory. The neglect of such loving
deeds incurs the doom of Gehenna.

XV.
Sebvice AND Reward.
Jesus regards the life of his disciples as a service.
This is an ethical idea familiar in the Old Testament.
All true worshippers of God, who adhered to the
religion of Yahweh and were faithful, were servants
of Yahweh. The prophets were servants in a special
sense; and highest of all was the ideal servant of
Yahweh of the 2nd Isaiah.* Jesus takes up this
familiar ideal of the Old Testament and gives it a
more extensive and intensive meaning. He extends
the service so as to embrace, not only the service of
the Father by doing His will, but also the service of
the Son by following him, and the service of man
kind by ministering to them. He also makes it more
intense by adding to the lawful obligatory service
the higher service of voluntary Christian love.
The service of Jesus, the Lord, is hearing and
doing his words, but it is also following him as a
faithful disciple. "Following" is used in the Gt)s-
pels in three senses.
(1) The word "follow" is used a number of times
in the physical sense of following without regard to
discipleship.^
1 Messianic Prophecy, pp. 337 sq.; 491 sq. See also New Hebrew
Lexicon BDB, the word najj.
2Mk. V. 37; x. 32; x. 52=Mt. xx. 34 = Lk. xviii. 43; Mk. xiv.
13; Mk. xiv. 51 = Lk. xxii. 10; Mk. xiv. 54 = Mt. xxvi 58 = Lk,
207

208 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
(2) "Following" is used of disciples in gen
eral. Many such are mentioned as early as the call
of Matthew.* We must probably include here the
following of the women who ministered unto Jesus.^
(3) Usually, however, in the Synoptic Gospels,
' ' follow ' ' is used of the special call to apostolic min
istry. This call we shall consider in our next
chapter.* We shall limit ourselves in this chapter to the fol
lowers in general. In the Gospel of John there are
several passages where "follow" is used in this
sense. ' ' I am the light of the world : he that followeth me
shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the
light of life."*
"I am come a light into the world, that whosoever
believeth on me may not abide in the darkness."®
It is probable that these are two different forms
of the same logion. The followers of Christ here
are coextensive with believers, and are not those
called to a specific ministry. Following Jesus is a
going out of the region of darkness and walking in
the light of life.
In the allegory of the Good Shepherd,® the sheep
follow the shepherd, after the custom of the Orient.
xxii. 54; also Mt. ix. 19, 27; Lk. xxiii. 27; Jn. xi. 31; xiii. 36-37;
xviii. 15; xx. 6. It is also used of the crowd following him to hear
and to learn from him. Mk. iii. 7^Mt. xii. 15; Mk. v. 24; Mk.
xi. 9^Mt. xxi. 9; also Mt. iv. 25; viii. 1, 10; xiv. 13; xix. 2; xx.
29; Lk. vii. 9; ix. 11 ; Jn. vi. 2.
'Mk. ii. 15. 2Mk. xv. 41; Mt. xxvii. 55; Lk. xxiii. 49.
,3See pp. 224 sq. « Jn. viii. 12. = Jn. xii. 46. s jn. x. 4, 5, 27.

SEBVICE AND BEW ARD. 209
In the explanation Jesus says : ' ' My sheep hear my
voice, and I know them, and they follow me. " It is
evident that here all the sheep of the good Shepherd
are in the mind of the Master, and not any special
ones among them. These two passages therefore
teach a following of Christ as Light and Shepherd,
and this as the ethical norm for all Christians.
Jesus however lays the greatest stress in his teach
ing upon following him in the service of man, and
especially in a sphere beyond that of legal obliga
tion, in voluntary Godlike and Christlike love. In
this latter sphere arises the doctrine of reward in
the kingdom of glory, and from this point of view the
kingdom is the ideal which Christians are to seek
above all things.
Matthew* gives a logion in the midst of the Ser
mon on the Mount, which is in more appropriate con
text in Luke^ in the Perean ministry.
1. " Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat ;'
(Be not anxious) for your body, what ye shall put on.
Is not the life more than the food?
(Is not) the body (more) than the raiment?
2. Consider the ravens:* they do not sow;
They do not reap or gather into barns;"
And God ° feedeth the (ravens) :
Are not ye of more value than birds?
1 IMt. vi. 25-34.
2 Lk. xii. 22-32 ; a fragment of this logion has been preserved in
Mk. iv. 24 c.
3 In late Mss. of Matthew " or what ye shall drink.''
* Matthew generalizes into " birds of heaven."
6 Luke expands into " storehouse " and " barn."
'Matthew substitutes "your heavenly Father" for the "God"
of Luke. 14

210 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
3. Why are ye anxious concerning raiment ? ^
Can ye add a cubit unto your length of life?
If ye are not able to do even that which is least,
Why are ye anxious concerning the rest?
4. Consider the anemones,^ how they grow:
They do not toil or spin;
Yet even Solomon in all his glory.
Was not arrayed like one of these.
5. The grass is in the field today.
And tomorrow is cast into the oven.
If God so clothe the grass.
How much more will He clothe you ? '
6. Seek ye not what ye shall eat and drink;
Be not anxious what ye shall be clothed with,*
For all these things do the nations seek:"
Your Father knows that ye have need of them.
7. Therefore seek the kingdom of God,°
And all these things will be added unto you.
Be not anxious for the morrow.
For the morrow will be anxious for itself." '

' Matthew has preserved the original of this line, only gives it
last. Matthew condenses the last two lines into one.
2 These fiowers were not lilies, but the wild flower of the anemone
type; a brilliant scarlet flower, growing in meadows and grain flelds.
3 This strophe has been made into one long sentence in the Greek
translation in both Matthew and Luke. In the original it could
not have been so.
* Matthew combines the two verbs in the latter clause. Luke uses
both, but omits the reference to clothing.
6 Matthew omits " world," which is an expression of Luke.
3 Matthew adds " his righteousness " in accordance with the
stress he lays on righteousness in other places, where we have found
it peculiar to this Gospel; see p. 158.
' The last line " suflicient unto the day is the evil thereof " is a
gloss. The following couplet of Lk. xii. 32 does not belong here
though cognate in some respects : " Fear not, little flock. It is
your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

SEBVICE AND BEWABD. 211
The whole stress of this singularly beautiful logion
is upon the idea that the disciple is to seek the king
dom of God. The kingdom of God is, in such a pass
age, the kingdom of glory, and not the Church. The
disciple is to aim above all things for an entrance into
the kingdom of glory, at the second Advent of Jesus
Christ, when the judgment will take place according
to works. Matthew is entirely correct in explaining
this by adding "righteousness," because it is just
this kind of righteousness, which is essential in order
to gain an entrance into the kingdom of God. The
disciple is to be extremely anxious in this pursuit;
and so anxious that he cannot be anxious about the
things of this life. What are bread and drink and
clothing to a man whose entrance into the kingdom
is in question? As regards these things of bodily
necessity, God knows we have need of them, and He
will provide for these needs, if we on our part seek
the one essential thing.
This exhortation should not be abused in the inter
est of carelessness and improvidence. This promise
of God's care is solely and alone for those who make
His kingdom the sole aim of their lives. There is no
promise here to provide for those who do not seek His
Idngdom as the one thing, or for those who seek
partly His kingdom and partly other things : still less
for those who are anxious about those things. This
is not given as a general law of God's providence, that
He will take the same care of all human beings that
He takes of the birds and the flowers. Those, who

212 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
make it their business in this life to be anxious about
food and raiment, get their reward in the food and
raiment which they secure. If they fail, they must
take the consequences. They cannot fall back on a
promise of Him who feeds the ravens and clothes the
flowers; for He has made no such promise to those
who have sought first these things and have failed to
secure them. There are no promises to the lazy, the
slothful, the improvident, or the unsuccessful. Those
who are anxious about the things of this life, as are
the heathen, generally secure them. Those who are
anxious about the kingdom of God, secure it, and, in
addition to that, God's special care and provision for
their physical comfort. Those who are not anxious
for either heaven or earth are not likely to secure
either heaven or earth.
Both Matthew and Luke attach the logion as to
heavenly treasures to the logion as to the anxious
seeking of the kingdom; but in different order. In
Matthew it precedes, in Luke it follows.* It should
in any case be considered here. The original at the
basis of the two texts was probably the following :*
" Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth.
Where moth and rust consume.
And where thieves break through and steal;
'Mt. vi. 19-21; Lk. xii. 33-34.
2 Luke preflxes a couplet which is cognate and yet different.
" Sell that ye have, and give alms.
Make for yourselves purses which wax not old."
This is a counsel of perfection, to those who will follow the Mes
siah, to sell all that they have and give to the poor. It belongs to
those who have the special call. See p. 225.

SEBVICE AND BEWABD. 213
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.
Where neither moth nor rust consume.
And where thieves do not break through, nor steal.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
The treasures stored up in heaven are the merits
for the good deeds on earth. Almsgiving scatters
treasure on earth, but it stores up merit in heaven.
Where the merit is stored up, there the reward is;
from thence it is expected, thither the mind is di
rected, thither the affections go : so that the whole
bent of the man is toward the kingdom of glory where
he shall receive the rewards and enjoy them from the
Master's hands. This is beyond the sphere of Law
and of duty, but it is within the area of Christian love
and liberty, where alone merit can be gained.
At a Pharisee 's table in Perea, Jesus gives a para
ble with reference to the chief seats at feasts. He
rebukes the Pharisees for choosing them and warns
his disciples.* Every man will receive the place se
lected for him. If a man select for himself a high
place, in all probability he will be forced to descend
in humiliation and shame to a lower place. If he
begin at the bottom, he will be called higher, and as
high as he can go and stay with propriety. This
parable is enforced by the logion used elsewhere in
Luke. "Everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled;
He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.'"
This is an ethical principle of great importance.

'Lk. xiv. 1-11. 2Lk. xviii. 14; Mt. xxiii. 12.

214 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
None is so commonly disregarded. There is a dis
tressing rush for the highest and best places, and
there are few who are fit for them. The conse
quence is that a large portion of time in this life
is spent in pulling down and pushing out the usurp
ers, who mismanage, disorganize and confuse things ;
not able to lead and guide themselves, and standing
in the way of those who have the gift of leadership,
and who are entitled to the high places. Everywhere
the highest seats are filled with figure-heads and in
competents, who will eventually, as surely as water
descends to its level, be displaced and degraded.
Others who are in humble places will be called to the
high places where they belong. Nothing can be more
perilous to a man than for him to choose for himself
a chief seat, or high place.
Jesus warns his disciples:* "When thou makest a
dinner, or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy
brethren, nor thy kinsmen, nor rich neighbors; lest
haply they also bid thee again, and a recompense be
made thee." Social invitations have their own rec
ompense through corresponding social invitations.
There is no merit in them. "But when thou makest
a feast, bid the poor, the maimed, the lame, the
blind: and thou shalt be blessed; because they have
not wherewith to recompense thee : for thou shalt be
recompensed in the resurrection of the just." This
is not a command but an exhortation. It does not
prohibit social invitations between those of the same
'Lk. xiv. 12-14.

SERVICE AND REWARD. 215
station of society; but it calls attention to the fact,
that there is no merit to be gained in that way. If
one would have merit, he must forego recompense in
this world, and do those things that will be regarded
as meritorious, and will be recompensed at the resur
rection. A feast to the poor and the sick is just
such an opportunity. They can never repay it. God
alone can repay it, and He will do so. This is in
the liberty of love where alone Christian merit and
heavenly reward may be gained.
Jesus in his parable of the Wise Steward presents
the seeking of reward in heaven from another point
of view.* The steward is threatened with being
called to an account of his stewardship, and then
with a discharge for wastefulness. He was not
honest, but he was shrewd. He used the brief time
he had in service, in preparation for the future. He
gained an interest in all the debtors by reducing their
debts, and so stored up recompense with them after
he had lost his stewardship. This steward was un
righteous and dishonest; there can be no doubt of
that. But he was shrewd and wise. And he was so
shrewd that his shrewdness overcame his dishonesty,
and so attracted the attention of his lord that he com
mended him for it. Jesus does not urge his dis
ciples to follow this steward in his dishonesty, but
in his shrewdness; in providing for their future as
he provided for his future. He provided, as a child
of this world, for his life in this world. They, as
' Lk. xvi. 1-9.

216 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
children of light, should provide for their residence
in the realm of light and eternal life.
" Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of un
righteousness ;
That, when it shall fail, they may receive you into the eternal
tabernacles."
The meaning of this logion is evident. The mam
mon of unrighteousness, the wealth acquired in this
world, which has more or less unrighteousness in
connection with its acquisition, will fail everyone at
death ; it is temporal and belongs only to this age of
the world. It is wise to make use of it, so as to pro
vide for the coming age, the age of the Messiah, the
age of the eternal tabernacles or dwellings. Men
should desire above all things to gain an entrance into
them, to be welcomed in them. They need merit,
recompense stored up there for that purpose. They
may store up merit, wealth, friends there, by the use
of wealth in this world. That is the glory and ad
vantage of wealth.*
Luke gives here several logia between two para
bles.^ Some of these are appropriately linked to
gether in this place.

' The rendering of the A.V. " make to yourselves friends of "
though correct in old English, in modern English leads to a misin
terpretation of the passage, as if Christians were to seek their
friends among wicked men in order to use them and their wealth
for the kingdom of God.
2 Lk. xvi. 10-13: one of these is in Mt. vi. 24; others in Mt. xi.
12-13, 18, 32; xix. 9; Mk. x. 11.

SERVICE AND REWARD. 217
1. " He that is faithful in a very little.
Is faithful also in much:
And he that is unrighteous in a very little.
Is unrighteous also in much.
2. H therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous
mammon.
Who will commit to your trust the true?
And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another's.
Who will give you that which is your own?
3. No servant can serve two masters:
For either he will hate the one, and love the other;
Or else he will hold to one, and despise the other.
Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
The little of earthly riches, the so-called unright
eous mammon, which men really hold in trust for
God, is so used by men as to determine whether they
may be entrusted with heavenly treasures, which are
the true ones, and which are designed to be so given
that they will be really ours. The test is whether
the man will be faithful, or unfaithful, righteous
or unrighteous, in their use; whether he will use
them by serving them, as master, or whether he will
use them, as serving the real master God. Man can
not serve God and mammon at the same time. The
way in which he can avoid serving mammon is to
serve God. The mammon of earth is to be used to
secure heavenly treasures.
Jesus about the same time gives another parable,
which may be considered here.* The servant who
has completed his labour in the field, is not rewarded
' Lk. xvii. 7-10.

218 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
at once with rest and refreshment. He has addi
tional labour to perform in waiting upon his master,
until the master has been refreshed. He is not per
mitted rest and refreshment for himself until all his
labour his been completed. And even then the ser
vant receives no thanks ; he has simply done his duty,
nothing more. ' ' Even so ye also, when ye shall have
done all the things that are commanded you, say:
'We are unprofitable servants; we have done that
which it was our duty to do.' "
The lesson of the parable is that the disciples are
obligated to serve God, according to all His com
mands ; and then, when they have fulfilled them all,
they have done no more than their duty and are not
entitled to any reward. All this is in the region of
lawgiving, of keeping commands, of fulfilling obli
gations. The common interpretation of this passage
is, that the Christian at the best can only be an un
profitable servant, and can not therefore do work
that will gain merit.* If the whole of the ethics of
Christ could be included under the head of command
ment, this interpretation would be unavoidable. But
we have seen in many passages^ that Jesus teaches
'This is expressed in the Westminster Confession (Chap. 16, 4).
" They, who in their obedience, attain to the greatest height which
is possible in this life, are so far from being able to supererogate,
and to do more than God requires, that they fall short of much
which is duty they are bound to do." The chief proof text for this
is Lk. xvii. 10. The other proof texts are altogether irrelevant, and
if this be irrelevant the whole clause should be omitted as without
support in Holy Scripture. This same passage is used with the
same irrelevancy to Works of Supererogation in the Anglican
Articles of Beligion, XIV. ^ gee pp. 100 sq.

