Chapter 18. Of Christ's Nativity and Office.
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Chapter 18. Of Christ's Nativity and Office.
This much concerning incarnation: the clear declaration of it was by his nativity.
The nativity of Christ is that by which Mary, a virgin, in the course of nature and the custom of women, brought forth Christ, that Word of his Father, and the Son of David. So that, some are greatly deceived who are of the opinion that Christ came into the world in a miraculous manner, the womb of the Virgin being shut. Luk 2.23, Every man child which first opens the womb, shall be called holy to the Lord. This passage of scripture is applied to Mary and our Saviour
Christ.
Hence it is, that the Virgin Mary continued a virgin until her dying day, even though we do not make this opinion any article of our belief.
1. Christ being now to depart the world, committed his mother to the care and custody of his disciple John, which it is likely he would not have done if she had any children by whom, as was the custom, she might have been provided for. Joh 19.26.
2. It is likely that she who was with child by the Holy Ghost, would not know any man after.
3. It is agreed to by the Church in all ages. 30
His office follows, to the perfect accomplishing of which he was anointed by his Father; that is, he was sufficiently furnished both with gifts and authority. Heb
1.9, Therefore God, even your God, anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows. Isa 61.1, The Spirit of the Lord was upon me, therefore He anointed me. Joh 3.34, God does not give him the Spirit by measure.
If any man enforces this as a reason that Christ could not perform the Office of Mediator, not being the mean or middle between God and man, but the party
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offended, and so one of the extremes — we must know that Christ is, in two ways, said to be the middle or mean.
1. Between God and all men: for being both God and man, he participates with both extremes.
2.Between God and the faithful only: first, according to his humanity, by which he received the Spirit without measure; secondly, according to his divine nature, namely, as he is the Word. Now, the Word is middle between the Father and the faithful: a. In regard to order, because the Word was begotten of the Father, and by it we have access to the Father. This subordination, which is of the Son to the Father, is not in the divine essence, severally and distinctly considered, but in the relation or manner of having the essence. And after this manner, those things which are subordinate cannot be unequal if they have one and the same singular essence. b. In regard to his office, which being imposed on him by his Father, he willingly underwent, and of his own accord.
Christ exercises this office according to both natures united in one person, and according to each nature distinct from one another. For in reconciling
God and man together, the flesh performs some things distinctly, and the Word performs other things distinctly. Again, some other things are done not by the Word or flesh alone, but by both together.
This office is so appropriate to Christ that neither in whole, nor in part, can it be translated [or transferred] to any other. Heb 7.24, This man, because he endures forever, has an everlasting priesthood, or a priesthood that cannot pass from one to another.
Therefore Christ, as he is God, has under him Emperors, Kings, and Princes to be his Vicegerents, who are therefore called "gods." Psa 82.1.
But as he is Mediator — that is, a Priest, a Prophet, and King of the Church — he has no Vicegerent, Vicar, or
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Lieutenant who can be in his stead in either his Kingly or Priestly office, in both or only one.
Christ's office is threefold: Priestly, Prophetic, and Regal.
Psa 110.1-4; Isa 42.1.
Christ's Priesthood is an office of his by which he performed all those things to God by which eternal life is obtained. Heb 5.9, And being consecrated, was made the author of eternal salvation, unto all those who obey him; and is called by God a high Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. Heb 7.24-25, This man, because he endures forever, has an everlasting
Priesthood, for which he is able also to perfectly save all those who come to God by him.
His Priesthood consists of two parts: Satisfaction and Intercession.
Satisfaction Satisfaction is that by which Christ is a full propitiation to his Father for the elect. Job 33.23-24, If there is a messenger with him, or an interpreter, one in a thousand, to declare to man his righteousness, then
He will have mercy upon him, and will say, Deliver him, that he not go down into the pit, for I have found a reconciliation.
Rom 3.24-25, And are justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, Whom God has set forth to be a reconciliation
through faith in his blood. 1Joh 2.2, He is a propitiation for our sins.
Christ satisfied God's anger for man's offence, according to his humanity, by performing perfect obedience to the will of God, according to his Deity — by ministering such especial dignity to his perfect obedience, that it was full of both merit and efficacy before God, for the salvation of the Elect. Joh 17.19,
For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified through the truth. Act 20.28, To feed the flock of God, which he has purchased with his own
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blood. 2Cor 5.19, God was in Christ, and reconciled the world to Himself, not imputing their sins to them.
