TRIUMPHED OVER DEATH, AND LAID ASIDE THE FORM OF A SERVANT, HE WAS EXALTED BY GOD THE FATHER TO A STATE OF IMMORTALITY AND OF THE HIGHEST GLORY, PARTLY BY HIS OWN MERITS,3 PARTLY BY THE GIFT OF THE FATHER, for THE BENEFIT OF MANKIND; WHEREFORE HE ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD, ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN, AND SITTETH ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. HAVING TRIUMPHED OVER DEATH, and LAID ASIDE THE FORM OF A SERVANT. Luke xxiv. 26. "ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" Col. ii. 14, 15. “having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing_over them in it.' HE WAS EXALTED BY GOD THE FATHER. John x. 18. 66 I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again: this commandment have I received of my Father." Hence John ii. 19. "destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," namely, because he had been so commanded by the Father; as he acknowledges in the preceding quotation. Acts ii. 24. "whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death." v. 33. "being by the right hand of God exalted." v. 30, 31. "the God of our fathers raised up Jesus.... him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince." See also x. 40. and xiii. 32-34. as above. Rom. i. 4. " declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” viii. 11. "if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies." 2. Cor. xiii. 4. "though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God." Eph. i. 19, 20. "according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead." Philipp. ii. 9. "wherefore God also hath highly exalted him." Col. ii. 12. "through the faith of the operations of God, who hath raised him from the dead." Heb. ii. 7. "thou crownedst him with glory and honour." To A STATE OF IMMORTALITY. Acts xiii. 34. "no more to return to corruption." Rom. vi. 9. "Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more. PARTLY BY HIS OWN MERITS, PARTLY BY THE GIFT OF THE 3 All power I give thee; reigu for ever, and assume Paradise Lost, III. 31. FATHER. Rom. xiv. 9. "to this end Christ both died.... that he might be Lord both of the dead and living." Philipp. ii. 9. "wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name." Heb. ii. 9. " we see Jesus.... crowned with glory and honour, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.' xii. 2. "for the joy that was set before him." See below, where the FOR THE BENEFIT OF MANKIND. object of Christ's entire ministry is considered. This exaltation consists of three degrees; his resurrection, his ascension into heaven, and his sitting on the right hand of God; all of which are specified with sufficient clearness in the gospels and apostolical writings. For his resurrection, see Matthew and Mark, &c. and I Cor. xv. 4, &c. for his ascension into heaven, Mark xvi. 19. Luke xxiv. 51. John xiv. 12, &c. Acts i. 9, &c. Eph. iv. 8-10. "he ascended up far above all heavens." His sitting on the right hand of God, a Hebraism signifying that he is exalted to a place of power and glory next to God, is mentioned. Matt. xxvi. 64. "sitting on the right hand of power." See also Mark xiv. 62. xvi. 19. Eph. i. 20. "he set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places." Heb. i. 3. "sat down on the right hand of his Majesty on high." viii. 1. "who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty." See also xii. 2. Psal. cx. 1. Acts vii. 55. The human nature of Christ, although exalted to a state of the highest glory, exists nevertheless in one definite place, and has not, as some contend, the attribute of ubiquity. Matt. xxviii. 6. "he is not here, for he is risen." Luke xxiv." 51. "he was parted from them and carried up into heaven.” 4 Regardless of the bliss wherein he sat Second to thee. Paradise Lost, III. 408. Who into glory him receiv'd, Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss. VI. 891. This alludes to the doctrine of the Ubiquitarians, who held the omnipresence of the human body of Christ. This opinion seems to have been first maintained by Brentius, one of the earliest reformers, in 1560. Luther favoured it in his controversy with Zuingle, but subsequently acknowledged its difficulties, especially as connected with the corporal presence in the eucharist. After his death it was again advanced by Brentius, supported by Chemnitius and Andreas. The Lutheran Church has received the doctrine. Curcellæus, Instit. V. 15. 9-15. argues against it; Milton alludes to it in his logical work, instancing the fallacy of an argument by which it is sometimes supported. Peccatur autem terminis John xiv. 28. "I go away, and come again unto you." Acts iii. 21. "whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things." As Christ emptied himself in both his natures, so both participate in his exaltation; his Godhead, by its restoration and manifestation; his manhood, by an accession of glory, John xvii. 5. " now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." Acts xiii. 32, 33. "he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have. I begotten thee." Rom. 1. 4. "being declared (or defined) to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." The effect and design of the whole ministry of mediation is, the satisfaction of divine justice on behalf of all men, and the conformation of the faithful to the image of Christ. THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST is THE COMPLETE REPARATION MADE BY HIM IN HIS TWOFOLD CAPACITY OF GOD AND MAN, BY THE FULFILMENT OF THE LAW, AND PAYMENT OF THE REQUIRED PRICE FOR ALL MANKIND.7 BY THE FULFILMENT OF THE LAW. Matt. v. 17. "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Psal. xl. 8, 9. compared with Heb. x. 7, 9. "I come to do thy will, O God." Gal. iv. 5. "to redeem them that were under the law." Col. ii. 14. "blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.' Rom. viii. 3, 4. "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled." Christ fulfilled the law by perfect love to God and his neighbour, until the time when pluribus, vel apertius, vel tectius.... Sic etiam cum non iisdem verbis aliud planè proponitur, aliud assumitur; ut dextera Dei est ubique; humanitas Christi sedet ad dextram Dei; ergo, humanitas Christi est ubique.' Prose Works, Symmons' ed. VI. 315. 