How doth Christ execute the office of a king?
An Explication of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism
by Thomas Boston
Table of Contents
What is the chief end of man?
What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him?
What do the Scriptures principally teach?
What is God?
Are there more Gods than one?
How many persons are there in the Godhead?
What are the decrees of God?
How doth God execute his decrees?
What is the work of creation?
How did God create man?
What are God's works of providence?
What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the estate wherein he was created?
Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?
What is sin?
What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?
Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression?
Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?
Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?
What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?
Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
Who is the Redeemer of God's elect?
How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?
How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?
How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?
How doth Christ execute the office of a king?
Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist?
Wherein consisteth Christ's exaltation?
How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?
How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
What is effectual calling?
What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?
What is justification?
What is adoption?
What is sanctification?
What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?
What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?
QUEST. What is the chief end of Man?
ANSW. Man's chief end is, to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.
EXPLICATION.
BY man's chief end is meant, the end which man was chiefly made for, and which he should chiefly seek to reach unto. It consists of two parts; his chief duty, and his chief happiness. Man's chief duty is to glorify God: 1 Cor. 10:31, "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Man glorifies God, by thinking, speaking, and living to his glory. And this is man's chief, and last or farthest end. Man's chief happiness is, to enjoy God as his God: Psalm 73:25, 26, 27, 28, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. For lo, they that are far from thee, shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a-whoring from thee. But it is good for me to draw near to God." And this is man's chief subordinate end. A sinner can never glorify God, until he first enjoy him as his God: Eph. 2:12, "At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the common-wealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." Gen. 17:1, "The Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect." Exod. 20:2, 3, "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Now, the sinner can attain to the enjoyment of God, only through Jesus Christ: John 14:6, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." And one may get a saving interest in Christ, by faith. Moreover, they who enjoy God as their God, are enabled to glorify him, by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them as members of Christ: Rom. 8:26, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." Wherefore, none that are out of Christ, reach the chief end of man: but they make themselves their chief end. Howbeit, believers do reach it: and they reach it, in so far as they shall, from the first moment of their believing, for ever enjoy and glorify God; imperfectly indeed here, but perfectly in heaven.
QUEST. 2. What rule hath God given to direct us, how we may glorify and enjoy him?
ANSW. The Word of God which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, is the only Rule to direct us, how we may glorify and enjoy him.
EXPLICATION.
The end for which the Scriptures are given, is, to be a rule to direct us how we may glorify God, and come to the enjoyment of him as our God. And they are the only rule to direct us in these matters. Withall they are a certain and infallible rule; and that because they are the word of God. It appears, that they are the word of God, by the holiness efficacy of their doctrine, and the miracles wrought to confirm it. And this, although for the most part they were written by men because all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, 2 Tim. 3:16. The word Scriptures signifies writings: but the church had not always the written word, till about Moses' time. Howbeit, they were supplied, while they wanted it, by extraordinary revelations: and it is the same doctrine that was then so revealed, which we have now in the Scripture. Nevertheless, the Scripture is altogether necessary for the church now; and that because extraordinary revelation of doctrine is ceased, and God hath bound us to the Scripture as the test or touchstone of doctrine: Isa. 8:20. "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Neither will God ever give us another rule: for the Scripture is a testamentary word of God. Now, a testament is the last will of a dying person. So the Scripture is Christ's testament, confirmed by his death; and as a testament, it declares the last will of God concerning man's salvation and duty. Christ's testament is twofold: namely, the Old Testament, and the New Testament. The books beginning with Genesis, and ending with Malachi, are Christ's Old Testament: those beginning with Matthew, and ending with the Revelation, are Christ's New Testament. These two testaments are one and the same for substance: for in both, Jesus Christ is the testator; eternal life is the legacy; sinners of mankind are the legatees; and faith in Jesus Christ is the way of claiming and obtaining the legacy: 1 John 5:11, 12, "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life: and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life." Prov. 8:4, "Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man." But they differ in circumstances; the new being more clear and full than the old one. Howbeit, neither the one nor the other can be savingly understood, without an inward illumination of the mind by the Spirit of Christ: 1 Cor. 2:14, "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."
QUEST. 3. What do the Scriptures principally teach?
ANSW. The Scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.
EXPLICATION.
Principally to teach, is chiefly to teach. The things that the Scriptures teach chiefly, are these two; Faith, and obedience: 2 Tim. 1:13. "Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." The faith which the Scriptures teach, is, "What man is to believe concerning God:" The obedience which the Scriptures teach, is, "What duty God requires of man." Nothing can be an article of faith, necessary to be done, but what is taught in the Scriptures. Howbeit, not only what is found in Scripture in express words, but also what ariseth therefrom, by necessary consequence, is to be reckoned taught therein: Matth. 22:32. "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."
ANSW. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, andu nchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness justice, goodness, and truth.
EXPLICATION.
No creature can fully comprehend what God is: Job 11:7. "Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?" But he has revealed so much of himself in the Scriptures, as is necessary for us to know. For his sort of being, he is a Spirit: and a Spirit is an immaterial substance, without flesh or bones. He hath not then a body nor any bodily parts: John 4:24. "God is a Spirit." Luke 24:39. "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." Then eyes, ears, and such like bodily parts, ascribed to him in Scripture, are not to be understood properly: But by them we are to understand an infinite perfection of those powers, which those members serve for in us. So the eyes of God signify his infinite power of discerning objects, as by the eye: His ears signify his infinite power of discerning voices, as by the ear. Moreover, God cannot be seen with bodily eyes; no not with the eyes of glorified bodies in heaven: hence he is said to be "invisible, and to dwell in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see," 1 Tim. 1:17. and 6:16. But God can be seen with the eyes of the mind, enlightened with the light of grace here, and the light of glory in heaven: Eph. 1:17, 18. "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints." Finally, there is nothing which God is like unto; Isa. 40:18. "To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?" So we may not form any imagination of him in our minds, as we can do of an absent man. Now, there are other spirits besides God: and these are angels and the souls of men. But the difference betwixt God and them, lies here, that God is an infinite, eternal, and unchangeable Spirit; and they are not so. The attributes of God, or perfections of the divine nature, are of two sorts; incommunicable, and communicable. His incommunicable attributes, whereof there is no vestige in the creature, are his infinity, eternity, and unchangeableness. God is infinite, in that he is whatsoever he is: without any bounds or measure: Job 11:7, "Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?" He is eternal, in that he is without beginning and without end: Psal. 90:2. "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world: even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God." He is unchangeable in that he is, and cannot but be always the same, without any alteration whatsoever: James 1:17. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." He is then said to repent, not in respect of the affection of repentance, but the effect of it: Num. 23:19. "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" in that, without any change of his own nature, mind, or will, he changeth his dispensations towards the creatures, and makes changes on them: Gen. 6:7, "And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air: for it repenteth me that I have made them." His communicable attributes, whereof there are some scantlings, or faint images in the creature, are his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. The difference between these perfections, as they are in God, and as they are in the creature, lies here, that they are all infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in God, but in the creature not so. The being of God is that perfection whereby he is, and is what he is: Exod. 3:14, "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." His wisdom is that whereby he knows himself, and all things else, with the way how to dispose of them to the best: Psal. 147:5, "Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite." His power is that whereby he can do all things not inconsistent with his nature: Jer. 32:17, "Ah, Lord God, behold thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee." His holiness is the perfect purity of his nature, whereby he delights in his own purity, and in the resemblance of it in the creature: Hab. 1:13. "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." His justice is the perfect rectitude of his nature, whereby he is just in himself, and in all his ways towards the creature: Deut. 32:4. "He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he." It is not consistent with his nature, to let sin pass unpunished: 2 Thess. 1:6, "It is a righteous thing with God, to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you." Compared with Gen. 18:25. "That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked; and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" His goodness is that whereby he is good in himself, and the author of all good to be found in or about the creature: Matth. 19:17, "There is none good but one, that is God." His goodness is consistent with his severity against the wicked, in that it is the property of goodness to hate and punish sin: Exod. 33:19, "And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy." Compared with chap. 34:7, "Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." And it is consistent with the afflictions laid on his own people, in that they flow from his goodness: Job 5:6, "Affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground." And they tend to their good: Psal. 119:71, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes." His truth is that whereby he is perfectly faithful, and free from all falsehood, Tit. 1:2, "In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began."
QUEST. 5. Are there more Gods than one?
ANSW. There is but one only, the living and true God.
EXPLICATION.
