he has created men, ¹⁰ and because he is infinitely superior
to them in every respect. To express this divine tran-
scendence Jesus used the terms "Heavenly Father," or
"Father in Heaven." God is Father also because He
is the sovereign ruler of the universe. The Father is at
the same time King of the Kingdom of God. ¹¹ The
central element, however, in Jesus' conception of God's
fatherhood is his infinite and eternal love. This element,
which exists in the Old Testament only in germ, becomes
fundamental in the theology of Jesus, ¹² so that the
Apostle John can correctly summarise his Master's teach-
ing by saying, "God is love," that is, love is not merely
one among many divine attributes, but it is the essence
of God, it is the quality which explains and unifies all
the divine attributes and activities. This love of God
Jesus exemplified in his own attitude toward men by
showing a love that included Gentiles as well as Jews,
women and little children as well as men, ignorant as
well as wise, lowly as well as exalted, sinful as well as
good, unchurched and hated as well as pious and religious.

b. The Sonship of Men. --The counter-truth to the
universal fatherhood of God is, that all men are God's
children. This Jesus affirmed quite as often as that God
is the Father in Heaven. When he spoke of men as
"becoming sons of God," ¹³ this did not imply that they
were not already sons, but only that they could continually
advance into a larger realisation and exemplification of
sonship. All men are children of God, but all do not
yet live like God's children.

From sonship to God Jesus inferred the infinite value
of every human soul. The soul is more precious than
all material things: "What shall it profit a man, if he
shall gain the whole world, and lose his own life; or
what shall a man give in exchange for his life." The

-292-