Chapter Three:

  The Acts of the Apostles, the Coming of the Kingdom and of the Church, the Body of Christ

I

            The preaching of the Kingdom that Jesus had inaugurated is carried on in His name by the Church. This is the story related in the Acts. Here we see the Church in the process of its formation, but at the same time we may say that there is still question only of the coming of the Kingdom.

            From the very opening words, the narrative suggests this idea. St. Luke tells us that after His passions Jesus showed Himself to His disciples, appearing during forty days and speaking to them of the Kingdom of God. At the beginning, then, there is question of the Kingdom. The same is true of the end, for in the closing lines we are told that Paul lived in a hired lodging, receiving all who came to visit him, proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus, boldly and unhindered (1). Always, then, there is question of the Kingdom, and the Kingdom is always placed in the same proximity to and the same union with the person of Jesus.

            As we should expect from this setting, the book has much to say of Christ and of His Kingdom, and of the union of the two; that is, of the Mystical Body. On this point, indeed, the teaching of the Acts is the exact prolongation of the doctrine of the Synoptics.

In general, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, the teaching of the Synoptics may be summed up as follows: Jesus will return, and will remain with His own forever. He will be in the magisterium in order to teach

and to govern; He will be in the faithful in order to live and suffer in them.

            The Acts contain the same doctrine, but no longer expressed in words alone; it is actually being accomplished.

            Jesus will return. It is precisely for this reason that He leaves them, so that He may return in a closer, more inward presence. It is thus that He Himself announces His departure, His Ascension, in the Acts of the Apostles. The disciples have just asked Him, now that He is about to return to the Father, whether the hour has at last arrived for the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel.

            Jesus’ answer is twofold. Concerning the Kingdom of Israel of which they ask, He utters a few evasive words: it is not for them to know the times and the seasons which the Father has appointed by His own authority. But He immediately begins to speak, clearly and positively this time, of something else that shall come from heaven, and which is very near---a mere matter of days---and which shall establish the Kingdom of God in the souls of men and in the world. And what a Kingdom that will be! 

               Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days hence.   Ye shall receive power from the coming of the Holy Spirit upon you, and ye shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth. (2) 

Or, as the same St. Luke says in his Gospel: 

                And behold, I send forth upon you the promise of My Father. But do ye bide in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high. (3) 

            These are solemn words; they close one inspired work, the third Gospel, and begin another, the Acts of the Apostles. At the same time, the remarkable similarity of the two texts brings out the continuity that exists between the two narratives. This is a point of capital importance for the Gospel, and therefore for the history of Christ. The Gospel is the record of “what Jesus began to do and to teach” (4) up to the time of His Ascension; the Acts tell us what He continued to do and to teach after His Ascension in the Church, through the Holy Ghost. In both, therefore, there is question only of the life of Christ: first of His historical life, and then of His mystical life in the Church.

II

            Indeed, it is a new life that Jesus is now beginning, and one cannot fail to be impressed by the great resemblance between the promises we have just read and the promises with which the life of Jesus opens in the Gospel.

            In the sixth month after the conception of the Precursor, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee called Nazareth, to a Virgin espoused to a man, and who was named Mary, to tell her that she should conceive and bring forth a son, and that this son should be the Son of the Most High, and it came to pass that the Virgin asked the angel how this wondrous thing could be.

            And the angel answered and said to her:

               “The Holy Spirit shall came upon thee, and the might of the Most High shall overshadow thee. Therefore the Holy One to be begotten shall be called Son of God.” (5)

            We see the points that are common to the two announcements. In each there is mention of an effusion, an effusion of the Holy Ghost; there is question of power from on high, of a power that shall enter into, and even cover up our weakness, a power that shall cause something superhuman and divine to rise in our humanity. The first announcement, that of the Incarnation, was made by an angel; the second, that of Pentecost, was made by Christ Himself.

            We have quoted Christ’s promise as it is recorded by St.Luke. We should add that it is also to be found in the Gospel of St. John. Throughout the discourse that follows the Last Supper, Jesus keeps telling the Apostles that He is going away, but that His going will be a return. It is good for them that He should go, for He must go in order that the Spirit may come. Here again, we see Christ’s departure connected with the coming of the Spirit. In both accounts, too, it is stated that the coming of the Spirit will give the Apostles an understanding of Christ’s doctrine and will make them victorious over the world. What relation this coming of the Spirit bears to His own return, Jesus does not say expressly, but from what He reveals during the discourse about His return and about the unity that He will give His brethren in Himself, it may be inferred that the effusion of the Spirit will have its part in the formation of the Mystical Body. However, we shall make no further use at the present of these texts of St. John, since we are reserving the study of the Fourth Gospel until later.

            Let us return to the book of the Acts. Ten days have elapsed since the Ascension. All the disciples are gathered in the Cenacle with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and with the holy women. The narrative continues: 

 There came a noise from heaven, as of the rushing of a blast of wind,

         which filled the whole house where they were seated. And there

        appeared to them tongues, as though of fire, which parted and sat   

        upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

       (6)

             Thus was born the Church, the Mystical Body. By a special disposition of Providence, Mary was present. Is it an exaggeration to see, in this simple remark of the inspired book, an allusion to the part taken by the Mother of God in every expansion of the divine life? As the Head was born physically de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine, so the “Body” is born mystically by the operation of the Spirit and by the mediation of Mary.

            In this promise of the Spirit we may note a further resemblance which exists between the “baptism” of Pentecost and that baptism with which Jesus began His public life. The body, like its Head, shall make its entrance into the history of this world under the influence of the Holy Spirit. (7)

            Born as Christ was born, the Church lives as He lived. Her unity is very early attested by extraordinary signs. Above all, a principle of superior life is operating within her. The Holy Spirit, so the Acts tell us, is directing and leading the Church as He led Jesus. After His baptism at the hands of John, says the Gospel of St. Luke,

              Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from the Jordan, and  was led by the Spirit into the desert. (8)

             It is the Spirit who guides the Church, who directs her apostolate and makes it fruitful; He it is who guides her preachers, leads the way for them and points out other paths. He suggests the words they are to speak, gives force to the testimony that they render to the Resurrection, and fills them with wisdom and truth.

            The Church is conscious of this Spirit who animates her. She possesses Him and gives Him to men; she explains His meaning and speaks in His name. The phrase she uses to express this certitude is at once naïve and daring: ‘It hath seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to ourselves,” (9) in the decree of the Apostles and priests at the Council of Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit and themselves---twelve fishermen and a few priests of the Church of Jerusalem! They could not have affirmed more boldly what was to be the great conviction of every Council; namely, that the Church and the Holy Spirit are inseparable.