God is called the living God, to distinguish him from dead idols; and the true God, to distinguish him from all false gods. 1 Thess. 1:9, "Ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God." He is the living God, in that all life is in him, and from him, 1 Tim. 6:13, "God, who quickeneth all things." To be the true God, is to be God truly and really; and not in name only, or in the opinion of men. Now, there is but one true God: 1 Cor. 8:4, "We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one." And reason teaches, that there can be no more than one, in that there can be but one most perfect being. So the gods many, mentioned, 1 Cor. 8:5. are gods in name only, or in the opinion of their blinded worshippers.
QUEST. 6. How many persons are there in the Godhead?
ANSW. There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: And these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.
EXPLICATION.
By the Godhead is meant the divine nature. A person in the Godhead, is the Godhead distinguished by personal properties. The Godhead is one only in number: But the persons in the Godhead are three; and they are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: 1 John 5:7, "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." Jesus Christ is the second of these persons, namely, the Son. And the Father is true God: the Son is true God: and the Holy Ghost is true God. Yet they are not three Gods, but one God, 1 John 5:7, forecited. Howbeit, the Godhead neither is, nor can be divided into parts: but each of the three persons hath the one whole indivisible Godhead. They are not then of a like substance only, but the very same in substance. But they are distinguished by their personal properties. And it is the personal property of the Father, to beget the Son: Heb. 1:5, "For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? and again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?" And it is the personal property of the Son, to be begotten of the Father: John 1:14, "The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth." And it is the personal property of the Holy Ghost, to proceed from the Father and the Son: John 15:26, "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." Gal. 4:6, "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." The Son and the Holy Ghost are not below the Father, but equal with him: They are all equally powerful and glorious. So the personal properties make no inequality among them; forasmuch as these properties are not temporary and accidental, but eternal and necessary, and could not but be: and every one of the three persons, is the eternal, the supreme, the most high God. This appears, in that to the Son and the Holy Ghost, as well as to the Father, is ascribed the peculiar name of the true God, the Most High: Is. 6:3, "And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory." John 12:41, "These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him." Acts 28:25, 26, "And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet, unto our fathers, saying, &c." Psalm 83:18, "That men may know, that thou whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the Most High over all the earth." And his attributes are ascribed to them: Rev. 1:8, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." Psal. 139:7, "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" Likewise his works: John 1:3, "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." Matth. 12:28, "But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you." And also his worship: Heb. 1:8, "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom." Matth. 28:19, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
QUEST. 7. What are the decrees of God?
ANSW. The decrees of God are, his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.
EXPLICATION.
By the decrees of God is meant his purpose foreordaining what should come to pass. God hath foreordained in his decrees, whatsoever comes to pass: Eph. 1:11, "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." Even the most free acts of the creature, and the most casual things, are foreordained of God: Prov. 21:1, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will." Chap. 16:33, "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." Yea, evil actions, as well as good ones, fall within the compass of his decree: Acts. 2:23, "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." But with this difference, that he decreed his effecting of good, and his permitting of ill. Now, whatsoever God hath foreordained infallibly comes to pass. And his decrees are unchangeable: Isa. 46:10, "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." Yet men have no excuse for their sin, from the decree of God, Acts 2:23, above cited: for they sin out of free choice, without the least knowledge of, or force upon them from the decree: Acts 13:27, "For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath-day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him." The design and end of God's decrees is his own glory: Rom. 11:36, "For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever." And therefore he will certainly get glory of whatsoever comes to pass, Isa. 46:10, forecited. As to sinful actions, he will get either the glory of his mercy in pardoning them, or else the glory of his justice in punishing them. For the date of God's decrees, they are all eternal: and he makes no new decrees in time: Acts 15:18, "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." The way he decreed all things is according to the counsel of his own will, Eph. 1:11. His decrees are said to be according to his own counsel, as being all laid in the depth of wisdom, which among men is the result of counsel: Rom. 11:33, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" But taking counsel, even in himself, is not competent to God, in a proper sense; because his infinite understanding comprehends all things perfectly at once. They are said to be according to the counsel of his will, as depending on nothing without himself: Rom. 11:34, "For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor?"
QUEST. 8. How doth God execute his decrees?
ANSW. God executeth his decrees in the works of creation and providence.
EXPLICATION.
God's executing his decrees, means his bringing to pass what he hath decreed: and he does that in the works of creation and providence. And nothing falls out in either of them, but what was decreed; nor otherwise than as it was decreed: Eph. 1:11, "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." Zech. 6:1, "And I turned, and lift up mine eyes, and looked, and behold, their came four chariots out from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of brass."
QUEST. 9. What is the work of creation?
ANSW. The work of creation is, God's making all things of nothing, by the word of his power, in the space of six days, and all very good.
EXPLICATION.
The world was not eternal, but had a beginning, Gen. 1:1. It will also have an end; and it will end by fire, being burnt up, 2 Pet. 3:10; and that in virtue of the curse lying on it for man's sin: Gen. 3:17, "And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life." God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, made the world: 1 Cor. 8:6, "But to us there is but 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." John 1:3, "All things were made by him: and without him was not any thing made that was made." Psal. 33:6, "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made: and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." He made it in the beginning of time, but a few thousand years ago: Gen. 1:1. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." He then made all things: and there was no person, nor any thing before that, but God himself: Col. 1:16, "For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him." So he made them of nothing; and that by the word of his power, commanding them to be: Heb. 11:3, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God; so that things which are seen, were not made of things which do appear." Now, all things were made in the space of six days: Exod. 20:11, "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is." The works of the first day were, the highest heavens, Gen. 1:1. with the angels, the inhabitants thereof, Job 38:4, 7; the shapeless mass of earth and water, and the light. The works of the second day were, the firmament, and the dividing thereby the upper and lower waters. The works of the third day were, the seas, and the dry land, herbs, and trees. The works of the fourth day were, the sun, moon, and stars. The works of the fifth day were, fish, and fowl. The works of the sixth day were, first, the beasts of the earth; and then, last of all, man, male and female: Gen. 1:1. throughout. The goodness of God shines forth in this order of the creation, in that the places were prepared before the dwellers, the food before the eaters, and all necessary to the use of man before man himself. As for the case all things were made in, they were made all very good: Gen. 1:31, "And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good;" that is to say, very fit for the ends and uses for which they were made. Wherefore, the angels were all made holy and happy. And some of them did continue in that state, 1 Tim. 5:21, "I charge thee before the elect angels," &c.; but others of them sinned, and fell, and became devils, Jude 6, "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." 2 Pet. 2:4, "God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment."
QUEST. 10 How did God create man?
ANSW. God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.
EXPLICATION.
By male and female, is meant man and woman. The man was first made, and then the woman, 1 Tim. 2:13; and the woman was made to be a help to the man, Gen. 2:18. Adam and Eve were the first man and woman: and from them all mankind is descended: Acts 17:25, "God hath made of one blood, all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth." The parts whereof man consists, are a soul and a body. The body of the man was made of the dust of the ground: Gen. 2:7, "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Which consideration may be of use to us, to be a cure to our pride, a memorial of our death, and an emblem of our resurrection. The woman's body was made of a rib and flesh taken out of the man's side: Gen. 2:23, "And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man;" and that to the end they might be one flesh, ver. 24, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." The soul is of a spiritual and immortal nature: Eccl. 12:7, "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Their souls were made within them, of nothing: Gen. 2:7, above cited, Zech. 12:1. "The Lord, which formeth the spirit of man within him." But Moses gives no separate account of the making of their souls, as of the making of their bodies; because their souls were not of a different make, but only their bodies. Neither are the souls of men since that time generated by the parents, but created of God within their formed bodies in the womb; hence called the Father of Spirits, Heb. 12:9. Now, man was created in a holy and happy state; which appears, in that he was made so far like God, that he was after his very image, Gen. 1:26. And this was not peculiar to the man, but common to the man and the woman, ver. 27, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them." The image of God wherein man was so like him, consisted in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, and dominion over the creatures: Col. 3:10, "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him." Eph. 4:24, "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Gen. 1:26, "God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." The parts of the image of God impressed on his soul, were, knowledge on his mind, righteousness on his will, and holiness on his affections. His knowledge was a sufficient understanding of what was necessary to make him completely happy, Gen. 1:26; Col. 3:10. His righteousness was a perfect conformity of his will to the will of God: And his holiness was the perfect purity of all his affections. Eccl. 7:29, "God made man upright." That part of the image of God impressed on the whole man, was dominion over the creatures. The creatures he had dominion over, were the beasts of the earth, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea, Gen. 1:26. The dominion he had over them, was a right and power soberly to use them for God's glory and his own comfort. His charter for this right to the creatures, was the covenant of works, Gen. 2:16, 17, compared with chap. 1:28, "Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." And in these things man bore the image of God, as in him he faintly resembled God himself, who is infinitely knowing, righteous, and holy, and supreme Lord of the creatures. Now, Adam bore this image as a public person, to propagate it to his posterity: Eccl. 7:29, "God made man upright." But it was lost to himself and all mankind, by his fall, 1 Cor. 15:22, "In Adam all die;" and that even to the forfeiting of the dominion over the creatures; an evidence of which is, beasts proving unruly, and hurtful to man. The only way to recover the image of God, is to unite with Jesus Christ by faith: 1 Cor. 15:22, "In Christ shall all be made alive." For he is the image of the invisible God, and to him as a second Adam is the dominion over the creatures restored: Col. 1:15. "Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature. Psal. 8:6, 7, 8, "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field: the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." Compared with Heb. 2:7, 8, 9, "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet," &c. And he repairs this image in all that believe on him. The reparation of the lost image of God in their souls is begun in their sanctification in him, and perfected in their glorification: Col. 3:10, "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him." Heb. 12:23, "To the spirits of just men made perfect." The reparation of the lost dominion over the creatures, is begun in their getting a new right to them in their union with him, and perfected in their being put in full possession of the dominion at the last day: Rom. 4:13, "For the promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." Rev. 21:7, "He that overcometh, shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." Psalm 49:14, "Like sheep they are laid in the grave, death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning." Their charter for this new right to the creatures, is the covenant of grace, Rom. 4:13, forceited. But they that are out of Christ, have no covenant-right to the creatures, but only a providential right: And that is such a right, as a condemned man hath to his food, until his execution. The management that men now have over the beasts, is far short of the original dominion over them: Gen. 2:19, "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam, to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof." But such as it is, it is owing to a new grant made after the fall, for the necessities of human life; which new grant is found recorded, Gen. 9:2, "And the fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered."
