CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Christianity

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Christianity
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Christianity
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In the following article an account is given of Christianity as a religion, describing its origin, its relation to other
religions
, its
essential
nature
and chief characteristics, but not dealing with its doctrines in detail nor its
history
as a visible organization. These and other aspects of this great subject will receive treatment under separate titles. Moreover, the Christianity of which we speak is that which we find realized in the
Catholic
Church
alone; hence, we are not concerned here with those forms which are embodied in the various non-Catholic Christian
sects
, whether
schismatical
or
heretical
Our documentary sources of
knowledge
about the origin of Christianity and its earliest developments are chiefly the
New Testament Scriptures
and various sub-Apostolic writings, the
authenticity
of which we must to a large extent take for granted here, as with much less grounds we take for granted the
authenticity
of "Cæsar" when dealing with early Gaul, and of "Tacitus" when studying growth of the Roman Empire. (Cf. Kenyon, "Handbook of the Textual Criticism of the N.T."). We have this further warrant for doing so, that the most mature critical opinions amongst non-Catholics, deserting the wild theories of Baur, Strauss, and Renan, tend, in regard to
dates
and authorship, to coincide more closely with the
Catholic
position. The
Gospels
, Acts, and most of the
Epistles
are recognized as belonging to the
Apostolic
Age. "The oldest literature of the
Church
", says Professor Harnack, "is, in the main points and in most of its details, from the point of view of literary history, veracious and trustworthy . . . . He who attentively studies these letters (those i.e. of
Clement
and
Ignatius
) cannot fail to see what a fullness of
traditions
, topics of preaching, doctrines, and
forms of organization
already existed in the
time
of
Trajan
(A.D. 98-117), and in particular
churches
had reached permanence" (Chronologie der altchristlichen Literature, Bk. I, pp. 8, 11). Other points will, of course, be touched on and other results assumed, which are more fully and formally treated under
ESUS
HRIST
HURCH
EVELATION
IRACLES
For clearness' sake we shall arrange the subject under the following chief heads:
I. ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY AND ITS RELATION WITH OTHER RELIGIONS;
II. THE ESSENTIALS OF CHRISTIANITY;
III. THE DIVINE PURPOSE IN CHRISTIANITY.
Origin of Christianity and its relation with other religions
Christianity is the name given to that definite system of religious
belief
and practice which was taught by
Jesus Christ
in the country of Palestine, during the reign of the Roman Emperor,
Tiberius
, and was promulgated, after its
Founder's
death, for the acceptance of the whole world, by certain
chosen men
among His followers.
According to the accepted
chronology
, these began their mission on the day of Pentecost, A.D. 29, which day is regarded, accordingly, as the birthday of the
Christian Church
. In order the better to appreciate the meaning of this event, we must first consider the religious influences and tendencies previously at work in the
minds
of
men
, both
Jews
and
Gentiles
, which prepared the way for the spread of Christianity amongst them.
The whole history of the
Jews
as detailed in the
Old Testament
is seen, when read in the light of other events, to be a clear though gradual preparation for the preaching of Christianity. In that nation alone, the great
truths
of the
existence
and
unity
of
God
, His
providential
ruling of His creatures and their responsibility towards Him, were preserved unimpaired amidst general corruption. The ancient world was given to
Pantheism
and
creature-worship
Israel
only, not because of its "
monotheistic
instinct" (Renan), but because of the periodic interposition of
God
through His
prophets
, resisted in the main the general tendency to
idolatry
. Besides maintaining those pure conceptions of
Deity
, the
prophets
from time to time, and with ever increasing distinctness until we come to the direct and personal testimony of the
Baptist
, foreshadowed a fuller and more universal
revelation
— a
time
when, and a
Man
through Whom,
God
should
bless
all the nations of the earth.
We need not here trace the
Messianic
predictions in detail; their clearness and cogency are such that
St. Augustine
does not hesitate to say (Retract., I, xiii, 3): "What we now call the Christian religion existed amongst the ancients, and was from the beginning of the
human race
, until
Christ
Himself came in the flesh; from which
time
the already existing
true
religion began to be styled Christian". And thus it has been remarked that
Israel
alone amongst the nations of antiquity looked forward to
glories
to come. All peoples alike retained some more or less vague recollection of a
Paradise
lost, a remote Golden Age, but only the spirit of
Israel
kept alive the definite
hope
of a world-wide empire of
justice
, wherein the Fall of Man should be repaired. The fact that, eventually, the
Jews
misinterpreted their
oracles
, and identified the
Messianic Kingdom
with a mere temporal sovereignty of
Israel
, cannot invalidate the testimony of the
Scriptures
, as interpreted both by
Christ's
own life and the teaching of His
Apostles
, to the gradual evolution of that conception of which Christianity is the full and perfect expression. Mistaken national
pride
, accentuated by their galling subjection to
Rome
led them to read a material significance into the predictions of the triumph of the
Messias
, and hence to love their privilege of being
God's
chosen people. The wild olive in
St. Paul's
metaphor (
Romans 11:17
) was then grafted upon the stock of the
patriarchs
in place of those rejected branches, and entered upon their spiritual inheritance.
We may trace, too, in the world at large, apart from the
Jewish
people, a similar though less direct preparation. Whether due ultimately to the
Old Testament
predictions or to the fragments of the original
revelation
handed down amongst the
Gentile
, a certain vague expectation of the coming of a great conqueror seems to have existed in the East and to a certain extent in the Roman worlds, in the midst of which the new religion had its birth. But a much more marked predisposition to Christianity may be noticed in certain prominent features of the Roman religion after the downfall of the republic. The old gods of Latium had long ceased to reign. In their stead Greek
philosophy
occupied the
minds
of the cultured, whilst the populace were attracted by a variety of strange cults imported from
Egypt
and the East. Whatever their corruption, these new
religions
, concentrating worship on a single prominent
deity
, were
monotheistic
in effect. Moreover, many of them were characterized by
rites
of expiation and sacrifice, which familiarized
men's
minds
with the
idea
of a mediatorial religion. They combined to destroy the notion of a nation cultus, and to separate the service of the
Deity
from the service of the State. Finally, as a contributory
cause
to the diffusion of Christianity, we must not fail to mention the widespread Pax Romana, resulting from the union of the civilized races under one strong central government.
Thus much may be said with regard to the remote preparation of the world for the reception of Christianity. What immediately preceded its institution, as it was born in
Judaism
, concerns the
Jewish
race alone, and is comprised in the teaching and
miracles
of
Christ
, His death and
resurrection
, and the mission of the
Holy Spirit
During his whole mortal
life
on earth, including the two or three years of His active ministry,
Christ
lived as a devout
Jew
, Himself observing, and insisting on His followers observing, the injunctions of the
Law
Matthew 23:3
). The sum of His teaching, as of that of His
precursor
, was the approach of the
"Kingdom of God"
, meaning not only the rule of righteousness in the
individual
heart ("the
kingdom of God
is within you" —
Luke 17:21
), but also the
Church
(as is plain from many of the
parables
) which He was about to institute.
Yet, though He often foreshadowed a
time
when the
Law
as such would cease to bind, and though He Himself in
proof
of His
Messiahship
occasionally set aside its provisions ("For the
Son of man
is Lord even of the
sabbath
",
Matthew 12:8
), yet, as, in spite of His
miracles
, He did not win recognition of that
Messiahship
, still less of His Divinity, from the
Jews
at large. He confined His explicit teaching about the
Church
to His immediate followers, and left it to them, when the
time
came, openly to pronounce the abrogation of the Law. (
Acts 15:5-11, 18
Galatians 3:19
24-28
Ephesians 2:2
14-15
Colossians 2:16-17
Hebrews 7:12
It was not so much, then, by propounding the
dogmas
of Christianity as by informing the
Old Law
with the spirit of Christian
ethics
that
Christ
found Himself able to prepare
Jewish
hearts for the religion to come. Again, the
faith
which He failed to arouse by the numerous
miracles
He wrought, He sought to provide with a further and stronger incentive by dying under every circumstance of pain, disgrace, and defeat, and then raising Himself from the dead in triumph and
glory
. It was to this fact rather than to the
wonders
He worked in His lifetime that His accredited
witnesses
always appealed in their teaching. On the marvel of the
Resurrection
is based in the counsels of
God
the
faith
of Christianity. "If
Christ
is not
risen again
, your
faith
is vain", declares the
Apostle Paul
1 Corinthians 15:17
), who says no word of the other
wonders
Christ
performed. By His death, therefore, and His return from the dead,
Christ
, as the event
proved
, furnished the strongest means for the effective preaching of the religion He came to found.
The third antecedent
condition
to the birth of Christianity, as we learn from the
sacred records
, was a special participation of the
Holy Spirit
given to the
Apostles
on the day of Pentecost. According to
Christ's
promise, the function of this Divine gift was to teach them all
truth
and bring back to their remembrance all that [
Christ
] had said to them (
John 14:26
16:13
). "I send the
Promised of my Father
upon you, but remain ye in the
city
till ye shall be clothed with power from on high" (
Luke 24:49
). "John indeed
baptized
with water, but you shall be
baptized
with the
Holy Ghost
, not many days hence" (
Acts 1:5
). As a result of that Divine visitation we find the
Apostles
preaching the Gospel with wonderful
courage
, persuasiveness, and assurance in the face of hostile
Jews
and
indifferent
Gentiles
, "the
Lord
working with them and confirming their words by the
signs
that followed" (
Mark 16:20
).
We have now to consider the circumstances of Christianity at the outset, and to estimate to what extent it was affected by the already existing religious
beliefs
of the
time
It took its rise, as we have seen, in
Judaism
: its
founder
and His
disciples
were
orthodox
Jews
, and the latter maintained their
Jewish
practices, at least for a time, even after the day of Pentecost. The
Jews
themselves looked upon the followers of
Christ
as a mere
Israelitish
sect
airesis
) like the
Sadducees
or the
Essenes
, styling
St. Paul
"the instigator of the revolt of the
sect
of the Nazarenes" (
Acts 24:5
). The new religion was at first wholly confined to the
synagogue
, and it votaries had still a large share of
Jewish
exclusiveness; they read the Law, they practised
circumcision
, and they
worshipped
in the
Temple
, as well as in the upper room at
Jerusalem
. We need not wonder, then, that some modern
rationalists
, who reject its
supernatural
origin and ignore the operation of the
Holy Spirit
in its first missionaries, see in early Christianity
Judaism
pure and simple, and find the explanation of its character and growth in the pre-existing religious environment. But this theory of natural development does not fit the facts as narrated in the
New Testament
, which is full of indications that
Christ's
doctrines were new, and His spirit strange. Consequently, the records have to be mutilated to suit the theory. We cannot pretend to follow, there or in other places, the
rationalists
in their
New Testament
criticism. There is the less need of doing so that their theories are often mutually destructive. A dozen years ago an observer computed that since 1850 there had been published 747 theories regarding the
Old
and
New Testaments
, of which 608 were by that
time
defunct (see Hastings, "Higher Criticism"). The effect of these random hypotheses has been greatly to strengthen the
orthodox
view, which we now proceed to state.
Christianity is developed from
Judaism
in the sense that it embodies the
Divine revelation
contained in the latter
creed
, somewhat as a finished
painting
embodies the original rough sketch. The same hand was employed in the production of both
religions
, and by
type
and
promise
and
prophecy
the Old Dispensation points clearly to the New.
But
type
, and
promise
, and
prophecy
as clearly indicate that the New will be something very different from the Old. No mere organic evolution connects the two. A fuller
revelation
, a more perfect
morality
, a wider distribution was to mark the
Kingdom of the Messias
. "The end [or object] of the Law is
Christ
", says
St. Paul
Romans 10:4
), meaning that the Law was given to the
Jews
to excite their
faith
in the
Christ
to come. "Wherefore", he says again (
Galatians 3:24
), "the
law
was our pedagogue unto
Christ
", leading the
Jews
to Christianity as the
slave
brought his charges to the
school
door.
Christ
reproached the
Jews
for not reading their
Scriptures
aright. "For if you
believed
Moses
, you would perhaps
believe
me also; for he wrote of me" (
John 5:46
). And
St. Augustine
sums the whole matter up in the striking words: "In the
Old Testament
, the
New
lies hidden; in the
New
, the
Old
is made manifest" (
On the Catechizing of the Uninstructed
, 4.8
). But
Christ
claimed to fulfil the Law by substituting the
substance
for the shadow and the
gift
for the
promise
, and, the end having been reached, all that was temporary and provisional in
Judaism
came to a conclusion. Still, a direct divine intervention was
necessary
to bring this about, just as, in any rational account of the theory of evolution, recourse must be had to
supernatural
power to bridge the gulf between
being
and non-being,
life
and non-life,
reason
and non-reason. "
God
, who, at sundry times and in divers manner, spoke in times past to the fathers by the
prophets
, least of all in these days has spoken to us by his Son" (
Hebrews 1:1, 2
), the message growing in clearness and in content with each successive utterance till it reached completion in the
Incarnation
of the
Word
The Christianity, then, which the
Apostles
preached on the day of Pentecost was entirely distinct from
Judaism
, especially as understood by the
Jews
of the
time
; it was a new religion, new in its
Founder
, new in much of its
creed
, new in its attitude towards both
God
and
man
, new in the spirit of its
moral
code. "The Law was given by
Moses
; grace and
truth
came by
Jesus Christ
" (
John 1:17
).
St. Paul
, as was to be expected, is our clearest
witness
on this point. "If any man be in
Christ
", he says, "he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are new" (
2 Corinthians 5:17
). How new Christianity was, the
Jews
themselves showed by putting its
Author
to death and persecuting His adherents. Renan himself, who is not always consistent, admits that "far from
Jesus
being the continuer of
Judaism
, what characterizes His work is its breach with the
Jewish
spirit" (Vie de Jésus, c. xxviii).
It may be granted that there is a certain resemblance between the
Essene
communities and the earliest Christian assemblies. But the resemblance is only on the outside. The spirit of the
Essenes
was intensely national; except in the matter of worship in the
Temple
, they were ultra-Jewish in their observance of external forms,
ablutions
, the
Sabbath
, etc., and their mode of life and discouragement of marriage were essentially anti-social. Harnack himself owns that
Christ
had no relations with this rigoristic
sect
, as was shown by His mixing freely with
sinners
, etc. (Das Wesen des Christenthums, Lect. Ii, p. 33, tr.). But Christianity did not reject anything in
Judaism
that was of permanent value, and so the
Jewish
converts
on the day of Pentecost could not have felt that they were
abjuring
their ancient
faith
, but rather that they were then for the first time entering upon the full understanding of it. More will be said on this point when we come to consider what is the
essence
of Christianity, but we may notice that the
Church
very early found it
necessary
to emphasize her distinctness from
Judaism
by abandoning the essentially
Jewish
rites
of
circumcision
, Temple-worship, and observance of the
Sabbath
Judaism
is not the only religious system that has been requisitioned by
rationalistic
writers to account for the appearance of Christianity. Points of similarity between the teaching of
Christ
and His
Apostles
and the great
religions
of the East have been taken to indicated a derivation of the latter system from the earlier, and the elaborate
eschatology
of the
Egyptian
religion has been quoted to account for certain Christian
dogmas
about the future life.
