nthropos ek ges choikos
ho deuteros anthropos ex ouranou]) is still capable of being understood,
as to its fundamental features, in a sense which agrees with the
conception of the Messiah, as [Greek: kat' exochen,] the man from heaven
who was hidden with God. There can be no doubt, however, that this
conception as already shewn by the formulae in the passage just quoted,
formed to Paul the starting-point of a speculation, in which the
original theory assumed a completely new shape. The decisive factors in
this transformation were the Apostle's doctrine of "spirit and flesh",
and the corresponding conviction that the Christ who is not be known
"after the flesh", is a spirit, namely, the mighty spiritual being
[Greek: pneuma zoopoioun], who has condemned sin in the flesh, and
thereby enabled man to walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.

According to one of the Apostle's ways of regarding the matter, Christ,
after the accomplishment of his work, became the [Greek: pneuma
zoopoioun] through the resurrection. But the belief that Jesus always
stood before God as the heavenly man, suggested to Paul the other view,
that Christ was always a "spirit", that he was sent down by God, that
the flesh is consequently something inadequate and indeed hostile to
him, that he nevertheless assumed it in order to extirpate the sin
dwelling in the flesh, that he therefore humbled himself by appearing,
and that this humiliation was the deed he performed.

This view is found in 2 Cor. VIII. 9: [Greek: Iesous Christos di' humas
eptocheusen plousios on]; in Rom. VIII. 3: [Greek: ho theos ton heautou
huion pempsas en homoiomati sarkos hamartias kai peri hamartias
katekrine ten hamartian en te sarki]; and in Phil. II. 5 f.: [Greek:
Christos Iesous en morphe theou huparchon ... heauton ekenosen morphen
doulon labon, en homoiomati anthropon genomenos, kai schemati heuretheis
hos anthropos etapeinosen heauton k.t.l.] In both forms of thought Paul
presupposes a real exaltation of Christ. Christ receives after the
resurrection more than he ever possessed ([Greek: to onoma to huper pan
onoma]). In this view Paul retains a historical interpretation of
Christ, even in the conception of the [Greek: pneuma Christos]. But
whilst many passages seem to imply that the work of Christ began with
suffering and death, Paul shews in the verses cited, that he already
conceives the appearance of Christ on earth as his moral act, as a
humiliation, purposely b