QUEST. 11. What art God's works of providence?
ANSW. God's works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.
EXPLICATION.
There is a divine providence about the creatures. That appears from their entire dependence on God as their first cause, and from the exact accomplishment of Scripture prophecies: Acts 17:25, "God is not worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." Ver. 28, "For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain, also, of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring." Isa. 46:9, 10, "Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure."
The object which providence is employed about, is all the creatures, and all their actions, Psalm 103:19, "His kingdom ruleth over all." Even devils, and wicked men, are under the providence of God: Matth. 8:31, "So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine." And evil actions, as well as good, are within the verge of it: Gen. 45:7, "And God sent me before you, to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance." Yea, there is not any thing whatsoever, be it ever so small or casual, that falls out without the providence of God: Matth. 10:29, 30, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered."
The works of providence about the creatures, are the preserving of them, and the governing of them and their actions. Providence preserves the creatures, sustaining them in being, and providing for their support: Heb. 1:3, "Upholding all things by the word of his power." Psalm 145:15, 16, "The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing." No creature whatsoever could keep itself in being one moment; but upon God's withdrawing the upholding hand of his providence, it would immediately return to nothing: Heb. 1:3. Providence governs the creatures and their actions, disposing of them according to the divine purpose: Prov. 21:1, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water; he turneth it whithersoever he will." Eph. 1:11, "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." Providence governs sinful actions, permitting them, bounding them, and overruling them to good: Acts 14:16, "Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways." Psalm 76:10, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." Gen. 1:20, "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive."
The properties of the works of providence are these: They are most holy, wise, and powerful: Psal. 145:17, "The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." Psal. 104:24, "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all." Dan. 4:35, "He doth according to his own will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What dost thou?" Wherefore, God is not the author of sin; no more than he who rides a crooked horse, is the cause of his halting: James 1:13, "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." All dispensations of providence are wisely ordered: Deut. 32:4, "He is the rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth, and without iniquity; just and right is he." And providence cannot miss of its designs and ends: Is. 46:10, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure."
The rule of the works of providence, is the decree of God; whereof they, and the works of creation, are an exact accomplishment, Eph. 1:11, "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."
QUEST. 12. What special act of providence did God exercise towards man in the estate wherein he was created?
ANSW. When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, upon the pain of death.
EXPLICATION.
The special act of providence towards man newly created, was, God's making a covenant of life and happiness with him. There are two covenants for life and happiness to man: and they are, the covenant of works, and the covenant of grace: Gal. 4:24, "For these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar."
The first covenant was the covenant of works. It was made in paradise, and before the fall. The parties contracting in it, were God and Adam: Gen. 2:17, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." But Adam represented all mankind, as the parties contracted for: Gen. 2:17, forecited. Compared with Rom. 5:12, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." There was no mediator of this covenant; for as yet there was no breach, by sin, betwixt God and man.
The condition of the covenant of works, was perfect obedience: Gal. 3:12, "And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doth them, shall live in them." And it was to be perfect, in respect of parts, degrees, and continuance: Gal. 3:10, "For as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." Matth. 22:37, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." So the least failing in any part or degree of obedience, or for never so small a time, would have broken this covenant. The law that was the rule of this obedience, was the law of the ten commands, and the law forbidding to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil: Gal. 3:10, and Gen. 2:17, forecited. That tree grew in paradise, Gen. 2:9. There was no virtue in it to improve men in knowledge, as the devil falsely suggested, Gen. 3:5, "For God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened: and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Compared with John 8:44, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh "of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." But that name was put upon this tree, to intimate, that by eating of it, man would know to his sad experience, the vast difference between good and ill: wherefore that tree with that name, was of use, to be a warning-piece to man to beware of evil. Now, Adam knew the law of the ten commands, as they were impressed on his heart in his creation: Rom. 2:15, "Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing, or else excusing one another." He knew the law of the forbidden tree by revelation, Gen. 2:17, forecited. And he had sufficient ability for the perfect obedience required, Eccl. 7:29, "God made man upright."
The promise of the covenant of works, was a promise of life: Gen. 2:17, forecited. The life promised was twofold; namely, one to be afforded him, during the course of his probationary obedience, another to be afforded him at the perfecting of it. The life to have been afforded to man during the course of his probationary obedience, was natural life continued in vigour and comfort, and spiritual life continued in favour and fellowship with God, Gen. 2:17, forecited. This was the reward of obedience in hand. The life to have been afforded him at the perfecting of his course, was eternal life in consummate happiness: Matth. 19:16, 17, "And behold, one came and said unto him, Good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." And this was the reward of obedience in hope. Adam, if he had continued obedient, could have claimed that life upon his obedience; yet not in the way of proper merit; because his perfect obedience was no more than what was due from him by the law of his creation, before he entered into that covenant: Luke 17:9, 10, "Doth he thank that servant, because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." The only way he could have claimed it, was by compact, namely, in virtue of the covenant-promise made to this work.
The penalty of the covenant of works was death, Gen. 2:17, forecited. The death threatened was also twofold; namely, one accompanying sin at its first entrance, another following after as its full reward. The death accompanying sin at its first entrance, was temporal death, in the loss of the vigour and comfort of natural life; and spiritual death, in the loss of the image of God with his favour and fellowship. And Adam died this death, according to the threatening, that very day he sinned: Gen. 3:7, 8, 9, 10, "And the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked: and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God, amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden: and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." The death following after, as the full reward of sin, was the natural death of the body with the sting in it, and eternal death in the consummate misery of soul and body for ever: 1 Cor. 15:55, "O death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Matth. 25:41, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." And this was comprehended in the express threatening of death to accompany sin; inasmuch as the one was a sure pledge of the other, natively issuing therein.
QUEST. 13. Did our first parents continue in the state wherein they were created?
Answ. Our first parents being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God.
EXPLICATION.
Our first parents were Adam and Eve. The state wherein they were created, was a holy and happy state: but they fell from it; and that by their sinning against God: Gen. 3:6, 7, 8, 10, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise; she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat," &c. The first that sinned was the woman: 1 Tim. 2:14, "And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression." And it was the devil that ensnared her: Gen. 3:12.—"And the woman said, the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." The woman having sinned, insnared Adam, ver. 6, forecited. But their being tempted to sin, did not excuse them; because it was of their own free will that they sinned. Freedom of will is a power in the will, whereby it doth of its own accord, without it, choose or refuse what is proposed to it by the understanding. And man hath this freedom of will in whatever state he be. But this power of the will is not of the same extent in all states. In the state of innocence, it extended both to good and evil; that is to say, man had a freedom of will, whereby he could wholly turn, either to the one side or the other, to good or evil, proposed by his understanding: And that man was created thus mutable, was sutable to the state of trial. Now, the special act of providence about the fall of our first parents, was that God left them to the freedom of their own will, and the use they made of that, was, that they went freely, of their own accord, to the side of sin. But in the state of corrupt nature, the power of the will extends only to evil: Gen. 4:5, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." In the state of grace, it extends partly to good, and partly to evil: Rom. 7:23. "But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members." And in the state of glory it extends only to good: Heb. 12:23. "To the spirits of just men made perfect."
