ciples wherever they may be. He also promises to all who believe on Him, eternal life. He has power to quicken or to give life to as many as He will. " My sheep follow me, and I give unto them eternal life." " I will raise them up at the last day." " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life." " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." " A crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me in that day." " Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you : not as the world giveth, give I unto you." " Ye be- lieve in God, believe also in me." " I go to prepare a place for you." "I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." It is obvious that the infinite God himself can neither promise nor give anything greater or higher than Christ gives his people. To Him they are taught to look as the source of all blessings, the giver of every good and every perfect gift. There is no more comprehensive prayer in the New Testament than that with which Paul closes his Epistle to the Galatians : " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit." His favour is our life, which it could not be if He were not our God.
E. His Control over Nature. A fourth general feature of the New Testament teaching con- cerning Christ, relates to the control attributed to Him over the external world. The laws of nature are ordained by God. They can be changed or suspended by Him alone. A miracle, therefore, or any event which involves such change or suspension, is an evi- dence of the immediate operation of divine power. The efficient agent, therefore, in working a miracle, must possess divine power. When Moses, the prophets, or the Apostles wrought miracles, they expressly disclaimed the idea that it was by their own efficiency. Why look ye on us, says the Apostle Peter, as though by our own power we had made this man whole ? When Moses divided the Red Sea, the efficiency by which that effect was produced was no more in him than in the rod with which he smote the waters. Christ, however, wrought miracles by his own inherent power; and it was to his efficiency the Apostles attributed the miracles wrought through them. It was his name, of faith in Him, as Peter taught the people, which effected the instantaneous healing of the lame man. Christ never referred this miraculous power to any source out of Himself; He claimed it as his own prerogative ; and
504 PART I. — THEOLOGY. [Ch. VH. — Divinity of Chbist.
He conferred the power upon others. He said of Himself that He had power to lay down his life and power to take it again ; that He had life in Himself and could give life to as many as He pleased ; I will give you, He said to his disciples, power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the adversary. Every miracle of Christ, therefore, was a visible manifestation of his divin- ity. When He healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, restored the lame, raised the dead, fed thousands with a few loaves of bread, and calmed the raging of the sea, it was by a word, by the effortless exercise of his will. He thus manifested forth his glory, giving ocular demonstration to those who had eyes to see, that He was God in fashion as a man. He therefore appealed directly to his works, " Though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in Him." " If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not." (John x. 37, 38.) *' If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin : but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father." (John XV. 24.)
It is only a small part of the evidence of the divinity of our Lord that can thvis be gathered up from the general teaching of the New Testament. It is important to bear in mind that faith in this doc- trine rests not on this or that passage, or on this or that mode of representation, but upon the whole revelation of God concerning his Son. The divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ is wrought into the texture of the Scriptures, and is everywhere asserted or as- sumed. There are, however, many passages in which the doctrine is so clearly presented, that they should not be passed by in any- formal discussion of this subject.
§ 3. Particular Passages which Teach the Divinity of Christ,
A. The Writings of St. John.
John i. 1-14. Why the higher nature of Christ is called 6 Aoyos, and why John used that designation, are different questions. As the word Xdyos does not occur in Scripture in the sense of reason, it should be taken in its ordinary meaning. The question ^v\\\ the Son is called " The Word " may be answered by saying that the term expresses both his nature and his office. The word is that which reveals. The Son is the eiKwr and aTvavyaajxa of God, and therefore his word. It is his office to make God known to liis creatures. No man hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten