Christology Part 1

8/14/2019 Christology Part 1

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~ r ; o d . '"" 39 .'l:r ANOOVER.HARVAnol 00-v I J..! TH[01 O;,ICI\L I ' n : ; .

CAMBRIDGE. MASS .

THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY.VOL. IV. JANUARY 1900. No.1.

iJodrtnal ~ h e o l o g D . CHRISTOLOGY.

Christology is the doctrine of the holy Scriptures con-cerning the Person and the Office and Work of Christ, theRedeemer and Savior of mankind. T he doctrine of Christis not a product of human speculation, or of a process ofevolution from the consciousness of the church. Searchthe Scnptttres, says Christ, for they are they which teshfyofme,1) and the risen Lord himself taught his disciples fromthe same source j beginning at Moses and all the prophets,he expou1lded unto them 'n all the Scriptures the things .concernz"'ng himself.2) Christ is also the central subject ofthe New Testament. The Gospels were wn"tten, that wemight believe that Jesus is the Chnst. 3) The modern dis-tinction between the historical Christ and the Christ ofScripture is a delusion. The Christ of Moses and theprophets, the .apostles and eVQP.gelists , and no other, isthe historic Christ, that was, and is , and shall be. Allother Christs, the Christs of Ebionites and Docetists, ofGnostics and Manichaeans, of Nestorians and Eutychiansand Apollinarians, of Monophysites and Monothelites, ofSocinians and other Unitarians, of Schleiermacher andStrauss and Schenkel and Renan, are caricatures or fictions,

1) John 5, 39.1

2) Luke 24, 27. 3) John 20, 31.


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2 CHlUSTOLOGY .false Christs, and no Christs at all. Whatever we knowconcerning Christ theologically, we do not know from theAnnals of Tacitus,1) nor from the Antiquities of Josephus,')Lucian's Dialogue de morte Peregrini, the fragments ofCelsus, or from all these sources taken together or in addition to the sacred records, but only and solely from theScriptures of the Old and the New Testament. Neitherare we to obtain our Christology by a critical study of thesacred Canon, distinguishing between a synoptical Christ,a Johannean Christ, and a Pauline Christ, between earlierand later Gospels, between original documents and thework of redactors. All such so-called historical constructions of the person and work of Christ are neither historicalnor constructive, but unhistorical and destructive, and, aboveall, thoroughly untheological. When Simon Peter had said,Thou art the Christ, the Son oj the living God, Jesus answered and said unto him, Flesh and blood Itatk not re-vealed it unto thee, but my Father w lziclt s n heaven.S)Even from the Scriptures a true portrait of Christ cannotbe obtained but by eyes enlightened by the Spirit of God.The true knowledge of Christ is a matter of faith j it is evenfaith itself and faith is the gift of God.

I. TH E PERSON OF CHRIST.Concerning the person of Christ the Scriptures teach

that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, very God, begotten ofthe Father from eternity, and also true man, conceived bythe Holy Ghost, and born of the virgin Mary, in the fulness of time, the divine nature and the human nature beingfrom the moment of his conception for ever and inseparablyunited in one complete theanthropic person.

The name of this person was and is a proper namegiven to a certain individual in distinction from other in-

1) Tacit. Annal . XV , 44 : Auctor nominis ejus Christus, qui Tiberioimperitante per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio affectus erato2) ADtiquit. XVIII, 4al . 3) Matt. 16, 16. 17 .


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CBlUSTOLQGY. 3cliYiduals. Jesus was the name given, by divine injunction, to the son of a Jewish woman of the house of David,a son whom she conceived in her womb and brought forthby birth in due time, a human child. I) But of this sameson of Mary, and descendant of David,S) the same angel ofthe Lord who announced his conception and birth to hishuman mother also said, He shall be called the Son o fthe Highest,a) and his humanity and divinity are asserted inone statement of a subject and a predicate, That holy tkt"ngwkt"ch shall be born o f hee shall be called the Son o f God.)This was the person of whose conception and birth Isaiahhad prophesied seven centuries before, saying, Behold, avirgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call hisn a m e ] m m a 1 ~ u e l , . 5 ) and again, Unto us a child is born, untous a Son is given,. . and his name shall be called . . . theMighty God, the everlasting Father.8) Thus, when the ful-ness o f time was come, God sent forth HIS SON, MADE OFA WOMAN. 7) Thus from the seed of Abraham as according10 the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. 8) When he was yet in his mother's womb, Elisabeth,being filled with the Holy Ghost,') greeted the virgin saying, w/zmee is this to me, that the mother 0fMV LoRD shouldcome to me flO) And in the night of his nativity the angel ofthe Lord pronounced him true man and true God, whenhis message was, Unto you is BORN THIS DAY in the city o fDavid a Savior, wlzclt tS Christ THE LoRD.ll) Thus wasthe WORD made FLESH,12) that Word which was in the beginning with God, a person distinct from another divineperson, and which was God emphatically j ( } c O r ; ~ ) I ; ' AOrO(,very God, as the Father, in divine essence, though distinct

1) . . . . . 1.31' 2. ' -7 .21 . Mott. 1. 18--25. Z) Luke I, 32. The 'krone of his fa'h" David.1 3) Luke I, 32. 4) Luke I, 35 . 5) Ie. 7, 14.6) Ie. 9, 6. 7) Gal. 4, 4. 8) Rom. 9, 5.9) Luke I, 41. 10) Luke I, 43 .11) Luke 2, 11. 12) John I, 14.jfr..


