V. Many of the texts which are usually alleged in

proof of the divinity of Christ, relate to God the Father only. One of the most remarkable of these is John i. 1. " In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All, things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the . light of men ; and the light sliineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witnesi of that light. That was the true light, which lighteth every mat eth into the world. He was in the worl world was made by him, and the world kne He came unto his own, and Tiis own receive And the word Was made flesh, and dwelt
M Passages of Scripture
«ad we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only be- gotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
These words, interpreted in the mo»t literal manner, .flnly imply thai the word, or Christ, had a being before the creation of the world; that he had the title of God, or of a God, and w»s the instrument by whom the supreme God made all things ; hut, they by no means imply that he was true and very God ; for magistrates and others are sometimes called gods, on account of .their power and dominion, in which they resemble God. Nay the derivation of Christ from the Father, And consequently his dependence upon him, is suffi- ciently expressed hy his being called, in the last of these ■ verses, " the only begotten of the Father." «
To me, however, it appears, that the apostle does not speak of the pre-existenee of Christ in this place ; but only of the power ami -wisdom of God, which dwelled or tabernacled in his flesh ; and that he pro- bably meant to condemn some false opinions concern- ing the logos {which is the Greek for word) which ai* known .to have prevailed in his time. Now, in con- tradiction to them, the apostle here asserts, that by the . word of God we are not to understand any being di- stinct from God, but only the powerat energy of God, which is so much with God, that it properly belongs iBture, and is not at all distinct from God hint- id that the same power which produced" ajl was manifest to men in the person of Jesus who was sent **> enlighten the world ; that his pp^er nestle the Wflrld, if was.nc-t acknow- ledged
illustrated. 40
ledged by the world, when it was revealed in this man- ner, not even by God's peculiar people, the Jews ; and notwithstanding this power wa* manifested in a more sensible and constant manner than ever it had been be* fore, dwelling in human flesh, and tabernacling, or abiding some considerable lime among us ; so thai bis glory was beheld, or made visible to mortal eyes, and was full of grace and truth.
Rom. is. 5. " Whose are the fathers, and of whom,. as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever." This may with equal propriety- and truth be rendered, God, who is over all, be blessei forever, the former sentence ending with the word came ; and since no ancient manuscripts are pointed,, all the pointings have been made and the different sen- tences have been distinguished as fallible men have thought the best sense required. It affords an argu- ment favourable to my construction of these words, that it is usual with the apostle Paul (o break out into adox.ology,orformof thanksgiving to God, after men- tioning any remarkable instance of his goodness. See Epb-iii. SI. I Tim. i. 17. vulti. See also lPet.lv. 11., Indeed, it is very common in Jewish writings to add a dpxology after barely mentioning the name of God.
1 John v. 20. " And we know that the son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him thai is true, and we are in hi true, even in his son Jesus Christ. This is God, and eternal life." This last clause is it explanatory of the title him that is true, or the
90 Passages of Scripture
in the preceding clauses, of whom the son of God has given us an understanding, or with whom he hai made us acquainted. As the word even is a mere addition of our translators, instead of we are in him thai is true, ntnm kit son Jesus'Christ, we may read, We are in him that is true, in or by his son Jesus Christ; and this makes a far more consistent sense, and may be considered as an allusion to the words of Christ ad- dressed to the Father, and recorded by this very apostle. John xvii. 3. " This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hattsent." Without ihisinterpretation these two texts would flatly contradict one another; for how can the father be the only true God, if the son be true God also?
1 Cor. i. 33, 84. *' But we preach 'Christ crucified,
unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks
foolishness; but unto them' that are called, both Jews
and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom
of God." The meaning of this plainly is, that the
power and wisdom. of God were displayed in this very
circumstance of the crucifixion of Christ, which was
such a stumbling*block, and appeared so foolish to
men; agreeably to what he immediately adds, " for the
foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weak-
: ^.« 1 is stronger than men.** That which the
Jreeks bad rejected, as foolish and weak,
iy, and appeared to those who were called,
re taught to understand U better, to surpass
and power of man.
Tit.
. illustrated. 51
Tit. ii. IS. " Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearance of the great God, and our Saviour' Jesus Christ." In this place God and Christ are raen« tioned as distinct persons, the judgement of the world being sometimes ascribed to the one, and sometimes to the other ; which is easily, accounted for by consi- dering that, in that great day, Christ acts by commis- * sion from God, and will come in the glory of his Fa- ther, and of the holy angels, as well as in his own glory, upon that most solemn occasion.
