A SUMMARY OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH A SUMMARY OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH By HENRY EYSTER JACOBS, D.D., LL.D. NORTON PROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY LUTHERAN THEO- LOGICAL SEMINARY AT PHILADELPHIA PHILADELPHIA GENERAL COUNCIL PUBLICATION HOUSE 1522 ARCH STREET 1905. -\ > ) ■■ SQty@K£SS r*u oopitte _ ^T* 26 1905 „. Goiumgnt who; - 1 A.T4) 3 *f COPY S* >£=^Saa -■ -r, -■ . 1 COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY THE BOARD OF PUBLICATION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA. TO THE OkttM&ateB for tij* iltntstrg ttf t§? (&a&ptl AMONG WHOM MY LIFE HAS BEEN PASSED, THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY THEIR FELLOW-STUDENT. PREFACE A N attempt is here made to restate the doctrines of the Chris- tian Faith upon the basis of the Lutheran Confessions. Hutter's Compend, an English translation of which, a number of years ago, served a good purpose, suggested the mode of treat- ment as well adapted to the use of theological students, intelli- gent laymen, and active pastors. While no important technical theological term is ignored and the aim is to explain whatever enters into the form as well as the material of Theology, a schol- astic treatment is avoided as far as possible. We have endeavored to gather results, and embody them in concise definitions, sup- ported by condensed arguments, drawn largely from our Con- fessions and Luther, and our theologians, as well as, in not a few cases, from those of other communions. The book, however, is not a mere compilation, but the matured expression of the con- victions of the author, from the time when, as a child he was in- troduced to many of the problems treated, to the present. On certain living questions, widely and hotly agitated, greater space and freedom of discussion was allowed, that a candid testimony might be given on every important topic, for which the book may be consulted. It is not offered as the final word of controversy on any point, but as a starting point and suggestion of earnest thought. An injustice, we believe, is done some of the great dogmati- cians of our Church, when their works are criticised because of the dryness and scholastic form of their treatment. Where the effort is made to condense the entire compass of Divine Revela- tion into the compact form of a brief volume, the book becomes little more than an index and guide. Men become theologians, not by committing such text-books ; but by clothing the outline with flesh from their constant study of Holy Scripture and vii. VU1. PREFACE. Christian experience, whether as read in Church History, or recognized in their own lives, and those nearest them. The living teacher makes the text-book -Only the thread of what he gives his students. In writing this volume, we have often felt condemned as though it were, wrong to hurry over themes that offered such rich suggestions for edifying treatment. Material pertaining to the History of Doctrine has been intro- duced only to a very limited extent. The scope of this book is one of results. For the process, whereby those results have been attained, we have another book in prospect, if life and strength should be spared to undertake it. The Scripture Proof Texts are intended to be accurate trans- lations of the Original. No space is lost by discussing inaccu- racies of translations. Except in only three or four passages, they are from the best English translation of the New Testament, the American Revised Version, which we cordially recommend to all students and pastors. Acknowledgments are due my son, the Rev. Charles M. Jacobs, for valuable assistance not only in revising the manuscript, and in aiding me in seeing it through the press, but also in numerous important suggestions in almost every chapter, concerning the treatment that have been adopted. A number of pages were also read by President Haas, of Muhlenberg College, my associate on "The Lutheran Cyclopedia"; and his kind notes were highly valued, and have contributed to the result. We bear, however, full responsibility for all that is here found. If this book will be of service in proving that the faith of our Fathers is capable of being expressed in the English language in what is not a mere translation, and in aiding in restatement of Lutheran doctrine in a form adapted to a new land and new age; if it will be the means of representing correctly the spirit of Lutheranism to the religious world and theological circles in America; if, even to a small measure, it will bring our separated churches and schools to a realization not only of what is con- tained in our common heritage, but of the sources of strength PREFACE. IX. whence our life may be renewed ; if it will in any way change controversies from mere wrangling concerning the terminology of dogmas to an earnest, serious, modest, chastened inquiry into the truth which underlies them ; if it will lead students of The- ology to become devoted scholars of the Holy Scriptures, and pastors to grow ever more profoundly into the contemplation of "the deep things of God," and their application to their people; if it will withdraw the attention of men from that which is merely outward and temporal, the incidental and changing, to that which is inner and eternal, the essential and permanent, its publication will not be in vain. Henry Eyster Jacobs. Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, July iith, 1905. CONTENTS I. Sources and Methods I II. The Being and Attributes of God 18 III. The Trinity 42 IV. Creation 60 V. Providence 67 VI. Angels 80 VII. Man as Created 88 VIII. Sin 101 IX. The Grace of God Towards Fallen Men 114 X. Preparation of Redemption 119 XL The Person of Christ 122 XII. The States of Christ 141 XIII. Christ as Prophet 159 XIV. Christ as Priest 167 XV. Christ as King 179 XVI. The Mission of the Holy Ghost 183 XVII. Faith in Christ 186 XVIII. Justification 206 XIX. The Gospel Call 215 XX. Illumination 222 XXI. Regeneration 229 XXII. Mystical Union 244 XXIII. Renovation 247 XXIV. The Word as the Means of Grace 265 xi. Xll. CONTENTS. XXV. The Law and the Gospel 298 XXVI. The Sacraments 311 XXVII. Holy Baptism 325 XXVIII. The Holy Supper: . . . . 342 XXIX. The Church 369 XXX. The Ministry 419 XXXI. The Church's Confessions 446 XXXII. Church Discipline 457 XXXIII. The Family ....464 XXXIV. The State 472 XXXV. Life after Death 485 XXXVI. The Resurrection of the Body 494 XXXVII. The Return of Christ 504 XXXVIII. The General Judgment 517 XXXIX. Eternal Death 535 XL. Eternal Life 540 XLL The Divine Purpose as Interpreted by Its Contents and Results 552 Appendix. The Spiritual Priesthood of Believers, by Dr. Philip J. Spener 581 Analysis 597 Index I. Of Topics 613 Index II. Of Persons and Documents 631 A SUMMARY OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH CHAPTER I. SOURCES AND METHODS. i. What is Dogmatic Theology? The Science of the Christian Faith. 2. Why is it a Science? Because the Christian Faith, with all its contents is an object of knowledge. It differs from other departments of knowledge in the nature of the facts, with which it has to deal. In common with every other branch of learning, its facts are capable of classification and system- atic presentation. Facts so treated constitute a science. 3. Why is this science called "Dogmatics" or "Dog- matic Theology" ? Because it is the systematic arrangement of definitions of doctrine, known as ''Dogmas." It is the science of Dogmas. 4. What is a "dogma"? Properly a definition of doctrine made by an ecclesias- tical organization. In a wider sense, it refers also to statements of principles involved in the consideration of the various articles of the Christian Faith. 5. Is Dogmatic Theology a purely Biblical science? No. It deals not only with doctrines taught in Holy Scripture, but also with the forms which such doctrines have assumed in their treatment by the Church. In this it is distinguished from Biblical Theology, which, unlike Dogmatic Theology, is restricted to the contents of Holy Scripture. 2 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. I. 6. State this distinction more sharply. Biblical Theology is the science of the faith taught in Holy Scripture. Dogmatic Theology is the science of the definitions of the scriptural faith, made by the Church, or widely prevalent within the Church. 7. With what three elements, therefore, has Dogmatic Theology to deal? (a) In all Protestant Theology, the material of the dog- ma comes or professes to come from Holy Scripture. (b) The definition of the doctrine has been called forth by certain historical circumstances. (c) The definition inevitably is framed in technical terms, determined by current philosophy. Every dogma contains, therefore, a scriptural, an historical, and a phil- osophical element. 8. What, therefore, is the order of the chief branches of Theology that are here involved? Biblical Theology lays the foundation. The History of Dogmas shows the process by which the material has been taken from Scripture, and then, after being discussed on its various sides, has attained a scientific formulation. Dogmatic Theology brings together the results, that are shown to have been attained by the History of Dogmas, and exhibits their scriptural foundations and their rela- tion to each other. 9. What are the Presuppositions of Dogmatic The- ology? (a) The existence of God. Dogmatic Theology no more undertakes to prove this, than Astronomy under- takes to prove the existence of stars, or Logic the reality of thought. The arguments usually considered in Natural Theology, viz., the Ontological, Cosmological, Teleolog- ical, and Moral, have their place, as attempts to analyze and express what exists in man's mind prior to all argu- ment and even all thought. But God's existence is not Chap. I.] SOURCES AND METHODS. 3 a certainty because of these arguments, any more than a man has self-consciousness solely because of metaphys- ical processes that seem to him to demonstrate his own existence. (b) The ability of man to attain to some degree of knowledge of God. Limited as the capacity of all finite beings is, man's knowledge is neither uncertain nor in- definite, within the sphere where God has imparted to him the means of knowing. (c) The Revelation of God in Christ. The Christian Faith assumes the historical reality of Jesus Christ, and from this, as a center, derives all knowledge and reaches all conclusions. Dogmatic Theology is, therefore, the scientific statement of the truths taught by Jesus Christ, as received by faith and confessed by believers. It knows no revelation supplementary to that given by Christ, and estimates the value of preparatory revelations, such as in Nature, and in a still higher degree in the Old Testament, only as they are recognized and taught by Christ Him- self. (Chapter XIII, 5 sqq.) (d) The Holy Scriptures as the Inerrant Record of Revelation. The New Testament is the inerrant record of the revelation of Christ in word and deed, and of the truths and principles proceeding, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, from that revelation. The Old Testa- ment is in like manner an inerrant record, having the. ex- press and often repeated testimony and authority of Christ, of the preparatory and partial revelations made concerning Him before His coming. Heb. 1:1. (e) The Reception of this Revelation, and its confes- sion by a community of believers. There must be a Chu/ch, in order that there may be dogmas. No indi- vidual teacher or isolated believer can frame a dogma. It is a statement of Scriptural truth embodied in the pub- lic confession of a number of those professing faith in 4 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. I. Christ's name. "Dogmatics deals not with the indi- vidual faith of the dogmatician, but with the common faith of the Christian Church to which he belongs, and which he confesses as his own by belonging to such communion" (Luthardt). 10. Trace the process whereby the truths recorded in Holy Scripture attain scientific statement. The Holy Scriptures are more than a text-book of doc- trine. Each word of God is a seed of life intended to lodge within men's hearts, and therein to grow. By the pres- ence of the Holy Spirit, a life-principle is conveyed, whereby man is quickened in all his powers and faculties, and all his views of truth and duty are transformed. This new life inevitably expresses itself in confession. Man translates into his own language the thoughts of God, and is ready to give free utterance to the relation of this new life to the world within and around him. As this one life is shared by many whose experience is the same, a common confession results, around which the Christian community, i. e., the Church, centers. This confession may be occasioned by the necessities of the inner life, the attacks or misrepresentations of enemies, or the misunder- standings of other Christians, calling for an accurate and discriminating statement of the faith as it has been re- ceived. The formulation of dogmas has been an unavoid- able and progressive task of the Church, under the im- pulse of its divine life, in order to exclude from its teach- ing various errors. Its aim has been to guard the pure teaching of God's Word, by giving it a sharper expres- sion, so as to leave no room for the protection of errorists beneath statements that are found to be ambiguous. . Dogmatic Theology deals, therefore, not with the mere letter of Scripture, but with the truth of Scripture, as it has been assimilated into the life, and as this inner life may be known by its external confession. It is the science Chap. L] sources and methods. 5 of the Christian Faith, whether the term faith be taken objectively {fides quae creditur) or subjectively (fides qua creditur). See Chapter XVII, 4. 