within the lifetime of his disciples; (3) He conceived of its beginnings, compared with its ultimate extent, as like the smallest seed relative to the greatest herb, as like the leaven to the lump; (4) He gave no precise definitions as to the bounds of the kingdom, save as these are suggested by "from the east and west, and from the north and south;" (5) He opposed clearly and strongly the eschatological and catastrophic conceptions of the kingdom held by John the Baptist and his contemporaries; (6) He treated as wholly chimerical the other current conception, namely, that the kingdom would be ushered in through a universal repentance resulting from some prophetic message and activity; (7) Jesus forecast two most significant historical developments as destined to have their realization within the generation, (a) the destruction of Jerusalem, (b) the widespread growth of the kingdom; (8) Incidental to his treatment of the former, he endeavored to forewarn his disciples against messianic claimants in the time of the war by a sketch of the day of the Son of man which gave denial to all future specious promises by these claimants, but professed complete ignorance of the time of that “day;" (9) His disciples neglected to observe his distinction, and held and reported that the day of the Son of man, following immediately upon the destruction of Jerusalem, was that which he promised within the generation; (10) They seem also to have identified "the day of the Son of man" and "the kingdom of God," consequently the forecast of the growth of the kingdom was interpreted as the promise of "the Son of man coming in his kingdom;" (11) It is apparently to this double confusion by the early disciples that there are to be traced the modifications in, and additions to, and shifting of documentary location for, the original sayings of Jesus which have been found at so many points in the records, and have been brought, in part, under summary review here and there in the present chapter. х CHAPTER VIII THE CHURCH AND ITS INSTITUTIONS §1. The Foundation Rock of the Church §2. The Stablisher of the Brethren §3. Judicial Activities of the Church §4. The Institution of the Supper $5. Physical Immunity in the Mission §6. The Extent of the Mission CHAPTER VIII THE CHURCH AND ITS INSTITUTIONS §1. THE FOUNDATION ROCK OF THE CHURCH GOSPEL MT 16:13-20 A Now when Jesus came into the parts of Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of man is? And they said, Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah: and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But who say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. B C And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in hea ven. Then charged he the disciples that they should tell no man that he was the Christ. The evangelist Matthew did not derive the portion B from document MK, it seems. From whence does that portion come? Since it stands as an integral part of the narrative, unintelligible apart from the occasion to which it is assigned, it can hardly be supposed to have had an independent transmission as a part of some other document. There is no evidence that some other document contained the whole of the above paragraph, for portion B is the sole contribution from sources other than document MK. Both preceding and following the above paragraph, for some distance in both directions, Matthew is debtor to document MK alone. Therefore, if portion B was inserted by the evangelist from a document, it seems necessary to hold that this portion had transmission as an independent integer. That inference seems excluded, however, by the fact, already observed, that only as a part of a larger whole, that is, in conjunction with a narrative of its occasion, can it be supposed that portion B would be handed down. Document M as a document of the sayings of Jesus might, indeed, be regarded as the possible source for portion B,' were B intelligible in isolation, on the one hand; or, on the other, were there in other portions of the paragraph or contiguous to it in gospel MT some evidences that Matthew was debtor to some source other than document MK. In the entire absence of support for such a supposition, one might surmise that Matthew, or some subsequent editor, drew from some extraordinary source outside his four documents G, MK, P, and M. The value of such outside source may be determined by a study of the content of portion B. Against accepting the above portion B as from Jesus himself there stand the following considerations: 1. The weighty fact that its thought is apparently in direct opposition to the teaching of Jesus about recognition, and rank, and power-a phase of his thought concerning which he has given a wealth of teaching probably exceeding in volume his instructions on any other single feature of his mode of view.2 2. It is in line with the known historical development of the Christian community, a development grounded in human ambition, and assured without any commendatory word from Jesus, even, indeed, in spite of many condemnatory words. 3. It introduces a designation of the Christian community (ékkλnoía, church), and a mode of viewing it as an organization, which appears only once elsewhere in the gospels, and that in a passage which itself, on other grounds, must be submitted to closest scrutiny, gospel MT 18:17.3 4. It announces a definite assignment of rank among the disciples, a problem which the later developments during the life of Jesus show to have been an open question to the end, one which Jesus refused to settle. Such is the assignment made by Professor Burton in his monograph on the Synoptic Problem. 2 Document MK 9:33-35; 10:35-45; document M §27 (Matt. 23:8-12); document M §21; document P §56. 3 See 83 of the present chapter. 5. It passes beyond assignment of rank, even to endowment with prerogative (Matt. 16:19), by which it so centralizes the most fundamental function of the messengers of a gospel that either evangelical activity is confined to an individual, or an elaborately articulated organization is assumed, throughout the ranks of which there is only delegated authority. Either assumption is extremely difficult in view of the body of Jesus' teaching. 6. Jesus is represented here as assuming an authority in the disposal of place "I will give unto thee"-which elsewhere and later he disclaims for himself, and asserts to be lodged in the Father. Its exercise, even with the Father, belongs to the era of the consummated kingdom, document MK 10:39, 40. 7. It assumes a well-defined religious organization, against which, as such, there is directed a powerful and threatening opposition of a violent and virulent type. Jesus himself spoke of the persecutions which his followers would surely suffer; but nowhere in these references is there the sense of an attack upon a unified body. They exhibit rather the solicitude of a shepherd for his flock. 8. There is a confusion of certain terms by their being treated in the passage as synonymous. It introduces a new term, “church,” which it identifies with "kingdom of heaven," and that in turn with "heaven." The first is apparently foreign to Jesus; the second and third are of his usage, but are kept distinct in his teaching, his favorite phrase, “kingdom of heaven (God)," never becoming an equivalent of the broad term "heaven." This blurring of distinctions arises usually when terms pass from an original spirit who has vitalized them to a body of followers who repeat them. 9. The crystallization at Caesarea Philippi of the convictions of the disciples, through expression, marked an epoch in their relations to Jesus, as is testified by the immediate turn the history took, document MK 8:31-37. That under such circumstances, and as an introduction to an assignment of transcendent importance, Jesus should have played upon words (TérрOS . . . . πÉτρа) seems credible only if all else in the context forces the conclusion of its truth. 10. There is an exchange of estimates between Jesus and Peter ("Thou art the Christ. . . . And I in turn (way) say unto thee that, |