Spirit; only by the help of this Spirit can one receive all things which one requires for the preservation of the Christian life (Phil. i. 19), only by Him can one really serve God (iii. 3).1 A progressive renewal is also here required. Although the σŵμа τηs σаρкós is put off in baptism (Col. ii. 11), yet the old man needs ever again to be put off, and the new man ever more to be put on (iii. 9, 10; Eph. iv. 22, 24); the holiness which the Christian possesses must be ever more perfectly realized (v. 26, 27; comp. i. 4), till he becomes quite clean and without offence, filled with the fruits of righteousness (Phil. i. 11). On this account the Christian must ever anew prove the difference of good from evil (ver. 10), and learn to recognise the will of God (Col. i. 9, iv. 12; Eph. v. 10, 17; comp. the beautiful exposition by Ritschl, ii. p. 287). To this the apostle leads him on by referring to his own example (Phil. iii. 17, iv. 9; comp. i. 30), as also to the pattern of Christ (Eph. v. 2; Phil. ii. 5), by his own regulations, to which the churches have to give obedience (Phil. ii. 12; Philem. 21), as also by reference to Scripture (Eph. v. 14); and it is not un-Pauline, according to § 87, d, if he is stirred up by a command of the Decalogue (vi. 2). Here, also, the apostle draws motives from the fundamental facts of salvation: they are to forgive as they have been forgiven (iv. 32); they are to walk worthy of their Christian calling (iv. 1), or of Christ (Col. i. 10), and of the gospel by him (Phil. i. 27); they are to consider that they have been created for good works, which God has before appointed as the element of the new life, in which they are to walk henceforth and bear fruit (Eph. ii. 10; Col. i. 10). But so strongly does the hortative element of our Epistles come into view, that the apostle makes the readers themselves answerable for the progress of their Christian life, so earnestly must the Christian be ever struggling forwards (Phil. iii. 12, 13), so

It depends on this, that one has and keeps his life's element in this Spirit (Phil. i. 27 : στήκετε ἐν πνεύματι ; comp. Eph. vi. 18 : προσεύχεσθαι ἐν πνεύματι; Col. i. 8: ἀγάπη ἐν πνεύματι), preserves the unity of this Spirit, while one allows no other spirit to influence him (Eph. iv. 3). Here also Tuμa designates the spiritual life of the Christian (Philem. 25; Phil. iv. 23), but the Spirit of God dwelling in us yet remains quite objective, as it can be vexed (Eph. iv. 30), and, according to v. 18, may be ever given anew, until the believer is quite filled with the Spirit.

evidently is it divine grace here above all which ultimately works all in him. He who has begun the good work in them. will also perfect it (i. 6). Here then, therefore, finally, the Christian can do nothing else but allow grace to work in him, while he continues in the faith (Col. i. 23), and is established in it (ii. 7), and he remains answerable for it only when he shuts himself out from its activity, or hinders it.

(c) Along with faith and love there is, as 1 Cor. xiii. 13, hope (comp. § 96), the object of which, as Rom. viii. 24, is not yet in sight, because it is laid up in heaven; a principal moment in the subjective life of the Christian (Col. i. 4, 5), Christ is its author (i. 27:

Tís), and the Holy Spirit is its pledge (Eph. i. 14, iv. 30). The object of hope is here in the first place salvation (i. 13) from perdition (Phil. i. 28; comp. ii. 12), a salvation which the Lord, looked for from heaven, and whose coming is at hand (iv. 5; comp. § 98, a), will bring (iii. 20) as the Saviour (Eph. v. 23). Here also deliverance already results ideally from this, that the Christian has been quickened from the death of sin to a new life with Christ (ii. 5, 6), because the cause of destruction has been thereby removed. The positive correlative of salvation is here also wń (Phil. ii. 16, iv. 3). Life, as it shall be lived one day with the exalted Christ, is as yet hidden, because the exalted Christ is as yet hidden, because it is only appointed for them in the counsels of God (Col. iii. 3; comp. i. 5); but it will be manifested when Christ, the author of this life, shall be manifested in glory (§ 98, a); there they shall then share that glory with Him (iii. 4), and that is also spoken of (i. 27) as the object of It is the surpassing greatness of the power of God which helps believers to the completion of their salvation (Col. i. 11; Eph. i. 19), while God arms them with all weapons needful for victory in the Christian fight (vi. 10–13), and for the fulfilment of their calling (Col. i. 29). He strengthens the power to patience and long-suffering (i. 11: μaxpobuμía; comp. Jas. v. 10), and righteous suffering is a gift of His grace (Phil. i. 29). But He works this on the ground of prayer (Col. iv. 2; Eph. iii. 20; Phil. iv. 6) and of Christian intercession (i. 19); on this account, for every blessing in the Christian standing of the readers, thanks are given to Him (Col. i. 3; Philem. 4; Eph. i. 16; Phil. i. 3; comp. iv. 7, 9). How little this forms to the apostle a contradiction to that personal responsibility of the Christian is shown by Phil. ii. 12, 13, where the exhortation to work out their complete salvation with fear and trembling is made to depend on this, that God works all in all, the willing and the doing, that He provides for them everything they require, and so there remains for them no excuse if they do not reach the goal.