11. Is Christian experience, then, a standard of doc- trine? Never. While an important element in the interpreta- tion of doctrines, in so far as it declares the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in applying God's Word, it must constantly be tested and adjusted by Holy Scripture. The spiritual sense of believing men is not to be depreciated (1 Cor. 2: 15, "He that is spiritual judgeth all things"), nevertheless it is always to be recognized by its complete subjection to Holy Scripture (1 John 4:1,2; Gal. 1:8; Acts 17: 11). A true and normal faith is one that holds implicitly and exclusively to the revelation of God in Christ contained in the Holy Scriptures. It is a faith that lives in communion with Christ ; but Christ in the heart of the believer, and Christ in His Word are always one and the same. 12. By what term is that habit, or state of mind and heart known which results from faith ? Religion, or "the communion of man with God." 13. Is there, then, no religion or religious life where there is no faith in Christ? The term is used in a wider and a narrower sense. In its wider sense, it refers tx> all the aspirations of man after God, such as those described by Paul to the Athen- ians (Acts 17:22), and, thus, is in a measure universal. Man is distinguished from other animals chiefly by the religious faculty, or the sense of dependence of God, how- ever vague, indefinite or corrupt that conception of God may be. But in a narrower sense, it refers to the realization of these ideas or conceptions, after which man has struggled. In the Old Testament, this realization began with the 6 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. I. promises concerning Christ ; in the New Testament alone, do they reach their consummation. In its wider sense, it is applied to all foreshadowings of the communion of man with God ; as where the existence of a Supreme Being and man's obligations to serve Him, are acknowledged. In the absolute sense, it is man's cheerful recognition and joyful service of a Supreme Personality, based upon the consciousness of reconcilia- tion and a community of interests with Him. 14. Is "Religion" confined, then, to the designation of an inner spiritual life? It is popularly used to designate also the various modes or systems which profess to lead man to communion with God. The communion of man with God is Religion sub- jectively so called. The statement of the principles under- lying this communion is Religion objectively so called. In this sense, we speak of the Christian Religion, in which alone, religion in the subjective sense is fully attained; as well as the Jewish Religion, as, prior to Christ, Christian- ity in the germ, and the Zoroastrian, Confucian, Brahman, Buddhist and Mohammedan religions, which contain a common truth in their recognition in greater or less de- gree of a Higher Power, and man's helplessness by na- ture, but which distort and corrupt this truth (Rom. 1 : 20-23 ) • Christianity, therefore, is not, properly speaking, merely one religion, and that the best, out of many; that is, a species, co-ordinate with Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, etc., within the same genus; but the one, absolute and pure religion. The other religions show the various ways in which men seek after God. Christianity alone shows the way in which God is found. 15. Upon what does this claim of Christianity as the Absolute Religion rest? Upon the, fact that it is a supernatural divine revelation. Chap. I.] SOURCES AND METHODS. 7 The communion of man with God is possible only by God's revelation of Himself to man. 16. But has not God revealed Himself to all men? Yes, as Creator, Lawgiver and Judge; but not as Re- deemer, or loving Father in Heaven. (Ps. 8 : I, 3 ; 19: 1 ; Acts 17:26,27; Rom. 1:20; 2:15.) This universal revelation is known, as the Natural Revelation of God, or revelation according to the Order of Creation. 17. By what is the imperfection of this Natural Knowledge to be explained ? It has become inadequate because of the enfeeblement and corruption of man's powers by sin (Rom. 7: 10-12; Rom. 1:21; 1 Cor. 2:14; Eph. 5:8; Matt. 11:27; J onn 1:5). It is adapted to a condition of man's nature that no longer exists. The Natural Revelation is like writing that needs the intervention of a lens in order to be legible by one whose sight is failing. Some facts indeed are known, but they are misapprehended and viewed in wrong relations ; and the most important are entirely wanting. 18. Of what are the truths contained in the Natural Revelation the foundation? Of the various natural religions. None of them could have obtained its hold upon men and retained it for ages, if beneath their gross corruptions there had not been elements of truth. But even these few truths are diversely apprehended and constantly modified and mis- conceived. Thus the first chapter of Romans shows the process of religious deterioration, whereby the conception of God is brought down to the standard of that of cor- ruptible man, and is at last lost in the multiplicity of his manifestations and works, so that "the truth of God is changed into a lie" (Rom. 1:21-25). 19. Is the Natural Revelation then useless? By no means. It alone keeps man from becoming like 8 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. I. the brutes which perish. It constantly reminds him of a higher standard than is attainable under the mere light of Nature. It renders all the prescriptions of merely natural religions unsatisfactory. It cannot answer the inquiries of the heart for certainty, but it impels man ever onward in his search for truth and for God. It pre- pares the way for the supernatural revelation of God in Christ, bv its unwearied assertion of claims which man cannot meet in himself or by the aid of any other religions. 20. Was there no supernatural revelation before Christ? Supernatural, as distinguished from "Natural Revela- tion," or "Revelation according to the Order of Redemp- tion," as distinguished from "Revelation according to the Order of Creation," began immediately after man's fall. Before Christ, it consisted of a series of preparatory and partial revelations in word, deed and history. These were fragmentary and largely figurative, as distinguished from the one, full and complete revelation in Jesus Christ. "God who in many parts and in many ways spake of old to the fathers through the prophets, spake, at the extrem- ity of these days unto us through his Son" (Heb. 1 : 1, 2). The chief distinguishing characteristic of the earlier rev- elation, therefore, was its "many parts." It could be un- derstood only when taken as a whole, and with the end clearly in view upon which all these parts centered. 21. What records were made of these earlier revela- tions? The canonical books of the Old Testament are an iner- rant record of all these preparatory and partial revela- tions concerning Christ (John 5 : 39 ; Acts 17 : 11). They are to be constantly read and judged in the light and ac- cording to the standard of the New Testament. The New Testament is not to be interpreted by the Old, but the Old is to be interpreted by the New. While historically the Chap. L] sources and methods. 9 New Testament rests upon the foundations of the Old, and the appeal was constantly made to devout Jews in our Lord's time to accept Jesus as the Christ, because of the Old Testament testimony, with Christians the process is reversed, and with the ampler and plainer and complete testimony of Christ, as recorded in the Xew Testament in their hands, they accept the Old because attested by the New, and explain its types and shadows and promises and isolated statements, entirely with reference to the end towards which by Divine inspiration they were guided, and of which the New Testament clearly teaches. 22. What principle is to be observed in the determina- tion of the meaning of the New Testament? That of the organic relation of the various parts of Holy Scripture to one another. 23. What does this imply? Not only that each passage must be interpreted in the light of the context in which it stands, but that the central and fixed point for the treatment of each doctrine is to be found in those parts of Holy Scripture which explicitly and fully discuss it. To such passages, termed by theo- logians the sedes doctrinac, or seat of the doctrine, all in- cidental allusions in other texts are to be subordinated. 24. Illustrate this? In considering the doctrines concerning sin. grace, jus- tification, the Epistle to the Romans is the starting-point, with its extended and minute arguments. In the same way, the Relation of Law and Gospel, is to be learned from the Epistle to the Romans, the Relation of the New Testament to the Old from the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the doctrine of the Humiliation and Exaltation of Christ from the Epistle to the Philippians. When the meaning of these passages has been gathered, they form the guide to the interpretation of all other parts of Scrip- 10 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. I. ture. Obscuriora et pandora explicanda sunt ex clariori- bus ac plunbus. 25. Upon what is this prindple based? Upon the fact that there is no article of faith, i. e., no doctrine, knowledge of which is necessary for salvation, that is not set forth somewhere in Holy Scripture in clear and express terms, and that such clear and express state- ments then become the rule and standard according to which those which are less clear are to be decided. 26. What term has been applied to this principle? The doctrine of the "Analogy of the Faith." It is that of the self-consistency or harmony of Scripture, an in- evitable deduction from its inerrancy and inspiration. 2J. What further caution is needed in the study of the Holy Scriptures? As the records of a supernatural revelation, even when their language is clearest, truths and facts are declared beyond man's power to explain. 28. Are Reason and Revelation, therefore, antag- onistic? Not in reality, for as a standard of truth, Reason has normatively to do only with what pertains to the sphere of the Natural, while Revelation has to do with what per- tains to the sphere of the Supernatural. They can be no more really opposed to each other than a truth of Geom- etry can be opposed to one of Chemistry or Music. Rules deduced, therefore, from the observation of physical phe- nomena, can never be made the standard according to which to judge supernatural truths. 29. What, then, is the first requisite for apprehending the meaning of Holy Scripture? Faith, or that state of mind which takes God at His word, even when it cannot explain difficulties inherent in the language of Scripture. Chap. I.] SOURCES AND METHODS. II 30. Has Reason, therefore, no office with respect to articles of faith? Yes, when it is kept in subordination to faith. Start- ing with the assumption, that it cannot explain the mys- teries of the supernatural from the standpoint of the nat- ural world, sanctified reason becomes an important instru- ment for comparing spiritual things with spiritual, and, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, reaching conclusions. This has been distinguished by theologians as "the instru- mental use of Reason," as contrasted with "the normative use" with regard to matters of faith. 31. How, then, is the proper relation between Faith and Reason maintained? Only by the illuminating presence and activity of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2: 14, 15). 32. How is the so-called conflict between Science and Revelation to be explained? By the unscientific methods of those claiming to be representatives of science. To force the rules pertaining to one branch of knowledge into an entirely diverse de- partment is unscientific. The fallacy has been illustrated by the Stoic philosopher, Epictetus : "When you want to write to a friend, Grammar will tell you what words you should write, but whether you should write or not, Gram- mar will not tell you. Music will inform you concerning sounds, but whether you should sing just now or play on the lute, Music will not tell." The consequence of this error, is the disregard, to greater or less degree, of faith as a factor in the apprehension of all religious truth. "So ignorant, blind and perverted is man's reason or natural understanding, that when even the most able and learned men on earth read or hear the Gospel of the Son of God, and the promise of eternal salvation, they cannot from their own powers, perceive, apprehend, understand or believe and regard it true, but the more diligence and 12 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. I. earnestness they employ, in order to comprehend with their reason these spiritual things, the less they understand and believe, and before they become enlightened or taught of the Holy Ghost, they regard all this as only foolish- ness or fictions" (Formula of Concord, 553:9). 33. Has the Church no authority to determine zvhat are Articles of Faith? The Church is only a witness; never a judge of what is truth. It cannot lay down a single article which Scrip- ture has not previously taught. Neither can it disannul or modify what Scripture has determined. 34. Are the Church's declarations concerning Holy Scripture, the testimony of the Fathers, and the opinions of later theologians to be disregarded? By no means. Scripture itself exhorts : ''Despise not prophesyings" (1 Thess. 5:20). The gifts of God in our fellowmen are bestowed for the edification of the Church, and as such are to be reverently acknowledged and used. Every testimony for the faith is to be prized. Every declaration that is the result of the Holy Spirit's work in applying Holy Scripture to the minds and lives of men, is to be considered. "Although faith depends not on human authority, but on the Word of God, neverthe- less as Scripture wants the weak to be strengthened by those who are stronger, it is of advantage, in every kind of temptations, to have Church testimonies. For as we desire to consult living men who have had experience in spiritual affairs, so also those of old whose writings are approved" (Gerhard). 35. Repeat the confessional statements of the Luth- eran Church on the relation of Holy Scripture to these testimonies. (a) "We believe, teach and confess that the only rule and standard, according to which at once all dogmas and teachers should be esteemed and judged, are Chap. L] sources and methods. 13 nothing else than the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and of the Xew Testament as it is written. Ps. 119: 105. 'Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path' : and Gal. 1:8. "Though an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you let him be ac- cursed.' "Other writings of ancient or modern teachers, what- ever reputation they may have, should not be regarded as of equal authority with the Holy Scriptures, but should altogether be subordinated to them, and should not be received other or further, then as witnesses as to in what manner and at what places, since the time of the apostles, the doctrine of the prophets was preserved." (b) 'The Holy Scriptures alone remain the only judgr. rule and standard, according to which as the only touch- stone, all dogmas should and must be discerned and judged, as to whether they be good or evil, right or wrong. 