CHRISTOLOGY, in the widest sense, in cludes whatsoever of theology bears upon the Christ; in a limited and technical sense, it is that branch of theology which treats of the nature, personality and activities of the Christ. In this technical sense, Christology may be con veniently treated i according to the historical evolution of ideas 'Christological in: L The Old Testament; IL The New Testament; III. The Early Church; IV. Modern Schools of Christology, The viewpoint of this article is that alike of Catholics and of Protestants, who have the traditional belief in the divinity of Christ. The names.Catholic and Protestant have of set pur pose been omitted, since the matter of belief is common. The essentials of the. Christology of the Reformers have not been given; they are the traditional and conservative ideas that run through the article. Anything distinctive of each form of Christian belief is left to the articles on the various religious denominations.
I. Christ*logy of the Old Testament.— They who accept the Bible as the Word of God, and consequently derive religion from God's revelations to the human race, trace the idea of a Christ throughout many prophecies contained in the Old Testament.
Early Prophecies.— Immediately after the fall of the human race in Adam, God promised a victory of that race over the enemy that caused its fall (Gen. iii, 14-15). In the di vine promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, this victory was spoken of as salvation by their seed (Gen. xiii, 16; xv, 5; xviii, 17-19; xxii, 17-18; xxvi, 4; xxviii, 14). The saving seed of Jacob was designated as a Ruler in the patriarch's blessing of Judah: " The sceptre shall not pass from Judah.
Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet.
Till that he come whose it is, And his be the obedience of the folk." (Gen. iliz.to) From Mosaic days, Israel looked forward to a salvation that should come through a King of the line of Jacob and of Judah (Num. xxiv, 17-19). To David (s.c. 1017-977), it was re
vealed through Nathan that out of the line of Judah the Davidic family was chosen as the source of the royal Saviour of Israel (2 Sam. vii, 1-16; 1 Chron. xvii, 11-14). Such is the interpretation of this revelation that is given in Hebrews i, 5.
The Christ of the Psalter.—In its present inspired content, the Psalter is the result of a gradual evolution. The Psalters of David, the Director, Asaph, etc., were finally collated and arranged in a lyric anthology that records Israel's religious thought, from the time of David to that of Esdras. Three lyrics will sufficiently indicate the Christological ideas, whereof these inspired psalms afford abundant evidence. In Psalm 2, probably written in the time of David, is the first mention of the Christ, ((the Anointed' the Messiah (verse 2), whom previous Old Testament writings speak of as the saving King. Acts iv, 25-28 inter prets the first two verses of this psalm as fore boding the united efforts of Jew and Gentile to overthrow the Christ. The Christ of the Psalmist is the Son of God, begotten in eter nity: said to me: My Son art thou: I to-day begat thee' (verse 7). The divine name Jahweh, wrongly written Jehovah, means "He is)" and denotes the ever being of the Deity. ilebrews, in proving the divinity of Jesus, interprets this verse of natural divine sonship of the Christ (Heb. i, 5). In like manner, the Jews of the time of Jesus looked forward to the Christ, the King of Israel, as the Son • of God. Witness the act of faith of Nathaniel: thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel° (John i, 49). Witness the authoritative and judicial query of Caiaphas: adjure thee by the living God to tell us if thou be the Christ, the Son of God' (Matt. xxvi, 63). This expectation of the Jews infiltrated even into Samaritan reli gious life. The Samaritan woman said to Jesus: "I know that the Messiah who is called the Christ, is coming" (John iv, 25).