It were a long and not very profitable task to state and refute these various theories in detail. Underlying all of them is the
rationalistic
postulate which denies the fact and even the possibility of Divine intervention in the evolution of religion. In virtue of that attitude
rationalism
is confronted with the impossible task of explaining how a universal religion like Christianity, with an extensive yet
logical
system of
dogma
, could have been evolved by a process of promiscuous borrowings from existing cults and yet preserve everywhere its unity and coherence. If the selection were made by
Christ
and His adherents,
rationalists
must tell us how these "ignorant and unlettered men" (
Acts 4:13
; cf.
Matthew 13:54
Mark 6:2
knew
the
religions
of the East, when it was a matter of astonishment to their contemporaries that they
knew
their own.
Or, if the
dogmas
and practices under consideration were the additions of a later age, the questions arise, first, how to reconcile this statement with the fact that the
essence
of Christianity is discoverable in the earliest Christian
witnesses
and, secondly, how scattered communities composed of various nationalities and living under different
conditions
could have united in selecting and maintaining the same
dogmas
and
rules of conduct
We may ask, furthermore, why Christianity which, on this hypothesis, only selected pre-existing doctrines, excited everywhere such bitter hostility and
persecution
. "About this
sect
", said the Roman
Jews
to
St. Paul
in
prison
, "we are informed that it meets with opposition everywhere" (
Acts 28:22
)k.
Immense erudition has been wasted in the attempt to show that
Buddhism
in particular is the prototype of Christianity, but, apart from the difficulty of distinguishing the original creed of Gautama from later and possibly post-Christian accretions, it may be briefly objected that
Buddhism
is at best only an
ethical
system, not a religion, for it recognizes no
God
and no responsibility, that in so far as it emphasizes the comparative worthlessness of earthly things and the insufficiency of earthly delights it is in accord with the Christian spirit, but that in aim it is essentially diverse. The supreme aim of Christianity is
eternal
happiness
in a state involving the employment of all the
soul's
activities, that of
Buddhism
the ultimate loss of
conscious
existence
Let us grant, once and for all, that
God's
intercourse with His creatures is not confined to the old and New Covenants, and that Christianity includes many doctrines accessible to the unaided
human
reason
, and advocates many practices which are the natural outcome of ordinary
human
activities. We thus expect to find that,
human
nature
being the same everywhere, the various expressions of the religious sense will take similar shapes amongst all peoples. Accordingly,
false
religions
may very well inculcate ascetic practices and possess the
idea
of sacrifice and sacrificial banquets, of a
priesthood
, of
sin
and confession, of
sacramental
rites
like
baptism
, of the accessories of worship such as
images
hymns
lights
incense
, etc. Not everything in
false
religion is
false
, nor is everything in the
true
religion (or Christianity)
supernatural
. "We must not look", says M. Müller, "in the original
belief
of
mankind
for [distinctively] Christian
ideas
but for the fundamental religious
ideas
on which Christianity is built, without which as its natural and historical support, Christianity could not have become what it is" (Wissenschaft der Sprache, II, 395).
These remarks apply not only to the religious systems which are alleged to have influenced the conception of Christianity, but to those which it met as soon as it issued from
Judaism
, its cradle. Here, we are face to face with history, and not with mere hypothesis and assumption. For Christianity, on its first essaying to realize its destiny as the universal religion, did actually come in contact with two mighty religious systems, the religion of Rome, and the widespread body of thought, more of a
philosophy
than a
creed
, prevalent in the Greek-speaking world.
The effect of the national religion of
pagan
Rome on early Christianity concerned
rites
and
ceremonies
rather than points of
doctrine
, and was due to the general causes just mentioned. With Greek
philosophy
, on the other hand, representing the highest efforts of the
human
intellect
to explain
life
and experience, and to reach the
Absolute
, Christianity, which professes to solve all these problems, had, naturally and necessarily, many points of contact.
It is on this connection that modern
rationalists
have brought all their learning and research to bear in the effort to show that the whole later
intellectual
system of Christianity is something more or less alien to its original conception. It was the transference of Christianity from a
Semitic
to a
Greek
soil that explains, according to Dr. Hatch (Hibbert Lectures, 1888), "why an
ethical
sermon
stood in the forefront of the teaching of
Jesus
, and a
metaphysical
creed
in the forefront of the Christianity of the fourth century". Professor Harnack states the problem and solves it in similar fashion. He ascribes the change, as he conceives it, from a simple code of conduct to the
Nicene Creed
, to the three following causes:
The universal
law
in all development of religion, that when the first generation of
converts
who have been in contact, more or less immediate, with the founder, and endowed with his spirit, have passed away, their successors, having no personal grasp of their
creed
, must depend on formulæ and
dogmas
the union of the Gospel with the Greek spirit (a) due to the conquests of Alexander and the consequent mingling of
Jew
and
Gentile
, (b) further strengthened about A.D. 130, when Greek
converts
brought into Christianity the
philosophy
in which they were
educated
, (c) again, about a century later, when Greek mysteries and Greek civilization in its widest range were admitted, and finally, (d) about the middle of the fourth century, when the Greek spirit finally prevailed and
polytheism
and mythology (i.e. the
worship
of the
saints
) were admitted
the internal struggles with
Gnosticism
, which aimed at a synthesis of all existing
creeds
. "The struggle with
Gnosticism
compelled the
Church
to put its
teaching
, its worship, and its
discipline
into fixed forms and ordinances, and to exclude everyone who would not yield them obedience" (Das Wesen des Christenthums, Lect. Xi, p. 210).
It is the second of these reasons for the birth and growth of
dogma
that concerns us immediately; but we may remark in regard to the first that it ignores the direct working of
God
on the
soul
of the
individual
, the perpetual renewal of fervour through
prayer
and the use of the
sacraments
, that have always marked the course of Christianity. Herein, the spirit of its first days is seen still to be energetic, notwithstanding the comparative elaborateness of
creed
and
ritual
of modern Christianity. The
saints
are admitted to be the most
perfect
exponents of practical Christianity; they are not exceptions or accidents or by-products of the system; yet they did not find
dogma
any hindrance to their
perfect
service of
God
and
man
As regards the third
cause
above mentioned, we may grant that it has always been the
providential
function of
heresy
to bring about a clearer definition of the Christian
creed
, and that
Gnosticism
in its many varieties undoubtedly had this effect. But long before
Gnosticism
had sufficiently developed to necessitate the safeguarding of
doctrine
by
conciliar
definition
, we find traces of an organized
Church
with a very definite
creed
. Not to mention the traditional "for of
doctrine
" spoken of by
St. Paul
Romans 6:17
) and the
act
of
faith
required by Philip from the eunuch (
Acts 8:37
), many critics, including the
Protestants
Zahn and Kattenbusch (Das Apostolische Symbol., Leipzig, 1894-1900), agree that the present
Apostles' Creed
represents a formula which took shape in the
Apostolic
Age and was uninfluenced by
Gnosticism
, which Protean
heresy
first became formidable about A.D. 130. And as regards
organization
, we
know
that the episcopate was a fully recognized institution in the
time
of
Ignatius
(c. 110), whilst the
Canon of New Testament Scripture
, the final establishment of which was undoubtedly helped by
Gnosticism
, was in process of recognition even in
Apostolic
times. St. Peter (assuming the
Second epistle
to be his) classifies
St. Paul's
Epistles
with the "other
Scriptures
" (
2 Peter 3:16
), and
St. Polycarp
, early in the second century, quotes as
Scripture
nine of those thirteen
Pauline
documents.