Satisfaction comprehends his Passion, and Fulfilling the Law.
His Passion His passion is the first part of satisfaction, by which, having undergone the punishment of sin, satisfied
God's justice, and appeased His anger for the sins of the faithful. His passion was in this manner:
Somewhat before his death, partly fear arising from the sense of God's wrath imminent upon him, partly grief possessing, as it were, each part of him, so disturbed his sacred mind, Mk 14.33; Mt 26.38 that inwardly for a while, it struck into him a strange kind of astonishment, or rather oblivion of his duty imposed upon him; and outwardly, it made him pray to his
Father (if He would) to remove that cup from him, Jo 12.27; Mk 14.36 which he expressed with no small cry, many tears, Mt 26.37, 42; Jo 12.29; He 5.7and a bloody sweat trickling from his body onto the ground. Lk 22.44
But when he came to himself again, he freely yielded himself to his Father to satisfy upon the cross,
Lk 22.42 for the transgression of man; He 9.15; 1Co 15.3; Isa 53.10,11 after this, his agony was overpassed. By Judas' treachery, Christ is apprehended, Mt 26.47 and first, he is brought to Annas, after to Caiaphas, Jo 18.13,14 where
Peter denies him. Jo 18.27 From Caiaphas, he is led bound to Pilate; Mt 27.2 Pilate posts him over to Herod;
Lk 23.7,8 he transports him back again to Pilate, Lk 23.15 who acknowledges his innocence, and yet condemns him as an offender. Mt 27.23,24 This innocent thus condemned, is pitifully scourged, crowned with thorns, scoffed, spit at, spitefully adjudged to the death of the cross, Mt 27.26-31; Jo 19.18 on which his hands and feet are fastened with nails.
His passions did not stay here, but after all these, he became accursed to God the Father; that is, God
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poured upon him, being thus innocent, such a sea of His wrath, as was equivalent to the sins of the whole world. 1Jo 2.2 Now being under this curse, Ga 3.13 through the sense and feeling of this strange terror, he complains to his Father that he is forsaken. Mt 27.35,46
Notwithstanding, Christ then encountering Satan and his angels, utterly vanquished and overcame them. Col
1.13,14 When this was ended, his heart was pierced with a spear, till the blood gushed out from his sides, Jo 19.34 and he gave up the ghost, and commended his spirit to his Father's protection, which immediately went into Paradise. Lk 23.43,46 His body, of which not one bone was broken, was buried, Jo 19.33,42 and for three days it was ignominiously captivated by death. 1Cor 15.4; Ac 10.40
In this description of Christ's passion, we may note five circumstances especially.
I. His Agony; namely, a vehement anguish arising upon the conflict of two contrary desires in him: the first was to be obedient to his Father; the second was to avoid the horror of death. Luk 22.44, Being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood, trickling down to the ground. Heb 5.7, In the days of his flesh, he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying, and tears to Him who was able to save him from death, and was also heard in that which he feared.
II. His Sacrifice, which is an action of Christ's, offering himself to God the Father as a ransom for the sins of the Elect. Heb 9.26, Now in the end of the world, he has appeared once to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. In this sacrifice, the oblation was Christ, as he was man. Heb 10.10, By which will we are sanctified, even by the offering of Jesus Christ once made.
The Altar also was Christ, as he was God. Heb 13.10, We have an Altar, from which those who serve in the temple have no authority to eat. Heb 9.14, How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God,
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purge your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God? Hence it is that Christ is said to sanctify himself, as he is man. Joh 17.19, For their sakes I sanctify myself — as the altar, the gift, and the temple
[sanctify] the gold, Mat 23.17.
Christ is the Priest, as he is God and man. Heb 5.6, You are a Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.
1Tim 2.5-6, One Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all men, to be a testimony in due time.
III. God the Father's acceptance of his sacrifice, in which he was well pleased. For, had it been that God had not allowed for it, Christ's suffering would have been in vain. Mat 3.17, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Eph 5.2, Even as Christ loved us, and gave himself for us to be an offering and a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour to God.
IV. Imputation of man's sin to Christ, by which his Father accounted him as a transgressor, having translated [transferred] the burden of man's sins to his shoulders. Isa 53.4, He has borne our infirmities, and carried our sorrows. Yet we judged him as plagued and struck by God, and humbled. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was broken for our iniquities, etc. and verse 12, He was counted with the transgressors, and he bore the sins of many. 2Cor 5.21,
He has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we should be made the righteousness of God in him.