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4 CHRISTOLOGY.from him in person.1) Thus, too, was he known and acknowledged by his disciples. When he had asked them',Wkom do men say tkat I THE SON OF MAN am ' theyquoted the false opinions of such as took him to be mereman. But when he asked, Wkom say ye tkat 1 am 'Simon Peter in their name answered, Tkou art tke Ckrist,tke SON OF THE LIVING GoD.2) And this was also the doctrine of Christ concerning himself. He does not rebukePeter, but approves of his reply and profession, saying,Blessed art tkou, Simon Bar-jona: for Jlesk and bloodkatk not revealed it unto tkee, but my Fatker wkick is inkeaven.') And not to Peter alone had the Father revealedthe divine Sonship of the Son of man, but also to others.Thus when he was come from Galilee where he had livedthe humble life of a carpenter's foster-son, and was baptized in Jordan as other children of Abraham according tothe flesh,') the Father's voice from heaven said of the manJesus, Tkis is my beloved Son, in wkom I am well pleased! 5)Of him the psalmist had said in his name, Tke Lord kat"said unto me, Tkou art my Son, tkis day kave I begottentkee,I) and the Epistle to the Hebrews, speaking of thefirst-born whom the Father brougkt t."nto tke world,7) theman Jesus,8)'our brother and kinsman,') who took on himthe seed of Abraham and was in all things made like untohis brethren,lO) refers to those words of the psalmist as testifying to his superiority to men and angels, saying, Untowkt."ck of tke angels said ke at any tt."me, Tkou art my Son,tkis day kave I begotten t!tee ,11)

These are a few of a multitude of texts which showthat the uniform doctrine of the Scriptures, of both Testaments, of prophets and apostles, of angels and arch-angels,of the Father and the Holy Ghost, and of Christ himself,

1) John 1, 11.4) Matt. 3, 9. 13.7) Hebr. 1, 6.10) Hebr.2, 14--17.

2) Matt. 16, 13-16. 3) Matt. 16, 17.5) Matt. 3, 16. 17. 6) PI. 2, 7.8) Hebr. 2, 6. 9. 9) Hebr. 2, lUI.11) Hebr. 1, S. Cf. TV . 2-13.


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CBaISTOLOGY. 5sets forth the fhdJ,{Jponro


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6 CHRISTOLOGY.tion, Jesus, according to his divine nature, was the tt'UeGod, of whom the Father said, Tkis day kave I begottentkee,l) and, Tky tkrone, 0 God, is for ever and ever.I)Thus, also, the scriptural statements, to the effect thatall tkings were made /Jy the Word which was made flesh,S)and that the Son by whom God in these last days hathspoken to us is he, by wkom also ke made tke worlds,') areso many assertions of a divine nature in Christ which wasfor ever and at all times divine, of the same essence withthe Father and the Holy Ghost, God, the Maker of heavenand earth.lI) Jesus, according to his divine nature, is nota son of God by adoption, but he whom God gave for thesalvation of the world was kis only begotten Son. 8) TheWord made flesh was tke only begotten of tke Fatker,') tileonly begotten Son, wMck is in tke bosom of tke F a t l l e r . 8 ~ In the incarnation of the Logos, God sent kis only begottenSon into tke world, tkat we migkt live tkrougk kim .") Thuswas God in Ckrist, reconciling tke world unto kimself,1O)God manifest in tke jlesk,ll) who, because of the unity ofhis essence with that of the Father could truly say, I antimy Fatker are one,12) and, He tkat katk seen me katk seentke Fatker. 18 ) Thus it is that, being in Christ, we are inkim tkat tS true, even in HIS SON Jesus Ckrist. Tkis is tkeTRUE GoD and eternal life. 1C ) A Christology which conceives of the divinity of Christ in any other than this scriptural sense is, as, f. ex., the theory of modern kenotists andthe doctrine of the Socinians and other Unitarians, a polytheistic scheme void of a truly divine Christ sufficient tomake atonement for the sin-; of the world.On the other hand, as the one nature in Christ, hisdivine nature, is and ever was truly and essentially divine,

1) Ps. Z, 7; coli. Hebr. 1,5. Z) Ps. 45, 6; colI. Hebr. 1, 8.3) John 1, 3. Cf. Col. 1, 16. 4) Hebr. 1, 1. Z.5) Gen. 1 ff. Ps. 33, 6. Jer. 3Z, 17. Ps. 104,24; 136, S. Rev. 4, 11.6) John 3, 16. 7) John 1, 14. 8) John 1, 18.9) 1 John 4, 9. 10) Z Cor. 5, 19. 11) 1 Tim. 3, 16.lZ) John 10, 30. 13) John 14, 9. 14) 1 John S, ZOo


