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 God Himself who came in the Person of the Sufferer. The second statement implies that Christ, though sinless, was treated as a sinner. He thus by dying accomplished the end which our punishment would accomplish, namely, the expression of God's hatred of sin and love of righteousness. The Epistle opens with an introduction and thanksgiving, in which there seems to be a note of sadness, marking the effect which the crisis in Corinth has left on the mind of St. Paul. He proceeds to give a personal explanation. The visit to the {148} Corinthians on the way to Macedonia was abandoned only because of the pain which it would have given them; the sharp letter was not written in wrath, but in sorrowful love (i. 23-ii. 1-4). St. Paul goes on to ask pardon for the man who caused the recent disturbance (ii. 5-11).