V. The wonder of his humiliation, consisting of two parts:
1. In that he made himself of little or no reputation in respect to his Deity. Phi 2.7-8, He made himself of no reputation, etc., he humbled himself, and became obedient to the death, even the death of the cross. We may not think that this debasing of Christ came because his divine nature was either wasted or weakened, but because his Deity, as it were, laid aside and concealed his power and majesty for a season. And
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as Irenaeus says, "The Word rested, that the human nature might be crucified, and dead."
2. In that he became execrable, which is accursed for us by the law. Gal 3.10, Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do all things written in the book of the Law.
This accursedness is either inward or outward.
Inward is the sense of God's fearful anger upon the cross. Rev 19.15, He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Isa 53.5, He is grieved for our transgressions, …the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we were healed. This appeared by those drops of blood which issued from him, by his cries to his Father upon the cross, and by sending Angels to comfort him. Hence it was, that he so much feared death, which many
Martyrs entertained most willingly.
His outward accursedness stands in three degrees.
I. Death upon the cross, which was not imaginary, but true — because blood and water issued from his heart. For seeing that water and blood gushed out together, it is very likely that the casket or coating which envelopes the heart, called the Pericardion, was pierced, as Columbus observes in his Anatomy, book
Joh 19.34. His death was necessary, that he might confirm to us the Testament, or Covenant of Grace, promised for our sakes. Heb 9.15-16, For this cause he is the Mediator of the new Testament, that through death, etc., those who were called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must be the death of the one who made the testament, etc., and verse 17.
II. Burial, to ratify the certainty of his death.
III. Descension into hell, by which we must not understand that he went locally into the place of the damned, but that for the time of his abode in the grave, he was under the ignominious dominion of death. Act
2.24, Whom God has raised up and loosed the sorrows
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of death, because it was impossible that he should be held by it. Eph 4.9, In that he ascended, what was it but that he also first descended into the lower part of the earth?
It was necessary that Christ should be captivated by death, that he might abolish the sting, that is, the power of it. 1Cor 15.55, O death, where is your sting! O hell, where is your victory!
Thus we have heard of Christ's marvelous passion, by which he has abolished both the first and second death, due to us for our sins, which (as we may further observe) is a perfect ransom for the sins of all and every one of the Elect. 1Tim 2.6, Who gave himself a ransom for all men. For it was more — that Christ the only begotten Son of God, indeed God himself, for a short while should bear the curse of the Law — than if the whole world should have suffered eternal punishment.
This also is worthy of our meditation: that a man is well-grounded in the doctrine of Christ's passion, when his heart ceases to sin, and he is pricked with the grief of those sins, as though with spears, he himself pierced the side of the immaculate Lamb of God. 1Joh 3.6,
Whoever sins, has neither seen him nor known him. Zec 12.10, And they shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and they shall lament for him, as one laments for his only son, and sorrow for him, as one sorrows for his firstborn.
His Fulfilling of the Law After Christ's passions, follows the fulfilling the Law, by which he satisfied God's justice in fulfilling the whole Law. Rom 8.3-4, God sent His own Son, that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us.
He fulfilled the Law, partly by the holiness of his human nature, and partly by obedience in the works of the Law. Rom 8.2, The Law of the Spirit of life, which is in Christ Jesus, has freed me from the Law of sin and of death.
Mat 3.15, It becomes us to fulfill all
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righteousness, etc. Joh 17.19, [I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified...] Intercession Now succeeds the second part of Christ's Priesthood, namely, Intercession, by which Christ is an Advocate and entreater of God the Father, for the faithful. Rom 8.34, Christ is at the right hand of God, and makes request for us. Christ's intercession is directed immediately to God the Father. 1Joh 2.1, If any man sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, even
Jesus Christ the just. Now, as the Father is first in the Trinity in order, so if he is appeased, the Son and the Holy Ghost are appeased also. For there is one and the same agreement and will of all the persons of the Trinity.
Christ makes intercession according to both natures.
First, according to his humanity – partly by appearing before his Father in heaven; partly by desiring the salvation of the Elect. Heb 9.24, Christ has entered into very heaven to appear now in the sight of God for us; and Heb 7.25, He is able to perfectly save those who come to God by him, seeing that he ever lives to make intercession for them.
Secondly, according to his Deity — partly by applying the merit of his death; partly by making request by his Holy Spirit in the hearts of the Elect, with unspeakable sighs. 1Pet 1.2, Elect according to the foreknowledge of the Father, to the sanctification of the Spirit. Rom 8.26, The Spirit helps our infirmities: for we do not know what to pray as we ought; but the Spirit itself makes request for us with sighs that cannot be expressed.