            Thanks to this supernatural assistance, the government of the Church is no mere administration. These men are the vicars, the continuers of Jesus. It is He who by their means teaches and rules the faithful, just as it is He who through them heals the sick. When Peter is about to cure the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, so certain is he of Christ’s presence within him that he can say: “Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, that I give thee; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” And he cures Aeneas, for eight years a victim of palsy, with the words: “Aeneas, Jesus Christ doth heal thee.” (10) In the words of Bossuet, “it is Jesus Christ who animates everything in the nascent Church.” (11)

            In everyday life, this assistance is concealed beneath the ordinary course of events. But in decisive moments, particularly in times of persecution, it becomes visible. Jesus had promised to be always with His brethren; and He keeps His word. The Acts relate two instances of this kind, in two events that are closely related in themselves: the stoning of Stephen and the conversion of Saul.

            Stephen’s death was like the death of Jesus, insofar as the death of a man can be like the death of a God. Like Christ, he was immolated outside the gates of the city, charged by false witnesses with having spoken against the Temple and the Law. The same declaration that had brought sentence of death upon the Master unchained the hatred of the Jews against Stephen. Jesus had said: “ye shall see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of heaven”, and all cried out, “He is worthy of death.” Stephen said: “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.” (12) Then the Jews cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and all rushed upon him. And, dragging him out of the city, they stoned him. There is a striking resemblance, even in the wording of the narrative, between these two supreme confessions. And the resemblance continues to the end. The deacon dies like Jesus Christ, praying for his executioners and commending his spirit to God.

              While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed and said, “Lord Jesus,

 receive my spirit.” And falling upon his knees, he cried out with a

 loud voice, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” And after saying

 this he fell asleep. (13)

            Stephen died, his eyes fixed upon the vision of Christ. But so closely did he at that moment resemble the Master, that he himself presented the same vision; Christ had died a second death, so to speak, in a member of His Mystical Body. When the deacon said, “I see the heavens opened, and Jesus at the right hand of His Father”, the Jews refused to hear of this second coming of the Son of Man; but now it was accomplished in the very act of rage by which they had silenced the voice that heralded His return.

III

            Now Saul, the Acts inform us, had approved the murder of Stephen, and had watched the garments of the executioners. So he was a witness of the scene; later, he expected to forget it. Perhaps he smiled at Stephen’s prayer for his executioners, and gave it no further thought. Nevertheless, at that moment, he had been marked out for Christ. He went on his way, ravaging the Church, breaking into private dwellings to lay hold of men and women and to cast them into prison. But he was merely drawing nearer to the hour when, to quote Paul’s own words, God would lay hold of him. On the road to Damascus, Christ had laid an ambush for him in broad daylight. A light from heaven shone about him.

              He heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute Me?”

  But he said, “Who art Thou, Lord?”

              And He said, “I am Jesus, whom thou dost persecute.” (14)

            The words are clear, like the flash that blinded Paul, and as direct as a blow. There is no commentary, no attenuation. Paul bore a grievance against the Church, and he was persecuting these men and women who placed all their hope in a certain Jesus; his hand was already lifted to seize them. But lo! They are no longer only themselves, but Christ! Another has taken their place, and, rising among them, or rather, within them, confronts Saul: “Saul, Saul, why doest thou persecute Me?”

            The word is as old as Revelation itself. God long before had united Himself with the prophets and with His people in the Old Testament; to strike them was as grave an offense as to wound Him in the apple of His eye. But that union had been as yet only a moral union, or better, the beginning and the symbol of a physical union. In the New Testament, God follows up the same declaration, but with greater precision: whatever is done to the least of His brethren, is done to Him. Here we have a real and ontological solidarity. Immediately, it passes into act. Within five or six years after His death on Calvary, Jesus declares that it is accomplished, and He who had held His peace before His own executioners, cries out when He is attacked in the person of His faithful: “Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute Me?”

            For this Jesus who appears is a persecuted and suffering Jesus; it is the Jesus of the Passion and the Cross. He has gained the victory, to be sure, and it is as victor that He now speaks; but the victory is not so complete as to dispense His followers from the heat of the combat. Even Paul, as he was soon to learn, would attain union with this perpetual Redeemer only at the cost of great sufferings and at the risk of his life.

            Did Jesus speak to Paul only from within His brethren? Or did He also manifest Himself to Paul interiorly, at the same time that He appeared to Saul in the Church, or shortly after? The account of the conversion as given in the Epistle to the Galatians would seem to suggest as much:

              Ye have hard of my former life in Judaism---how that I persecuted the Church of God exceedingly and ravaged it, and in Judaism went beyond many of my age from among my people in my earnest zeal for the traditions of my fathers. But when He who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called my by His grace was pleased to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the gentiles, at once without taking counsel with flesh and blood, etc…. (15)

            “God was pleased”, says St. Paul, “to reveal His Son in me” (en emoi). What does he mean? We gather from the context that Paul’s primary object is to prove that he has received a personal manifestation of the Risen Christ, that therefore he is as much an Apostle as the others, and like them appointed to preach the Gospel. The emphasis is upon the word reveal. But, says the Epistle, this revelation took place in Paul (en emoi). Does this mean merely that Paul had truly received the message and understood it, that he was preaching it correctly to the Christians, and that the latter could learn it by listening to his words? Or is the Apostle endeavoring to show that the light was interior as well; that Christ, who had manifested Himself to him in the Church, had likewise shed His light within Paul’s soul, to help him grasp the meaning of the external vision, and to give him strength and courage to make it known? To tell the truth, we cannot decide the question; the passage is too brief, and the context too indefinite. But if we consider the natural meaning of the words, and reflect upon the similar and very clear text that follows shortly after: “I is no longer I that live, but Christ that liveth in me” (en emoi) (16), and if we recall how often Paul refers to the interior presence of Christ in the soul, it seems highly probable that the Apostle is here speaking of a vision whose object was interior, and assuring us that at that moment he recognized Christ within himself.

            Was this occasion the same as that of the external vision, or did it occur shortly after---at his baptism, perhaps---or must it be put at a later date among the other visions with which Paul was favored? This question, too, must be left unanswered. In any event, as we shall see, Paul speaks of baptism as an entrance into the Mystical Christ, and his conviction of the Saviour’s presence within him can be found in the earliest of his epistles.

            Let us return now to the road to Damascus. The sudden apparition of the Saviour has not yet yielded quite all the instruction that it contains for us. The vision, we saw, was objective, with a compelling, almost brutal objectivity. Paul surrenders, and, in a burst of light, Christ takes possession of his soul. To compensate for the loss of his bodily eyes, the Apostle has gained other eyes, to see Christ united with the Church.

