The Fundamental Principles of Christianity in the Light of Modern Thinking* By JOHN M. MacINNIS, B. D. II. The Doctrine of God.—Luke 10:22; Acts 17:22-31.
I T is impossible to think very long about things as we see and know them, without asking questions which lead us to the very foundations o f thought. Where did this world Come from ? Why is it as it is ? Is any power, or person responsible for it ? To attempt to answer these ques tions involves a study of God, and this study at once leads us' to the heart of all constructive thinking. What, according to Luke’s account, are some of the things that Jesus taught concerning God? To begin with, we are challenged with the claim that He alone is able to reveal God—“ No one knoweth who the Father is save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal Him.” These are striking words. There can be no doubt that they are the words of Christ. Dr. Plummer says that it is impos sible upon any principles of criticism to question their genuineness. What ever the full significance o f the words there can be no question of the fact that in them Christ claimed for Him self supreme place in the matter of revealing God. He would be a bold man who would challenge this claim. Even those who reject Christ as “ God manifest in the flesh,” readily grant that He revealed God more perfectly than any one else who has ever lived. Therefore it is of superlative import ance that we should study with the greatest care what Jesus reveals con cerning God. It is impossible to go •Copyright, 1913, by John M. Maclnnis. An pd^ress delivered at the Montrose, Penn., Bible Conference.
into a study of details in our present study. At most we can only touch upon some of the outstanding facts. But we hope to touch upon these in such a way as to suggest the richness of the subject. and to incite a fuller study of the whole question. As we take up the story of Christ as recorded by Luke and go over it with this question of the revelation of God uppermost in our minds one o f the first things that impresses us is that Jesus never attempted to prove the existence of God. From the very first the story thrills with the consciousness of His presence and everywhere in it you are made to feel the tremendous reality of this presence. Christ lived God, and His, conscious relation with Him was the determining factor in all that He did and said. The second thing that impresses us is that the God of the consciousness of Christ was the God of the Old Tes tament. He was fulfilling the things concerning which the God o f the Old Testament spoke through priest and prophet, and carrying out the program that was introduced by them. It is simply impossible to separate the Gos pel of Luke from the Old Testament revelation and program. In the third place we are startled to find that notwithstanding the fact that Christ declares in the plainest lan guage possible that He knows the Father, He never attempts a definition of the nature and person of God. If there had been a definition you may depend upon it the scientific mind of Luke would have laid hold of it. There is much that.is clearly inferred,
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