hope. Then the change resulting on the body, which corresponds to the earthly humiliation, into the shining form of the glorified body of Christ (§ 97, b), forms also the correlative, Phil. iii. 21, to the expected salvation, ver. 20. As § 99, b, so Paul (Phil. iii. 11) also knows only of a resurrection of those believers kept in living union with Christ (ver. 9), a resurrection which is based on Christ, the ȧpxý (namely, τŵv ἐγερθέντων) or the πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν (Col. i. 18; comp. Acts xxvi. 23). As § 97, c, so here the inheritance of believers stands (Eph. i. 14, 18) related to their adoption (vv. 5, 17); yet, Col. iii. 24 (comp. Acts xx. 32, xxvi. 18), Kλnpovoμía appears to occur in the more general sense of the possession of salvation promised to the Christians, a possession which is realized in the perfected kingdom of God (iv. 11; Eph. v. 5). Here also, as § 98, b, the day of Christ brings (Phil. i. 6, 10, ii. 16) the decision which of the Christians is found approved, and, Eph. v. 21, Christ is evidently regarded as the judge whom Christians have to fear. Here also the retribution (ȧvτаTódoσis) which they will then receive from the Lord is spoken of (Col. iii. 24); the exactness of this retribution is expressed in the sharpest terms, Eph. vi. 8,

6

To be sure, here also the apostle hopes, in the event of his suffering a martyr's death (Phil. i. 20, ii. 17), directly after death (but certainly not by a resurrection, as Schenkel, p. 294 ff., thinks) to go to Christ, as only on this supposition the immediate departure from life can be to him gain (i. 21, 23; comp. § 96, d); and the opinion, that this was regarded only as a prerogative of martyrs (Zeller in the Theol. Jahrbüchern, 1847, 3, pp. 402-407), is altogether arbitrary (comp. Köstlin, p. 286). Yet here also this où Xporiva is not the highest goal of Christian hope. If, moreover, the more particular dealing with eschatological proceedings is reserved in the four principal Epistles, to a yet greater extent is this the case in our Epistles, without its being possible to show any essential change on the supposition on these points.

7 Not only do heathenish sins exclude from the kingdom of God (Eph. v. 5), but there is required even an uninterrupted approval in the fulfilment of the special Christian calling, by which Christ is glorified (Phil. i. 20), if the end of the Christian life is to be the salvation (ver. 19); as also, according to iv. 3, the names of true fellow-workers in the gospel stand in the book of life. Here also, in particular, it is the stedfastness, which does not permit one to be intimidated even in any point by opponents, which avails to the true contenders as the Godappointed indications of their sure deliverance (i. 28; comp. ver. 20), as they thereby experience the highest proof of their living union with Christ in their fellowship in His sufferings, which makes them conformed to His death (iii. 10), and on that account opens up to them the prospect of the experience of the resurrection from the dead (ver. 11).

Col. iii. 25, in this way, that one receives what one has done (comp. Phil. iv. 18: πεπλήρωμαι . . ; ver. 19: ὁ Θεός μου Tλnρwσei), and, Eph. vi. 3, an Old Testament retributive prophecy referring to the earthly life is reproduced. Here also the reward appears under the image of fruit, which is produced, and produces at the same time blessing (Phil. iv. 17); or under that of the praise of victory, which God has set forth in the end for the runners of the Christian race (iii. 14); and the reward which Paul specially expects for his work is the glory he will share on the day of Christ (ii. 16, iv. 1; comp. § 98, d, footnote 6).