SERVICE AND REWARD. 219
that over and above and beyond all laws and com
mands, is the liberty of Christian love, in the follow
ing of Christ; that in this Christian perfection con
sists ; and that in the sphere of the Christian liberty
of love rewards are promised, and faithful, profita
ble servants are rewarded. This parable of Jesus
was not designed to go beyond the sphere of Law
and duty. If Jesus had thought here of passing
over into the sphere of the liberty of love, he might
have used this servant still further. The servant
had fulfilled all his duties in the field and in the house
and was dismissed by the master to rest and refresh
ment. He had a right to his rest. But instead of
resting, he went forth and laboured in his hours of
rest to relieve the distress of others. He had a right
to his supper. But instead of eating and drinking
himself, he took his food and drink to the hungry and
thirsty, and in self sacrifice endured hunger and
thirst himself. This would be beyond the realm of
duty to the master, and in the realm of freedom of
love: and if the master were himself a kind and
loving master, he would commend his servant for
doing more than his duty, and would reward him by
dealing with him also in love. That is exactly what
Jesus says such a master does in such cases, in the
other parables, we have already considered.*
There is certainly no merit in observing the Law
and doing its commands. A punishment threatens
the infraction of the least of these. The most that

' See pp. 214 sq.

220 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
obedience can do is the avoidance of penalty and the
attainment of justification. But over and beyond
Law, there is the loving forfeiture of rights, and the
loving self-sacrifice of just privileges, which is no
legal obligation, but a counsel of perfection in a
Christlike, Godlike life, in the realm of the liberty of
love, where alone there can be works of supereroga
tion, and the acquirement of merit in heaven with
God.* The parable of the Pounds,^ delivered on the last
journey to Jerusalem, according to Luke, is another
version of the parable of the Talents, given by Mat
thew in connection with the eschatological discourse
on the Mount of Olives. These set forth the rewards
of the faithful and the principle of award, with minor
variations. The parable of the Pounds sets forth the
fact that wealth is a sacred trust distributed to a
great number of persons. Ten is the number of com
pletion. Each servant has the same trust, a pound.
But the servants make various uses of it. One gains
ten pounds, another five, another none. Three of the
' The Protestant opposition to works of supererogation arose from
the abuse of them in the granting of indulgence from ecclesiastical
penalties from the vast storehouse of them supposed to be laid up
in the treasury of the Church; and from their ecclesiastical use to
counterbalance the demerit of sins. But there is room in Protestant
ethics for a doctrine of works of supererogation whose merit is
stored up with God for the doer of them until the day of judgment;
whose merit plays no part in the atonement for sin; or in the justi
fication of the sinner before God; but whose exercise has an im
portant part in his sanctification, and in the determination of his
full salvation at the second Advent of the Lord.
2Lk. xix. 11-28.

SERVICE AND REWARD. 221
ten are used by Jesus as specimens. We may con
ceive of each of the others gaining in various per
centages between none and ten. Those who gain are
rewarded. They have immense rewards: a city for
every pound gained. He who gained nothing, is
stripped of the one he had. This is a strong incul
cation of industry in the use of wealth for God with
the promise of transcendent rewards in proportion to
the amount of the gain.
The parable of the Talents* presents three classes
of trusts. There is a difference in grade of ability;
the proportion of reward is the same. Jesus' ap
proval is: "Well done, good and faithful servant;
thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set
thee over many things. Enter thou into the joy of
thy Lord."
The common principle of these parables is the
logion :
" To him that hath, shall be given, and he shall have abundance.
From him that hath not, shall be taken away that which he
hath." =
The eschatological discourse of Jesus on the mount
of Olives has two important teachings as to the atti
tude of the faithful disciple :
IMt. xxv. 14-30; see Messiah of the Gospels, p. 224.
2 This is given with slight variation in Lk. xix. 26, Mt. xxv. 29, but
also in Mk. iv. 25, Mt. xiii. 12, Lk. viii. 18, in another connection,
appended with other logia to the parable of the Sower. In the
latter case it enforces the exhortation to use the ears to hear the
teaching of Jesus; that is, using precious opportunities, which may
be regarded as parallel vsdth using talents and pounds committed
to. one's trust.

222 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
" He that endureth to the End,
The same shall be saved.'"
The End is the End of the Dispensation, when the
Messiah will come for judgment to give his awards.
The award of salvation in the kingdom of glory is
given to the one who perseveres until the Advent in
faithful service. Luke puts it in the paraphrase:
" In your patience ye shall win yourselves." '
The discourse closes with an exhortation to watch
fulness. "Take heed, watch and pray:
For ye know not when the time is." '
This is followed by the parable of the Porter.*
Matthew adds the parable of the wise and foolish
Virgins, which appears in a condensed form in a
more appropriate place in Luke.^
It is evident from all this teaching that the life of
the disciple is to be one of constant watchfulness and
patient endurance until the End of the Age, the Ad
vent of the Lord, when first the awards will be given.
In the judgment scenes given by Matthew alone, at
the close of the eschatological discourse, the awards
of merit as well as those of demerit are in accordance
with works of love, even the slightest. These even
when done to the least of the brethren are done to
Jesus himself.

' Mk. xiii. 13; Mt. xxiv. 13; cf. x. 22.
2 Lk. xxi. 19. 3 Mk. xiii. 33 ; cf . Lk. xxi. 36 ; Mt. xxiv. 42.
* Mk. xiii. 34-37. This appears in Matthew as the Steward, xxiv.
45-51, which is out of place in Lk. xii. 42-46.
6 See p. 203.

SERVICE AND REWARD. 22S
"I was an hungered and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty and
ye gave me drink;
I was a stranger and ye took me in; naked and ye clothed
me;
I was sick and ye visited me; I was in prison and ye came
unto me." '
These are all voluntary acts of Christlike love.
1 See pp. 203 sq.

XVI.
Counsels of Peepection.
Jesus, at the beginning of his ministry, summoned
certain disciples to follow him in a special sense, as
his companions and assistants. The Gospel of John
mentions the call of Andrew and Simon, Philip and
John, and Nathaniel.* Jesus then calls the pairs of
brothers, Andrew and Simon, James and John, to fol
low him, and they forsake their nets and their fath
ers, that is, their business and their homes, for this
purpose.^ Levi, or Matthew, is called in the same
manner* and forsakes all : that is his home, where he
gives a farewell feast to his friends, and his business
as a publican. The following of Jesus, in these in
stances, involved the abandonment of home and prop
erty, in order to companionship with Jesus in his
ministry. He selected twelve of his disciples to be
his companions, and gave them the Sermon on the
Mount at their installation. In this discourse he pro
nounced them blessed, because of their voluntary
poverty, and endurance of hunger, sorrow and re
proach, in their ministry.* He subsequently com
manded them to go forth in pairs in a ministry
throughout Galilee, as his representatives. He gave
1 Jn. i. 35-51.
2Mk. i. 16-20; Mt. iv. 18-22; Lk. v. 1-11.
3 Mle. ii. 13-17; Mt. ix. 9-13; Lk. v. 27-32.
<Lk. vi. 20-23. See pp. 83 sq. 224

COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 225
them a commission.* This was probably as follows :
1. " Go not into any way of the nations.
Enter not into any city of the Samaritans;
But go rather to the house of Israel,
And enter among the lost sheep.
2. As ye go preach, saying:
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Heal the sick, raise the dead.
Cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.
3. Take nothing for your journey.
No staff, no wallet, no bread,
No gold, no silver, no brass;
Have not two coats; be shod with sandals.
4. And into whatsoever city ye enter.
Search out who in it is worthy;
As ye enter the house, salute it.
And there abide till ye go forth.
5. And whosoever shall not receive you.
As ye go forth from that city.
Shake off the dust of your feet
For a testimony against them.
6. When they persecute you in this city.
Flee into the next city;
Ye shall not have gone through the cities of Israel,
Till the Son of Man be come."
It is evident that these travelling preachers go
forth in poverty, with the renunciation of everything,
'This is reported in brief form in Mk. vi. 7-11, Lk. ix. 1-5; but
at great length in Mt. x. But it is evident that Matthew attaches
to this commission, the commission of the Seventy, and material from
the final commission, as well as logia relating to the apostolic
ministry given on many difi'erent occasions. See New Light on the
Life of Jesus, p. 32; Messiah of the Gospels, p. 182 sq.
15

226 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
entirely dependent for their daily necessities upon
the voluntary support of those who receive them.
Their mission was to preach the advent of the King
dom, and to do kind, loving deeds to the lost sheep
of Israel. In other words they were commissioned
to do exactly what Jesus himself did. They went
forth to seek and to save the lost.
Jesus continued to call disciples to be his compan
ions after the departure of the Twelve. From these
he subsequently selected the Seventy.* Several such
calls are given in Luke, prior to the sending forth of
the Seventy.^ A scribe proposes to be one of Jesus'
companions. ' ' Master, I will follow thee whitherso
ever thou goest. ' ' Jesus warns him :
" The foxes have holes.
The birds have nests.
The Son of Man hath not where to lay his head."
The Master led a homeless life. His companions
must look forward to the same kind of life. This
warning has as its counterpart a call to others to fol
low him, with various excuses offered. The first ex
cuse is : " Suffer me first to go and bury my father. ' '
This has always been regarded as the most sacred
duty of a son. The fifth commandment certainly re
quired as much as this. And yet Jesus said :
" Leave the dead to bury their own dead ;
But go thou and publish abroad the kingdoni of God."

' New Light on the Life of Jesus, p. 33 sq.
2 Lk. ix. 57-62. Some of these are given by Matthew before the
sending forth of the Twelve. Mt. viii. 19-22.

COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 227
Luke gives a third case which is not in the Gospel of
Matthew, but which was doubtless in the Logia of
St. Matthew. A man, called to follow Jesus, begs for
delay. "Suffer me to bid farewell to them that are
in my house"— that is, let me do my duties to my
family. Jesus' call is a higher summons, to which
the lower law must yield.
" No man having put his hand to the plow.
And looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
The question now emerges whether Jesus regarded
the call to follow him as superior to the parental law.
If the following of Christ is a higher ethical norm
than the Law, then it is higher than any particular
law, whether parental or other. Some might now
suppose that Jesus is inconsistent with himself. He
rebukes the Pharisees for making the traditional law
of worship higher than the written law of obligation
to parents ; and yet he himself regards the following
of himself in discipleship as superior to the claim of
parents. But there is a vast difference between the
following of Christ in a ministerial call, and the
giving of property for public worship. We may still
regard Christ as consistent in his teaching, if we con
clude that the support of parents is superior in eth
ical rank to the support of public worship, and that
no one can deprive his parents to give to the support
of the Church. But the following of Christ, in the
special call given by the Master himself, is superior
to the obligation to support parents, and to any and
all obligations. It requires the abandonment of all

228 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
property, of all family ties, and entire self-renuncia
tion, even to a life of persecution and a shameful
death. In view of such a call, the obligation to par
ents must be secondary.
The saying respecting eunuchs* may be considered
here, although attached by Matthew to the logion
respecting divorce, for topical reasons.
" All men cannot receive this saying, but they to whom it is
given ;
For there are eunuchs, which were so bom from their mother's
womb:
And there are eunuchs, which were made eunuchs by men;
And there are eunuchs, which made themselves eunuchs for
the sake of the kingdom of God.
He that is able to receive it, let him receive it."
The renunciation of marriage, the consecration to
a celibate life, may also constitute an essential fea
ture of following Christ. Jesus says: that all are
not able, but some are called to it and are able. The
greater part of the Christian world has always held
that men and women, who consecrate themselves to
the ministry of Christ, should be celibates. Prot
estants have discouraged celibacy in the ministry.
But they have gone too far in the other extreme. It
is often important. It sometimes goes with the call.
Some parts of the ministerial work seem to require it.
Jesus sent the Seventy forth for a mission in
Perea and Judea.^ Their commission was essen
tially the same as that of the Twelve. They were to
' Mt. xix. 11-12; see Messiah of the Gospels, p. 202.
2 Lk. X. 1 sq.; see New Light on the Life of Jesus, p. 67.

COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 229
go forth like lambs into a flock of wolves ; like doves
in the midst of birds of prey. They were to go in
poverty, without money and without change of gar
ments, or food; expecting to receive all that they
needed as they went. They were to work miracles,
healing the sick. They were to preach the kingdom
of God. They were to go as the messengers of Christ,
as his representatives, so that all that would be done
to them in the way of acceptance or rejection, would
be as if done to Christ himself. These Seventy were
apostolic men.* They were men called to follow
Christ in the technical sense, with the counsels of
perfection as their guide, relinquishing all things
for Christ and the work of the kingdom.
So far as we have such apostolic men now, who
have been called by Christ to such work in his king
dom, and who have in fact relinquished everything
in the way of property and family ties, and have
devoted themselves absolutely and completely to his
service, such may claim the Master's promises, and
find them fulfilled in their experience. But caution
is necessary.
The call of the Master alone justifies such a min
istry. The ordinary ministry are not such apostolic
men, are not such followers of Christ; they do not
take the counsels of perfection as their guide. There
is no rightful claim by the presbyters and bishops of

' See Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 238 sq. Matthew mingles their
commission with that of the Twelve and includes other logia with
these. 14

230 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
any of the religious denominations to the rights and
privileges of such a ministry, when they have not fol
lowed Christ in any such way as he proposes in the
call" of the Twelve and the Seventy.
The Roman Catholic clergy are required to follow
these counsels of perfection to some extent, so far
as the individual is concerned; but there are organ
ized orders and hierarchies, which have rich invest
ments and endowments for the support of the clergy.
They do not depend upon God, and a hand to mouth
support, such as Jesus proposes in these calls of the
Twelve and the Seventy. The Protestant and the
Catholic clergy alike are organized in such a way as
to guarantee a comfortable support in life during
ministerial work. The counsels of perfection the
Roman Catholic clergy follow in part, and the Prot
estant ministry not at all. But in neither case is
there correspondence with the ideals of the Seventy
and the Twelve.
Apostolic men have arisen at times in the Christian
Church, who have followed these counsels of perfec
tion so far as it was practicable. These have for the
most part organized religious orders to perpetuate
their work. Some such have appeared among Prot
estants. The early Methodists tried in a measure to
follow these counsels, and the modem Salvationists
even more so; but these have made their renuncia
tion chiefly financial, and even here not so thorough
as the apostolic men of the past.

COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 231
It is to be feared that many good men and women,
thinking that they have taken up their cross to follow
Christ, and that they have renounced all things for
his sake, are relying upon the promises made to the
Twelve and the Seventy — and relying in vain ; for the
reason that they have no such call ; they have not in
fact complied with the Master's counsels of perfec
tion, and therefore they cannot take its promises and
rewards to themselves. In other words, the call of
the Twelve and the call of the Seventy were special
calls of Christ himself. They were to a special min
istry in both cases ; and although there are doubtless
several logia attached to them, which were given on
other and later occasions, yet these were given to
the Twelve, and the Seventy; and certainly no right
is given to anyone to claim for himself, what was
specially given to the apostles, unless a similar spe
cial call can be proved also. It is said that the
bishops of the Church are the successors of the
apostles; but they are not their successors in any
such sense as these teachings of Jesus imply. Apos
tolic men have been called by Christ himself, from
time to time in the development of the Church, but
they are extraordinary prophetic men, and are not
the official clergy. They have to be discriminated
from the clergy, who are certainly not, in any of the
orders, such ministers of Christ as the Twelve and
the Seventy were.
Jesus continued to call from among his disciples
these apostolic men, to whom he gave a special min-

232 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
istry, with warnings and exhortations. But he did
not, so far as it appears, send forth during his min
istry any others but the Twelve and the Seventy.
Towards the close of his ministry Jesus was vis
ited by a rich young ruler, to whom he gave the apos
tolic call. This is in some respects the most impor
tant incident of all, because it brings out more dis
tinctly than the others the length and breadth of the
counsels of perfection and their relation to Law.*
A rich young man^ comes to Jesus with the in
quiry: "Master, what good thing shall I do, that I
may inherit eternal life?"* Jesus answers: "Why
askest thou me concerning that which is good ? One
there is who is good. ' '*
' This incident is recorded in the three synoptists Mk. x. 17-22,
Mt. xix. 16-22; Lk. xviii. 18-23.
2 The three represent him as a rich man; Matthew adds that he
was a young man; Luke a ruler.
3 This is the reading of Matthew in most codices, but C. Pesh. Cur.
Vulg. et al. of Matthew read " good master " assimilated to Mark
and Luke. This variation may go back to a common original. If
we could read in the original Hebrew Mark ntS"!?!* na 31Bn '3T we would
get both renderings, either "Thou good Master" (vocative) or:
" Master as for the good, what shall I do ? " In the one case Jesus is
called the Good; in the other the inquiry is as to the Good, the
ethical norm. The latter is certainly a more natural question than
the former. There was no sufficient reason why the man should
address Jesus as the Good. What he wanted to know was as to the
highest Good.
* This is the reading of Matthew in the best texts, all indeed which
have not been assimilated to Mark and Luke, which have " why callest
thou me good? None is good save one, God." At the basis of
both we might find the Hebrew original aion «in nnx aion 'h mQ« n03
In the one case Jesus renounces the attribute good as applied to
himself and ascribes it to God alone. In the other case Jesus
answers the question as to the highest good by referring to God aa
the highest Good.

COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 233
The norm of goodness is God, the only real per
fect Good. The inquirer ought to have known this
from the Old Testament. God, as the supreme norm
of ethics, gave to Israel the Commandments. These
are a subordinate norm of ethics. God as the Good,
requires that these commands should be kept.* It
seems most probable that Jesus gave the sixth, sev
enth, eighth and ninth of the Ten Commandments in
this order as examples, and that all the other various
material of the Gospels was due to additions by the
evangelists. It is evident that Jesus here asserts
that the Ten Commandments in those cited are ethi
cal norms. As we infer the binding force of the
whole Ten Words from the four quoted, may we
also infer the binding force of the whole Law of the
Old Testament? This would seem to be a very large
inference. But we should remember that Jesus is
speaking to a Jew who recognized the binding force
of the whole Old Testament Law. He is here by
specimens reminding him of it all. He is not giving
a universal Law for Christians. He could not have
said to a Jew: keep the Ten Words and discard the

I Mark adds fifi d-trocTep^aijg, " do not defraud," from Dt. xxiv. 14.
It might be argued that it was original because there was no suffi
cient motive for Mark to insert it, and there was a sufficient literary
motive for Luke and Matthew to omit it. But it might also be said,
that it is only a synonym of the eighth Word, and may have come
into the text from the margin or as a doublet. Matthew adds the
summary of the second table of the Law from Mk. xii. 31. It is
improbable that it was original. It destroys the force of what fol
lows. The commands are the same as Mark's and in the same order.
Luke gives five commands in irregular order, 7, 6, 8, 9, 5.

234 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
rest of the Law. He would not have said to human
ity: keep the whole Law.
The young man claims that he has kept all these
commands from his youth.* There should be no
doubt of the honesty of this man. He had kept the
Law as a Pharisee. Jesus does not deny it. But the
young man had felt the need of something more than
obedience to the Law. He was at an early stage of
the experience of St. Paul. He felt that after all,
the observance of the Law had not satisfied his eth
ical consciousness. His conscience by its dissatisfac
tion urged the necessity of something higher and bet
ter. Jesus gave him that something else. "One
thing thou lackest : go, sell, whatsoever thou hast, and
give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in
heaven ; and come, follow me. ' '^
Matthew, instead of "one thing thou lackest,"
gives : "if thou wouldest be perfect." He thus puts
in technical language what was originally more in
definite. The man had kept the Law ; but he lacked
something, he was not yet perfect. He still fell short
of the highest Good. Jesus gives him a new ideal of
perfection, an ethical ideal, higher than the Law,
namely the following himself. Preliminary to that
and entirely subordinate to it is the renunciation of
wealth and property, and the voluntary assumption
of poverty.
On this passage is based one of the historic
'Matthew adds "What lack I yet?" This was inserted by the
evangelist to prepare the mind for what follows.
2 Lk. has the same idea but varies slightly in the expression of it.

COUNSELS OF PERFECTION. 235
counsels of perfection of the Catholic Church:
namely the vow of poverty. Jesus gave this counsel
of perfection to this man whom he loved, because in
no other way, at that time, could he follow Jesus,—
who had himself renounced wealth, and voluntarily as
sumed poverty ; except by doing the same that Jesus
had done. This young man was called to follow
Jesus in the close intimacy of companionship. The
renunciation of wealth was in order to the following
of Christ. If the following of Christ could have been
without the renunciation of wealth, it is not probable
that it would have been required.
Is this a universal call to all Christians? Is the
renunciation of wealth a necessary part of the Chris
tian norm of following Christ? This is impossible.
No one has ever thought of such an interpretation.
It is recognized by the greater part of the Christian
world that this is a counsel of perfection, given chiefly
to those who undertake the Christian ministry, espe
cially in monastic orders. It has not been regarded
as a universal Christian rule of ethics. It is evident
that Jesus did not call all who believed in him to fol
low him in a life of poverty, while he was on earth.
This was a special call that he gave to this man to
be one of the inner circle of his disciples, who went
with him wherever he went in his ministry. If it
was a special call then, it is probable that it would
continue to be a special call afterwards, if the call
itself was to continue. There is doubtless a sense in
which following Christ is the ethical norm of all

236 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
Christians ;* but all Christians are not to follow him
in the specific work of this kind of discipleship; and
furthermore it has to be shown whether following
him in the work of ministry requires always, or only
in special cases and circumstances, the renunciation
of wealth and the assumption of voluntary poverty.
This man was called to follow Jesus in the work
of that special kind of discipleship, which required
continual going about with Jesus, and it was neces
sary in his case to renounce all wealth, and become
poor, in order to do this. If Jesus calls all men to
follow him in this sense ; then he may call all men to
a life of poverty, provided the life of poverty is es
sential to the following: if however it be non-essen
tial, but due to special circumstances, then only the
recurrence of these special circumstances requires
voluntary poverty.
If Jesus ' call was a special one to a particular ser
vice, then only those called to that service are called
to the life of poverty ; and even in this case the ques
tion arises as to the essential and the circumstantial
in the call.
This man was not willing to abandon his wealth
and follow Christ. He preferred the way of the
Pharisee to the perfect way of the Lord Jesus.
It is now necessary for us to return to the word
Good and inquire into its real meaning. Does it
mean good in the sense of conformity to Law, to
moral obligation, or duty? This is the usual modern
' See p. 208 sq.

COUNSELS OF PEBFECTION. 237
conception of "good," and it was that of the Phari
sees in the time of Jesus. Doubtless therefore in the
question as to the good, this young Pharisee meant to
ask for the standard, the highest law of moral obli
gation. But that was not the usual Biblical mean
ing ; and it is by no means clear that Jesus designed
to use the word, "good," in his reply, in the same
sense as in the question. "Good" in the Old Testa
ment usage as applied to God, meant that God was
good in his disposition to bestow good things; good
in the more popular modem sense of being good to
persons, that is kind, benignant, benevolent and bene
ficent. If Jesus thought of God as good in this sense
as the norm of all kindness, goodness and benignity,
he was thinking of Him in accordance with his ethical
teaching elsewhere; and also in accordance with his
counsel to this young Pharisee to transcend the Law
and become Godlike and Christlike by sacrificing his
wealth for the benefit of the poor and needy ; that is
becoming good to them. God is the supreme Good,
the giver of good things; therefore take God's good
ness as your ethical ideal ; follow His Christ in volun
tary poverty, and give your all to those who have
need. The Synoptists give a comment on the case by
Jesus.* "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into
the kingdom of God ! ' '^
'Mk. X. 23-31; Mt. xix. 23-27, 29-30; Lk. xviii. 24-30. See
Messiah of the Gospels, p. 105 sq.
2 So Mark and Luke, but Matthew has " It is hard for a rich man
to enter into the kingdom of heaven." The same original H§l?r§'W
could be translated in these two different ways.

238 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
Riches were an insuperable obstacle to this young
man: it is often so with others. Wealth is immoral
when it obstructs the entrance into the kingdom of
God; not in itself, but in its abuse. This man was
called to abandon wealth and follow Christ: he
failed. This does not imply that he rejected the Mes
siah, or his salvation ; but that he refused the special
call to service. It was a serious, ethical failure.
He was in sight of perfection: he deliberately re
fused it when the call came to him.
Jesus passes over from the particular case to a
universal principle. Not everyone is called to aban
don wealth to enter the kingdom of God. But wealth
may be a hindrance even in lesser measure. Pre
cisely in accordance with the measure of its obstruc
tive power it is an evil. If however it be used to
further the kingdom, it will be a blessing in the same
proportion. The story closes with a return to the particular
case and the special call. The Twelve take the les
son to themselves, for they had accepted the call this
man had refused. St. Peter says : "We have left all,
and have followed thee." Jesus then promises a
reward to all such. He contemplates here not only
those who have abandoned wealth to follow him, but
also those who have given up many other things,
which might also be hindrances. These are in the
words of Jesus: houses, brethren, sisters, mother,
father, wife, children, and lands.*
' Mark and Matthew agree in the list. Luke shortened it and
inserted "wife." All of them add other phrases to the original,
which probably was simply " for my sake."

COUNSELS OP PEBFECTION. 239
This is not a complete list of obstacles which may
prevent a man from accepting Jesus' call to follow
him. It is true these may at times obstruct his call
to the ordinary Christian life. But St. Peter has
asked the reward for such following, and Jesus is
answering his question; and the answer relates to
those who have followed Christ as the Twelve fol
lowed him. This kind of following required abso
lute renunciation of all things.
Only two of the things abandoned have to do with
wealth, namely houses and lands ; the others refer to
near relatives, parents, children, brothers and sisters,
and wives, in other words, all ties of family. To re
nounce these is much more difficult than to renounce
wealth. And yet the call to follow Christ, the high
est Christian ideal, in a life of perfection, requires all
this and more: for it is evident that these are only
specimens of obstacles and they imply all others.
The call to follow Christ involves the abandonment
of all that in any way obstructs this call, whatever it
may be.
All this is from the point of view, that this prop
erty and these relatives obstruct the way of the dis
ciple. If they do not obstruct, but further disciple
ship, there is no reason for their abandonment. For
it is not the abandonment of wealth and family as
such, that is required as a counsel of perfection; it
is the following of Christ absolutely and completely.
We should fix our minds on the positive require
ment, and not allow ourselves to be absorbed in the

240 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
negative. This has been the fault in the historic
application of this passage. More stress has been
laid in fact in the usual historical use of this passage,
upon the renunciation of wealth and family than
upon the following of Christ.
This following of Christ, in accordance with the
counsels of perfection, has its corresponding reward.
"He shall receive a hundredfold now in this time,
houses, brethren, sisters, mothers, fathers, children,
lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eter
nal life."*
It is evident from this that Jesus teaches that the
rewards of Christian perfection are both temporal
and eternal. The hundredfold reward is probably
conceived from the point of view of the transforma
tion of the family relation into that of the Christian
family, in which all the elderly are fathers and
mothers ; the younger, brothers and sisters ; the chil
dren of all the brethren, the children of Christ's
prophet; and their houses and lands his own, for in
them he is an ever welcome guest.
'Matthew has "shall receive a hundred fold (Weiss et al. "mani
fold") and shall inherit eternal life." Luke has "shall receive
manifold more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life."
" Fathers " has probably fallen out from this list by mistake. In
other respects it is the same as the list of what was forsaken. It
is altogether probable that these terms were original. Luke general
ized " hundred fold " to " manifold." The rewards are a hundred
fold the loss. Job received twice as much as he had before. Such
a disciple of Christ is to receive a hundred fold. It is doubtful
whether the reference to persecutions is original. The climax of the
reward is h t^ alijvi tQ epxo/.iivu (cf. Mark and Luke, for which Mat
thew K?i7ipovo/iijaEi) , that is, in the Messianic age.

COUNSELS OF PEBFECTION. 241
It is also probable that Zacchaeus had this call
to follow Jesus. At least he acts as if he had. He
says : "Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor ;
and if I have wrongfully exacted aught of any man,
I restore fourfold."* The reservation of half of
the goods seems to have been for restitution and
benefaction to the wronged. The other half is at
once relinquished, in accordance with the teaching of
Jesus to his immediate followers.
1 Lk. xix. 8,

16

XVII.
Counting the Cost.
There are a large number of logia with reference
to the special call to apostolic ministry. A consid
erable number of these are grouped by Matthew
about the commission of the Twelve. These are
given by Luke elsewhere. It is not easy to find the
historical connection of many of them. Others are
given in Luke in connection with the Perean minis
try. But both Matthew and Luke arrange them top
ically. We shall take them up in their historical
order wherever possible ; wherever it is not possible,
in the most suitable place. The earliest of these is
probably the logion as to counting the cost.*
1. " Which of you, desiring to build a tower.
Doth not first sit down and count the cost.
Whether he have wherewith to complete it?
Lest haply when he hath laid a foundation, and is not able
to finish.
All that behold begin to mock him (saying) :
This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
2. Or what king, as he goeth to encounter another king in war,
Will not sit down first and take counsel.
Whether he is able with ten thousand.

