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499 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA 801omon to him, and thus reflects the Father's will. By rea son of the fellowship of love, the Father is perfectly disclosed to him, and the depths of his own inner life are comprehended by the Father alone (Matt. xi. 27; John v. 17 21, 30, vii. 16-18, xii. 44-50, xiv. 7-11). (3) From the ethical oneness with the Father sprang the consciousness of the messianic or official sonship-the social aspect of his conscious ness (Mark i. 11; cf. the baptismal formula, Matt. xxviii. 19; Didache, vii.). These two aspects-the individual and the social-may be distinguished but they can not be sharply separated. The messianic sonship points backward (I Sam. x. 1; Ps. ii. 7) and forward (Mark xiv. 61). In him the royal hopes of Israel are fulfilled; he founds the world-kingdom of God (John xvii. 18; cf. Matt. xxviii. 19; John xx. 21); his universal sovereignty is won through suffering (Matt. xix. 20-28). (4) Metaphysical son ship is also affirmed of him. As Logos he is the only begotten Son of God (John i. 14, iii. 16, v. 18; Rom. viii. 32). He is the image of the invisible God, first born of all creation, mediator of all existence, through whom all things find their principle and progressively realize their divine end (I Cor. viii. 6; Col. i. 15-17; John i. 3, 10; Heb. i. 2-3). His pre-earthly existence was exchanged for humilia tion and death here below (II Cor. viii. 9; Phil. ii. 5-7; cf. Rom. viii. 3; Gal. iv. 4; and see JEsus CHRIST, TworoLD STATE OF). Accordingly he was God's own son, the archetypal son of God; all others become sons of God through him (John i. 12). Yet all that belongs to him is a gift of God (Matt. xxviii. 18; John iii. 35, v. 22, xiii. 3; Acts ii. 36; Phil. ii. 9-10; Heb. i. 2, ii. 7-8; cf. also I Cor. xv. 24-28). In historical theology the Son of God as pre- END OF VOLUME X. existent is the second person of the Trinity, con substantial with the Father, and is described as only-begotten, the Word; as incarnate he took upon him human nature yet without sin; and existed in two whole, perfect, and distinct natures insepara bly joined together in one person without conver sion, composition, or confusion; very God and very man, one Christ, the only mediator between God and man (see CHmaToLooy, IV., VIL; MED1eToR). Ritachl, following Schleiermacher, took the doc trine of the sonahip of Christ out of metaphysics and planted it in the field of ethics and the religious life. As Son, Christ stands to the Father in a rela tion of incomparable fellowship; his will is identical with that of the Father in the establishment of the kingdom of God; moreover, he sustains a unique relation to the Christian community and to the world. While for man the Son as pre-existent is hidden, yet for God he exists eternally " as he is revealed to us in temporal limitation." Only for God himself, however, is the eternal Godhead of the Son intelligible as an object of the divine mind and will (A. Ritachl, The Christian Doctrine of iustdfi cation and Reconciliation, §J 47-49, New York, 1900). C. A. BECBwrTH.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The subject is treated best in the works on New-Testament theology (see under BIBLICAL THEOLOGY), and in those on systematic theology (see under DOGMA, DoaaATTCs). Much of the literature given under CHRIsTOLoor is pertinent, also that under SON OF MAN. L'Onsuit further: K. F. NBegen, Chriatua der Afenachen- and Gotteesohn, Gotha, 1869; J. Stalker, Chriatolopy of Jesus, London, 1879; A. Harnack, What is Christianity? ib. 1901; R. C. Moberly, Atonement and Personality, pp. 185 eqq., 211-215, ib. 1901; W. Ltltgert, Gotten Sohn and Got<ee Geiat, Leipsio, 1905; M. Lepina, Christ and the Gospel; or Jesus the Messiah and Son of God, Philadelphia, 1911; DB, iv. 570-579; DOG, ii. 854-M; EB, iv. 46W4704.