hrase is
obscure, but it probably is a fresh rebuke of those Corinthians who
denied the resurrection of the body. If so, it means "assuming, as is
indeed the case, that we shall really be found clothed with a body at
Christ's coming, and not naked (_i.e._ bodiless spirits)."

Secondly, with regard to the work of Christ. In 2 Cor. iv. 4 He is
called the "image of God." Now, St. Paul teaches that we men may
reflect the likeness of Christ to God:

"The truth in God's breast
Lies trace for trace upon ours impressed:
Though He is so bright and we so dim,
We are made in His image to witness Him."

But St. Paul also teaches that the relation between the Son and the
Father is unique. He means that Christ reveals the Father completely
in virtue of this eternal relation between them. We are made to become
like God, but the Son is not {147} made; He does not belong to the
class of created things (1 Cor. viii. 6). And St. Paul never speaks of
Christ _becoming_ the Son of God. He regards Christ as having always
been the Son, exercising divine functions, and therefore as "God
blessed for ever" (Rom. ix. 5). In 2 Cor. iii. 17, 18 he asserts that
the Lord is the divine Spirit who animates the new dispensation. The
old Jewish dispensation is described as "letter," because it was a
system of outward commandments; the Gospel dispensation is described as
"spirit," because it is a system of spiritual principles which are
summed up in Christ. We by reflecting His glory are transformed into
the same image by successive stages of glory. This glory comes from
the Lord Jesus, who is the Spirit of Christianity (2 Cor. iii. 18). It
is important to notice that St. Paul does not confuse the Second Person
of the Trinity with the Third Person, and that for many years the
Christians used occasionally to describe the divine nature of the Son
by the word "Spirit." They gradually gave up this manner of speaking,
as it was ambiguous.

In 2 Cor. v. 18-21 there is an important statement on the Atonement.
The close connection between the Atonement and the Incarnation is shown
in the assertion that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto
Himself," and the love of both the Father and the Son is shown in the
words that "He made Him to be sin on our behalf." The first statement
saves us from the idea that God selected a holy man to reveal His will,
and then gave up this best of men to unimaginable suffering. No! it
was Go