PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Works of John Owen — Volume 12
John Owen · 372,421 words · 377 reading sections
Section 181
OF THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST. 299 many miracles, for Uvsuf/^a is miracles by a metonymy." Then let every thing be as the learned man will have it. It is in vain to contend; for surely never was expression so wrested. That Uvsv^a, simply is " miracles" is false; that to have a thing done h uAv^jjan signifies "miracles"…
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1 " In CO ne similitudinem quldem incarnationis (ut vocant) apparere, cum is scriptor non dicat, Christum assumpsisse (ut quidam reddunt, et vulgo eo sensu accipiunt) sed assumere. Nee dicit, naturam humanam, sed seme7i Abrahce, quod in Uteris sacris notat eos qui in Christum crcdiderunt, ut Gal. iii. 29, videre est. …
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That this is not to the purpose in hand ; for that which some read, " He came into the flesh," is not in the Greek, but "He came in the flesh." Moreover, John doth not write, " That spirit which confesseth Jesus Christ, which came in the flesh, is of God ;" but that " That spirit which confesseth Jesus Christ, who is c…
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" Quae scntcntia ejus est ? — Deum Jesu tale corpus aptasse, postquam in coelum c^t ingressus, quod ad obcundum munus poutificis summi aptura ct accommodatum forct.' 304 VINDICIiE EVANGELIC^. of tlie "world to come," and so taken off all that here they relate unto, so in that demonstration which, God assisting, I sha…
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' " In quibus scripturis Christus vocatur Deus? — .Johan. i. 1, Ui Verbttm fuit Deus, et cap. XX. 28, Tho?nas ad Christum ait, Domimis metis et Deus mcus; et Eom. Lx. 5, apos- tolus scribit Christum Deum (esse) supra omnes beiiecHcluin in secida. " Quid his tcstimoniis effici potest ? — Naturani divinam in Christo ex …
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Q. Where doth the Scripture testify that Christ is one with the Father ? A. John X. 29-31, " My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of his hand. I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him." Q. How dost thou answer this testimony? A. That…
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TESTIMO^'IES TO THE DEITY OF CHRIST VINDICATED. 309 potestas or authority that Christ speaks of, but strength, might, and power, which is so great in God that none can take his sheep out of his hand. Now, though unitas potestatis doth not prove unity of essence in men, yet unitas potentice, which is here spoSen of, in…
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TESTIMONIES TO THE DEITY OF CHRIST VINDICATED. 311 the sight of his mother," eminently expressing his preferment as to her affections. How Httle is this to what the gospel says of Jesus Christ ! I have only to say concerning Grotius in this matter, that from none of these expressions, in any place, doth he take the le…
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Grotius is perfectly agreed with our catechists, and uses their very words in the exposition of this place; but that also hath been con- sidered, and his exposition called to an account formerly. The next testimonies insisted on they produce in answer to this question : — Q. What scriptures affirin that Christ hath a…
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314 VINDICI^ EVANGELICiE. grant, by restraining this participation of Christ in the foreknowledge and decrees of God to things concerning the church ; in which sense Socinus grants the knowledge of Christ to be infinite, namely, in respect of the church, Disput. de Adorat. Christi cum Christiano Franken, p. 15, But it…
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So much for them. But our other friend must not be forgotten. The place is of great importance, the testimony in it evident and clear; and we must not suffer ourselves, on any pretence, to be de- prived of the support thereof Thus, then, he proceeds in the exposi- tion of this place : — " For unto us a child is born."…
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And so Hezekiah lost the Messiahship for want of a song ! And these are good masters in the interpretation of prophecies concern- ing Christ. I wholly assent to the conjecture of the learned anno- tator about this business: "Non incredibile est," says he, "quod unus scriba properans commiserat, id, alios superstitiose …
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"Counsellor, The mighty God." " Imo cotisultator Dei fortis ; id est, qui in omnibus negotiis consilia a Deo poscet, per Prophetas sci- licet, ut jam sequetur;" — "Yea, 'he who asketh counsel of the mighty God;' that is, who in all his affairs asks counsel of God, namely, by the prophets." And is not this boldness thu…
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' Ps xlviii. 14, ix. 6, 7, etc. TESTIMONIES TO THE DEITY OF CHRIST VINDICATED, 321 It appears, then, that we have here a description of Jesus Christ, and of him only, and that the names here ascribed to him are pro- per to him, and declare who he was and is, even " The mighty God, The Prince of Peace," etc. Let us pr…
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John xiv. 9, " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father," is next proposed. To which they say, — Neither can any divine nature be proved from hence, for this " seeing " cannot be spoken of the essence of God, which is invisible, but of the knowledge of the things that Christ did and spake.* ' " Hoc idem dici potest …