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CBlUSTOLOGY. 7so the other nature in the person of Christ, his humannature, is and from its conception was essentially human,consisting of a human body and a human rational soul,with its own human intelligence, will, and affections, in allessentials a nature like our own. According to this naturehe is expressly called tke MAN CkTist Jesus. 1) Again andagain he calls himself tke son o fman.' ) According to thisnature he who was, according to his divine nature, tke Sonof God and declared to be tke Son o f God witk power, wasmade o f tke seed of David accordinK to tke jlesk,l) as hehad been promised of old, the Lord our righteousness,raised #nto David a nKkteous branck,4) David's Lord andSon.5) According to this nature the Son of God was madeof a woman,l) conceived in the womb, born in due time,wrapped in swaddling clothes, laid in a manger, circum-cised, reared through childhood and boyhood into manhoodat Nazareth.7) He had a human body,B) flesh and blood asother children of men, I) and a human soul or spirit, AI) ahuman understanding capable of natural growtb,ll) a humanwill distinct from the divine will,11) and human affectionsand emotions.13) He suffered hunger l4 ) and thirst11) andfatigue 11) and pain 17) and temptation,13) lived a human life,lII)and died a human death, the separation of body and soul.1II)

1) 1 Tim. 2, 5.2) Matt. 2, 6; 16, 13. Luke 9, 56; 21, 27. al .l) Rom.. I , l . 4. 4} ler. 23, 5. 6.5) Matt. JZ, 42. 43. 6) Gal. 4, 4.7) Kall.1. 18 ff. Luke J, l l ; 2, 1-52.8) lo1.tI, 21.Katt . 26, 12. 36. 9) Hebr. 2, 1t. 10) Matt. 26, 38. Luke 10,21; 23,46.11) Luke 2, Sf.; 12) Luke 22, 42.13) loJm 11," '31 ; 13,27. Luke 10,21; 19,41; 22,15. Matt. 26, 38.

1Iatk '" I ; - . . 2 l ~ I I ) . . . . . 11. lB. 15) 10hn 19, 28. 16) 10hn 4, 6.17)......... t, 18. Luke 22, 43. 44.11) ~ _ - l fl . Hebr. Z, 18.19) 101m. 10, 15. 17. Luke 22, 44.20) 10hn 19, 30. Matt. 27, SO. Luke 23,46.


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8 CBlUSTOI,OGY.As his divine nature is truly divine from everlasting to everlasting, so his human nature is truly human, having had ahuman beginning at a certain period of time, in the daysof Herod, the king of Judaea,l) during the reign of CaesarAugustus,') when the fulness of the time was come.a)A pre-existing human nature would be no truly humannature, derived from the common stock of mankind, nonature which would have constituted a substitute for thehuman race to mediate between God and man. Neitherwould an incomplete human nature, a nature void of therational human soul, as Apollinaris of old, and of themodems Gess and H. W. Beecher, would have it, answerthe purpose of the incarnation. A redeemer thus constituted, in whom the Logos had taken the place of the t/ltrt1ilort"" would have been incompetent to ransom the humansoul. Besides; the of these kenotists is not the AOroc-of Scripture, their Christ not a Christ in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily. Their Christ is voidof true humanity as well as of true divinity.But while two complete and distinct natures are unitedin Christ, this duality of natures must not be construed intoa duality of persons. There is in Christ but one personality,that of the divine nature, which subsisted by itself as a person distinct from the Father from eternity. Thus in thepsalm, the Son speaks of himself in the first person, and tothe Father in the second person, and is spoken to by theFather in the second person, the Father speaking of himself in the first.') Nothing of the kind occurs between thehuman and the divine natures of Christ. The human natureof Christ never subsisted by itself with a personality of itsown distinct from that of the divine nature. When thehuman nature of Christ was conceived in the virgin's womb tit was at once in personal union with the Logos, the second

1) Luke 1. S. 26. 2) Luke 2. 1 ff. 3) Gal. 4. 4.4) Ps. 2. 7. The Lord hath said unto me. TIwu art my Son. this dayhave I begotten thee.


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CBJUSTOI.OGY. 9Person in the Trinity. TIle Word WIU ",ade flesll,l) whenthe virgin conceived, and the angel does not say, "Thy IOnshall be united with the Son of God, " but llIal IIoly 111"",filII"" slla1l6e 60"' of IMe sAalllJe called Ille SO" o f God. l )Neither does St. Paul say, "God sent his Son to be unitedwith the son of a woman," but, God selll llis Son, 1IItIdeof a woma".8) Mary was not the mother of a human person with whom at some later period the divine person of theSon of God was to unite himself, but she was the motherof God, { h D ' r O ~ , when Blisabeth greeted her as Ille ",olilerof A " Lord,') even before the child was born of whom shesaid, Blessed is IAe fr#it of Illy wom6.') The same Christwho as concerning the flesh came from Israel, is over allGod blessed for ever.') The person Jesus Christ, who isthe Son of God, our Lord, WIU made of Ille seed ofDaNa & ~ " " g 10 Ille flesll.?) When Jesus, speaking of himselfin the first person singular, I, 1M SO" of ma", asked thedisciples, Wllom say ye IAal I am ' Simon Peter addresseshim in the second person singular, 11Iou, the son of man,art IAe Cllrist, tile SO" of tile l'iving God. And while theincarnate Son distinguishes between lUs person and that ofthe Father and that of the Holy Ghost, speaking 10 theFather in the second, and of the Father and of the HolyGhost in the third person,8) he invariably speaks of himselfas one person. As the God-man he says, My Father, mykingdom, my life, my body, my soul, my spirit, my blood,my hands aad my feet, my brethren, my disciples, my love.When Jesaa touched the bier and said, You"g ma", I say""to tllee, Arise, it was the one person, the God-man, speaking with his hUIIIaD lips the word of his divine omnipotence

1) 101m 1, M. Z) Luke I, 35. 3) Gal. 4, 4.4) I#*e1. 4a. 5) Luke I, 4Z. 6) Rom. 9, S.2) ....1,& .8) .MII HI I . . . . now, 0 Fath", glorify tluN me with thine owneelf, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Cf. Luke

ZZ, 4Z; 23,46. John ZO, 17.-Matt. 1Z, 28. 10hn IS, Z6.


