53. He was raised from the dead by the power of God, the Father. See page 29, No. 42; page 54, No. 5. 54. And was rewarded by God for having faithfully accomplished the wise and beneficent purposes for which he was sent into the world. -Acts ii. 36: "Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Phil. ii. 9-11: "WHEREFORE God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the earth; and [that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, TO THE GLORY OF GOD, THE FATHER."-See Acts vii. 55, 56. Rom. xiv. 9. Heb. ii. 9; vii. 26. See also page 56, No. 22. OBSERVATIONS ON THE SOURCE OF CHRIST'S WISDOM AND power. "Whence hath this person this wisdom, and these mighty works?" "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?"-In answer to such questions, the Trinitarian replies, that Jesus Christ is "Almighty God, the second person of the holy Trinity, equal to the Father;" that "he taught in his own name, and without appealing to any authority but his own;" that "he possessed independent and personal power;" that "he acted entirely by his own power, and manifested forth his own glory;" that, "though as Mediator he received the authority from the Father, he possessed in himself as God the ability by which he was enabled to exercise the authority."-Such is the language of Dwight, of Scott, and of Bagot, echoed by a host of adherents. But how opposite are these sentiments to the truth as it is in Jesus! Our Saviour did not represent himself as equal in power and glory to his omnipotent Father; he did not call himself the second person of the Godhead; he did not teach in his own name; he did not act by his own inherent power; he did not seek his own personal glory. No: he expressly declared himself to be A MAN THAT HAD TOLD THE TRUTH WHICH HE HAD HEARD OF GOD; and he frequently characterised himself as a docile son, who receives his instructions from his father, and whose filial piety is so strong that he does nothing, and can do nothing, but what he is permitted by his beloved parent to perform. And, while Jesus attributed to the Father who dwelt in him the wisdom and the power which were so conspicuous in his doctrine and in his miracles, he never at any time disclosed the cabalistic view of his person, that he thus acted and spoke in the lowest and most insignificant of his capacities,— namely in his human nature; though, according to the same system, he possessed, besides, an infinite nature, capable, without the assistance of the Father, of revealing the most important doctrines, and performing the most astonishing works! SECT. II-PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE PROVING CHRIST TO BE INFERIOR TO GOD, BY VARIOUS TITLES AND MODES OF EXPRESSION RELATIVE TO HIS NATURE, CHARACTER, AND MISSION. 1. By our Lord himself. -John viii. 40: "But now ye seek to kill me, a man** that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God." 2. By the Prophet Isaiah.—Isa. liii. 3: "He is despised and rejected of men; a man† of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” 3. By John the Baptist.-John i. 30: "After me cometh a man' is preferred before me; for he was before me." h who 4. By the Samaritan woman.- -John iv. 29: "Come, see a man who told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" 5. By the Spectators of Christ's miracles.-Matt. ix. 8: "But when the multitudes saw [it], they marvelled, and glorified God, who had given such power unto men."" 6. By a blind man, whose sight was restored.John ix. 11: "A man" that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes," &c. 7. By the Jews generally. John vii. 46: "The officers answered, Never man spake like this man."-See Matt. xi. 19. Luke vii. 34." John v. 12; ix. 16,2" 24;" x. 33;" xi. 47," 50;" xviii. 14," 17." 8. By Pontius Pilate.- -John xix. 5: "Behold the man!"-See chap. xviii. 29. Luke xxiii. 4, 6," 14.2h 9. By the Roman centurion who witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus.— Mark xv. 39: "Truly this man" was the Son of God."—See Luke xxiii. 47. 10. By two of the Disciples.-Luke xxiv. 19: "Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God," &c. a man prophet....... a human prophet, or prophetic man Haynes. 11. By the Apostle Peter, both before and after the ascension of his Master.- -Acts ii. 22: " Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man" approved of God among you," &c.-See Matt. xxvi. 72, 74. Mark xiv. 71." 12. By the Apostle Paul.-Acts xvii. 30, 31: "God ... hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by [that] * man whom he hath ordained; [whereof] he hath given assurance.” 1 Cor. xv. 21: "Since by man" [came] death, by man' [came] also Aveguros, when used in any of these passages, will be distinguished by an h, the initial of the Latin word homo, a common or mortal man; avng, by a v, the initial of the Latin, vir, a distinguished or great man. + In the Septuagint, av@gwños, homo; but in the Hebrew, w`x, vir. the resurrection of the dead." Chap. xv. 47: "The first man [is] of the earth, earthy; the second man" [is] the Lord from heaven." the second man [will be] from heaven.-Carpenter. Phil. ii. 7, 8: "But made himself of no reputation, and took upon being in the likeness of men, i.e. being like an ordinary man Lardner, Lindsey. Belsham. and, being found in fashion as a man," he humbled himself, and and being in the common condition of man.. when he was now in the condition of a man; i. e. being, in his mode of living, Norton. his external circumstances and condition, really a man of mean rank... Cappe. became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." 1 Tim. ii. 5: "[There is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man' Christ Jesus."-See Rom. v. 15,' &c. 13. By Christ himself. (2) Called the Son of Man: -Matt. viii. 20: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air [have] nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." John v. 26, 27: "The Father ....... hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.' although he is a son of man.