If, therefore, the apostle Paul before his conversion believed in a heavenly Messiah, supernatural in origin and in function, he was not really unfaithful to the Old Testament. But was his pre-Christian notion of the Messiah really the source of the Christology of the Epistles? Such is the contention of Wrede and Brückner. Wrede and Brückner believe that the lofty Christology of Paul, inexplicable if it was derived from the man Jesus, may be accounted for if it was merely the pre-Christian conception of the Messiah brought into loose connection with the prophet of Nazareth. This hypothesis must now be examined. At the beginning of the investigation, it may be questioned whether Paul before his conversion held the apocalyptic view of the Messiah. It might, indeed, even be questioned whether he was particularly interested in the Messianic hope at all. If Baldensperger is correct in saying that the Messianic dogma was in some sort a substitute for the Law, and the Law a substitute for the Messianic dogma, so that finally rabbinical interest in the Law tended to dampen interest in the Messiah,[117] then the pre-Christian life of Paul was presumably not dominated by Messianic expectations. For Paul himself, as Baldensperger observes,[118] does not, in speaking of his pre-Christian life, reckon himself with the Messianists. He reckons himself, rather, with those who were zealous for the Law. Such considerations are interesting. But their importance should not be exaggerated. It must be remembered that according to the testimony of the whole New Testament the doctrine of the Messiah was firmly established in the Judaism of Paul's day. It is hardly likely that Paul the Pharisee dissented from the orthodox belief. In all probability, therefore, Paul before his conversion did hold some doctrine of the Messiah. [117] Baldensperger, _Die Messianisch-apocalyptischen Hoffnungen des Judentums_, 3te Aufl., 1903, pp. 88, 207f., 216f. [118] Baldensperger, _op. cit._, pp. 216f.