144 THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS 



as to the solidarity of mankind in relation to sin; and we 

 find in them incipient revelations of the Christian 

 doctrine of original sin. 



(d) St. Paul's teaching on this subject appears most 

 prominently, although not exclusively, in the fifth 

 chapter of his Epistle to the Romans;^ but he nowhere 

 attempts to give a complete or formal definition of 

 revealed doctrine. Such a definition cannot be found 

 in any part of Scripture. His attention is given espe- 

 cially to the parallel existing between our relations to 

 the first and to the second Adam. His language shows 

 traces of his having assimilated Rabbinic ideas. For 

 a believer in St. Paul's inspiration this fact does not 

 deprive his teaching of authority, but affords one of 

 many instances of the Holy Spirit's method in appro- 

 priating and improving existing forms of thought and 

 language for the revelation of divine truth.^ St. Paul's 



1 Esp. ch. V. 12 et seq. This passage does not stand by itself, 

 however, as seems to be thought by modern writers. It follows logi- 

 cally upon the previous chapters, giving a Christian explanation of 

 the universal prevalence of sin which he has been emphasizing; and 

 it is followed by an analysis of the struggle between the inherited 

 carnal propensities of our nature and the higher law of the regener- 

 ate Christian mind. 



2 Rabbinic forms of thought, defective though they were, consti- 

 tuted factors in the mental preparation of Israel for Christ. St. 

 Paul's newly acquired Christian standpoint enabled him to supply 

 what was needed, and it is his Christian use of these forms of thought 

 — based upon the personal claim and redemptive work of the sec- 

 ond Adam — that determines their meaning in his treatment of the 

 doctrine of sin. He was an inspired prophet who transcended his 

 Jewish training, and had been emancipated from Rabbinic limita- 

 tions. Dr. Tennant's refusal to allow for his inspiration reduces 