-Lindsey. because he is a son of man. INTERPRETATIONS, because he has humbled himself so low as to become the Son of man —Wakefield, Carpenter. .... because it suits the ends of divine wisdom, that the Judge, as well as Sa- See Matt. ix. 6; x. 23; xi. 19; xii. 32, 40; xiii. 27, 28; xvii. 9, 12, 22; xviii. 11; xix. 28; xx. Macknight. Campbell. 37, 41; xvi. 13, 18, 28; xxiv. 27, Mark ii. 10; viii. 31, 38; ix. 9, 12, 31; x. 33, 45; xiii. 26; xiv. 21,2 41, 62. Luke V. 24; vi. 22; vii. 34; ix. 22, 26, 44, 58; xi. 30; xii. 8, 10, 40; xxi. 27, 36; xxii. 22, xvii. 22, 24, 26, Some would add Matt. xii. 8. Mark ii. 28. Luke vi. 5. 14. By the martyr Stephen.- -Acts vii. 56: "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." 15. By the Prophet Daniel, and the Evangelist John.Dan. vii. 13: "I saw in the night-visions... [one] like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days," &c.See Rev. i. 13; xiv. 14. * It is observed by Markland, that it is not here, o vios rov avgwTou, the humble appellation by which our Lord commonly distinguished himself, but simply vios av@gwTou, without any article, a common Hebraism, and still more common Syriasm, for a man, a human being.-Campbell. OBSERVATIONS ON THE NAMES "MAN" AND SON OF MAN," AS APPLIED TO CHRIST. It is scarcely possible for any one of ordinary understanding to peruse the New Testament, particularly the Gospels, without being struck by the remarkable fact, that Jesus Christ is every where treated of in that volume, not as a person composed of two distinct and opposite natures-finite and infinite, mortal and immortal, feeble and all-powerfulbut as a being constituted as man is, with similar passions, feelings, and appetites; nay, with the exception of sinful thoughts and habits, participating the same in the very same manner." In accordance with this fact, it cannot but be observed, that not only was Jesus spoken of as a human being by the prophet Isaiah, by John the Baptist, and by his countrymen in general, whether friend or foe, but that he expressly called himself a man, and was so styled by the apostles both during his public ministry, and after his ascension. 66 When Peter pusillanimously denied his Master by saying that "he knew not the man," he surely could not regard the person whom he had thus designated as the Almighty Creator of the universe; or, when, on the day of Pentecost, he openly proclaimed Jesus of Nazareth to be the anointed of Jehovah, and “a man approved of God by the miracles and wonders which God did by him,” it is inconceivable that he would have neglected to state the more astonishing doctrine-if he had believed it— that, as the omnipotent Sovereign of heaven and earth, Jesus controlled the laws of nature by his own independent and inherent power. Nor is it a circumstance less incredible, that the apostle Paul should have termed the Mediator "a man," and the Judge of the world "a man appointed by God," if he at the same time considered him to be a person consisting of a divine as well as a human nature. The title "Son of man," which the Saviour almost uniformly applied to himself, may also be justly deemed as lending no feeble argument in opposition to the doctrine of two natures in the person of Christ. It is well known, that in the Eastern languages, particularly in the Syriac, this phrase is used to signify a man, or human being; and in the Sacred Writings several instances of such an application are to be found; as, for instance, in Ps. viii. 3, 4: "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him ?" (See Ps. xlix. 2; lxii. 9, in the Hebrew. Job xxv. 6. Prov. viii. 4. Jer. xlix. 18, 33. Mark iii. 28.)—But had our Lord wished himself to be regarded also as God, he would certainly not have used a phrase of this kind without cautioning his followers against understanding it in its usual acceptation, and without intimating that this title was significant only of an infinitely small fraction of his "complex person." (3) Called or accounted a Prophet, or the Prophet: 16. By Jesus himself.-Luke xiii. 33: "Nevertheless, I must walk today, and to-morrow, and the [day] following; for it cannot be that a Prophet perish out of Jerusalem."-See Matt. xiii. 57. Mark vi. 4. Luke iv. 24. John iv. 44. 17. By the People.-Matt. xxi. 11: "And the multitude said, This is Jesus, the Prophet of Nazareth of Galilee."-See ver. 46. Mark vi. 15. Luke vii. 16. John vi. 14; vii. 40. 18. By the woman of Samaria.-John iv. 19: "The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a Prophet.” 19. By him who was restored to sight.John ix. 17: "They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a Prophet." 20. By some of his Disciples.-Luke xxiv. 19: "And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people." 21. By Moses, Peter, and Stephen. Deut. xviii. 15: "Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me."-See ver. 18. Acts iii. 22, 23; vii. 37. (4) Styled the Sent of God-a Divine Messenger. 22. By Jesus Christ himself.- -John viii. 42: "Neither came I of myself, but He sent me." Chap. xvii. 18: "As Thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world."-See Matt. x. 40; xv. 24. Mark ix. 37. Luke iv. 18, 43; ix. 48; x. 16. John iv. 34; v. 23, 24, 30, 36, 37, 38; vi. 29, 38, 39, 40, 44, 57; vii. 16, 18, 28, 29, 33; viii. 16, 18, 26, 29; ix. 4; x. 36; xi. 42; xii. 44, 45, 49; xiii. 20; xiv. 24; xv. 21; xvi. 5; xvii. 3, 8, 21, 23, 25; xx. 21. 23. By the Prophet Isaiah.Isa. lxi. 1: "The spirit of the Lord God [is] upon me; because Jehovah hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives," &c. ... 24. By John the Baptist. John iii. 34: "He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God; for God giveth not the spirit by measure [unto him].”" 25. By the Apostle Peter.Acts iii. 26: "Unto you first, God, having raised up his Son, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." 26. By the Apostle Paul.- -Gal. iv. 4: "When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son," &c.-See Rom. viii. 3. 27. By the Evangelist John.1 John iv. 14: “We have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son [to be] the Saviour of the world." See ver. 9, 10. John iii. 17. |