ANSW. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.
EXPLICATION.
By Sin is meant transgression of the law of God; and therefore nothing can be sin but what one way or other is a transgression of some law of God: 1 John 3:4. "Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." Transgression of the law of God, is any want of conformity to it whatsoever, 1 John 3:4, forecited. So the least coming short of the perfection required by the law, is sin; because so far there is a want of conformity to the law: Matth. 5:48, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father which is in heaven is perfect." Compared with 1 John 3:4, above cited. Now the law of God requires a twofold conformity to it in the reasonable creatures; namely a conformity of their natures to it, and a conformity of their lives to it: Psalm 24:3, 4. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." Hence there are two general kinds of sin; namely original sin, and actual sin: and each of them is a want of conformity to the law of God. Original sin is a want of conformity of our natures to the law of God. Actual sin is a want of conformity of our lives to the law of God, whether by omission or commission. The chief evil of sin lies in the filthiness of it. The filthiness of sin is its being the quite contrary of God's holiness expressed in his law; whence it is, in the sight of God, the object of his greatest loathing and abhorrence: Jer. 44:4. "Howbeit, I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early, and sending them, saying, Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate!"
QUEST. 15. What was the Sin whereby our first Parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?
ANSW. The sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden fruit.
EXPLICATION.
The sin whereby man fell, was the eating the forbidden fruit: Gen. 2:6, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise; she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." There was no evil in the fruit itself, for which it was forbidden: Gen. 1 ult. "And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good." The evil of the matter lay in man's eating it against the express command of God. God forbade it to be eaten, for the trial of man's obedience. And the fitness of taking trial of man by that mean, appears in that so it was taken in an external thing, in itself indifferent, wherein man's obedience behoved to turn precisely upon the point of the will of God. This sin was then in effect, man's practical declaration that he would not be ruled by God's will, but by his own: and therefore it was not a little sin, but a breaking of the whole law at once: Jam. 2:10, 11, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, do not commit adultery; said also, do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law."
QUEST. 16. Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression?
ANSW. The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression.
EXPLICATION.
Adam did not fall alone in this transgression: but all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, were involved with him in the ruins of his fall: and these are all his posterity, except the man Christ: 1 Cor. 15:22, "In Adam all die."
Christ as man did indeed descend from Adam: Luke 3:23, "And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph." Compared with verse last, "Which was the son of Adam." But he did not descend from him by ordinary, but extraordinary generation. That which was extraordinary in Christ's generation, was, that he was born of a virgin; Matth. 1:18, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost."
All the rest of Adam's posterity fell with him: they fell with him, from the state of holiness and happiness; both which they had in hand, and which they had in hope from the promise of the covenant of works: and they so fell, by his first transgression, Rom. 5:18, 19, "By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. By one man's disobedience many were made sinners." His first transgression was his eating of the forbidden fruit. His eating of that fruit, is called his first transgression: because by it his sin and apostacy begun in his heart, was completed, Gen. 3:6, forecited. Now, that transgression cast him and them down from these states of holiness and happiness, inasmach as by it the covenant of works was broken: Gen. 2:17. Compared with chap. 3:10, 11, 12, forecited. The reason why they fell with him by that transgression, was, that in it they sinned in him: So that sin, whereby the covenant was broken, was our sin as well as his, Rom. 5:12, 19, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. For by one man's disobedience many were made sinners."
It came to be our sin, because he was our covenant head and representative in the covenant of works; and that is to say, "The covenant was made with him, not only for himself, but for his posterity: 1 Cor. 15. "And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul." The man Christ is not included in that representation which Adam made as head of the covenant of works, 1 Cor. 15:22, 45, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." ver. 45, "The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit;" and that because Christ came, not in virtue of the blessing of fruitfulness given while the covenant of works stood entire, but in virtue of a special promise made after it was broken: Gen. 1:28, "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." And chap. 3:15, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Adam's sin, then, could not be imputed to the man Christ; since Adam did not represent him in the covenant. But Adam represented all the rest of mankind in it: Rom. 5:12, forecited. It is true, we did not choose him for our representative, but God choose him for us: and he was the most fit choice for that end; Eccl. 3:14, "I know that whatsoever God doth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doth it, that men should fear before him." And this he was, in regard he was the natural head of mankind, endowed with sufficient ability: Acts 17:26, "God hath made of one blood, all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth," &c. Eccl. 7:29, "God hath made man upright."
Now, man did not become free from the covenant of works, upon his breaking of it: For his breaking of it could never free him; and the honour of the law barred his discharge, till the breach of it should be made up, Isa. 42:21, "The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law and make it honourable." Matt. 5:18, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no ways pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." And man himself was utterly unable to make up the breach: Rom 5:6, "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." All men then by nature are under the broken covenant of works: Rom. 3:19, "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God.
QUEST. 17. Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?
ANSW. The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery.
EXPLICATION.
The natural state of mankind now, under the covenant of works, is a "state of sin and misery:" And we were brought into it by the fall: Rom. 5:12, "By one sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all had sinned." We were all born or conceived in that state: Psal. 51:5, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity: and in sin did my mother conceive me." Eph. 2:3, "We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." There is no true holiness attainable in that our natural state; for it is a state of sin. There is no salvation from wrath attainable in it; for it is a state of misery. The state we must be brought into, out of our natural state under the covenant of works, if we would be saved, is the state of grace in the covenant of grace: Rom. 6:14, "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Those that are brought out of their natural state, from under the covenant of works, into the state of grace, are all that are in Christ, converted persons: Rom. 8:1, "There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Those that are still in their natural state, under the covenant of works, are all that are out of Christ, unconverted: Eph. 2:12, "At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." The power that the covenant of works hath over such persons, is a commanding, cursing, and condemning power. It commands them perfect obedience under pain of the curse: It curseth and condemneth them for the very least failure: Gal. 3:10, "For as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them, Rom. 3:19, forecited.
QUEST. 18. Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?
ANSW. The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin, together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.
EXPLICATION.
The state whereinto man fell, is our natural state: and that is both a sinful, and a miserable state. Our natural state is a sinful state, in respect of original sin, and in respect of actual transgressions.
Original sin, in its full extent, is the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of the whole nature. All and every one of Adam's natural race, are born or conceived in it: Rom. 5:12, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that ail have sinned." Psalm 51:5, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." It is derived to us from Adam the original of mankind, Rom. 5:12, forecited. And it is conveyed to us by natural generation: Job 14:4, "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one." Psalm 51:5, forecited. Even holy parents convey it to their children; because they procreate their children after their own natural image: Gen. 5:3, "And Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth." Now, our natural state is a sinful state, in respect of original sin; inasmuch as original sin, being a fountain of sin, remains entire, in its guilt, filth, and power on every man, as long as he is in that state. Original sin, consists of three parts.
The first part of original sin, is the guilt of Adam's first sin. Adam's first sin was the eating of the forbidden fruit, whereby the covenant of works was broken. The guilt of that sin is an obligation to punishment for it. And that guilt lies on all men by nature: Rom. 5:18, "By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation." Now, this guilt of Adam's first sin, is original sin imputed. The only remedy for it is in Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. 15:22, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive:" and that from his blood, which removes it in justification, Eph. 1:7, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." Rom. 3:24, "Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ."
The second part of original sin, is the want of original righteousness. Original righteousness is that righteousness wherein man was created in the image of God. And all men by nature are under the want of that: Rom. 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Eph. 4:18, "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." In the want of original righteousness, is included the want of that knowledge in the understanding, the want of that righteousness in the will, and the want of that holiness in the affections, wherewith man was endued at his creation: and all men by nature are under these wants: Job 11:12, "For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt." Eccles. 7:29, "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions." Rom. 7:18, "For I know, that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not." Now, the want of original righteousness is a sin; forasmuch as it is a want of conformity to the law of God: Matth. 5 ult., "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Compared with 1 John 3:4, "Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." It can be our sin, who never had that righteousness in our own persons, because we had it, and lost it in Adam, sinning in him: and we are justly left under the want of it, for our guilt of Adam's first sin: Eccles. 7:29, forecited. Rom. 5:12, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
The third part of original sin is the corruption of the whole nature: and this is what is commonly called original sin, as being the worst part of it. The corruption of nature is that vicious quality in-bred in us, whereby our nature is utterly disabled for, and opposite to all spiritual good, and prone to the contrary evils continually: Rom. 5:6, "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Chap. 8:7, "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Gen. 6:5, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." And one may know his own nature to be corrupt, by the backwardness to good, and forwardness to evil he may find in himself. Now, man's nature, in his natural state, is not corrupted in part only, but wholly corrupted in every part: Eph. 2:1, 2, 3, "And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Tit. 1:15, "Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled, and unbelieving, is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled." For the case the understanding is in, it is utterly darkened, in point of spiritual discerning: 1 Cor. 2:14, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." The will, it is quite opposite to the will of God: Rom. 8:7, forecited. The affections, they are wholly carnal: Rom. 7:14, "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." Chap. 8:5. "They that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh." The body and its members, they are instruments of unrighteousness, and servants to iniquity: Rom. 6:12, 19, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. I speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness, unto holiness."
