CHRISTOLOGIA
Or
A Declaration Of The Glorious Mystery Of The Person of Christ--God and Man:
With The
Infinite Wisdom, Love, And Power Of God In The Contrivance And Constitution Thereof;
As Also, Of The Grounds And Reasons Of His Incarnation;
The Nature Of His Ministry In Heaven;
The Present State Of The Church Above
Thereon;
And The Use Of His Person In Religion:
With An Account And Vindication Of The Honour, Worship, Faith, Love, And Obedience Due
Unto Him, In And From The Church.
by
John Owen
CLICK FOR
CHAPTER 4
The Person of Christ the Foundation of all the Counsels of God
CHAPTER 5
The Person of Christ the Great Representative of God and His Will
CHAPTER 6
The Person of Christ the Great Repository of
Sacred Truth
RETURN TO | Table Of Contents, Prefatory Note, The Preface |
| Chapters 1, 2, 3 |
GO TO | Chapters 7, 8, 9 | | Chapters
10, 11, 12 |
| Chapters 13, 14, 15 |
| Chapter
16 |
| Chapters 17, 18 | | Chapters 19, 20
|
"Yea doubtless, and I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them [but]
dung, that I may win Christ."
Philippians 3:8.
CHAPTER 4
The Person of Christ the Foundation of all the Counsels of God
Secondly, The person of Christ is the foundation of all the counsels of God, as unto his own
eternal glory in the vocation, sanctification, and salvation of the church. That which I intend is
what the apostle expresseth, Eph. 1: 9, 10: "Having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure, which he has purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the
fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and
which are on earth; even in him." The "mysteries of the will of God, according to his good
pleasure which he purposed in himself"--are his counsels concerning his own eternal glory, in the
sanctification and salvation of the church here below, to be united unto that above. The absolute
original hereof was in his own good pleasure, or the sovereign acting of his wisdom and will. But
it was all to be effected in Christ--which the apostle twice repeats: he would gather "all things into
a head in Christ, even in him" that is, in him alone.
Thus it is said of him, with respect unto his future incarnation and work of mediation, that the
Lord possessed him in the beginning of his way, before his works of old; that he was set up from
everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was: Prov. 8: 22, 23. The eternal personal
existence of the Son of God is supposed in these expressions, as I have elsewhere proved.
Without it, none of these things could be affirmed of him. But there is a regard in them, both unto
his future incarnation, and the accomplishment of the counsels of God thereby. With respect
thereunto, God "possessed him in the beginning of his way, and set him up from everlasting." God
possessed him eternally as his essential wisdom--as he was always, and is always, in the bosom of
the Father, in the mutual ineffable love of the Father and Son, in the eternal bond of the Spirit.
But he signally possessed him "in the beginning of his way "--as his wisdom, acting in the
production of all the ways and works that are outwardly of him. The "beginning of God's ways,"
before his works, are his counsels concerning them--even as our counsels are the beginning of our
ways, with respect unto future works. And he "set him up from everlasting," as the foundation of
all the counsels of his will, in and by whom they were to be executed and accomplished.
So it is expressed: (verses 30, 31:) "I was by him, as one brought up with him; and I was daily his
delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights
were with the sons of men." And it is added, that thus it was before the foundation of the world
was laid, or the chiefest part of the dust of the earth was made--that is, [before] man was created.
Not only was the delight of the Father in him, but his delight was in the habitable part of the earth,
and among the sons of men--before the creation of the world. Wherefore, the eternal prospect of
the work he had to do for the children of men is intended herein. In and with him, God laid the
foundation of all his counsels concerning his love towards the children of men. And two things
may be observed herein.
- That the person of the Son "was set up," or exalted herein. "I was set up," saith he, "from
everlasting." This cannot be spoken absolutely of the person of the Son himself--the Divine nature
being not capable of being so set up. But there was a peculiar glory and honour belonging unto
the person of the Son, as designed by the Father unto the execution of all the counsels of his will.
Hence was that prayer of his upon the accomplishment of them: (John 17: 5:) "And now, 0
Father, glorify me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was." To suppose that the Lord Christ prayeth, in these words, for such a real communication of
the properties of the divine nature unto the human as should render it immense, omniscient, and
unconfined unto any space--is to think that he prayed for the destruction, and not the exaltation of
it. For, on that supposition, it must necessarily lose all its own essential properties, and
consequently its being. Nor does he seem to pray only for the manifestation of his divine nature,
which was eclipsed in his exinanition or appearance in the form of a servant. There was no need to
express this by--the "glory which he had with the Father before the world was." For he had it not,
in any especial manner, before the world was; but equally from eternity, and in every moment of
time. Wherefore, he had a peculiar glory of his own, with the Father, before the world was. And
this was no other but that especial exaltation which he had when he was "set up from everlasting,"
as the foundation of the counsels of God, for the salvation of the church. In those eternal
transactions that were between the Father and the Son, with respect unto his incarnation and
mediation--or his undertaking to execute and fulfill the eternal counsels of the wisdom and grace
of the Father--there was an especial glory which the Son had with him-- the "glory which he had
with the Father before the world was." For the manifestation hereof he now prays and that the
glory of his goodness, grace, and love--in his peculiar undertaking of the execution of the
counsels of God--might be made to appear. And this is the principal design of the gospel. It is the
declaration, as of the grace of God the Father, so of the love, grace, goodness, and compassion of
the Son, in undertaking from everlasting the accomplishment of God's counsels, in the salvation of
the church. And hereby does he hold up the pillars of the earth, or support this inferior creation,
which otherwise, with the inhabitants of it, would by sin have been dissolved. And those by whom
the eternal, divine preexistence, in the form of God--antecedent unto his incarnation his denied, do
what lies in them expressly to despoil him of all that glory which he had with the Father before the
world was. So we have herein the whole of our design. "In the beginning of God's ways, before
his works of old" that is, in his eternal counsels with respect unto the children of men, or the
sanctification and salvation of the church--the Lord possessed, enjoyed the Son, as his eternal
wisdom--in and with whom they were laid, in and by whom they were to be accomplished,
wherein his delights were with the sons of men.
- That there was an ineffable delight between the Father and the Son in this his setting up or
exaltation. "I was," saith he, "daily his delight, rejoicing always before him." It is not absolutely
the mutual, eternal delight of the Father and the Son--arising from the perfection of the same
divine excellencies in each person--that is intended. But respect is plainly had unto the counsels of
God concerning the salvation of mankind by him who is his power and wisdom unto that end.
This counsel of peace was originally between Jehovah and the Branch, (Zech. 6: 13,) or the
Father and the Son --as he was to be incarnate. For therein was he "foreordained before the
foundation of the world;" (1 Pet. 1: 20 ,) viz, to be a Saviour and a deliverer, by whom all the
counsels of God were to be accomplished; and this by his own will, and concurrence in counsel
with the Father. And such a foundation was laid of the salvation of the church in these counsels of
God--as transacted between the Father and the Son--that it is said, that "eternal life was promised
before the world began:" Tit. 1: 2. For, although the first formal promise was given after the fall,
yet was there such a preparation of grace and eternal life in these counsels of God, with his
unchangeable purpose to communicate them unto us, that all the faithfulness of God was engaged
in them. "God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." There was eternal life with the
Father--that is, in his counsel treasured up in Christ, and in him afterwards manifested unto us: 1
John 1: 2. And, to show the stability of this purpose and counsel of God, with the infallible
consequence of his actual promise, and efficacious accomplishment thereof, "grace" is said to be
"given us in Christ Jesus before the world began:" 2 Tim. 1: 9.
In these counsels did God delight--or in the person of Christ, as his eternal wisdom in their
contrivance, and as the means of their accomplishment in his future incarnation. Hence he so
testifieth of him: "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth;"
(Isa.42:1;) as he also proclaims the same delight in him, from heaven, in the days of his flesh:
Matt. 3: 17; 17: 5. He was the delight of God, as he in whom all his counsel for his own glory, in
the redemption and salvation of the church were laid and founded: "My servant, in whom I will be
glorified;" (Isa. 49: 3;) that is, "by raising the tribes of Jacob, restoring the preserved of Israel, in
being a light unto the gentiles, and the salvation of God unto the ends of the earth:" verse
6.
We conceive not aright of the counsels of God, when we think of nothing but the effect of them,
and the glory that ariseth from their accomplishment. It is certainly true that they shall all issue in
his glory, and the demonstration of it shall fill up eternity. The manifestative glory of God unto
eternity, consists in the effects and accomplishment of his holy counsels. Heaven is the state of the
actual accomplishment of all the counsels of God, in the sanctification and salvation of the church.
But it is not with God as it is with men. Let men's counsels be ever so wise, it must needs abate of
their satisfaction in them, because their conjectures (and more they have not) of their effects and
events are altogether uncertain. But all the counsels of God having their entire accomplishment
through revolutions perplexing and surpassing all created understandings, enclosed in them
infallibly and immutably, the great satisfaction, complacency, and delight of the Divine Being is in
these counsels themselves.