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10 CHRISTOLOGY.which caused him that was dead to sit up and live.I) Andwhen Jesus cried with a loud voice and said, Father, intotlty hands I commend my spz"rit ,2) it was the one theanthropicSavior who gave up his human life and soul as a ransomfor all mankind, obtaz"nz"ng an eternal redemption for us,a)and by one offering peifectt"ng for ever tit em tltat are sandz"-fled,) because he who was born in the city of David a Saviorwas Christ the Lord . Being true God, yet not the Fathernor the Holy Ghost, the man Christ Jesus was able to bea mediator between God and men, who gave himself a ransom for all. 5) This is the mystery of the Immanuel, Godmanifest t"n tlte fleslt. S) Thus it is that, though the twonatures personally united in Christ are and remain essentially distinct, each retaining its own essential properties orattributes, its own intelligence and will, so that his divinityis not his humanity nor a part thereof, nor his humanity hisdivinity, that while there is in him no mixture or confusionof natures, there is in Christ a communion of natures, sothat the divine nature is the nature of the Son of man, andthe human nature the nature of the Son of God. When theSon of God took on ""m tlte seed oj Abraltam, by this assumption of the human nature into the unity of the personof the Son of God, a person was constituted in whom thenceforth for all time and eternity God is man 7) and man is God,')the concretum of the one nature being predicable of the con-cretum of the other. Since the incarnation of the ) . l r r ~ thereis in heaven and earth no Son of God without a human nature, the human nature made from the blood of the Virgin.That human nature was and is, from its conception at alltimes and everywhere, in the Virgin's womb, in the manger,in the desert, on the mount of transfiguration, in Geth-

1) Luke 7, 14 f . 2) Luke 24, 46. 3) Hebr. 9, 12.4) Hebr. 10, 14 . 5) 1 Tim . 2, 5.6. 6) 1 Tim. 3, 16.7) Gal . 4, 4. John 1, 14. Rom. 1, 3.8) 1 Cor ; 15 , 47. The second man is the Lord from heaVeD . Cf. Jer .23, S. 6. Matt. 16, 13 . 16 .


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CHlUSTOLOGY. 11semane, on the cross, in the sepulchre, in Paradise and i1lhell, and at the right hand of Glory, without cessation orintermission and in precisely the same sense, the nature ofthe Son of God, so inseparably united with the Godhead,that in Bethlehem the Lord, the Son of God was born;>and on Calvary God's own blood was shed I) and the Sonof God suffered an ignominious death.')

This union and communion of the two natures in Christis without analogy in nature or history. I t is a wonderfulwork of God in plan and execution, far above human comprehension, a mystery which the prophets to whom it wasrevealed were unable to fathom, and which the angels desireto look into.') But what is above human comprehension isnot necessarily contrary to human reason. While the false,unscriptural Christologies are largely untenable, not onlytheologically, but also logically, involving contradictions inse and in apposito, notions of a divinity which is not divineand of a humanity which is not human, there is no logicalimpossibility in the doctrine of Scripture concerning the person of Christ. There is, on the contrary, a divine logic,an inherent sequence and consistency, in scriptural Christology which, while not a problem of human speculation,but a matter of divine revelation, is clearly set forth by theholy men of God in the Scriptures for our instruction, that,when we read, we may understand their knowledge in themystery of Christ. i)

Thus, the personal union and the communion of naturesthus established in Christ, forms the basis of an intercommunication of attributes between the natures personallyunited in the .God-man. Though in the person of Christeach nature retains its essential attributes unchanged and1) Luke Z, 11. G!IJ: 4, 4.Z) AeIII 2&,.. __ church of God which he hath purchased with his

0fVII lJ/ool. Cf. 110hD 1, 7.3) Rom. 5, 10. We were reconciled to God by the death of his Sm..4) 1 Pet. I, 10-12. 5) Eph. 3, 3. 4.


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12 CHRISTOLOGY.undiminished in kind and number, the human attributesremaining the essential attributes of the human nature, andthe divine attributes remaining the essential attributes ofthe divine nature, yet each nature also communicates its.attributes to the other in, the personal union, so that thedivine nature participates in properties of the human n a t u r e ~ and the human nature in those of the divine nature.