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A little to sive lisfht to our armament from hence, and that the strength of it may appear, some few observations concerning the con- text and the words themselves will be necessary: — 1. Verse 5, the apostle, speaking of the heathens and their opinion of the Deity, says, " There be," that is, to them, in their appre-…
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32 6 VINDICIJi: EVANGELICyE. and not to Christ, is purely, without any pretence of proof, to beg the thing in question. Neither is that any thing to the purpose which is urged from Eph. iii. 9, for we confess that as Christ is equal with his Father as to his nature, wherein he is God, so as he is the Son in office, he…
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The process of our catechists is unto Rev. xvii. 14, xix. 16; in both which places Christ is called " The Lord of lords and King of kings." This also is expressly the name of God : 1 Tim. vi. 1 5, 1 6, " Who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 328 VINDICIiE EVANGELICE. who only ha…
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Isa. xli. 4, "I, Jehovah, the first, and with the last; I am he." Chap. xliv. 6, "I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." So chap, xlviii. 12. That this is spoken of Christ we have his own testimony, Rev. i. 1 7, " Fear not ; I am the first and the last." He who is the first and the last, he …
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TESTIMONIES TO THE DEITY OF CHRIST VINDICATED. 331 as to his nature wherein he is God ; which appears by the event, expounded in the books of the New Testament. The Scripture doth not say in the New Testament of Christ what was said in the Old of God, but evinces those things which were so spoken of God to have been s…
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I OF THE DEITY OF THE HOLY GHOST, AND HIS WORK. 333 in a man, we duly demonstrate from innumerable testimonies of Scripture. And for these men, the truth is, as they lay out the choicest of all their endeavours to prove him not to be God by na- ture, and so not at all (for a made god, a second-rank god, a deified man…
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His second question is, " Wherein consists the prerogative of that Holy Spirit above other spirits? — A. 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11." ' See his confession in his Epistle to his book against the Deity of Christ. 2 Cloppenburgius Vindiciae pro Dcitate S. S. adversus Pueumatomach. Bedcllum Ano-lum. OF THE DEITY OF THE HOLY GHOS…
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Thirdly, He dwelleth in us, as God in a temple, Rom. viii. 9, 1 Cor. iii. 16; thereby sanctifying us, chap. vi. 11; comforting us, John xvi. 7; and helping our infirmities, Rom. viii. 26 ; mortifying our sins, chap, viii. 13; creating in us Christian graces. Gal. v. 22, 23; yea, he is the author of all grace, as is evi…
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3. Wherever the Spirit is said to descend from heaven, it is to be understood according to the analogy of what we have already spoken concerning the presence of God in heaven, with his looking and going down from thence; which I shall not repeat again. Essenti- ally he is everywhere, Ps. cxxxix. 7. 4. In that place of…
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3. The enumeration here given us is very far and remote from being complete, there being only some few fruits of the Spirit and privileges which we receive by our receiving of him recounted, and that in a very confused manner, one thing being added after another without any order or coherence at all. Yea, of the benefi…
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342 VINDICI-E EVANGELiaE. the Son. 2. Our Saviour, Christ, says here, "He shall not speak of himself;" but he nowhere says, " He shall not impart of his own fulness," which is Mr B.'s addition. To " speak of himself" shows the original authority of him that speaks, whereby he speaks to be in himself; which, as to the …
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34:4 VINDICI^ EVANGELIC^. thereof. In the first sense he works in men in order of nature antecedent to their beheving, faith being a fruit of the Spirit ; in the latter, and for the ends and purposes thereof, he is received by faith, and given in order of nature upon beheving. 8. That the 'world cannot receive the Sp…
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The intendment of this query is to pursue the former insinuations of our catechist against the deity of Christ, as though his appoint- ment to his office of mediation were inconsistent with his divine nature ; the vanity of which pretence hath been sufficiently already discovered. In brief, Christ is considered either …
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SiS VINDICT^ EVANGELIC.E. such an end and purpose as the carrying on of the work of mediation, committed to him ; and so it is given him in commission from the Father, who sent him into the world to do his will ; and in this sense had he, the Son of man, power to forgive sins whilst he was on the earth. And to Mr B.'s…
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Q. Forasmuch as Christ ivas to be a prophet like unto 3fose$, and Moses had the privilege above other prophets that God made not himself known to him in a vision, nor spake to him in a dream, but face to face, as a man speakeih to his friend, and showed to him the similitude of the Lord, Exod. xxxiii. 11, Ntim. 350 VI…
