great deal of effort in
vindicating it, and was in no way ashamed of doing so, because he
perceived that a certain aspect of the life and truth of the Church was
bound up with its recognition.

2. And he writes to the Asiatic Christians as 'saints' and 'faithful
in Christ Jesus.' 'Saint' does not mean primarily what we understand
by it--one pre-eminent in moral excellence; but rather one consecrated
or dedicated to the service and use of God. The idea of consecration
was common in all religions, and frequently, as in the Asiatic worships
at Ephesus and elsewhere, carried with it associations quite the
opposite of those which we assign to holiness. But the special
characteristic of the Old Testament religion had been the righteous and
holy character which it ascribed to Jehovah. Consecration to Him,
therefore, is seen to require {51} personal holiness, and this
requirement is only deepened in meaning under the Gospel. But still
'the saints' means primarily the 'consecrated ones'; and all Christians
are therefore saints--'called as saints' rather than 'called to be
saints,' in virtue of their belonging to the consecrated body into
which they were baptized; saints who because of their consecration are
therefore bound to live holily[6]. 'The saints' in the Acts of the
Apostles[7] is simply a synonym for the Church. St. Paul then writes
to the Asiatic Christians as 'consecrated' and 'faithful in Christ
Jesus,' i. e. believing members incorporated by baptism; and he writes
to them for no other purpose than to make them understand what is
implied in their common consecration and common faith.

3. And his good wishes for them he sums up in the terms 'Grace and
peace in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.' Grace is that free
and unmerited favour or good-will of God towards man which takes shape
in a continuous outflow of the very riches of God's {52} inmost being
and spirit into the life of man through Christ; and peace of heart,
Godward and manward, 'central peace subsisting at the heart of endless
agitation' is that by the possession and bestowal of which Christianity
best gives assurance of its divine origin.

We notice that these divine gifts are ascribed to 'God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ.' St. Paul does not generally call Christ by the
title God, partly, no doubt, from long engrained habit of language, but
partly also because nothing was more important than that no language
should be used in t