God does delight in the actual accomplishment of his works. He made not this world, nor any
thing in it, for its own sake. Much less did he make this earth to be a theatre for men to act their
lusts upon-- the use which it is now put to, and groans under. But he made "all things for
himself," Prov. 16: 4; he "made them for his pleasure," Rev. 4: 11; that is, not only by an act of
sovereignty, but to his own delight and satisfaction. And a double testimony did he give hereunto,
with respect unto the works of creation.
-
- (1.) In the approbation which he gave of the whole upon its survey: and "God saw all that he
had made, and, behold, it was very good:" Gen. 1: 31. There was that impression of his divine
wisdom, power, and goodness upon the whole, as manifested his glory; wherein he was well
pleased. For immediately thereon, all creatures capable of the conception and apprehension of his
glory, "sang forth his praise:" Job 38: 6, 7.
- (2.) In that he rested from his works or in them, when they were finished: Gen. 2: 2. It was
not a rest of weariness from the labour of his work--but a rest of complacency and delight in what
he had wrought--that God entered into.
But the principal delight and complacency of God, is in his eternal counsels. For all his delight in
his works is but in the effects of those divine properties whose primitive and principal exercise is
in the counsels themselves, from whence they proceed. Especially is it so as unto these counsels of
the Father and the Son, as to the redemption and salvation of the church, wherein they delight,
and mutually rejoice in each other on their account. They are all eternal acts of God's infinite
wisdom, goodness, and love--a delight and complacency wherein is no small part of the divine
blessedness. These things are absolutely inconceivable unto us, and ineffable by us; we cannot find
the Almighty out unto perfection. However, certain it is, from the notions we have of the Divine
Being and excellencies, and from the revelation he has made of himself, that there is an infinite
delight in God--in the eternal acting of his wisdom, goodness, and love-- wherein, according to
our weak and dark apprehensions of things, we may safely place no small portion of divine
blessedness. Self-existence in its own immense being--thence self sufficiency unto itself in all
things--and thereon self satisfaction--is the principal notion we have of divine
blessedness.
- God delights in these his eternal counsels in Christ, as they are acts of infinite wisdom, as they
are the highest instance wherein it will exert itself. Hence, in the accomplishment of them, Christ
is emphatically said to be the "Wisdom of God;" (1 Cor. 1: 24;) he in whom the counsels of his
wisdom were to be fulfilled. And in him is the manifold wisdom of God made known: Eph.3:10.
Infinite wisdom being that property of the divine nature whereby all the acting of it are disposed
and regulated, suitably unto his own glory, in all his divine excellencies--he cannot but delight in
all the acts of it. Even amongst men--whose wisdom compared with that of God is folly itself-- yet
is there nothing wherein they have a real rational complacency, suitable unto the principles of their
nature, but in such acting of that wisdom which they have (and such as it is) towards the proper
ends of their being and duty. How much more does God delight himself in the infinite perfection
of his own wisdom, and its eternal acting for the representation of all the glorious excellencies of
his nature! Such are his counsels concerning the salvation of the church by Jesus Christ; and
because they were all laid in him and with him, therefore is he said to be his "delight continually
before the world was." This is that which is proposed as the object of our admiration, Rom.
11:33- 36.
- They are acts of infinite goodness, whereon the divine nature cannot but be infinitely delighted
in them. As wisdom is the directive principle of all divine operations, so goodness is the
communicative principle that is effectual in them. He is good, and he does good-- yea, he does
good because he is good, and for no other reason--not by the necessity of nature, but by the
intervention of a free act of his will. His goodness is absolutely infinite, essentially perfect in itself;
which it could not be if it belonged unto it, naturally and necessarily, to act and communicate
itself unto any thing without God himself. The divine nature is eternally satisfied in and with its
own goodness; but it is that principle which is the immediate fountain of all the communications
of good unto others, by a free act of the will of God. So when Moses desired to see his glory, he
tells him that "he will cause all his goodness to pass before him, and would be gracious unto
whom he would be gracious:" Exod. 33: 19. All divine operations-- in the gracious
communication of God himself--are from his goodness, by the intervention of a free act of his will.
And the greatest exercise and emanation of divine goodness, was in these holy counsels of God
for the salvation of the church by Jesus Christ. For whereas in all other effects of his goodness he
gives of his own, herein he gave himself, in taking our nature upon him. And thence, as he
expresseth the design of man in his fall, as upbraiding him with folly and ingratitude, "Behold, the
man is become as one of us," Gen. 3: 22, we may, with all humble thankfulness, express the
means of our recovery, "Behold, God is become like one of us," as the apostle declares it at large,
Phil. 2: 6-8. It is the nature of sincere goodness--even in its lowest degree--above all other habits
or principles of nature, to give a delight and complacency unto the mind in the exercise of itself,
and communication of its effects. A good man does both delight in doing good, and has an
abundant reward for the doing it, in the doing of it. And what shall we conceive concerning
eternal, absolute, infinite, perfect, immixed goodness, acting itself in the highest instance (in an
effect cognate and like unto it) that it can extend unto! So was it in the counsels of God,
concerning the incarnation of his Son and the salvation of the church thereby. No heart can
conceive, no tongue can express, the least portion of that ineffable delight of the holy, blessed
God, in these counsels, wherein he acted and expressed unto the utmost his own essential
goodness. Shall a liberal man devise liberal things, because they are suited unto his inclination?
Shall a good man find a secret refreshment and satisfaction in the exercise of that low, weak,
imperfect, minced goodness, that his nature is inlaid withal?--And shall not He whose goodness is
essential unto him--whose being it is, and in whom it is the immediate principle of communicating
himself unto others--be infinitely delighted in the highest exercise of it which divine wisdom did
direct? The effect of these eternal counsels of God in future glory is reserved for them that do
believe; and therein will there be the nearest manifestation of the glory of God himself unto them,
when he "shall be glorified in his saints," and eternally "admired in all that believe." But the
blessed delight and satisfaction of God, was, and is, in those counsels themselves, as they were
acts of his infinite wisdom and goodness. Herein was the Lord Christ his "delight continually
before the foundation of the world,"--in that *in* him were all these counsels laid, and *through*
him were they all to be accomplished. The constitution of his person was the only way whereby
divine wisdom and goodness would act and communicate of themselves unto mankind--in which
acting are the eternal delight and complacency of the Divine Being.
- Love and grace have the same influence into the counsels of God, as wisdom and goodness
have. And, in the Scripture notion of these things, they superadd unto goodness this
consideration--that their object is sinners, and those that are unworthy. God does universally
communicate of his goodness unto all his creatures, though there be an especial exercise of it
towards them that believe. But as unto his love and grace, as they are peculiar unto his elect--the
church chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world--so they respect them primarily in a
lost, undone condition by sin. "God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us:" Rom 5: 8. "God is love," says the apostle. His nature is essentially so.
And the best conception of the natural internal acting of the holy persons, is love; and all the acts
of it are full of delight. This is, as it were, the womb of all the eternal counsels of God, which
renders his complacency in them ineffable. Hence does he so wonderfully express his delight and
complacency in the acting of his love towards the church: "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee
is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will joy over
thee with singing:" Zeph. 3: 17. The reason why, in the salvation of the church, he rejoiceth with
joy and joyeth with singing- -the highest expression of divine complacency--is because he resteth
in his love, and so is pleased in the exercise of its effects.
But we must return to manifest in particular how all these counsels of God were laid in the
person of Christ--to which end the things ensuing may be distinctly considered.
- God made all things, in the beginning, good, exceeding good. The whole of his work was
disposed into a perfect harmony, beauty, and order, suited unto that manifestation of his own
glory which he designed therein. And as all things had their own individual existence, and
operations suited unto their being, and capable of an end, a rest, or a blessedness, congruous unto
their natures and operations--so, in the various respects which they had each to other, in their
mutual supplies, assistances, and cooperation, they all tended unto that ultimate end--his eternal
glory. For as, in their beings and existence, they were effects of infinite power--so were their
mutual respects and ends disposed in infinite wisdom. Thereon were the eternal power and
wisdom of God glorified in them; the one in their production, the other in their disposal into their
order and harmony. Man was a creature that God made, that by him he might receive the glory
that he aimed at in and by the whole inanimate creation--both that below, which was for his use,
and that above, which was for his contemplation. This was the end of our nature in its original
constitution. Whereunto are we again restored in Christ: James 1: 18; Ps. 104: 24; 136: 5; Rom.
1: 20.
- God was pleased to permit the entrance of sin, both in heaven above and in earth beneath,
whereby this whole order and harmony was disturbed. There are yet characters of divine power,
wisdom, and goodness, remaining on the works of creation, and inseparable from their beings.
