VI. I shalr here introduce a few texts, which are not

reducible to any of the above-mentioned heads 5 be* ing either interpolations or mis-translations of the script mes, or having no relation, to the subject in. favour of which they have been quoted.
Matt, xxviii. 19. " Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." This form .of baptism seems to be intended to remind Christians of the different parts which God, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit acred in the scheme of man's redemption; God sending his Son on this gracious errand ; the Son faith* fully performing the work which God gave him to do,, and being made head over all things to the church ; and the Holy Spirit confirming the word of truth by miraculous gifts. But it is quite an arbitrary supposi- tion, that, because they are mentioned together upon this occasion, they must be equal in all other respects* partaking of divinity alike, so as to be equal in power and glory. The apostle Paul says, l Cor. x. 2. " that
the
W Passages of Scripture
» . the children of Israel were baptized unto Moses :" but
lie certainly did not mean that Moses was their God.
Col. iii. 10. " And have put on the new man, which j« renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him ; where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free ; but Christ is all, and in all j M that 13, there is no other distinction to be made now, but only ■whether a man be a teal christian.
1 Cor. i. 2. " With all that in all places call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours.*' That adoration, such as is due to the one liv- ing and true God, was not meant by the apostle in this place, is evident from the very next words : u Gracfc be unto you, and peacei from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ ;" where Christ is evi- dently spoken of as distinct from God. It is probable, therefore, that the apostle meant nothing more than such as call themselves by the name of Christ, or who professed Christianity.
Acts vii. 59. upon God, and saying Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.** The wofd God is not in the original, as our translators have signified, by their directing it to be printed in the Italic character; so that this text by no means im- plies that Stephen acknowledged Christ to be God, but only informs us, that Stephen addressed himself to Christ, whom he had just seen in person in a stale of great exaltation and glory : as we read, ver. 55, 56. f *He, being full of the Holy Ghost A looked steadfastly
into-
illustrated. 57
into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God ; and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the son of man stand- ing on the right hand of God/' This very language ctearly implies, that he considered the son of man, and God, as distinct persons.
The word which is here, and in 1 Cor, i. 9. rendered to call upon, is far from being appropriated to invoca- tion, as peculiar to the Divine Being. It is the same word that is rendered to appeal to, as when Paul ap- peals to Caesar ; and is used when a person is said to be called by any particular na,me; as, Judas, called Iscariot, &c. There can be no doubt, therefore, but that it has the same meaning both in 1 Cor. i. 2. and also in Actsi*. 91. " Is not this he that destroyed them who called on this name in Jerusalem ?" that is, all who called themselves christians, h is so rendered, James ii. 7. " Do they not blaspheme the worthy name by which ey are called ? " or, as it is more exactly ren- dered, which is called, or imposed, upon you? that is, by which ye are distinguished. Had it implied adora- tion, it would at least have been which is called upon by you.
1 John v. 7. t€ There are three that* bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Hcly Ghost ; and these three are one." Sir Isaac Newton and others have clearly proved t that this verse was no part of John's original epistle, but was inserted in later ages. Ii is not to be found in any ancient manu- script, and has been omitted in many printed copied tod translations of the New Testament,, at a time when
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*• Passages of Scripture
the doctrine which it is supposed to contain was in a manner universally received. I say supposed to contain, because in fact it expresses no more than that these three agree in giving the same testimony, which is the only kind of union which the spirit, the water, and the Hood, in the verse following can have.
1 Tim. iii. 16. "And without controversy, great is (he mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the gentiles, believtd on in the world, received up into glory." Sir Isaac Newton has fully demonstrated that, in the original, this text was not God manifest in the flesh, but who was manifest in the flesh, and a very small alteration in the manner of writing Greek is sufficient for that purpose. The oldest manuscript in the world, which I have examined myself, has been manifestly altered front the one to the other, as ap- pears by the difference in the colour of the ink. Be* sides, it is even literally true, that God was manifest in the flesh of Christ ; since he himself acknowledges, that "the very words which he spake were not his own, but the Father's who sent him, and that the Father, who was in bim, did the works." It was therefore with the greatest propriety that our Lord said, John viii. £9. " If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also," the wisdom and power of God being conspicuous in him. They who will have this text to be a proof of the godhead of Christ, must suppose him to be the Father, or the first person in the Trinity, tod not the Son, or the second.
Zech. xiii. 7. « Awake, O sword, against my shep- herd
illustrated* 5g
herd and against the marr that is my fellow, faith tb^ Lord of hosts/' So says our English version; but the word in the original signifies a person that is near, or joined in neighbourhood to another; and except this single text, it is every where rendered neighbour by.
■
our translators.
Philip. iL 5, &c. " Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of
God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but
made himself of no reputation ; — Wherefore God also
hath highly exalted him. — That every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father." The proper rendering of this text is,
Who being in the form of God, did not think that being
equal to God, or a state of equality with God, was a
thing to be seized (i. e. by him), but made himself of
nareputation. This makes the whole pasaage perfectly
just and coherent, as a recommendation of humility,
and also hints a fine contrast between the conduct of
Christ, whom St. Paul elsewhere calls the second
Adam, and the first, who is also said to have been
made tit the likeness of God ; but aspiring to be as God,
fell, and was punished; whereas Christ, who had
ihore of the likeness or form of God, on account of
his extraordinary powers, not grasping at any thing
higher, but humbling himself, was exalted; It nvin
this sense, or a sense similar to it, in which this very
text is quoted by those fathersof the Christian church
who wrote before the controversy about the divinity
of Christ was started. In this manner, even some
who
60 Passages of Scripture
who maintain the divinity of Christ render the words. Thus, Father Simon, who contends that being in the form of God, is equivalent to being truly God, renders the latter part of the verse, did not imperiously assume to himself an equality with God. Indeed the word hut, which introduces the next verse, evidently leads us to expect some contrast between what goes before and after it, which is very striking in the manner in which I translate this text ; but it is altogether lost in our common version. " For he made himself equal to .God, but humbled himself," is not even sense. Lastly, I would observe that the word which is here rendered equal to, is, also used to express a very high degree of resemblance, which it is very certain that Christ was possessed of with respect to God ; and Dr. Doddridge renders it, to be as God.