The want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, are original sin inherent, which the Scripture expresseth both in negative and positive terms: Eph. 4:18, "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." Rom. 8:7, "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." The only remedy for original sin inherent, is in Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. 15:22, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive; and that from his Spirit; who begins the removal of it in regeneration, or quickening of the dead soul, carries it on in sanctification, and perfects it in glorification: John 6:63, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." 1 Cor. 6:11, "Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Rom. 8:23, "And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."
Actual transgressions are breaches of God's law by omission or commission, in thoughts, words, or deeds. The fountain which they all proceed from in us, is the corruption of our nature: Matth. 15:19, "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." Our natural state is a sinful state, in respect of actual transgressions, inasmuch as all the actions of a natural man are actual transgressions, and the guilt and filth of them all, and of all his omissions of duty, abide fast on him as long as he is in that state: Gen. 6:5, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Eph. 2:1, "And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." A man in his natural state cannot do any thing truly good; because his nature is wholly corrupt: Matth. 7:18, "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit: neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." His natural actions, such as eating and drinking, are sin: Zech. 7:6, "And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did ye not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?" His civil actions, such as plowing and sowing, are sin: Prov. 21:4, "The plowing of the wicked is sin." And his religious actions are sin, Prov. 15:8, "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord."
QUEST. 19. What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?
ANSW. All mankind, by their fall, lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever.
EXPLICATION.
Our natural state is a miserable state too. And all mankind is in that miserable state by nature. That comes to pass, by their fall in Adam: Rom. 5:12, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Our natural state is a miserable state, in respect of what loss man sustains, what he lies under, and what he is liable to, in it.
The loss which man sustains in his natural state, is the loss of communion with God. Communion with God is a friendly intercourse between God and a soul, arising from a peculiar interest in one another: Cant. 2:16, "My beloved is mine, and I am his." man had such communion with God before the fall; and that without a Mediator: Gal. 3:20, "Now a mediator is not a mediator of one; but God is one." But he lost it, by the fall: Gen. 3:8, "And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God, amongst the trees of the garden." And none attain to this communion again, as long as they are in their natural state, whatever duties of worship they go about: Eph. 2:12, "At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." It is recovered only in the way of union with Jesus Christ, ver. 13, "But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ."
What man lies under in his natural state, is God's wrath and curse. The wrath of God he lies under, is revenging wrath; and all men in their natural state are under that wrath: Eph. 2:3, "We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." John 3 ult., "He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." The curse he lies under, is the sentence of the broken law, binding over the sinner to revenging wrath, to the full: and all men in their natural state are under it, Gal. 3:10, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them."
What man is liable to in his natural state, is, all miseries in this life, death itself, and the pains of hell for ever, in virtue of the curse. The miseries in this life the natural man is liable to, are all inward and outward miseries of life, laid on in virtue of the curse: Lam. 3:39, "Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?" The inward miseries of life he is so made liable to, are spiritual plagues, such as blindness of mind, hardness of heart, vileness of affections, horror of conscience, and the like: Eph. 4:18, "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." Rom. 2:5, "But, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." Chap. 1:26, "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections." Isa. 33:14, "The sinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites: who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" The outward miseries of life he is so made liable to, are such as befall the outward man, as sickness, poverty, disgrace, and the like: Deut. 28:15, to the end, "But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments, and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field," &c. The death the natural man is liable to, is the dissolution of the soul and the body in virtue of the curse: Rom. 6:23, "The wages of sin is death." That kind of death is stinged death: 1 Cor. 15:5, "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." It is true, believers in Christ also are liable to miseries in this life, and to death itself; but they are not so made liable to them, not by the curse, not with the sting in them: 1 Cor. 15:55, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Howbeit, if man had not sinned, he would never have died: Gen. 2:17, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." The miseries in this life, and death itself, are, to believers in Christ, marks of God's displeasure with the sin in them, while yet he loves their persons in Christ: Psal. 99:8, "Thou answeredst them, O Lord our God: thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions." Gen. 3:15, 17, 18, 19, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee: and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thon art, and unto dust shalt thou return."
The pains of hell, that natural men are liable to, are, the pain of loss, and the pain of sense. The pain of loss in hell, is total and final separation from God: Matth. 25:41, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." That separation from God, is not a local separation from him, as if God should not be in the place where they shall be: Psalm 139:8, "If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there." But it is a relative separation, in an eternal blocking up of all comfortable communication between God and them: and the effect of that will be, a total eclipse of all light of comfort, and ease whatsoever, of body and mind, in the damned: Matth. 22:13, "Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Hos. 9:12, "We to them when I depart from them." The pain of sense in hell, is unspeakable torment, both in soul and body, without intermission: Matth. 25:41, above cited. Mark 9:43, 44, "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands, to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." And these pains of hell will never have an end with them: Matth. 25:41, "Depart—into everlasting fire."
QUEST. 20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
ANSW. God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.
EXPLICATION.
The state of sin and misery, is a state wherein all must perish, who are left of God in it, Eph. 2:12, "At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world;" because it is beyond the reach of all created help, Isa. 63:5, "And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me, and my fury, it upheld me." But God doth not leave all mankind to perish in it. Those whom he doth not leave to perish in it, are the elect: Rom. 8:30, "Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified."
The elect are some certain persons of mankind, whom God hath chosen to everlasting life, passing by others: Acts 13:48, "And as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." Jude, verse 4, "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." This election or choice was made from eternity: Eph. 1:4, "According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love." And it infallibly secures their eternal salvation, with all the means leading thereto: Rom. 8:30, forecited. Nothing foreseen in the creature, neither faith nor good works, was the cause of election; but only God's mere good pleasure was the cause of it: Eph. 1:6, "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."
Now, the way that God provided the relief, was, that he entered into a second covenant, the covenant of grace. The design of the covenant of grace, was, "to deliver the elect out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer."
The covenant of grace, then, was made with Jesus Christ, as the second Adam, party-contractor: Psalm 89:3, "I have made a covenant with my chosen." Compared with 1 Cor. 15:45, "The last Adam was made a quickening spirit." Gal. 3:16, "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." Rom. 5:15, to the end. And Christ in this covenant represented all the elect, as his spiritual seed, the parties contracted for: Gal. 3:16, forecited. Isa. 53:10, 11, "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities." Then the covenant of redemption, and the covenant of grace, are not two distinct covenants, but two names of one covenant, under different considerations. That appears, in that the number of the covenants in Scripture is but two, whereof the covenant of works is one: Gal. 4:24, "For these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar." By a covenant of redemption is meant a bargain of buying and selling; and the second covenant was such a covenant to Christ only: 1 Pet. 1:18, 19, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot." By a covenant of grace is meant a bargain, whereby all is to be had freely; and it is such a covenant to poor sinners only: Is. 55:1, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price." The covenant of grace was made from eternity; Tit. 1:2, "In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began." Yet is it the second covenant, in respect of order and manifestation to the world, though it was first in being.
