I lay down my life, that I may take it up again. None takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself.
The Seventeenth Lord's Day Joh 10.17-18.
I lay down my life, that I may take it up again. None takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority or power to take it up again. This commandment I received from my Father.
Seeing the Text is the same as it was before, the same analysis that was there, may also serve here, and be made use of.
Doctrine 5. Christ rose again from the dead.
For this is what is understood in the Text by taking up his life again.
For this taking up again is a reunion of things that were separated before. And in this reunion of the soul and body, there was a change or move from an inferior to a superior condition, which before was in a better condition also, or a condition that was superior to this condition from which the change is now made.
178 And therefore it is properly called a reassumption [of life], or taking again, and not barely a resurrection. The form then from which this change was made, was from his state of humiliation; and the form to which he changed, was the state of exaltation and glory. The subject of this transmutation or move was Christ's human nature, which had fallen to the lowest and most abject condition of his humiliation. Christ's own body arose again from true death, and from the grave. And his soul also is said to have risen [118] again, as it was now restored and reunited to the body, and so it was delivered from the state and dominion of death; or it was delivered from the privation of its activity in the body, in which there was some diminution of its relative perfection. There were two parts of this resurrection: revivification (or a quickening again of the human
nature by the renewed union of soul and body); and its going out of the grave to make it manifest that it was restored. This resurrection was confirmed moreover by Angels, by the Scriptures, by Christ himself, and by the assent and eye-witness, or experience of many witnesses, in various appearances reiterated from time to time during the space of forty days.
Reason 1. Because it was unbefitting and impossible that the Son of God, and author of life, could be long detained by the power of death,
Act 2.24.
Reason 2. That by this means Christ himself might be justified in the spirit, or according to the spirit of holiness, which is by the power of his Godhead, justified to be God as well as man in one person. He was justly and fully declared and proved to be God by his raising himself again from the dead, Rom 1.4; 1Tim 3.16.
180 And that by this means he might show that we were justified by him from our sins, for which he died, and also rose again to show that he had overcome them for us, and delivered us from them, Rom 4.25.
Reason 3. That being now alive, he might powerfully apply to us what he had purchased before by his death, Rom 5.10.
Reason 4. That by this he might be the cause, foundation, and sign of assurance, and earnest to us of our resurrection, spiritual as well as bodily, Rom 8.11; 1Cor 15.12-14.
[119] Use. Of Information: for the direction of our faith, that believing in Christ unto justification and salvation, we may so lay hold on Christ's death, that we still also look at his resurrection in which his victory for us was shown, and his power over death, and efficacy to work in us appeared, and which renders his death full of comfort for us, Rom
6.3-4; 1Pet 3.21.
Doctrine 6. Christ's resurrection came to pass by his own proper virtue and power.
It is clear in the Text, I take it up again; and I have power to take it up again. For this is the difference between Christ's resurrection and that of others: that they rise again by the power of another, namely
Christ, as many as are his. But Christ rose again by his own power as Lord of life and death. And therefore he has the disposition of both as he sees fit. Neither is it anything against this truth that it is often said that God raised him again from the dead; and the Spirit of God raised him.
185 For the works of the Trinity from outside are undivided, and common to all three Persons.
Reason 1. Because what is thus attributed to God is therefore also attributed to the Son together with the Father and Holy Spirit, and is not taken from him, as is made clear by our Text.
Reason 2. When Christ is said to be raised by God, or the Spirit of God, then properly his human nature is considered as raised by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, though all three are not always expressed; but now one is expressed, and now another. But when he is said to have raised himself, his divine nature and person is spoken of and considered, as raising his assumed human nature, together with the Father, and the Spirit.
[120] Reason 3. Because by the Spirit and glory of God whereby Christ is said to be raised, no other virtue or power can be understood than that of the divine nature which was in Christ.
Use 1. Of Information: to confirm our faith about the person of Christ. For he that arose from death by his own power cannot be a man only, but must of necessity be acknowledged to have been God also. For raising a dead body is no less divine a work than the creation of a live body. He that raised himself from the dead, at the same time he was dead in one of his two natures, still had life and the fountain of life in his other nature; namely, he had the divine nature at his command, by which he did so great a work as to raise his other nature to life again. Therefore, just as Christ by his death proved himself to be true man, so also, in and by his resurrection, he proved himself to be the eternal and natural Son of God, and especially true
God— not by office only. And that is most manifestly proved.
Use 2. Of Consolation: to all those who are in Christ. For they are in him who has virtue and power to raise them again from the dead, and to give them eternal life, Joh 6.39-40.
Doctrine 7. Christ's resurrection was for us, or it was to do us good.
This is hence gathered, because in the Text the common end for laying down his life and taking it up again for all, is mentioned.
Those for whom he laid down his life, are those for whom he also took it up again. Now the resurrection of Christ turns to our good in another way than his death does. For his death is accounted as satisfying and deserving for us. But it is not so with his resurrection.
Rather, it has the [121] place and account of a sampler and efficient cause, and in some way, of an efficacious and powerful applier and perfecter.
Reason 1. Because Christ in his resurrection represented in some way all the elect of God, and by a virtual containing, had them all in himself, and brought them all back from death.
Reason 2. Because the same Spirit that raised Christ again from the dead, by a certain way of communicating the same resurrection, quickened the souls as well as the bodies of the faithful, so that they may be conformed to the likeness of his resurrection, Rom 8.11.
Reason 3. Because that same Spirit quickens us by the power and virtue of the resurrection of Christ.
Reason 4. Because the whole reparation of our nature will be after the image and pattern of the resurrection of Christ, Rom 6.5.
Use 1. Of Consolation: because in the resurrection of Christ, as brought to pass for us, or for our good, we have our victory over Death, the Devil, Sin and Hell, and all our Enemies, already purchased and prepared for us. It is not therefore left to us to fight so that we may overcome, but only in sincerity that we may mind this: to lay hold on the victory already acquired by Christ for us, and that in the same manner we may strive to keep it, prosecute it, and more and more put ourselves in perfect possession of it by faith in Christ.
Use 2. Of Admonition: that we by no means allow sin to reign in our mortal bodies, but that we may spiritually imitate such as arise from the dead.