The retention of its peculiar attributes by each natureis consistent with the notion of a nature, fuertC', accordingto which a subject is what it is essentially by its origin.That TO rcrcJllI7jpEJlOJl iz ~ C ' erapzO(' e r d ~ iCJ't'tJl,I) holds good, notonly as applied to the deteriorated and corrupt human nature,of natural man, but is also applicable to the holy and un-defiled human nature of Christ, inasmuch as that which wastaken from the substance of the virgin mother is and remainse r ~ in the sense in which the Word was made flesh, 0 A"roC'e r ~ ireJluo,3) a truly human nature with human properties.It is proper to human nature to be descended from a humanancestor; and we read that Christ was made o f the seed ojDavid ACCORDING TO THE PLESH,B) and that from Israel asaccording to the flesh Christ came.') I t is proper, not tothe divine nature, but to the human nature, to suffer andto die; and we read that Christ suffered and was put to deathin the flesh. 5) But these same properties of the human natureare also ascribed to the concretum of the divine nature,when we read that we are reconciled to God by the deathof his Son,G) that the Lord of glory was crucified,7) andthe Pn'nce of ife was killed,8) that God purchased his churchwith his own !Jlood.D) Again, omnipotence is a divine at-tribute; yet it is ascribed to the human nature of Christwhen he says, All power is given unto me in heaven andin earlhilO) for according to the divine nature he had allpower from eternity.

1) John 3,6. 2) John I, 14. 3) Rom. I, 3.5) 1 Pet. 4, 1; 3, 18. 6) Rom. 5, 10.8) Acta 3, 15. 9) Acta 20, 28.4) Rom. 9, s.7) 1 Cor. 2, 8.10) Matt. 28, 18.


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CHIUSTOLOGY. 13The statements of Scripture teaching the communicatio

idiomatum are of three kinds, or genera, which, accordingto the accepted terminology are genus ':diomaticum, genusmajestaticum s. auchematicum, and genus apotelesmaticum.The statements of the genus ':diomaticum are those-whereby attributes of either nature are ascribed to the entireperson of Christ, divine attributes are ascribed to the concretum of his human nature, and human attributes are as'Cribed to the concretum of his divine nature. To the entireperson, Jesus Christ, the divine attribute of immutability isascribed in the words, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, andto-day, and for ever. I ) Peter, speaking to Christ, says,

Lord, thou knowest all things,") ascribing to the entire person spoken to the divine attribnte of omniscience, and Christaccepts the statement. St. Paul attributes to the entire person of Christ both hnman and divine properties when hesays, Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who isover all, God blessedfor ever.8) For to come or be descendedaccording to the flesh is human, and to be over all and blessedfor ever are divine prerogatives. -Again, of the concretumof the human nature, the Son of man, Christ himself predi'Cates heavenly descent and omnipresence, and the divinepower to forgive sins, when he says, No man hath ascendedup 10 heaven, but he Ihat came down from heaven, even IheSon ofman which is in heaven,') and, The Son of man halhpower on earlh 10 forgive sins. 5) On the other hand, predicates or attributes proper to the human nature are ascribedto the concretum of the divine nature, the Son of God. Forto be made of a woman, or born of a human mother, or tobe descended from a human ancestor, to have blood, to bedelivered up, to be crucified, killed, and raised from thedead, are properties, not of the divine, but of the humannature j yet they are, as communicated attributes, ascribedto the Son of God, the Word, the Lord of glory, the Prince

1) Hebr. 13, 8. 2) John 21, 17.4) John 3, 13. Cf. John 6, 62. 3) Rom. 9, 5.5) Matt. 9, 6.


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14 CHlUSTOLOGY.of life, the concretum of the divine nature in Christ, instatements as these:-God sent forth HIS SON, made o f awoman. l ) HIS SON Jesus Christ our Lord, which was madeof tke seed of David according to tke flesk. l ) The WOlmwas made flesk. 8) Who ... hath translated us into thekingdom of HIS DEAR SoN: in whom we have redemptionthrough kis blood.') He hath not spared HIS OWN SON, butdelivered kim up for us all. lI) They would not have cruci-fied the LoRD OF GLORY.') Ye killed the PRINCE OF LIFE,whom God hath raised from tke dead.7)-In all these cases,the concretum of either nature stands for the entire personnamed from such nature, and the personal union wherebythe nature furnishing the name is united with the naturefurnishing the attribute is the basis of the communicationof attributes indicated by the propositions grouped underthis head.

The propositions of the genus majestaticum s. aucke-maticum 8) as these terms indicate, deal with a particularclass of attributes, the divine attributes showing forth theglory of the Only-begotten of the Father. Though thehuman nature of the person of Christ remains truly human,yet all the divine properties and perfections and the honorand glory thereto pertaining are as truly communicated tohis human nature, so that the divine perfections which thedivine nature has as essential attributes, the human naturehas communicated attributes. In Christ dwelletk all tkefulness of tke Godkead bodily.l) This statement is veryemphatic. The apostle does not say, as he might havesaid, that in Christ dwelleth tke Godkead, but he says, thefulness of tke Godkead, and ALI. tke fulness of tke God-kead. He in whom the fulness of the Godhead is here, asin 1, 19, said to dwell is Ckrist, the theanthropic person.

1) Gal. 4, 4. 2) Rom. 1, 3. 3) John I, 14.4) Col. 1,13. 14. S) Rom. 8, 32. 6) 1 Cor. 2, 8.7) Acts 3, IS. 8) Ab%'ll"' = splendor, glory.9) Col. 2, 9. 'Ell '""Iii l U I _ i JrCiIl Tb II''''P''I"' TiK < 8 ~ tIW/"'TuWc.