The condition of the covenant of grace is Christ's fulfilling all righteousness: Matth. 3:15, "And Jesus said, thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." That righteousness was stated from the broken covenant of works: Rom. 3:31, "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." The righteousness that the broken covenant of works insists on as the necessary condition of eternal life to a sinner, is perfect holiness of nature, righteousness of life, and satisfaction for sin: Rev. 21 ult. "And there shall in no wise enter into any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." Matth. 19:17, "And Jesus said unto the young man, if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Heb. 9:22, "Without shedding of blood is no remission." It justly so insists for holiness of nature, because that was given to man at first, and by the condition of the covenant he was obliged to keep it: Eccl. 7:29, "God hath made man upright." It justly so insists for righteousness of life, for that was the express condition of it: Gal. 3:12, "and the law is not of faith: but, the man that doth them, shall live in them." And it justly so insists for satisfaction, in virtue of the penalty incurred by the breaking of it: Gen. 2:17, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." But neither Adam, nor any of his fallen offspring, was able to perform that condition of life: Rom. 5:6, "We were without strength." Therefore, there is no salvation by the covenant of works: Rom. 3:20, "Therefore by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Chap. 8:3, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh," &c. But Jesus Christ did accept of that condition, as the condition of the covenant of grace: Psalm 40:7, "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me." And it was made the condition of the covenant of grace, that his spiritual seed might be saved, and the covenant of works fully satisfied for them: Rom. 8:3, 4, "God sent his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." And Jesus Christ did fully perform it, in that, as a public person, he was born perfectly holy, lived perfectly holy, and made complete satisfaction by his death: Luke 1:35, "And the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing that shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God." 1 Cor. 15:45, "The last Adam was made a quickening spirit," Phil. 2:8, "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
The promise of the covenant of grace, is a promise of a glorious reward to Christ himself, and eternal life to his spiritual seed: Isa. 49:4–9, "Then I said, Surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God," &c. Tit. 1:2, "In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began." The eternal life promised in the covenant of grace, included in it all things necessary to make a sinner happy, in soul and body, for time and eternity: Rom. 10:5, "For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doth those things, shall live by them." Compared with Hab. 2:4, "The just shall live by his faith." Even the promise of eternal life to Christ's spiritual seed, was made to Christ himself immediately, and to them mediately in him: Tit. 1:2, forceited. Heb. 8:10, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts. and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." 2 Tim. 1:9, "God hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began." Gal. 3:16, "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ."
It is necessary to the salvation of a sinner, that he personally enter into the covenant of grace: Eph. 2:12, "At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." Accordingly, the administration of the covenant is committed unto Jesus Christ the Head of it: Isa. 49:8, "Thus saith the Lord, I will give thee for a covenant of the people." And all the benefits of the covenant are lodged in his hand: Col. 1:19, "For it pleaseth the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell." And he is impowered to administer the covenant to sinners of mankind indefinitely: John 3:17, "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." Prov. 8:4, "Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man." Isa. 55:1, 2, 3, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." That Christ is impowered to administer the covenant to sinners of mankind indefinitely, can very well be, though he represented the elect only in it; for the Father is so well pleased with the performance of the condition thereof, that Christ crucified is made the ordinance of God for salvation, to sinners of mankind indefinitely, according to the promise of the covenant to him, he being in himself sufficient thereto: John 3:14, 15, 16, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." Matth. 22:4, "Again he sent forth other servants, saying, tell them which are bidden, behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and and all things are ready: come unto the marriage." 1 John 4:14, "And we have seen and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." Compared with Isa. 49:6, "I will give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation unto the end of the earth." Ver. 8, "I will give thee for a covenant of the people." Accordingly, Christ actually offers the covenant of grace to sinners of mankind indefinitely, and that in the gospel: Mark 16:15, 16, "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned." And a sinner is personally and savingly instated in the covenant of grace, by faith in Jesus Christ: Acts 16:31, "And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." The nature then of personal covenanting, in order to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, lies in taking hold of God's covenant of grace, by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ: Isa. 56:4, "Thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that—take hold of my covenant," &c. Chap. 55:3, forecited. John 10:9, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." Eph. 3:17, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." And believing in Christ enters us into the covenant of grace, to partake of all the benefits thereof, as it unites us to Christ the second Adam, the Head of the covenant: Eph. 3:17, forecited. Rom. 11:17, "And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou being a wild olive-tree, were graffed in amongst them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree."
One cannot, in respect of the state of his soul before God, be under the covenant of works and the covenant of grace, at one and the same time: Rom. 6:14, "Ye are not under the law, but under grace." Therefore, believers, that moment they enter into the covenant of grace, are fully set free from the covenant of works: Rom. 6:14, "Sin shall not have dominion over you." Chap. 7:4, "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." And they are lawfully set free from it, forasmuch as faith gives it full count and reckoning, pleading and counting up to it, that righteousness which Christ fulfilled: Rom. 3:31, "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Chap. 8:3, 4, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
The effects of personal entering into the covenant of grace, are, deliverance out of the state of sin and misery, and being brought into a state of salvation. The bands of our sin and misery are loosed in the covenant of grace, through our being set free from the covenant of works: Rom. 7:5, 6, "For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." 1 Cor. 15:56, 57, "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." And we are settled in a state of salvation in the covenant of grace, through our being married to Christ: Rom. 7:4, forecited. Col. 2:9, 10, "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him."
Now, God thus brings his elect out of the estate of sin and misery, into a state of salvation by a Redeemer. A Redeemer, in Scripture sense, is one who delivers another by price or by power: Lev. 25:51, "If there be yet many years behind; according unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption, out of the money that he was bought for." Exod. 6:6, "Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage: and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments." And such a Redeemer was necessary for the elect as should redeem them, both by price and power. It was necessary that they should be redeemed by price, because they were debtors to justice, and criminals in law: Heb. 9:22, "Without shedding of blood is no remission." It was necessary that they should be redeemed by power, because they were in bondage to sin and Satan: Luke 1:74, "That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear." And such a Redeemer was provided for the elect, in the covenant of grace: Psal. 89:19, "Then thou spakest in vision to thy Holy One, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty: I have exalted one chosen out of the people.
QUEST. 21. Who is the Redeemer of God's elect?
ANSW. The only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continueth to be God and man, in two distinct natures, and one person for ever.
EXPLICATION.
The Redeemer of the elect is the head of the covenant of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ and there is no other Redeemer besides him, he is the only Redeemer: Acts 4:12, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." The first part of his name, to wit the Lord, signifies Jehovah, the true God, the Most High: Isa. 47:4, "As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel." Chap. 48:17, "Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel," &c. 1 Cor. 13:3, "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." But the titles our Lord, one Lord, and the like, denote his dominion: Acts 10:36, "Jesus Christ is Lord of all." The second part of his name, viz Jesus, signifies a Saviour: and he is so called, because he saves his people from their sins, and consequently from wrath: Matth. 1:21, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins." 1 Thess. 1:10.—"Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come." The third and last part of his name, to wit, Christ, signifies anointed: and he is so called, because he was anointed by the Father, with the Holy Ghost: Acts 10:31, "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost, and with power;" that is to say, the Father solemnly designed him, and withal furnished him, for his office, by the Holy Ghost remaining on and in him: John. 1:33, "He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." Chap. 3:34, "For he whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him." The true interpretation then of the name of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, is Jehovah, the Saviour, the anointed One. He was the fit person to meditate between God and man, because of his common relation to both, peculiar to himself. His relation to God, was, that he was the eternal Son of God; and that by eternal generation of Jehovah the Father: Heb. 1:5, "For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?" His relation to us, was, that he was our near kinsman: Heb. 2:11, "For both he that sanctifyeth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one: for which he is not ashamed to call them brethren." He is then our kinsman-redeemer, who redeems by right of kin: Job 19:25, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." Compared with Ruth 3:12, "And now it is true, that I am thy near kinsman: howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I." Now the eternal Son of God came to be our kinsman, inasmuch as he became man: Gal. 4:4, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a woman." By his becoming man, he was both God and man: Matth. 1:23, "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted, is, God with us." And he will continue to be God and man for ever: Heb. 7:24, 25, "But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."
Our Redeemer then hath two natures; namely, the nature of God, and the nature of man: Rom. 9:5, "Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever." He was God from all eternity; but not man, till he came in the flesh, about the four thousandth year after the creation of the world: Mic. 5:2, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel: whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." Matth. 1:17, "So all the generations from Abraham to David, are fourteen generations: and from David, until the carrying away into Babylon, are fourteen generations: and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ, are fourteen generations." The divine and human natures were in no ways turned into one nature, in Christ becoming man; but they remain for ever two distinct natures, having each of them their own distinct properties: 1 Pet. 3:18, "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, (that he might bring us to God), being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." Yet are they not divided neither; but they are united in his person: Jesus Christ our Redeemer is not then two persons, but one only: Eph. 4:5, "There is one Lord." 1 Tim. 2:5, "There is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." It was necessary, that our Redeemer should be man, that he might be capable to suffer death in our nature, who had sinned: Heb. 2:14, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same: that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." 1 Cor. 15:21, "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." It was necessary he should be God, that his sufferings might be of infinite value: 1 John 1:7, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." It was necessary he should be God and man in one person, that what of the work was done by either of the natures, might be reckoned the deed of the person of our Redeemer: Acts 20:28, "Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." John 2 ult., "Jesus needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man."
QUEST. 22. How did Christ, being the Son of God become man?
ANSW. Christ the Son of God became man, by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin.
EXPLICATION.