1 Lk. xiv. 28-33. This is preceded by two logia (Lk. xiv. 26 ^Mt.
X. 37, and Lk. xiv. 27 = Mt. x. 38 = Lk. xvi. 24 = Mk. viii. 34 = Lk.
ix. 23), which do not belong here, and which we will consider in
their appropriate places. They were placed here by Luke for
topical reasons. 242

COUNTING THE COST. 243
To meet him that cometh against him with twenty thou
sand?
Or else, while the other is yet a great way off.
He sendeth an ambassage, and asketh conditions cf peace."
Jesus draws from this logion the inference: "So
therefore whosoever he be of you that renounceth not
all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." The
one called to follow Christ in the counsels of perfec
tion, has to consider carefully and thoroughly what
it will cost him. It means the renunciation of all
that he hath, property, family, privileges. To be a
disciple here is not simply to be a Christian, a mem
ber of the church, a member of the kingdom of God ;
such discipleship does not require the renunciation
of all that one has. It is not simply to be a clergy
man. No clergyman is required to renounce all that
he has, when he is licensed or ordained; not even a
missionary does this. It is a counsel of perfection;
required of no one, but offered as an opportunity to
some who have the special call to so great a privilege.
It would be a revival of Christianity beyond con
ception, if such a ministry could be called in our
times. But it can hardly be except by the distinct
call of the Master himself. In the meanwhile Chris
tians should beware lest they interpret such passages
as these in a fictitious sense, or with such an accom
modation to present times and circumstances as emp
ties them of their real meaning.
Luke gives another logion in connection with the
one just considered. This has been changed so much

244 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
in the different versions that it is very difficult to find
a common original.* We may however venture upon
the following: " Salt therefore is good :
But if the salt hath lost its savour.
Wherewith shall it be seasoned?
It is fit neither for the land, nor the dunghill.
They cast it out to be trodden under foot.
Have salt in yourselves."
This is an exhortation addressed to the companions
of Jesus to have salt in themselves, and so exert a
seasoning influence by their ministry. Mark inter
prets the seasoning as a seasoning of peace-making.
Matthew changes the exhortation to a statement of
fact: "Ye are the salt of the earth."
Matthew attaches to the logion of the salt, two logia
as to light, the one common to the evangelists, the
other given by Matthew alone : but they are kindred
in thought.^ The one common to the evangelists is a
simple couplet, inserted by Matthew between the two
halves of a quartette. It is inserted by Luke also as
a preface to other material. Luke gives it its orig
inal form, which probably was :
"No one, when he hath lighted a lamp, putteth it under the
bushel ;
But putteth it on the stand, that they which enter in may
see light.
For nothing is hid that shall not be made manifest.
Nor anything secret that shall not come to light."
' Lk. xiv. 34-35; ef. Mt. v. 13; Mk. ix. 50.
2Mt. V. 14-16; Mk. iv. 21-22; Lk. viii. 16-17; xi. 33; cf. also Mt.
X. 26; Lk. xii. 2

COUNTING THE COST. 245
This is a logion as to the searching power of light
to make manifest all secret and hidden things. Mat
thew, putting it where he does, applies it to the faith
ful disciple, who is to be such a lamp on a lamp-stand:
The other logion peculiar to Matthew is this :
" Ye are the light of the world.
A city set on a fiill cannot be hid.
Even so let your light shine before men.
That they may see your good works, and glorify your Father."
This quartette is much stronger standing alone.
The comparison is of a city set on a hill. So the good
works of the disciple are to be in such public recog
nition that God will be glorified thereby. These good
works are kind, loving deeds, not works of conformity
to ceremonial or moral law.*
The logion attached in Luke^ was probably in the
original as follows :
1. " The lamp of thy body is thine eye.
If thine eye be single.
Thy whole body shall be full of light :
But if thine eye be bad.
Thy whole body shall be full of darkness.
2. If the light that is in thee be darkness.
How great is that darkness!
If thy whole body be full of light.
Not having any part darkness.
As the lamp with its bright shining, it giveth thee light."
The eye, when healthful, enlightens the whole body to
see ; when diseased darkens the whole body. It is all
' Ka2.a Ip-ya = fiuiQ, deeds of goodness.
2 Lk. xi. 34-36. It is condensed in Mt. vi. 22-23.

246 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
important to have a good eye. Men should look to it
that their moral eye is sound ; then they will be full
of light in all their actions. Then they will live and
walk and act in the light.
The logion as to cross bearing,* attached to the lo
gion as to counting the cost, really belongs in con
nection with Jesus ' rebuke of St. Peter when he first
informed the disciples as to his death and resurrec
tion.^ " If any man would come after me, let him deny himself,
And take up his cross and follow me.
For whosoever would save himself, shall lose himself;
And whosoever shall lose himself, shall save himself.
For what shall a man be profited,
If he gain the whole world and forfeit himself?
What shall a man give in exchange for himself ? " '
This is a call to the inner circle of the ministry. It
is not only a call to follow Jesus, but it specifically

'Lk. xiv. 27. 2Mk. viii. 34; Mt. xvi. 24; Lk. ix. 23.
'See Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 97 sq. The last line is probably
a doublet of the previous one. These lines are arranged together in
the passage given above, but the first two lines are used as a
separate logion in the commission of the Twelve, Mt. x. 38 and in
the connection already referred to, Lk. xiv. 27, both certainly out
of place. The second couplet is also given in Lk. xvii. 33, cer
tainly out of place, and in Jn. xii. 25 in another form, on the last
day in the temple in passion week where it is also out of place. It
is also probable that the logion, Jn. xii. 26, is a weakened form of
the call to cross-bearing.
" If any man serve me, let him follow me;
And where I am, there shall also my servant be:
If any man serve me.
Him will my Father honour."
The serving here is the serving of the apostolic ministry. The
reward of such service is honour from God.

COUNTING THE COST. 247
involves two things: cross-bearing and self-denial.
The renunciation is specifically a renunciation of self,
the risking of life in the following of Christ. It is
more intensive therefore than the renunciation of
family and wealth, which was required in the pass
ages already considered.* This is the negative side ;
the positive side is the undertaking of the burden of
the cross. The cross represents the malefactor's
death. It stands for the gallows, or guillotine of
modern times, the goal of shame and persecution.
These requirements constitute the calling of the spe
cial disciple. They are not the qualifications of the
universal call to discipleship. This is the call to a
few out of the group of disciples to special service,
which might involve not only self-renunciation but
also martyrdom. The salvation of the self is gained
through the sacrifice of the self in a special ser
vice. The Commission of the Twelve in Matthew^ con
tains a logion which is given in Luke* just after the
parable of the faithful Steward, a parable given
again in the Eschatological discourse of Jesus.^ In
Luke it is given in response to a question of Peter as
to the parable of the servants watching for the re
turn of their lord from the marriage feast.^ The
connection of this logion with these parables is ap
propriate. They all seem to be too early where Luke
puts them, doubtless for topical reasons. The orig
inal was probably this:
'See pp. 234 scj. 2Mt. x. 34-37. »Lk. xii. 49-53. * Mt. xxiv. 45-51.
'This is given in Mt. xxv. 1-13 as the parable of the Ten Virgins.

248 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
" Think not that I came to cast peace on the earth;
I came not to cast peace, but a sword.
For there shall be five in one house divided.
Three against two, and two against three.
Father against son, and son against father.
Mother against daughter, and daughter against mother.
Mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law
against mother-in-law."
To this Matthew adds :
" He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy
of me.
He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy
of me."
This is given in Luke* in connection with the
logia as to counting the cost and cross-bearing.
There it is also in the form: "If a man cometh unto
me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and
wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and
his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. ' '
But the connection of Matthew is more natural;
it gives a better setting, in times of conflict and per
secution, and it explains the harsher word of Luke,
"hate"; which seems abrupt and out of place, where
it is. Luke evidently changes the logion into a prose
sentence, adding, for the sake of his context, "and
his own life, ' ' or rather ' ' self also. ' ' Matthew gives
essentially the original. Luke adds wife and breth
ren and sisters to make the list of near relatives more
complete. What shall we now say as to Jesus' attitude
towards the parental law and the family? Jesus
' Lk. xiv. 26.

COUNTING THE COST. 249
defends the parental law against the Pharisaic ex
emption of the temple offering.* Jesus defends
the marriage tie against the Pharisaic allow
ance of divorce.^ Jesus urges that the Law is
summed up in love and that hatred is murder.* And
yet he here teaches his disciples to break the parental
law and the marriage law, and to transform love
into hatred of even the nearest and dearest relatives.
How shall we reconcile such apparent inconsisten
cies ? We have already seen that all laws are of rel
ative ethical value, and that the lower law must
always yield to the higher and the highest.* If it be
necessary to break a lower law in order to keep a
higher law, the superior norm requires the violation.
Such a violation is due to the obstructions that are
inseparable from the conflict of good and evil in this
world, where good and evil are mixed. The supreme
ethical norm is the Goodness of God ; next in order is
the following of Christ. To follow Christ is there
fore supreme over all other laws, and every partic
ular law and duty. If the parental law stand in the
way, it must be broken through. If marriage stand
in the way, it must be broken through. If love itself,
parental, maternal, filial, marital, any or all of these
forms of love, stand in the way of the work of the
kingdom, it must be quenched in the fires of hatred
for the sake of Christ and his kingdom. The dis
ciple is called upon to sacrifice himself, to renounce
everything, to go to the martyr's cross. He can-
' See pp. 136 sq. " See pp. 137 sq. » See pp. 146 sq. « See pp. 126 sq.

250 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
not permit a child, father, or mother, or any tie, to
obstruct the following of this supreme call. In fact
as things have been in the world, and are now in
some cases, Jesus' kingdom is a kingdom engaged in
a holy war. There is a division in the same house
hold: "father against son, and son against father,
mother against daughter, and daughter against
mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law,
and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."
"And a man's foes shall be of his own household."
Attached to this discourse in Matthew are logia
from the apocalypse of Jesus.* These point to the
persecution of the Twelve and other ministers of
Christ. Here brother will deliver brother to death,
and the father his child, and children shall rise up
against parents and cause them to be put to death.
All these passages have the same tenor; they apply
not to all Christians, but to those whom the Messiah
calls to the work of the Twelve and the Seventy, and
their successors in this kind of ministry. They do
not apply to all times, to all circumstances or to all
ministries; but only to particular times, particular
circumstances, and to persons specially called
thereto. They are all in the realm of the counsels of
perfection. No man or church has any authority to
impose these counsels of perfection on the individ
ual. That is a personal matter between the disciple
and his Lord. The Church may test those who claim
'Mt. X. 17-22; Mk. xiii. 9-13; Lk. xxi. 12-19; Mt. xxiv. 9, 13-14;
Lk. xii. 11-12.

COUNTING THE COST. 251
to have such a call, and may order them in their
special ministry; but it may not compel them tc
undertake it. It is, and it must be, within the lib
erty of Christian love. It is the most serious of all
calls, which no one should undertake unless he has
counted the cost, and is absolutely sure that the Mas
ter himself has summoned him to such a supreme
ministry. Mark reports a dispute at Capernaum among the
Twelve as to which of them should be greatest and
gives a logion in that connection.* Luke^ gives it in
connection with a reproof of the Twelve at the last
supper, where the same contest arose about which of
them should be the greatest. This is most probable
as it is germane to another logion connected with
Jesus' symbolic act of washing the disciples' feet.
The logion in its original form was probably :
" The rulers of the nations lord it over them.
And their great ones exercise authority over them.
Whosoever would be great among you, shall be your minister.
Whosoever would be first among you, shall be your servant.
The Son of Man came to minister.
And to give himself a ransom for many."

I Mk. ix. 33-50. This is also given by Lk. ix. 48 in a parallel
passage. In both Gospels the logion is condensed. Mt. xxiii. 11
gives it after the logion as to " Eabbi " in connection with the Woes
of the Pharisees, but certainly out of place. " He that is greatest
among you shall be your servant." But Mk. x. 35-45 and its
parallel Mt. xx. 20-28 gives it in connection with a larger logion
with which it is in accord, attached to the discussion connected with
the reproof of the ambition of James and John.
2Lk. xxii. 24-27.

252 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
It is probable that Jesus then washed his dis
ciple 's feet according to the narrative of John, giving
an example of ministerial service. To this is at
tached a logion* which appears in Matthew^ in the
commission of the Twelve. But it is most appro
priate where John gives it. The original was prob
ably as follows:
" A disciple is not above his master.
Nor a servant above his lord.
It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master.
And the servant that he be as his lord."
We may now consider the antithetical conduct of
Jesus' own disciples in this matter of fidelity and
love.* The first case presents an ideal of faithful love.
It is that of the woman with the alabaster cruise
of ointment. Mary poured it over the head of
Jesus. This was an act of devotion, love and
loyalty to Jesus that was unspeakably precious
to him, as the time of his Passion drew near.
It looked as if this were a wasteful act toward
a man who was devoted to poverty and hardship.
The ointment was spikenard, very precious, and
worth in the estimation of an objector three hun
dred denaries.* It looked like a great waste. We
are not surprised that it provoked some indigna
tion, and that some objected that this ointment ought

1 Jn. xiii. 4-16. «Mt. x. 24-25; cf. Lk. vi. 40.
»Mk. .xiv. 3-9; Mt. xxvi. 6-13; Jn. xii. 1-8.
* This was about $51 of American money.

COUNTING THE COST. 253
to have been sold and the price given to the poor.
Selling all and giving to the poor was a counsel of
perfection for Jesus' closest followers. And yet
Jesus represents that this act of the woman was a
higher act still. As we have seen, the positive side
of following Christ is the essential ethical act, to
which renunciation of wealth and giving to the poor
are ethically secondary. This anointing of Jesus is
on that positive side which must ever prevail over
the negative. This woman showed, by her apparent
waste of this valuable ointment, her consecration and
devotion as a follower of Jesus. It was an act of
personal allegiance which really involved much more
than giving to the poor. There seems to have been
in this woman's act a premonition of coming events;
and this testimony of her love to Jesus was of more
ethical importance to the world at that time than her
giving to the poor. The sacrifice was the same in
either case ; but the sacrifice to Jesus was more direct
in this act, than if she had done the other. Jesus
said: "She hath wrought a good work on me"; or
rather a kind, beautiful deed.*
This was a special situation that would not recur.
Action could not be postponed. It was a more im
perative ethical act than that which could be done at
any other time. This was a golden opportunity
seized by the woman. The circumstances altered the
case. The circumstances justified this extreme act
of apparent waste. Love to Jesus was the supreme
1 Mk. xiv. 6 ; Mt. xxvi. 10.

254 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
ethical significance of this act, which became a world
wide and world-long example. It is a corrective to a
one-sidedness that might easily arise from voluntary
poverty. It shows that not always is poverty to be
assumed for the sake of the poor; but that wealth
may be renounced for other and higher purposes of
the kingdom of God. The object of the renunciation
of wealth and the vow of poverty is not primarily, as
we have seen,* for the sake of the poor; it is for
Christ's sake, that the disciple may be unencumbered
by financial considerations, or commercial ties, from
following Christ. The giving to the poor is a proper
disposal of property in such a case; but is not the
only one. It may be disposed of in other ways. It
is best bestowed when it is used for the honour of
Christ and the advancement of his Church in honour
as well as in extent. Love to Christ, which is only
a deeper name for following Christ, must be the
supreme test ; and that will determine under each and
every circumstance whether the sacrifice of wealth
shall be for the poor, or for some other interest of
Christ and his kingdom. Beautiful deeds are eth
ically important for the adoration of Christ and the
adornment of his institutions.
There are some in our day, who complain of the
waste in Christian architecture. Christian music, and
Christian ceremony, on the same plea that some of the
apostles, probably led by Judas, made against this
woman. But such gifts are not waste ; they are jus-
1 See pp. 235 sq.

COUNTING THE COST. 255
tified by the importance of beautifying all that re
lates to the service of God. Love to Christ will
guide in every case, and it is a far safer ethical norm
than any other supposed claim of any particular in
terest whatsoever.
This beautiful act of love on the part of the
woman, stands in striking antithesis with the treach
ery of Judas, which immediately follows it in the
Gospel narrative.* The woman sacrificed her pre
cious ointment for love of Jesus. Judas sacrificed
Jesus for his love of money. Matthew gives the
fullest statement. Judas said to the chief priests:
' ' What are ye willing to give me, and I will deliver
him unto you? And they weighed unto him thirty
pieces of silver." Matthew makes the motive love
of money. Luke ascribes it to the instigation of
Satan. Mark mentions the fact without a motive.
This was the primary narrative. The statements
of the other evangelists are later opinions. The be
trayal takes place.^ The sign is the traitor's kiss.
The sign of love is the cloak of treason, the symbol
of the traitor's renunciation of love to Christ and
of his following of Christ as one of the Twelve.
Jesus took with him for companionship during his
agony in the garden the three chiefs of the Twelve,
Peter, James and John. They are warned—
" Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation."
" The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." °
'Mk. xiv. 10-11; Mt. xxvi. 14-16; Lk. xxii. 3-6.
2 Mk. xiv. 43-52 ; Mt. xxvi. 47-56 ; Lk. xxii. 47-53 ; Jn. xviii. 1-12.
SMk. xiv. 38; Mt. xxvi. 41; cf. Lk. xxii. 46.

