so into Palestinian Jewish
theology. It may be reckoned among the great intuitions, which in the
fulness of the times, united the religious and reflective minds of all
nations. The Pauline formula, "Where there is forgiveness of sin, there
also is life and salvation", had for centuries no distinct history. But
the formula, "Where there is truth, perfect knowledge, there also is
eternal life", has had the richest history in Christendom from the
beginning. Quite apart from John, it is older than the theology of the
Apologists (see, for example, the Supper prayer in the Didache, 9. 10,
where there is no mention of the forgiveness of sin, but thanks are
given, [Greek: huper tes gnoseos kai pisteos kai athanasias hes
egnorisen hemin ho theos dia Iesou], or [Greek: huper tes zoes kai
gnoseos], and 1 Clem. 36. 2: [Greek: dia touto ethelesen ho despotes tes
athanatou gnoseos hemas geusasthai]). It is capable of a very manifold
content, and has never made its way in the Church without reservations,
but so far as it has we may speak of a hellenising of Christianity. This
is shewn most clearly in the fact that the [Greek: athanasia], identical
with [Greek: aphtharsia] and [Greek: zoe aionios], as is proved by their
being often interchanged, gradually supplanted the [Greek: basileia tou
theou] ([Greek: christou]) and thrust it out of the sphere of religious
intuition and hope into that of religious speech. It should also be
noted, at the same time, that in the hope of eternal life which is
bestowed with the knowledge of the truth, the resurrection of the body
is by no means with certainty included. It is rather added to it (see
above) from another series of ideas. Conversely, the words [Greek: zoen
aionion] were first added to the words [Greek: sarkos anastasin] in the
western Symbols at a comparatively late period, while in the prayers
they are certainly very old.]

[Footnote 203: Even the assumption of such a remission is fundamentally
in contradiction with moralism; but that solitary remission of sin was
not called in question, was rather regarded as distinctive of the new
religion, and was established by an appeal to the omnipotence and
special goodness of God, which appears just in the calling of sinners.
In this calling, grace as grace is exhausted (Barn. 5. 9; 2 Clem. 2.
4-7). But this grace itself seems to be annulled, inasmuch as the sins
committed before baptism were regarded as having been committed in a
state of ignoran