'The other svmbols and writings are not iud^es as are the Holy Scriptures, but only a witness and declaration of the faith, as to how at any time the Holy Scripture s have been understood and explained in articles in contro- versy in the Church of Christ, by those who then lived, and how the opposite dogma was rejected and con- demned" 1 Formula of Concord. "Introduction." 491 sq.). 36. But are the Holy Scriptures sufficiently clea and complete to dispense with supplementary revelations and the testimony of tradition as co-ordinate authorities? They are called "a lamp and a light." "a light that shineth in a dark place." and men are recalled from all professions of special revelations to their sure test. (Is. 8:20). While there is much in Scripture that is obscure and is intended throughout all ages to exercise the faith of believers, it is sufficiently clear and complete to bring salvation to the humbles:. "It is able to make wise unto salvation" (2 Tim. 3: 15), and makes the man of God 14 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. I, "thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3 : 17). It was because of the insecurity of the testimony afforded by tradition that the Holy Scriptures were writ- ten ( Luke 1:3,4; Phil. 3:1). 37. Is it proper to attach authority to the English, German or Latin Scriptures? In giving the Holy Scriptures by divine inspiration, God used human language simply as a medium to convey divine thoughts and the statement of divine facts. There was such divine guidance and control of the inspired writers that the result was as perfect a statement of what God meant to communicate as was possible in human words. These words, however, were entirely subordinate to the thought not only of each particular sentence, but of each particular book, and of Scripture as a whole. As the Word of God, however, was for people of all lan- guages, these thoughts are translatable into other tongues. It is the same divine, life-giving truth, whether it be stated in English or German, Greek or Hebrew. As, however, the original writers were inspired, while the translators were not, the translations are subject to constant revision according to the original language and text in which each book was written. As there are no two words of the same language that are precise equivalents, so a word loses some associations and shades of meaning and gains others by translation. Where a controversy or the de- cision of critical points turns upon a single word or sen- tence, a reference to the original will be needed in order to fully assure one of its meaning. But as to the general tenor and argument of Holy Scripture, there are very few who do not gain it, and that most properly, entirely from translations. The material remains the same, even though the form is changed. 38. Should we not attach ultimate authority only to the original autographs? Chap. L] sources and methods. 15 These autographs have probably long since perished. We know of no direct transcript from them. But while the oldest manuscripts of the New Testament show over 150,000 variations in the text, there are very few that make any important change in sense, and of these not one which in any affects or modifies any article of the Chris- tian Faith. 39. Which is the more important aid to the knowledge of Scripture, acquaintance with the original languages, or Ch ristia n cxp erie n ce? Undoubtedly the latter, first in one's own life, and then in the lives of others ; but to be a competent and well-fur- nished teacher of the Christian religion, such as every pas- tor is called to be, one should have both. No one can understand the Psalms of David unless he has passed through spiritual struggles such as David experienced. No one can appreciate the Epistles of Paul, unless, with Paul, he knows the bitterness of sin, and the need of grace, and, like the Apostle, has failed in his efforts to be justified by the Law. It was the greater depth of Augus- tine's religious experience that made him the best inter- preter of Paul in the Ancient Church, notwithstanding his limited knowledge of the original languages of both Old and New Testament. It was the thought of Holy Scripture as expressed in the Latin translation that guided Luther's religious experience through its critical stages. His knowledge of Greek was very limited until after the Reformation had begun, and he had the assistance of Melanchthon. His knowledge of Hebrew was not inde- pendent of specialists, whom he called in as advisers in his translation of the Old Testament. Augustine was a greater theologian than Origen or Jerome ; Luther than Reuchlin or Erasmus, or even Melanchthon. 40. What rule has Luther formulated on this subject? Haec tria theologum faciunt: O ratio, Meditaiio, Temp- l6 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. I. tatio. "These three things make a theologian : Prayer, Meditation, Trial." (a) Prayer refers not simply to an act, but to the spirit or temper in which all study should be begun, continued and ended. I Thess. 5 : 17, "Pray without ceasing." It implies the constant sense of dependence upon the illumin- ating agency of the Holy Spirit, and the subjection of in- tellect and will to that of God. It means the laying aside of all prejudice, party spirit, and arbitrary judgments, the absence of all pride of opinion or learning, and the search for knowledge only to the end that God may thereby be glorified. (b) Meditation refers to the contemplative habit with respect to the truths of revelation recorded in Holy Scrip- ture. This finds its material first of all in the Scriptures themselves. They are to be read reverently, attentively, accurately, constantly, obediently, and with more regard to practical than to theoretical ends. Attention is to be given to their scope and purpose, rather than to their de- tails ; to their arguments, than to detached statements. An excessive occupation with details, is as if a surveyor who is commissioned to map out a district of country, for- gets himself in the close examination of the leaves of a forest, or of the chemical constituents of the soil, and re- turns without having accomplished his task. The minut- est details are important when judged in their relation to the whole. But the bearing of Scripture as a whole, and of each book, and each section of each book upon the whole must be appreciated, in order that each verse and each word be understood aright. Medi- tation is occupied not simply with the words and text and arguments of Scripture, but also with the facts and truths comprised in its study as a whole, and in their application in the lives of the Church and of individuals. We are not only to begin with Holy Scripture, and to go Chap. II.] THE BEING AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. IJ forth from this center to the application of its doctrines to human life, but all the occurrences of our daily lives should be interpreted in the light of Scripture. The his- tory of the world is a treasury of material from which ever fresh illustrations of Scriptural doctrines may be drawn. While special hours and seasons are favorable for special exercises of this kind, the meditation here meant is constant. It is not confined to devotional hours, or to any particular efforts, but is inseparable from all. mental activity of the true theologian (Ps. 1:2). (c) Trial or Practice. For theology is directed to a practical end. The revelation of God in Christ has been made in order to re-establish the communion of God with man. Only he in whom this end of revelation has been reached, and who realizes it in his own experience, actu- ally knows what it is (John 7: 17; Rev. 2: 17). Such trial or practice is continuous and progressive. Man's knowledge of God in Christ is deepened and extended by the fruits of particular words and promises of God in his individual life, and by his close observation of similar re- sults in the lives of others. What is otherwise general, is thus made special and individual. What is otherwise ab- stract, is thus made concrete. What is otherwise distant is brought home to the heart and deeply impressed there. It is in conflict with the trials and temptations of life, that God's grace is magnified (2 Cor. 12:9). It is in the school of affliction that the riches of God's revelation are more fully prized. CHAPTER II. THE BEING AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. I. What definition of Religion has been already given? We have said that it is "man's cheerful recognition and joyful service of a Supreme Personality, based on the consciousness of reconciliation and a community of inter- est with Him" (Chapter I, Question 13). l8 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. II. 2. What kind of relation does this imply? A personal relation, an attitude or disposition of one person to another. It is not the mere acceptance of a cer- tain number of principles, as when one learns a system of philosophy or commits to memory a list of axioms. Nor is it the experience of a particular class of emotions or delight in peculiar forms of sentiment. Nor is it the rec- ognition of a certain number of rules of conduct, as oblig- atory. Religion -has its intellectual, its emotional, and its ethical sides, because they are all involved in the personal relation, in which the very essence of religion consists. 3. What does a personal relation involve? A certain identity or likeness between the objects which it comprehends, viz., personality. God is a person. Man is a person. Religion is a relation of man to God. 4. What is meant by "a person"? Whatever can say "I." It expresses itself in self-con- sciousness and self-determination, or freedom. (See Chapter III, 38-40.) 5. What, therefore, is essential to the very conception of religion? Not merely reliance on some "great unknown," but a vivid conception of man's affinity with God, as the basis of all his relations to Him. As man was created in God's image, it is impossible to think of God except by begin- ning with what is implied in this image, and rising from this common basis to that in which God must be distin- guished from man. As God has theomorphized man, man, within certain limits, cannot do otherwise than an- thropomorphize God. Holy Scripture both follows this mode of presentation, and guards against its abuse. 6. Against what errors is the conception of God as a personality arrayed? Against Pantheism which teaches that God is the uni- versal substance, and that man, as well as the universe is Chap. II.] THE BEING AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 19 only one form of His manifestation, a mere phenomenon of God. Against all systems which would represent God as the mere force or thought of the universe. Against Polytheism which, on the one hand, by multiplying gods, denies a Supreme Being, and, on the other, abuses the anthropomorphic process by investing God with the limi- tations and infirmities of men, and even of lower creatures (Rom. 1:23). Against Agnosticism which denies the possibility of any knowledge of God, and Atheism which absolutely denies his existence. 7. But is not the conception of God as a person in con- flict with the Christian doctrine of the Three Persons in one Essence or Being? No. For Natural Revelation knows nothing of the Son or Holy Spirit, and even the Father it does not know as "father" ; but, nevertheless, all the teachings of natural religion point to God as person. Nor does the ampler and purer revelation made of God in Christ in any way disprove this. Religion is the communion of man with God the Father apprehended and reconciled through the Son ; with the Son as Redeemer and Revealer of the Father's will ; and with the Holy Ghost, as Teacher, Gov- ernor and Comforter. What natural religion gropes after as one Person, supernatural revelation declares to be not one Person, but Three Persons in one Being. 8. Can God be defined? The answer depends upon what is meant by "a defini- tion. " If "a definition" be full and complete, it would be equivalent to circumscribing God, which is impossible. In this sense, to define is to trace limits or boundaries, which would conflict with God's infinitude. But if it be the condensation into a few words, of what Holy Scrip- ture declares to be His essential and distinguishing prop- erties or attributes, this can be done. 9. What definitions then can be given? 20 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. II. "God is an infinite spiritual substance." Here "sub- stance" denotes the widest class or genus, while "spiritual" distinguishes this from "material" substances. The word "infinite" indicates the specific difference distinguishing God from other "spiritual substances." Angels are "finite spiritual substances." Nevertheless such definition is in- adequate, as there is a form of Pantheism which would accept it. The term "intelligent" if inserted would par- tially guard against such misconception. So God may be defined as "an absolute substance," distinguishing Him from all substances that are dependent on Him. Or enumerating the distinguishing qualities, relations and works of God, we have the definition of the Augs- burg Confession : "One divine essence, eternal, without body, without parts, of infinite power, wisdom and goodness ; the Maker and Preserver of all things, visible and invisible." 