6 Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt Paradise Lost, III. 313. 7 Die, he or justice must; unless for him Shall satisfy for man. 209. Ibid. 294. Compare also XII. 415–419. he laid down his life for his brethren, being made obedient unto his Father in all things." INSTEAD OF ALL MANKIND. BY PAYMENT OF THE REQUIRED PRICE FOR, that is to say, Matt. xx. 28. λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλων, “a ransom for many." 1 Cor. vi. 20. "ye are bought with a price." 1 Tim. ii. 6. άvríλurpov UTEP Tάvwv," a ransom for all." The expressions in the Greek clearly denote the substitution of one person in the place of another.9 1 Pet. i. 18. ἐλυτρώθητε, ye were redeemed.. with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb." Rom. v. 10. " we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son." iv. 25. "for our offences." 1 Cor. xv. 3. "for our sins." 2 Cor. v. 21. "for us." Tit. ii. 14. "for us, that he might redeem us." See also Gal. i. 4. Heb. vii. 22. “ a surety." x. 12. "one sacrifice for sins." v. 29. "who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing." is in vain that the evidence of these texts is endeavoured to be evaded by those who maintain that Christ died, not in our stead, and for our redemption, but merely for our advantage in the abstract, and as an example to mankind. At the same time I confess myself unable to perceive how those who consider the Son as of the same essence with the Father, can explain either his incarnation, or his satisfaction. 8 The law of God exact he shall fulfil Both by obedience and by love, though love Alone fulfil the law. Paradise Lost, XII. 402. It 9 Alluding not only to the force of the preposition dvrì, but to the import of the word λúrpov, whether in its classical sense, as implying a, ransom paid for the release of a captive, or in its Hellenistic signification, as referring to the price of atonement and redemption required under the law. Compare Jahn. Enchiridion Hermenenticæ generalis, cap. vi. § 51, note; Magee on the sense in which Christ is said in Scripture to have DIED FOR US. On the Atonement, vol. i. No. 30. p. 247, edit. 1816. Whitby on John ii. 29. Lightfoot's Works, vol. iv. p. 181, Pitman's edit. Stillingfleet's Discourse concerning the Sufferings of Christ, in which the Socinian errors on this subject are excellently combated; Warburton's Divine Legation, Book vi. Sect. v. and Book. ix., respecting the reality of Christ's sacrifice; Grotius De Satisfactione Christi, Chaps. vi. and viii., and ix. See also the note of Raphelius quoted by Archbp. Magee, On the Atonement, vol. i. p. 251. Paradise Lost, III. 299. 'Milton's system of divinity likewise that a real price was 1 Giving to death, and dying to redeem. Which line is thus explained by Warburton. taught, not only that man was redeemed, but paid for his redemption; dying to redeem therefore signifying only re FOR ALL MANKIND.2 Rom. v. 18. "the free gift came upou all men." 2 Cor. v. 14. "if one died for all, then were all dead." If this deduction be true, then the converse is also true, namely, that if all were dead, because Christ died for all, Christ died for all who were dead; that is, for all mankind. Eph. i. 10. "that he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth;" all things therefore on earth, without a single exception, as well as in heaven. Col. i. 20. "by him to reconcile all things." 1 Tim. ii. 4. "who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." Compare also v. 6. Heb. ii. 9. “for every man." See also Pet. iii. 9. Further, Christ is said in many places to have been given for the whole world. John iii. 16, 17. " God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." vi. 51. "the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." See 1 John iv. 14. They however who maintain that Christ made satisfaction for the elect alone, reply, that these passages are to be understood only of the elect who are in the world; and that this is confirmed by its being said elsewhere that Christ made satisfaction for us, that is, as they interpret it, for the elect. Rom. viii. 34. 2 Cor. v. 21. Tit. ii. 14. That the elect, however, cannot be alone intended, will be obvious to any one who examines these texts with attention, if in the first passage from St. John (for instance) the term elect be subjoined by way of explanation to that of the world. So God loved the world (that is, the elect) that whosoever (of the elect) believeth in him should not perish. This would be absurd; for which of the elect does not believe? It is obvious therefore that God here divides the world into believers demption in a vague uncertain sense, but imperfectly represents his system; so imperfectly, that it may as well be called the Socinian; the price paid (which implies a proper redemption) is wanting. But to pay a price implying a voluntary act, the poet therefore well expresses it by giving to death, that is giving himself to death; so that the sense of the line fully expresses Milton's notion; heavenly love gave a price for the redemption of mankind, and by virtue of that price really redeemed them.' 2 See the texts and arguments on which this doctrine is supported in Whitby's Second Discourse on the Five Points, entitled, the Extent of Christ's Redemption, and in Barrow's four sermons on the doctrine of universal redemption. 3 So Beza in los. |