Concerning the "union of the Gospel with the Greek spirit" which, according to Hatch and Harnack, resulted in such profound modification so the former, we may admit many of the statements made, without drawing from them the
rationalistic
inferences. We readily grant that Greek thought and Greek culture had thoroughly permeated the
society
into which Christianity was born. Alexander's conquests had brought about a diffusion of Greek ideals throughout the East. The
Jews
were dispersed westwards, both from Palestine and from the towns of the
Captivity
, and established in colonies in the chief cities of the empire, especially in Alexandria. The extent of this dispersion may be gathered from
Acts 2:9-11
), Greek became the language of commerce and social intercourse, and Palestine itself, more particularly
Galilee
, was to a great extent hellenized. The
Jewish
Scriptures
were best known in a Greek version, and the last additions to the
Old Testament
— the
Book of Wisdom
and the
Second Book of Machabees
— were entirely composed in that tongue. In addition to this peaceful permeation of the Hebraic by the Greek genius, formal efforts were made from time to time, both in the political and the
philosophical
sphere to hellenize the
Jews
altogether.
It is with the latter attempt that we are concerned; for the writings of
Philo
, its chief and earliest advocate, coincided with the birth of Christianity.
Philo
was a
Jew
of Alexandria, well versed in Greek
philosophy
and literature, and at the same time a devout believer in the
Old Testament
revelation
. The general purpose of his principal writings was to show that the admirable wisdom of the Greeks was contained in substance in the
Jewish Scriptures
, and his method was to read allegory into the simple narratives of the
Pentateuch
. To the pure and
certain
monotheism
of
Judaism
he wedded various
ideas
taken from
Plato
and the
Stoics
, trying thus to solve the problem, with which all
philosophy
is ultimately confronted, how to bridge the gulf between
mind
and
matter
, the
infinite
and the finite, the absolute and the conditioned. Philo's writings were, no doubt, widely
known
amongst the
Jews
, both at home and abroad, at the
time
when the
Apostles
began to preach, but it is extremely unlikely that the latter, who were not
educated
men, were acquainted with them.
Not until the
conversion
of
St. Paul
and the beginning of his apostolate can Christianity be said to have come, in the
mind
of one of its chief exponents, into immediate contact with Greek religious and
philosophical
theories.
St. Paul
was learned, not only in Hebrew, but also in Hellenistic lore, and a singularly apt instrument in the design of Providence, on account of his
Jewish
origin and
education
, his Greek learning, and his Roman citizenship, to aid Christianity to throw off the swaddling-bands of its infancy and go forth to the conquest of the
nations
But whilst recognizing this
providential
dispensation
in the election of
St. Paul
, we cannot, in face of his own express and emphatic testimony, go on to assert that he universalized Christianity, as
Philo
attempted to universalize
Judaism
, by adding to its
ethical
content the merely natural religion of the Greek thinkers of his own more sublime and pure conceptions. In one of his earliest letters, the
First Epistle to the Corinthians
St. Paul
rebukes their factious spirit, whereby some of them had styled themselves partisans of Apollos, a learned Alexandrian, and repudiates again and again that very attempt to make Christianity plausible by tricking it out in the garb of current speculations. "But we preach
Christ
crucified, unto the
Jews
indeed a stumbling-block, and to the
Gentiles
foolishness" (
1 Corinthians 1:23
; see chaps.
and
, and
Colossians 2:8
).
St. Paul
, at any rate, was not indebted for his
Christology
to
Philo
or his school, and any similarity of terminology which may occur in the works of the two authors may quite reasonably be ascribed to the metaphors already embodied in the language they both used.
More insistence has been laid, perhaps, on the resemblance between the
Christology
set forth by St. John in the opening chapters of his
Gospel
and in the
Apocalypse
, and the
Logos
theories which
Philo
elaborated, and which he is said to have taken from Greek sources. If he did so, we may remark, he neglected others older and nearer to hand, for the conception of a Divine Word of
God
, by which the
Deity
enters into
relation with the created universe
, is by no means exclusively or originally Greek. The
idea
, expressed in the
opening verses of Genesis
, is frequently repeated in the rest of the
Old Testament
(see
Psalms 32:6
147:15
Proverbs 8:22
Wisdom 7:24-30
, etc.).
Philo
, therefore, was not compelled to seek in the
Platonic
Nous, which is merely the directive
cause
of
creation
, or the
Stoic
Logos
, as the rational
soul
of the
universe
, the foundation of his
doctrine
. His
Logos
theory is not at all clear or consistent, but, apparently, he conceives the
Word
to be a quasi-personal, subordinate, intermediate being between
God
and the world, enabling the
Creator
to come into contact with
matter
. He calls this
Logos
"the eldest" and the "first-born"
son of God
, and uses phrases that suggest the
Fourth Gospel
; but there is no resemblance in substance between the bold, clear, categoric statements of the
inspired
Apostle
, and the misty, if poetical, conceptions of the Alexandrian
philosopher
. We may conjecture that St. John chose his language so as to impress the cultivated Greek
mind
with the
true
doctrine
of the
Divine Logos
, thus connecting his teaching with the older
revelation
, and, at the same time, putting a check upon the
Gnostic
errors
to which Philoism was already giving birth.
Abandoning the
Apostolic
Age, Harnack, in his "History of Dogma", ascribes the hellenization of Christianity to the
apologists
of the second century (1st German edit., p. 253). This contention can best be refuted by showing that the essential doctrines of Christianity are contained already in the
New Testament Scriptures
, while giving, at the same time, their due force to the
traditions
of
corporate Christianity
. If the
Nicene Creed
cannot be
proved
article by article from the
sacred records
, interpreted by the
tradition
that preceded them and determined their canon, then the
rationalist
assertion will have some support.
But the point of comparison with the
Creed
must be not only the Sermon on the Mount, as Hatch desires, nor the merely verbal teaching of
Christ
, but the whole
New Testament
record.
Christ
taught by His
life
no less than by His words, and it was His actions and
sufferings
as well as His oral lessons that His
Apostles
preached. For the fuller exposition of this, see
REVELATION
. Here it suffices to note that Christian
theology
became, in the hands of the
apologists
, the synthesis of all speculative
truth
. It met and conquered the various imperfect systems that possessed
men's
minds
at its birth and arose after that event.
The early
heresies
Sabellianism
Arianism
, and the rest — were but attempts to make Christianity one of a number of
philosophies
; the attempts failed, but the scattered
truths
that those
philosophies
contained were shown, as
time
went on, to exist and find their fulfilment in Christianity as well. "The
Church
", says
Newman
has been ever 'sitting in the midst of the
doctors
, both hearing and asking them questions'; claiming to herself what they said rightly, correcting their
errors
, supplying their defects, completing their beginnings, expanding their surmises, and thus gradually by means of them enlarging the range and refining the sense of her teaching. (Development of Doctrine, viii)
In the same section
Newman
thus summarizes the battle and the triumph:
such was the conflict of Christianity with the old established
Paganism
, which was almost dead before Christianity appeared; with the Oriental Mysteries, flitting widely to and fro like spectres; with the
Gnostics
, who made
Knowledge
all in all, despised the many, and called
Catholics
mere children in the
Truth
: with the
Neo-Platonists
, men of literature, pedants, visionaries, or courtiers; with the
Manichees
, who professed to seek
truth
by
Reason
, not by
Faith
; with the fluctuating teachers of the
school
of Antioch, the time-serving Eusebians, and the reckless versatile
Arians
; with the fanatic
Montanists
and harsh
Novatians
, who shrank from the
Catholic doctrine
, without power to propagate their own. These
sects
had no stay or consistence, yet they contained elements of
truth
amid their
error
, and had Christianity been as they, it might have resolved into them; but it had that hold of the
truth
which gave its
teaching
a gravity, a directness, a consistency, a sternness, and a force to which its rivals, for the most part, were strangers. (ibid., viii)
The essentials of Christianity
We have so far seen, in its origin and growth, the essential independence of Christianity of all other religious systems, except that of
Judaism
, with which, however, its relation was merely that of
substance
to shadow. It is now time to point out its distinctive doctrines.