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I shall only add, that this fancy of Mr B. and the rest of the So- cinians (Socinianism being, indeed, a kind of modest and subtile Mohammedanism^), of Christ's seeing God, as did Moses, seems to be taken from, or taken up to comply with, the Alcoran, where the same is affirmed of Mohammed. So Beidavi on these words of…
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Q. Can you farther cite any passage to prove that CJirist as a man ascended into heaven, and was there, and cam^e from, God out of heaven, before he showed himself to the world and discharged his prophetical office, so that the talking of Moses with God, in the person of an angel hearing the name of God, was hut a shad…
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' " Unde apparet Christum nobis Dei Yoluntatem perfecte manifestasse ? — Hinc, qiiod ipso Jesus perfectissima ratione earn a Deo in coelis sit edoctus, et ad cam honii- nil)us publicandam e coelo magnifice sit missus, et earn perfecte ilsdeni annuutiavit. ^^^ " Ubi vero scriptura est Christum fuisse in ccelo, et a ccel…
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4. If this must be supposed to be without any mention, 3'et why is it said always, that Christ came from heaven to the earth ? If he was first on the earth, and was taken into heaven, and came again to the earth, he had spoken to the understanding of men if he had said, " I am returned from heaven;" and not, as he doth…
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[As] for the " ascending into heaven," mentioned in the begin- ning of the verse, that it cannot be meant of a local ascent of Christ in his human nature antecedent to his resurrection is evident, in that he had not yet " descended into the lower parts of the earth," which he was to do before his local ascent, Eph. iv.…
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360 VINDICI^ EVANGELIC^. Gal. iii. 1 6 ; Rom. ix. 7, 8. 4. Christ is not called the mediator of the new covenant because he declared the will of God concerning it, but because he gave his life a ransom for those with whom it is made, 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6 ; and the promises of it were confirmed in his blood, Heb. ix. 15, x.…
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Having reckoned up the expositions of the law, and its vindication given by our Saviour, Matt, v., in the next query he calls them, very ignorantly, " the law of faith, or the new covenant." If Mr B. knows no more of the new covenant but that it is a new law given by our Saviour, Matt, v.-vii. (as upon other accounts),…
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(3.) Things are instanced in that are nowhere written in the law, nor ever were; as that, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy;" which is so remote from the law as that the contrary is directly commanded, Lev. xix. 18; Exod. xxiii. 4, 5; Pro v. xx. 22. To them who gave this rule, " Thou shalt love thy n…
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2. In the next place, he proceeds to the vindication and exposition of the seventh commandment, verse 27, " Thou shalt not commit adultery;" which the Pharisees had so expounded as that if a man kept himself from actual uncleanness, however loosely he lived, and put away his wife at his pleasure, he was free from the b…
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Q. You have made it appear plainly that the law of faith or the new covenant, whereof Christ was the mediator, is better than the law of works or the old cove- nant, whereof Moses was the mediator, in respect of precepts; is it also better iu respect of promises? A. Heb. viii. 6, vii. 19. This is indeed a comfortable…
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It is true, the administration of the covenant of grace which they lived under was dark, legal, and low, in comparison of that which we now are admitted unto since the coming of Christ in the flesh; but the covenant wherein they walked with God and that wherein we find acceptance is the same, and the justification of A…
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CHAPTER XIX. Of the kingly office of Jesus Christ, and of the worship that is asci'ibed and due to him. Of the nature of the kingly office of Jesus Christ, his investiture with it, his administration of it, with the efficacy of that power which therein he puts forth, both towards his elect and others, Mr Biddle doth…
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His fourth question to this matter is, " How ought men to honour the Son of God, Christ Jesus?" and it is answered, "John v. 23, 'Even as they honour the Father.'" This, then, is consented unto on both sides, that Jesus Christ is to be worshipped and honoured with the same worship and honour wherewith the Father is wo…
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The 8th, 9th, and 10th questions belong not to us. We grant it was and is the will and command of God that Jesus Christ, the mediator, should be worshipped of angels and men, and that he was so wor- shipped even in this world, for " when he brought the first-begotten into the world, he said. Let all the angels of God w…
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1 " Pi'imum igitur quod attinet ad priorem rationem dico, diversam illam lectionem non cxtare, ut arbitror, neque ia ullo pi'obato codice, neque apud uUura pi'obatum scriptorem, quod vel ex eo coustare potest, quod Erasmus in suis Annotatiouibus quamvis do hoc ipso loco agat, ejus rci nullam prorsus mcntionem facit. Qu…