10. Can such definition be further expanded? Yes, as by Melanchthon, in his Loci Communes, which Chemnitz has admirably analyzed and grouped under four heads : (a) A clause referring to essential attributes : "God is a spiritual essence, intelligent, eternal, true, good, just, holy, chaste, merciful, most free, of immense wisdom and power, different from the bodies of the world, and all creatures." (b) A clause referring to the relations or properties and notions of persons : "One in substance and nevertheless three in persons, the Father Eternal, who, from eternity, has begotten from His own essence, the Son, His image ; the Son, the coeternal image of the Father, begotten of the Father from eternity ; and the Holy Ghost, proceeding from eternity from Father and Son." (c) A clause referring to the will of God, as manifested in a universal action : "And that this Eternal Father, with Chap. -I.] THE BEING AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 21 His coeternal Son and the Holy Ghost, coeternal with the Father and the Son, has created and preserves heaven and earth, things visible and invisible, and all creatures." (d) A clause referring to the will of God, as manifested in a special action, viz., in favors towards the Church : "And that this eternal, only one and true God, within the human race, which He created according to His image and for certain obedience, has chosen through this Son a Church that it may be holy and blameless before Him, on account of, through and in the Son, whom He has ap- pointed Head of the Church, His body ; and that the Son has sent from the Father and Himself, the Holy Ghost, as the Ouickener and Sanctifier of the Church." Such a description of God is a brief summary of all Theology. ii. Is this latter mode of definition widely adopted? Yes. An example is found in the Westminster Large Catechism : "God is a Spirit, in and of Himself infinite in being, glory, blessedness and perfection ; all-sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible, every where present, al- mighty, knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth." 12. Why is "the Name of God" so frequently men- tioned in Holy Scripture? Because no one can apprehend God in His essence or as He is. John 1:18 — "No one hath seen God at any time." Ex. 33:20 — "There shall no man see me and live." 1 Tim. 6:16 — "Dwelling in ligat, which no man can approacn unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see." Deut. 4:12 — "Ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice." 13. What then is the Name of God? All that God wants us to know concerning Himself in 22 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. II. this life. It is the sum and substance of God's revelation to man of what God is. 14. Explain Scripture passages in which the term occurs. When the Psalmist sings (Ps. 8: 1), "How excellent is thy name in all the earth," he celebrates the glory of the revelation of Himself which God has made. When he declares, "They that know thy name, shall put their trust in thee," he means, "they who have learned to know Thee as Thou hast condescended to reveal Thyself." "To re- member and to praise God's Name" is to take to heart and proclaim what God has made known. The Name of God is hallowed "when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as children of God, lead holy lives, in accordance with it." 15. Distinguish between (( the Name'' and "the Names" of God? "The Name" stands for God's entire revelation up to the^ time in which the word is used. "The Names" are particular designations, expressing either His being, or some prominent attribute, relation or work of God. 16. Hozv are they classified? As (a) Essential, such as Jehovah, Jah, Adonai, Elohim, El, in the Old, and Theos in the New Testament. Their etymology is obscure, although often stated with a great degree of confidence. Jehovah, the incommunicable name of the Old Testament, is widely, although not with cer- tainty, ascribed to the Hebrew verb meaning "to be," and interpreted according to Ex. 3 : 14, as "he who is what he is," implying the independence, freedom, immutability, eternity and faithfulness of God, as contrasted with the dependence and mutability of creatures. (b) Attributive, as when God is designated by one of His attributes, as "The Almighty" (particularly frequent in Job). Chap. II.] THE BEING AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 23 (c) Relative, expressing" certain relations, as "King of kings," "Lord of lords," the Creator," "Preserver," "the Searcher of hearts," etc. 17. What are the attributes of God? The various forms or modes in which the divine essence is expressed, or the various ways in which the one and simple divine Being has revealed Himself as subsisting. 18. Are they then accidental? There are no accidents in God. 19. Are they factors into which the essence of God has been resolved ? This would conflict with the simplicity or impartibility of God. 20. What then are they? Qualities inseparable from God's being. 21. By what threefold method is the idea of the Divine Attributes gained? By Causality, Eminence and Negation. 22. State this more fully. (a) By way of causality, we reason from the effect to its source. All the perfections required for what He has 'done and is doing are ascribed to God. (b) By way of eminence, we ascribe to God in the high- est degree all the perfections we see in creatures. (c) By way of negation, we deny to God the limitations and defects inherent in creatures. 23. How may the Divine Attributes be classified? Into Absolute or Immanent, and Relative or Transient. 24. Define them. Absolute or Immanent Attributes pertain to God as He is in Himself. They cannot in any form or measure, be ascribed to creatures, and, therefore, are absolutely in- communicable. Relative attributes imply a relation of God to a created 24 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. II. world. They are by analogy communicable, because they have their counterpart in creatures. The former are sometimes called Negative, because they deny the imperfections found in creatures, and the latter Positive, because they affirm the existence in the highest degree of the excellent qualities found in crea- tures in a lower degree. 25. Enumerate the Absolute Attributes. Independence, Simplicity, Infinity and Immutability. 26. What is meant by Independence? That God depends upon no cause outside of Himself, but that He is of Himself, and all-sufficient. This attri- bute is sometimes called "Aseity" (from Latin, a from, and se, himself). Is. 43:10, 11 — "I am he. Before me, there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am Jehovah." Ex. 3:14 — "And God said unto Moses: 1 am that i am." Marginal Reading: "1 am, because i am." 27. What is meant by Simplicity ? That God is without all composition, and cannot be re- solved into parts. Whatever is in God, is God. There are no accidents. Neither can the attributes be regarded as other than the Essence of God, but only as the one essence variously expressed, or regarded. To regard the essence of God as the sum of the attributes, or to resolve the es- sence into the various attributes, would conflict with the simplicity of God. Simplicity includes spirituality (John 4 : 24) invisibility and incomprehensibility ; since to see and comprehend an object, in this life, we must be able to consider it in its elements, part by part. 28. What is meant by Infinity f That all of God's perfections are without end or limit. Ps. 145:3 — "His greatness is unsearchable." Job 11:7, 8 — "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfec- tion? It is as high as heaven, what canst thou do? Deeper than Sheol, what canst thou know?" Infinity is not so much a separate attribute, as a charac- teristic of all the divine attributes. Chap. II. ] THE BEING AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 25 29. What is Infinity, when regarded with respect to temporal relations? Eternity, i. e., God's absolute transcendence of time. Ps. 90:1, 2 — "Even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God." 1 Tim. 1:17 — "Now unto the king, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory, forever and ever. Amen." 30. What is implied by Eternity? Not only that God is without beginning and end, but also without succession, or differences of time. The at- tribute of simplicity shows that nothing of God's life passes away with time, but that, at every moment, He possesses whatever we have throughout our lives succes- sively. What we have in parts, God has as a whole. To Him, past, present and future are one Now. Nothing can be past or future in One, whose life continues the same and unchanged. Possessio vitae tota simul. 31. What is Infinity, when regarded with respect to spatial relations? Immensity, i. e., God's absolute transcendence of space. He can be neither measured nor enclosed by it. Jer. 23:24 — "Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith Jehovah." 1 Kings 8:27 — "Behold heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee." 32. What is the positive side of Immensity? Omnipresence. 33. In how many ways is God omnipresent? In three: (a) By His power. Acts 17:28 — "In him we live and move and have our being." (b) By His knowledge. Heb. 4:13 — "All things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do." (c) By His essence. "Ps. 139:7-10 — "Whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven thou art there: if I make my bed in Sheol, behold thou art there; if I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." 34. Which of these is Omnipresence in the proper sense? 26 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. II. Only the last. God's presence is more than that of the sun, which penetrates all things with its rays, while it is far remote, or that of one whose influence works long after he has died. 35. But is not God described in Holy Scripture as coming and going ? This does not imply any real absence of His essence, but refers only to different modes of presence. God is said to be present in a peculiar way, when He manifests His presence by certain works, especially when He con- fers and increases spiritual gifts, or otherwise makes known His providential care of the regenerate ; or when by signal judgments He declares His wrath against the ungodly. Ex. 20:24 — "In every place, where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee." John 14:23 — "If a man love me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." Is. 66:15 — "For behold Jehovah will come with fire, and his chariots shall be like the whirlwind, to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire." The omnipresence of God considered relatively or with respect to creatures, is God's efficacious energy exercised in connection with His immensity. This energy admits of different degrees. But the relation of the substance of God to the substance of the creature is not nearer at one time, and more remote at another. 36. How is this distinction designated? We distinguish between the essential and the operative omnipresence. Abelard, the Socinians and Deists have denied the former, and taught that God is in heaven as to His essence, and is on earth only potentially. 37. But does not the omnipresence of God conflict with His simplicity? By no means. He is not present by extension or ex- pansion, as a cloud may cover a valley or a province, with part shadowing part ; but all God is everywhere. Nothing Chap. II. ] THE BEING AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 2/ can be so small within which God is not ; nothing so vast that He does not circumscribe. 38. What different modes of presence are there? First, that of a body in space, where each atom of the object corresponds to a point within a conceived area. This is known as Circumscriptive or Local Presence. Secondly, that of a finite spirit, within space. As spirit or soul is simple, and not resolvable into parts, its presence at a place is not to be estimated according to spatial rela- tions. This is known as Definitive Presence. Thirdly, that of God, or the Infinite Spirit, like finite spirit in simplicity, but unlike all other spirit, in trans- cending every limitation. This is known as Repletive Presence. The omnipresence of God is repletive. "Totus in rebus omnibus, totus in singulis, totus in se." 39. What is the Immutability of God? That attribute according to which He is subject to no change or variation, whether of essence, or of accident, of attribute or of purpose. There is no conversion into an- other essence, no passion or corruption, no decrease or increase, no alteration or local mutation. Rom. 1 -.23 — "The glory of the incorruptible God." 1 Tim. 1:17 — "The King eternal, immortal, invisible. James 1:17 — "The Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor shadow that is cast by turning." 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 will he not do it? Hath he spoken, and will he not make it good?" Mai. 3:6 — "I, Jehovah, change not." Ps. 102:26, 27 — "They shall perish, but thou shalt endure. Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same." 40. But did not Creation imply or produce a change in God? No. For from all eternity, it was His will to create the world. There was no change in God. The change was in the creature. What before was not then came into being. 41. Did not Incarnation imply or produce a change? 28 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. II. In like manner, this was what God had willed from all eternity. The Word became flesh, not by the change of divinity into humanity, but by the assumption of flesh by the person of the Word. 42. Is not God sometimes described as repenting? This expression is used to declare not a change in God, but in a relation caused by a change in man. When a ship changes its course, the needle of its compass continues to point north, but, in order to do so, it necessarily assumes a different angle when regarded from the line of the ship's motion. The change is not in God's purpose, but in the event; not in His will, but in the object willed; not in God's disposition, but in the external work and result, where He has left a certain amount of free agency to man, or to other second causes. These second causes remain- ing unchanged, God is unchanged. The second causes varying, God's immutability requires what may seem to be externally, but in reality is not, a change. 43. How about unfulfilled promises and conditions? They are not absolute, but adjusted to conditions which man has not met. Jer. 18:7-10 — "At what instant 1 shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; if that nation concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I, shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build up and to plant it; if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith 1 said that I would benefit them." 44. What distinction must be observed touching all such conditions? That it is one thing for God to change His will, and quite another for Him to will the change of anything. When He willed to change the Old Covenant for the New, and to abrogate Levitical rites and ceremonies, it was a change which He had determined and decreed from eter- nity, and instead of being a change of will, was the exe- cution of that will and purpose. Chap. II.] THE BEING AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 29 45. What are the Relative Attributes? Perfections of Life, Intellect and Will, in God existing in an infinite, and communicable to creatures in finite measure. 