Christ had a being before he was man: He was the Son of God by eternal generation: Heb. 1:4, "For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?" Prov. 8:22, 23, "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." His becoming man was a voluntary action in him, wherein himself was willingly active: Psalm. 40:6, 7, "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened: burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me." Heb. 2:16, "He took on him the seed of Abraham." "He became man, by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul." But he did not thereby take to himself a human person; for then should he have been two persons: but he did thereby take to himself an entire human nature; for a soul and a body are the two parts whereof it consists.
Christ's body was not the appearance only of a body, but a real human body of flesh, blood, and bones, as our bodies are: Heb. 2:14, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same." Luke 24:39, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." His divine nature was not instead of a soul to him; but he had also a human reasonable soul; which was a created spirit: Matth. 26:38, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." In Christ then, there were two understandings, and two wills; namely, an infinite understanding and will as he was God, and a finite understanding and will as he was man: John 21:17—"Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." Chap. 10:28, 29, 30, "And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me, is greater than all: and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." Mark 13:32, "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no not—the Son, but the Father." Luke 22:42, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done."
He was without father, as he was man: He was without mother, as he was God: Heb. 3:3, "Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually." But the mother of Christ as man, was the virgin Mary, Matth. 1:18, 22, 23. She was a woman of the seed of Abraham, the tribe of Judah, and family of David: Luke 3:23, 31, 33, 34, "And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed, the son of Joseph,—which was the son of David,—which was the son of Juda,—which was the son of Abraham." He was conceived in her womb: Luke 1:31, "And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus." But his conception was altogether miraculous; and was effected by the power of the Holy Ghost: and the work of the Holy Ghost in that matter, was, that he formed the body of Christ, in the womb of his mother: Luke 1:35, "And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God." The Holy Ghost formed the body of Christ not of any substance sent down from heaven; but of her substance: Gal. 4:4, "God sent forth his Son, made of a woman." Gen. 3:15, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed." Which was necessary, that he might be of the same human nature with us who have sinned: Heb. 2:11, "For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Now, the forming of the body of Christ of the substance of a virgin was an act of creating power: Jer. 31:22, "The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man." Compared with Gen. 2:7, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Ver. 22, "And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman." Chap. 1:27, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them." Christ was born and brought forth of the virgin, at the usual time after conception: Luke 2:6, 7, "And so it was, that the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes," &c. But yet he was conceived and born without sin: Heb. 4:15, "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Chap. 7:26, "For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." For though he was a son of Adam, by his conception and birth, yet he came not of him in the way of natural generation."
QUEST. 23. What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?
ANSW. Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation.
EXPLICATION.
Christ redeems his people, by price and by power: Hos. 13:14, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave: I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction; repentance shall be hid from mine eyes." He hath redeemed them by price, giving himself a ransom for them, in his holy birth, righteous life, and bloody death and other sufferings: 1 Tim. 2:6, "Jesus gave himself a ransom for all." Gal. 4:4, 5, "God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law." Phil. 2:7, 8, "[Christ Jesus] made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." But that redemption by price is, in Scripture, sometimes attributed to his blood, as the completing part of the ransom, including the rest; even as one says, he hath paid the utmost farthing: John 19:30, "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." He redeems them by power, rescuing them by strength of light, and by strength of hand, out of the hands of their enemies: Luke 1:68, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people;" vers. 70, 71, "As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began; that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us." Vers. 73, 74, "The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear." That redemption by power, is begun in their conversion, and perfected in their glorious resurrection, at the last day: Col. 1:13, "[The Father] hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." Rom. 8:23, "And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." 1 Cor. 15:26, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed, is death.
To execute an office, is to do or perform what belongs to the office. And Christ, as our Redeemer, hath and executeth three offices; namely, the office of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king: Acts 3:22, "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. Heb. 5:6, "Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec." Psal. 2:6, "Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion." The relation of these offices of Christ to the covenant of grace, is, that, in his priestly office, he performed the condition of the covenant; in his prophetical and kingly offices, he administers the covenant: Heb. 7:20, 22, "And in as much as not without an oath he was made priest, by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament." Mal. 3:1, "The Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple: even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in." Isa. 55:3, 4, "Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people." It is necessary for our redemption, that he should execute all these offices: and it is necessary, in respect of the ignorance, guilt, and bondage in our case: 1 Cor. 1:30, "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."
True justfying faith receives Christ in all his offices: 1 Cor. 1:30, forecited. Compared with John 1:12, "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." But as justifying, it eyes him particularly in his priestly office: for there only can the convinced sinner see an atonement, a ransom, and a righteousness, for his justification: Rom. 3:25, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins." Chap. 5:11, "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom We have now received the atonement." And the life of faith lies in a daily use-making of Christ in all his offices: Gal. 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Compare with Col. 2:6, "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him."
The state of our Redeemer is twofold; namely, his state of humiliation, and his state of exaltation: Phil. 2:8, 9, "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore also God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name." He was in his state of humiliation when he was on the earth: he is in his State of exaltation now, when he is in heaven. He did execute all these offices in his state of humiliation when he was on earth: Rom. 15:8, "Now I say, that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers." Eph. 5:2, "Christ hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour." Matth. 21:5, "Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass." And he doth still execute them all, now when he is in heaven: Heb. 12:25, "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh: for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven." Chap. 7:24, 25," But this man because he continued ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Luke 1:33, "And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Yea, he did execute them all, under the Old Testament, before he came in the flesh: 1 Pet. 3:19, "By which also (the Spirit) he went and preached to spirits in prison." Zech. 1:12, "Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?" Cant. 1:4, "Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers."
QUEST. 24. How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?
ANSW. Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.
EXPLICATION.
The office of prophets was to reveal the will of God to men: Heb. 1:1, "God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets." And the Lord Jesus Christ, as our Redeemer, is a prophet: Acts 3:22, "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever be shall say unto you." The difference betwixt him and the other prophets, lay here, that Christ was the fountain-head of prophecy, revealing by his own Spirit; whereas they were but instruments by whom he spake, through his Spirit coming on them at times: 1 Pet. 1:10, 11, "Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow."
The office of a prophet belongs to our Redeemer, as a Redeemer by power: Psal. 110:2, "The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion." Compared with Isa. 11:4, "But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity, for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall be slay the wicked" And in it he redeems or rescues by strength of light. And he executes it, by revealing to us the will of God for our salvation. By the will of God for our salvation, which Christ reveals, is meant, the whole will of. God in all things concerning our edification and Salvation: John 15:15, "Henceforth I call you not servants: for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you." Acts 20:32, "And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified." John 20:31, "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name." We could never of ourselves have discovered the will of God for our salvation: John 1:18, "No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Chap. 3:13, "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." But our Redeemer was fit to reveal it to us, in that, as he was God, he was from eternity privy to the whole counsel of God, and as he was man, the Spirit, who searcheth the deep things of God, rested upon him: John 1:18, above cited. Isa. 11:2, "And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." 1 Cor. 2:10, "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." He reveals to us the will of God for our salvation, externally by his word, and internally by his Spirit: John 20:31, "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name." Chap. 14:26, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." And by his so executing his prophetical office, he redeems or rescues us from the power of spiritual darkness, or ignorance: Col. 1:13, "[The Father] hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. Acts 26:18, "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." So Christ hath redeemed none by power, but those who are rescued from the power of their natural darkness: Matth. 4:16, "The people which sat in darkness, saw great light: and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up." Eph. 5:8, "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light." His word is the scripture of the Old and New testament: Col. 3:16, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." And the Scripture in his word, in that it was written by the inspiration of his Spirit: 2 Tim. 3:16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." 1 Pet. 1:11, "Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." He reveals to us the will of God for our salvation, externally by the word: giving us the Scripture, wherein we may see it, and the preaching of the word, wherein we may hear it: John 5:39, "Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me," Rom. 10:18, "But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." We ought then to look upon our having the Bible among us, and the preaching of the word to us, by his servants, as Christ's executing his prophetical office among us, Heb. 12:25, "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh: for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall we not escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven." Col. 3:16, forecited. Luke 10:16, "He that heareth you, heareth me: and he that despiseth you, despiseth me: and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me." But the external revelation of the will of God for our salvation, by the word, is not sufficient to redeem or rescue us from the power of our spiritual darkness: Deut. 29:4, "The Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear until this day." 2 Cor. 2:16, "To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other, the savour of life unto life: and who is sufficient for these things?" Chap. 3:6, "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." Because when it is externally revealed, we cannot savingly know it, without an internal illumination: 1 Cor. 2:14, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Acts 26:18, forecited. Christ then doth redeem or rescue us from the power of our spiritual darkness, by joining an internal revelation by his Spirit, with the external revelation by his word: 1 Cor. 2:10, "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God," ver. 12, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." 2 Cor. 3:6, "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." Ver. 17, "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
We are to receive Christ as our prophet, renouncing cur own wisdom, and wholly giving up ourselves to him, to be taught in things, by his word and Spirit: Matth. 16:24, "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me," Acts 3:22, "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethern, like unto me: him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you." We are to make use of him, as our prophet, daily applying and trusting to him, for light, instruction, and direction in all things: Psalm 119:18, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." Prov. 3:5, 6, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
QUEST. 25. How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?
