The great difference
between present-day Christianity and that of which we read in these
letters is that to us it is primarily a performance; to them it was
a real experience. We are apt to reduce the Christian religion to a
code, or at best a rule of heart and life. To these men it is quite
plainly the invasion of their lives by a new quality of life altogether.
They do not hesitate to describe this as Christ "living in"
them.
Mere moral reformation
will hardly explain the transformation and the exuberant vitality of
these men's lives -- even if we could prove a motive for such reformation,
and certainly the world around offered little encouragement to the early
Christians! We are practically driven to accept their own explanation,
which is that their little human lives had, through Christ, been linked
up with the very life of God.
Many Christians
today talk about the "difficulties of our times" as though
we should have to wait for better ones before the Christian religion
can take root. It is heartening to remember that this faith took root
and flourished amazingly in conditions that would have killed anything
less vital in a matter of weeks.
These early
Christians were on fire with the conviction that they had become, through
Christ, literal sons of God; they were pioneers of a new humanity, founders
of a new kingdom.
They still speak
to us across the centuries. Perhaps if we believed what they believed,
we might achieve what they achieved.