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1 " Video enim nihil hodie cdi posse in tota Christiana religione majoris momcnti quam hoc sit, demonstratio, videlicet, quod Christo licet creaturos tamen inrocatio et adoratio seu cultus divinus coiiveuiat." — Socin. Ep. 3 ad Ead. p. 143. * " Si enim hoc demonstratum fuerit, concident omnes Trinitariorum munitiones,…
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SSO VINDICI^ EVANGELICiE, It is, then, on all hands concluded that Jesus Christ is to be wor- shipped with divine and religious worship, due to God only. Fixing this as a common and indisputable principle, I shall sub- join and prove these two assertions: — 1. In general, Divine worship is not to be ascribed to any t…
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1 'EXxTftviroc]! TYi xTiffii 'Kaio, rl'v xri<ravra. * Vid. Dmtlib. (Ic Just. Div. Vol. X, 'Eoiiaa'xi u; oi xa.) tov 0£ov /icovov oii Tfco'xvyiTv, I'lTeuv //.iyurm ivrcXri irri, xCpion to» Giiiii eov I'l-offxuvririi;, xa) avrZ fiivy XarpivTiis. — Justin. Mar. Apol. 382 VINDICI^ EVANGELIC^. self insists on, Matt. iv. …
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5. This is the substance of Schlichtingius' rule, " When any thing is affirmed of God exclusively to others, — indeed others are not ex- cluded, but included"! 6. We argue not only from the exclusive particle, but from the nature of the thing itself So that, this pretended rule and excep- tion notwithstanding, all and…
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Where the formal cause of divine worship is not, there divine wor- ship ought not to be exhibited; but in no creature there is, nor can be, the formal cause of divine worship: therefore no creature, who is only such, can be worshipped without idolatrj'-. Tlie formal reason of any thing is but one; the reason of all wor…
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OF Christ's kingly office. 387 every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue sliall confess to God." To Christ, exalted in his dominion and sovereignty, we live and die; to him do we bow the knee and confess, that is, perform all worship, and stand before him, as at his disposal ; we swear by him ; — as in the place fr…
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1 Mia -rpofficvv/iTii, koa /^lav at/TU tmv ^c^^oXoyieev ccvaTifiTiuv. — SyQOd. Eph. Anath. viii, Cyril. » 'H lyup dyarn rov Xpierrou truvix^' V^'- — ^ Cor. V. 14. OF Christ's kingly office. S89 Egypt the reason of that eternally Indispensable moral worship which he requires in the first commandment: not that that w…
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2. Christ under this formal conception, as they speak, as medi- ator, is not God ; but under this, as partaker of the nature of God. Christ as mediator is an expression, as they speak, in the concrete, whose form is its abstract. Now, that is his mediation or mediatory office; and therefore if Christ under this formal …
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2. There is an external economy and dispensation of the persons in reference to the work of our salvation, and what we draw nigh to them for. So the Father is considered as the foundation of all mercy, grace, glory, every thing that is dispensed in the covenant or revealed in the gospel, the Son receiving all from him,…
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This Franken seems to have been a subtile fellow, who, denying with Socinus that Christ was God, saw evidently that it was impos- sible to find out a foundation of yielding religious worship or adora- tion unto him. With him about this matter Socinus had a solemn dispute in the house of one Paulicovius, anno 1584, Marc…
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896 VINDICIiE EVANGELIC^. nient, whereby he proved that he was not to be worshipped, and not to have brought a contraiy testimony, which is certainly to be inter- preted according to the issue of the reason insisted on. And this was the end of that first argument between them. The next argument of Franken, whereby he…
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The Scripture is so positive that Jesus Christ, in the execution of his office of mediation, was and is a priest, a high priest, that it is, amongst all that acknowledge him, utterly out of question. That he is not properly so called, but metaphorically, and in allusion to the high priest of the Jews, as was said, the …
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2. He who is a priest according to the order of a true and real 2)riesthood, he is a true and 7-eal priest. Believers are called priests, Rev. i. 6, and are said to offer up sacrifices to God, spiritual sacri- fices, such as God is pleased with, Heb. xiii. 16. Whence is it that they are not real and proper priests? Bec…
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But they proceed to give us their whole sense in the next question and answer, Avhich are as follow : — Q. }V/i2/ is this way of his affording help called a sacrifice? A. It is called so by a figurative manner of speaking: for as in the old covenant the high priest entering into the holiest of holies did do those thi…
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* " Etenim moi-tem, Christus subiit, duplici ratione : partira quidem, ut foederis me- diator, sou sponsor, et veluti testator quidem ; partim ut sacerdos Deo ipsum oblaturus." Crell. de Caus. Mort. Cbristi, p. 6. * " I'artes bujus muneris liasc sunt potissinmm; mactatio victimoe, in tabernaculum ad ohlationcm peragen…
1,072 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1850–1870); OCR text from Internet Archive. OCR may contain scanning/transcription errors. Verify quotations against page images when precision matters.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.