But the primitive glory that was to redound unto God by them--especially as unto all things here
below--was from the obedience of man, unto whom they were put in subjection. *Their* good
estate depended on their subordination unto him in a way of natural use, as *his* did on God in
the way of moral obedience: Gen. 1: 26, 28; Ps. 8: 6-8. Man, as was said, is a creature which God
made, that by him he might receive the glory that he aimed at in and by the whole inanimate
creation. This was the end of our nature in its original constitution. Whereunto are we again
restored in Christ: James 1: 18. But the entrance of sin cast all this order into confusion, and
brought the curse on all things here below. Hereby were they deprived of that estate wherein they
were declared exceeding good, and cast into that of vanity--under the burden whereof they groan,
and will do so to the end: Gen. 3: 17,18; Rom. 8: 20, 21. And these things we must again
consider afterwards.
- Divine wisdom was no way surprised with this disaster. God had, from all eternity, laid in
provisions of counsels for the recovery of all things into a better and more permanent estate than
what was lost by sin. This is the "anapsuxis", the "apokatastasis pantoon", the revivification, the
restitution of all things, Acts 3: 19, 21; the "anakefalaioosis", or the gathering all things in heaven
and earth into a new head in Christ Jesus: Eph 1: 10. For although, it may be, there is more of
curiosity than of edification in a scrupulous inquiry into the method or order of God's eternal
decrees or counsels, and the disposal of them into a subserviency one unto another; yet this is
necessary from the infinite wisdom, prescience, and immutability of God--that he is surprised with
nothing, that he is put unto no new counsels, by any events in the works of creation. All things
were disposed by him into those ways and methods--and that from eternity-- which conduce unto,
and certainly issue in, that glory which is ultimately intended. For as we are careful to state the
eternal decrees of God, and the actual operations of his providence, so as that the liberty of the
will of man, as the next cause of all his moral actions, be not infringed thereby--so ought we to be
careful not to ascribe such a sacrilegious liberty unto the wills of any creatures, as that God
should be surprised, imposed on, or changed by any of their acting whatever. For "known unto
him are all his works from the foundation of the world," and with him there is neither
"variableness nor shadow of turning."
- There were, therefore, eternal counsels of God, whereby he disposed all things into a new
order, unto his own glory, in the sanctification and salvation of the church. And of them two
things may be considered:
- (1.) Their original;
- (2.) The design of their accomplishment.
- (1.) Their first spring or original was in the divine will and wisdom alone, without respect
unto any external moving cause. No reason can be given, no cause be assigned, of these counsels,
but the will of God alone. Hence are they called or described, by--the "good pleasure which he
purposed in himself;" (Eph. 1: 9;) "the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the
counsel of his own will:" verse 11. "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his
counsellor? Or who has first given unto him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of
him, and through him, and to him, are all things:" Rom. 11: 34-36. The incarnation of Christ, and
his mediation thereon, were not the procuring cause of these eternal counsels of God, but the
effects of them, as the Scripture constantly declares. But,
- (2.) The design of their accomplishment was laid in the person of the Son alone. As he was
the essential wisdom of God, all things were at first created by him. But upon a prospect of the
ruin of all by sin, God would in and by him--as he was foreordained to be incarnate--restore all
things. The whole counsel of God unto this end centred in him alone. Hence their foundation is
rightly said to be laid in him, and is declared so to be by the apostle: Eph 1: 4. For the spring of
the sanctification and salvation of the church lies in election, the decree whereof compriseth the
counsels of God concerning them. Herein, God from the beginning "chooseth us unto salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit;" (2 Thess. 2: 13;) the one being the end he designeth, the
other the means and way thereof. But this he did in Christ; "he chooseth us in him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love;" that is,
"unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit." In him we were not actually, nor by faith,
before the foundation of the world; yet were we then chosen in him, as the only foundation of the
execution of all the counsels of God concerning our sanctification and salvation.
Thus as all things were originally made and created by him, as he was the essential wisdom of
God--so all things are renewed and recovered by him, as he is the provisional wisdom of God, in
and by his incarnation. Therefore are these things put together and compared unto his glory. He
"is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature: for by him were all things
created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible; ... all things were created by
him and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist: and he is the head of the
body, the church; who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might
have the preeminence:" Col. 1: 15-18.
Two things, as the foundation of what is ascribed unto the Lord Christ in the ensuing discourse,
are asserted: verse 15.
- (1.) That he is "the image of the invisible God."
- (2.) That he is "the firstborn of every creature;" things seeming very distant in themselves,
but gloriously united and centring in his person.
- (1.) He is "the image of the invisible God;" or, as it is elsewhere expressed, he is "in the form
of God"--his essential form, for other form there is none in the divine nature--the "brightness of
the glory, and the express image of the Father's person." And he is called here the "invisible God,"
not absolutely with respect unto his essence, though it be most true--the divine essence being
absolutely invisible, and that equally, whether considered as in the Father or in the Son-- but he is
called so with respect unto his counsels, his will, his love, and his grace. For so none has seen him
at any time; but the only-begotten, which is in the bosom of the Father, he declares him: John 1:
18. As he is thus the essential, the eternal image of the invisible God, his wisdom and power--the
efficiency of the first creation, and its consistence being created, is ascribed unto him: "By him
were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible:" Col. 1: 17.
And because of the great notions and apprehensions that were then in the world--especially
among the Jews, unto whom the apostle had respect in this epistle of the greatness and glory of
the invisible part of the creation in heaven above, he mentions them in particular, under the most
glorious titles that any could, or then did, ascribe unto them--"Whether they be thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him;" the same
expression that is used of God absolutely: Rom. 11: 36; Rev. 4: 11. Add hereunto those other
places to this purpose, John 1: 1-3; Heb. 1: 1-3; and those that are not under the efficacy of
spiritual infatuations, cannot but admire at the power of unbelief, the blindness of the minds of
men, and the craft of Satan, in them who deny the divine nature of Jesus Christ. For whereas the
apostle plainly affirms, that the works of the creation do demonstrate the eternal power and
Godhead of him by whom they were created; (Rom. 1: 19, 20;) and not only so, but it is
uncontrollably evident in the light of nature: it being so directly, expressly, frequently affirmed,
that all things whatever, absolutely, and in their distributions into heaven and earth, with the
things contained respectively in them, were made and created by Christ is the highest rebellion
against the light and teachings of God, to disbelieve his divine existence and power.
- (2.) Again it is added, that he is "the firstborn of every creature;" which principally respects
the new creation, as it is declared: (verse 18:) "He is the head of the body, the church; who is the
beginning, the first born from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." For in
him were all the counsels of God laid for the recovery of all things unto himself--as he was to be
incarnate. And the accomplishment of these counsels of God by him the apostle declares at large
in the ensuing verses. And these things are both conjoined and composed in this place. As God the
Father did nothing in the first Creation but by him--as his eternal wisdom; (John 1: 3; Heb. 1: 2;
Prov. 8;) so he designed nothing in the new creation, or restoration of all things unto his glory,
but in him--as he was to be incarnate. Wherefore in his person were laid all the foundation of the
counsels of God for the sanctification and salvation of the church. Herein he is glorified, and that
in a way unspeakably exceeding an that glory which would have accrued unto him from the first
creation, had all things abode in their primitive constitution. His person, therefore, is the
foundation of the church--the great mystery of godliness, or the religion we profess--the entire life
and soul of all spiritual truth--in that all the counsels of the wisdom, grace, and goodness of God,
for the redemption, vocation, sanctification, and salvation of the church, were all laid in him, and
by him were all to be accomplished.
CHAPTER 5
The Person of Christ the great Representative of God and his Will.
WHAT may be known of God, is,--his nature and existence, with the holy counsels of his
will. A representation of them unto us is the foundation of all religion, and the means of our
conformity unto him-- wherein our present duty and future blessedness do consist. For to know
God, so as thereby to be made like unto him, is the chief end of man. This is done perfectly only in
the person of Christ, all other means of it being subordinate thereunto, and none of them of the
same nature therewithal. The end of the Word itself, is to instruct us in the knowledge of God in
Christ. That, therefore, which I shall now demonstrate, is, that in the person and mediation of
Christ (which are inseparable, in all the respects of faith unto him) there is made unto us a blessed
representation of the glorious properties of the divine nature, and of the holy counsels of the will
of God. The first of these I shall speak unto in this chapter--the other, in that which ensues;
wherein we shall manifest how all divine truths do centre in the person of Christ and the
consideration of sundry things is necessary unto the explication hereof.
