17-Chapter 2. The Apostle To The Nations
Chapter 2. The Apostle To The Nations
Paul was of special significance for the call of the church. Granting fully the work of the others, from the point of view of the general history of the church he was “the first after the One.” Jesus was “the One,” He who laid the foundation, incomparable, unsurpassable. Paul was “the first,” the herald (1 Timothy 2:7) the chief pioneer of the gospel in the world of the nations, the first in eminence in the great, far-reaching area of the peoples.
[1] His Commission as a Preacher of the Gospel.
Four external marks are the special characteristics of his apostolic activity.
1. Paul was a herald to the Gentiles. This he was in harmonious distinction from the apostles to the circumcision (Galatians 2:7-10; Acts 15:1-41). To him in an especial manner it had been given “to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ among the nation” (Ephesians 3:8; Ephesians 3:1; Colossians 1:25; Colossians 1:27; 1 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:11). Therefore the “to me” (Gk. emoi) in Ephesians 3:8; “to me was this favour given to preach unto the Gentiles,” stressed and made emphatic by being placed at the beginning of the sentence.
2. Paul was a pioneer. As such it was his to introduce the message of salvation into ever new lands. Therefore he went principally to regions where the gospel had not before been made known (Romans 15:20). The further carrying of the gospel in the regions where he had worked he left to the newly-won believers. His own task was to form centres of light, that is missionary-minded local churches, mostly in the chief cities. Thus Philippi was the “chief city” in Macedonia (Acts 16:12), Corinth that of Achaia, Athens the chief intellectual centre of Greece, Ephesus the chief city of western Asia Minor, Rome that of the whole world. From these centres, the light of the gospel was to shine forth in the surrounding districts (1 Thessalonians 1:8). When such a centre had been formed Paul went further. In such a land Paul had “no more room” (Romans 15:23), though hundreds of thousands of heathen dwelled around, but there he had “fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ” (Romans 15:19). For him anything else would be “building on another man’s foundation” (Romans 15:20). Paul travelled some 15,000 miles at least.
3. Paul was a messenger to great cities. The centres of his activities were the great centres of Greek culture. This is sufficiently proved by the names Antioch, Troas, Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus. Therefore also his endeavour to reach Rome, “the gathering of the whole earth,” the metropolis of the world (Romans 1:11; Romans 1:13; Romans 15:23). This also accounts for his use of figures of speech from the civilized life of great cities. Jesus preached mostly in the open air, to peasants and villagers, and used figures of speech from the countryside; but Paul, teaching mostly in great cities, used in decided measure figures of speech from the culture of cities. Not only will he be in general “to the Jews a Jew and to the Greeks a Greek” (1 Corinthians 9:20-21), but also quite specially will he be to the city dwellers a city man. Jesus speaks more of the birds of the heaven, the lilies of the field, of shepherds, sowers, and the harvest field, but Paul more of the acquittal by the judge, the remitting of the debtor’s debt, the armour of the soldier (Ephesians 6:13-17), the order of the commanding officer (1 Thessalonians 4:10), indeed, he draws his comparisons from even the world of sport and the theatre (Php 3:14). Everything shall help him to make the gospel clear to the people of the cities and to reach their hearts.
Most of his pictures he draws from the law court, the barracks and the sports’ ground, and so employs technical legal, military, and sporting terms. His central and chief figurative expressions are drawn from the courtroom and the house of business. He had also an open eye for the world outlook, the poetry and philosophy of his non-Christian surroundings, and for the local details of religion and culture (Acts 17:16-29). To the Athenians he spoke of “their” altar, to the Corinthians of the Isthmian games held near their city (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). Paul was no unpractical student of books, a stranger to the world, an abstract “theologian,” who spoke to his hearers in incomprehensible scholastic jargon or unctious pulpit tones and thereby spoke over their heads: but he was for his age a thoroughly modern man, a man of a great city (Tarsus, Acts 21:39), for the great city, a practical man, who united in himself these two features—he was sanctified yet open to the world, joined to eternity yet near to the present.