46. What is the Life of God? The inner energy of His being, ever active within God, and imparting movement and efficacy to created things. Life as an inner principle is declared by John 5:26 — "As the Father hath life in himself, even so gave he to the. Son also to have life in himself." Jer. 10:10 — "He is the living God, and an everlasting king." 1 Tim. 6:16 — "Who only hath immortality." Ps. 42:2; 84:2 — "For the living God." Life as imparted to others: Acts 14:15-17 — "That ye should turn from these vain things unto a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that in them is" (i. e., Life in Nature), "who in the generations gone by suffered all the nations to walk in their own ways" (i. e., Life in History), "and yet he left not himself without witness in that he did good, and gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness" (Life in Providence). Acts 17:28 — "In him, we live and move and have our being." 47. What Attributes are ascribed to the Divine In- tellect? Knowledge and Wisdom. Since they are infinite the former is generally known as Omniscience, while the latter is expressed in the term "the All-wise God." 48. What is Omniscience? That, by which God by a simple act knows Himself, and all things outside of Himself, whether present, past, fu- ture or possible. Matt. 11:21 — "If the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." Cf. 1 Sam. 23:12. Ps. 139:1, 2, 3 — "Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and my uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways." Ps. 15:3 — "The eyes of Jehovah are in every place, keeping watch upon the evil and the good." 49. What is meant by "a simple act" ? As there is no succession of thought or act in God, His 30 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. II. knowledge is not derived by any process of reasoning, or discursive methods, as from effects to causes, or from par- ticulars to generals. All the attributes of His being be- long to His Omniscience. "It is an absolute, simple, eter- nal, infinite, simultaneous, unchangeable and perfect in- tuition" (Heppe). Is. 40:13 — "Who hath directed the spirit of Jehovah, or being his counsellor, hath taught him." Cf. Rom. 11:34. 50. What difference is there between God's knowledge of Himself and His knowledge of all beyond and besides? The former is natural and necessary, and could not have been otherwise ; the latter is free, and dependent upon the determination of His will either causatively or permissively. 51. Where is God's knowledge of future contingencies which never occurred declared? John 3:20 — "God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things." 52. What is the Wisdom of God? His most exquisite skill in so adjusting causes to ef- fects, and means to ends that the purposes of His good and gracious will are never thwarted. Rom. 11:33 — "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past tracing out!" Job 12:13 — "With God is wisdom and might; he hath counsel and under- standing." Rom. 16:27 — "To the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever." 53. Before enumerating the Attributes or Perfections of the Divine Will, state whether there be a difference be- .zveen the Divine Essence and the Divine Will. The Divine Will is the Divine Essence directed towards the Good, and against the Evil, known by the Divine In- tellect. 54. Is the Divine Will determined by any process or succession of thought? As the Divine Intellect by one, simple act knows all things (see above Question 49) so by one volition God Chap. II. ] THE BEING AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 3 1 from eternity wills all that He wills. Distinctions are made in accommodation to our comprehension, which do not exist in the will itself. 55. By what is the Divine Will characterized? By the attributes pertaining to the Divine Essence, of which the Absolute Attributes above enumerated (Quest. 25 sqq.) are particularly to be regarded. It is independ- ent, because God is independent ; simple, because God is simple ; eternal, because God is eternal ; immutable, be- cause God is immutable. 56. What distinctions, however, have been made? Distinctions founded on the diverse classes of objects comprehended in God's will, or which express the diverse modes with which He wills them. They are : (a) Into Natural and Free. The Natural Will is the expression of His Nature. He necessarily wills what is described by His attributes. The Free is that by which He wills what He might have willed otherwise, as the creation of the world, the incarnation, the redemption of the human race, the call of Paul as an apostle. (b) Into Efficacious and Inefficacious. This is an Au- gustinian distinction, which must be most carefully guarded. The Efficacious Will is one that is inevitably fulfilled, as the will to reward the godly, and punish the wicked, the will of Christ to give Himself for lost men (John 10: 18), and to rescue some souls from ruin. The Inefficacious, is one which is not fulfilled, since it has re- gard to conditions with which man does not comply, Thus it is the will of God that all should be saved ( i Tim. 2:4). But it is not God's will that any man should be saved against his own will, or that the freedom of man's will to resist God's gracious will concerning Himself should be destroyed. There are barriers which even God does not will to overcome. Nevertheless when men perish, it is not bcause of lack of efficacy in the Divine Will, but be- 3 2 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. ,11. cause they do not appropriate the divine efficacy exerted upon them. (c) Into Will of the Sign and Will cf the Purpose. The former is in reality the expression or declaration of the Will ; the latter is the Will in the proper sense. The for- mer is God's Will as declared through outward signs ; the latter, the Will, as it exists in God. The former, Luther, in his commentary on Genesis, refers to the Revealed Word of God; the latter, to God's pure Majesty, or hid- den counsel. Examples of "will of the sign" are Matt. 6 : 10, 'Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth," where "will" means, "Whatever Thou commandest, or declarest that Thou wishest to be done," and I Thess. 4: 13, "This is the will of God, even your sanctification," i. e., "This is the commandment or sign of the divine will, viz., your sanctification, that you abstain from fornica- tion." In general it may be said, that "the will of the sign" is that by which God indicates to men what He wants them to do ; and "the will of the purpose," that by which He has determined or decreed what He wants man to do, or what He wants to be done to men. Thus by the will of the sign, God wanted Abraham to make all prepa- tions for slaying Isaac, while by the will of His purpose, He determined to preserve his life. The will of the sign has been distributed by the Scholastics into five spheres or modes : "With respect to evil : Prohibition and permission. With respect to good : Precept, advice and operation." God declares, they say, that He wills something either by Himself or through others. If by Himself, directly, it is when He effects something; this is called "operation." If by Himself, indirectly, it is when He does not hinder or prevent an operation ; this is called "permission." But if God declares He wants something done by another, this occurs either by directly commanding what He wants done and prohibiting the contrary, or by a persuasive in- duction, viz., advice or counsel. Chap. II.] THE BEING AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 33 Accurately speaking, however, "the will of the sign," is nothing more than "the sign of the will." For what- ever Gocl commands, prohibits, promises, threatens or does, is a sign of His will, although not of His entire purpose. The sign reveals what is nearest us, but not the remoter springs whence it flows. The will of the sign proceeds from the will of the purpose. The two can never be opposed to each other. The "will of the pur- pose" passes ultimately into "the will of the sign," when faith is replaced by knowledge, and what is obscure at one stage of revelation becomes clear at another (Eph. 3:5; 4: 13; 1 Cor. 13: 12; John 13:7*). (d) Into Revealed and Secret. This is only a better statement of the distinction which has just been ex- plained. For the secret will : Rom. 11:33, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past tracing out." For the revealed will : John 6 : 40, 'This is the will of my Father that every one that beholdeth the Son and believeth on him should have eternal life." For both : Deut. 29 : 29, "The secret things belong unto Jehovah, our God, but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever." (e) Into Absolute and Conditioned. The former is without ; and the latter, with conditions. It was by His Absolute Will, that God determined to create the world ; for He willed this without condition. It is also by His Absolute Will, that they whom He foresees as believing on Him until the end, shall be saved ; for this also is with- out condition (Chapter IX, 15). But it is by His Con- Tor misapplication of this distinction, see Baier 136 (d). 34 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. II. ditioned Will, that He wills the salvation of all men; for the condition is faith (Chapters IX, 16; XLI. 15, 16). (f) Into Absolute and Ordinate. The former is without, and the latter with regard to second causes. The Ordi- nate, while at first sight, equivalent to the conditioned, is found, on reflection, to differ. God wills that man's phys- ical life be nourished by food and drink, and that his spiritual life be quickened and sustained by the Means of Grace. In both cases there is an order of agencies through which God works. It is the conditioned will of God that men be saved if they believe; it is His ordinate will that they believe, viz., that from the Means of Grace rightly used, they obtain faith. God's will to create the world by His word was ordinate, but not conditioned. So also His will to raise the dead at the last day by the voice of the Archangel, is also ordinate. The meaning of "Abso- lute" must, therefore, be decided by determining whether it be the antithesis of "conditioned" or of "ordinate" (Chapter XLI, 15). (g) Antecedent and Consequent. The former refers to a disposition of God determined without regard to any circumstances ; the latter to one in which circumstances or conditions on the part of the creature, are regarded. Matt. 23:37 — "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not." Here man's will is represented as frustrating the will of God. By His Antecedent Will, God would save Jeru- salem. But a condition intervenes and an order must be observed. Man retains the power to resist God's will, and not comply with the condition, and fall in with the order which God's will has arranged. Hence it is God's will both that Jerusalem should be saved, and that it should not be saved. According to His Antecedent Will, that it should be saved. According to His Consequent, that it should not be saved, but be left to its sins. Chap. II. ] THE BEING AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 35 57. We are now ready to hear an enumeration of the Attributes of the Divine Will? Power, Justice and Truth, Goodness and Love, and Holiness. 58. What is God's Pozverf He is Omnipotent, that is, He can do whatever He wills. Matt. 19:26 — "With God, all things are possible." Luke 18:27 — "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God." Ps. 115:3 — "Our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he pleased." Ps. 135:6 — "Whatsoever Jehovah pleased that hath he done." 59. Can God do what is wrong? Heb. 6:18 — "It is impossible for God to lie." 60. Is not His pozver, therefore, limited? No. For God does not will, and cannot will what is contrary to His nature, or what would imply any imper- fection. Mortality or liability to death, fallibility or lia- bility to deception, mendacity or the power of deceiving and defrauding men, instead of implying power imply the lack of power. Every attribute ascribed to God, is a declaration that its opposite cannot be conceived of as possible. 2 Tim. 2:13 — "He cannot deny himself." 61. Against what further misunderstanding is God's Omnipotence to be guarded? Against every form of contradiction, e. g., as if it could be His will to make the deeds of the past matters that had never existed. Nevertheless what may seem contradic- tory and may actually be such within the sphere of the natural world, often is not such within the sphere of the supernatural. Eph. 3:20 — "Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think." 62. What is the Justice of God? That according to which God wills, approves, does and $6 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. II. commands what is prescribed in His Law, and hates and punishes whatever conflicts with it. Deut. 32:4 — "A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he." Ps. 145:17 — "Jehovah is righteous in all his ways." Ps. 119:137 — "Righteous art thou, O Jehovah, and upright are thy judg- ments." 63. But does not this elevate the Law above God Himself? No. For the Law is only the expression of God's na- ture. As declared to men in time, it is only the revelation of the immanent law, or standard, existing within God from all eternity. 64. Is a thing then good because God has willed it, or has God willed it because it is good? , This question may be otherwise stated as asking whether the will of God, or His essence and attributes are the standard of right and wrong. For man it is enough to know that God has so willed a thing. For since there is complete harmony between the will and the attributes of God, whichever be regarded as the original, the result must be the same. 65. But the question still arises: Is a thing good for no other reason than that it has been zvilled and com- manded by God? Are Truth and Love, for example, vir- tues only because of God's command? Some things are good entirely because of God's will and command, as the rites and ordinances of the Cere- monial Law, which had only temporary validity, and whose observance was condemned after the period had transpired for which they were appointed (Gal. 5:2). 