true Religion is Monotheism. Belief in Christ, in the specific Johannine
sense, is nowhere inculcated, and where belief is spoken of, it is
merely belief in God. No dogmatic importance whatever is attached to
faith in Christ or to his sufferings, death, and resurrection, and
of the doctrines of Atonement and Redemption there is nothing in the
Homilies,(1)--everyone must make his own reconciliation with God,
and bear the punishment of his own sins.(2) On the other hand, the
representation of Jesus as the Lamb of God taking away the sins of
the world,(3) is the very basis of the fourth Gospel. The passages are
innumerable in which belief in Jesus is insisted upon as essential. "He
that believeth in the Son hath eternal life, but he that believeth
not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him
"(4)...."for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your
sins."(5) In fact, the "whole of Christianity according to the author
of the fourth Gospel is concentrated in the possession of faith in
Christ.(6) Belief in God alone is never held to be sufficient; belief
in Christ is necessary for salvation; he died for the sins of the world,
and is the object of faith, by which alone forgiveness and justification
before God can be secured.(7) The same discrepancy is apparent in
smaller details. In the Clementines the Apostle Peter
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is the principal actor, and is represented as the chief amongst the
Apostles. In the Epistle of Clement to James, which precedes the
Homilies, Peter is described in the following terms: "Simon, who, on
account of his true faith and of the principles of his doctrine, which
were most sure, was appointed to be the foundation of the Church, and
for this reason his name was by the unerring voice of Jesus himself
changed to Peter; the first-fruit of our Lord; the first of the Apostles
to whom first the Father revealed the Son; whom the Christ deservedly
pronounced blessed; the called and chosen and companion and
fellow-traveller (of Jesus); the admirable and approved disciple, who as
fittest of all was commanded to enlighten the West, the darker part
of the world, and was enabled to guide it aright," &C.(1) He is here
represented as the Apostle to the Heathen, the hated Apostle Paul
being robbed of that honourable title, and he is, in the spirit of
this introduction, made to play, throughout, the first part amongst the
Apostles.(2) In the fourth Gospel, however, he is assigned a place quite
secondary to John,(3) who is the disciple whom Jesus loved and who leans
on his bosom.(4) We shall only mention one "other point The Homilist,
when attacking the Apostle Paul, under the
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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