In early Christianity there was much that was transitory and exceptional. It was not presented full-grown to the world, but left to develop in accordance with the forces and tendencies that were implanted in it from the first by its
Founder
. And we, having His assurance that His Spirit would abide with it for all
time
, to inspire and regulate its
human
elements, can see in its subsequent history the working out of His design. Hence, it does not trouble us to find in primitive Christianity qualities which did not survive after they had served their purpose. Natural causes and the course of events, always under the Divine guidance, resulted in Christianity taking on the form which would best secure its permanence and efficiency. In
Apostolic
times, supreme authority as to
faith
and
morals
was vested in
twelve representatives of Christ
, each of whom was commissioned to proclaim and
infallibly
interpret His Gospel. The
hierarchy
was in an inchoate
condition
. Special
charismata
, like the
gifts
of
prophecy
and
tongues
, were bestowed on
individuals
outside the
official teaching body
. The
Church
was in process of organization, and the various Christian communities, united, doubtless, in a strong bond of charity, and in the sense that they had one
Lord
, one
faith
, and one
baptism
, were to a large extent independent of one another in the matter of government.
Such was the fashion in which
Christ
allowed His
Church
to be established. It has greatly changed in outward appearances during the ages. Has there been any corresponding change in
substance
? Are the
essentials
of Christianity the same now as they were then? We affirm that they are, and we
prove
our assertion by examining the main points of the
teaching
, both of
Christ
and His
Apostles
. We must look upon the matter as a whole. We cannot judge of Christianity properly before the coming of the Holy Spirit. The
Gospels
describe a process which was not consummated till after Pentecost. The
Apostles
themselves were not fully Christians till they
knew
through
faith
all that
Christ
was — their
God
and their Redeemer as well as their Master. And as Christianity furnishes a regulative principle for both
mind
and will, teaching us what to
believe
and what to do,
faith
no less than works must characterize the perfect Christian.
The teaching of Christ
Taking, then, first of all,
Christ's
own
dogmatic
and
moral
teaching, we may divide it into (a) what He did not reveal but only reaffirmed, (b) what He drew from obscurity, and (c) what He added to the sum total of
belief
and practice.
(a) The
Jews
, at the time of
Christ
, however worldly-minded, were at any rate free from their ancestral tendency to
idolatry
. They were strict
monotheists
believing
in the unity, power, and
holiness
of the
Supreme Deity
Christ
reaffirmed, purified, and confirmed the
Jewish
theology
, both
moral
and
dogmatic
. He asserted the spiritual
nature
of the
Godhead
John 1:18
4:24
), and insisted on the importance of
worshipping
Him in
spirit
, i.e. with more than merely external
rites
. And he exacted the same right
dispositions of heart
in the whole of
God's
service, showing how both guilt and
merit
depend on the will and
intention
Matthew 5:28
15:18
). He recalled the original unity and indissolubility of the marriage-tie. He brought into prominence the
immortality
, and hence the transcendent importance, of the
human
soul
Matthew 16:26
), as against the
heresy
of the
Sadducees
and the worldliness of the
Jews
in general. In all these points He fulfilled the Law by showing its real and full significance.
(b) But He did not stop here. Taking the great central precept of the
Old Dispensation
— the
love
of
God
— He pointed out all its implications and made clear that the
doctrine
of the Fatherhood of
God
, so imperfectly grasped under the
law
of
fear
, was the immediate source of the
doctrine
of the brotherhood of men, which the
Jews
had never realized at all. He never tired of dwelling on the loving kindness and the tender
providence
of His Father, and He insisted equally on the
duty
of
loving
all
men
, summing up the whole of His
ethical
teaching in the observance of the
law
of
love
Matthew 5:43
22:40
). This universal charity He designed to be the mark of His
true
followers (
John 13:45
), and in it, therefore, we must see the genuine Christian spirit, so distinct from everything that had hitherto been seen on earth that the
precept
which inspired it He called "new" (
John 13:34
).
Christ's
clear and definite teaching, moreover, about the life to come, the
final judgment
resulting in an
eternity
of
happiness
or
misery
, the strict responsibility which attaches to the smallest human actions, is in great contrast to the current
Jewish
eschatology
. By substituting
eternal
sanctions for earthly rewards and punishments, He raised and ennobled the motives for the practice of
virtue
, and set before
human
ambition an object wholly worthy of the
adopted
sons of
God
, the extension of their Father's Kingdom in their own
souls
and in the
souls
of others.
(c) Among the doctrines added by
Christ
to the
Jewish faith
, the chief, of course, are those concerning Himself, including the central
dogma
of the whole Christian system, the
Incarnation of God the Son
. In regard to Himself,
Christ
made two claims, though not with equal insistence. He asserted that He was the
Messias
of
Jews
, the expected of the
nations
, Whose mission it was to undo the effects of the Fall and to reconcile
man
with
God
; and He claimed to be Himself
God
, equal to, and one with, the Father. In support of this double claim, He pointed to the fulfilment of the
prophecies
, and He worked many
miracles
. His claim to be the
Messias
was not admitted by the leaders of His nation; had it been admitted, He would doubtless have manifested His Divinity more clearly. Most modern
rationalists
(Harnack, Wellhausen, and others) acknowledge that
Christ
from the beginning of His preaching
knew
Himself as the
Messias
, and accepted the various titles which belong in the
Scripture
to that personage — Son of
David
Son of Man
Daniel 7:13
), the
Christ
(see
John 14:24
Matthew 16:16
Mark 14:61-62
). In one passage — and very significant one — He applies the name to Himself — "But this is
eternal
life: That they may
know
thee, the only
true God
, and
Jesus Christ
, whom thou hast sent" (
John 17:3
).
In regard to His Divinity, His claim is clear, but not emphasized. We cannot say that the title
"Son of God"
, which is repeatedly given to Him in the
Gospels
John 1:34
Matthew 27:40
Mark 3:12
15:39
, etc.), and which He is described as taking to Himself (
Matthew 27:43
John 10:36
), necessarily of itself connotes a Divine
personality
; and in the mouths of several of the speakers, e.g. in the exclamation of
Nathaniel
, "
Rabbi
, Thou art the
Son of God
", it presumably does not. But in the confession of St. Peter (
Matthew 16:16
) the circumstances point to more than a mere amplification of the
Messianic
title. That title was at that
time
in habitual use in regard to
Jesus
, and there would have been nothing significant in
Peter's
expression and in
Christ's
glad acceptance of it, if it had not gone further than the common
belief
Christ
hailed St. Peter's confession as a special
revelation
, not as a mere
deduction
from external facts. When we compare this with that other declaration narrated in the same Gospel (
Matthew 26:62-66
), where, in answer to the
high-priest's
adjuration
, 'I
adjure
thee by the
living God
, that thou tell us if thou be the
Christ
the
Son of God
",
Jesus
replied, "Thou has said it" (i.e., "I am"; see
Mark 14:62
), we cannot reasonably
doubt
that
Christ
claimed to be
Divine
. The
Jews
so understood this and put Him to death as a
blasphemer
Another prominent feature in the
theology
of
Christ
was His
doctrine
about the
Paraclete
. When, in
St. John's
gospel
14:16-17
), He says; "And I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another
Paraclete
, that he may abide with you forever, the
spirit
of
truth
", it is impossible to
believe
that what He promises is a mere abstraction, not a
person
like Himself. In
verse 26
, the personality is still more marked: "And the
Paraclete
, the
Holy Spirit
, whom the Father shall send in my name, He will teach you all things". (Cf.
