be fulfilled— or by those who deny the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch."
86.— [Say ye of him, etc.'] Our Lord in this verse presses home on the Jews the force of the expression in the 82d Psalm. "If princes are called gods, do ye mean to call Me whom the Father sanctified from eternity to be Messiah, and sent into the world in due time, a blasphemer, because I have said, I am the Son of God?"
" Say ye of him " would have been better rendered, " Say ye of Me." The Greek leaves it open.
The expression, " whom the Father hath sanctified," must mean, "whom the Father hath set apart, and appointed from all eternity in the covenant of grace, as a priest is sanctified and set apart for the service of the temple." It cannot mean liter- ally " made holy." It implies eternal dedication and appoint- ment to a certain office. This is one of the places which teach the eternal generation of Christ. Long before He came into the world, " the Father" (not God, observe) had sanctified and appointed the Son. He did not become the Son when He en- tered the world : He was the Son from all eternity.
The expression, " sent into the world," means that mission of Christ's to be the Saviour, which took place when he became incarnate, and came among us in the form of a man. He was the Father's " sent One," the " Apostle " of our profession. (See Heb. iii. 1; John iii. 17; and 1 John iv. 14.) He that was so " sanctified " and " sent," might well speak of Himself as the Son of God, and equal with God.
Calvin remarks : " There is a sauctification that is common to all believers. But here Christ claims for Himself something far more excellent : namely, that He alone was separated from all others, that the grace of the Spirit and majesty of God might be displayed in Him; as He said formerly, 'Him hath God the Father sealed.' " (John vi. 27.)
87. — [If I do not the works, etc.] Here our Lord once more appeals to the evidence of His miracles, and challenges attention to them. " I do not ask you to believe that I am the Son of God and the Messiah, if I do not prove it by my works. If I did no miracles, you might be justified in not believing Me to be the Messiah, and in calling Me a blasphemer."
Here, again, we should observe how our Lord calls His mira- cles the " works of His Father." They were works given to Him by His Father to do. They were such works as none but God the Father could possibly perform.
Gualter observes, what a proof this verse indirectly supplies of the nullity of the Pope's claim to be God's vicegerent and head of the Church ! What are r is works ? What evidence of « divine mission does he give ?