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CBllISTOLOGY. 15But when the fulness of the Godhead is said to dwell inChrist, the concept of Christ is by prevalence that of the".",an Christ, the Son of man, the man Christ JeslU,l)since in the Son of God as such the fulness of the GOdheadwould not be said to dwell, the Son being himself the bright-ness of God's glory and the express image of his person. l )But when God was in Christ, reco"ciling the world u"to"imself, I) it pleased the Father that in him should all Jul-"ess dwell, and having made peace througk the blood of!lis cross, lJy !lim to reco"cile all th';ngs u"to himself. ) Hereagain it appears that he in whom all the fulness should dwellis primarily conceived as the Son of man, Christ accordingto that nature, according to which he was crucified and shedhis blood on the cross. And in this sense, the fulness ofthe Godhead is said to dwell in Christ (lOIptrratiir:, bodily,God manifest ';n the flesh,") or, according to St. John, theWord made flesh,I) wh';ch we have see" wt"th our eyes, w!lichwe "ave looked upon, and our hands have handled, of theWord of life. i ) And now, to this visible and palpableChrist, who says, All power u gt"ven unto me in heave"and i" earth,S) not one divine attribute only, that of om-nipotence, was given or communicated, but the fulness ofthe Godhead, and that without curtailment or restriction,but all, ALI. the fulness of the Godhead. And how could itbe otherwise? The Lord our God u one Lord.') The God-head is indivisible. Every attribute of God is God wholeand entire. Where omnipotence is, there is also omnis-cience. And thus, he unto whom all power is given, alsoknoweth all things,lO) knows all men and what is in man ill)in "im are hid all the treasures oj wt"sdom and knowledge. D )And wiU omnipotence and omniscience, omnipresence alsois communicated. Christ, the head of the church, filleth

1) 1 Tim. 2. 5..4) C,ol. 1. 19. 20.7) 1 Jolm 1. 1; cf. 4. 14.10) J:olm 21. 17.

2) Hebr. 1. 3.5) 1 Tim. 3. 16.8) Matt. 28. 18.11) John 2. 24. 25.

3) 2 Cor. 5.196) Jolm 1. 14.9) Deut. 6. 4.12) Col. '2. 3.


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CHllISTOLQGY. 17endowed with divine majesty, but the glory which theeternal Son had with the Father before the world was,l)and the divine majesty which was communicated to thehuman nature in the incarnation of the Logos, was shownforth and proclaimed to angels and men, God himself giving him a name above every name, whereby he should beknown in heaven and earth and under the earth in accordance with what he truly was and had been, though for atime obscured by his deep humiliation, and knowing whichevery tongue skould confess that Jesus Cknst is Lord.2)It must never be forgotten, that the communication of attributes has place only in and by virtue of the personalunion. The divine attributes are and remain properly thoseof the divine nature and are not transferred to or infusedinto the human nature. The human nature in Christ is notendowed with an omnipotence properly its own, and theadoration of the flesh of Christ as separate from his divinenature would be the idolatrous worship of a creature just asthe adoration of the host in the mass. The divine majestyascribed to the human nature in Christ is that of the divinenatitre, which, taking the human nature into its divine personality, communicated all its attributes to a nature whichis and remains essentially human with human essential properties only, while the divine attributes remain the essentialattributes of the divin:; nature only. Again, inasmuch asthe communication offP.vine majesty to the human natureis based only on the personal union with the divine nature,such communication was not gradual or progressive, not adonum superadditum bestowed upon Christ in his exaltation, but took place at once when the personal union wasestablished in the incarnation, when the God-man was con-

F. ceived in the womb.B) The babe in the manger-cradle atBethlehem was Ckrist tke Lord,') the Ruler of the universe,

1) John 17,5.3) Lake I, 35. 43.2

2) Phil. 2, 11.4) Luke 2, 11.


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18 CHRISTOLOGY.not by exaltation; for the Godhead cannot be exalted andthe human nature had not been exalted, but stooped in deephumiliation, feeble and poor and despised and rejected ofmen; yet the LoRD, inasmuch as what was human in thatbabe had been received into the personality of and was per-sonally united with the divine nature of the Son of God.By that personal union, all the fulness of the Godheaddwelled bodily in the human child in Simeon's arms, divinepower and wisdom and holiness truly communicated to anature which was and remained in all its essentials trulyand exclusively human. And by virtue of the same per-sonal union established in the humble conception of Mary'schild, but established for all time and eternity thenceforth,our own brother and kinsman according to the flesh, astruly man as when he lay in swaddling clothes, is, also according to his human nature, by the communication of at-tributes essential only to the divine nature, endowed withdivine omnipotence, able to fulfill his promise, I am withyou alway, even unto the end of the world,l) and to workhis will according to his word, This is my body, this is myblood, wherever his sacrament is administered.Among the divine perfections communicated to thehuman nature of Christ one has been mentioned whichshould receive our special and particular attention beforewe proceed to the next group of propositiones idiomaticae.It is the immutable, infinite holiness, according to whichChrist is called God's Holy One.' ) The Holy One of Israelis the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth and of all thewondrous works of God.B) But when the psalmist says,Neither wilt thou suffer tkt.'ne Holy One to see corruption,the term, Holy One, is evidently applied to the God-man,and, more especially, to that nature according to whichhe had flesh which rested in hope,') and, according towhich, i f he had not been God's Holy One, he might have

1) Matt. 28, 20.3) Ia. 41, 20; cf. 6, 13. 2) PI. 16, 10. Acts 2, Z7.4) PI. 16,9.