4. Paul was a messenger to seaports. If one looks more narrowly at these large cities, and especially at their geographical situation and significance, on perceives that “the world of the apostle is to be sought chiefly where the sea wind blows.” His gospel activity embraced particularly the Aegean Seas with the seaports which lie around it. There, or at least in the neighbourhood, lay the great commercial harbours of Troas, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, and Ephesus. Moreover, Antioch and Rome were ports through their harbours Seleucia and Ostia. The reason for this method was obvious in a threefold advantage.
Seaports could be reached more easily than the provincial cities far inland. By sea one made swifter and safer progress than by the roads, which were indeed well-built, but where travel was slower and often not free from danger, as is indicated in Paul’s own words, “in perils from rivers in perils from robbers” (2 Corinthians 11:26). Whereas, according to Pliny, one came from Spain to Ostia in four days, and from Africa in two days. There was a daily service between Alexandria and Asia Minor.
Then Greek was the language of world intercourse and had spread far more widely in harbour cities than in the rest of the world. For the pioneer preacher the time-consuming hindrance of learning languages was thereby eliminated and the conquering march of the gospel could advance with more than double speed.
Also, later, when the apostle had moved on, the gospel could spread more quickly from seaport churches than those lying more inland. Travelling merchants, visitors to harbours, seamen, and other travellers who during a sojourn in a seaport were laid hold of by the gospel could on their own account, as they journeyed further of on their return home, always be fresh pioneers of the saving message in ever new lands and regions of the world. By this means the number of “missionaries,” and the lands reached by them, increased, and were added to the workers and lands reached by the gigantic efforts of the apostle and the systematic sending out of the narrower circle of his fellow-labourers.
5. Paul’s missionary strategy. Thus Paul’s activities in the gospel could not have been planned in a more practical manner than they were. It is therefore just to speak of Paul’s “missionary strategy.” All is so systematic, so based on the principle of serving an end, so planned in advance for the swiftest and most extensive spreading of the gospel, that one cannot fail to see a deliberate plan which must have lain at the base of all the apostle’s movements. But with all this it was not Paul who planned but the Lord he served. Significant at once of this is the dream vision at Troas, through which the apostle, without personal impulse or self-dependent pondering, was called to Macedonia and Greece (Acts 16:8-11), so that now, on the ground of Divine direction not the East but the West—Japhetic Europe and the Western peoples in general—should be made the chief theatre of the wonders of the gospel. Indeed, it could have come to pass and did come to pass, that Paul had planned certain journeys, but “the Spirit of Jesus suffered it not” (Acts 16:6-7, twice), and Paul followed the Divine initiative. So that it is very just to speak of a missionary strategy in the life of Paul, but the strategy was not Paul’s but Christ’s, not of the ambassador 22 but of the Sender, not of the herald but of the Lord of the enterprise. Christ was the Leader, Paul the agent; Christ was the Director, Paul the traveller; Christ was the Commander, Paul the soldier (2 Timothy 2:3; 2 Timothy 4:2; 2 Corinthians 6:7; Ephesians 6:10-20).
Footnote 22: Acts 22:21; Acts 13:4; 1 Corinthians 1:17. Compare the “apostle,” from the Greek apostello I send, dispatch. 2 Corinthians 5:20. To these more outward marks of his gospel activities must be added the more inward characteristics of his teaching ministry.
[2] His Commission as a Teacher of the Church
1. The starting point of his systematic instruction lay in the chief event of the history of salvation. At the centre of this history stands Jesus Christ. Born in Israel (Romans 1:3) He was yet the Saviour of the world. In Him the promise to Abraham of blessing to all peoples reached fulfilment (Galatians 3:8-9). The preceding and intervening nationalism of the Old Testament revelation was broadened out through Christ and His work into the New Testament universal message of salvation. As the fulfilment of Old Testament sacrifices the cross is at once the abolition of the Levitical priesthood and law (Hebrews 10:10-14; Hebrews 7:11-18) and thereby the demolition of the wall of separation between Israel and the Gentiles (Ephesians 2:13-16). Salvation is now open to all.