ANSW. Christ executeth the office of a priest, in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice, to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God; and in making continual intercession for us.
EXPLICATION.
The office of priests was to offer sacrifice, and pray, for the people: Heb. 5:1, "For every high priest taken from among men, is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins." Num. 6:22, 23, 24, 25, 26, "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, the Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." Compared with Mal. 1:9, "And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the Lord of hosts." And the Lord Jesus Christ, as our Redeemer, is truly and properly a priest: Heb. 8:3, "For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer." The difference betwixt him and the other priests lay chiefly here, that they and their priesthood were the types and shadows, whereof Christ and his priesthood were the substance, really accomplishing what they shadowed forth: Heb. 10:1, "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect." vers. 9, 10, "Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Eph. 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Our Redeemer was qualified for such an efficacious priesthood, by the infinite dignity of his person, and his real untainted holiness: Heb. 4:14, "We have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God." Chap. 7:26, "For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens." ver. 28, "For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore."
The office of a priest belongs to our Redeemer, as a Redeemer by price: 1 Pet. 1:18, 19, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot." And the parts of his priestly office, are two namely, his oblation, and his intercession. Accordingly, he executes his priestly office, in his offering a sacrifice for us, and making intercession for us.
The first part of Christ's priestly office is his oblation. His oblation is his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God. The sacrifice he offered to God was himself: Heb. 9:14, "Christ, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God." And he himself was the sacrifice, not in his divine nature, but in his human nature: For the divine nature was not capable of sufferings properly so called: Mal. 3:6, "I am the Lord, I change not." But his whole human nature, soul and body, was the sacrifice: Heb. 10:10, "By the which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Is. 53:10, "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin," &c. His divine nature was, in that case, the altar that sanctified the gift, to its necessary value and designed effect: Heb. 9:14, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Compared with Matth. 23:19, "Ye fools, and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?" John 17:19, "And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." He offered up himself to God a real sacrifice in his human nature, willingly yielding himself without any spot of sin, natural or accidental, to suffer for sin to the utmost: Heb. 9:14, forecited. He was without any natural spot of sin in that he was born perfectly holy: he was without any accidental spot of sin, in that be lived perfectly holy: and he suffered for sin to the utmost, Rom. 8:32, "He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all;" and that both in soul and body, Matth. 27:38, "Then saith he unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Chap. 27:46, "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani? that is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" ver. 40, "Jesus when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost." He did so offer himself a sacrifice only once: Heb. 9:28, "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." And that once offering of himself a sacrifice, was begun from his incarnation in the womb, continued through his whole life, and completed on the cross, and in the grave: Heb. 10:5. "Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me." Ver. 7, "Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God." Isa. 53:2, 3, "For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness: and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised and we esteemed him not." 2 Cor. 5:21, "He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin." The holiness then of his nature, and the righteousness of his life, were parts of the price of our redemption, as well as his sufferings: Gal. 4:4, 5, "God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law." And his sufferings through his whole life, lesser and greater, were parts of the price, as well as his sufferings on the cross, and his lying in the grave: 1 Pet. 2:21, "Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps." Christ offered himself a sacrifice but once, because by that once offering, the price of our redemption was fully paid out: Heb. 10:14, "By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." And thereby he redeemed or ransomed us from guilt, and all evils following it: Heb. 9:14, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"
The end wherefore Christ offered up himself a sacrifice, was "to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile ns to God: Heb. 9:28, "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." Chap. 2:17, "Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren; that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." There was need of reconciling us to God, because by sin we were at enmity with God: Isa. 59:2, "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." God had a legal enmity against us, such as a just judge hath against a malefactor, whose person he may love notwithstanding: Matth. 5:25, "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him: lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison." We have naturally a real enmity against God, inconsistent with love to him: Col. 1:21, "You were some time alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works." And there could be no reconciliation between God and us, without a satisfaction to divine justice for our sin: Heb. 9:22, 23, "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these." We ourselves could in no wise make that satisfaction: Rom. 5:6, "We were without strength." For we could neither make ourselves holy, nor bear the infinite punishment due to our sin. But Jesus Christ did, by offering up himself a sacrifice, make that satisfaction truly and really, Matth. 20:28, "The Son of man came to give his life a ransom for many." Heb. 9:14, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" and that fully and completly: Heb. 9:14, forecited. For though Christ's sufferings were not infinite in continuance, yet they were infinite in value. What made them so, was the infinite dignity of his person, he being God, the Most High, Acts 20:28, "Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." Phil. 2:6, 7, 8, "Christ Jesus being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." The sufferings then of believers in Christ, are not laid on them, to satisfy God's justice for their sins in whole or in part: Psalm 2 ult. "Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but for a little: Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." But they are led on them for their trial and correction: 1 Pet. 1:6, 7, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season (if need be) ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Heb. 12:5, "My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him." Now the state of the business of our reconciliation with God, as soon as Christ's offering up himself was over, was, that then it was purchased, the price of it fully paid: John 19:30, "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. Col. 1:20, "And (having made peace through the blood of his cross) by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him, I say, whether they be things on earth, or things in heaven." Actual reconciliation between God and us, is made as soon as we are justified by faith: Rom. 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." And we are not actually reconciled to God, until we believe in Christ, because till then we do not receive the atonement: Rom. 5:11, "We joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." Compared with John 1:12, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."
Now, our Lord Jesus Christ cannot fall short of his design and end in offering up himself a sacrifice: Isa. 53:11, "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many: for he shall bear their iniquities." John 6:37, "All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me." Wherefore Christ hath not redeemed any by price who are not, sooner or later, actually reconciled to God: Rev. 5:9, 10, "And they sung a new song, saying, thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests." John 17:12, "Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost." And these are all the elect, and they only: Acts 13:48, "As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." John 10:15, "I lay down my life for the sheep." Vers. 26, 27, 28, "But ye believe not; because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand."
The second part of Christ's priestly office, is his intercession: Rom. 8:34, "It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." By his making intercession for us, is meant his pleading our cause in the court of heaven. And none make intercession for us there, but Christ only: John 14:6, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Rom. 8:34, forecited. The Spirit makes intercession for us in our own hearts; and that, by helping us to pray for ourselves: Rom. 8:26, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered." The difference then between Christ's intercession and the Spirit's intercession, is such as is between one that draws a poor man's petition, and another that presents it to the king, and gets it granted to him. The first of these the Spirit does for as; the last is done by Christ only.
Now, Christ intercedes for us, not as a supplicant on mere mercy, but as an advocate pleading law and right: 1 John 2:1, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." John 17:24, "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." The ground in law upon which he pleads for us, is the fulfilling the condition of the covenant of grace, by offering up himself a sacrifice for us: John 17:4, "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." Therefore he intercedes for those only for whom he offered up himself a sacrifice: John 17:9, "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine." Ver. 20, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." Ver. 24, forecited. His intercession is always effectual: John 11:43, "I knew that thou nearest me always." And he will continue it for ever: Heb. 7:25, "He ever liveth to make intercession for them." Accordingly, he is called a priest after the order of Melchizedec, because he will be a priest for ever: Psal. 110:4, "The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec." Not a sacrificing priest for ever, but an interceding priest for ever: Heb. 10:14, "For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Chap. 7:25, forecited. He will be an interceding priest even after the resurrection, for ever, eternally willing the continuance of the perfect happiness of the saints, on the ground of the eternal redemption obtained for them by the sacrifice of himself: Heb. 11:12, "Christ by his own blood entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." John 17:24, "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." Compared with 1 Thess. 4:17, "Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we be ever with the Lord."
We are to receive Christ as our priest, renouncing our own righteousness, and wholly trusting in him, to be saved by his sacrifice of himself, and intercession: Phil. 3:3, "For we are the circumcision, which rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." Heb. 10:21, 22, "And having an high priest over the house of God: let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." And we are to make use of him as our priest, daily applying to him, and trusting in his alone merit and intercession, for the removal of our guilt, and the supply of all our needs spiritual and temporal: 1 Cor. 1:30, "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us, righteousness, and redemption." Gal. 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."