15:26
, "But when the
Paraclete
shall come whom I shall send you from the Father, the Spirit of
Truth
who proceeds from the Father" etc.) It may be that the full meaning of those words was not realized till the Spirit did actually come; moreover, the
revelation
was made, of course, only to His immediate followers; still, no unbiased
mind
can deny that
Christ
here speaks of a personal influence as a distinct Divine entity; a distinction and a Divinity which is further implied in the
baptismal
formula He afterwards instituted (
Matthew 28:19
).
Christ
took up the burden of the preaching of His
precursor
and proclaimed the advent of the
Kingdom of God
, or the
Kingdom of Heaven
, a conception already familiar in the
Old Testament
Psalm 144:11-13
], but furnished with a wider and more varied content in the words of
Christ
. It may be taken to mean, according to the context, the
Messianic Kingdom
in its
true
spiritual sense, i.e. the
Church of God
which
Christ
came to found, wherein to store up and perpetuate the benefits of the
Incarnation
(cf. The
parables
of the wheat and the tares, the dragnet, and the wedding feast), or the reign of
God
in the heart that submits to His sovereignty (
Luke 16:21
), or the abode of the
blessed
Matthew 5:20
etc.). It was the main topic of His preaching, which was occupied in showing what dispositions of
mind
and heart and will, were
necessary
for entrance into "the Kingdom", what, in other words, was the Christian ideal. Regarded as the
Church
, He preached the
Kingdom
to the multitude in
parables
only, reserving fuller explanations to private intercourse with His
Apostles
Acts 1:3
).
The last great
dogma
which we learn from the
life
, preaching, and death of
Christ
is the
doctrine
of
Redemption
. "For the
Son of Man
also came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give His
life
redemption
for many" (
Mark 10:45
). The
sacrificial
character of His death is clearly stated at the
Last Supper
: "This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of
sins
" (
Matthew 26:28
). And He ordained the perpetuation of that
Sacrifice
by His Disciples in the words: "Do this in commemoration of me" (
Luke 22:19
).
Christ
, knowing the counsels of His Father, deliberately set Himself to realize in His own
person
the portrait of the suffering servant of
Jahveh
, so vividly
painted
by
Isaias
chapter 53
), a
Messias
Who should triumph through death and defeat. This was a strange
revelation
to
Israel
and the world. What wonder that so novel an
idea
could not enter the
Apostles'
minds
till it had actually been realized and further explained by the
Divine Victim
himself (
Luke 24:27, 45
). Thus, first of all in action,
Christ
preached the great
doctrine
of the Atonement, and, by raising Himself from the dead, He added another
proof
to those establishing His Divine mission and His Divine
personality
. But, naturally enough, He left the more explicit teaching on these points to His chosen
witnesses
, whose presentment of Christianity we shall presently examine.
To turn now to what is new in the
moral
teachings of
Christ
, we may say, once for all, that it embodied
ethical
perfection. There may be development of
doctrine
, but, after the Sermon on the Mount, there can be no further evolution of
morals
God's
own perfection is set as the standard (
Matthew 5:48
).
Duty
was the principal motive in the Old Dispensation; in the New this was sublimated into
love
Men
were taught to serve not on account of the penal ties attached to non-service, but on principles of generosity. Before,
God's
will was to be the aim of the creature's performance; now, His good pleasure also was to be sought. "What things are pleasing to Him, these do I always" (
John 8:29
), and by action even more than by word
Christ
taught the lesson of
voluntary
self-sacrifice. Never till His
time
were the Evangelical counsels — voluntary poverty, perpetual
chastity
, and entire obedience — preached or practised. From no previous
moral
code, however, exalted, could the
Beatitudes
have been evolved. Meekness and
humility
were unknown as
virtues
to the
heathen
, and despised by the
Jew
Christ
made them the ground-work of the whole
moral
edifice. To realize what new thing
Christ's
ethical
teaching brought into the world and put within the grasp of everyone, we have only to think of the great host of the Christian
saints
. For they are the
true
disciples
of the Cross, those who imbibed and expressed His spirit best, who had the
courage
to test the
truth
of that Divine paradox which forms the substance of
Christ's
moral
message; "He that shall wish to save his
soul
shall lose it, but he that shall lose his
soul
on my account shall find it" (
Matthew 16:25
; cf.
Mark 8:35
Luke 9:24
17:33
John 12:25
). That was the course He Himself adopted — the way of the Cross — and His
disciples
were not above their Master. Self-conquest as a preliminary to conquering the world of
God
— that was the lesson taught by
Christ's
life
, and still more by His passion and death.
The teaching of the Apostles
Does the Christianity presented to us in the rest of the writings of the
New Testament
differ from that described in the
Gospels
? And if so, is the difference one of kind or one of degree? We have seen that Christianity must not be judged in the making, but as a finished product. It was never meant to be fully set forth in the
Gospels
, where it is presented mainly in action. "I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear them now", said
Christ
in His last discourse. "But when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will teach you all
truth
. . . and the things that are to come he shall show you" (
John 16:12, 13
). We may presume that
Christ
Himself told them these many things when "He showed himself alive after his passion, by many
proofs
, for forty days appearing to them, and speaking of the
kingdom of God
" (
Acts 1:3
), and that they were rendered permanent in the
minds
of the
Apostles
by the indwelling of the Spirit of Truth after Pentecost. Accordingly, we must expect to find in their teaching a more formal, more theoretic, and more
dogmatic
exposition of Christianity than in the drama of
Christ's
life
. But what we have no
right
to expect, and what
rationalists
always do expect, is to find the whole of Christianity in its written records.
Christ
nowhere prescribed writing as a means of promulgating His
gospel
. It was comparatively late in the
Apostolic
Age, and apparently in obedience to no preconceived plan, that the
sacred books
began to appear. Many Christians must have lived and died before those books existed, or without
knowledge
of them. And so we cannot argue from the non-appearance of any particular tenet to its non-existence, nor from its first mention to its first invention — fallacies which often vitiate the erudite researches of the
rationalists
The main heads of the
Apostolic
preaching, as far as we can gather from the records, vary with the
character
of the audiences they addressed. To the
Jews
they dwelt upon the marvellous fulfilment of the prophesies in
Christ
, showing that, in spite of the manner of His
life
and death, He was actually the
Messias
, and that their
redemption
from
sin
had really been accomplished by His sacrifice on the Cross. This was the burden of St. Peter's discourses (
Acts 2
and
) and those of
St. Stephen
and all who addressed the
Jews
in their
synagogues
(cf.
Acts 26:22-23
). Once convinced of the reality of
Christ's
mission and the seal
God
set upon it by His
Resurrection
, they were received into the
Christian body
to discover more at leisure all the implications of their
belief
. In regard to the
Gentiles
, the same striking fact of the
Resurrection
was in the forefront of the
Apostolic
teaching, but more stress was laid upon the divinity of
Christ
. Still,
St. Paul
, whose peculiar mission it was to approve the new
revelation
to those that sat in darkness and had no common ground of
belief
with the
Jews
, did not consider that his Gospel was anything different from that of the others. "I have laboured more abundantly than all they: yet not I, but the
grace of God
with me: for,
whether I, or they
, so we preach, and you have
believed
" (
1 Corinthians 15:10-11
).