Historically this world-embracing significance of the cross first came to light after Pentecost. The chief epoch-making event in this unfolding of Golgotha is the sending of Peter to Cornelius in Caesarea (Acts 10:1-48). For this reason it is given in the Biblical history the most detailed account of any event in the whole apostolic era. Here, for the first time a full Gentile is made to partake of the Holy Spirit, is baptized, and received into the church without any question of law or circumcision, that is without connexion with national Israel, but on the sole ground of his faith in the finished work of Christ. This is so vital that it must be further considered. The vision of Cornelius is narrated no less than three times (Acts 10:3-6; Acts 10:30-32; Acts 11:13-14) and the vision of Peter also is narrated twice (Acts 10:10-16; Acts 11:5-10) and mentioned a third time (Acts 10:28). The events themselves show a striking array of supernatural happenings: the vision of Cornelius, the triple vision of Peter, the Spirit’s encouragement of Peter after the vision (ver. 19), the outpouring of the Spirit (ver. 44), and the effect of the reception of the Spirit in the accompanying speaking with tongues (ver. 46). This all shows what great weight attaches to this event ; and the high significance the historian ascribes to it is shown by his detailed account.
It was in this way that what had been introduced in principle at Golgotha became for the first time historical reality (John 12:32; John 11:52; Ephesians 2:15-16). It was thereby declared that before God there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. The separate standing of Israel was thus set aside, and the church, as consisting of former Jews and Gentiles, was established. The vision of Peter in Joppa and his being sent to Cornelius in Caesarea are therefore the beginning of a new type of Christianity for all peoples, free from the law which type was now added to the original Jewish-Christian type as being of equal birth.
Thereby and at the same time there first appeared in its full extent the new fellowship in salvation, which is super-national, historical, universal, and inwardly and outwardly world-embracing. Here for the first time was manifested historically the principle that God makes no difference between Jew and Gentile (Acts 15:9), and grants to all believers from both groups,” the same gift” (Acts 11:17), in the “same manner” (Acts 15:11); or, to express it in Pauline language, that “the middle wall of partition,” which separated the two, God had now broken down (Ephesians 2:14). Thus the “mystery” which Paul discussed in Ephesians 2:1-22; Ephesians 3:1-21 (especially 2:13-3:6) was not first revealed to him but to Peter. As in Jerusalem Peter had opened the door of the heavenly kingdom to Jews (Acts 2:1-47), so had he at Caesarea to Gentiles (Acts 10:1-48; comp. Matthew 16:19). 23
Footnote 23: The “church” had definite existence before Paul. Only so could Luke apply the term to the pre-Pauline Christian community (Acts 8:1-3) or Paul himself confess that he had persecuted “the church” (Php 3:6; Galatians 1:13; comp. 1 Corinthians 15:9). In Ephesians 3:3, Paul does not assert that he was the first to whom the mystery of the church had been made known. He says only that the secret counsel that there is no difference in the church between Jew and Gentile, and the equal rights of believing Gentiles and believing Jews had not been made known in the time (not before him personally, but in general) before his generation, as it had now been revealed to “the holy apostles and prophets through the Spirit.” The plural “apostles and prophets” is to be noted as implying that the revelation was not to Paul alone, and it was made to them “through the Spirit,” not first by the agency of Paul (ver. 5). The “as it has now been revealed” may indeed suggest that this mystery had been hinted at in the Old Testament, but under veiled forms or types, and only now was properly revealed.
What Paul does declare is that he had received this mystery by “revelation” (ver. 3). But he says no word as to the sequence of these Divine revelations or the question of priority of reception. The emphasis of ver. 3 does not lie on “me” but on “revelation”. He does not use here the emphatic Greek emoi, but the unemphatic moi, and he places it (in the original text), not at the head of the sentence, but appends it as unaccented. On the contrary, to stress the word “revelation” he places it early in the sentence: “according to revelation was made known to me the mystery,” Here (as in Galatians 1:12) he does not wish to declare any priority of time for himself or that the revelation was given to him exclusively, but only that he stood alone in the matter independently of man. Not till Ephesians 3:8, does he use the emphatic emoi and place it at the head of the sentence. But there he is not dealing with the first reception of the mystery but with his proclamation of it among the nations. This, of course, was then in fact the special task of Paul. He was the chief herald of the gospel to the peoples of the world.
[If one says: “I received this information from Mr. Jones himself,” this does not assert that Mr. Jones had not formerly mentioned the matter to others. Trans.] The setting forth and expanding of this mystery, together with the dependent and newly arisen basic questions connected with its place in salvation’s history, was the special task of Paul as a teacher. In addition to this there were given to him further detail revelations as to the nature and completion of this church. Almost the whole of what is peculiar to the doctrine Paul proclaimed is derived from this source.