256 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
The temper, the disposition, of the Twelve was will
ing freely to follow Christ; their flesh was however
weak. They were in peril of temptation ; they needed
to have their weakness of flesh overcome. This
could be accomplished only by watching, so as not to
be taken by surprise, and by prayer for divine
help. St. Peter, the primate of the Twelve, had been
faithfuUy warned; but he was too self-reliant and
boastful of his love and devotion to Christ. He had
left all and followed Christ, and had become the chief
of the Twelve ; and yet in the hour of trial he flinched,
and temporarily withdrew from discipleship. He no
longer followed Christ. He would not follow him in
martyrdom, as he had vowed to do. Jesus saw the
defect in his allegiance and predicted his fall.* He
denied Jesus thrice rather than deny himself. But
he not only denied Jesus, thus speaking falsely; he
denied him with an oath, violating the third com
mandment ; and took the name of God in vain to for
tify his lies.2 The fall was a terrible one for the
chief apostle, an ethical decline from the heights of
the chief imitator of Jesus to the depths of a coward,
liar and false swearer.
But Jesus' love to Peter was too great to let him
go ; and when he repented with tears, he was restored,
after the resurrection of Jesus, and received the su
preme call of love*.
iMk. xiv. 29-31; Mt. xxvi. 33-35; Lk. xxii. 33-34; Jn. xiii. 37-38.
2Mk. xiv. 66-72; Mt. xxvi. 69-75; Lk. xxii. 55-62; Jn. xviii. 15-18,
25-27.

COUNTING THE COST. 257
Jesus said to Peter: "Simon, son of John, lovest
thou me more than these ? He saith unto him. Yea,
Lord ; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto
him. Feed my lambs. He saith to him again a second
time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? He saith
unto him. Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.
He saith unto him, Tend my sheep. He saith unto
him the third time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou
me ? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the
third time, Lovest thou me ? And he said unto him.
Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I
love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep."*
Love to the Lord, the chief Shepherd, involves the
loving care of the flock on the part of the chief under-
shepherd. The final commission of the apostolic ministry may
be constructed as fellows'* from the various reports
of the evangelists.
1. " All authority hath been given to me.
Go ye therefore into all the earth.
And make disciples of all nations.
Baptise them into my name.
And teach them to keep my commands;
And I am with you unto the End.
2. But take heed to yourselves.
They will deliver you up to the sanhedrim.
And in synagogues will ye be beaten.
And before governors will ye stand;
And it will turn out unto you for a testimony:
And unto the nations must the gospel be preached.

' Jn. xxi. 15-17.
2 See The Apostolic Commission in the Volume entitled : Studies
in Honor of B. L. Gildersleeve.
17

258 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
3. And when they lead you to deliver you up.
Be not anxious how ye shall speak.
For it will be given in that hour.
That which ye shall speak;
For it is not ye that speak.
But it is the Spirit that speaketh.
4. And brother will deliver up brother.
And father will deliver up child.
And children will rise up against parents,
And they will put them to death ;
And ye will be hated by all;
But he that endureth to the End will be saved."
Thus the apostolic ministry, having been trained
in the companionship of Jesus, having heard his
teaching as to the counsels of perfection, having seen
them fully carried out in the life, death and resurrec
tion of their Master; went forth to a life of self-
denial, and renunciation of all things, to the endur
ance of reproach, misrepresentation, persecution and
martyrdom, like their Master, enriching the world by
their blood, and calling forth multitudes of success
ors like themselves.

XVIII.
The Chuech and Society.
It did not come within the scope of the Teaching
of Jesus to give direct instruction with regard to
social Ethics, except so far as these came into rela
tions with the Kingdom of God. The Family, So
ciety, the State, and the various occupations of men
in this life, are considered only with reference to the
Kingdom. Jesus passed through all these social ex
periences himself, and thereby consecrated them.
I. The Family.
He was bom in the family of Joseph and Mary.
He passed through the experiences of infancy and
childhood. He was circumcised in accordance with
the Law. At the legal age he began to participate
in the Passover. He returned from that feast and
was subject to his parents, and advanced in wisdom
and stature, and in favour with God and men.* Jesus
maintained the binding force of the parental law, and
of the marriage tie against the misinterpretations of
the Pharisees. 2 He also blessed little children.*
But he did not in other respects discuss family rela
tions. He did not discuss the question of monogamy,
or polygamy. He did not consider the prohibited
degrees in marriage. He said nothing about concu
binage. He was not questioned, so far as we know,
»Lk. ii. 51-52. 2 gee pp. 136 sq. 'See Mt. xix. 13-14.
259

260 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
as to any of the many matters that are determined in
the Law of the Old Testament, and were treated at
length by the rabbis of the time, and by their success
ors, in the Mishna and Talmud, and which have agi
tated the Church in ancient as well as in modern
times. With one question only does he come in con
tact, and that indirectly: namely, that of the mar
riage of the wife of the deceased brother.
"Master, Moses wrote unto us: If a man's brother
die, and leave a wife behind him, and leave no child,
that his brother should take his wife, and raise up
seed unto his brother. There were seven brethren:
and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed ; and
the second took her, and died, leaving no seed behind
him; and the third likewise; and the seven left no
seed. Last of all the woman also died. In the resur
rection whose wife shall she be of them? For the
seven had her to wife. ' '*
This law recognized polygamy. Jesus does not
comment on the law, but only on its consequences.
He does not consider the consequences immediately
after death, but the consequences in the resurrection ;
and says that there will be no marriage relation at all
at that time. In other words marriage is an institu
tion which belongs to this world ; but not to the eter
nal world.
The law is found in the Deuteronomic code:^ "If
brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and

'Mk. xii. 18-27; Mt. xxii. 23-33; Lk. xx. 27-39.
2 Dt. xxv. 5-10.

THE CHUBCH AND SOCIETY. 261
have no son, the wife of the dead shall not marry
without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall
go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and per
form the duty of an husband's brother unto her.
And it shall be, that the first-born which she beareth
shall succeed in the name of his brother which is
dead, that his name be not blotted out of Israel. And
if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then
his brother's wife shall go up to the gate unto the
elders, and say. My husband's brother refuseth to
raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will
not perform the duty of an husband's brother unto
me. Then the elders of his city shall call him, and
speak unto him : and if he stand, and say : I like not
to take her; then shall his brother's wife come unto
him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe
from off his foot, and spit in his face ; and she shall
answer and say: So shall it be done unto the man
that doth not build up his brother's house. And his
name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that
hath his shoe loosed. ' '
The story of Judah and Tamar,* turns about this
custom; also the story of Ruth and Boaz,^ only the
latter extends the custom to the nearest kinsman.
We may say in general that Jesus leaves out of con
sideration the Ethics of the Family, as they are pre
sented in the Old Testament Law. He does not op
pose them, he does not endorse them, he does not
' Gn. 38. ' Euth 1 sq.

262 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
change them. Three things he did teach which
transform all these relations, and all these laws.
(1) He made love the dominant force in the Family
as in all other relations, and that not merely in the
realm of Law and obligation; but still more in the
liberty of Godlikeness and Christlikeness. Such love
changed the Jewish family relation into the Chris
tian family relation. But Jesus did not himself
show how his doctrine of love transforms the family ;
he left that to his Church in the evolution of her
history. (2) Jesus taught that the family of God is a much
higher and more sacred relation than the family con
stituted by merely natural relationship. God is
Father of all fathers. Jesus is the Son of the Father.
All who do the will of the Father are children of the
Father, and in accordance with age, are fathers, and
mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters in
the family of God. The human family is trans
formed into the divine family.
(3) The interests of the divine family are supreme
over those of the human family. When Jesus sum
mons a man to his service, the human family must
be forsaken, if it obstruct in any way the service of
the family of God.
II. Society.
Jesus was a member of society. He associated
freely with men, and women, and children. He was
not an ascetic like John the Baptist. He lived a
social life. He partook of the hospitality of the

THE CHUBCH AND SOCIETY. 263
Pharisees on the one hand, and of the Publicans on
the other. He mingled freely with all classes of the
people. So social was he in his ministry that he was
compared unfavourably in this respect, not only with
John the Baptist, but also with the Pharisees, who
were exceedingly scrupulous in all their social rela
tions. Jesus on such an occasion pointed out the incon
sistency of the people in their varied attitude toward
John the Baptist and himself. The original of
the two versions of the logion was somewhat as
follows :*
1. " Whereunto shall I liken this generation ?
It is like unto children sitting in the market places,
Which call unto their fellows and say:
' We piped unto you, and ye did not dance ;
We wailed unto you, and ye did not mourn.'
2. For John came neither eating nor drinking,
And they say : ' He hath a devil.'
The Son of Man came eating and drinking,
And they say : ' Behold a gluttonous man and a winebibber,
A friend of publicans and sinners ! '
And wisdom is justified by her works."
Jesus certainly enjoyed companionship and friend
ship. He gathered about him chosen companions.
He did not journey alone. Even women became his
disciples, journeying with him and ministering unto
him. No sooner does he select the Twelve and send
them off on a mission, than he prepares Seventy
others, and sends them off on another mission; and

>Mt. xi. 16-19; Lk. vii. 31-35.

264 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
he continues to add to the number of these special
disciples until the very end.* He attracts to himself
not only these disciples, but also great multitudes;
so that wherever he goes, crowds of people follow
him about. He delights in teaching them, and in
curing them of their diseases, and in comforting
them in their troubles,
A touching logion given only by Matthew^ illus
trates this. It probably belongs with the previous
logion to the time of the return of the Seventy, on
his last journey to Jerusalem.
" Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden.
And I wiU give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
For I am meek and lowly in mind:
And ye shall find rest unto yourselves.
For my yoke is easy.
And my burden is light." '
Jesus transforms Society not so much by direct
teaching, as by the principles of Christian love
which illuminate and govem Christian life. He re
gards all who are associated with him as constituting
one great society in union with him and with the
Father, and with the entire social organization. This
is illustrated by the following logion. Matthew in
serted it in the midst of the long discourse against
' New Light on the Life of Jesus, pp. 32 sq.
2 Mt. xi. 28-30.
3 The measures of this logion are difficult to discern. We have no
other version to help us. I hesitate to change its familiar form.
It certainly has been modified from its original form.

THE CHUBCH AND SOCIETY. 265

the Pharisees. It did not belong there, but it is
difficult to assign it to an appropriate place.*
1. " Be not ye called rabbi :
For one is your Rabbi,
And all ye are brethren.
2. Be not ye called father:
For one is your Father,
And all ye are sons.
3. Be not ye called master:
For one is your Master,
And all ye are ministers."
The disciples have one Father, God; one master
and one teacher; Jesus the Messiah. They should
beware lest they allow themselves, or any others, to
take the place of God and His Messiah in their gov
emment and instruction. They are themselves all
alike brethren, sons of God, and ministers one of
another. This is the great thought of the allegory of the
Good Shepherd in John.^
Jesus said : "I am the good Shepherd ; and I know
mine own, and mine own know me, even as the Father
knoweth me, and I know the Father. . . . And other
sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also
I must bring, and they shall hear my voice ; and they
shall become one flock, one shepherd. ' '
Jesus, as the Messiah, is the good, kind, loving
shepherd. The flock is composed of the entire body
1 Mt. xxiii. 8-10. See General Introduction to the Study of Holy
Scripture, pp. 401 sq.
2 Jn. X. 14-16.

266 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
of his disciples : those already in the flock, and also
those who subsequently will be united in the one
flock. So also in the allegory of the Vine, Jesus said : "I
am the true vine, and my Father is the Husbandman
... I am the vine, ye are the branches. . . . Even
as the Father hath loved me , I also have loved you :
abide ye in my love. . . . This is my commandment,
that ye love one another, even as I have loved you.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay
down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if
ye do the things which I command you. No longer
do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not
what his lord doeth : but I have called you friends ;
for all things that I heard from my Father I have
made known unto you. ' '*
Afterwards he spoke plainly without allegory to
his disciples in all subsequent time.
"Neither for these only do I pray, but for them
also that believe on me through their word ; that they
may all be one ; even as Thou, Father, art in me, and
I in Thee, that they also may be in us— that they may
be one, even as we are one ; I am in them, and Thou
in me, that they may be perfected into one. ' '^
Jesus thus conceives that all Christians are in
mystic unity with him and with the Father in one
divine Society.
Human society is thus transformed by Jesus into
a divine society. Love animates the Christian so-
' Jn. XV. 1-15. 2jn. xvii. 20-23.

THE CHUBCH AND SOCIETY. 267
ciety as it does the Christian family. Human society
ever remains of elementary and inferior importance
as compared with the divine society, in which it first
attains its ideal and culmination. If ever the lower,
by exaggerating its importance encroaches upon the
sphere of the divine, it must be ruthlessly pushed
aside ; for nothing human can be allowed to obstruct
the progress of the Society of which Jesus Christ is
the head.
III. Property and Labour.
Jesus consecrated labour by serving himself as a
workman in wood, until he was thirty years of age.
He laboured with his own hands, and thereby made
manual labour sacred. His ministry was that of a
great teacher and a good physician ; and so he made
the labour of professional life still more sacred. He
consecrated property, by his use of it. He taught
that men have entrusted to them talents and trusts,
to be used faithfully with wise and good usury, and
to be accounted for accurately to the Master himself.*
He did not however teach directly the ethics of labour
and property. He did not discuss the Old Testament
laws on this subject. He did not unfold them into
new laws. He consecrated and transformed them by
the great principles of his kingdom. All property
and labour are conceived by Jesus as used by
Christians for the supreme Master, God. All Chris
tians are servants of God; they have their duty as
servants, they have their privileges and liberties as
'See pp. 201 sq.

268 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
servants. If they do all their duty, they will be
blameless. If they neglect their obligations they will
be punished. If they use their liberty in loving deeds,
they will be rewarded.
Jesus regards the service of Mammon, the selfish
enjoyment of property and wealth, the labour for
oneself, as a damning sin, which excludes from the
kingdom of God. Dives, and the Rich Fool are pic
tures of real life in all ages, of the selfish, grasping,
luxurious rich, who lay up treasure for themselves,
but not toward God. It is impossible for such to
enter the kingdom. A hopeless death and torment
in the Abaddon of the middle state and the Gehenna
of the final state, is their doom.
Love should animate all Christian labour and all
Christian property. Labour for God and His Christ
is more imperative than labour for any other cause
whatsoever. The most sacred use of property is for
the upbuilding of the kingdom of God. All other
labour, and all property must be forsaken when the
Master calls for special service. Voluntary poverty
is from this point of view the highest Christian call
ing, a counsel of Perfection. The Master lived such
a life of voluntary poverty.* He called his apostles
to such a life, and he pronounced blessings upon all
who live it. Property must not obstruct entrance
into the kingdom of God, or the service of the king
dom of God. Whenever it is so used, it becomes anti
christian and idolatrous, and forfeits all rights.
' The Incarnation of the Lord, Sermon IV.

THE CHUBCH AND SOCIETY. 269
Jesus himself did not hesitate to disregard the
rights of property on three occasions.
(1) The Gospels tell the story of evil spirits enter
ing into a herd of swine and destroying them. There
were about two thousand of them. Jesus permitted
this destruction of swine, and also the severe loss to
their owners. It is not surprising that they desired
him to depart from their borders.* The story shows
in Jesus, to modem views, a strange disregard of
rights of property, and also of the life of animals.
How can we regard this conduct of Jesus as ethically
right? We can only say that Jesus must have had a
reason for such action, which the evangelists do not
disclose. Only some higher ethical principle could
justify his permission of the destruction of so much
property and animal life. Jesus himself sacrificed
property and life for the higher ends of his kingdom.
He calls upon those who follow him in the highest
ministry to do the same. Has he not, as the Mes
siah, the right over the property and lives of those
who have been put under his dominion by God, even
if they do not recognize him as lord and Master?
We cannot deny the right to God to deprive men of
their property, as well as to bestow it upon them at
His discretion. Old Testament and New Testament
know of no other rights of property than those de
rived from God, the sovereign owner of all. If Jesus
is the Messiah, endowed with divine authority on
earth, we cannot refuse him this divine right.

