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is entitled to share in the world's wealth who is not willing to work, and service to society constitutes his only valid claim to the possession of property. (5) Private property is a public trust to be administered for the best interests of society. (6) Society is under obligation to devise means so that each man who is willing to labour will have not only a living, but also an opportunity to contribute what he is able to the common wealth. (7) The rights of humanity are paramount to those of capital. (8) The cure of poverty is the elimination of its ultimate causes, moral and intellectual, as well as economic. (9) In the Christian social order the dominant principle is not selfish competition but fraternal co-operation which aims to promote the economic welfare of each individual, of each class, and of society as a whole. Competition has a place, even under the Golden Rule, but its motive is social rather than individualistic, its purpose is primarily to promote efficiency rather than merely to increase private wealth, and its benefits are shared by the entire community as well as by the capitalist and labourer.

JESUS' TEACHINGS REGARDING THE FAMILY

Jesus' Estimate of the Importance of the Family. Ordinarily Jesus had little to say about institutions. In this respect he stood in striking contrast to the contemporary leaders of his race, who were inclined to interpret religion in terms of institutionalism. It is evident that he saw the evils of this tendency and reacted strongly against it. As we have noted, he even refused to regard the Sabbath as an institution. In only one case did he depart from his usual rule. That exception was the family. With all the vehemence of deep conviction he sought to safeguard the family. There were many reasons why he gave this institution a central place in his teaching. In so doing he was but following the example of the earlier prophets, priests, and sages of his race. Through all the centuries the chief glory of Judaism has been its family life. Israel's entire social structure was built upon this institution as its chief corner-stone. Jesus recognised that, if this was imperfect or insecure, no stable social order could be established.

Jesus' own experience in his home at Nazareth had also revealed to him the social potentialities of a home in which the spirit of fraternity and loyalty prevailed. He paid the highest possible tribute to his own home life, for he expanded the idea of the family into his comprehensive social ideal of the kingdom of God. As a teacher he also appreciated the fact that it is only in the home that efficient social citizens can be trained. Here most naturally and effectively all that is finest and most significant in the inherited experience of the race can be not only imparted but also transmuted into character. Without the effective co-operation of the family it is impossible thoroughly to christianise society.

Jesus' Attitude toward Marriage. In view of these facts it was exceedingly unfortunate that the medieval church radically misinterpreted Jesus' conception of marriage, which is the foundation of all family life. It assumed that marriage was a concession to human weakness. Instead Jesus asserted, with the prophetic author of Genesis 224, that marriage is necessary to meet the innate social needs of man and that its obligations are supreme (Mt. 194, 5):

From the beginning God made mankind male and female. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

Jesus' encouragement of marriage among his followers, his interest in the home, and his love of children all evince his complete approval of this institution.

The one passage in the gospels which has been interpreted as indicating disapproval is not a command but an observation (Mt. 1912):

There are eunuchs who make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.

This is clearly but an appreciation of the fact that, as in the case of the prophet Jeremiah, of the apostle Paul, and of Jesus himself, there are tasks and circumstances in which the complete giving of one's time and thought and energy to a great cause are productive of the largest results. It is clear from the › context that in Jesus' mind such men represented not the general rule but signal exceptions.

Jesus' Attitude toward Divorce. Jesus' hearty approval of marriage is shown by the zeal with which he attacked the current tendency to make divorce easy. As has already been noted, it was one of Israel's malign social inheritances. The zeal of earlier prophets and lawgivers had not yet succeeded in rooting out this evil. Contemporary Pharisaism was rather tolerant toward divorce. If Jesus ever exposed himself to the charge of intolerance, it was in his treatment of this sensitive

JESUS' ATTITUDE TOWARD DIVORCE

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yet vital subject. With all his might he set himself against anything which threatened the integrity of the family. To the teaching of the ancient prophet in Genesis 225 he added the sweeping statement (Mt. 196):

What therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder.

This command is found in the oldest teaching source and is corroborated by the explicit testimony of the early Mark narrative (Mk. 1010-12):

Whoever shall divorce his wife and marry another commits adultery against her.

And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.

This teaching was in reply to a question raised by Jesus' Pharisaic opponents. They evidently expected him to speak as he did and hoped thereby to rouse the antagonism of many of his hearers whose lax practices were condemned by his plain words. The Aramaic language, like the Hebrew but unlike the Greek, was largely devoid of connective particles. The conjunction and was frequently used where a Greek or modern writer would use the connective, in order that. Here, as in every case, Jesus was evidently dealing with motives. Hence his teaching can best be translated into our modern idiom:

Whoever shall divorce his wife in order to marry another, commits adultery against her.

And if she divorces her husband in order to marry another, she commits adultery.

Again we are impressed by the directness and sanity of Jesus' teaching. What we have here is not so much a command as an unvarnished statement of fact: to secure divorce in order to remarry is simply adultery. From the earliest days human society has recognised that adultery is the most deadly and the most unsocial of crimes, for it destroys not only the in

tegrity and happiness of the two immediately involved, but also lays in ruins the home, the foundation of all society.

Mark has evidently preserved the earliest form of Jesus' teaching. Jesus clearly did not deem it necessary to deal with the exceptional case where either the husband or wife was utterly faithless to the marriage vow. There was no necessity for this digression, for the Jewish law condemned to death any one guilty of adultery. Therefore, in the eyes of the law an adulterous husband or wife was already under the death sentence and the innocent victim was free to remarry. This evidently was the interpretation adopted by the early church and is represented in the parallel passage in Matthew by the phrase (apparently later inserted), "except for fornication." Jesus' silence on this point, however, suggests that the noble example of the great prophet Hosea in trying to redeem his faithless wife Gomer (cf. p. 51) appealed to him even more strongly than the harsh legalism of his day. His own attitude toward the woman taken in adultery leaves no doubt that his profound sympathy went out toward the social outcasts who need, above all things, human love and compassion.

Rigorous though Jesus' teaching seems regarding divorce, it is confirmed by Paul in I Corinthians 710-11, where the great apostle declares that he is speaking directly on his Master's authority. The full explanation of Jesus' seemingly extreme position is found in his high estimate of the sanctity and significance of the marriage relation. Upon its integrity depends the best welfare both of the individual and of society, for it is the only practical basis for a wholesome family life. In the great majority of cases the selfish rather than the social impulse drives men and women into the divorce courts. Furthermore, modern experience has grimly demonstrated that divorce does not correct but only increases the evils which it seeks to eliminate.

Jesus' teachings on this subject do not stand alone, but are an integral part of his practical philosophy of living. These principles, when applied to the problems of life, make his austere position eminently practical. It is the despondent husband

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