So, then, Paul was not indeed the first to whom this mystery of the church, in its New Testament composition and structure, was made known. Nevertheless, later, independently of men and of all that preceded, it was imparted to him, by the Lord Himself, by special revelation (Galatians 1:11-12; Ephesians 3:3 ff.). This was necessary for the sake of the independence of his service and the authenticity of his apostleship to the Gentiles (comp. Galatians 1:11-24). As a result, under the leading of the Spirit, he has described this new and great truth, and its essential implications, with a width and depth beyond all others before, with, or after him, and in this sense he is not only the chief herald of Jesus Christ to the peoples, but the chief teacher and prophet for the church. But this does not mean that Paul stood on different dispensational ground from the other apostles. There are not in the church two messages of salvation and doctrine, one a Jewish-Christian to be distinguished in content from another, a Gentile-Christian (comp. Galatians 1:9-10; Acts 15:9; Acts 11:17), but all the apostles set forth the same New testament truth. The distinctions lie only in their fields of work (Galatians 2:7-10), in the form and manner in which they deliver their message, conditioned by their personalities (causing for example, a difference in outlook, style, and use of Biblical figures of speech), and in the depth and breadth divided to each according to the measure of the gift of Christ. It was in precisely the last matter that Paul was specially graced. The high significance of Paul in proclaiming the New Testament teaching is shown also by the great space which his and his fellow-workers’ writings have in the New Testament. Paul’s circle—that is, in this case, Paul, Luke, and the writer to the Hebrews—wrote rather more than half the New Testament, and Paul himself a quarter. 24
Footnote 24: More exactly 56 per cent, Paul 24 per cent. Luke, who was at the same time the author of the Acts (Acts 1:1; comp. Luke 1:1-4), was a close and long-standing fellow-worker and fellow-traveller of Paul (Colossians 4:14; comp. further the “we” accounts in Acts 16:10; Acts 16:13; Acts 16:16; Acts 20:7 etc.). Style and contents show that Hebrews was not written by Paul personally, but it may well have been the work of one of his fellow-workers. Hebrews 13:23.
2. The Central Truths of Paul’s Letters. In the centre of the Pauline message stands Jesus Christ, and He as the Saviour crucified and risen. His atoning work on the cross extinguished our sins (Romans 3:25). His life in the glory is the spring of strength for our sanctification. His coming (parousia) and appearing (outshining, epiphany) is the goal of our expectation. Through repentance (Acts 17:30) and faith (Romans 1:16-17) the sinner enters His fellowship (Ephesians 3:17), is spiritually raised from the dead and made alive (Ephesians 2:5-6). The history of his Saviour is now his own history. He is crucified, buried, raised with Him, and is “set with Him in heavenly places” (Romans 6:1-23; Ephesians 2:6). Thus the redeemed man of the earth is “in heaven” (Php 3:20). A Christian is a “man in Christ” (2 Corinthians 12:2). The reverse also is true. Through the Spirit the Exalted One is present on earth in His own people (Galatians 2:20). “Christ for us” is “Christ in us” (Colossians 1:27). The juristic is at the same time organic. The One crucified is the One crowned in us. The Substitute is the Ruler. Jesus Christ is the LORD (kurios) (Romans 14:9).
Thus for Paul the cross is no bare fact of past history, but he always looks on the cross together with the resurrection. Without the resurrection the cross is for him powerless and empty, yea, collapse and overthrow; indeed, most catastrophic tragedy (1 Corinthians 15:14-19). He never asserted that he preached only the cross, not even in 1 Corinthians 2:2 (as to which passage see p. 42, n.), but that he brought to men the Crucified One. But he brought Him, indeed, as his sole theme; not an event, but a Person; not a point but an endless line; not purely as past but as One ever present, even Christ the Exalted, who even in the glory must be viewed in connexion with His experience of the cross (comp. Revelation 5:6). This is the Pauline theology of the cross. It moves on the plane of resurrection The darkness of death is seen in the sunlight of Easter morning.
Then this Sun streams out over all the world. Christ Himself had said: “If I am lifted up I will draw all to me” (John 12:32), that is, Jew and Gentile, without any distinction of nation. By this the door was opened for the world-wide mission of the gospel. Historically this took place publicly in the house of the wholly Gentile Cornelius (Acts 10:1-48). The law which divided was set aside as fulfilled.