'Mk. V. 1-20; Mt. viii. 28-34; Lk. viii. 26-39.

270 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
He was not bound to tell us his reasons for depriv
ing men of their property. We may be sure his
reasons were most excellent. We know that no
one was so gentle, so loving, so pitiful as he; and
if on this occasion he had no pity on these animals
or their owners, we may be sure that it was because
of a subordination of lower rights to the higher
rights of the kingdom of God. It is probable that
these owners were unusually unworthy of his regard
and were unusually deserving of deprivation of
something they were misusing or abusing.
(2) Jesus curses the barren fig tree.* This fig tree
had no figs to satisfy the hunger, and so Jesus cursed
it. It withered away from the roots. The lesson
that Jesus drew, was a lesson as to the power of faith
to accomplish things apparently impossible. Did he
intend any other lesson, and mean that this should
be a symbolic action to set forth the ill desert of the
pretentious Pharisees and the curse coming upon
them? Did he mean it as a symbolic prophecy?
This act of Jesus has ever been regarded as of ques
tionable morality. The tree had leaves prematurely ;
it was not the season of fruit. This was about April ;
the season of figs was not until June. The cursing
of the tree killed it ; and not only destroyed the tree,
but deprived the owner of the benefit of its fruit. In
appearance this was not right. The act cannot be
justified in itself and apart by itself. It can only be
justified if we consider that a higher right demanded
1 Mk. xi. 12-14; Mt. xxi. 18-19.

THE CHUBCH AND SOCIETY. 271
the sacrifice of this lower right. Jesus as the Mes
sianic king and judge had a higher right, a sovereign
right. He had claimed his right to recognition as
Messiah but a few hours before. He was now justified
in putting forth his authority in an executive way in
the condemnation and cursing of this ill-deserving
tree and of depriving its owner of property which
probably he had not properly cultivated. We may be
sure that the situation in which Jesus was placed,
not only justified this action but demanded it as
ethically right and necessary for the accomplishment
of his final ministry of salvation to his people.
(3) The cleansing of the temple by Jesus shows a
still more serious interference with private property.
The traders in the temple were, some of them, money
changers ; they changed money, so that the worship
pers might get the exact amounts and coins needed
for the temple dues. Others sold doves needed in the
temple for the sacrifices of the poor. John adds that
others sold oxen and sheep. These were for the more
expensive sacrifices of the rich. Jesus cast these
traders out of the temple, using upon them a scourge
of cords. He overthrew the tables of the money
changers and poured out their money.*
It is only fair to say that these traders were not in
the temple itself, or in any of the courts where wor
ship was carried on, but in the outer courts where the
people were accustomed to assemble ; and that these
occupations were all for the convenience of the wor-
»Mk. xi. 15-18; Mt. xxi. 12-15; Lk. xix. 45-46; Ju, ii, 14-17,

272 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
shippers. There was no law against this practice in
the Old Testament. The traders acted under the
authority of the civil and ecclesiastical laws of their
times. They were within their legal rights, whether
judged by civil or ecclesiastical laws. Jesus was
therefore violently interfering with the civil and ec
clesiastical rights and property of these men. Why
did he do it?
In his explanatory words he appeals to a higher
law, a law evolved from a prophecy of the second
Isaiah, that the temple was to be a house of prayer
for all nations;* and this he extends to the outer
courts of the temple, courts that were not in the plans
of any of the temples of Biblical history. He evi
dently considered that even these courts should be
hallowed, and not desecrated by wicked deeds.
Jesus also said that these traders had made the
temple a den of robbers. There can be no doubt that
they habitually robbed the people, taking advantage
of their necessities in the matter of dues to the temple
and sacrifices, especially when large crowds assembled
at the feasts. It is probable that they had robbed
the disciples of Jesus on this occasion by defrauding
them in the purchase of the paschal lamb which they
must have procured just about this time.^ A gross
act of this kind may have brought to a climax a long
series of robberies. Jesus however does not deal
with these robbers, as he deals with sinners else-
1 Is. Ivi. 7.
' New Light on the Life of Jesus, p. 103.

THE CHUBCH AND SOCIETY. 278
where, calling them to repentance and praying for
them. In holy passion he expels the whole traffic
from the temple. That which Jesus did, the rulers
ought to have done long before. Jesus takes the law
into his own hands, as the Messiah, and executes it
himself. He deals with these traders as sinners, ripe
for the judgment he executes upon them. He deals
with them as he deals with the Pharisees in his dis
courses on the subsequent days. We see him thus
once in his earthly life, acting as the judge and the
executor of judgment. He does not give us any
other ground on which his act can be ethically de
fended, than the fact that he did it. If he was not
the Messiah, which he now definitely and publicly
claimed to be in word and deed, he had no right to
supersede the rulers of his people. If he was indeed
what he claimed to be, and what he was to attest him
self as being by his death on the cross, and resurrec
tion from the dead, then he had the authority to exe
cute judgment upon these traders and upon all others
as he deemed best.
We thus have three deeds of Jesus, in which he
acts above and in violation of rights of property, all
of them acts of violence. He is responsible for the
destruction of the swine in the sea of Tiberias. He
is responsible for the killing of the fig tree. He is
responsible for the expulsion of the traders from the
courts of the temple.
In all these cases he violently interfered with the
rights of property of other men, and so far did them
18

274 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
a wrong. If he were nothing more than an individ
ual man, we could not defend him. Unless he had
authority higher than the civil and ecclesiastical au
thorities of the time, he did what he had no right to
do. He executed judgment, and unless he had au
thority to do so, he did not act rightly. He had au
thority as the Messiah to execute judgment and to
exercise mercy also. His judgments are few; his
mercy is abundant. His Messianic character justi
fies his Messianic acts of judgment. He makes such
use of this property as the interests of the Kingdom
demand. Those who were in these cases deprived of
their property had made such a misuse of it, that
they had forfeited all right to it. If Jesus wished
simply to set forth in a graphic way this lesson for
all time, we may glorify him for it. No one has any
such absolute right in property that he can use it in
disregard of the rights of others and the demands of
God's Kingdom. Any such misuse incurs the pen
alty of forfeiture.
IV. The State.
Jesus had little to say with reference to the civil
government of his time. There were several authori
ties in Palestine in the time of Jesus, and it was not
always easy to determine which to obey. The Jews
in the time of Jesus, were on the brink of rebellion
against the Roman rule, and would gladly have fol
lowed Jesus in a revolution. But Jesus carefully
refrained from such a course. He rebuked Satan in
the great temptation, when he offered him the king-

THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY. 275
dom and the glory of the world.* He refused the
Galileans, who would have rallied about him as king.^
He replied to the temptation of the Herodians by the
logion :
" Eender unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's ;
Eender unto God the things that are God's.'"
Thus Jesus recognized the two authorities as dis
tinct in their spheres. He taught in the sphere of
the authority of God. He avoided teaching in the
sphere of the authority of the State. He claimed
indeed to be the Messiah, the lawful king of the
Jews, under oath before the Jewish sanhedrim. But
they rejected him and gave him over to be crucified
as a pretender. He said to Pilate:
" My kingdom is not of this world." *
Jesus came as the Messiah to set up the kingdom
of God in the world. This, however, was not a king
dom of civil authority, but of religious authority.
He taught no civil laws. He did not endorse those
of his time, he did not oppose them. But here, as in
every other social sphere, he gave principles which
transformed the Jewish and the Roman states into
Christian states. The principle of Christ-like love
was destined to work transformation in all spheres,
working gradually as leaven, as salt, and as light.
The kingdoms of this world were all to become the
kingdom of God. Jesus kept his kingdom aloof

'Mt. iv. 8-10; Lk. iv. 5-8. 2 jn. vi. 15.
"Mk. xii. 14; Mt. xxii. 21; Lk. xx. 25. * Jn. xviii. 36.

276 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
from the state. His apostles endeavored to do the
same. They urged submission to the civil authori
ties except when these required the Christian to deny
his supreme Lord. When the interests of the two
kingdoms clashed, then Christ, the king of the king
dom of God, had to be followed rather than the
Roman emperor. It was just this principle that
caused the greater part of the persecutions of early
Christianity; until eventually Christianity became
supreme. Jesus did not himself establish his kingdom in the
world, prior to his death, or indeed during the forty
days of his resurrection life. A few days after his
enthronement, at the right hand of the Father, he
gave as his coronation gift the divine Spirit in the
ophany, on the day of Pentecost, and established his
kingdom through the ministry of his apostles. Jesus,
however, in his teaching set forth the principles of
his kingdom. The kingdom of grace, as planted and
growing in this world is the Church of the Pauline
Epistles, and of Christian history. The kingdom of
glory is the kingdom of the Second Advent, after
the course of this age of the world has been com
pleted.* The kingdom of God in the world is essen
tially a kingdom of love. The Church is instituted
for ministerial service in teaching divine truth and
in living the holy life of love.
Jesus gave a logion to St. Peter, when as the
'See pp. 62 sq.

THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY. 277
spokesman of the Twelve he definitely recognized
Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus then said to him :
"Blessed art thou, Simon, bar Jonah;
For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee.
But my Father which is in heaven;
And I say unto thee: Thou art Peter,
And upon this rock will I build my (house,)
And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom (of God) :
And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth.
Shall be bound in heaven:
And whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth.
Shall be loosed in heaven." '
St. Peter was thus made by the appointment of
Jesus the rock on which the Church was built as a
spiritual house, or temple ; and at the same time the
porter of the kingdom, whose privilege it is to open
and shut its gates. The Church is here conceived as
a building, a house, constituted of living stones, all
built upon Peter, the first of these stones, or the pri
mary rock foundation. It is also conceived as a city
of God, into which men enter by the gates. These
conceptions are familiar in the Old Testament, as
well as in the New Testament. The significant thing
here is the primacy of St. Peter. He is chief of the
Twelve, who elsewhere in the New Testament are
conceived as the twelve foundations of the temple
and city of God.^ He is the chief porter, as else-
'Mt. xvi. 17-19. It is probable that "house" was in the original
logion, and that " church " has been substituted for it in accordance
with Pauline usage.
2 Eph. ii. 20; Eev. xxi. 14.

278 THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF JESUS.
where the Twelve have the authority of the keys,*
and the Church has it, as an assembly of Chris-
tians.2 Jesus gave them authority to admit into his
kingdom or to exclude therefrom.
There can be no doubt that this logion of Jesus
establishes the authority of discipline in the Church,
as well as that of teaching. Indeed the Twelve and
probably also the Seventy were commissioned to
carry on the work of Jesus in the world, by organiz
ing his Kingdom or Church, They were commis
sioned to teach and to baptize, and to organize for the
celebration of the holy Eucharist, and for the govem
ment and discipline of the Christian body. Here
also Jesus gave principles rather than laws. He left
to his apostles, whom he commissioned, the authority
to organize his Church in accordance with his prin
ciple of holy love. So far as the Church in its
history has established the ministry of love, it has
been true to the Master ; so far as it has failed in the
ministry of love, it has been unfaithful to him. So
far as its government, discipline, teaching, institu
tions, and life have been guided by the divine Spirit,
and animated by Christian love, the growth of the
Church has been normal and rich.
Jesus overcame the temptation of the devil when
urged to take possession of the kingdoms of the
world. The Church, like St. Peter himself, has not
been able at all times to resist temptation, and so has
too often lorded it over the world, in the spirit of
Caesar, rather than of Christ. The Church as de-

I Jn. XX. 21-23. 2 Mt. xviii. 15-20.

THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY. 279
signed by the Master has a ministry of love. It con
quers by love, not by armies. It governs by love, not
by force. Its institutions are institutions not for the
subjugation of the world to ecclesiastical authority,
but for self-sacrificing Christlike love in a holy min
istry for the salvation of the world.

INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

Abaddon, 93
Absolution, 72, 81
Adultery, 139 sq., 151 sq.
Advent, Second, 66, 276
Alms, 163 sq., 214.
Anger, 147 sq.
Anointing of Jesus, 252
Anxiety, 209
Apocalyptic, 30
Apoleia, 93
Baptism, Christian, 63, 68
of Jesus, 35, 159
Baptismal Formula, 58
Beatitudes, 82 seq.
Beautiful Deeds, 253
Blessing little children, 79
Caesar's Rights, 275 sq.
Casuistry, 127 sq.
Celibacy, 228
Church, 259 sq.
discipline of, 278
Cleansing of Temple, 271
Clement of Alexandria, 84
Commission, apostolic, 58, 69,
final, 255 sq.
of Seventy, 54, 228 sq.
of Twelve, 224
Counsels of Perfection, 224 sq,
Counting the Cost, 242 sq.
Cross bearing, 246 sq.
Devil, 61
Divorce, 137 sq.
End of Dispensation, 222

81

Essenes, 168
Eunuchs, 228
Eusebius, 2
Fai<7i, 68 sq.
Family, 259 sq.
Fasting, 163 sq.
i^tj iree, barren, 270.
Following Christ, 207 sq.
i^oo/, 147
Forgiveness, 68 sq., 81, 118
and Love, 71
Fringes, 183
Gehenna, 92, 206
Golden Rule, 100
Good, Biblical meaning, 236 sq.
Good Shepherd, 75, 119, 208, 265
Gospel, of Infancy, 4 sq.
of John, 8 sq.
of Luke, 5 sq.
of Mark, 1 sq.
of Matthew, 2 sq.
Grenfell d Hunt, 1, 22
Haggada, 14 sq.
Halacha, 25 sq., 138
Herodians, 168
ffiJieZ, 100
Humility, 213
Hypocrisy, 177, 188
Intercessory Prayer of Jesus, 81
Jesus, one Master, 265 sq.
Judgment, 189 sq.
final, 94, 200, 203 sq.
of Messiah, 274 sq.

281

282

INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

Justification, 78, 165 sq.

Our Father, 39, 73, 118

Kind deeds, 253
Kindness, 175 sq.
Kingdom, of glory, 276.
of God, 59 sq.
of grace, 62, 276
of heaven, 59
Labour, 267 sq.
Lamp, simile of Christian, 244
Law, 143 sq., 182
Lex Talionis, 97 sq.
Life, 73
Logia of St. Matthew, 2 sq., 7 sq.
Lord's Prayer, 39, 73, 118
Love, and Faith, 71
and Forgiveness, 71
as Law, 122 sq.
Christlike, 114 sq., 205, 223
Godlike, 97 sq.
of Jesus for Peter, 256
liberty of, 86, 157, 251
of enemies, 106 sq.
of Mary, 252
of neighbors, 129, 157
of the Father, 107 sq.
supererogatory, 126
to God, 156
Mammon, 96, 217, 268
Marriage, 259 sq.
Martha, 75
and Mary, 54
Merit, 213 sq., 218 sq.
Mishna, 14
Mote and Beam, 110
Murder, 146 sq.
Nicodemus, 63, 69
Oaths, 152 sq.