John xx. 38. "Thomas answered andWAoiitf jbim. My Lord, and my God/' This is an abrupt exclama- tion, and no connected sentence at all, and seems to hare proceeded from a conviction, Suddenly produced, m the apostle's mind, that he who stood before him was, indeed, his Lord and master, raised to life by the power of God. The resurrection of Christ ?hd the power of God had so near a cqnnection, thai a con- viction of the one could not but be attended with an acknowledgement of the other; and therefore they are frequently mentioned together, the one as the cause, and the other as the effect. Rom. i. 4. " Declared td be the son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead. Rom* vi. 4. " Raised from the dead by the glory of the Father." x. 9/ " If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe with thine heart, that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Here we plainly see, that he only who raised Christ from the dead is styled God, and not Christ, who was raised by his power. 7
c* lTira.', :*?;
■52 Passages of Scripture
1 Tim. vi. 13, &c. " I give thee charge in the sight of God, who qutckeneth all things, and before Jesus Christ, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good con- fession, that thou keep this commandment without spot unrebukabie, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords ; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting, amen." The meaning of this passage, as the construction of the words in the original incon- testably proves, is as follows ; which appearing, or second coming of Christ to judge the world, he who is the blessed and only potentate, that is, the only true God, the Father, shall show, or declare. And this exactly agrees with what our Lord himself says, that the day and hour of this his appearing was not known either to the angels of God, or to himself, but to the Father only ; and consequently he only could show, or declare it. Besides, the very verses I quoted above sufficiently demonstrate, that the writer of them con- sidered God ancl Christ as distinct persons. " I charge thee in the sight of God and before Jesus Christ i" and how could he with truth say of Christ, that " no man had seen him, or could see him?"
He _b. i. 10. " And thou, Lord, in the beginning jha$t laid the foundation of the earth," &c. As there are several expressions in the first part of this chapter, which are not easy to be understood, I shall give a-
brief
illustrated. B9
brief explanation of them all, in their' order. The great objection which the Jews made to Christianity
•
being the meanness of Christ's appearance, and the ignominious death that he suffered ; to obviate this,the author of this epistle begins with representing the -gr^eat dignity to which, for the suffering of death, Christ is now exalted at the right hand of God. Having said that " God, in these last days, had spoken to us by his son," he immediately adds, ver. 2. " whom he hath appointed heir," or lord, "of all things;" by whom also he made, or appointed, not the material worlds, but the ages ; that is, the present dispensation of God's government over mankind, which is esta- . „ blished by the gospel, the administration of which is committed to the Son : " Who being the brightness of his (that is, God's) glory, and the express image of bis (that is, God's) person, and upholding all things by the word of his (that is, God's) power, he, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.'* It is plain from this passage, that whatever Christ is he is by divine appointment, whom he appointed heir . of all things.
Afterwards this writer proceeds to prove that Christ h superior to angels, and at the close of this argument he has these words, "but concerning the son he says, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever ; "or, as it may be rendered, 'God is thy throne for ever and ever; that is, God will establish the authority of Christ tilt time shall be no more ; ct a sceptre of righteousness i% t U the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved rl^fttlSk' .
ousnest
54 Passages of* Scripture
ousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows/ 1 From this passage nothing can be more plain* than that, whatever authority belongs to Christ, he has a superior, from whom he derive* it ; " God, even thy God, has anointed thee." This could never have been said of the one true God, whose being and power are underived.
In verses 10, 11, 12, the apostle quotes an address to God, as the great Creator and everlasting Ruler of the universe, but without any hint of its being applied to Christ, from Psalm cii. 25 — 27- " And thou, Lord,
v in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hand3. They shall perish, but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment, and as. a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed : but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail." This quotation was probably made with a view to express the great honour conferred on Christ on account of the dignity of the person who conferred it. For it immediately follows, ver. 13. " But to which of the angels said he,'' that is, the great Being to whom this description belongs, "Sit thou on my right hand until 1 make thine: enemies thv footstool ?" Or, since this quotation from the Psalmist describes a perpetuity of empire in God, it' may be intended to intimate a per* petuity of empire in Christ, who holds his authority
. from God, and who must hold it, unless God himself
,Jte rotable to support it. im^ Acts
il&astrattd. SS
Acts xx. 98. " Feed the church of God, which* he has purchased with his own blood/* la the most an- cient manuscripts this text is, '* Feed the church of the Lord ;*' which generally signifies Christ, Also in some copies it ts, " which he purchased with blood;? that is, the blood of his Son. As the blood of God is a phrase which occur* no where else in the scriptures, we ought to be exceedingly cautious how we admit such an expression. If Christ was God, his blood could not be his blood as God, but as man.
*