ored and over-ridden--when an almost Jewish doctrine of the
merit of good works[12] {19} has been current in Christendom--it has
afforded a pretext for a Protestant reaction of the most
individualistic kind, of the kind which pays no regard to outward unity
or catholic authority. But certainly in St. Paul's own teaching there
is nothing individualistic in justifying faith. It is that by which
man wins admittance into the body of Christ; and the body of Christ is
an organized society, a catholic brotherhood. Salvation, as we shall
see, is as much social or ecclesiastical as it is individual; and
perhaps there is nothing more wanted to correct our ideas of what St.
Paul understood by justifying faith than an impartial study of the
Epistle to the Ephesians. It is true that this great epistle only
freely developes thoughts which were already unmistakably in St. Paul's
mind when he wrote his epistles to the Corinthians, and even those to
the Thessalonians. Already the social organization of the Church is a
prominent topic, and the ethics of Christianity are social ethics. But
now, in the Epistle to the Ephesians, the idea of the Church has become
the dominant idea, and the ethical teaching can be justly characterized
in no other way than as a Christian socialism.

{20}

iii.

But it is time to examine somewhat more closely the circumstances under
which St. Paul wrote this epistle and their bearing upon its contents.
It was written by him during that imprisonment at Rome[13] the record
of which brings to an end the Acts of the Apostles. He can therefore
put into his appeals all the force which naturally belongs to one who
has sacrificed himself for his principles. 'I, Paul,' he writes, 'the
prisoner of Jesus Christ, on behalf of you Gentiles.' He speaks of
himself as 'an ambassador in a chain' bound, as he was no doubt, to the
soldier which kept him. But the fact that he is a prisoner does not
occupy a great place in his mind. In part this is because his
imprisonment was not of a highly restrictive character. The Acts
conclude by telling us that he was allowed to dwell in his own hired
dwelling and to receive all that came to him without let or hindrance
to his preaching. And the tone of the 'epistles of the first
captivity' is cheerful as to the present and hopeful for the
future[14]. But it is more important to notice that {21} the thought
of being in prison is apparently swallowed up in St. Paul's imagin