Parable, 15 sq.
Chief Seats at Feasts, 19
Dives and Lazarus, 19, 191,
268
Drag net, 16, 66, 200
Feast for the Poor, 9, 203
Fig tree, 18
Friend at Midnight, 19
Good Samaritan, 19, 117
Hidden Treasure, 16, 67
Householder, 16
King's Sons, 63
Labourers in Vineyard, 17,
66, 120
Leaven, 16
Lost Coin, 19, 74, 116, 189
Lost Sheep, 17, 74, 116, 189
Love and Forgiveness, 70
Marriage Feast, 17, 200
Mustard Seed, 16, 65
Pearl of Price, 16, 67
Pharisee and Publican, 19,
77, 165, 181
Pounds, 66, 203, 220
Prodigal Son, 19, 74, 116,
190
Rich Fool, 19, 190, 268 sq.
Seed growing Secretly, 61, 65
Sower, 16, 52, 60
Talents, 18, 66, 203, 221
Tares, 16, 61, 65, 200
Two Debtors, 19
Two Servants, 18, 201
Two Sons, 17, 62, 79
Unjust Judge, 19
Unmerciful Servant, 17, 120
Unprofitable Servant, 19, 218
Unwatchful Householder, 18
Virgins, 18, 66, 222
Wicked Husbandmen, 17

INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

283

Parable, Wise Servant, 19, 215
Parental Law, 136 sq., 227, 248
sq.
Perfection, Christian, 234, 240
in Love, 109
Peter, Confession of, 76, 277 sq.
Fall of, 256
Primacy of, 277 sq.
Pharisaism, 167 sq.
Philip, 80
Phylacteries, 183
Poverty, Voluntary, 84, 235, 268
Prayer, 162 sq.
Property, 267 sq.
rights of, 268 sq., 273
Prophecy of Jesus, 29 aq.
Purification, 134 sq.
Raea, 147
Renunciation, of all things, 239
of family, 226 sq.
of self, 243 sq.
of wealth, 235, 253
Repentance, 68 sq.
Resch, 1
Revival of Christianity, 243
Reward, 206 sq., 240
Riches, use and abuse of, 238 sq.
Righteousness, 158 sq.
of Love, 166
Sabbath, 127 sq.
Sacrifices, 77
Sadducees, 168
Salt, simile of Christians, 244
Service, 207 sq.
Seventy Apostles, 49

Shemah, 155, 183
Sin, 189 sq.
excuse for, 106
the unpardonable, 193 sq.
Society, 259 sq., 262 sq.
Son of Man, 37, 44, 193, 251
Sources of Teaching of Jesus,
1 sq.
Spirit of God, 41, 63, 65, 193 sq.
State, 274 sq.
Stumbling, 92
Supererogation, 220
Temptation of Jesus, 35
Ten Commands, 145 sq., 153 sq.,
198 sq., 232 sq.
Thomas, 80
Tithes, 174 sq.
Tradition, 172
Treasures, in heaven, 212 sq.
Twelve Apostles, 48, 224
Two Ways, 82 sq.
Uncleanness, sources of, 197
Tine and Branches. 266
Yows, 153 sq., 185 sq.
'Wealth, use of, 268 sq.
WiU of the Father, 34 sq., 202
Wisdom, Hebrew, 3, 20
Woes, 75, 82 sq., 91, 171 sq.
Word of Jesus, 47
Yoke of Jesus, 264
Zacchaeus, 79, 241

INDEX OF TEXTS.

Genesis i. 27 
ii. 1-3 
ii. 24 
iv. 7 
xxxviii 
Exodus xii. 2-10 
xiii. 9, 11-16 
XX. 8-11 
XX. 12 
XX. 13 
XX. 14 
xxi 
xxi. 12-14.. 
xxi. 17 
xxi. 23-25 
xxii. 26-27 
Leviticus X. 10 
xix. 12 
xix. 18  105,
xix. 34 
XX. 9 
xxiv. 9 
xxiv. 17 
xxiv. 20 
xxvii 
xxvii. 30-33 
Numbers XV. 38-39 
xviii. 21-32 
XX 
xxx. 2  153,
xxxv. 20-21, 22 

Deuteronomy
139 V. 12-15  129
132 V. 16  136
139 V. 17  146
194 V. 18  151
261 vi.4  155
vi.4^9  183
183 vi. 5  156
183 vi. 8  183
129 vi. 13, 16  37
136 viii. 3  36
146 xi. 18-21  183
151 xii. 17-18  174
101 xiv. 22-29  174
146 xix. 4, 11  146
136 xix. 21  98
98 XX. 16-18  105
99 xxiii. 3-6  105
xxiii. 21-23  153
196 xxiv. 1-2  138
153 xxiv. 13  99
156 xxiv. 14  233
105 xxv. 5-10  260 sq.
136 xxv. 17-19  105
129 Judges
146 ix. 4  147
98 xi. 3  147
186 Ruth
174 i. sq  261
I. Samuel
184 xxi. 4-6  129
174 Nehemiah
37 iv. 5  106
186 Job
146 xxxi. 1  152
284

INDEX OF TEXTS.

285

Psalms i  82
ix. 13  194
xiv. 1  147
xix. 1  194
xxiv. 4  88
Ixv. 4  77
Ixviii. 38  77
Ixxiii. 1  88
Ixxix. 9  77
exxxvii. 8-9  106
Proverbs iii. 3-4  175
X. 12  Ill
Isaiah xxix. 13  135
Ivi. 7  272
Ixi. 1 sq  25
Daniel xii. 2-3  200
Hosea vi. 6  115, 175
Micah vi. 8  174
Tobit iv. 15  100
Matthew iii. 15  158
iii. 17  35
iv. 1-11  35
iv. 4  44
iv. 8-10  275
iv. 17  29, 59
iv. 18-22  224
iv. 25  208
V.3  67
V. 3-12  83 sq.
V. 6  159
V. 10  160
V. 13-16.. 97 sq., 244 sq.
V. 17  101
V. 17-18  144

Matthew V. 20  161
V. 21 sq  145
V. 21-48  15
V.22  147
V. 23-24  151
V. 25-26, 27-28  151
V. 28  140
V. 29-30.. 91, 92, 152 sq.
V. 31-32  137,152 sq.
V. 32  140
V. 33-37  152 sq.
V. 34  187
V. 38  97
V. 43  104
V. 44-48  106
vi. 1-6  162
vi. 7-15  163
vi. 9-13  39
vi. 7-15  163
vi. 10  59
vi. 12, 14-15  118
vi. 16-18  162
vi. 19-21... 164, 272 sq.
vi. 19-34  164
vi. 22-23  164, 245
vi. 24  95, 216
vi. 25-34... 164, 209 sq.
vi. 33  67, 160
vii. 1-5  164
vii. 6  112, 180
vii. 7-11  40, 112
vii. 12  100, 112, 157
vii. 13-14  92, 112
vii. 15, 16-20  89
vii. 21  38, 50
vii. 21-23  92
vii. 22-23  51, 93, 205
vii. 24-27  51
vii. 29  50
viii. 1, 10  208
viii. 11-12  94

286

INDEX OF TEXTS.

Matthew
viii. 19-22  226
viii. 28-34  269
ix.2  69
ix. 2-8  26
ix. 7  59
ix. 9-13  114, 224
ix. 12-13  26
ix. 13  69
ix. 15  26
ix. 19, 27  208
ix. 36-38  115
X  225 sq.
X. 2  116
x.9-10  85
X. 14  53
X. 17-22  250
X. 22  57, 218
X.24  24, 57, 110
X. 24-25  252
X. 26  244
X. 34-37  247
X.37  242
X. 38  242, 246
X.39  23
X. 40  24, 54
xi. 2-19  30
xi. 12-13  144, 216
xi. 16-19  263
xi. 18  216
xi. 20-24  75
xi. 28-30  264
xi. 32  216
xii. 1-8  128
xii. 3-8  26
xii. 7  115
xii. 9-14  130
xii. 11-12  26
xii. 15  205
xii. 22-29  27
xii. 31-32  178, 193
xii. 33  89

Matthew xii. 34-35  89, 90
xii. 36-37  199
xii. 38-42  178
xii. 40-42  179
xii. 43-45  195
xii. 46-50  38
xiii. 1-53  16, 60
xiii. 9  53
xiii. 11-13  17
xiii. 12  221
xiii. 16-17  53
xiii. 21-32  33, 65
xiii. 33  65
xiii. 41-43  200
xiii. 43  53
xiii. 44, 45-46  67
xiii. 47-50  66
xiii. 49-50  200
xiii. 54  25
xiii. 54-58  75
xiii. 57  22
xiv. 13  208
XV. 1-20  135, 171
XV. 3-6  172
XV. 3-20  27
XV. 5-6  136
XV. 10-20  196
XV. 11  197
XV. 14  110
xvi. 1-4  178
xvi. 2-3  179
xvi. 5-12  27
xvi. 6  177
xvi. 13-16  76
xvi. 17-19  65, 277
xvi. 21-28  30
xvi. 24  246
xvi. 25  23
xvi. 28  64
xvii. 5  45
xvii. 22-23  30

INDEX OF TEXTS.

287

Matthew
xviii. 1-5  27, 30, 79
xviii. 6-7  91
xviii. 8-9.. 91, 92, 97, 152
xviii. 12-14  17
xviii. 15  119
xviii. 15-20  278
xviii. 21-22  119
xviii. 22-35  17, 120
xix. 1-12  152
xix. 2  208
xix. 3-12  27, 137
xix. 9  97, 140, 216
xix. 11-12  228
xix. 13-15  30, 79
xix. 16-22... 84, 232, 259
xix. 16-30  27
xix. 21  109
xix. 23-27  67, 237
xix. 28  67
XX. 1-15  66
XX. 1-16  17, 120
XX. 16  95
XX. 20-28  27,30,251
XX. 29  208
XX. 34  207
xxi. 9  208
xxi. 12-15  271
xxi. 12-17  27, 31
xxi. 18-19  30, 270
xxi. 23-27  27
xxi. 28-32  17, 62, 80
xxi. 33-41  17
xxi. 33-46  63
xxii. 1-10  62
xxii. 1-14  17, 200
xxii. 13-14  201
xxii. 15-22  27
xxii. 21  26, 275
xxii. 23-33  28, 260
xxii. 34-40. ..28, 117, 155
xxii. 40  157

Matthew xxii. 41-46  28
xxiii  171
xxiii. 2-3  182
xxiii. 4  176, 183
xxiii. 6  184
xxiii. 6-7  175
xxiii. 8-10  265 sq.
xxiii. 8-12  184
xxiii. 11  251
xxiii. 12  77, 213
xxiii. 13  62, 176
xxiii. 15, 16-22  185
xxiii. 23-24, 25-26  173
xxiii. 27-28  175
xxiii. 29-32  187
xxiii. 33  188
xxiii. 34-36, 37-39.... 177
xxiv  30
xxiv. 9  57, 250
xxiv. 13  222
xxiv. 13-14  250
xxiv. 32-33  18
xxiv. 34  64
xxiv. 42  222
xxiv. 42-51  66
xxiv. 43-44  18
xxiv. 45-51 
18,201,222,247 sq.
xxv. 1-11  18
xxv. 1-13  66, 247
xxv. 14 sq  66
xxv. 14-30  18, 221
xxv. 29  221
xxv. 31-46  66, 203 sq.
xxvi. 6-13  27, 252
xxvi. 10  253
xxvi. 14-16  255
xxvi. 21-25, 31-35  30
xxvi. 33-35  256
xxvi. 39  46
xxvi. 41, 47-56  255

288

INDEX OF TEXTS.

Matthew
xxvi. 58  207
xxvi. 63-66  154
xxvi. 69-75  256
xxvii. 55  208
xxviii. 18-20  58
xxviii. 19-20  70
Mark, i. 11, 12-13  35
i. 14-15  29
i. 15  59
i. 16-20  47, 224
i. 21-28  15
i. 21-30  47
ii. 1-12  26
ii. 5  69
ii. 13-17... 47, 114, 224
ii. 15  208
ii. 17  26, 69
ii. 19-20  26
ii. 23-28  128
ii. 25-28  26
iii. 1-6  130
iii. 4  26
iii. 5  148
iii. 7  208
iii. 13-19  48
iii. 22-27  27
iii. 28-29  178, 193
iii. 31-35  38
iv. 1-20  16, 52
iv. 1-34  60
iv. 9  53
iv. 11-22  17
iv. 21  97
iv. 21-22  244
iv. 24  109, 110, 209 '
iv. 25  221
iv. 26-29  16
iv. 30-32  16, 65
V. 1-20  269
V. 24  208

Mark

V. 37  207
vi. 1-6  75
vi. 2,  25
vi. 4  22
vi. 7-11  225 sq.
vi. 11  53
vi. 12  59
vi. 12-15  73
vii. 1-23  135, 171
vii. 6-9  135
vii. 6-23  27
vii. 8-9  172
vii. 11-12  136
vii. 14-25  196
vii. 15  197
viii. 11-12  178
viii. 12  179
viii. 14-21  27
viii. 15  177
viii. 27-30  76
viii. 31-38  30
viii. 34  242, 246
viii. 35  23
ix. 1  30, 64
ix. 7  45
ix. 30-32  30
ix. 33-37  27, 30, 79
ix. 33-50  251
ix. 38-40  27
ix. 42  91
ix. 43-48.. 91, 92, 97, 152
ix. 50  97, 244
X. 1-12.... 27, 137, 152
X. 11  97, 210
X. 11-12  140
X. 13-16  30, 78
X. 16-22  84
X. 17-22  232
X. 17-31  27
X.23  84
X. 23-27  67

INDEX OF TEXTS.

289

Mark Mark
X. 23-31  237
X. 32  204
X. 34  95
X. 35-45  27, 30, 251
X. 52  207 Luke
xi. 9  208
xi. 12-14  30, 270
xi. 15-19  27, 31, 271
xi.25  118
xi. 27-33  27
xii. 1-9  17
xii. 1-12  63
xii. 13-17  27
xii. 14  275
xii. 18-27  28, 260
xii. 28-34... 28, 117, 155
xii. 31  156, 233
xii. 34  157
xii. 35-37  28
xii. 38-40  175, 184
xii. 41-44  28
xiii  30
xiii. 9-13  250
xiii. 13  57, 222
xiii. 28-29  18
xiii. 30  64
xiii. 33  222
xiii. 34-37  66, 222
xiv. 3-9  27, 252
xiv. 6  253
xiv. 10-11  255
xiv. 13  207
xiv. 18-21  30
xiv. 25  65
xiv. 27-31  30
xiv. 29-31  256
xiv. 36  46
xiv. 38  255
xiv. 43-52  255
xiv. 51, 54  207
xiv. 61-64  154

xiv. 66-72  256
XV. 41  208
xvi. 15-16  58
xvi. 15-17  70
i. 1-4  5
ii. 40-52  34
ii. 51-52  259
iii. 22  35
iv. 1-13  35
iv. 5-8  275
iv. 14-15  29
iv. 16-30  25, 75
iv. 23-24  22, 25
V. 1-11  224
V. 17-26  26
V. 17-37  97
V. 27-32  114, 224
V. 30  69
V. 31-32  20
V. 32  69
V. 34-35  26
vi. 1-5  128
vi. 3-5  26
vi. 6-11  130
vi. 9  26
vi. 12-19  48
vi. 20-23  224
vi. 20-26  83
vi. 27-36  106
vi. 31  112
vi. 35-36  89
vi. 37-42  164
vi.40  24, 57, 252
vi. 43-44  89
vi. 45  89, 90
vi. 46  38, 50
vi. 47-49  51
vii. 9  208
vii. 18-35  30, 144
vii. 22-27  30

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INDEX OP TEXTS.