            Immediately the dialogue continues. In Paul’s own words,

             I said, “What am I to do, Lord?”

              And the Lord said to me, “Arise and go into Damascus, and there thou shalt be told about all things which are appointed for thee to do.” (17)

           There is still the same swift brevity, the same sharpness of detail, and there is still the same substitution. Thus far, Christ had revealed Himself in His brethren. It is I, He says, who am persecuted when they are persecuted. Now, however, He effaces Himself, and where He was, the Church appears, to speak in His name. It is she who will tell Paul, not what she thinks and what she wills, but who that Christ is who has just appeared, and what she is in Him. There is, as it were, a twofold and mutual interiority: so truly do the Bridegroom and the Bride possess all things in common, that in the Church the future Apostle beholds Christ, and in the voice of the Church, he hears Christ.

Who knows whether this consideration may not lead to a complete explanation of one of the peculiarities in the various accounts of Paul’s conversion? The third time that the books of the Acts narrates the apparition, it places on Christ’s lips words which elsewhere are attributed to Ananias. A mere oratorical simplification, some may think; in the presence of Agrippa and Bernice, who are led to listen through curiosity, Paul does not wish to overburden his discourse. This may no doubt have been the reason, but perhaps, too, it may be due to the mysterious profoundness of the Scriptures, and an implicit lesson given by the inspired author. In the eyes of Paul, and in very truth, what the Church says through her minister is also, and truly, what Christ Himself, the Mystical Christ, says.

            The Head and the members are one; therefore, since he has been conquered by the Saviour, the Apostle of the nations now belongs to the Christians.

            “Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute Me?” The words remain ever engraved in his memory. Willingly does he repeat the story of his conversion. In the several accounts, as it happens, the details may vary; but the central point always remains unchanged. Everything turns upon Christ’s words, and each time these are reproduced without change: “Saoul, Saoul, why dost thou persecute Me?” The Saviour, that day, had aimed at his heart, and the shaft remained.

            “Saoul.” It has been remarked that everywhere else the Acts of the Apostles say “Saul.” But here, Paul’s name is given its Aramaic form. Jesus had addressed Paul directly, in the language that was the mother tongue of them both. And Saul never forgot the voice of the Shepherd who calleth His sheep by name.

1)      Acts 28: 23, 31.

2)     Acts 1:5, 8.

3)     Luke 24: 49.

4)     Acts 1:1.

5)     Luke 1:35.

6)     Acts 2: 1-4.

7)     Acts 1:5.

8)    Luke 4:1, D.V.

9)     Acts 15:28.

10) Acts 3: 6; 9:34.

11) Méditations sur l’Evangile, la cène, I, 88.

12) Acts 7: 54ff.

13) Acts 7: 59, 60.

14) Acts 9: 4, 5; cf. 22, 3ff; 26: 9ff.

15) Gal. 1: 13-17.

16) Gal. 2: 20.

17) Acts 9: 6.

Chapter IV

St. Paul---1. The Mystical Christ in Paul’s Preaching

I

            All that we have thus far seen, rich in instruction though it be, is as yet only an introduction. We saw in the Old Testament that God was preparing a union of all men in Himself; the Synoptics showed Christ founding the Kingdom in order to effect that union; in the Acts we learned that the Kingdom was being set up on earth, and that the union thus established is to endure to the end of time. But as to the intimate nature of this union and of this Kingdom, God has until now spoken only in very summary fashion.

            This He tells us in the Epistles of St. Paul, and, in a somewhat different way, in the writings of St. John.

We shall first consider the Epistles of St. Paul (1). They are not something entirely new in the doctrine of the Mystical Body; they are simply its continuation. We have just seen, in studying the Acts, that Paul had received the revelation of Christ living in the Church. Now he transmits this revelation to the Church.

            Many were the visions granted to the Apostle, but he speaks of them merely in passing. The single exception is Christ’s appearance on the road to Damascus; this he describes repeatedly, and in great detail. Indeed, it is this vision that furnishes the true explanation of his work and of his writings. Whether he refers to it explicitly or whether he is speaking merely of revelation in general, he seems always to be thinking of this one when he wishes to explain his knowledge of Christ.

It was this vision that made him an Apostle, an official witness of the risen and living Christ; it gave him his message, with the peculiarities it presents; it is always at the heart of his preaching, so that it may be called the whole of his preaching. In his instructions as well as in his controversies the Apostle is simply paraphrasing Christ’s own words: “ I am Jesus, whom thou dost persecute.” (2) As he was called to the apostolate by a manifestation of the Mystical Christ, so he becomes the Apostle of this Mystical Christ.

II

            His doctrine is the same as that of the other Apostles; he was schooled in the usual catechesis, having learned the truths of Christianity from one of the most respected Christians of Damascus. He himself tells us that he was in perfect agreement with the Twelve, whom he calls the pillars of the Church.

            Like the Christ of the Gospels, his Christ is a truly living personality, not a hazy abstraction; He is positively and unquestionably real; He speaks with authority, and conquers his man with a mere word. He is a real being of flesh and blood. His life was passed on this earth, like our own. Paul is familiar with the events of that life, and dwells untiringly on the Passion and the Cross.

            And Christ’s Passion is no mere speculative truth. In it Paul senses an ardent love that is seeking him out personally. “He loved me, and He delivered Himself for me.” (3) And the heart of the Apostle is transpierced by those loving eyes that are fixed upon his soul; henceforth a most personal attachment exists between Paul and the One “who has loved him” (4), as he calls Jesus.

            To “this Man”, to this Man-God whose ardent affection and ineffable goodness he has come to know, Paul has vowed a violent love. He loves Him with all the stubbornness and all the exclusiveness that characterizes his whole nature. He serves this Master above and against all others. He never ceases to think of Him, to speak of Him; he is pursued, obsessed, by His name. He quotes Jesus, repeats His words, in season and out of season, for though his heart be brimming over with Christ, yet he cannot sate his hunger. His is an “ecstatic love”, says Cornelius à Lapide, “a love that snatches and carries Paul out of himself, and into the object of his love.” (5)

III. Part One

            We must go even further. There is more here than a preference, more than an obsession. It is a presence. Not only is Paul in love with Christ; he possesses Christ. His Christ is not simply a man who has died and happens to find himself alive again; He is a Man who gives life to all other men.