1. God, in his own essence, being, and existence, is absolutely incomprehensible. His nature being
immense, and all his holy properties essentially infinite, no creature can directly or perfectly
comprehend them, or any of them. He must be infinite that can perfectly comprehend that which is
infinite; wherefore God is perfectly known unto himself only--but as for us, how little a portion is
heard of him! Hence he is called "The invisible God," and said to dwell in "light inaccessible." The
subsistence of his most single and simple nature in three distinct persons, though it raises and
ennobles faith in its revelation, yet it amazeth reason which would trust to itself in the
contemplation of it--whence men grow giddy who will own no other guide, and are carried out of
the way of truth. "No man has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom
of the Father, he has declared him:" John 1: 18; 1 Tim. 6: 16.
2. Therefore, we can have no direct intuitive notions or apprehensions of the divine essence, or its
properties. Such knowledge is too wonderful for us. Whatever is pleaded for an intellectual vision
of the essence of God in the light of glory, yet none pretend unto a possibility of an immediate,
full comprehension of it. But, in our present state, God is unto us, as he was unto Moses under all
the external manifestations of his glory, "in thick darkness.:" Exod. 20: 21. All the rational
conceptions of the minds of men are swallowed up and lost, when they would exercise themselves
directly on that which is absolutely immense, eternal, infinite. When we say it is to, we know not
what we say, but only that it is not otherwise. What we *deny* of God, we know in some
measure--but what we *affirm* we know not; only we declare what we believe and adore.
"Neque sensus est ejus, neque phantsia, neque opinio, nec ratio, nec scientia", says Dionys. De
Divan. Nomine,
- We have no means--no corporeal, no intellectual instrument or power--for the comprehension
of him; nor has any other creature: "Epei auto hoper estin ho Theos, ou monon profetai, all' oude
angeloi eidon, oute archangeloi; all' ean erooteseis autous, akousei peri men tes ousias ouden
apokrinomenous; doxa de en hupsistois monon aidontas tooi Theooi; kain para toon Cheroubim e
toon Serafim epithumeseis ti mathein, to mustikon tou hagiasmou melos akousei, kai hoti pleres
ho ouranos kai he ge tes doxes autou.--"For that which is God" (the essence of God) "not only
have not the prophets seen, but neither the angels nor the archangels. If thou wilt inquire of them,
thou shalt hear nothing of the substance of God, but only hear them say, 'glory to God in the
highest.' If thou askest the cherubim and seraphim, thou shalt only hear the praise of holiness, 'The
whole earth is full of his glory,'" says Chrysostom, on John 1: 18. That God is in himself
absolutely incomprehensible unto us, is a necessary effect of our infinite distance from him. But as
he externally represents himself unto us, and by the notions which are in generated in us by the
effects of his properties, are our conceptions of him: Ps. 19: l; Rom. 1: 20. This is declared in the
answer given unto that request of Moses: "I beseech thee, show me thy glory:" Exod. 33: 18.
Moses had heard a voice speaking unto him, but he that spoke was "in thick darkness"--he saw
him not. Glorious evidences he gave of his majestatical presence, but no appearance was made of
his essence or person. Hereon Moses desireth, for the full satisfaction of his soul, (as the nearer
any one is unto God the more ernest will be his desire after the full fruition of him,) that he might
have a sight of his glory--not of that created glory in the tokens of his presence and power which
he had beheld, but of the untreated glory of his essence and being. Through a transport of love to
God, he would have been in heaven while he was on the earth; yea, desired more than heaven
itself will afford, if he would have seen the essence of God with his corporeal eyes. In answer
hereunto God tells him, that he cannot see his face and live; none can have either bodily sight or
direct mental intuition of the Divine Being. But this I will do, saith God, "I will make my glory
pass before thee, and thou shalt see my back parts:" Exod. 33: 18-23, &c. This is all that God
would grant, viz, such external representations of himself, in the proclamation of his name, and
created appearances of his glory, as we have of a man whose back parts only we behold as he
passeth by us. But as to the being of God, and his subsistence in the Trinity of persons, we have
no direct intuition into them, much less comprehension of them.
3. It is evident, therefore, that our conceptions of God, and of the glorious properties of his
nature, are both in generated in us and regulated, under the conduct of divine revelation, by
reflections of his glory on other things, and representations of his divine excellencies in the effects
of them. So the invisible things of God, even his eternal power and Godhead, are clearly seen,
being manifested and understood by the things that are made: Rom. 1: 20. Yet must it be granted
that no mere creature, not the angels above, not the heaven of heavens, are meet or able to
receive upon them such characters of the divine excellencies, as to be a complete, satisfactory
representation of the being and properties of God unto us. They are all finite and limited and so
cannot properly represent that which is infinite and immense. And this is the true reason why all
worship or religious adoration of them is idolatry. Yet are there such effects of God's glory in
them, such impressions of divine excellencies upon them, as we cannot comprehend nor search
out unto perfection. How little do we conceive of the nature, glory, and power of angels! So
remote are we from an immediate comprehension of the untreated glory of Gods as that we
cannot fully apprehend nor conceive aright the reflection of it on creatures in themselves finite and
limited. Hence, they thought of old, when they had seen an angels that so much of the divine
perfections had been manifested unto them that thereon they must die: Judges 13: 21, 22.
Howbeit, they [the angels] come infinitely short of making any complete representation of God;
nor is it otherwise with any creature whatever.
4. Mankind seem to have always had a common apprehension that there was need of a nearer and
more full representation of God unto them than was made in any of the works of creation or
providence. The heavens indeed declared his glory, and the firmament always showed his handy-
work--the invisible things of his eternal power and godhead were continually made known by the
things that are made; but men generally miscarried and missed it in the contemplation of them, as
the apostle declares, Rom 1. For still they were influenced by a common presumption, that there
must be a nearer and more evident manifestation of God--that made by the works of creation and
providence being not sufficient to guide them unto him. But in the pursuit hereof they utterly
ruined themselves; they would do what God had not done. By common consent they framed
representations of God unto themselves; and were so besotted therein, that they utterly lost the
benefit which they might have received by the manifestation of him in the works of the creation,
and took up with most foolish imaginations. For whereas they might have learned from thence the
being of God, his infinite wisdom, power, and goodness--viz., in the impressions and characters of
them on the things that were made--in their own representations of him, they "changed the glory
of the invisible God into an image made like unto corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed
beasts, and creeping things:" Rom. 1: 23. Wherefore this common presumption--that there was no
way to attain a due sense of the Divine Being but by some representation of it--though true in
itself, yet, by the craft of Satan, and foolish superstitions of the minds of men, became the
occasion of all idolatry and flagitious wickedness in the world. Hence were all those "epifaneiai",
or supposed "illustrious appearances" of their gods, which Satan deluded the gentiles by; and
hence were all the ways which they devised to bring God into human nature, or the likeness of it.
Wherefore, in all the revelations that ever God made of himself, his mind and will, he always laid
this practice of making representations of him under the most severe interdict and prohibition.
And this he did evidently for these two reasons:
-
- (1.) Because it was a bold and foolish entrenching upon his provisional wisdom in the case.
He had taken care that there should be a glorious image and representation of himself, infinitely
above what any created wisdom could find out. But as, when Moses went into the mount, the
Israelites would not wait for his return, but made a calf in his stead; so mankind--refusing to wait
for the actual exhibition of that glorious image of himself which God had provided--broke in upon
his wisdom and sovereignty, to make some of their own. For this cause was God so provoked,
that he gave them up to such stupid blindness, that in those things wherein they thought to show
themselves wise, and to bring God nearer unto them, they became contemptibly foolish--abased
their nature, and all the noble faculties of their minds unto hell, and departed unto the utmost
distance from God, whom they sought to bring nest unto them.
- (2.) Because nothing that can fall into the invention or imagination of men could make any
other but false representations of him, and so substitute an idol in his place. His own immediate
works have great characters of his divine excellencies upon them, though unto us obscure and not
clearly legible without the light of revelation. Somewhat he did, of old, represent of his glorious
presence--though not of his being--in the visible institutions of his worship. But all men's
inventions to this end, which are neither divine works of nature, nor divine institutions of worship,
are all but false representations of God, and therefore accursed by him.
Wherefore it is granted, that God has placed many characters of his divine excellencies upon his
works of creation and providence--many [characters] of his glorious presence upon the tabernacle
and temple of old--but none of these things ever did or could give such a representation of him as
wherein the souls of men might fully acquiesce, or obtain such conceptions of him as might enable
them to worship and honour him in a due manner. They cannot, I say--by all that may be seen in
them, and learned from them--represent God as the complete object of all our affections, of all the
acting of our souls in faith, trust, love, fear, obedience, in that way whereby he may be glorified,
and we may be brought unto the everlasting fruition of him. This, therefore, is yet to be inquired
after. Wherefore,
5. A mere external doctrinal revelation of the divine nature and properties, without any
exemplification or real representation of them, was not sufficient unto the end of God in the
manifestation of himself. This is done in the Scripture. But the whole Scripture is built on this
foundation, or proceeds on this supposition--that there is a real representation of the divine nature
unto us, which it declares and describes. And as there was such a notion on the minds of all men,
that some representation of God, wherein he might be near unto them, was necessary--which
arose from the consideration of the infinite distance between the divine nature and their own,
which allowed of no measures between them--so, as unto the event, God himself has declared
that, in his own way, such a representation was needful--unto that end of the manifestation of
himself which he designed. For,
6. All this is done in the person of Christ. He is the complete image and perfect representation of
the Divine Being and excellencies. I do not speak of it absolutely, but as God proposeth himself as
the object of our faith, trust, and obedience. Hence it is God, as the Father, who is so peculiarly
represented in him and by him; as he says: "He that has seen me has seen the Father:" John 14:
9.