293

John
xii. 1-8  27, 252
xii. 20-36  31
xii. 25  23, 246
xii. 26  246
xii. 36-46  80
xii. 44-50  31, 56
xii. 46  208
xii. 48  50
xiii-xv  122
xiii. 4^16  252
xiii. 4-20  31
xiii. 16  24, 57
xiii. 20  24, 54
xiii. 21-30  30
xiii. 31-35  31
xiii. 34-35  122
xiii. 36-37  208
xiii. 36-38  30
xiii. 37-38  256
xiv. 1 sq  29
xiv. 6  80
xiv. 11-12  81
xiv. 12-30  31
xiv. 15, 21, 23-24... 123
XV. 1-8  20
XV. 1-15  265
XV. 8-14  124
XV. 8-27  31
XV. 20-24  57
XV. 22, 24  194
xvi. 1-33  31
xvi. 30  81
xvii  31, 58
xvii. 4  46
xvii. 8-20  81
xvii. 20-23  265
xviii. 1-12  255
xviii. 15  208
xviii. 15-18,25-27  256
xviii. 33-38  63
xviii. 36  275
XX. 6  208

John XX. 21-23  278
XX. 22-23  31
XX. 23  81
xxi. 15-17  257
xxi. 15-23  29
Acts i. 15-26  49
XV. 10  127, 176
XX. 35  1
Romans iii. 20  127
xii. 9-21  113
xiv. 13-19  113
/. Corinthians vii. 8-16  141
vii. 10-11  1
xiii  113
XV. 6  49
Galatians V. 6, 13-25  113
V. 19-21  198
Ephesians ii.20  277
iv. 31-v. 2  113
Philippians ii. 1-8  113
Colossians iii. 12-14  113
iv. 14  5
James ii. 8-9  113
iii. 13-18  113
iv. 11-12  113
I. Peter ii. 19-23  113
iii. 8-9  113
iv. 8-9  113
iv. 8  Ill
Revelations vi. 16  149
xxi. 14  277

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tions from the New Testament as well as from the Old, and states
the results thus far attained, the present problems, and the aims
for the future. It is written so that any intelligent person can read
it with enjoyment and profit. The work takes the place of the
author's Biblical Study, which has been extraordinarily successful,
and which has been here revised, enlarged to double its former
size, and entirely reset, so that it is essentially a new book.

PROFESSOR BRIGGS'S WRITINGS.

New Lig-ht on the Life of Jesus.
By Charles A. Briggs, D.D., D.Litt., Edward Robinson Pro
fessor of Biblical Theology in the Union Theological Seminary,
New York. Crown Svo, $1.20 net (postage, 11 cents).
In this volume Dr. Briggs sets forth a new order of the events
and teachings in the life of Jesus in the light of which a large
proportion of the disputes as to the harmony of the Gospels dis
appear. The result is revolutionary so far as modern opinions'
are concerned ; but actually the results are conservative, being iu
the raain a return to ancient opinions. The composition of the
various Gospels also becomes much easier of explanation and the
entire subject acquires new results. The book is not technical,
and it has been so written as to make it useful and interesting to
all intelligent persons.
"Anyone at all familiar with the Scriptures, with the life of Christ in particular,
will recognize its value at a glance, clearing up. as it does, many mooted points.
and rendering harmonion^ the answers to many questions that long have pressed
for solution." — Boston Transcript.
"Professor Briggs's 'New Light on the Lile of Jesus ' is an interesting and
important discussion of problems affecting a proper chronology of the lile oi
Jesus. The discus.sions are. by the necessities ofthe case, largely technical; but
the conclusion given in an ' outline of the life of Jesus ' is a model of compact aud
lucid statement. "—WorMzu^j^^r« Christian Advocate.
" Whatever may be individual opinion as to the correctness of Dr. Briggs's con
clusions, there is never any question as to the accuracy of his scholarship and the
intense devotion which he brings to every subject he treats. We do not hesitate
to say that the present little work, distinctly not proposing to give a new life of
Jesus, is of superlative value for the realization, the actualization, of the earthly
life of our Lord. Not that the ' new light ' which has broken upon Dr. Briggs's
mind is likely to shine with convincing effulgence into every mind to whom this
book shall come. Some of Dr. Briggs's assumptions— as. for example, that duiing
the major part of his ministry Jesus was accompanied, not by the entire Twelve,
but by only two of the disciples at a time, and in turn— may strike the casual
reader as mere assumptions and nothing more. But this book is not intended for
the casual reader, but for the student of the New Testament, and we venture to
assert thafwho takes up anew the Gospels with this book in hand, looking up Dr.
Briggs's references, and pondering the connotation of their statements, will find
pretty firm ground for many, at least, ofthe new teachings contained in this book.
Whether he does or no, however, is of comparatively small moment. The point
IS not that every New Testament student should agree with Dr. Briggs in this
matter or that, but that he should avail himself of the 'new light' which Dr.
Briggs offers for a new 'studv of the Gospels, forming his own conclusions
therefrom."— CArzj/i'aK Work and Evangelist.
"The outline is clear and the conclusions worthy of attention."— TVSiff Outlook.
" It is easy to say that no writer or preacher on the life of Christ will know his
work If he does not take Dr. Briggs into account. As Professor Briggs says: 'The
new light solves most ofthe difficult problems of the Gospels, fills up the chasm
between the Synoptics and the Gospel of John, and satisfies tbe most searching
niquires of modern Higher Criticism and Historical Cx'\\XQ\s,m.''"—The Ex-t>osi-
tory Times. "

PROFESSOR BRIGGS'S WBITINQS.

Messianic Prophecy.
The Prediction of the fulfilment of Redemption through the
Messiah. A critical study ol the Messianic passages of the Old
Testament in the order of their development. By Charles A.
Briggs, D.D., P^dward Robinson Professor of Biblical Theology
in the Union Theological Seminary, New York. Orie voluinei
crown octavo, $2.50.
" Messianic Prophecy is a subject of no common intere.st, and this bonk is no ordin
ary book. It is, on the contrary, a work of the very first order, the ripe product of
years of study upon the highest themes. It is exegesis in master-hand, about its
noblest business  It has been worth while to commend this book at some
length to fhe attention of Bible students, because both the subject and the treatment
entitle it to rank among the very foremost works of the generation in the department
of Sxegetical Theology. Union Seminary is to be congratulated that it is one of her
Professors who, in a noble line of succession has produced it. The American Church
is to be congratulated that the author is an American, and Presbyterians that he is a
Presbyterian. A Church that can yield such books has large possibilities."— iV«fl
York Evangelist.
"It is second in importance to no theological work which has appeared in this
country during the present century." — The CriHc.
*'His arduous labor has been well expended, for he has finally produced a book
which will give great pleasure to Christians of all denominations. . . . Tlie pro
found learning displayed in the book commends it to the purchase of all clergymen
who wish for the most critical and exact exposition of a difficult theme ; while its
earnestness and eloquence will win for it a place in the library of every devout lay
man."— iy. y. Journal qf Commerce.
" It is rich with the fruits of years of zealous and unwearied study, and of an ample
learning. In it we have the first English work ou Messianic Prophecy which stands
on the level of modern Biblical studies, It is one of the most important and valuable
contributions of American scholarships to those studies. It is always more than in
structive : it is spiritually helpful. We commend the work not only to ministers, but
to intelligent laymen." — The Independent.
"On the pervading and multiform character of this proraise, see a recent, as well
as valuable authority, in the volume of Dr. Briggs, of the New York Theological
Seminary, on 'Messianic Prophecy.'" — W. E. Gladstone.
"Prof. Briggs' Messianic Prophecy is a most excellent hook, in which I greatly
rejoice."— Prof. Franz Delitzsch.
'* All scholars will join in recognizing its singular usefulness as a text-book. It has
been much wanted."— Rev. Canon Chetne.
"It is a hook that will be consulted and prized by the leamed, and that will add to
the author's deservedly high reputatinn for scholarship. Evidences of the ability,
learning and patient research of the author are apparent from the beginning to the
end of the volume, while the style is remarkably fine."— /%ito. Preshytenan.
" His new book on Messianic Phrophecy is a worthy companion to his indispens
able text-book on Biblical study .... What is most of all required to insure the
future of Old Testament studies in this country is that those who teach should satisfy
their students of their historic connection with the religion and theology of the past.
Prof. Briggs has the consciousness of such a connection in a very full degree, and
yet he combines this with a frank and unreserved adhesion to the principles of modem
criticisms  He has produced the first English text-book on the subject of
Messianic Prophecy which a modern teacher can use."— The London Academy.

PB0FE880R BSIGGS'S WRITINGS.

The Messiah ofthe Gospels.
By Charles A. Briggs, D.D., Edward Robinson Professor of
Biblical Theology in the Union Theological Seminary, New York.
Crown Svo, $2.00.
The Messiah of the Apostles.
By Charles A. Briggs, D.D., Edward Robinson Professor of
Biblical Theology in the Union Theological Seminary, New York.
Crown Svo, $3.00.
Prjf. Briggs in these two volumes takes up the ideas presented in
the author's " Messianic Prophecy of the Old Testament," aud traces
their development in New Testament prophecy. The method and
scope of the work are entirely original, and it is full of fresh state
ments of the doctrine of the person and work of Christ as the result
of the new point of view that is taken.
" It is learned, sound, evangelical, and is a useful contribution to the Christologieal
literature of the day." — Ne-w York Tiibune.
" It requires but a cursory exaraination of this book to discover that it is the work
of a profound Biblical scholar. It will proved valuable aid to the Biblical student, and
is well worthy of a place in his M'bra.vy.''— Reformed Church Messenger.
" The book, as to far the larger part of it, is one of the best and most precious ever
written upon the ^jcrson, the offices, the work of the Son of God and Sou of man. The
author has the Scriptures thorouehly at command, and without quotation-marks re
peats the very words, adding passage to passage, phrase to phrase, with splendid and
overwhelming power. "—TA^ Christian Intelligencer.
"Like all Dr. Briggs' books, the work though given in lucid and ringing Engli -h
has depth and breadth of learning." — .Bos^ow Zio7i^s Herald.
" As we lay the book down we have a renewed sense of the courage, independence
and erudition of the author." — The Churchman.
" He has given to ns on the whole a noble contrihution of devont scholarship to
wards an understanding of the Christ of New Testament teaching."— .BicAmond
Beligious Herald.
" . . . . it is a hook of great merit, and one that no student of the New Tes
tament can afford not to read with candor and diligence." — The Examiner.
"The whole tone of the discussion is adapted to impress one with the idea that the
writer is a sincere lover of and seeker after truth. The whole volume will be found
very helpful to any diligent student of the Scriptures."— PiWster^A iresbyterian
Messenger. " The work, by its freedom from contentionsnei^s and by its respect for other leam
ed opinion, claims a dignified place in contributions to historical theology."  The
American Eistm-ical Review.
"Dr. Brigga is to be congratulated on having brought to a snccessful termination
this truly remarkable series of volumes on one of Ihe most important themes of Bibli
cal study. The Christology of the New Testament is likely to wait long for a more
competent and more snccessful expositor." — The Christian Register.
" Whoever makes a faithful study of this book will put hiraself under the guidance
of an admirable teacher, and will come into close contact with the living Word of the
divine revelation."— Tlie Congregationalist.

PROFESSOR SSIOaS'S WRITINGS.

The Bible, the Church, and the
Reason.
The Three Great Fountains of Divine Authority. By Charles A.
Briggs, D.D., Edward Robinson Professor of Biblical Theology in
Union Theological Seminary, New York. Crown Svo, $1.75.
" It consists of lectures delivered at different times since the recent assault
upon him. In thece lectures he does not indicate the least inclination to beat a
retreat, cry for quarter, or even secure a truce. And yet, with some few excep
tions, he does not exhibit personal feeling, nor defend himself personally from
the charges made zigainst him. He simply elaborates and substantiates the
positions in his inaugural which have subjected him to public criticism and to a
possible trial for heresy." — TAe Christian Union.
" The problems which are discussed with mjisteily power in this volume are
not those of Presbyterianism, or of Protestantism, but of Christianity, and,
indeed, of all Bibliccd religion. To any man for whom the question of God and
revelation has an endlessly fascinating interest, the book will prove suggestive and
stimulating. We cannot see why even the Israelite and the Roman CathoUc should
not desire to taste — despite the traditions of synagogue and Mother Church—
this latest forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge." — Tie Literary World.
The Higher Criticism of the Hex
ateuch.
By Prof. Charles A. Briggs, D.D., of Union Theological Sem
inary, New York. New Revised and Enlarged Edition. Crown
8vo, $2. 50.
Summary of Contents : The Testimony of Scripture— The Traditional Theories
—The Rise of Criticism— The Documentary and Supplementary Hypothesis-
Date of Deuteronomy — Development of the Codes — Witness of the History — The
Argument from Biblical Theology and its Results— Recent Discussions.
It is with the aim of contributing to a better understanding and higher apprecia
tion of the documents of the Bible that the book has been written, which is
designed for the general public rather than for Hebrew students, and, for the most
part, technical material been put into the Appendix, which constitutes a consider
able part of the volume. This new edition is the result of a thorough revision
of the entire work, and contains numerous additions of importance. It is also
characterized by a thorough study of the types of Hebrew law and the history of
Hebrew legislation. It should therefore be of great interest to the legal profession.
"The volume before us gives in plain language Dr. Briggs's belief. No minister
can afford to be ignorant of the subject, or oi Dr. Briggs's position." — The Chris
tian Enquirer.

PROFESSOR BRWOSS WRITINGS.

Whither ?
A Theological Question for the Times By Charles AuGUSTua
Briggs. D.D., Edward Robinson Professor of Biblical Theology
in the Union Theological Seminary, New York. Third Edition.
One volume, crown Svo, $1.75.
" He shows that genuine Christianity has notning lo lose, but much to gain, by un
fettered thought and by the ripest modern ocholarship ; that the doctrines which pio-
t^ressive theolof^y threatens are no essential part of the historic faith, but rather out
worn carraentsr woven with warp and woof of tradition and speculation ; that being
liun<' upon the noble form of Cliristianity, have obscured its real proportions, and
that"' the higher criticism ' of which timid and unscholarly souls are so much afraid,
i.< really making the Bible more manifestly the book otGod, by relieving it from the
false interpreiations of men."— TAc Frees, Philadelphia.
" The book is a strong one. It is packed with weighty matter. Its reach is larger
I han any of the au thor's other works, though i ts compass is smaller. It contains only
3iJ0 pages, yet it is a critical treatise on Westminster and modern theology, and also
1111 church lite and Christian unity. It is written in nervous, virile English that holds
attention. It has unusual grasp and force. The title and the chapter headings sug
gest compression: 'Whither?' 'Drifting,' 'Orthodoxy,' 'Changes,' 'Shifting,'
• Excesses,' ¦ Failures,' 'Departures,' ' Peiplexities,' 'Barriers,' 'Thither.' There
is a whole history in some of these words, and a whole sermon in others." — Thi
Critic. New York,
"At the same time it is irenic both in tone and tendency. It is noble from
bei^iiming to end. though the author may possibly place unnecessary emphasis on
the organic unity ot the different denominations of Christendom as the condition
precedent for a true catholic unity. There is not a touch or smell of rationalism or
rationalistic speculation in the book, and freely as the author deals with his oppo
nents, it is an honest freedom, whicli will promote good feeling even amid debate." —
The Independent.
American Presbyterianism :
Its Origin and Early History, together with an Appendix of Let
ters and Documents, many of which have recently been discovered.
By Charles A. Briggs, D.D., Edward Robinson Professor of
Biblical Theology in the Union Theological Seminary, New York.
I volume, crown 8vo, with Maps. $3.00.
"TI.e Presbyterian Church owes a debt of gratitude to the enthusiasm and antiquar
ian research of Professor Briggs. He seems to have seized the foremost place araong
them, and his vigorous, skilful, and comprehenpive researches put all Protestant
Christians, and especially Congregatlonalists, under obligation to him," — Boston
Congregationalist. "This is an admirable and exhaustive work, full of vigorous thinking, clear and
careful statement, incisive and judicious criticism, minute yet comprehensive research.
It is such a book as only aman with a gift for historical inquiry and an enthusiasm
for the history and principles of hia Church could have produced. It represents an
amazing amount of labor. Dr. Briggs seems to have searched every available source,
British and American, for printed or written documents bearing on his subjects, and
he has met with wonderful success. He has made many important discoveries, illus
trative of the Puritan men and period, useful to hiraself, but certain also to be helpful
to all future inquiries in this field."— .Cz-i^isA Quarterly Review.
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, PubUshers,
15 3-1 5 7 Fiftb Avenue, New 'Fork.

3 9002 08867 5468

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