And it is a manifest perverting and corrupting of the text which we have in Grotius' gloss upon the place, who interprets the rd wdvru referred to the Father of all things simply, but the to, tuvtu referred to Christ of the things only of the new creation,^ there being not the least colour for any such variation, the frame and structure of the words requiring them to be expounded uniformly throughout : " But to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." " The last expression, ' And we by him,' relates to the new creation ; ' All things,' to the first." But Grotius follows Enjedinus in this as well as other things.^
' Grot. Annot. in 1 Cor. 7111. 6.
* Enjedin. Explicat. loc. Vet. et Nov. Testam. in locum.
OF THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 173
His inquir}' in the next place is after the birth of Jesus Christ; in answer whereuuto the story is reported from Matthew and Luke : which relating to his human nature, and no otherwise to the person of the Son of God but as he was therein " made flesh," or assumed the "holy thing" so born of the Virgin, Lukei. 35, into personal subsistence with himself, I shall let pass with annexing unto it the observation before mentioned, namely, that what is affirmed of the human nature of Christ doth not at all prejudice that nature of his in respect whereof he is said to be " in the beginning with God," and to be "God," and with reference whereunto himself said, "Before Abraham was I am," John i. 1,2, viii. 58 ; Prov. viii. 22, etc. God "possessed him in the beginning of his way," being then his "only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth." Mr B. indeed hath small hopes of despoil- ing Christ of his eternal glory by his queries, if they spend themselves in such fruitless sophistry as this : — " Q. 4. How came Jesus Christ to be Lord according to the opinion of the apostle Paul?" The answer is, Rom. xiv. 9. " Q. 5. What saith the apostle Peter also concerning the time and manner of his being made Lord? — A. Acts ii. 32, 83, 36."
Ans. 1. That Jesus Christ as mediator, and in respect of the work of redemption and salvation of the church to him committed, was made Lord by the appointment, authority, and designation of his Father, we do not say was the opinion of Paul, but is such a divine truth as we have the plentiful testimony of the Holy Ghost unto. He was no less made a Lord than a Priest and Prophet, of his Father. But that the eternal lordship of Christ, as he is one with his Father, " God blessed for ever," Rom. ix. 5, is any way de- nied by the asserting of this lordship given him of his Father as mediator, Mr B. wholly begs of men to apprehend and grant, but doth not once attempt from the Scripture to manifest or prove. The sum of what Mr B. intends to argue hence is : Christ "submitting him- self to the form and work of a servant unto the Father, was exalted by him, and had ' a name given him above every name ;' therefore he was not the Son of God and equal to him." That his condescension unto office is inconsistent with his divine essence is yet to be proved. But may we not beg of our catechist, at his leisure, to look a little farther into the chapter from whence he takes his first testimony concerning the exaltation of Christ to be Lord ? perhaps it may be worth his while. As another argument to that of the dominion and lordship of Christ, to persuade believers to a mutual forbearance as to judging of one another, he adds, verse 10, " We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ." And this, verse 11, the apostle proves from that testimony of the prophet Isaiah, chajD. xlv. 23, as he renders the sense of the Holy Ghost, " As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."
17-i VINDICIiE EVANGELIC^.
So that Jesus Christ our Lord is that Jehovah, that God, to whom all subjection is due, and in particular that of standing before his judgment-seat. But this is overlooked by Grotius, and not answered to any purpose by Enjedinus, and why should Mr B. trouble himself with it ?
2. For the time assigned by him of his being made Lord, specified by the apostle, it doth not denote his first investiture with that office and power, but the solemn admission into the glorious execution of that lordly potver which was given him as mediator. At his incar- nation and birth, God affirms by the angel that he was then " Christ the Lord," Luke ii. 11. And when " he brought his first-begotten into the world, the angels were commanded to worship him;" which if he were not a Lord, I suppose Mr E. will not say they could have done. Yea, and as he was both believed in and worshipped before his death and resurrection, John ix. 88, xiv. 1, which is to be per- formed only to the Lord our God, Matt. iv. 10, so he actually in some measure exercised his lordship towards and over angels, men, devils, and the residue of the creation, as is known from the very story of the Gospel, not denying himself to be a king, yea, witness- ing thereunto Avhen he was to be put to death, Luke xxiii, 3, John xviii. 87, as he was from his first showing unto men, chap. i. 49.