Unto such a representation two things are required:
-
- (1.) That all the properties of the divine nature--the knowledge whereof is necessary unto
our present obedience and future blessedness--be expressed in it, and manifested unto
us.
- (2.) That there be, therein, the nearest approach of the divine nature made unto us, whereof
it is capable, and which we can receive. And both these are found in the person of Christ, and
therein alone.
In the person of Christ we consider both the constitution of it in the union of his natures, and the
respect of it unto his work of mediation, which was the end of that constitution. And,
-
- (1.) Therein, as so considered, is there a blessed representation made unto us of all the holy
properties of the nature of God--of his wisdom, his power, his goodness, grace, and love, his
righteousness, truth, and holiness, his mercy and patience. As this is affirmed concerning them all
in general, or the glory of God in them, which is seen and known only in the face of Christ, so it
were easy to manifest the same concerning every one of them in particular, by express testimonies
of Scripture. But I shall at present confine myself unto the proofs of the whole assertion which do
ensue.
- (2.) There is, therein, the most incomprehensible approach of the divine nature made unto
ours, such as all the imaginations of men did ever infinitely fall short of--as has been before
declared. In the assumption of our nature into personal union with himself, and our cognition unto
God thereby, with the union which believers obtain with him thereon--being one in the Father and
the Son, as the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, (John 17: 20, 21,)--there is the
nearest approach of the Divine Being unto us that the nature of things is capable of. Both these
ends were designed in those representations of God which were of human invention; but in both
of them they utterly failed. For, instead of representing any of the glorious properties of the nature
of God, they debased it, dishonoured it, and filled the minds of men with vile conceptions of it;
and instead of bringing God nearer unto them, they put themselves at an infinite moral distance
from him. But my design is the confirmation of our assertions from the Scripture.
"He is the image of the invisible God:" Col. 1: 15. This title or property of "invisible," the apostle
here gives unto God, to show what need there was of an image or representation of him unto us,
as well as of one in whom he would declare the counsels of his will. For he intends not only the
absolute invisibility of his essence, but his being unknown unto us in himself. Wherefore, (as was
before observed,) mankind was generally prone to make visible representations of this invisible
God, that, in them, they might contemplate on him and have him present with them, as they
foolishly imagined. Unto the craft of Satan abusing this inclination of mankind, idolatry owes its
original and progress in the world: howbeit, necessary it was that this invisible God should be so
represented unto us by some image of him, as that we might know him, and that therein he might
be worshipped according unto his own mind and will. But this must be of his own contrivance--an
effect of his own infinite wisdom. Hence, as he absolutely rejecteth all images and representations
of him of men's devising, (for the reasons before mentioned,) and declares that the honour that
any should think would thereby redound unto him was not given unto him, but unto the devil; so
that which he has provided himself, unto his own holy ends and purposes, is every way approved
of him. For he will have "all men honour the Son, even as they honour the Father;" and so as that
"he who honoureth not the God, honoureth not the Father:" John 5: 23.
This image, therefore, is the person of Christ; "he is the image of the invisible God." This, in the
first place, respects the divine person absolutely, as he is the essential image of the Father: which
must briefly be declared.
- The Son is sometimes said to be "en Patri", "in the Father," and the Father in the Son:
"Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" John 14: 10. This is from the
unity or sameness of their nature--for he and the Father are one: John 10: 30. Thence all things
that the Father has are his, (chap. 16: 15,) because their nature is one and the same. With respect
unto the divine essence absolutely considered, wherein the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the
Father, the one cannot be said to be the image of the other. For he and the Father are one; and
one and the same thing cannot be the image of itself, in that wherein it is one.
- The Son is said not only to be "en Patri", "in the Father," in the unity of the same essence; but
also "pros ton Patera" or "Theon", "with the Father," or "with God," in the distinction of his
person: "The Word was with God, and the Word was God:" John 1: 1. "The Word was God," in
the unity of the divine essence--and "the Word was with God," in its distinct personal subsistence.
"The Word"-- that is, the person of the Son, as distinct from the Fathers" was with God," or the
Father. And in this respect he is the essential image of the Father, as he is called in this place, and
Heb. 1: 3; and that because he partakes of all the same divine properties with the Father. But
although the Father, on the other side, be partaker of all the essential divine properties of the Son,
yet is not he said to be the image of the Son. For this property of an image respects not the things
themselves, but the manner of the participation of them. Now the Son receives all from the Father,
and the Father nothing from the Son. Whatever belongs unto the person of the Son, as the person
of the Son, he receives it all from the Father by eternal generation: "For as the Father has life in
himself, so has he given unto the Son to have life in himself:" John 5: 26. He is therefore the
essential image of the Father, because all the properties of the divine nature are communicated
unto him together with personality --from the Father.
- In his incarnation, the Son was made the representative image of God unto us--as he was, in
his person, the essential image of the Father, by eternal generation. The invisible God--Whose
nature and divine excellencies our understandings can make no approach unto--does in him
represent, exhibit, or make present unto our faith and spiritual sense, both himself and all the
glorious excellencies of his nature.
Wherefore our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, may be considered three ways.
- Merely with respect unto his divine nature. This is one and the same with that of the Father.
In this respect the one is not the image of the other, for both are the same.
- With respect unto his divine person as the Son of the Father, the only-begotten, the eternal
Son of God. Thus he receives, as his personality, so all divine excellencies, from the Father; so he
is the essential image of the Father's person.
- As he took our nature upon him, or in the assumption of our nature into personal union with
himself, in order unto the work of his mediation. So is he the only representative image of God
unto us--in whom alone we see, know, and learn all the divine excellencies--so as to live unto
God, and be directed unto the enjoyment of him. All this himself instructs us in.
He reflects it on the Pharisees, as an effect of their blindness and ignorance, that they had neither
heard the voice of God at any time, nor seen his shape: John 5: 37. And in opposition hereunto he
tells his disciples, that they had known the Father, and seen him: chap. 14: 7. And the reason he
gives thereof is, because they that knew him, knew the Father also. And when one of his disciples,
not yet sufficiently instructed in this mystery, replied, "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth
us," (verse 8,) his answer is, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known
me? He that has seen me has seen the Father:" verse 9.
Three things are required unto the justification of this assertion.
- 1. That the Father and he be of the same nature, have the same essence and being. For
otherwise it would not follow that he who had seen him had seen the Father also. This ground of
it he declares in the next verse: "The Father is in me, and I am in the Father" namely, because they
were one in nature and essence. For the divine nature being simply the same in them all, the divine
persons are in each other, by virtue of the oneness of that nature.
- 2. That he be distinct from him. For otherwise there cannot be a seeing of the Father by the
seeing of him. He is seen in the Son as represented by him--as his image--the Word--the Son of
the Father, as he was with God. The unity of nature and the distinction of persons is the ground of
that assertion of our Saviour: "He that has seen me, has seen the Father also."
- 3. But, moreover, the Lord Christ has a respect herein unto himself, in his entire person as he
was incarnate, and therein unto the discharge of his mediatory work. "Have I been so long time
with you, and hast thou not known me?" Whilst he was with them, dwelt among them, conversed
with them, he was the great representative of the glory of God unto them. And, notwithstanding
this particular mistake, they did then see his glory, "the glory of the only-begotten of the Father:"
John 1: 14. And in him was manifested the glory of the Father. He "is the image of the invisible
God." In him God was, in him he dwelt, in him is he known, in him is he worshipped according
unto his own will, in him is there a nearer approach made unto us by the divine nature than ever
could enter into the heart of man to conceive. In the constitution of his person--of two natures, so
infinitely distinct and separate in themselves--and in the work it was designed unto, the wisdom,
power, goodness, love, grace, mercy, holiness, and faithfulness of God, are manifested unto us.
This is the one blessed "image of the invisible God," wherein we may learn, wherein we may
contemplate and adore, all his divine perfections.
