24. XXII. The Idea of Growth and Development in the Teaching of Paul

XXII. The Idea of Growth and Development in the Teaching of Paul A close parallel to the triple expression “from and through and to faith,” is found in Romans 11:36. There, immediately after the highly emotional sentence regarding the counsel of God, which is so immeasurably beyond the comprehension of man, Paul ends the brief paragraph with a measured and rhythmical phrase, “of Him, and through Him, and unto Him (With a view to Him:εἰςfollowing after and balancingἐξandδιὰ.) are all things,” which may be roughly paraphrased as an assertion that the entire universe originates from God, and its existence (i.e. its order and evolution) continues by means of God, and its development culminates in the attaining (i.e. the re-attaining) to God, Just as the whole universe comes from God, and exists through Him, and with a view to Him, so faith (which is the working of the spirit of God in man) is the originating and maintaining and consummating force in the reconciling of man to God. This is a glorified form of the ancient Anatolian thought which was latent in the paganism of Western Asia.

Paul raises to an infinitely higher level the beautiful old idea that all men — and especially the chiefs and heroes — come from the Great Mother, all are nourished and instructed and guided and advised by her, and all return to her kindly bosom at death — the Great Mother being the mother earth. A touch of the enthusiasm which characterised the pagan votaries of the goddess lingers in the almost lyrical character of Paul’s loftier utterance. As we read a paragraph like this, we feel that it is not necessary to regard the even more markedly rhythmical and lyrical phrases of 1 Timothy 3:16, or Ephesians 5:13-14, as fragments of contemporary hymns quoted by Paul: they may with equal reason be looked upon as examples of the lyrical expression to which the Apostle rose in moments of emotional and mystic enthusiasm.

The righteousness, then, which man possesses is a process of growth towards the supreme righteousness of God. It is the young tree which will grow into the consummation and the perfect form: it is the seed which will produce that fruit. This thought of growth or development is always present in Paul’s mind, when he speaks of the righteousness which is attributed to, or set to the account of, (λογίζομαιis a metaphor from the keeping of accounts, a metaphor which is more characteristic of the Roman than of the Greek thought and writers.

It is also perhaps characteristic of the Jewish mind.) man. Hence, in interpreting his thought to his audiences in the Greek and Graeco-Asiatic cities, he frequently has recourse to the metaphor of growth culminating in the production of fruit. So in Php 1:11, “being filled with the fruit of righteousness, which is through Jesus Christ”.

So again in Colossians 1:9-10, “that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will . . . bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God”. Here comes in the apparent self-contradiction which is involved in the idea of development, on the one hand “filled with the knowledge of God’s will,” and yet on the other hand still “increasing in the knowledge of God,” — for the knowledge of His will is the knowledge of Him and of His nature and work.

So also in Ephesians 5:8-11, “the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,” whereas “the works of darkness” are unfruitful. By this Paul means that there results from the “works of darkness” no good fruit, no progress towards God, but only degeneration and evil. Sin is not inactive.

It is as real and vigorous, according to Paul’s ideas, as righteousness. It is just as dangerous as righteousness is beneficent. In accordance with this governing thought Paul twice speaks of those who gain salvation as “in process of being saved” (σωζόμενοι).

Similarly the lost are often called ἀπολύμενοι, who are in process of perishing. In the latter case the idea of a still incomplete process is more often marked by the tense than in the former. The lost may always turn towards salvation; there is always offered to them the opportunity of changing and returning to God; but Paul calls the saved just as frequently “those who have been saved “as” who are in process of being saved”.

(σεσθσμενοι,Ephesians 2:5;Ephesians 2:8;σωζόμενοι,1 Corinthians 1:18,2 Corinthians 2:15(compare alsoActs 2:47).) There is in the double description of those who are saved the same apparent contradiction of completed and uncompleted process about which we have already spoken. Those who have entered on the process of salvation rarely turn back: those who have put their hand to the plough do not often withdraw it: to begin the process of salvation is itself salvation. On the contrary, those who are in the process of ruin may always return.

In 2 Corinthians 3:18 the life of the saved is described as a continuous process of transformation from one stage of glory to another. Each step forward in the path towards righteousness attains a higher level and glory; and this new stage in turns becomes a mere stepping-stone to attain the glory beyond and above. That this idea of growing, or developing, or being perfected, is implicated in all the teaching of Paul, as it appeals to us at the present day, must be presumed.

Men of the modern spirit, in whom this idea is the mould for all their thought, must find Paul incomprehensible, unless they recognise that all his thought bears the same form. The good life is a process of perfecting (τελείωσις). No word in Paul is more lucid or more typical of his teaching than this.

The meaning of the term τελείωσις is clearly explained in Romans 8:29. It is a process of transformation into the likeness or image of Christ, so that men may be His brothers, and He may be the eldest of many brethren. They begin by being actually unlike Him, though having the potentiality of becoming like Him; they end by being like Him.

Such are the first and the final terms in this process. The process itself is defined in the words just quoted from 2 Corinthians 3:18; it is a series of stages in the gradual growth of what Paul names “glory,” i.e. the glory, the splendour, the nature of God. In 1 John 3:2 the two terms of the process are defined thus: “Now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be.

We know that, if He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him even as He is.” The apparent inconsistency between Paul’s statement in Romans 8:29 (that the process ends in our becoming children of God, and brothers of Christ, with the likeness of brothers to one another), and John’s statement that we are now children of God, is merely another example of what constantly appears when we contemplate the process of growth as Paul describes it. We are in a sense what we are growing to be: we have attained because we shall attain: we possess the righteousness of God because we are developing towards it: our nature is perfected because it is in the process of being perfected: we are the children of God in so far as we are making ourselves His children.