the finman nature of any one family, or class, or people, but that nature which is common to all Adam's children, whether Jews or G-entiles. Ke came to be a Saviour for " all flesh," and so was made " flesh."
The subject of this sentence is a deeply mysterious one, but one about which it is most important to have clear views. Next to the doctrine of the Trinity, there is no doctrine on whif h fallen man has built so many deadly heresies as the incarnation of Christ. There is unquestionably much about this union of two natures in one person which we cannot explain, and must be content to beheve. There is much that we cannot under- stand, be it remembered, in the union of body and soul in our own persons. But there are some points in the subject of Christ's incarnation which we must hold fast, and never let go.
(a.) In the first place, let us carefully remember, that when " the Word became flesh," He became so by the union of two perfect and distinct natures in one Person. The manner of this union we cannot explain, but the fact we must firmly believe. " Christ," says the Athnnasian Creed, " is God and Man ; God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the world, and man of the substance of His mofhei', born in the world ; perfect God and perfect man. Who, although He be God and man, yet He is not two but one Christ; one not by conversion of the godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God." These words are very important. The Word was not made flesh by changing one nature into another, or by laying aside one nature and taking up another. In all our thoughts about Christ, ht us take care that we do not divide His Person, and that we maintain steadily that He has two distinct and perfect natures. The old Latin line on the subject, quoted by Gomarus, is worth remem- bering. It represents "the Word made flesh," as saying, "I am what I was, that is God : — I was not what I am, that is man : — I am now called both, that is both God and man."
(&.) Secondly, when " the Word became flesh," He did not cease for a moment to be God. No doubt He was pleased to veil His divinity and to hide His power, and more especially so at some seasons. He emptied Himself of external marks of glory and was called " the carpenter." But He never laid His divinity aside. God cannot cease to be God. It was as God-man that He lived, suffered, died, and rose again. It is writ :en that God '' has purchased the Church with His own blood.'' It was the blood of one who was not man only, but God.
(c.) Thirdly, when " the Word became flesh," He was made a man in the truth of our nature like unto us in all things, ana fiom that hcur has never ceased to be man. His humanity was not a humanity different from our own, and though now glorified
so EXPOSITOKY THOUGHTS.
is our humanity still. It was perfect man no less than pprfect God, who resisted temptation, fulfilled the law perfectly, endured the contradiction of smners, spent nig-hts in prayer, kept His will in subjecLion to the Father's will, suffered, died, and at length ascended up to heaven with flesh, bones, and all things apper- taining to man's nature. It is written, that in "all things it be- hoved Him to be made like unto His brethren." Moreover, He did not lay aside His humanity when He left the world. He that ascended np on the mount Olives, and is sitting at the right hand of God to intercede for believers, is one who is still man as well as God. Our High Priest in heaven is not God only, but man. Christ's humanity as well as divinity are both in heaven. One in our nature, our elder Brother, has gone as our Fore- runner to prepare a place for us.
{d.) Lastly, When "the Word became flesh," He did not take on Him " peccable flesh." It is written that He was made in " the likeness of sinful flesh." (Rom. viii. 3.) But we must not go beyond this. Christ was " made sin fur us." (2 Cor. 5, 21.) But He " knew no sin," and was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and without taint of corruption. Satan found nothing in Him. Christ's human nature was liable to weakness, but not to sin. The words of the fifteenth Article must never be forgotten, Christ was " void from sin, both in His flesh and in His Spirit."
For want of a clear understanding of this union of two natures in Christ's Person, the heresies which arose in the eaily Church weie many and great. And 3^et Arrowsmith points out that no less than lour of these heresies are at once confuted by a right interpretation of the sentence now before us.
*' The Arians hold that Jesus Christ was not true God. This text calleth Him the Word, and maketh Him a Person in the Trinity.
" The Apollinarians acknowledge Christ to be God, yea, and man too ; but they hold that He took only the body of a man, not the soul of a man, while His divinity supplied the room of a soul. We interpret the word ' flesh ' for the whole human nature, both soul and body.
" The Nestorians grant Christ to be both God and man : bu^ then they say the Godhead made one person, and the manhood another person. We interpret the woi-ds ' was made' as imply- ing an union, in which Christ assumed not the person of man, but the nature of man.
"The Eutychians held but one person in Christ; but then they confounded the natures. They say the Godhead and man- hood made such a mixture as to produce a third tiling. Here