44. What passages in the Old Testament speak of the Son as a distinct person from the Father, and yet as divine ?
In Ps. xlv., 6, 7, we have the Father addressing the Son as God, and anointing him. — See also Ps. ex., 1; Isa. xliv., 6, 7, 14.
The prophecies always set forth the Messiah as a person dis- tinct from the Father, and yet he is called " Mighty God," etc.— Isa. ix., 6 ; Jer. xxiii., 6.
45. What passages of the Old Testament speak of the Spirit as a distinct person from the Father, and yet as divine ?
Gen. i., 2 ; vi., 3; Ps. civ., 30; exxxix., 7; Job xxvi., 13; Isa. xlviii., 16.
Y. It remains for us to consider what the Scriptures
TEACH CONCERNING THE ETERNAL AND NECESSARY RELATIONS WHICH THE THREE DIVINE PERSONS SUSTAIN TO EACH OTHER.
(I.) The relation which the second person sustains to
THE FIRST, OR THE ETERNAL GENERATION OF THE SON.
46. What is the idiomatic use of the FLehrew word is (so?i) ?
It is used in the sense, 1st, of son ; 2d, of descendant ; hence in the plural "children of Israel," for Israelites. Also when joined to a name of place or nation to denote inhabitants or citizens thereof, as "sons of Zion," etc.; 3d, of pupil, disciple, worshipper ; thus "sons of the prophets," (1 Kings xx., 35,) and " sons of God," applied, (1.) to kings, Ps. ii., 7 ; (2.) to angels, Gen. vi. 2 ; (3.) to worshippers of God, his own people, Deut.
144 THE HOLY TRINITY.
xiv., 1; 4th, in combination with substantives, expressing age or quality, etc.; thus, "son of years/' for aged, Lev. xii., 6; "son of Belial," for worthless fellow, Deut. xiii., 13 ; " son of death," for one deserving to die, 1 Sam. xx., 31 ; "a hill son of fatness," for a fruitful hill. The same idiom has been carried into the Greek of the New Testament. — See Gesenius' Heb. Lex.
47. In what sense are men called " sons of God " in Scrip- ture ?
The general idea embraced in the relation of sonship includes, 1st, similarity and derivation of nature ; 2d, parental and filial love; and 3d, heirship.
In this general sense all God^ holy, intelligent creatures are called his sons. The term is applied in an eminent sense to kings and magistrates who receive dominion from God, (Ps. lxxxii., 6,) and to Christians who are the subjects of spiritual regeneration and adoption, (Gal. iii., 26,) the special objects of divine favor, (Matt, v., 9,) and are like him, (Matt, v., 45.) When applied to creatures, whether men or angels, (Job i., 6,) this word is always used in the plural. In the singular it is applied only to the second person of the Trinity, with the single exception of its application once to Adam, (Luke iii., 38,) when the reason is obviously to mark the peculiarity of his derivation from God immediately without the intervention of a human father.
48. What different vieivs with regard to the sonship of Christ have been entertained ?
1st. Some Socinians hold that he is called Son of God only as an official title, as it is applied in the plural to ordinary kings and magistrates.
2d. Other Socinians hold that he was called Son of God only because he was brought into being by God's supernatural agency, and not by ordinary generation. To maintain this they appeal to Luke i., 35. For an explanation of this passage see below, question 70.
3d. Arians hold that he is so called because he was created by God more in his own likeness than any other creature, and first in the order of time.
4th. The orthodox doctrine is, that Christ is called Son of
ETERNAL SONSHIP OF CHRIST. 145
God to indicate his eternal and necessary personal relation in the Godhead to the first person, who, to indicate his reciprocal rela- tion, is called the Father.
49. What is the distinction which some of the fathers made between the eternal, the ante-mundane, and the mundane genera- tion of the Son ?
1st. By his eternal generation they intended to mark his essential relation to the Father as his consuhstantial and eternal Son.
2d. By his ante-mundane generation they meant to signify the commencement of the outgoings of his energy, and the manifesta- tion of his person beyond the bosom of the Godhead, in the sphere of external creation, etc. — Col. i., 15.
3d. By his mundane generation they intended his supernatural birth in the flesh. — Luke i., 35.
50. What is the distinction luhich some of the fathers made between the Xoyog evdiaBerog (ratio insita, reason), and the Xoyog 7Tpo(popcicog (ratio prolata, reason brought forth, or expressed) ?