            This doctrine of the Mystical Christ takes on an entirely new emphasis in the Apostle’s writings; it gives his Epistles their individuality, and we may say with St. John Chrysostom that in all his writings, Paul is intent upon one thing: to show the faithful that they possess all things in common with Christ. Paul’s teaching, “Paulinism”, is frequently summed up in a series of theses, or better, of oppositions: the Gospel as opposed to Judaism, grace as opposed to sin, and finally our justification as opposed to any previous merit on our part. Now, the objection may be raised that not one of these oppositions speaks, explicitly at any rate, of the Mystical Body.

            This is certainly true, as long as we view them from the exterior only. But let us reflect a moment. Their very structure testifies that under this form they are merely incidental. Had it not been for human pride and the machinations of the Judaizers, Paul would never have adopted an attitude of defense in his teaching. The controversy that he takes up betrays an ardent love, not for the adversaries whom he attacks, but for the truth he is defending. And this truth is precisely our incorporation in Christ.

            If the Gospel is greater than the Law, it is because it alone gives us true life, in Christ; if grace is contrasted with sin, it is because it alone frees us from all baseness and all iniquity by renewing us in the Saviour; finally, if justification precludes all previous merit, it is because it makes us members of the Incarnate Son, and because no effort of our own can make us worthy of a life so sublime. Thus, it is always the same error that Paul is combating on every side and under varied forms, and his refutation in each instance is an act of faith and love in the new life that is given us in Christ.

True, Paul defends this one doctrine with virulence; but this very virulence, in its own way, renders testimony to the same truth. Each figure of dualism, of opposition, of struggle, to which the Apostle has recourse, is certainly a reflection of his ardent temperament and of the contradictions that harass him. But do they not likewise remind one of Paul’s own combat, of that first combat which made him an Apostle? On the road to Damascus---for thither we must ever return---the Gospel rose up before him, so to speak, and struck down the man of the Law; the light of grace burst upon his soul and put to rout sin and its allies; and Paul was inundated by a love that all too plainly excluded the very thought of pre-existing merit. In this dramatic conversion lies the seed of all of Paulinism, controversial as well as positive. For both to grow, all that is needed is that contradictors appear and that Paul’s life continue.

            Hence let us leave aside the outer shell of controversy, and take a closer view of the fruit within. The doctrine of our incorporation in Christ is at the heart of Paul’s teaching. It appears everywhere, even in letters to very recent converts; it is repeated at every instant, with a superabundance of comparisons and forms of expression. It is used in the explanation of many points of Christian doctrine as well as for the inculcation of moral precepts. Like a living seed, its roots have penetrated the Apostle’s entire thought, gathering grouping everything together. As Bossuet declares, “Whoever would delete the passages in which Paul proposes this doctrine, would not only weaken his invincible arguments, but would even suppress the greater part of his divine Epistles.” (6)

III. Part Two

            The Apostle himself takes care to point out the position which the doctrine holds in his teaching. It is around it that he makes his synthesis, by incomplete efforts at first, but later in a full development.

            We shall begin with uncertain attempts. However, in order to appreciate their significance, we must keep the final result in mind. This we shall briefly indicate at present, and return to it when the chronological order of the Epistles brings it up again later on. We find the complete expression in the exposition of the “mystery”, which is the object of the Christological Epistles. Let us consider, for example, a few verses of the Epistle to the Ephesians.

              I, Paul, prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you the gentiles…for ye

have surely heard of the gracious commission of God given me in your regard, how by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I have written in brief above. By reading that ye can perceive my insight into this mystery of Christ, which was not made known to other generations of the sons of men, as now it hath been made known to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit---that in Christ Jesus through the gospel the gentiles are coheirs and concorporate and comparticipant in the promise.

 Of that gospel I was made minister by the free grace of God, given me by the operation of His power. Unto me, the least of all saints, hath been given this same grace, to preach to the gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make clear what is the dispensation touching the mystery which from ages hath been hidden in God the Creator of all. (7)

            The passage will suffice; besides, it is supported by the entire series of the Epistles of the captivity. It tells us that all of Paul’s preaching is summed up in the “mystery”, and that this mystery consists in the incorporation into Christ of the pagans as well as of the Jews. According to Père Prat, the “mystery” is the plan conceived by God from all eternity, but revealed only in the Gospel, to save all men without distinction of race by identifying them all with His well-beloved Son in the unity of the Mystical Body. (8) All men without exception are called in Christ Jesus to be saints, and this divine bounty, this grace, this mystery, expresses at once all that Paul teaches and all that constitutes our justice; it is Paul’s entire Gospel, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

            Nor is this mystery, as presented in the Epistles of the captivity, the abrupt manifestation of something whose existence was until then unsuspected. Paul was certain, enthusiastically certain, of the truth from the beginning of his ministry. But discussions with alarmists who saw the end of the world at hand, controversies with zealots of the Law, and all the opposition that met him at every turn during the early years of his preaching, left him neither time nor leisure to prepare a complete, systematic treatment of the subject. Moreover, as yet he did not have at his command the words, images, and comparisons with which to express it; he had not as yet been able to organize his thoughts, and it may be that he had not yet considered giving a full and complete exposition. Such a systematic development presupposes a long psychological and logical labor of preparation, and God is not wont to do this work for men, even in the case of the inspired writers whom He has chosen to announce His message. This is the work that He uses as His instrument; it is this He initiates, directs, assists, and ratifies in the Scriptures. Hence, as a general rule, He would scarcely begin by suppressing it.

            Nor is it necessary that the human author of the sacred text be fully conscious of this labor. Through the instrumentality of man, God produces greater effects than man is aware of. When truth, particularly divine truth, is once received in the human heart, it lives and develops by its own powers, with the energy it has from God; and God watches over His truth far more jealously than does the man who has received it.

            Now, what the author does not necessarily perceive in an explicit way in his own mind, will not find expression in his book in a manner that is immediately perceptible either. Hence this psychological and divinely directed development of the revealed truth may appear, not in the form of clear statements, but rather by way of indications or certain series of indications that only a careful scrutiny will bring to light. It is like an underground stream that flows unseen, and whose existence would never be suspected, except than an occasional resurgence, the dampness of the soil and the abundance of vegetation betrays its presence.

            Such, it seems to us, is the expression of the mystery in the early Epistles. One would think it absent, but it is in process of formation. A more careful investigation detects traces of it in a few isolated phrases, or even in a series of connected ideas. These traces, it is true, are scarcely visible, and at times may prove a source of annoyance to the commentator, if he fails to see what they are leading to; but they become eloquent, when they are interpreted in the light of the finished formula.

