could not without ambiguity say "The Lord," and he began to
adopt the usage of referring to Jehovah as "the Father." But what
would have been the implication to Greek {82} ears of this usage? Two
lines were possible: it could be interpreted as referring exclusively
to the relation between God and Jesus, or as referring to the relation
between God and men. Paul is evidence that the second, as well as the
first, was accepted. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they
are Sons of God." But how would a Greek have understood this verse?
Probably he would have thought that it meant that the gift of the
Spirit changed men's nature; so that, as Irenaeus said, two generations
later, they were no longer mortal men but the children of the immortal
God. To the Greek the gift of the Spirit was the gift of divine
nature, immortal and incorruptible. That is, of course, in nowise
Jewish: even if Paul meant this, which is doubtful, he did so by virtue
of his Greek associations. The question, however, has not been
adequately discussed how far this interpretation is exactly the same as
that of the other cults. It clearly brought the Christian into direct
relation with the Supreme God, through the Lord. Was this so in
Mithraism or in the cult of Isis? In both of them it seems rather that
the initiate was brought rather into relationship with the Lord.[5]
Surely it was a real advantage to Christian {83} propaganda that the
Church offered union with the Supreme God more definitely than did any
rival cult.

Two elements must be distinguished in such teaching. Permanently
important in it is the recognition of the fact that a helping hand of
grace stretches out from the unknown to help man when he cries from the
depths: but it contains also a theory as to the origin and nature of
grace. The fact is indisputable, the theory depends on evidence; and
there is really none to justify confident assertion. No doubt it was
an enormous asset to Christianity to proclaim that the grace found by
its adherents came straight from the cause of all existence. The same
situation was reproduced after the Reformation, and it was an asset to
Protestantism to claim direct access to God, without the mediation of
saints. Nevertheless, it is hard to see that there is any evidence to
favour the theory that grace comes in the one way rather than the
other. The element of truth in the early Christian teaching is not the
side which was most popular,