We are not therefore to imagine or surmise that Christ prostrates himself upon his knees before his
Father's throne for us. Neither is this necessary, seeing
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that his very presence before his Father has in it the force of a humble petition.
The end of Christ's intercession is that those who are justified by his merits, should by this means continue in the state of grace.
Now, Christ's intercession preserves the Elect in covering their continual slips, infirmities, and imperfect actions, by an especial and continual application of his merits. That, by this means, man's person may remain just, and man's works remain acceptable to God. 1Joh 2.2, He is a reconciliation [propitiation] for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. 1Pet 2 5,
You, as living stones, are made a spiritual house and holy Priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Rev 8.3-4, And another Angel came and stood before the altar, having a golden censer, and much incense was given to him that he should offer with the prayers of all Saints upon the golden altar which is before the throne; and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the Saints, went up before God out of the Angel's hand.
This far concerning Christ's Priesthood.
Now follow his Prophetic and Regal offices.
His Prophetic office is that by which he immediately from his Father, reveals his word and all the means of salvation comprised in it. Joh 1.18, The Son, who is in the bosom of his Father, He has declared to you. Joh
8.26, Those things which I hear from my Father, I speak to the world. Deu 18.15, I will raise them up a Prophet, etc.
The word was first revealed, partly by visions, dreams, and speech; partly by the instinct and moving of the Holy Ghost. Heb 1.1-2, At sundry times and in diverse manners, God spoke in olden times to our fathers the Prophets. In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. 2Pet 1.21, Prophecy did not come in olden times by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
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The same is ordinarily done only by the preaching of the word, where the Holy Ghost inwardly illuminates the understanding. Luk 24.45, Then He opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures. Luk 21.15, I will give you a mouth and wisdom against which all your adversaries shall not be able to speak or resist. For this cause, Christ is called the Doctor, Lawgiver, and Counsellor of his Church. Jas
4.12, There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Isa 9.6, He shall call his name Counsellor, etc.
Indeed, he is the Apostle of our profession, Heb 3.1; the Angel of the covenant, Mal 3.1; and the Mediator of the new covenant, Heb 9.15. Therefore, the sovereign authority of expounding the Scripture, belongs only to Christ. And the Church has only the ministry of judgment and interpretation committed to her.
Christ's Regal office is that by which he distributes his gifts, and disposes all things for the benefit of the Elect. Psa 2, and Psa 110.1-2, The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.
The execution of Christ's Regal office comprehends his exaltation.
Christ's exaltation is that by which, after his humiliation, he was little by little exalted to glory; and that was in sundry respects according to both his natures.
The exaltation of his divine nature is an apparent declaration of his divine properties in his human nature, without the least alteration of it. Rom 1.4,
Declared mightily to be the son of God, touching the spirit of sanctification, by the resurrection from the dead. Act 2.36, God has made him both Lord and Christ, whom you have crucified.
The exaltation of his humanity is the putting off from him his servile condition, and all infirmities, and the putting on of such habitual gifts which — though they
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are created and finite — have so great and marvelous a perfection, as can possibly be ascribed to any creature.
The gifts of his mind are wisdom, knowledge, joy, and other unspeakable virtues of his body, immortality, strength, agility, and brightness. Phi 3.21, Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like his glorious body. Mat 17.2, He was transfigured before them, and his face shone as the sun, and his clothes were as white as the light. Heb 1.9, God, even your
God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness, above your fellows. Also Eph 1.20, 22.
Christ's body, although it is thus glorified, yet it is still of a solid substance, compassed about, visible, palpable, and shall perpetually remain in some certain place. Luk 24.39, Behold my hands, and my feet, it is even I; touch me, and see: a spirit has no flesh and bones as you see me have.
There are three degrees of Christ's exaltation.
I. His Resurrection, in which by his divine power he subdued death and raised himself up to eternal life.
2Cor 13.4, Though he was crucified concerning his infirmity, yet he lives through the power of God. Mat
28.6, He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the Lord was laid.
The end of Christ's resurrection was to show that his satisfaction, by his passion and death, was fully absolute. For even a single sin would have detained the Mediator under the dominion of death, though he had fully satisfied all the rest. 1Cor 15.17, If Christ is not raised, your faith is in vain; you are yet in your sins.
