COMMONPLACE IV (1625 Exegesis): On the Person and Office of Christ The preface shows this doctrine’s: (1) Dignity, § 1.
PREFACE
The dignity of the doctrine of Christ.
§ 1. (I) The introductory thesis is this: The article on the person and office of Christ is commended to us by the dignity, usefulness, and necessity of this doctrine. Its dignity is clear: (1) From its origin or efficient cause. We do not know the doctrine of Christ by nature; rather, it has been divinely revealed in the Word. “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 16:17). “The preaching about Christ is a mystery that has been kept silent for eternal ages” (Rom. 16:25).
(2) From its object. This article treats of Christ, who is the center of all prophetic and apostolic Scripture, the foundation of the Church, the treasury of our hope, the fountain of salvation and grace. It is from Him that we are called Christians, and from Him come down all things necessary for our salvation. John begins his writing with Christ: “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1), and he ends it with Him as well: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (Rev. 22:21). All of Scripture is nothing else than a continuous witness of Christ. “In the volume of the book it is written of Me” (Ps. 40:[7]), something that is repeated in Heb. 10:7. Luke 24:44: “Everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.” “Search the Scriptures; it is they that bear witness of Me” (John 5:39). “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10). That is, all prophecies refer to Jesus as the most suitable and ultimate goal. For this reason, Jerome calls Christ “the head of all Scriptures” (Letter ad Algas., q. 11). Augustine (Contra Faust., bk. 16, ch. 22) says: “Every intent of Scripture has to do only with understanding the grace of Christ.” Augustine again, on Psalm 71: “Everything that has been written refers to Christ.” Tractate 9 on John: “He does not understand the Old Testament unless Christ is understood therein.” On the basis of this foundation, a recent theologian teaches: “The Bible is to be read in such a way as if it was written entirely with the blood of Christ.”
(3) From its effect. The understanding of this doctrine produces excellent and salutary fruits in usefulness, which we shall list a little later [§ 2].
(4) From its adjunct. The doctrine of Christ is not only useful, but it is also necessary, as we shall show a little later [§ 3]. But now, the more fruitful something is in usefulness and the more salutary in necessity, the more it is deservedly considered precious and outstanding in dignity.
Its usefulness.
§ 2. [II] We gather its usefulness from the effects and fruits produced in us by the salutary understanding of Christ and the faith that rises from it through the operation of the Holy Spirit. These are: (1) The remission of sins: “The knowledge of salvation,” of Christ the Savior, bestows “the remission of sins” (Luke 1:77). (2) Righteousness: “By the knowledge of Him will My Servant justify many” (Isa. 53:11); “To know You is perfect righteousness” (Wisdom 15:3). (3) True wisdom: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom” (Jer. 9:23). And (4) Eternal life: “This is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Him whom You have sent, Jesus Christ” (John 17:3); “To love Christ is more excellent than all knowledge” (Eph. 3:19); “In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). Ambrose comments on this passage: “It is necessary that all knowledge of the entire heavenly and earthly creation be in Him who is the Head of all created things, of the angels or of the sun or of the other things. Every experience of knowledge is in their Author, so that he who knows Him requires nothing more, neither wisdom nor virtue, because he knows Him in whom virtue and wisdom have been perfected.”
Its necessity.
§ 3. [III] The necessity of knowing this doctrine is clear: (1) From divine command. “I shall put My words into His mouth, and I shall require it of him who does not hear them” (Deut. 18:18[–19]). “Listen to Him” (Matt. 17:5). He who grasps a true understanding of Christ from the revealed Word listens salutarily to Christ.
(2) From the example of the devout. As Mary pondered the words of Christ as He taught, she was honored with the praise that “she had chosen the good part, which would not be taken away from her.” But Martha, her sister, on the other hand, was reproached with having neglected the one thing needful and being concerned in vain about her needless works (Luke 10:42). Paul mentions that he conducted himself among the Corinthians in such a way that he showed that he knew nothing else except Christ crucified (1 Cor. 2:2), and he counted everything else “as loss because of the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:8). Prudentius sings about the Christians in the early church: “They say all things about Christ; they say all things through Christ.” He is the treasure hidden in the field; He is that precious jewel which alone we should pursue, having put the treasures of the whole world in second place (Matt. 13:44). He is the “precious cornerstone” (Isa. 28:16), than which nothing should be more precious in the heart of the heavenly Father, nothing more precious in the Church, nothing more precious in our own heart.
(3) From the opposite evil of ignorance. Just as eternal life consists in the knowledge of Christ, so also, on the contrary, he who does not know Christ does not know life and salvation. “He who does not have the Son does not have life” (1 John 5:12). “He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father” (John 5:23). But he who does not know Christ from the Word can neither have nor honor the Son. Therefore he cannot have life, nor can he honor the Father correctly. Hilary says (De Trin., bk. 9, p. 160): “He who does not know Christ as true God clearly does not know his own life, and so, too, he does not know [Christ] as true man.” The ignorance of other dogmas that are useful and necessary to know is shameful and detestable, but ignorance of Christ is damning besides.
(4) From the accumulation of opposing heresies. Just as enemies are especially occupied with attacking the fortified citadel and major city of the enemy, so the devil wanted to test all the might of his cunning and power from the very first beginning of the New Testament—in fac t, from the very beginning of the world—in attacking the mystery of Christ, which he knew was the major city of heavenly doctrine. You see, at one time he was trying to overturn the divine nature of Christ, at another time the human, at another time to dissolve the personal union, and at another time to undermine His office. The devil continuously uses different ways to hurry to the same goal, namely, to corrupt the sincerity and purity of this doctrine and consequently to take away from people this treasure of salvation.
Antithesis.
§ 4. The necessity of the doctrine of Christ is denied: (1) Directly, by those who attribute salvation to the more sensible heathen. We demonstrated in its own place that some of the Papists and Calvinists do this and that this is a consequence of the hypotheses of the teaching of the Photinians.
(2) It is undermined obliquely by the Calvinists when they extenuate the controversies that come up between the true church and them regarding the personal union and the communication of idioms that follows it, when they declare that they are in fundamental agreement with us, and when they insincerely offer us spiritual brotherhood, even though we utterly and completely disagree with each other about the doctrine of Christ, who is the only foundation of the Church and of salvation (1 Cor. 3:11; Eph. 2:20), as will become apparent from what follows.
Practical use.
§ 5. The practical use is exhorting, that we learn the doctrine of Christ with singular zeal and diligence and fortify our hearts against any corruptions thereof. As Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end (Rev. 1:8), so also He must be the beginning and end in our meditations and studies. Whatever you think, whatever you say, whatever you write, it has no taste unless Jesus be in it. Bernard, on Song of Songs, sermon 15, col. 532: “Every food for the soul is dry if that oil is not poured upon it. It is tasteless if it is not seasoned with this salt. If you write anything, it is tasteless to me unless I read Jesus there. If you argue or discuss, it has no taste for me unless Jesus sounds forth there.” On Song of Songs, sermon 34: “If you have a sense of taste, you will imitate the prudence of your bride and you will not allow this expensive packet of myrrh to be snatched from your breast even for an hour. Always remember all those bitter things that He suffered on your behalf, and consider them in your constant meditation. In this way you will be able to say, ‘That packet of myrrh so beloved to me will remain between my breasts.’ I said that it is wisdom to meditate on these things; I have established the perfection of my righteousness in these things, the fullness of wisdom in these things, the riches of salvation in these things, the abundance of merits in these things.”