No one can deny that alongside the general theme of a work there also exist secondary themes. Pure, dry unity or dull monotony can exist only where rhetoric is misunderstood. The real man has a soul; he thinks with all that soul, and if he is eloquent, he expresses himself with all his soul. All his memories, all his reflections, all his interests, in a word, his entire being reacts as a unit when he is deeply moved. There is unity of direction and of inspiration, but accompanying this is a full, rich harmony, the response of an unsuspected multitude of sympathetic reactions that modify the whole, yet blend into a single state of soul. Such is the secret, the incommunicable secret of living eloquence. It is in this that the profuse beauty of Paul’s Epistles consists; when he speaks of Jesus, the whole man struggles for expression, and particularly what is deepest in his heart and least capable of expression. Who can analyze the ardor of this soul, all intent upon the pursuit of a single object? Certainly the Apostle makes no effort to do so; he thinks neither of a synoptic plan nor of desirable pruning. One thought leads to similar thoughts; at times a series of related ideas is introduced by way of digression from the principal theme. But the whole is a perfect unit, for it is the voice of a single soul, completely filled with a single love.

Why should God not make use of all this in speaking to us? He is the sole principal author of the Scriptures; He alone can speak to us in this fashion. If all this is found in the Scriptures, God has willed it so, although the human author may not have adverted to its presence. It is all inspired, and as such it should be carefully studied. The task of assembling these indications is an important one, for they permit us to touch the very chords that vibrated in the heart of Paul when he spoke of Jesus, and they give us an inkling of the discreet and gentle manner in which God enlightened the mind of His Apostle. But it is likewise a delicate task, for the indications we must seek are imponderable; it would even be impossible, if the author himself had not marked the path, and if his later writings did not point out the direction that his thoughts had taken from the beginning.

            This is the task we wish to perform here; we wish to see how, under God’s inspiration, Paul makes the doctrine of the “mystery” the central theme of his preaching.

III. Part Three

            The first passage to be noted is an isolated but very early verse, hidden away in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians. The author places it among the moral counsels which unusually make up the second part of his letters. Here, it seems rather out of place, but it takes on real meaning when compared with the Epistle to the Ephesians.

              Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,

  In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will toward you in Jesus Christ.

  Quench not the Spirit, spurn not the prophesyings; but test all things, hold fast the good, keep yourselves from every form of evil.

May the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved whole without blame against the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (9)

            The verse to be singled out is the act of thanksgiving because of God’s will in our regard in Jesus Christ. Not that the passage is not a moral counsel; it is one. But when it is compared with other texts, it also becomes a statement of the “mystery”. It is incomplete, of course, and somewhat confusing, because of its presence in a different development; but it breaks the continuity of the whole by a kind of distinct personality. It is more vague than the rest; it is crowded into a reference to the Trinity: God, Jesus, the Spirit; it is accompanied by a blessing; it seems to sum up the whole economy of salvation, and to give us, by itself, the reason for joy without end.

            Next, we shall take an example of a series of thoughts parallel to the principal theme and connected by the idea of the “mystery”. It is to be found in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, written four or five years later than the text we have just read. Here we see a more precise expression of the ineffable reality.

            We know under what circumstances the letter was written. Paul was in Asia Minor when he learned that the Church of Corinth, which he had founded a short time previously, was in a ferment of discord. The neophytes had been visited by Apollo, and, it would appear, by certain Jewish Christians as well. Upon contact with these men, the flock soon began to divide into opposing factions. One of these claimed the eloquent philosopher Apollo for its head, and made wisdom its boast. Another party, probably organized by some of the Jewish Christians, took the name of Cephas. Others, who remained more or less faithful to the Apostle Paul, swore by his name. Finally, a fourth group, more presumptuous or more fanatical than the rest, called themselves Christ’s. Further division had been caused by disputes over moral problems and ritual observances. Such was the turbulent community to which the Apostle addresses his letter.

            For our immediate subject, we need consider one only of these many circumstances. It appears that one or more of the troublesome factions at Corinth laid claim to a deeper, more philosophical view of Christianity than was Paul’s. At all events, the Apostle’s Gospel was too banal and too simple for the taste of certain “intellectuals”.

This criticism did not leave the Saint indifferent. He could not let it be said that his preaching, the authentic Christianity, was a doctrine lacking in depth. It, too, has its wisdom, a sublime wisdom, as he is going to prove. Among the many cares that occupied Paul’s mind at the thought of Corinth, there is one that has a special interest for us. This is his anxiety to bring out all the hidden meaning, the wondrous “mystery” of the Gospel.

            Furthermore, Paul shows that the mystery is a marvel of unity. All this wrangling has impaired the harmony of the Christian community. They who set up factions after the manner of men do not understand that they are all one in Christ. Therefore, in opposition to their narrow exclusivism Paul explains the wonderful mystery of unity.

Let us read the Epistle; one sees at once what is uppermost in Paul’s mind, for the opening verses are full of it.

I give thanks at all times for you (cf. Eph. 1: 3, 16), because of the grace of God (Eph. 1: 6, 7) bestowed on you in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1: 6; 2: 13), by reason that in Him you have been enriched in everything (Eph. 1: 7, 8) in all utterance and all knowledge (Eph. 1: 3, 8)…God is trustworthy, through whom you have been called (Eph. 1: 3, 4, 5) into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (Eph. 1: passim). (10)

            The resemblance between this passage and the Epistle to the Ephesians is quite evident. We have indicated, in parentheses, those phrases of the first chapter of that Epistle which bear such a resemblance. The parallels are numerous; both texts are acts of thanksgiving to God, and both present the same explanation of the election of the faithful in Christ.

            But Paul does not pursue the exposition of the mystery further. Distracted by the thought of the divisions in the Corinthian Church, he begins vigorously to reprimand the factious members. He preaches unity, but is not that the same as preaching the mystery? The rebuke then leads to the declaration that he is sent, not to baptize, but to preach---and not to preach the speech of “wisdom”, but the “folly” of the Crucified. The mention of “wisdom” reminds him of the reproaches that have been made against his Gospel, and immediately he is intent upon showing its sublimity. It does appear to be folly, he explains; and such it is, for the world. But in God’s eyes it is wisdom, a wisdom too ineffable to be understood by worldlings. Indeed, he continues, the doctrine that he preaches by God’s command is something inconceivable: God has chosen all of us in Christ, that we may behold in Christ by participation in the holiness of Christ.

The base things of the world, aye, the things that are despised, the things that are not, God hath chosen, so as to bring to naught the things that are, lest any flesh should vaunt itself in the face of God.

