pleteness was that of disposition and purpose as these could be displayed within the limitations of his knowledge, on the one hand, and his social environment, on the other.

It was his, moreover, not to replace the sinning race by means of a new one, physically, as well as morally and spiritually, descended from himself. But by slowly lifting the sinning race itself, through intellectual enlightenment, the invigoration of the conscience and the clarifying of the spiritual vision, he was to lead it at last beyond every degrading, disabling and painful limitation into the fullness of its inheritance in God. is to say, the Holy Spirit as Life brought Jesus upon the scene as his final instrument in the realization of that completely holy end, which alone could make the plan of creation itself worthy and glorious.

That

VII

THE SINLESSNESS OF JESUS

In dealing with this theme one has first to say who Jesus was and is, then ask what it would be for such a person to be sinless, and, finally, to determine, if he can, whether Jesus was really sinless or not. In giving our answer to the first of these questions we may state an affirmation which comes to us from every side-He was a man. The New Testament writers lead the way here, telling us of his birth and infancy, his boyhood, his consecration to God, his temptations and distresses, his prayers to his divine Father, his human agony in Gethsemane and on the cross, and of his death and burial. While they most positively affirmed his resurrection from the dead and his ascension to glory, they still spoke of him as "Jesus of Nazareth, a man " "and how

God consecrated him his Christ by enduing him with the Holy Spirit and with power." (Acts 2: 23; 10: 38.) When Paul asserted the unity of God and the existence of one mediator between God and men, he declared that this mediator was "the man Christ Jesus." (1 Tim. 2: 25.) It is in these same New Testament writers, of course, that we find the doctrine of both his pre-existence

and persistence as the Son of God. But constantly and consistently they represent him as having become a man, and seem never to have been troubled by any feelings of perplexity in view of his complete humanness. They believed he had no independent authority, but received continuous authorization from his Father. He could not even perform his first miracle without a clear intimation that it would be well-timed. They taught also that his power to do deeds that were beyond the ability of others did not spring from within, but came upon him from without; and that he himself anticipated that these deeds would be exceeded by those of his followers. They even saw in his life the proof that apart from heavenly aid, incessantly given in answer to prayers that were sometimes associated "with earnest crying and with tears," he would have failed both in his mission and his personal career. And when his earthly task was ended and he was about to pass from their sight to the Father, they understood him to say that the enlarged authority then given him was strictly delegated authority, and would continue only until the Father had through his instrumentality, along with the mightier instrumentality of the Holy Spirit, secured the complete triumph of the principles of love and truth which he had been sent to exemplify and enforce. In brief, Jesus was, to his apostles, a man while he was here in the flesh, and still a man after his resurrection and entrance upon his glorified ca

reer in the invisible. That is to say, he was God become man and continuing as such.

These apostles were Jews, not Greeks. They were, therefore, content to abide without questioning in what they regarded as their world of ascertained facts. They rejoiced in the essential greatness of their Master and Savior. Had they philosophized at all, they would have said that the pre-existent Son of God did not in becoming a man cease to exist. Had he ceased to exist he could not have become a man at all. He had not ceased to exist, but only to exist as God. Hence, though now he was a man, he was divine stillthe God-man.

What they did say, or rather, what they continually assumed, was that everything that he had done as Creator, Upholder, and Revealer, prior to his incarnation, had now to stand associated with the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God; since it could be credited to no other either on earth or in heaven. An individual's record attaches to himself alone, no matter what the changes which may take place in him. So to them he was "Jesus Christ yesterday and today-yes, and forever." He was the one who came down, stayed here for a time in our humanity, and then, in our humanity glorified, went up to where he was before. In his own person they saw him lift this humanity of ours, even while he was here in the flesh, to heights only imagined before. And all he did he did as a man.

Accepting, therefore, all that the New Testament writers affirm about the pre-existence and divinity of Jesus, we must recognize that it is as a man that we are to consider him when we ask whether he was sinless or not. But we cannot intelligently proceed with our inquiry until we have first named one of the outstanding facts of our humanity. This fact is ignorance. To enter upon a human career is to begin as a babe, with no knowledge at all, and always remain a learner. It must not be forgotten that the New Testament writers present Jesus to us as both a babe and a learner. It is recorded of him that he grew in knowledge in his boyhood. He did not know at the time of his baptism on what precise lines he was to conduct his career, and it was only as he moved cautiously forward that all became clear. During two years or more of his public life he did not think of his ministry as meant for any but Jews. When on his one vacation outside the territory of his own people, he declared to a pleading Canaanitish woman that he had no mission to her or her people. There and later he learned a new lesson regarding his own work. He confessed his ignorance of the time of a future event, and told his apostles, even after his resurrection, that the Father had reserved "times and hours for his own decision." We have no hint either that he had a wider geographical or literary knowledge than the men of his time. He had no reputation whatever for learn