The same truth is testified unto, Heb. 1: 3. God spoke unto us in the Son, who is "the brightness
of his glory, and the express image of his person." His divine nature is here included, as that
without which he could not have made a perfect representation of God unto us. For the apostle
speaks of him, as of him "by whom the worlds were made," and who "upholdeth all things by the
word of his power." Yet does he not speak of him absolutely as he was God, but also as he who
"in himself purged our sins, and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high;" that is, in his
whole person. Herein he is "apaugasma tes doxes", the effulgency, the resplendency of divine
glory, that wherein the divine glory shines forth in an evident manifestation of itself unto us. And
as a farther explication of the same mystery, it is added, that he is the character or "express
image" of the person of the Father. Such an impression of all the glorious properties of God is on
him, as that thereby they become legible unto all them that believe.
So the same apostle affirms again that he is the "image of God," 2 Cor. 4: 4; in what sense, and
unto what end, he declares, verse 6: "We have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ". Still it is supposed that the glory of God, as essentially in him, is invisible unto us,
and incomprehensible by us. Yet is there a knowledge of it necessary unto us, that we may live
unto him, and come unto the enjoyment of him. This we obtain only in the face or person of
Christ--"en prosoopooi tou Christou"; for in him that glory is represented unto us.
This was the testimony which the apostles gave concerning him, when he dwelt among them in
the days of his flesh. They saw "his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth:" John 1: 14. The divine glory was manifest in him, and in him they saw the glory
of the Father. So the same apostle witnesses again, who recorded this testimony: "For the life was
manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was
with the Father, and was manifested unto us:" 1 John 1: 14. In the Son incarnate, that eternal life
which was originally in and with the Father was manifest unto us.
It may be said, that the Scripture itself is sufficient for this end of the declaration of God unto us,
so that there is no need of any other representation of him; and [that] these things serve only to
turn the minds of men from learning the mind and will of God therein, to seek for all in the person
of Christ. But the true end of proposing these things is, to draw men unto the diligent study of the
Scripture, wherein alone they are revealed and declared. And in its proper use, and unto its proper
end, it is perfect and most sufficient. It is "logos tou Theou--"the word of God;" howbeit it is not
"logos ousioodes", the internal, essential Word of God--but "logos proforikos", the external word
spoken by him. It is not, therefore, nor can be, the image of God, either essential or
representative; but is the revelation and declaration of it unto us, without which we can know
nothing of it.
Christ is the image of the invisible God, the express image of the person of the Father; and the
principal end of the whole Scripture, especially of the gospel, is to declare him so to be, and how
he is so. What God promised by his prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning his Son, Jesus
Christ, that is fully declared in the Gospel: Rom. 1: 1-4. The gospel is the declaration of Christ as
"the power of God, and the wisdom of God," 1 Cor. 1: 23, 24; or an evident representation of
God in his person and mediation unto us: Gal. 3: 1. Wherefore three things are herein to be
considered.
- "Objectum reale et formale fidei"--"the real, formal object of our faith in this matter. This is
the person of Christ, the Son of God incarnate, the representative image of the glory of God unto
us; as in the testimonies insisted on.
- "Medium revelans", or "lumen deferens"--the means of its revelation, or the objective light
whereby the perception and knowledge of it is conveyed unto our minds. This is the gospel;
compared unto a glass because of the prospect which we have of the image of God therein: 2 Cor.
3: 18. But without it--by any other means, and not by it--we can behold nothing of this image of
God.
- "Lumen praeparans, elevans, disponens subjectum"--"the internal light of the mind in the
saving illumination of the Holy Spirit, enabling us--by that means, and in the use of it--spiritually
to behold and discern the glory of God in the face of Christ: 2 Cor. 4: 6.
Through both these, in their several ways of operation, there proceedeth--from the real object of
our faith, Christ, as the image of God-a transforming power, whereby the soul is changed into the
same image, or is made conformable unto Christ; which is that whereunto we are predestinated.
But we may yet a little farther contemplate on these things, in some instances wherein the glory of
God and our own duty are concerned.
- The glory of God's wisdom is exalted, and the pride of the imaginations of men is
proportionally debased. And in these two consists the real foundation of all religion in our souls.
This God designed in the dispensation of himself and his will, 1 Cor. 1: 29, 31; this he calls us
unto, Isa. 2: 22; Zech 2: 13. As this frame of heart is prevalent in us, so do all other graces shine
and flourish. And it is that which influences all our duties, so far as they are acceptable unto God.
And there is no truth more instructive unto it than that before us. It is taken for granted--and the
event has demonstrated it to be so--that some express representation should be made of God unto
us, wherein we might contemplate the glorious excellencies of his nature, and he might draw nigh
unto us, and be present with us. This, therefore, men attempted to effect and accomplish; and this
God alone has performed, and could so do. And their several ways for this end are herein
manifest. As the way whereby God has done it is the principal exaltation of his infinite wisdom
and goodness, (as shall be immediately more fully declared,) so the way whereby men attempted it
was the highest instance of wickedness and folly. It is, as we have declared, in Christ alone that
God has done it. And that therein he has exalted and manifested the riches, the treasures of his
infinite wisdom and goodness, is that which the Gospel, the Spirit, and the church, do give
testimony unto. A more glorious effect of divine wisdom and goodness, a more illustrious
manifestation of them, there never was, nor ever shall be, than in the finding out and constitution
of this way of the representation of God unto us. The ways of men, for the same end, Were so far
from giving a right representation of the perfections of the divine nature, that they were all of
them below, beneath, and unworthy of our own. For in nothing did the blindness, darkness, and
folly of our nature, in its depraved condition, ever so exert and evidence themselves, as in
contriving ways for the representation of God unto us--that is, in idolatry, the worst and vilest of
evils: so Ps. 115: 4- 8; Isa. 44; Rev. 9: l9, 20, &c. This pride and folly of men was that which lost
all knowledge of God in the world, and all obedience unto him. The ten commandment are but a
transcript of the light and law of nature. The first of these required that God--the only true God--
the Creator and Governor of all--should be acknowledged, worshipped, believed in, and obeyed.
And the second was, that we should not make unto ourselves any image or representation of him.
Whatever he would do himself, yet he strictly forbade that we should make any such unto
ourselves. And here began the apostasy of the world from God. They did not absolutely reject
him, and so cast off the *first* fundamental precept of the law of nature--but they submitted not
unto his wisdom and authority in the *next*, which was evidently educed from it. They would
make images and representations of him unto themselves; and by this invention of their own, they
first dishonoured him, and then forsook him, giving themselves up unto the rule and service of the
devil. Wherefore, as the way that God in infinite wisdom found out for the representation of
himself unto us, was the only means of recovery from the first apostasy--the way found out by
men, unto the same end, was the great means of casting the generality of mankind unto the
farthest degree of a new apostasy from God whereof our nature is capable. And of the same kind
will all our contrivances be found to begin what belongs unto his worship and glory--though, unto
us, they may appear both pious and necessary. This, therefore, should lead us into a continual
admiration of the wisdom and grace of God, with a due sense of our own vileness and baseness by
nature. For we are in nothing better or wiser than they who fell into the utmost folly and
wickedness, in their designs for the highest end, or the representation of God unto us. The more
we dwell on such considerations, the more fear and reverence of God, with faith, trust, and
delight in him, will be increased--as also humility in ourselves, with a sense of divine grace and
love.