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CHIUSTOI,OGY. 19seen corruption. So when the divine messenger describesthe incarnate Son of God as T'O rJJJJW,.,.JJOJJ 3.rIOJJ, Ike Holylking born,1) the child of the virgin is thereby distinguishedfrom all other children of men. The human nature of Christwas in itself koly, karmless, undefiled, separale from sin-ners,I) in kim is no sin,S) .and he knew no sin.') There wasin the man Jesus no taint of original or hereditary sin, andhe did no nn, neilker was guile found in his moulk,. wkenke was rev-iled, ke rev#ed nol again, wken ke suffered, keIkrealened nOI. 5) But there was in the man Jesus more thanhuman holiness and righteousness. The angels of God areholy angels, and there are in heaven Ike spir-ils oj jusl menmade perfed.G) But our high priest, who in his human holi-ness is separate from sinners, was made kigher Ikan tkekeavens,7) also in his holiness. By the personal union theessential holiness of the Son of God was made the commu-nicated holiness of the man Jesus. By this communicatedholiness he was, according to his human nature, not onlysinless, but absolutely impeccable. As il is impossible forGod to He,') so it is impossible for Christ to sin. This doesnot exclude temptability in Christ. The human nature inChrist remained truly and essentially human and as suchcould be and was exposed to temptation.9) When Christwas assailed by the tempter, he was truly tempted; ke wasin all poinls lempled as we are, yel wilkoul sin. WhenSatan tempted Christ, he laid siege to an impregnablefortress. When he tempted Eve, he was shrewd and sub-til;lO) when he tempted Christ, he was a fool, though hewent at his work with satanic cunning exhibited in themode and manner of his onslaughts; 11) for he failed to con-sider the difference between the woman in Paradise and theSeed of the woman in the desert, that the former was merely

1) Luke 1, 35.4) 2 Cor. 5, 21.7) Bebr. 7, 26.10) Gen. 3, 1.

2) Bebr. 7, 26.5) 1 Pet. 2, 22 f.8) Hebr. 6, 18.11) Matt. 4, 3. 6. 8. 9.

3) 1 John 3, s.6) Bebr. 12,23.9) Matt. 4, 1 fl .


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20 CHRISTOLOGY.human, and the latter truly human, but at the same timethe Son of God. Hence, while the woman was deceived 1)and the woman succumbed, it was impossible to deceiveand overcome the Seed of the woman who was omniscientand omnipotent. While the temptation in both cases wastruly and really temptation, the resistance was different;and hence the difference in the outcome, defeat in the onecase, where it was victory in the other. Thus the Captainof our salvation is in every way fitted to be our championand substitute; our champion, who was truly assailed andin every way victorious; our substitute, who was truly madeunder the law given to man and yet the Lord, not only ofthe Sabbath,2) but of the entire law; on him the sin of allthe world, t."" him no sin of any kind, nor even a possibilityof sin; made a curse for US,3) though the beloved Son ofGod, in whom the Father is well pleased,') and in whomall nations shall be blessed.5)

It now remains to consider the statements of the thirdclass, the genus apotelesmatt"cum. 'A1ro-re).'tI/la is the per-formance of a task, the achievement of a purpose. Thepersonal union of the two natures in Christ, or the assump-tion of the human nature by the divine nature into personalunion with itself was not a matter of absolute necessity.It was not a part of the execution of the plan or decree ofcreation, but a measure pertaining to the plan and decreeof redemption. The theosophical tenet entertained by ear-lier mystics and widely advocated among modem theologi-ans, the supposition of an incarnation of the Deity by wayor for the purpose of a consummation of the work of crea-tion with a view of providing for mankind a unifying head,Christ, the second Adam, "the goal and crown of the en-tire creation of God," is not only drpwpoJl, but dv-rlrpwpoJl.The question, Cur Deus komo' is explicitly answered in

1) 1 Tim. 2, 14. 2) Matt . 12, 8.3) Gal. 3, 13. 4) Matt. 3, 17.5) Gal. 3, 8. 14. Cf. Gen. 12, 2. al.