This definiteness and uniformity of content in the
Apostolic
message, and this sense of responsibility in regard to its
character
, is still more strikingly emphasized by the same
Apostle
in the
next Epistle
, wherein, rebuking the
Galatians
for giving heed to
innovators
"who would pervert the
Gospel of Christ
", he exclaims: 'Yet, though we ourselves or an
angel
from
heaven
preach a
gospel
other than that we have preached to you, let him be
accursed
" (
Galatians 1:7, 8
). There is no trace here of uncertainty or
ignorance
as to what Christianity meant, or of any tentative groping in search of
truth
. Even then, when
theological science
was in its infancy, we find the
Apostle
exhorting
Timothy
to keep to the very phrases in which he has received the
Faith
, "the form of sound words", avoiding "profane novelties of expression" (
1 Timothy 6:20
2 Timothy 1:13
). Once again "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the
traditions
which you have learned, whether by word or by our
epistle
" (
2 Thessalonians 2:14
). And those
traditions
were directly communicated by
Christ
Himself to His
Apostle
, as he tells us in many passages — "For I have received of the
Lord
that which also I delivered unto you" (
1 Corinthians 11:23
), and again "For I delivered unto you first of all what I received" (
1 Corinthians 15:3
).
Many
rationalists
have professed to discover in the
apostolic writings
various kinds of Christianity mutually antagonistic and all alike illegitimate developments of the original Gospel. We have
Pauline
, Petrine,
Joannine
Christianity, as distinguished from the Christianity of
Christ
. But those theories which ignore
Catholic tradition
and
supernatural
guidance, and rest on the
written records
alone, are gradually being abandoned, helped to their disappearance by the critics themselves, who have little respect for each others' hypotheses. We may take the
Apostolic
messages as one self-consistent whole, any apparent discrepancies or want of coherence being amply accounted for by the different circumstances of their deliverance.
This preaching, therefore, reduced to its simplest form, was: The
Resurrection of Christ
as a
proof
of His Divinity and
Incarnation
, a guarantee of His teaching and a pledge of
man's
salvation
On the historic fact of the
Resurrection
the whole of Christianity is based. If He was not truly slain,
Christ
cannot have been
man
; if he did not
rise again
, He cannot have been
God
St. Paul
does not hesitate to stake everything on the
truth
of this fact: If
Christ
be not
risen again
, then is our preaching vain, and your
faith
also is vain. Yea, and we are found
false
witnesses
of
God
" (
1 Corinthians 15:14-15
). Consequently,
God's providence
has so arranged matters that the
proofs
of
Christ's Resurrection
place the fact beyond all reasonable
doubt
But if
St. Paul
is so emphatic about the foundation of the Christian
Faith
, he is also careful to erect the edifice upon it. It is to him that we owe the statement of the
doctrine
of grace, that wonderful
gift of God
to
regenerate
man
Christ
had already taught, in the allegory of the vine and the branches (
John 15:1-17
), that there can be no salutary action on the part of the
faithful
without vital communication with Him. This great
truth
is expanded in many passages by
St. Paul
Philippians 2:13
Romans 8:9-11
1 Corinthians 15:10
2 Corinthians 3:5
Galatians 4:5-
6) wherein
regenerate
man
learns that he is
God's
adopted son and united with Him by the indwelling of His
Holy Spirit
. This
privilege
is what
man
gains by
Christ's redemption
, the benefits of which are applied to his
soul
by
baptism
and other
sacraments
. And
St. Paul
is not only the chief exponent of this
doctrine
, but he alone of the
Apostles
promulgates anew the
mystery
of the Blessed Eucharist, the principal fountain of grace (
1 Corinthians 11:23, 24
; cf.
John 4:13-14
).
We need not pursue farther the development of
doctrine
amongst the
Apostles
. The Christianity they preached was received from
Christ
Himself, and His Spirit prevented them from misconceiving or misinterpreting it. On the strength of His commission they insisted on the obedience of
faith
, they
denounced
heresy
, and with skill, incredible had it not been Divine, they preserved the
truth
committed to them in the midst of a perverse, subtle and corrupt civilization. That same Divine skill has remained with Christianity ever since;
heresy
after
heresy
has attacked the
Faith
and been defeated, leaving the fortress all the more impregnable for its onset. The Christianity we profess today is the Christianity of
Christ
and His
Apostles
. Just as they were more explicit than He in its verbal formulation, so the
Apostolic Church
has ever since laboured to express more and more clearly the treasures of
doctrine
originally committed to her charge. In a sense, we may
believe
more than our first Christian ancestors, inasmuch as we have a more complete
knowledge
of the contents of our
Faith
; in a sense, they
believed
all that we do, for they accepted as we the principle of a Divinely-commissioned teaching authority, to whose
dogmatic
utterances they were ever prepared to give assent. The same essential oneness of
faith
and the same variety in its content for the
individual
exist side by side in the
Church
today. The trained
theologian
, deeply versed in the wonders of
revelation
, and the young or the uneducated who
know
explicitly little more than the bare essentials of Christianity, knowing the
One True God
, and
Jesus Christ
whom He hath sent,
believing
in the
Incarnation
, the Atonement, the
Church
, are equally Christians, equally possessed of the integrity of
faith
The divine purpose in Christianity
It remains now to set forth, as far as we can determine it from the
sacred records
and from the course of history itself, the purpose of
God
in establishing Christianity. We gather that the Divine founder meant Christianity to be (1) a universal religion, (2) a perfect religion, (3) a visibly organized religion.
Universality includes both space and time
As regards
space
, we see that Christianity is intended for the whole world
from the
prophecies
that foreshadowed it in the
Old Testament
. Among these were the promises made to
Abraham
and his descendants, the constantly recurring note of which is that in them "all the nations of the earth shall be
blessed
".
From the plainly expressed purpose of
Christ
Himself, who, while proclaiming that His personal mission concerned only the "lost sheep of the
House of Israel
" (
Matthew 15:24
), announced the future extension of His
Kingdom
: "Other sheep I have who are not of this fold" (
John 10:16
); "Many from the east and the west shall come and shall recline with
Abraham
Isaac
, and
Jacob
in the
kingdom of heaven
Matthew 8:11
); "And this Gospel of the
Kingdom
shall be preached throughout the whole world in testimony to all
nations
" (
Matthew 28:19
).
From the actual conduct of the
Apostles
, who, though they required the special inspiration of the
Holy Spirit
to bring home to them the practical bearing of this commission, did finally leave the
synagogue
and proclaim the
Faith
to all without distinction of race or country.
The universality of Christianity, in
time
as well as
space
, is implied in
Christ's
promise, "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world" (
Matthew 28:20
). It follows, furthermore, from the next element in
God's
purpose to be considered.
Christianity is meant to be a perfect religion
A priori, we should expect that a religious system which was revealed and instituted, not by a
prophet
or even an
angel
, but by the personal action of
God
Himself, and was designed, moreover, to supplant an imperfect and provisional form of religion, would lack nothing of possible perfection in end or means.
Christ's
own teaching satisfied this expectation, and precludes the notion entertained by some early
heretics
, and still alive in the
minds
of
men
, of a fuller and more perfect
revelation
to come.
First of all, He, its Founder, is
God
, and therefore had all the
knowledge
and all the power requisite to establish a perfect religion.
Secondly, He promised His
Apostles
the abiding presence of the Spirit of Truth, who should teach them
all
truth
Thirdly, He promised that the
body
enshrining this deposit should never be vitiated by
error
— "The gates of
hell
shall not prevail against it" (
Matthew 16:18
; cf.