- There is a peculiar ground of the spiritual efficacy of this representation of God. The
revelations that he has made of himself, and of the glorious properties of his nature, in the works
of creation and providence, are, in themselves, clear, plain, and manifest: Ps. 19: l, 2; Rom. 1: 19,
20. Those which are made in Christ are sublime and mysterious. Howbeit, the knowledge we have
of him as he is represented unto us in Christ is far more clear, certain, steady, effectual and
operative, than any we can attain in and by all other ways of revelation. The reason hereof is, not
only because there is a more full and extensive revelation made of God, his counsels and his will,
in Christ and the gospel, than in all the works of creation and providence; but because this
revelation and representation of God is received by faith alone, the other by reason only: and it is
faith that is the principle of spiritual light and life in us. What is received thereby is operative and
effectual, unto all the ends of the life of God. For we live by faith here, as we shall by sight
hereafter. Reason alone--especially as it is corrupted and depraved-- can discern no glory in the
representation of God by Chn6t; yes, all that is spoken thereof, or declared in the Gospel, is
foolishness unto it. Hence many live in a profession of the faith of the letter of the Gospel, yet--
having no light, guide, nor conduct, but that of reason-- they do not, they cannot, really behold
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; nor has the revelation of it any efficacy upon their
souls. The manifestation of him in the light of nature, by the works of creation and providence, is
suited unto their reason, and does affect it: for that [manifestation] which is made in Christ, they
say of it, as the Israelites did of manna, that came down from heaven, "What is it?" we know not
the meaning of it. For it is made unto faith alone, and all men hsve not faith. And where God
shines into the heart, by that faith which is of divine operation--there, with "open face, we behold
the glory of God, as in a glass;" or have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. There is not the meanest believer, but--in the real exercise of faith in Christ has more
glorious apprehensions of God, his wisdom, goodness, and grace, of all his glorious excellencies,
than the most learned and wise in the world can attain unto, in the exercise of reason on the
proper objects of it. So are these things opposed by the apostle, 1 Cor. 1. Wherefore, faith in
Christ is the only means of the true knowledge of God; and the discoveries which are made of him
and his excellencies thereby are those stone which are effectual to conform us unto his image and
likeness. And this is the reason why some men are so little affected with the Gospel--
notwithstanding the continual preaching of it unto them, and their outward profession of it. It
does not inwardly affect them, it produceth no blessed effects in them. Some sense they have of
the power of God in the works of creation and providence, in his rule and government, and in the
workings of natural conscience. Beyond these, they have no real sense of him. The reason is,
because they have not faith--whereby alone the representation that is made of God in Christ, and
declared in the gospel, is made effectual unto the souls of men. Wherefore,
- It is the highest degeneracy from the mystery of the Christian religion, for men to satisfy
themselves in natural discoveries of the Divine Being and excellencies, without an acquaintance
with that perfect declaration and representation of them which is made in the person of Christ, as
he is revealed and declared in the Gospel. It is confessed that there may be good use made of the
evidence which reason gives or takes from its own innate principles--with the consideration of the
external works of divine wisdom and power--concerning the being and rule of God. But to rest
herein--to esteem it the best and most perfective knowledge of God that we can attain--not to rise
up unto the more full, perfect, and evident manifestation of himself that he has made in Christ a
declaration of our unbelief, and a virtual renunciation of the Gospel. This is the spring of that
declension unto a mere natural religion which discovers itself in many, and usually ends in the
express denial of the divine person of Christ. For when the proper use of it is despised, on what
grounds can the note of it be long retained? But a supposition of his divine person is the
foundation of this discourse. Were he not the essential image of the Father in his own divine
person, he could not be the representative image of God unto us as he is incarnate. For if he were
a man only-- however miraculously produced and gloriously exalted, yet the angels above, the
glorious heavens, the seat and throne of God, with other effects of creating power and wisdom,
would no less represent his glory than it could be done in him. Yet are they nowhere, nowhere,
jointly nor separately, styled "the image of the invisible God"--"the brightness of his glory, and the
express image of his person;" nor does God shine into our hearts to give us the knowledge of his
glory in the face of them. And it argues the woeful enmity of the carnal mind against God and all
the effects of his wisdom, that, whereas he has granted us such a glorious image and
representation of himself, we like it not, we delight not in the contemplation of it, but either
despise it or neglect it, and please ourselves in that which is incomparably beneath it.
- Because God is not thus known it is--that the knowledge of him is so barren and fruitless in
the world, as it manifests itself to be. It were easy to produce, yea, endless to number the
testimonies that might be produced out of heathen writers, given unto the being and existence of
God, his authority, monarchy, and rule; yet what were the effects of that knowledge which they
had? Besides that wretched idolatry wherein they were all immersed, as the apostle declares,
Rom. 1, it rescued them from no kind of wickedness and villany; as he there also manifests. And
the virtues which were found among them were evidently derived from other causes, and not from
the knowledge they had of God. The Jews have the knowledge of God by the letter of the Old
Testament; but they--not knowing him in Christ, and having lost all sense and apprehension of
those representations which were made of his being in him, in the Law--they continue universally
a people carnal, obstinate, and wicked. They have neither the virtues of the heathens among them,
nor the power of the truth of religion. As it was with them of old, so it, yet continueth to be; "they
profess that they now God, but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and to
every good work reprobate:" Tit. 1: 16. So is it among many that are called Christians at this day
in the world: great pretence there is unto the knowledge of God--yet did flagitious sins and
wickedness scarce ever more abound among the heathens themselves. It is the knowledge of "God
in Christ" alone that is effectually powerful to work the souls of men into a conformity unto him.
Those alone who behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ are changed into the same
image, from glory to glory.
CHAPTER 6
The Person of Christ the great Repository of Sacred Truth--Its
Relation thereunto.
DIVINE supernatural truth is called by the apostle, "The truth which is after godliness:"
Tit. 1: 1. Whereas, therefore, the person of Christ is the great mystery of godliness, we must, in
the next place, inquire--What is the relation of spiritual supernatural truth there unto? And this I
shall do, in pursuit of what was proposed in the foregoing chapter, viz, that he is the great
representative unto the church, of God, his holy properties, and the counsels of his will.
All divine truth may be referred unto two heads. First, that which is essentially so; and then that
which is so declaratively. The first is God himself, the other is the counsel of his will.
First, God himself is the first and only essential Truth, in whose being and nature the springs of all
truth do lie. Whatever is truth so far as it is so, derives from him, is an emanation from that eternal
fountain of it. Being, truth, and goodness, is the principal notion of God; and in him they are all
the same. How this is represented in Christ as in himself he is the essential image of the Father,
and as incarnate the representative image of him unto us --hath been declared.
Secondly, The counsels of God are the next spring and cause--as also the subject-matter or
substance--of all truth that is so declaratively. Divine truth is "the declaration of the counsel of
God:" Acts 20: 27. Of them all the person of Christ is the sacred repository and treasury--in him
are they to be learned. All their efficacy and use depend on their relation unto him. He is the
centre and circumference of all the lines of truth--that is, which is divine, spiritual, and
supernatural. And the beauty of it is presented unto us only in his face or person. We see it not,
we know it not, but as God shines into our hearts to give us the knowledge of it therein: 2 Cor. 4:
6.
So he testifieth of himself, "I am the truth:" John 14: 6. He is so essentially--as he is one with the
Father, the God of truth: Deut. 32:4. He is so efficiently--as by him alone it is fully and effectually
declared; for "no man has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of
the Father, he has declared him:" John 1: 18. He is so substantially--in opposition unto the types
and shadows of the Old Testament; for in him dwelt "the fulness of the godhead bodily:" Col. 2:
9. "The body is of Christ:" verse 17. He is so subjectively for all divine truth, relating to the saving
knowledge of God, is treasured up in him. "In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge:" verse 3. That is, the wisdom and knowledge of God--in his counsels concerning the
vocation, sanctification, and salvation, of the church--concerning which the apostle falls into that
holy admiration, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" Rom. 11:
33. And they are called "treasures" on a twofold account, both mentioned together by the
Psalmist. "How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O Lord; how great is the sum of them!" They
are treasures, because precious and invaluable--and are therefore usually preferred above all
earthly treasures which men most highly esteem: Prov. 3: 14,15. And they are so, because of the
greatness of the sum of them; and therefore also called "unsearchable riches:" Eph. 3: 8. These
precious, unsearchable treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God--that is, all divine
supernatural truths-- are hid, or safely deposited, in Christ--in and from whom alone they are to be
learned and received.
So we are said to learn the truth as it is in Jesus: Eph 4: 21. And the knowledge of all evangelical
sacred truth is, in the Scripture, most frequently expressed by the knowledge of Him: John 8: 19;
17: 3; 2 Cor. 2: 14; 4: 5, 6; Eph. 1: 17; Phil. 3: 8, 10; 1 John 1: 1, 2; 2: 4, 13, 14; 5: 20; 2 Pet. 2:
20.
Setting aside what we have discoursed and proved before--concerning the laying of the
foundation of all the counsels of God in the person of Christ, and the representation of them in the
ineffable constitution thereof--I shall give some few instances of this relation of all supernatural
truths unto him--manifesting that we cannot learn them, nor know them, but with a due respect
thereunto.
- There are two things wherein the glory of truth does consist.
- (1.) Its light.
(a) Its efficacy or power. And both these do all supernatural truths derive from this relation unto
Christ.
- (1.) No truth whatever brings any spiritual light unto the mind, but by virtue thereof. "In him
is life, and the life is the light of men:" John 1: 4. He is "the true Light, which lighteth every man
that comets into the world:" verse 9. Wherefore, as truth is the only means of illumination, so it
cannot communicate any light unto the mind, but only as it is a beam from him, as it is an organ to
convey it from that fountain. Separated from him and its relation unto him, it will not retain, it
cannot communicate, any real spiritual light or understanding to the souls of men. How should it,
if all light be originally in him--as the Scripture testifieth? Then alone is the mind irradiated with
heavenly truth, when it is received as proceeding from, and leading unto, the Sun of
Righteousness the blessed spring of all spiritual light--which is Christ himself. Whatever notional
knowledge men may have of divine truths, as they are doctrinally proposed in the Scripture, yet--
if they know them not in their respect unto the person of Christ as the foundation of the counsels
of God--if they discern not how they proceed from him, and centre in him--they will bring no
spiritual, saving light unto their understanding. For all spiritual life and light is in him, and from
him alone. An instance hereof we have in the Jews. They have the Scriptures of the Old
Testament, wherein the substance of all divine truth is revealed and expressed; and they are
diligent in the study of them; howbeit their minds are not at all illuminated nor irradiated by the
truths contained in them, but they live and walk in horrible darkness. And the only reason hereof
is, because they know not, because they reject, the relation of them unto Christ--without which
they are deprived of all enlightening power.
