mans, there are sufficient traces of sacramental
teaching to make it clear that Christianity in Rome as in Corinth meant
the sacramental cult of a saving Lord. This was the basis of
everything, but the problems which arose from the attempt to work out
its implications are as markedly Jewish in Rome as they are Greek in
Corinth. It does not mean, of course, that there were no Greeks in
Rome, any more than that there were no Jews in Corinth, but the
dominating influence was Jewish in one and Greek in the other.

The Epistle to the Hebrews seems at first to be much more obviously
"Pre-existent" in its Christology than the Epistle to the Romans,
indeed it could well be explained on the theory that it was maintaining
a Pre-existent Christology against a {106} rival form of the same
general type which identified the pre-existent Christ with an angel.
But if one ask whether this would have been clear to a reader with
Adoptionist principles, it can be seen that he would very easily have
interpreted it in accordance with his own ideas. The question of what
the Son of God was before the Incarnation is not the centre of the
discussion. What is important is the function of High Priest in Heaven
which he now fulfils, and this function is the consequence of his human
life. It is true that in the first chapter there are phrases which are
most naturally explained by "pre-existent" doctrine, but though the
writer appears to be explaining the essential superiority of the Son to
angels, in chapter ii. this superiority is the result of the Passion
and Resurrection, and in verse 10 the divine being, "through whom and
for whom are all things," is distinguished from the leader of our
salvation, who is, of course, Jesus.[8] It is plain that this verse,
difficult to understand on other lines of thought, is quite
intelligible if it be interpreted in the light of that Adoptionism
which, as we know from Hermas, used "Son of God" for the Holy Spirit
and also for the glorified Jesus.

It is very hard not to discuss this question as though Adoptionism and
Pre-existent Christology {107} were consciously competing systems from
the beginning. That is of course not true: none of these writers was
consciously discussing the question. For this reason elements can be
found in the Epistle to the Romans and in the Epistle to the Hebrews
which are easily susceptible of an Adoptionist interpretation, and
others equally indicative of Pre-existent Christ