ple formulae [Greek: proegnosmenos,
phanerotheis]. In reference to all these points, we see even in the
oldest Christian writings, the appearance of formulae which fix more
precisely the nature of his pre-existence, or in other words his
heavenly existence. With regard to the first and second points there
arose the view of humiliation and exaltation, such as we find in Paul
and in numerous writings after him. In connection with the third point
the concept "Son of God" was thrust into the foreground, and gave rise
to the idea of the image of God (2 Cor. IV. 4; Col. I. 15; Heb. I. 2;
Phil. II. 6). The fourth point gave occasion to the formation of theses,
such as we find in Rom. VIII. 29: [Greek: prototokos en pollois
adelphois], Col. I. 18: [Greek: prototokos ek ton nekron] (Rev. I. 5),
Eph. II. 6 [Greek: sunegeiren kai sunekathisen en tois epouraniois hemas
en Christo Iesou], I. 4: [Greek: ho theos exelexato hemas en Christo pro
kataboles kosmou], I. 22: [Greek: ho theos edoken ton Christon kephalen
huper panta te ekklesia hetis estin to soma autou] etc. This purely
religious view of the Church, according to which all that is predicated
of Christ is also applied to his followers, continued a considerable
time. Hermas declares that the Church is older than the world, and that
the world was created for its sake (see above, p. 103), and the author
of the so-called 2nd Epistle of Clement declares (Chap. 14) [Greek: ...
esometha ek tes ekklesias tes protes tes pneumatikes, tes pro heliou kai
selenes hektismenes ... ouk oiomai de humas agnoein, hoti ekklesia zosa
soma esti Christou. legei gar hegraphe. Epoiesen ho theos ton anthropon
arsen kai thelu. to arsen estin ho Christos to thelu he ekklesia.] Thus
Christ and his Church are inseparably connected. The latter is to be
conceived as pre-existent quite as much as the former; the Church was
also created before the sun and the moon, for the world was created for
its sake. This conception of the Church illustrates a final group of
utterances about the pre-existent Christ, the origin of which might
easily be misinterpreted unless we bear in mind their reference to the
Church. In so far as he is [Greek: proegnosmenos pro kataboles kosmou],
he is the [Greek: arche tes ktiseos tou theou] (Rev. III. 14), the
[Greek: prototokos pases ktiseos] etc. According to the current
conception of the time, these expressions mean exactly the same as the
simple [Greek: proegnosmenos pro kataboles k