who ‘for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.’3 Christ is the gospel. The person and the message must be held together. When we consider all this against the background of the church situation explored in the introduction, we can begin to see how every clause of this complex introduction has its own edge and significance. Verse 2 makes this especially clear. The life appeared; we have seen it