Peace and Order

‘I am under an obligation both to Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.’ ¹ That the Gospel of Christ, which Paul felt constrained to preach to all men, marks a new development in social thought does not require to be argued. But this deliberate use of the terms customarily employed to categorize the different social groups of the Hellenistic world is evidence that we must look with suspicion on attempts to assimilate Christian doctrine too closely to contemporary pagan views. It is the novelty of this development which requires to be emphasized. St. Paul’s message cut wholly across the accepted divisions of the Gentile world. It was not to be confined either to those who could have claimed Aristotelian citizenship or to those who aspired to become Stoic sages. Whatever similarities can be discovered between Christianity and other contemporary movements of thought, and many must be admitted, the Gospel both in principle and in practice was preached to all men. It enshrined an equality and built up a brotherhood which had hitherto enjoyed little more than the theoretical status of an aspiration.