- (2.) Efficacy or power is the second property of divine truth. And the end of this efficacy is
to make us like unto God: Eph 4: 20-24. The mortification of sin, the renovation of our natures,
the sanctification of our minds, hearts, and affections, the consolation of our souls, with their
edification in all the parts of the life of God, and the like, are the things that God has designed to
effect by his truth; (John 17: 17;) whence it is able to "build us up, and give us an inheritance
among all them that are sanctified:" Acts 20:32. But it is from their relation unto the person of
Christ that they have any thing of this power and efficacy. For they have it no otherwise but as
they are conveyances of his grace unto the souls of men. So 1 John 1: 1, 2. Wherefore, as
professors of the truth, if separated from Christ as unto real union, are withering branches--so
truths professed, if doctrinally separated from him, or their respect unto him, have no living power
or efficacy in the souls of men. When Christ is formed in the heart by them, when he dwelleth
plentifully in the soul through their operation, then, and not else, do they put forth their proper
power and efficacy. Otherwise, they are as waters separated from the fountain--they quickly dry
up or become a noisome puddle; or as a beam interrupted from its continuity unto the sun--it is
immediately deprived of light.
- All divine spiritual truths are declarative, either of the grace and love of God unto us, or
[of] our duty, obedience, and gratitude unto him. But, as unto these things, Christ is all and in all;
we can have no due apprehensions of the love and grace of God, no understanding of the divine
truths of the Word--wherein they are revealed, and whereby they are exhibited unto them that
believe--but in the exercise of faith on Christ himself. For in, by, and from him alone, it is that they
are proposed unto us, that we are made partakers of them. It is from his fulness that all grace is
received. No truth concerning them can, by any imagination, be separated from him. He is the life
and soul of all such truths--without which, they, as they are written in the Word, are but a dead
letter, and that of such a character as is illegible unto us, as unto any real discovery of the grace
and love of God. And as unto those of the other sort, which are instructive unto us in our duty,
obedience, and gratitude-- we cannot come unto a practical compliance with any one of them, but
by the aids of grace received from him. For without him we can do nothing; (John 15: 5;) and he
alone understands divine truth who does it: John 7: 17. There is not, therefore, any one text of
Scripture which presseth our duty unto God, that we can so understand as to perform that duty in
an acceptable manner, without an actual regard unto Christ, from Whom alone we receive ability
for the performance of it, and in or through whom alone it is accepted with God.
- All the evidence of divine spiritual truth, and all the foundation of our real interest in the
things whereof it is a declaration--as to benefit, advantage, and comfort--depend on their relation
unto Christ. We may take an instance in one article of divine truth, which seems to be most
disengaged from any such relation, namely, the resurrection of the dead. But there is no man who
rightly believes or comprehends this truth, who does it not upon the evidence given unto it, and
example of it, in the person of Christ rising from the dead. Nor can any man have a comfortable
expectation or faith of an especial interest in a blessed resurrection, (which is our whole concern
in that truth, Phil. 3: 11,) but by virtue of a mystical union unto him, as the head of the church that
shall be raised unto glory. Both these the apostle inserts upon at large, 1 Cor. 15. So is it with all
other truths whatever.
Wherefore, all divine supernatural truths revealed in the Scripture, being nothing but the
declaration of these counsels of God, whose foundation was laid in the person of Christ; and
whereas they are all of them expressive of the love, wisdom, goodness, and grace of God unto us,
or instructive in our obedience and duty to him--all the actings of God towards us, and all ours
towards him, being in and through him alone; and whereas all the life and power of these truths,
all their beauty, symmetry, and harmony in their union and conjunction, which is expressive of
divine wisdom, is all from him, who, as a living spirit diffused through the whole system, both acts
and animates it--all the treasures of truth, wisdom, and knowledge, may be well said to be hid in
him. And we may consider some things that ensue hereon.
- Hence it is, that those who reject the divine person of Christ-- who believe it not, who
discern not the wisdom, grace, love, and power of God therein--do constantly reject or corrupt all
other spiritual truths of divine revelation. Nor can it otherwise be. For they have a consistency
only in their relation unto the mystery of godliness--"God manifest in the flesh"--and from thence
derive their sense and meaning. This being removed--the truth, in all other articles of religion,
immediately falls to the ground. An instance hereof we have in the Socinians. For, although they
retain the common notions of the unity and existence of the divine nature, which are indelibly
fixed on the minds of men, yet is there no one truth that belongs peculiarly unto the Christian
religion, but they either deny it or horribly deprave it. Many things concerning God and his
essential properties-- as his immutability, immensity, prescience--they have greatly perverted. So
is that fulfilled in them which was spoken by Jude the apostle, verse 10. They "speak evil of those
things which they know not: and what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they
corrupt themselves." So they do in the things mentioned, whereof there are natural notions in the
minds of men; but of evangelical truths which they know not--they speak evil, and deride them.
The holy Trinity they blaspheme--the incarnation of the Son of God they scorn-- the work of his
mediation in his oblation and intercession, with the satisfaction and merit of his obedience and
suffering, they reject. So do they [reject] whatever we are taught of the depravation of our
natures by the fall, of the renovation of them by the Holy Ghost; and unto all other articles of our
faith do they offer violence, to corrupt them. The beginning of their transgression or apostasy, is
in a disbelief of the divine person of Christ. That being rejected, all other sacred truths are
removed from their basis and centre, [from] that which gives them their unity and harmony.
Hereon they fluctuate up and down in the minds of men, and, appearing unto them under various
deceiving colours, are easily misapprehended or disbelieved. Yea, there can no direct, proper
representation be made of them unto the understandings of men. Dissolve the knot, centre, and
harmony in the most beautiful composition or structure--and every part will contribute as much
unto the deformity and ruin of the whole, as it did before unto its beauty and consistency. So is it
with every doctrine-- so is it with the whole system of evangelical truths. Take the person of
Christ out of them, dissolve their harmony in relation thereunto-- whereby we no longer hold the
Head in the faith and profession of them- -and the minds of men cannot deliver them from an
irreconcilable difference among themselves. Hereon some of them are immediately rejected, and
some of them corrupted; for they lose their native light and beauty. They will neither agree nor
consist any where but in Christ. Hence it is that no instance can be given of any, who, from the
original of the Christian religion, rejected the divine person of Christ, and preserved any one
evangelical truth besides, pure and uncorrupted. And I do freely confess, that all which we believe
concerning the holy Trinity, the eternal counsels of God, the efficacy of the mediation of Christ,
his satisfaction and merit, the way which we own of the sanctification, justification, and salvation
of the church--are to be esteemed fables, as the Socinians contend, if what we believe concerning
the person of Christ be so also.
- Hence it is that the knowledge and profession of the truth, with many, is so fruitless,
inefficacious, and useless. It is not known, it is not understood nor believed--in its relation unto
Christ; on which account alone it conveys either light or power to the soul. Men profess they
know the truth; but they know it not in its proper order, in its harmony and use. It leads them not
to Christ, it brings not Christ unto them; and so is lifeless and useless. Hence, ofttimes, none are
more estranged from the life of God than such as have much notional knowledge of the doctrines
of the Scripture. For they are all of them useless, and subject to be abused, if they are not
improved to form Christ in the soul, and transform the whole person into his likeness and image.
This they will not effect where their relation unto him is not understood--where they are not
received and learned as a revelation of him, with the mystery of the will and wisdom of God in
him. For whereas he is our life, and in our living unto God we do not so much live as he liveth in
us, and the life which we lead in the flesh is by the faith of him so that we have neither principle
nor power of spiritual life, but in, by, and from him--whatever knowledge we have of the truth, if
it do not effect a union between him and our souls, it will be lifeless in us, and unprofitable unto
us. It is learning the truth as it is in Jesus, which alone reneweth the image of God in us: Eph. 4:
21-24. Where it is otherwise--where men have notions of evangelical truths, but know not Christ
in them--whatever they profess, when they come really to examine themselves, they will find them
of no use unto them, but that all things between God and their souls are stated on natural light and
common presumptions.
END of CHAPTER 4, CHAPTER 5 and CHAPTER 6
RETURN TO PAGE SECTION
CHAPTER 4
The Person of Christ the Foundation of all the Counsels of God
CHAPTER 5
The Person of Christ the Great Representative of God and His Will
CHAPTER 6
The Person of Christ the Great Repository of
Sacred Truth
RETURN TO | Table Of Contents, Prefatory Note, The Preface |
| Chapters 1, 2, 3 |
GO TO | Chapters 7, 8, 9 | | Chapters
10, 11, 12 |
| Chapters 13, 14, 15 |
| Chapter
16 |
| Chapters 17, 18 | | Chapters 19, 20
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