Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 53:209 (Jan 1896)
Article: “The Gospel Of Paul”
Author: Frank Hugh Foster

BSac 53:209 (Jan 1896) p. 89

“The Gospel Of Paul”

Prof. Frank Hugh Foster

Under the title given above, the Rev, C. C. Everett, D.D., Professor of Theology in Harvard University, has recently published a book upon the atonement of Christ. The plan of the work is best given in his own words. “It has seemed to me that one great obstacle which will stand in the way of the acceptance of the view of Paul’s teaching here presented will arise from the association of Paul’s form of speech with ideas which have long prevailed in the church, especially with the notion that Christ in his death bore vicariously the penalty of the world’s sin. I have, accordingly, judged it best, before presenting my own view, to attempt to remove these associations. The substitutionary view has rested partly upon a theory of ancient sacrifice which I believe to be erroneous, and which indeed is fast tending to become obsolete. For this reason I have presented in the first chapter some consideration of the nature of sacrifice. The substitutionary view has rested also, to a large degree, upon the assumed authority of the ancient church. It therefore seemed best to show in the next chapter that the history of the doctrine does not furnish a presumption of its Pauline origin, but tends to make this improbable. After this, in the third chapter, it is attempted to show, by a few illustrations, that this doctrine, in fact, cannot be reconciled with Paul’s language. After this preparation, what I conceive to be the true interpretation of Paul’s teaching is stated and defended. This is followed by a brief glance at the relation of this view of Paul’s theory of

BSac 53:209 (Jan 1896) p. 90

the atonement to the rest of his teaching. It will be found to throw much light upon this, especially upon his doctrine of election.”

The point of view from which the writer comes to his task will be seen best by the closing paragraphs of the book, in which it appears that he regards the teaching of our Lord to be summarized by such passages as the parable of the Prodigal Son, in which “the prodigal was received by a waiting love which demanded no vicarious suffering.” The depravity of human nature and the deity of Jesus Christ are also doctrines which Dr. Everett does not accept, and which he thinks Paul did not receive. His standpoint is therefore that of Unitarianism, which sees no necessity of atonement or of incarnation. He must therefore derive the explanation of the fact that Paul does hold some sort of an atonement from Paul’s personality and situation, rather than from his possession by revelation of the eternal truth of God.

The general result of the examination of the sacrifices of the heathen nations, with which the first chapter begins, is that they ...