(d) The Epistle to the Ephesians begins with thanksgiving for the election of Christians (i. 4), and shows that the object of this election is here also the realization of holiness, and of the salvation of Christians given with sonship (vv. 4, 5; comp. Col. iii. 12: ἐκλεκτοὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἅγιοι καὶ ἠγαπημένοι; comp. § 100, d), a salvation God has predestinated for them in love. The names of those so elected stand, according to Phil. iv. 3, in the book of life, to which they are appointed. Here also election follows according to the free good pleasure of God's will (Eph. i. 5) by His grace (ver. 6). Here also are Christians, as § 88, d, called of God (Phil. iii. 14: ý ävw kλñois Toû

cov), and so called, to be sure, that by the calling they are united into one body (Col. iii. 15; Eph. iv. 4). The calling is therefore here also the introduction to the Christian Church, and involves equally the determination to a holy walk (iv. 1) as the hope of complete salvation (i. 18, iv. 4; comp. Phil. iii. 14). The calling is here also effected by the gospel (Eph. iii. 6) or the word of God, which, as the sword of the Spirit, i.e. as the instrument by which the Spirit of God works (vi. 17), produces faith. For this (Phil. i. 29) is expressly designated a xápioμa, and God is thanked for the faith of the readers (Col. i. 3, 4; Eph. i. 15, 16). Here also, as § 89, is Paul called by the will of God (Col. i. 1; Eph. i. 1) the

Hence it is also called the word simply (Col. iv. 3; Phil. i. 14), or the word of the truth (Col. i. 5; Eph. i. 13), which is preached by human instrumentality (anpurası: Col. i. 23; Phil. i. 15). Its content is Christ (Col. iii. 16: ὁ λόγος τοῦ Χριστοῦ ; Phil. i. 27 : εὐαγγ. τ. Χρ. ; comp. i. 15, 17, 18; Col. i. 28), or the salvation given in Him (Eph. i. 13: svayy. T. owenpías; vi. 15: rñs tipávns ; comp. ü. 17, iii. 8; Phil. ii. 16: Aéyos (wñs), and the divine grace (Acts xx. 24, 32).

apostle of Jesus Christ (Eph. iii. 5; comp. Acts. xx. 24), and that specially for the heathen (ver. 1; comp. Col. i. 23–28; Acts xxvi. 17), wherein he sees grace given specially to him as the least of all saints (Eph. iii. 2, 8). This calling was a direct laying hold of him by the Lord (Phil. iii. 12). Finally, the mystery of salvation was made known to the apostle by revelation through the Spirit (Eph. iii. 3: Kaтà ȧтоκáλνiv ¿yvwpioon; comp. ver. 5), so that he could himself announce again this mystery (vi. 19, i. 9; Col. i. 27). With the manner in which this mystery is conceived of in our Epistles, is connected specially their peculiarity.

§ 102. The Doctrine of Wisdom.

The message of salvation of the apostle is, to be sure, in the earlier Epistles, in the first place, the contrast to all human wisdom; but it contains yet the true wisdom, so far as it alone shows the way of salvation given in Christ (a). Connected with this there is also in Christianity a higher wisdom and knowledge; but, to be sure, in this life these remain ever imperfect (b). In opposition to a false doctrine of wisdom in the Epistles of the imprisonment, the gospel is with special emphasis conceived of as the true wisdom, and advancement in the right knowledge is put as task of the normal development of Christian life (c). But this true wisdom and knowledge are here also, at the same time, directed to the practical task of the moral life, whose proper solution appears as a second principal task of our Epistles, with their predominant hortative character (d).

(a) The message of salvation was to the apostle primarily the most complete contrast to all the wisdom of this world, whether this latter now comes forward as Jewish learning in the Scriptures, or as Gentile argumentative skill (1 Cor. i. 20). God has turned this wisdom into folly in this way, that He exhibited its complete inadequacy to find out a way of salva

9 Here also Paul calls himself a douλos of Christ (Phil. i. 1), and this together with one of his fellow-labourers (cumpyós: Col. iv. 11; Philem. 1, 24; Phil. ii. 25, iv. 3), whom he also calls doua (Col. iv. 12) or diánovos (Col. i. 7, iv. 7) of Christ. If the destination of salvation for the heathen is, according to Eph. iii. 5, made known to other apostles also, Gal. ii. 7, 8 shows that this cannot be un-Pauline, as Pfleiderer, p. 446 [E. T. ii. 177], supposes.