Thus the setting aside of circumcision and the law was involved in principle in the redemptive work of Christ and in the revelation to Peter which led to the events in the house of Cornelius. But if since the time of Acts 10:1-48 the law and circumcision were no longer a condition for entering into salvation and its fellowship, then there arises of itself the great question: To what purpose is the law? Here it is Paul—and among all apostles and New Testament writers principally Paul—who has dealt with and explained doctrinally this practical problem created by Acts 10:1-48. The law as discloser of sin is a “tutor unto Christ” (Romans 3:20; Romans 7:7; Galatians 3:24), because it shows to the sinner his wickedness and helplessness and therefore the necessity of a Divine Redeemer. Therefore with His appearing it can disappear, and thus from the Old Testament purpose of the law follows the New Testament freedom from the law. Christ as the goal of the law is at the same time its end (Romans 10:4). This is the basic theme of the central passages in Romans and Galatians, especially Romans 1:1-32;Romans 2:1-29;Romans 3:1-31;Romans 4:1-25;Romans 5:1-21;Romans 6:1-23;Romans 7:1-25;Romans 8:1-39 (notably ch. 7) and Galations 2 to 4 (especially ch. 3). In the justification of Gentiles as practised since Acts 10:1-48, there lay further the actual setting aside of Israel as a nation. From now on in the history of salvation the Jew had no further precedence, and of necessity the question presents itself:
Has, then, God now repudiated His people? This also is dealt with by Paul and by him alone of New Testament writers; and he deals with it in precisely that central passage of Romans (at once history and prophecy, chs. 9,10,11), which in such unique manner enables us to look into God’s plans of world rule. God’s action is free; therefore Israel has no right to extort anything from Him (Romans 9:1-33). God’s action is just: therefore Israel, on account of its guilt, must bow to His judgment (Romans 10:1-21). God’s action brings blessing: therefore He turns Israel’s fall into salvation for the world, and at last into full salvation for Israel itself. He will receive back His people (Romans 11:1-36). See pp. 148 f. And if further, in principle through Golgotha and in practice by Acts 10:1-48, all human religious performances, as prerequisite to experiencing salvation, are done away, so that without any preceding worship of God ordered according to revelation, one completely heathen, solely through faith in Christ, can attain to salvation and the church, then at the same time the further question was broached as to: The value of all human religious deeds in general. And here also it was Paul, and again he in the first instance, who gave the answer. This consisted in his teaching of the freeness of grace, of justification without works of law, on the sole ground of the sacrifice of Christ, and through faith alone. This is the heart and centre of the whole Pauline message, the great general theme of Romans and Galatians. “We therefore now hold that a man becomes justified without works of law, through faith alone” (Romans 3:28). The manner in which Paul handles this question is determined for him by his fundamental attitude to religious Judaism. From this arises the seeming contradiction to James (Romans 3:28; comp. James 2:24). In reality it is not a case of contradiction but of harmonious contrast. This is to be explained by the differing development and leading of the lives of the two apostles. Paul, the former Pharisee, seeking then to be justified by works‚ looks on the work and teaching of Christ in their great contrast to Phariseeism, that is, to false Judaism; James, on the other hand, the brother of the Lord (Galatians 1:19), having grown up in the narrower circle of the family of Jesus, that is, in an environment of true Israelites without falsity, in the circle of the faithful remnant believing in the Messiah, sets forth the work and teaching of Christ as the perfecting of the true Judaism.