It is from Him (Eph. 1: 3 sq.) that you have your being in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1: 3, 4, 6 sq.), in that He hath become to us wisdom God-imparted (Eph. 1: 8), yea, and justness (Eph. 1: 5) and sanctification (Eph. 1: 4) and redemption (Eph. 1: 4, 7, 14).(11)

            The last verse resembles the opening lines of the Epistle. Both passages contain a résumé of the mystery as it is later described to the Ephesians. Here again we have indicated the many points of resemblance that exist between the present text and the first chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians. We have before us a brief exposition of the “mystery”; only the name is wanting.

            And the name itself appears a few verses further on. There is still question of “wisdom”; Paul is still repeating that his preaching is wisdom. But, he adds, he does not share this wisdom with everyone who comes. It is an instruction reserved to the perfect; it consists in a “mystery”, formerly hidden, but now revealed by the Spirit. And it concerns an eternal predestination of God, choosing us for glory:

Yet among the {spiritually} mature, we do speak of a wisdom, a wisdom, indeed, not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are tottering to their fall. Rather, we speak of the wisdom of God {embodied} in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God devised before the ages unto our glory. (12)

            The similarity of this passage with the two preceding texts is visible, and its resemblance to the Epistle to the Ephesians is unmistakable. A mystery hidden, then revealed, bearing upon our glorification, and upon the ineffable sanctification that God effects within us: all these points are a preparation for the Epistle to the Ephesians.

            This wisdom, continues Paul, is understood only by those who have “the sense”, the spirit, of Christ. (13) Others, and particularly fomenters of discord, can comprehend nought of it. Then, absorbed once more by the thought of factions and disunion, the Apostle returns to the subject of union, and then passes to other moral counsels. From this point forward, he loses sight of the mystery. It does not return again in the course of the Epistle, except in a few scattered verses.

            However, from the indications we have gathered, we can see that the thought is becoming organized in his mind. The psychological process, we repeat, is directed by the Holy Ghost, who thus prepares His messenger. And since these indications are in a canonical book, they, like the rest of Scripture, are inspired, but only as indications.

            Nor does the Spirit allow this process to cease. Soon the references to the “mystery” reappear, more complete than before. Paul is no longer content to mention it in passing or to leave it implicit in a series of related developments; now it receives a brief exposition of its own which, as may be seen in the Epistle to the Romans, written about a year later, appears to form a unity by itself.

            As a matter of fact, several passages of the Epistle deserve to be quoted because of their resemblance to the general tone and doctrine of the Epistle to the Ephesians. Thus, as soon as Paul begins to develop the general topic of his entire letter, justification, he refers to the latter as the “mystery”.

But now the justness of God hath been manifested quite apart from the Law, though witnessed to by the Law and the prophets---the justness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believe. There is no distinction; all have sinned, and need the glory of God. By His grace they are justified freely, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth a propitiation by His blood, to have effect through faith, unto the showing forth of His justness. For through the patience of God the sins of times gone by are to be passed over, unto the showing forth of His justness at the present time---just Himself, He will also justify him that is of faith in Jesus. (14)

The thought of redemption in Christ (cf. Eph. 1: 3, 4, 5, 6), by His blood (1: 7), the idea of election (1: 4), of glory (1: 6, 12, 14), of purification and justness (1: 4, 7), of redemption foretold in ancient times (1: 4), and now revealed (1: 13, 14, 16), the idea especially of the universal vocation of pagans and of Jews in Christ (passim), in fine, all the thoughts of the passage are elements that together constitute the “mystery”.

The same mystery receives emphatic mention elsewhere in the same letter, as in certain passages of the sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters. We shall cite a few that figure prominently: Each one is either the conclusion or the beginning of a development, and they sum up brief expositions of doctrine.

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God life everlasting in Christ Jesus our Lord. (15)

There is now no condemnation, therefore, for those in Christ Jesus. (16)

{Nothing} shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (17)

            But the characteristic passage is the last conclusion of the letter---for it has several conclusions, as if the Apostle could not make up his mind to break off. At last he seems to have remembered what he still had to say, and takes pen in hand to trace at the foot of the Epistle the few autograph lines that served as signature. In these he sums up what he has dictated, just as the Epistle itself sums up the doctrine of the Great Epistles. And this résumé is an exposition of the “mystery”.

  Now to Him who is able (Eph. 1: 5, 8) to establish you (1 Cor. 1: 6) in accordance with His revelation (1 Cor. 1: 7; Eph. 1: 9 and passim) of that mystery (1 Cor. 2: 6; Eph. passim), which in ages past was kept secret (1 Cor. 2: 7; Eph. passim), but hath now been made manifest, and through the writings of the prophets hath by command of the everlasting God been made known to all the nations (Eph. passim), unto obedience of faith---to the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen. (18)

In this passage we have noted in parentheses the references that indicate its place in the development of the doctrine. It both sums up the explanation of the mystery given in the rest of the Epistle, and introduces the Epistle to the Ephesians. It seems like a tiny sprout, ready to leave the grain, and grow.

            And it has ample time to grow. Here intervene the four or five years of St. Paul’s life that are related in the closing chapters of the Acts. They were eventful years, marked by riots, plots and intrigues. The Apostle, imprisoned and interrogated, several times narrowly escaping death, passed from prison to prison while waiting to be sent to the tribunal of Caesar. His imprisonment, however, was often mild enough; he was treated with consideration, and so this troublous period could be a time for reflection. It was to end at Rome, where for two years Paul lived in a rented house, under guard, but free to preach the Gospel as much as he pleased. After the stormy times through which he had passed, this was at least a comparative peace; he now had an opportunity to put in writing the fruits of his reflections and the message which the Spirit wished to reveal through him.

            This message we possess in the Epistles of the captivity. Their formulas are so enlightening that we have already been led to quote two long passages from them. The reader will allow us to repeat a few verses of a passage to which we have already referred. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul here develops his doctrine in a song of gladness. Thus had Jesus been wont to speak of the wonders that God had so long kept hidden from the proud, but now permitted the little ones to see; for such was His good pleasure.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing on high in Christ….

In Him we have redemption through His blood,

  the forgiveness of our transgressions,

  according to the riches of His grace.

For God hath given us abundance thereof,

  together with full wisdom and discernment,

  in that He hath made known to us

  the secret of His purpose according to His good pleasure.

It was the purpose of His good pleasure in Him---

  a dispensation to be realized in the fullness of time---

  to bring all things to a head in Christ,

  both the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth. (19)

            The following chapters will enable us to make a detailed study of this merciful design and of this union of all things in Jesus Christ. At present let us note merely how joyously and how emphatically Paul declares that this incorporation is at once the eternal plan of God and the epitome of his entire Gospel. For a long time, perhaps, the Apostle has been seeking for this expression of the mystery. Even with the assistance of grace, the search was not easy. Now he has found it, and his soul is filled with gladness and understanding.