66. But how in regard to maiters of permanent and immutable morality, such as are declared in the Moral Law? They are rooted in God's own nature. Their ultimate standard, therefore, is not the will, but the very nature of Chap. II.] THE BEING AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 2)7 God Himself. The highest grade of righteousness in man is the image of God, in which man was created. Eph. 4:24 — "The new man that after God hath been created in righteous- ness and holiness of truth. While therefore the observance of ceremonies and all positive commands are good and right only because God has willed them, other things God wills because they are right and good, as love to God and one's neighbor. Even though God had not prescribed them in any express com- mandment, they would not cease to be right and obliga- tory upon us. 6y. In what different ways is the Divine Justice ex- ercised towards men? Either in prescribing or in executing laws. Laws are prescribed {Legislative Justice) both in conscience and in Scripture. They are executed {Distributive Justice) either by rewarding the good {Remunerative Justice) or by punishing the wicked {Retributive Justice). 68. Is God's Retributive Justice essential or acci- dental? It belongs to God's very nature to hate and punish sin. No sin can permanently escape punishment, just as no good can fail of reward. Ex. 34:6, 7 — "A God that will by no means clear the guilty." Ps. 5:5 — "Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness; evil shall not sojourn with thee." Ex. 23:7 — "I will not justify the wicked." Hab. 1:13 — "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil." Cf. 1 Tim. 5:24, 25. 69. What attribute is most closely connected with Justice? Truth. For the Justice of God is God's being true to His nature. The truth of God is the conformity of His statements with reality, and His fidelity in fulfilling prom- ises and threatenings. See Deut. 32:4 (Quest. 62); Heb. 6:18 (Quest. 59). 70. What is the Goodness of God? 38 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. II. (a) On the one hand, His being absolutely perfect. Luke 18:19 — "None is good, save one, that is God." Mark 5:48 — "Your Heavenly Father is perfect." (b) His will to impart this perfection to others, the self- communication of all his moral excellences to creatures. James 1:17 — "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, com- ing down from the Father of lights." 1 Cor. 4:7 — "What hadst thou, which thou didst not receive?" Rom. 2:4 — "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbear- ance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" (c) His attraction of men to Himself as to the Highest Good. Ps. 73:25, 26 — "Whom have 1 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 forever." 71. What does the Goodness of God include? His Love, i. e., His delight in His creatures, and His craving for their welfare, a reflection of a similar but higher relation between the Persons of the Trinity. 1 John 4:8— "God is love." 1 John 3:16 — "Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us." John 17:24 — "Thou lovedst me before the foundations of the world." J 2. What different forms are there of this love? (a) Love of benevolence, God's disposition from eter- nity towards a creature, prior to any good that can move this love (John 3 : 16). (b) Love of beneficence, by which He carries this love of benevolence into effect, in working His good will for and in it (Eph. 5 : 25). (c) Love of complacency, by which He delights in the fruits of the love of beneficence as they are seen by Him in regenerate men. Heb. 11:5 — "For he hath had witness borne to him that before his trans- lation he had been well-pleasing unto God." 73. What is the first form in which this love is known? Grace, i. e., God's love regarded as gratuitous ; His favor shown without regard to man's merit, and in spite of man's demerit. Chap. II.] THE BEING AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 2)9 Rom. 11:6 — "But if it be by grace, it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace." Rom. 3:24 — "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." (Chapter IX, 9sqq.) 74. Is the zvord used in Holy Scripture in any other sense? Yes, by customary figure of speech, for gifts bestowed by this grace. Of these, some are ordinary, as in I Cor. 15:10: "I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not 1, but the grace of God which was with me." Others are extraordinary and miraculous. Eph. 4:7 — "But to each one of us was the grace given, according to the measure of the gift of Christ." 1 Cor. 12:4, 7, 8. 75. What distinction in grace zvas made by the Schol- astics? Into Grace gratuitously given (Gratia gratis data) and Grace making grateful or acceptable (Gratia gratum fa- ciens). By the use of the former, man, it was taught, could gain relative merit, entitling him to the latter. As we shall see afterwhile, nothing recommends man to the consideration of God but the righteousness of Christ. The grace gratuitously given, and the grace making accept- able, cannot, therefore, be distinguished. j6. What distinction with a better Scriptural founda- tion zvas also current? Into Prevenient, Operating and Co-operating Grace. "Prevenient" grace precedes man's desire or care for sal- vation ; "Operating" grace works within man Repentance and Faith" ; "Co-operating," attends the exercise, by the regenerate, of the new powers which operating grace has implanted. It is readily seen that the distinctions are not of the grace itself but of man's various relations to this grace, and of the process whereby the Christian life within man begins and grows to perfection. yy. In zvhat other form is this Love known? 40 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. III. As Mercy, or God's disposition to relieve the miserable, the divine compassion. Luke 1:78 — "The tender mercy of our God, whereby the Dayspring from on high hath visited us." Eph. 2:4 — "God being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us." Ps. 103:8 — "Merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness." 78. Is there yet another form? Yes. God is long-suffering. By this, it is meant that He defers inflicting merited punishment, in order to afford an opportunity for repentance. Rom. 2:4 — "Despiseth thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" 2 Pet. 3:9 — "The Lord is long-suffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Rev. 2:21 — "I gave her time, that she should repent." 79. What is the Holiness of God? That which separates and distinguishes Him from all that is not God ; the conformity of His will with His na- ture ; the sum of His moral attributes. Is. 6:3 — "And one cried to another and said: Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts." 1 Pet. 1:16 — "It is written, Ye shall be holy: for I am holy." CHAPTER III. THE TRINITY. 1. What knowledge of God is peculiar to Christianity? That there is but one God ; and yet that this one God is Father, Son and Holy Ghost. 2. Is not this docirine taught by Natural Revelation? It is neither taught by Natural Revelation, nor can it be demonstrated from that source, even when the fact has been made known from Holy Scripture. It is a "pure," not a "mixed" doctrine. 3. Do not some non-Christian religions teach a triad or threeness in God? Yes, as particularly, Hinduism and the religion of the Chap. III.] THE TRINITY. 41 Ancient Egyptians ; but such doctrine is entirely different from that of the Trinity, and not exclusive of Pantheism and Polytheism. 4. Is it not taught in the Old Testament? It is suggested there, but not expressly taught. When the doctrine has been learned from the New Testament, it can be faintly traced in the Old. 5. Who is first known to have used the term "Trinity"? Tertullian in "De Pudicitia," Chapter 21. 6. But why should non-Scriptural terms be em- ployed? In order to express in one word what Holy Scripture teaches in many words and in numerous passages. 7. Is not the doctrine one of purely theoretical or spec- ulative interest? By no means. It is intensely practical. The burning point of all controversies concerning it has reference to the nature of Jesus Christ, and involves the truth of His declarations as the Revealer of the Father, and the effi- cacy of His work as the Redeemer of the human race. 8. Upon what three propositions does the doctrine of the Trinity rest? Upon the following : I. There is but one God. II. There are three who are declared to be God. III. The distinction between the three is not one of manifestation only, but is real and personal. 9. What is meant when "unity" is ascribed to an ob- ject of thought? Either that such object is undivided within itself (af- firmatively) or that there is no other such object (ex- clusively). 42 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. III. io. Apply this to God. He is one and but one, that is, He is the only God (Deus est unus et unicus). 11. Give Scripture proofs. i Tim. 2:5 — "There is one God." Gal. 3:20 — "God is one." Deut. 6:4 — "Hear, Israel, Jehovah, our God, is one Jehovah." Ex. 20:3 — "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Is. 43:10, 11 — "Before me, there was no God formed, neither shall be after me. I, even I, am Jehovah; and besides me, there is no Saviour." 12. Is not unity implied in the very conception of God? There cannot be more than one Supreme Being. For this reason, wherever among the heathen a plurality of gods in taught, the mind inevitably turns to one as su- preme, and regards the rest as subordinate. 13. But is not this unity contradicted when we say that there are three who are Godf There would be a contradiction, if we were to teach that they are three in the same sense that they are one. If there are three who are God, and there be but one God, then the reference is to three distinctions within the one God. There cannot be three Gods. 14. What grounds are there for holding that there are three who are Godf The first ground is that Father and Son and Holy Ghost can each separately be proved to be God. 15. How? Because to each separately are ascribed: (a) Divine Names; (b) Divine Attributes; (c) Divine Works; (d) Divine Worship. 16. Apply this four- fold argument to the Father. The argument concerning the Father is so overwhelm- ing that it has no opponents among those believing in the existence of God. The controversy is with those who deny that the argument belongs to the Son and the Holy Ghost. Nevertheless, to make the process complete, it is herewith recapitulated : Chap. III.] THE TRINITY. 43 To the Father are ascribed Divine Names : (a) Names: i Cor. 8:6 — "To us there is one God the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him : and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him." 2 Cor. i :3 — "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Gal. 1:3 — "Grace and peace trom God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ." (b) Attributes: Omnipotence. — Matt. 11:25 — "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth." Mark 14:34 — "Abba Father, all things are possible with thee." Eternity. — Is. 9:6 — "The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father." Holiness. — John 17:11 — "Holy Father, keep through thine own those whom thou hast given me." Goodness. — Titus 3:5 — "But when the kindness of God our Saviour and his love appeared." Mercy. — 1 Peter 1:3 — "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, begat us unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." Glory. — John 17:3 — "The glory which I had with thee before the world was." (c) Works: Here it is sufficient to refer to those mentioned in 1 Peter 1 :3 above cited, viz: Regeneration and Resurrection from the dead, and in 1 Cor. 8:6, viz: Creation and Providence. (d) Worship: John 4:23 — "The hour cometh and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers." Phil. 2:11 — "That every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father." John 16:23 — "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name." Rev. 1:6 — "Priests unto his God and Father." 17. Applying this same argument to the Son, give, ■first, passages in which the names of God are ascribed to the Son? John 1:1— "And the Word was God." Cf. v. 14. Rom. 9:5 — "Christ who is over all God blessed forever." Heb. 1:8 — "Of the Son he saith: Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever." John 20:28 — "Thomas answered and said unto him: My Lord and my God." 1 John 5:20— "His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life." Titus 2:13 — "The appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ," or as in the margin, "of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ." 44 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. III. 18. How is this argument from Divine Names ascribed to Jesus Christ further confirmed ? By a comparison between many passages in the Old with others in the New Testament. (a) Thus the theophany of Is. 6:1, is explained in John 12:41 — "These things said Isaiah because he saw his glory; and he spake of him. Nevertheless even of the rulers many believed on him," i. e., on Jesus. (b) The sublime description of the immortality of Jehovah, in Ps. 102: 25-27, is quoted in Heb. 1:8, 10, 12, as referring to the Son. "Of the Son he saith: Thou Lord in the beginning didst lay the founda- tion of the earth," etc. (c) Isa. 7:14 — "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel," is quoted in Matt. 1:21, "And thou shalt call his name Jesus; for it is he that shall save his people from their sins." (d) Isa. 40:3 — "The voice of one that crieth, Prepare ye in the wilder- ness the way of Jehovah," is interpreted by John 1 123, 30 as referring to John the Baptist's relation to Jesus. 