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CHRlSTOI.QGY. 21the Scriptures. The :rporr.uarreA.toJl sets forth the task allotted to the Seed of the woman, to bruise tke kead of tkeSWpe1lt,l) and the last apostle writes, For this purpose tkeSon of God was manifested, tkat ke migkt destroy tke worksof tke devil. 2) Saint Paul tells us that God sent fortk kisSon made ofa woman, made under tke law, to redeem tkemtkat were under tke law, tkat we migkt recet.ve tke adoptionof sons.a) And the God-man himself states the purpose ofhis mission, saying that God so loved tke world tkat ke gavekis only begotten Son, tkat wkosoever beNevetk in kim skouldnot perisk, but kave everlastt:ng life,) and tkat tke Son of",an is come to save tkat wk':ck was lost 11) The very nameof the incarnate Son of God indicates this purpose, the namegiven him according to the divine message, Tkou skalt callkis name JESUS j for ke skallsave kis people from tket.rst.'ns. I)

The purpose of the incarnation of the Logos, then, wasthe redemption and salvation of mankind. Net.tker'is tkeresalvation in any otker: for tkere is none otker name underkeaven g':ven among men, wkereby we ",ust be saved.7)Among'men there could not be found a savior. None oftke", can !Jy any means redeem his brotker, nor give to Goda ransom for k':m.8) Neither could an angel or archangelmediate between God and man, fulfilling the law and bearing the sins of the world. Man had sinned and man mustsuffer the penalty of sin j to man the law was given and byman it must be fulfilled. Therefore the Mediator must beman as they whose place he must take in obedience and inthe judgment. But the redemption of the world was a tasktoo great for a mere man, who could not have becomethe substitute for one of his brethren, much less a ransomfor all, peifecting !Jy one offering for ever tkem tkat aresanctified.I) Therefore suck a Higk pnest became us, who

1) Gen. 3, 15.4) John 3, 16.6) Matt. I, 21. 25.7) Acts 4, 12.

2) 1 John 3, 8.5) Matt. 18, 11.

Luke I, 31; 2. 21.8) Ps. 49, 7.

3) Gal. 4. 4.

9) Hebr. 10, 14.


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CHRISTOLQGY. 23Jesus Christ HIS SON cleanseth us from all sin. l ) Of theSeed o f tke woman the first prophecy said both that heshould bruise the serpent's head, and that the serpentshould bruise his heel;2) and when he was come and hadsuffered and died, the apostle, describing the fulfillment ofthe prophecy, ascribes the work of the Seed of the womanto the Son of God: For tkis purpose tke SON OF GOD wasmanifested, tkat ke might destroy tke works o f tke devil.The natures in Christ had not entered into a partnershipfor the performance of a common purpose, each partnercontributing toward the common work that of which hehimself was capable, as a mason and a carpenter may builda house, each performing his share of the work accordingto his trade. When Jesus said, Young man, I say untotkee, Arise,l ) those words were human words pronouncedwith human organs of speech, and he who spoke them wasthe man Jesus. But a thousand men and tenthousandhuman voices could not have produced the effect whichfollowed, could not have roused the widow's son. WhenJesus spoke, I say unto tkee, it was the God-man whospoke; and the will that was expressed by the command,Arise, was not a human will only, but at the same timeand concurrently the will of the living God; and the powerexerted through that word, Arise, was Omnipotence divine,even as that human word itself was a word of God as trulyas the word, Let tkere be Ugkt, at the beginning of time.Thus, also, in the work of redemption, the obedience ofthe child Jesus and his subjection to his parents') was a fulfillment of the fourth commandment rendered by the Son ofGod. And thus in all things, being made under the law,S)Christ, the God-man rendered obedience to all the commandments of God, loving the Father with all his heartand loving his brethren more than himself.') In such obe-

1) 1 John 1, 7. Cf. Acta 20, 28.3) Lake 7, 11. 4) Luke 2, 5l.6) John 14, 31. John 13, 1.

2) Gen. 3, 15.5) Gal. 4, 4.


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24 CHRISTOLQGY.dience the Son of God, made under the law, abundantlysatisfied the law and procured a righteousness sufficient inthe sight of God, that by tke obedience of one the manymight be made rigkteous. 1) And when he became obedientunto deatk, even tke deatk oj tke crosS,2) such suffering ofbody and soul was undergone by that nature to which aloneit was proper to suffer and die, but with the concurrence ofthe divine nature personally united with the human nature;for the hands and feet that were pierced, and the face thatwas smitten, and the head that was crowned with thorns,and the soul that was exceeding sorrowful, were the handsand feet, the face and brow, and the human soul, of theSon of God, who thus suffered and died and made propiti-ation for tke sins of tke wkole world.B) While a mere Godcould not have suffered and died at all, and a mere mancould not have suffered and died sufficiently, the sufferingand death of the God-man was both real and sufficient, realbecause of the human nature, and sufficient because of thedivine nature. Bekold tke Lamb of God wkich taketh awaythe sin of tke world!") A lamb brought to the slaughter,wounded, bruised, chastised, oppressed, afBicted, and putto grief, when God made his soul an offering for sin ;6) buta lamb of God, worthy to receive honor and glory andblessing.e) For the blood of Jesus Christ is God's ownblood,?) and the death of him, of whom Pilate truly said,Behold the man!8) was the death of the Son of God.') Thusdid God, sending his own Son in tke likeness oj sinful flesh,and for sin, condemn sin in tke flesk, tkat tke righteousnessof tke law mt"gkt be fulfilled t"n us. 10) Thus, by the Godman, was the eternal purpose of God, the redemption ofthe world, achieved. A. G.

(To be continued.)1) Rom. 5, 19. 2) Phil. 2, 8. 3) 1 John 2, 2.4) John I, 29. 5) 18. 53, 5-7. 10. 6) Rev. 5, 12.7) 1 John I, 7. Acts 20,28. 8) John 19, 5.9) Rom. 5, 10. We were reconciled to God by the death of his SMI.

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Christology Part 1