Rom 4.25, Who was delivered to death for our sins, and is risen again for our justification.
II. His Ascension into heaven, which is a true, local, and visible translation of Christ's human nature from earth into the highest heaven of the blessed, by the virtue and power of his Deity. Act 1.9-11, When he had
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spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up. For a cloud took him up out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly towards heaven, as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, You men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into heaven? This Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall come as you have seen him go into heaven. Eph 4.10, He ascended far above all the heavens.
The end of Christ's ascension was that he might prepare a place for the faithful, given them the Holy
Ghost, and their eternal glory. Joh 14.2, In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. Joh 16.7,
If I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
III. His sitting at the right hand of God the Father, which metaphorically signifies that Christ in the highest heavens has actually all glory, power, and dominion. Heb 1.3, By himself he has purged our sins, and sits at the right hand of the Majesty in the highest places. Psa 110.1, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. 1Cor
15.25, He must reign till He has put all his enemies under his feet. Act 7.55, Being full of the Holy Ghost, he looked stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Also Mat
20.21.
Christ's Regal Office has two parts.
The first is His regiment [government] of the Kingdom of Heaven, part of which is in heaven, part upon the earth — namely, the congregation of the faithful.
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In the government of his Church, He exercises two royal prerogatives.
The first is to make laws. Jas 4.12, There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. The second is to ordain his ministers. Eph 4.11, He gave some to be Apostles, other Prophets, others Evangelists, some Pastors and teachers, etc., 1Cor
12.28, God has ordained some in the Church, such as first, Apostles, secondly Prophets, thirdly teachers, then those who do miracles; after that, the gifts of healing, helpers,
governors, diversity of tongues.
Christ's government of the Church is either His collection of it out of the world, or being collected, its conservation. Eph 4:12 [equipping the saints]; Psa 110.
The second part of His Regal Office is the destruction of the kingdom of darkness. Col 1.13, Who has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness. Psa 2.9,
You shall crush them with a scepter of iron, and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Luk 19.27, Those enemies of mine, who would not have me reign over them, bring them here and slay them before me.
The kingdom of darkness is the whole company of Christ's enemies.
The prince of this kingdom, and of all its members, is the Devil. Eph 2.2, You once walked according to the counsel of the world, and after the prince that rules in the air, even the prince that now works in the children of disobedience. 2Cor 4.4, The God of this world has blinded the eyes of the infidels. 2Cor 6.15, What concord does Christ have with Belial, or what part does the believer have with the infidel?
The members of this kingdom, and subjects to Satan, are his angels and unbelievers. Among them, the principal members are Atheists, who say in their heart there is no God (Psa 14.1); Magistrates who bargain with the devil to accomplish their desires (1Sam 28.7;
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Psa 58.5); Idolaters, who either adore false gods, or the true God in an idol (1Cor 10.7, 20) — Turks and Jews are of this bunch; so are Heretics, who are those who err with pertinacity in the foundation of religion (2Tim
2.18) — Apostates, or revolters from faith in Christ Jesus (Heb 6.6); False Christs, who bear men in hand,
that they are true Christs (Mat 24.26). There were many such about the time of our Saviour Christ's first coming, as Josephus witnesses (Jewish Antiquities, bk
20, chap. 11, 12, 14); lastly, that Antichrist who, as it is now apparent, can be none other than the Pope of Rome. 2Th 2.3-4, Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come unless there comes a departing first, and that the man of sin is disclosed, even the son of perdition, who is an adversary, and exalts himself against all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Rev 13.11-12, And I beheld another beast coming out of the earth, which had two horns, like the Lamb, but he spoke like the dragon. And he did all that the first beast could do before him; and he caused the earth and those who dwell in it, to worship the beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
There were at first Antichrists at Rome, when its Bishops would be entitled Universal or Supreme governors of the whole world; but then they were complete when, together with Ecclesiastical censure, they usurped civil authority.
After Christ has subdued all his enemies, these two things shall ensue:
I. The surrendering over of His kingdom to God the Father, as concerning its regiment. For at that time will cease both that civil regiment, and spiritual policy, consisting in word and spirit together.
II. The subjection of Christ, only in regard to his humanity which then exists, when the Son of God most
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fully manifests his majesty which previously was obscured by the flesh as a veil: so that the same flesh
—remaining both glorious and united to the Son of God — may by infinite degrees appear inferior.
We may not therefore imagine that the subjection of Christ consists in diminishing the glory of the humanity, but in more fully manifesting the majesty of the Word.