Hence, as to the doctrine of justification, Paul stresses its freedom from all dead, legalistic works. James, on the contrary, lifts into relief that, at the same time, true justification is a new life and therefore reveals itself in living works. Paul looks at the contrast to the false Judaism which he denies; James stresses the connexion with the true Judaism which he accepts. Therefore Paul speaks of freedom from the law but James of the law of freedom (James 2:25; James 2:12). But at bottom both emphasize the same truth; for Paul also speaks of the necessity of works of faith (Galatians 5:6; Titus 2:7; Titus 3:1; Titus 3:8; Titus 3:14 :1 Corinthians 7:19). In general, what Paul contrasts is not so much the carrying out of Old Testament legal regulations in themselves, but much rather the false motive for doing so. He contends against circumcision, sabbath observance, and the like, only if they are regarded as means of justification or sanctification, and so fall under the Pharisaic misuse of the law (Galatians 5:12; Colossians 2:16 ff.; comp. 1 Timothy 1:8). Otherwise the apostle left sabbath observance free (Romans 14:5), indeed himself circumcised Timothy (as being a national Jewish custom, Acts 16:3), and took upon himself certain sacrifices of the Levitical law (Acts 21:26; Acts 18:18), when his doing so had value as a means of winning souls (“on account of the Jews,” Acts 16:3; Acts 21:24; 1 Corinthians 9:20).
Finally: If both of these, Jew and Gentile, by indistinguishable equality of title, were established in sharing the same redemption, there arose of necessity the question of The nature of the new fellowship of salvation, especially of the fellowship of the redeemed to one another and the common relationship of the redeemed to their common Redeemer. And in this also Paul again is the chief teacher of the church. He describes this fellowship under the figure of a “body”: Christ is the “Head,” the redeemed are His “members.” Paul is the only New Testament writer who uses this picture of the “body of Christ.” He does this in Ephesians and Colossians, also in 1 Corinthians (especially ch. 12), as well as in individual passages elsewhere (e.g. Romans 12:4).
Thus in the history of salvation there arise out of Golgotha and the revelation to Peter at Joppa four great new fundamental questions— the purpose of the law, the setting aside and the hope of Israel, justification apart from works of law, and the organic oneness of the new fellowship in salvation; and in all of these questions Paul—and he quite alone of all New Testament writers—has become the chief teacher of the church. From which we perceive that all great basic questions in Paul’s letters, as outworkings of the cross of Christ, are rooted in the revelation given to Peter at Joppa. The revelations given to Paul are the explanation and the deepening of the revelation given to Peter on the basis of Golgotha. The coronation of this comes at the end. To the man to whom especially it was given to explain the beginning of the New Testament church it was now granted to foresee its completion. That belongs to Divine logic. Thus Paul becomes the prophet of the hope of the church. The resurrection of believers, the rapture of saints, the judgment seat of Christ, the transfiguration of His people, their coming spiritual body—these matters are all basic to the Christian hope, and concerning them we receive from no other New Testament writer such clear and detailed instruction as from Paul. This is the chief subject of both the epistles to the Thessalonians and the resurrection chapter, 1 Corinthians 15:1-58. By all this Paul becomes the prophet of salvation’s history. With a vision that includes millenniums and embraces peoples and times he surveys aeons and dispensations.
He speaks of the beginnings of sacred history, of Adam the ancestral father of mankind, the counterpart of Christ (Romans 5:1-21).
He speaks of the patriarchal age, of Abraham, the father and type of believers (Romans 4:1-25).
He indicates the meaning of the Mosaic economy, the millennium and a half of the Old Testament law (Romans 7:1-25; Galatians 3:1-29).
He speaks of “the fulness of the season” in which Christ appeared (Galatians 4:4), of His cross, His resurrection, His ascension to heaven, and His exaltation (Ephesians 1:20-21).
He teaches the principles of the church, its call and standing, with the glorifying of the redeemed and their being made manifest before Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10)
He foretells the coming of the Antichrist, his nature and his power, his victory and his overthrow (2 Thessalonians 2:1-17). And he awaits the appearing of the Lord and the setting up of His kingdom (2 Thessalonians 2:8; 1 Thessalonians 2:12). But beyond all this his glance passes finally into eternity, to Jerusalem above (Galatians 4:26), on to the consummation, to the dawn of the day of God, when “the Son Himself shall be subject to Him who has subjected all thing to him, so that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:28). But Christ is the radiant central Sun of the whole. Only in Him, the Living One, are all living springs open. The short phrase “in Christ,” which comes in his letters over 160 times, is the key and kernel of his whole experience of salvation and of his public teaching. For Him alone will he live. To Him alone he will testify, Him only he will proclaim as God’s greatest gift to the peoples of the world. That is his commission. As such he is the teacher of the nations the chief apostle to the church, the prophet of salvation’s history, the herald of Jesus Christ, the standard bearer of the coming King.
Section II—The Standing of the Church