19. What attributes of God are ascribed to the Son? He is Eternal. Col. 1:17 — "He is before all things, and in him all things consist." John 1:2 — "The same was in the beginning with God." Rev. 1:8 — "I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come the Al- mighty." He is Immutable. Heb. 1:12 — "They shall be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years sball not fail." Heb. 13:8 — "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever." II Cor. 1:19 — "The Son of God, Jesus Christ, was not yea and nay, but in him is yea." He is Omnipresent. Matt. 28:20 — "Lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world." Matt. 18:20 — "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Eph. 1 123 — "The fullness of him that filleth all in all." He is Omniscient. John 2:25 — "He needed not that any should bear witness concerning man; for he himself knew what was in man." John 1:48 — "Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee." Rev. 2:18, 23 — "Thus saith the Son of God, I am he that searcheth the reins and hearts." John 21:17 — "Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee." He is Omnipotent. Matt. 28:18 — "All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth." Rev. 1:18 — "I have the keys of death and of Hades." Phil. 3:21 — "He is able even to subdue all things unto himself." Heb. 1:3 — "Upholding all things by the word of his power." Col. 1:17 — "He is before all things, and in him all things consist." Chap. III.] THE TRINITY. 45 He is Life. John 14:6 — "I am the way, the truth and the life." John 11:25 — "I am the resurrection and the life." John 5:21 — "The Son giveth life to whom he will." 20. What works peculiar to God belong to the Son? (a) Creation, John 1:3; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:10 (See above). (b) Preservation, Col. 1 :iy; Heb. 1 13 (See above). (c) Forgiving sins, Mark 2\J, 10, and saving, Matt. 1 : 21. (d) Raising the dead. 2 Cor. 1:9 — "We trust in God who raiseth the dead." John 6:39 — "This is the will of the Father that of all that which he hath given me, 1 should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day." (e) Judging the world. John 5:22, 23 — "For neither doth the Father judge any man, but he hath given all judgment unto the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." For to exercise this office infinite knowledge, power and majesty are required. 21. What zv or ship is claimed for the Son? (a) Equal honor with the Father (John 5 : 23, as above). (b) Baptism is to be administered in the name of the Son, just as in that of the Father (Matt. 28: 19). (c) We are bidden to believe in the Son, just as in the Father. John 14:1 — "Believe in God, believe also in me." (d) He is to be religiously adored. Phil. 2:10 — "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow." Rev. 5:12-14 — "Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive the power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And every created thing which is in the heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them heard I saying, Unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb be the blessing and the glory and the dominion forever and ever." 22. What adds especial force to these ascriptions of worship as an argument proving that the Son is God? The fact that God has revealed Himself as a jealous God, sharing His honor with none else. Is. 42:8 — "I am Jehovah; that is my name, and my glory will I not give unto another." Cf. Ex. 20:3, 5. 46 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. III. 23. Where is the zvorship of the very highest of crea- tures reproved? When John intended to worship an angel he heard these words : Rev. 22:9 — "See thou do it not; I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren the prophets and with them that keep the words of this book; worship God." 24. Where are the Names of God ascribed to ihe Holy Ghost? Acts 5:3, 4 — "Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie unto the Holy Ghost Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." 1 Cor. 3:16— "Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" 1 Cor. 12:4-6 — "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of administrations, and the same Lord. And there are diversities of workings, but the same God who worketh all things in all." 1 Sam. 2^:2 — "The Spirit of Jehovah spake by me," interpreted in v. 3: "The God of Israel said." 25. What attributes of God are ascribed Him? Eternity. Heb. 9:14 — "Christ who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself with- out blemish unto God." So, in accordance with the ordinary mode of describing the eternal in the Old Testament, as that which preceded the creation, Ps. 90:2, the Spirit is mentioned in Is. 40:13: "Who hath directed the Spirit of Jehovah, or, being his counsellor, hath taught him?" Omnipresence. Ps. 139:7 — "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall 1 flee from thy presence?" Omniscience. : Cor. 2:10 — "The Spirit searcheth all things; yea the deep things of God." 26. What works of God are ascribed to the Holy Ghost? (a) Works of Power, as creation. Gen. 1:2; Ps. 33:6 — "All the host of them by the breath of his mouth;" 104:30: "Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created;" Conception of Jesus, Luke 1:35; Casting out of demons, Matt. 12:28; Anointing of Jesus as Christ, Acts 10:38. (b) Works of Grace, as His activity in everything per- taining to the redemption and salvation of man. (c) Works of Justice, culminating in raising the dead. Chap. III.] the trinity. 47 Rom. 8:11 — "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth in you " 2J. Where is divine worship addressed Him? (a) According to Matt. 28: 19, Baptism is to be admin- istered in His name. (b) In 1 Cor. 6 : 19, the hearts of believers are said to be temples of the Holy Ghost. (c) He is joined with the Father and the Son in the Apostolic benediction (2 Cor. 13: 13). 28. How can you prove the fact that the Holy Ghost is God by a comparison of Old and New Testament passages? When what is ascribed to God or Jehovah in the Old Testament, is ascribed in the New to the Holy Ghost. Thus in Is. 6: 8-10, words spoken by Jehovah, are quoted in Acts 28 : 25 as spoken by the Holy Ghost through Isaiah. If in Is. 1:2 ; Ez. 1:3; Jer. 1:2; Hos. 1 : 1, etc., Jehovah is declared to be speaking through the prophets, this is further interpreted in 2 Peter 1:21, when men of God are said to have spoken "as they were moved by the Holy Ghost/' and 1 Peter 1 : 11, "Searching what time or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ, which was in them did point unto." 29. What is the chief point of attack concerning the divinity of the Holy Ghost? The force of the above argument is met by the asser- tion that the Holy Ghost is not distinct from the Father, but His Spirit, i. e., His intelligence, will and energy. This will be considered below. (Q. 32.) 30. What second class of arguments may be adduced for the doctrine of the Trinity? Those passages of Scripture in which all three, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, are co-ordinated. (a) The Theophany at Christ's baptism (Matt. 3: 16, 17) where Jesus is baptized, the Holy Ghost is present in 48 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. III. the visible form of a dove, and the Father speaks from the opened heavens. (b) The Baptismal Formula, Matt. 28 : 19, "Go ye, therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost." (c) The Apostolic Benediction, 2 Cor. 13:13, 'The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all." (d) The Promises of Christ, John 14: 16, "I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter even the Spirit of Truth." 15:26, "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father." (e) Similar formulas of St. Paul, as 1 Cor. 12:4-6 (see above, O. 24), Eph. 4:4-6. 31. But may not Father, Son and Holy Ghost be only different forms or modes of manifestation of God? No. For Father and Son are expressly distinguished as "other." John 5:32, Z7 — "It is another that beareth witness of me.... the Father that sent me, he hath borne witness of me." The Father speaks of the Son, and the Son of the Father, the Father addresses the Son, and the Son ad- dresses and prays to the Father. The Spirit is constantly carefully distinguished from both Father and Son. These statements are manifest throughout the entire New Tes- tament, and particularly in John, Chapters XIV-XVII. 32. How do you answer the proposed explanation, mentioned above (Q. 29) that the Holy Ghost is simply the divine energy or power f The names by which He is designated are personal, as in the Baptismal Formula and Apostolic Benediction. They cannot be a personification of God's power. Personal works are ascribed Him ; He teaches* prays, speaks, gov- erns the Church. Personal revelations are made, as at Chap. III.] THE TRINITY. 49 Christ's Baptism and at Pentecost. Personal occurrences are mentioned, e. g., He is blasphemed (Matt. 12: 31), is tempted (Acts 5:9), dwells in the hearts of believers (1 Cor. 3:16), is resisted (Acts 7:51), is grieved (Eph, 4:30). The distinctions between Father, Son and Holy Ghost cannot, then, be modal, but are personal. 33. What result has now been reached by this argu- ment? The establishment of the three propositions set forth under Question 8. 34. How is this doctrine taught by the Church? In the Athanasian Creed it is thus stated : "We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither con- founding the Persons nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son and such the Holy Ghost. . . „ The Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God ; and yet there are not three Gods, but one God." And in the Augsburg Confession : "There is one divine essence which is called and is God. . . . and yet there are three persons of the same essence and power, who also are co-eternal, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost." 35. What does the Athanasian Creed mean when it speaks of the "substance" and the Augsburg Confession, when it speaks of the "essence" of God? That which makes God God, His very being, that of which all His perfections and attributes are the ex- pression. 36. Hozv is this essence common to all three persons ? Not as though it were divided among them, or each contributed to it a part; for this would be contrary to the 50 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. III. Unity and Simplicity of God. But to each person, belongs the entire divine essence. The Father is not God with- out the Son or the Holy Ghost. The entire one essence is in the three persons collectively and individually. There are three who are God, and, nevertheless, there are not three Gods. $J. What is meant by "person"? ''Not a part or quality in another but that which prop- erly subsisteth" (Augsburg Confession). Father, Son and Holy Ghost are not parts of God, as man's spirit is a part of his complex nature ; neither are they qualities or attributes of God, as God's love, is God considered as loving, and God's omniscience is God considered as knowing. But they "properly subsist," i. e., they have a distinct and independent relation, apart from our thought or God's revelation. While "the Father is God, and the Son God, and the Holy Ghost God," the Father is neither the Son nor the Holy Ghost. "For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost." "We are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every person by Himself to be God and Lord" (Athanasian Creed). 38. What are the distinguishing attributes of per- sonality? Self-consciousness and self-determination. 39. What is a brief definition of "person"? A person is one who can say "I." 40. What distinguishes "person" in Grammar? The personal pronouns. "I" and "thou" express per- sonal relations. When the Father speaks of Himself as I and addresses the Son as "Thou," or when the Son re- fers to either Father or Holy Ghost as "He," there is a clear distinction of personality taught. 41. For the popular statement of the subject, this is sufficient. What value, then, must be attached 10 the cur- Chap. III.] THE TRINITY. 51 rent Scholastic definition, as revised by the Reformers of both branches of Protestantism? Each term is carefully chosen with reference to both actual and possible controversies or misunderstandings. 42. Repeat it. "A person is a substance, individual, intelligent, incom- municable, not sustained in another, or a part of another." 43. Why is "person" defined as substance? To affirm (a) that it is not a mere subjective concep- tion. It is more than an idea, or matter of thought, (b) In contrast with what is accidental. 44. Does this imply any contradiction with the for- mula of the Athanasian Creed that God is one in sub- stance? Like the "persons," the "essence" of God, is neither a mere subjective conception, nor accidental. The Schol- astic definition only attempts to define one species of sub- stance from another. At every stage in the attempt to reduce the contents of divine revelation into the technical terms of philosophy, the inadequacy of these terms be- comes apparent. Loqnimur de his rebus non ut debemus, sed ut possumus. 45. What is meant by the descriptive terms "individ- ual" "intelligent" "incommunicable," "not sustained in another," "not the part of another"? "Individual" is what distinguishes one from others of the same nature, the characteristic of what is separate and distinct. The individuality of each person is clearly pre- sented in the declarations of the Schmalkald Articles : "The Father is begotten of no one ; the Son, of the Father ; the Holy Ghost proceeds from Father and Son. Not the Father, not the Holy Ghost, but the Son became man." "Intelligent," having self-consciousness and thought. No tree or beast is a person. "Incommunicable," i. e., incapable of imparting its in- 52 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. III. dividuality to another. The personality of one can never become the personality of another. No human father communicates his personality to the children whom he begets. "Not sustained in another," to exclude any thought that the relation is analogous to that of the humanity of Christ to His divine nature. The one had a beginning in time, the latter was from all eternity ; the one originated from the act of the latter, and exists only through that act. "Nor a part of another." This is the statement of the Augsburg Confession, explained in Q. 37. 46. Hozv does "person" as used here differ from the same term as applied to men and angels? In the latter case, each person has an essence of his own ; here there is but one essence for the three persons. 