Tc avoid these fatal consequences of their theory, tlie Lutherans were driven to different and conflicting subtle explanations. Ac- cordino- to some there was no actual communication of the divine essence and attributes to the human nature until after his resurrec- tion. The Logos was in Him only potentially. There was on the part of the divine nature a retractio, or rjavxa-C^i-v, or quiescence, so that it was as though it were not there. According to otlicrs, there was a voluntary Kpvipi<; or veiling of itself or of its divine glory on the part of the humanity of Christ. According to others, this luiiniliation was rather the act of the Godman, who only occa- sionally revealed the fact that the human nature was divine. No explanation could meet the difficulties of the case, because they are inseparable from the assumption that the human nature of Christ was replete with divine attributes from the moment of its miracu- lous conception. It is a contradiction to say that the same indi- vidual mind was omniscient and yet was ignorant and increased in knowledge ; that the same rational soul was supremely happy and exceeding sorrowful, at the same time ; that the same body was potentially alive and yet actually dead. From the nature of the case there can be no difference between the kt^o-is and XP^'^'-'^ of such divine attributes as omniscience and omnipresence. It would require a volume to give the details of the controversies between the different schools of the Lutheran divines on these and kiiulred points. This general outline is all that can here be expected.^
Remarks on the Lutheran Doctrine.
1. The first remark which suggests itself on this Lutheran doc- trine is its contrast Avith the simplicity of the gospel. The New Testament predicates of our Lord Jesus Christ all that can be predicated of a sinless man, and all that can be predicated of a divine person. It is only stating this fact in another form to say that the Bible teaches that the eternal Son of God became man by taking to Himself a true body and a reasonable soul, and so was,
1 These details may be found at length in the larger work of Dorner on the Person of Christ, already frequently referred to, and in the work entitled Chris'i Person uml Werk ; Darsttllunff der evangelisch- lulhertschen Dogmniik vom Mittelpunkte der Ckrislolo(/ie aus. Von G. Thomasius D. und ord. Professor der Theologie an der Universitat Erlangen. In two volumes, 1853, and 1857.
See also The Conservative Reformation and its Theology, as represented in the Augshury Confession, and in the History and Literature of the /'Evangelical Lutheran Church. By Charles P. Krauth, D. D., Norton Professor of Theology in the Evangelical Lutheran The- ological Seniinary, and Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy in the University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1871, 8vo, pp. 840. This is a very able and instructive book, and presents the Lutheran doctrine in the most plaasil)le form of which it admits.
414 PART m. Ch. m. — the person of CHRIST.
and continues to be, God and man, in two entire distinct natures, and one person forever. Whatever is beyond this, is mere specu- lation. Not content with admitting the fact that two natures are united in the one person of Christ, the Lutheran theologians insist on explaining that fact. They are willing to acknowledge that two natures or substances, soul and body, are united in the one person in man, without pretending to explain the essential nature of the union. Why then can they not receive the fact that two natures are united in Christ without philosophizing about it ? The first objection, therefore, is that the Lutheran doctrine is an at- tempt to explain the inscrutable.
2. A second objection is that the character of the explanation was determined by the peculiar views of Luther as to the Lord's Supper. He believed that the body and blood of Christ are really and locally present in the Eucharist. And when asked, How can the body of Christ which is in heaven be in many different places at the same time ? He answered that the body of Christ is every- where. And when asked, How can that be ? His only answer was. That in virtue of the incarnation the attributes of the divine nature were communicated to the human, so that wherever the Logos is there the soul and body of Christ must be.
There are two things specially prominent in Luther as a theo- logian. The one is his entire subjection to the authority of Scrip- ture, as he understood it. He seemed, moreover, never to doubt the correctness of his interpretations, nor was he willing to tolerate doubt in others. As to matters not clearly determined in the Bible, according to his view, he was exceedingly tolerant and lib- eral. But with regard to points which he believed to be taught in the Word of God, he allowed neither hesitation nor dissent. The other marked trait in his character was his power of faith. He could believe not only what was repugnant to his feelings, but what was directly opposed to his system, and even what was in its own nature impossible. His cardinal doctrine was "justification bv faith alone," as he translated Romans iii. 28, He constantly taught not only that no man could be saved without faith in Ciu'ist, but that faith alone was necessary. Yet as he understood our Lord in John iii. 5, to teach that baptism is essential to salvation, he as- serted its absolute necessity, although sorely against his will. To reconcile this with his doctrine of the necessity and sufficiency of faith, he held that new-born infants, when baptized, exercised faith, although he meant by faith the intelligent, voluntary, and cordial reception of Christ as He is offered in the gospel. In like manner,