            The whole of Christianity unfolds before his eyes, and he sees that everything points to Christ: there is only Christ, who mystically embraces in Himself all the faithful, and all their grace, and all their knowledge, and all their hope.

            It is true that Paul introduces a certain number of juridical terms into these considerations. Christ has paid our ransom; God considers Him as answering for us all; juridically, He sees us all in Christ, and, in Him, He pardons us all. But this is not all; mere legal fictions alone cannot account for the decisions of the God of truth. Nor does Paul stop here. When he wishes to show the ultimate reason for these merciful substitutions and for these inclusions of grace, he returns to the mystery, to Christ, who is all in all. Truly and mysteriously, Christ contains us all. Now everything becomes clear: this is the reason why, in Him, we cease to be sinners, and why, in Him, we become pleasing to God.

IV.

            This the Apostle expresses more clearly than anyone had done before him; or rather, God expresses it more clearly by means of the Apostle. Here, then, there has been a development in the Christian teaching concerning the Mystical Body. Very naturally the question arises: How is this development to be explained?

Of the various schools of philosophy that flourished at the time when the doctrine of the Mystical Body made its appearance in the Greco-Roman world, there are two which on first sight at least bear a certain resemblance to that doctrine. The first is the school of the Stoics, who described the world as a single living being, a kind of immense body consisting of men as its members. The second is the Platonist school, which likewise considered the world as a single organism possessed of a soul and a life of its own, adding however that the true reality, the foundation of the universe, is a world of Ideas, a world of intelligible unities.

            It is quite possible that these speculative developments concerning natural unity may have been of some assistance in the process of conceiving and of expressing the supernatural unity of men, and that they may at the same time have impeded the process by threatening to falsify the true concept of that unity. It is certain, for instance, that those Fathers of the Church who were Platonists have spoken more forcefully than others of the unity of men in Christ. The supernatural order, which concerns the destiny of revelation as well as the sanctification of souls, is not simply superimposed upon the natural order; it takes the natural order, and adapts its elements to its own purposes.

            Historical criticism, particularly of the Rationalist variety, has tried very hard to connect Paul’s doctrine with Stoic philosophy. For, according to Harnack, it is Paul, and Paul’s teaching on incorporation in Christ, that constitutes the great problem. As a matter of fact, the critics have looked everywhere: they speak of the infiltration of mystery cults, of the influence of a certain religious syncretism, consisting of diverse and little known elements which were gaining favor among the masses at that particular period. And now we have Freud, to explain everything by psychoanalysis!

            Unquestionably natural factors may have exerted a certain general influence on the progress of the doctrine; in His work God deigns to make use of everything that it human. Why should He reject human philosophies?

            In the present instance, however, we are left completely in the dark. The resemblance become much less striking when they are studied at close range, and Paul never refers to any such sources. On the contrary, first as a fanatical Pharisee, and afterwards as a thoroughgoing Christian, he shuns the wisdom of the world, which  he considers a dangerous thing. When he indicates his sources---and he does indicate them---he speaks of something entirely different: his visions and the inspired Books of the Old Testament.

What he preaches is the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom promised to Israel and brought by Jesus, the ancient alliance, of which the patriarchs and even the whole Law were a figure, and which has now been revealed. According to Paul, the Gospel has sprung from the ancient Jewish root, and the Mystical Body is the true seed of Abraham.

            The only new factor is that he, Paul, has received a fuller understanding of the ancient promises and of their fulfillment in Christ. He neither assigns nor suspects any other cause of the doctrinal progress which is being effected through him. Nor shall we search further.

            One final question remains. Is this doctrinal progress, of which Paul is the instrument, also taking place within Paul himself? Did he learn all this and understand all this at once, or did he come gradually to his knowledge of Jesus?

            To answer this question is impossible. Despite the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles, we have too few documents. At times there does appear to be a development of thought on certain points, or at least one of expression. We have just noted an example of this in the wording of the “mystery”, and we shall have occasion to point out others later on. But that is all.

            Hence, in the chapters that follow, we shall confine ourselves to the logical order of ideas. However, we shall call attention to any signs of chronological development that may appear.

1)      Chronological order of St. Paul’s Epistles: 1. The two Epistles to the Thessalonians; 2. The “Great Epistles”---1, 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Romans; 3. The “Epistles of the Captivity”---Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians; 4. The Epistle to the Hebrews and the Pastoral Epistles. The Epistle to the Ephesians and to the Colossians are often called the “Christological Epistles”, since in them the author is more particularly concerned with the divinity of Christ.

2)     Acts 9: 5.

3)     Gal. 2: 20.

4)     1 Tim. 2: 5.

5)     In Act. Apost., 27. Opera, Vol. 10 (Antwerp, 1662), p. 16.

6)     Sermon 1 pour le samedi saint, in Oeuvres oratoires, Vol. 1 (Paris, 1914), p. 106.

7)     Eph. 3: 1-9.

8)    Prat, La Théologie de Saint Paul, vol. 1, 15^th edition (Paris, 1927), p. 369.

9)     1 Thess. 5: 18-23.

10) 1 Cor. 1: 4, 5, 9.

11) 1 Cor. 1: 28-30.

12) 1 Cor. 2: 6, 7.

13) 1 Cor. 2: 16.

14) Rom. 3: 21-26.

15) Rom. 6: 23.

16) Rom. 8: 1.

17) Rom. 8: 39.

18) Rom. 16: 25-27.

19) Eph. 1: 3, 7-10.

Chapter V

St. Paul---2. Christ in Us, We in Christ

            We must now examine in greater detail the nature of the mystery which Paul is proclaiming. The first thing he says of it, is that it consists in a certain presence of Christ within us, and of ourselves in Christ. The expression appears in the opening line of his first Epistle:

              Paul and Silvanus and Timothy,

  To the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord

Jesus Christ:

  Grace to you and peace. (1)

Even thus early, the phrase presents its full meaning, as may be seen from a comparison with the headings of the other Epistles. There is question of a certain mystical inclusion of the Church in Christ. The expression remains a favorite with Paul to the last, and at the time of the Christological Epistles, it becomes dearer still. In these, he declares that it sums up his thought, and that the mystery which is his whole Gospel, is simply Christ in us.

            Paul speaks of this interior treasure in every possible way. First, he himself is convinced of Christ’s presence in his soul. What matter if his strength declines and his forces are spent? Christ is within him, and strengthens him in Himself. Christ is in his preaching, to give it His truth; He is in his words, to give them His authority; in his decisions, to give them efficacy; in his soul, to continue there His Passion; in his heart, to love the faithful. Paul loves his neophytes, as God will testify, in the heart of Jesus Christ. So, when they receive Paul, it is Christ that they receive; and to imitate Paul is to imitate the Lord.