Ephesians 5:27
).
Fourthly, the same
truth
is insinuated by
St. Paul's
words: "
God
, who at sundry times . . .
last of all
. . .hath spoken to us by His Son" (
Hebrews 1:1
), and by the expression,
the fulness of
time
, used in
Galatians 4:4
, to indicate the epoch of the
Incarnation
Fifthly, by the
character
of the Christian
revelation
itself and the Christian
ethical
ideal which is the imitation of
Christ
, the Perfect Being. No possible development of
mankind
can be thought of which should not find all that it needs in
Christ
We are compelled, therefore, to
believe
that the Christian
revelation
closed with the death of the last of
those originally commissioned to set it forth
. We are thus brought counter to a modern view regarding
revelation
which has lately been condemned as
heretical
by
Pius X
(Encyclical, "Pascendi Gregis", Sept., 1907). It is to the effect that
revelation
is nothing external, but a clearer and closer apprehension of things Divine by the Christian
consciousness
, which in each particular age is the expression of the experience of the best men of that age. Consequently,
revelation
grows, like a material organism, by waste and renewed supply, and therefore what is
truth
for one age maybe quite different from what is
truth
for another. The
error
which has these developments is ultimately
philosophical
, being based on the
false
assumption that the finite
mind
can
know
only the phenomenal and can have no
certainty
of what is beyond experience. Were that so, any external
revelation
would be impossible, for its guarantees —
miracle
and
prophecy
— could not be grasped by
human
intelligence
. These
errors
were long ago exposed and condemned by the
Vatican Council
. The most casual glance at the history of Christianity shows that there has been development of
doctrine
; the
Creed
grew only gradually; but that development is merely
logical
, produced by
analysis
of the content of the original deposit. (See DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE.)
God intended, in the third place, that Christianity should be a visible organization
Christ
established a
Church
and, in a variety of
parables
, sketched many of the features of its character and history, all of which point to something external and perceptible by the senses. It is the "house built upon a rock" (
Matthew 7:24
), showing the security and permanence of its foundation, and "the city set upon a hill" (
Matthew 5:14
) indicating its visibility. Its
doctrine
works in the three great races descended from
Noe's
sons like the leaven hidden in three measures of meal, silently, irresistibly (
Matthew 13:33
). It grows great from humble beginnings, like the mustard seed (
Luke 13:19
). It is a vineyard, a sheep-fold, and finally a kingdom, all of which images are unintelligible if the bond that unites Christians is merely the invisible bond of charity.
The old distinction between the body and
soul
of the
Church
is useful to prevent confusion of
ideas
. Christian
baptism
constitutes membership in the Visible
Church
; the state of grace, membership in the Invisible. It is obvious that one membership does not necessarily connote the other. Some of these
parables
apply only to the
Church
fully developed, and so they indicate
Christ's
ultimate purpose. History shows us that, in establishing Christianity as an institution, He was content that on its human side its organization should be subject to the same
laws
of growth and development as other
human
institutions. He did not give His
Apostles
a draft scheme of the
Church's
constitution beforehand, to be worked out in the course of ages, prescribing the various stages of progress, and indicating the final term. But the organization which existed in germ in the
consecrated
hierarchy
of the
apostles
was left to unfold itself under the guidance of the abiding Spirit, according to the needs of
time
and place. The presence of the
Holy Ghost
and
Christ's
promise
sufficiently guarantee that the result, however obtained, is in accordance with the original design. It may well be that the development was very largely natural, modelled, first of all, on the
synagogue
, and then on the existing
civil government
; its progress may have been hastened or retarded by the
passions
of
individuals
, but any account of it that ignores the directing finger of Providence cannot be
true
This, then, is Christianity, a
supernatural
religion and the only absolute one; in a sense (developed in the
Epistle to the Hebrews
), the oldest, for the
Church
is not an afterthought, but instituted by
God
in the fullness of
time
, and containing a
revelation
of Himself, which all to whom it has been adequately presented are bound under pain of
eternal loss
to accept (
Mark 16:16
), offering to all, who are sincere in seeking, the solution of all the world's problems; enabling
human
nature
to rise to the sublimest heights and "to play the
immortal
"; full itself of
mysteries
and Divine paradoxes, as bringing the
Infinite
into contact with the finite; the one bond of civilization, the one condition of progress, the one
hope
of
humanity
. Its fortunes have been the fortunes of its
Founder
; "not all
obey
the
gospel
" (
Romans 10:16
). The
Jews
rejected
Christ
in spite of the evidence of
prophecy
and
miracle
; the world rejects the
Church of Christ
, the "city set upon a hill", conspicuous though she be through the notes that proclaim her Divine. What
men
call the failure of Christianity is no
proof
that it is not
God's
final
revelation
. It only makes evident how real is human
liberty
and how grave human responsibility. Christianity is furnished with all the
necessary
evidence to create conviction of its
truth
, given goodwill. — "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear".
Sources
Christianity is best studied in the New testament Scriptures, authenticated and interpreted by the Church of Christ: of the uninspired literature on the subject only a small selection can be given.
CATHOLIC. — A. WEISS, Apologie des Christenthums (3rd ed., Freiburg, 1894-8) (also in Fench tr.); COURBET, Introduction scientifique â la foi chrétienne; Superiorité du Christianisme (Paris, 1902); DE BROGLIE, Problemes et conclusions de l'histoire des religions (4th ed., Paris, 1904); LINGENS, Die innere Schönheit des Christenthums (Freiburg, 1895); TURMEL, Histoire de la théologie positive (Paris, 1904); SCHANZ, A Christian Apology (Eng., tr., Dublin, 1891-2); NEWMAN, Grammar of Assent; IDEM, Development of Christian Doctrine; DUCHESNE, Histoire ancienne de l'Église (Paris, 1906); LILLY, The Claims of Christianity (London, 1894); DEVAS, The Key to the World's Progress (London, 1906); HETTINGER, Apologie des Chrisenthums (9th ed., Freigburg, 1906); SEMERIA, Dogma, Gerarchia e Culto nella Chiesa primitiva (Rome, 1902); CHATEAUBRIAND, Génie du Christianisme (Eng. Tr., Baltimore, 1856); C. PESCH, Articles in Stimmen aus Maria-Laach, Vol. LX, 1901.
NON-CATHOLIC. — HARNACK, Das Wesen des Christenthums (Eng. Tr., London, 1901); IDEM, The History of Dogma; PFLEIDERER, Christian Origins (London, 1906); PULLAN, History of Early Christianity (London, 1898); W. M. RAMSAY, The Church in the Roman Empire (London and New York, 1893); LOWRIE, The Church and Its Organization; the Primitive Age (London, 1904); WEIZACKER, The Apostolic Age (London, 1897); JOSEPH BUTLER, Analogy of Religion in Works, Vol. I, ed. GLADSTONE (Oxzford, 1896); WACE, Christianity and Agnosticism (London, 1904).
About this page
APA citation.
Keating, J.
(1908).
Christianity.
In
The Catholic Encyclopedia.
New York: Robert Appleton Company.
MLA citation.
Keating, Joseph.
"Christianity."
The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Vol. 3.
New York: Robert Appleton Company,
1908.
.
Transcription.
This article was transcribed for New Advent by Theodore L.P. Rego.
Dedicated to my religious brother Fr. John Baptist de Rossi Rego, S.J.; and religious sisters, Sr. Dolores Rego, F.M.M.; and Sr. Mirabelle, A.C.
Ecclesiastical approbation.
Nihil Obstat.
November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.
Imprimatur.
+John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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