            Paul, as it were, has given place to Christ within him. Since God has manifested Christ in his soul, Paul himself has passed to the background. He still lives, it is true; but no! It is no longer he that lives, but Christ that lives in Him. Christ is in him, like a new soul, and, whether Paul preaches or prays or suffers, it is not so much he who does these things, as Christ who does them in Paul.

            Like Paul, the faithful too possess Christ within them. Paul sees them as temples in which Christ dwells. Since that day, when he saw Christ in the Church which he was persecuting, it seems that he can no longer look into the eyes of a Christian without meeting there the gaze of Christ.

            This he repeats to his converts. By faith, they possess the Lord who abides in their hearts. Christ works in them, acts in them, and lives in them and whosever sins against them sins against Christ. If Paul spends himself day and night for their souls, it is that he may see Christ grow in them. They have within them the spirit of Christ, the wisdom of Christ, the peace of Christ, and they must needs be total strangers to themselves, not to know that they have Christ in their hearts:

Make trial of your own selves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves Or is it that ye know not yourselves---even that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed ye be reprobate! (2)

            Outwardly perhaps, Christians may have no distinguishing mark, yet they bear within their souls a mystery of greatness.

            Christ is in His own, and this indwelling, like love, is mutual. They too are in Christ. While the phrase “Christ in us” is frequent in St. Paul, the expression “in Christ”, that corresponds to it, is more frequent still.

            En Christo: “in Christ”. St. Paul repeats the formula over and over again, one hundred sixty-four times in the few of his writings that have come down to us. In certain passages, he reiterates it unceasingly. The expression must have been upon his lips at every moment, as was the precept of love on the lips of John. Hearing him speak thus, Paul’s disciples must have learned the habit from him, as a passage from the Epistle to the Romans seems to indicate.

            The letter ends, like many others, with a series of salutations. Paul and the disciples who are with him greet the brethren they know at Rome. We can readily picture the scene. The Apostle has just finished dictating; about him Timothy, and Lucius, and Sosipater, and the others with him at Corinth, claim their place at the end of the letter, to send their fraternal greeting. Tertius, the secretary, writes from dictation:

Greet ye Prisca and Aquila, my fellow-workers in Christ Jesus….Greet ye Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord….Greet ye Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord….

Timothy my fellow-worker greeteth you, and Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen. (3)

            The disciples have given their message. And, while the Apostle is endeavoring to recall whether there is anyone else to name, Tertius quickly slips in his own greeting:

              I, Tertius, who have written this epistle, greet you in the Lord. (4)

            It is not a long salutation, and the dictation is immediately resumed. But the few words of this Christian of the first generation have a special significance. He has spoken like the Apostle: “I greet you”, he says, “in Christ”.

            Not only is the phrase “in Christ” of frequent occurrence under Paul’s pen, but it is employed in a great variety of contexts. The whole Church, he declares, is in Christ, and the individual churches are also in Christ. Like the Church, the faithful, too, are in Christ. They live in Him; they are holy in Him; in Him they have their virtues, their qualities, their functions, their sorrows, their joys, their glory. Their ways are in Christ, in the strength and grace that are given in Him; in the fact, hope, and charity that are in Him, they advance to the salvation, redemption, and vivification that are in Him. For them, all is in Him, and whether they are being born, or whether they live, or whether they labor, or whether they die, they may say with St. Augustine, “ab uno eodemque Christo non recedimus: we remain always in Christ.” (5)

II

            The faithful, therefore, are in Christ. But what does Paul mean by this expression? The Apostle does not always employ the term in the same sense. In some passages it seems to signify no more than “Christian”, or, “in a Christian way”. Thus, at the end of his letters, when Paul speaks of his fellow-workers in the Lord, of Apelles, “approved in Christ”, and of Rufus, “elect in Christ”, we should render his thought accurately if we are to consider the expression, “in Christ”, as equivalent to the adjective “Christian”, which is missing from his vocabulary.

            In a number of other places, the phrase has not a definite, fixed meaning. It is used to convey the idea that Christ is the cause, the mediator, the intercessor, the exemplar of a grace; it signifies that the thing spoken of is in Christ as in its cause, its source, its prototype or intermediary, but does not explain how this thing is in Him. In these cases, the expression would be made more precise by some such paraphrase as: “like Christ”, “with Christ”, “through Christ”, “for Christ”, “because of Christ”. Some commentators have even adopted this method of explanation as a habit or principle. In their commentaries, they always replace the rather vague words, “in Christ”, by one or other of the clearer formulas we have just indicated. In this we see a laudable, but somewhat indiscreet eagerness to add clearness to the text.

            The danger is that in always substituting some other phrase for “in Christ”, one is apt to lose sight of the primitive and natural sense of the expression. For, in this formula, it is scarcely probable that “in” should never, or almost never mean “within”.

            In order to determine the exact sense, it seems best to consult first the passage in which the phrase most often occurs. Here, the Apostle seems particularly pleased with it, and besides, the multiplication of examples makes it easy to determine his meaning. Here we have the best chance of finding, in all their clearness and purity, the lessons that God gives us through His inspired author.

Our search need not be long; the expression is repeated at frequent intervals throughout the first chapter of the letter to the Ephesians, and its general meaning is very clear. As we have already remarked, the passage is a hymn in honor of the “mystery”, that is, in praise of God who unites us all in Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us…in Christ. Yea, in Him He singled us out before the foundation of the world…{by the} grace wherewith He hath made us gracious in the Well-beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our transgressions….It was the purpose of His good pleasure…to bring all things to a head in Christ….In Him we also have come to have our portion, having been predestined…as having been the first to hope in Christ. In Him are ye too, who have heard the word of truth, the glad tidings of your salvation. For ye have believed therein, and have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise. (6)

            In these lines the expression “in Christ”, or its equivalents, occur several times, and the meaning is obvious. There is question of a supernatural inclusion in the Saviour; all mankind, and even the whole universe, is summed up and included, as it were, in Him. Only in Him does God see and bless it. But God sees things as they are. Hence Paul means that by the operation of grace we are truly plunged, truly incorporated into Christ. This real and mystical inwardness is the full sense, the technical sense, so to speak, of the formula “in Christo”. (7)

            On the other hand, it does not always present this full meaning. Quite often, as we have said, it means merely “Christian”, or “in a Christian way”. But, as we should expect, the words retain something of their natural signification even here, and the sequence of ideas will always appear more clearly, if in