47. By what term did the early Greek theologians designate the distinction which we indicate by "person"? "Hypostasis." They preferred this to "person," because they regarded it more irreconcilable with Sabellianism than the Greek word for "person," which means likewise "a mask," and could readily be perverted into the con- ception that the distinctions in God were not real, intrinsic and immanent, but only different economical and official manifestations assumed in time. 48. In zvhat are ihe three persons alike or the same? (a) They have, as we have shown, the same undivided divine essence. This was confessed by the Council of Chalcedon in the declaration that one Person is "consub- stantial," or in Greek "homoousios" with the other. (b) They have the same Majesty, so that no preference is given one Person above another. 'The Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal." "In this Trinity, none is before or after other ; none is greater or less than another" (Athanasian Creed). (c)Each of the three persons exists in the essence of Chap. III.] THE TRINITY. 53 each of the two others. This was designated by the Greek Fathers as perichoresis, or the eternal and insepa- rable pervasion of one person by the other. John 14: 10, "I am in the Father and the Father in me." 49. In what are they distinguished? By certain modes, not of manifestation, but of simul- taneous subsistence of the one divine essence. They bear a certain relationship to each other based upon two per- sonal acts, which result in five personal peculiarities. 50. What are these personal acts? Thev are immanent and eternal activities of God, known as opera ad intra, because they do not go out of God, but are wrought within Him. These are Generation and Spiration, when viewed with respect to the activity itself, or Filiation and Procession, when viewed with re- spect to its results. 51. What is Generation? That activity whereby one Person is Father and another Son. Or, more specifically, "the act, whereby God the Father, from all eternity, by the communication of His essence, begets the Son, His image, truly and properly, yet in a supernatural and inscrutable way." 52. From what conceptions must it be guarded? From that of creation, as though there could have been a time when the Son were not. From that of completion, as though the activity were one act that has ended or is not continuous. From all ideas of succession, change, division or multiplication. From all attempts to explain it figuratively ; for if the generation be figurative, then God is Father and God is Son only figuratively and not really. Yet literal as it is, it is raised above all the limi- tations of human relationships. It is the human relation- ship which is a feeble figure of the divine. 53. Upon zvhat Scriptural grounds docs this rest? . 54 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. III. (a) Ps. 2:7 — "Thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee." Compare with this the New Testament passages which take it as a basis: Acts 13:33 — "As it is written in the second Psalm, Thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee." Heb. 1:5 — "But unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?" Heb. 5:5 — "Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest, but he that spake unto him, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." God's day is eternity. (b) Express declarations of the peculiar nature of Christ's Sonship : John 1:14 — "We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten from the Father." John 1:18 — "The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him." (Margin: Many ancient authorities read: "God only begotten" instead of "only begotten Son." So especially Codex Sinaiti- cus.) Rom. 8:32 — "He that spared not his own Son." The "his own" is not a simple possessive, but is the adjective "idios," meaning his own in a peculiar sense, a sense in which none other would be called his son. Com- pare with this John 5:18, where Jesus is understood, by calling God "his own Father," using "idios," and therefore claiming God as Father in a sense none else could claim, as "making himself equal with God." John 3:16 — "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son." Heb. 1 -.3 — "Who being the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance." 54. What is Spiraiion? The activity of the Father and the 'Son, whereby, from all eternity, the Holy Ghost proceeds from both. 55. Is it identical with the activity by which the Son is generated? No. The Holy Ghost is nowhere said to be begotten ; and if this had been so, He would be Son and not Holy Ghost. 56. What proof is there that the Holy Ghost pro- ceeds from the Father? John 15:26 — "The Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father." 57. Is our Lord's promise that He would send the Holy Ghost a proof that He proceeds from the Son as well as from the Father? Not of itself, for a distinction must be made between the gift of the Holy Spirit in time from the Ascended Saviour, and a relation subsisting in God from all eternity. Chap. III.] THE TRINITY. 55 58. Why then did the Western Church maintain in opposition to the Greek Church that He proceeds not only from the Father but also from the Son? (a) Because if He is called in one passage of Holy Scripture, as in Matt. 10:20, "the Spirit of the Father,'' He is called elsewhere "the Spirit of His Son" (Gal. 4: 6) and "the Spirit of Christ" (Rom. 8:9). (b) Because in John 16: 15, His relation to the Son is described as such that all that the Spirit teaches is derived through the Son. (c) The Son is sent equally by the Father and the Son (John 16:7; John 15:26). (d) Without the procession from the Son as well as from the Father, it would be difficult to distinguish the Spirit from the Son, or to hold that the Son would not be subordinate to the Father. (e) Our Lord's breathing upon His disciples with the words : "Receive ye the Holy Ghost," was regarded a figure of what occurs from all eternity. (f) Hence "the river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb," in Rev. 22: 1, was widely applied to the double proces- sion from eternity. Without urging the complete decision of the question by each argument separately, taken together they indicate sucn a relations, 'p, as to render any other inference very difficult. 59. What then are the five personal peculiarities founded upon these two acts? Two belong to the Father alone : That He is unbe got- ten ("The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten." — Athanasian Creed), and Paternity. One be- longs to the Son : Filiation, that He receives and has all His essence of the Father. One belongs jointly to Father and Son : Spiration, and one to the Holy Ghost : Pro- cession. 56 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. III. 60. Is there not then an order? Undoubtedly, yet not of rank or of time, but of origin and operation. When the Athanasian Creed confesses : "None is before or after other," the next clause interprets it : "None is greater or less than another." The order is : "The Father"; "the Son of the Father" ; "the Holy Ghost, of the Father and the Son." Or: "The Father through the Son in the Holy Ghost." Rom. 11:33 — "For of him and through him and unto him are all things."' John 5:19 — "The Son can do nothing of himself, but whatsoever he seeth the Father doing." 61. Is the term "Father" zvhen applied to God always restricted to the First Person of the Trinity? It often refers to the essence of God, and thus belongs to all three persons alike. When in the Lord's Prayer we address, "Our Father which art in Heaven," no Trini- tarian relation is expressed or implied. We pray to all three persons in the one essence. The entire being of God is Father to men both by creation and regeneration. Nor can we address one person of the Trinity in prayer without addressing all; for they are all and in all, since they are one in essence. 62. Besides the immanent acts, not common to all per- sons, bnt distinguishing them from each other (opera ad intra), what other personal acts are there? The external activities proceeding from the power com- mon to all three persons, and directed to an end outside of God (opera ad extra). 6$. What especially distinguishes them from the for- mer class? They are common to all three persons. For this reason,, they are sometimes called "essential," while the immanent acts are called "personal." Nevertheless each person has manifested Himself in a peculiar way in a temporal work or act, which is ascribed to Him not exclusively or pre- Chap. IV.] creation. 57 dominantly, but because of the prominence given to that person in the description of said act in Revelation. 64. Name them. Creation., or the external work of the Father. Redemption, or the external work of the Son. Sanctification, or the external work of the Holy Ghost. 65. What traces are there {see Q. 4) of this doctrine in the Old Testament? It explains the passages where God speaks of God and the Lord of the Lord (Gen. 19:24; Ex. 16:7; 34:5,6; Xum. 14: 21) ; those in which the Son of God is explicitly mentioned (Ps. 2:y) ; those in which a plurality of Per- sons is mentioned (Gen. 1 : 1,2; Ex. 31:1,3; Ps. 33 : 6; Is. 61 : 1), as well as those in which God speaks of Him- self in the plural number (Gen. 1:26; 3:22), or where the name of God or Jehovah is thrice repeated (Num. 6 : 23-26 ; Deut. 6 : 4, 5 ; Ps. 42 : 1, 2 ; 67 : 6, 7) . 66. What philosophical arguments for the Trinity hare been used and what is their value? One from personality. Personality implies self-con- sciousness, and self-consciousness implies three things, a subject contemplating, an object contemplated and a sub ject conscious that that which contemplates and that which is contemplated are the same. Another from love. This implies a subject loving, an object loved, and the communion of love in a third who unites the love of the one loving and the one loved. Both have value as illustrations, but not as arguments. CHAPTER IV. CREATION. I. What is the relation of this chapter to what precedes? We come now to the more specific treatment of God in relation to what is not God. This, of necessity, has been 58 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. IV. anticipated, to an extent, in considering the Divine Attri- butes. But what has been only incidentally mentioned, is now to be more fully examined. Recurring to the exter- nal activities of God {Opera ad extra) defined at the close of preceding chapter (Q. 62, 63), we may say that all that remains for us in this treatise, is to treat of the three themes, Creation, Redemption and Sanctification. 2. What is Creation? The act by which God brought into being that which had no pre-existence, except in His thought. Heb. 11:3 — "By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen, hath not been made out of things which appear." 3. Whence do we derive our knowledge of this act? Solely from Revelation. It is a pure, not a mixed doc- trine. The heathen cosmogonies and modern scientific heathenism, with many divergent theories, some in a pan- theistic, others in a dualististic, and still others in a purely materialistic way, exclude the free activity and will of a sole Eternal, Omnipotent, Supreme Being. The New Testament references of which Heb. 11:3 is central, pre- suppose the detailed description with which Holy Scrip- ture opens in Gen. 1. 4. What is the purpose and scope of the Mosaic ac- count? It has a religious and not a scientific end. Its aim is not so much to record a detailed cosmogony in opposition to the many elaborate hypotheses which had preceded, as to solemnly affirm the supremacy and omnipotent activity of God, and the goal of all creation in Man, as its summit, towards which each successive creative act was an ad- vance. 5. Who created the world? The Triune God. Father. 1 Cor. 8:6 — "God the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him." Chap. IV.] creation. 59 Son. i Cor. 8:6 — "One Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things." Col. 1:15, 16 — "Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him are all things created in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or princi- palities or powers, all things have been created through him and unto him." John 1:3 — "All things were made by him." Holy Ghost. Ps. 104:30— "Thou sendest forth thy Spirit; they are created." Ps. 33:6 — "All the host of them by the breath of his mouth." Gen. 1:2 — "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." 6. But does not the Apostles' Creed ascribe this work in an especial sense to the Father? Yes, according to the order of the Persons of the Trin- ity, and because what the Father has of Himself, the Son and Holy Ghost have of the Father. 7. Are Father, Son and Holy Ghost, then, associated causes of creation? There is but one Creator. The three Persons are one God, and one cause and Author of creation. 8. Whence came God's purpose to create? All the external works of God proceed from His free will, and not from His natural will or any inner necessity, as do the immanent or personal works. 9. Does "creaie' ahvays mean "to produce from nothing"? Theologians distinguish between "immediate" and "me- diate creation." The former is the proper sense of the term ; in the latter sense, it refers to the producing of something from pre-existing material, as in Gen. 1 : 11, the coming forth of grass and trees from the earth ; and yet even here there is that which calls for an immediate creative act of God, for grass and trees could never be produced by mere matter. Man's soul was created im- mediately, and his body mediately. In Ps. 51 : 10, "Create in me a clean heart," the word refers to a change of prop- erties or renewal. It is with immediate creation that we have to do here. 60 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. IV. io. When creation is defined as "to produce from nothing," what is meant by "nothing"? Absolute non-existence. Not "a relative nothing," as from matter without form and void. ii. Could the world have been created from eternity? No. For eternity is an attribute of God alone. As- cribe eternity to a creature, and you ascribe infinity, for eternity is infinite duration. 12. Was there time before the creation? With the creation, time began. For time implies suc- cession, and, as before the creation, God alone existed and God is immutable, there was no succession. 13. How was the zvorld created? Not by the thought, but by the word of God. Ps. 33:6 — "By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made." 9: "He spake and it was done; he commanded and it stood fast." Gen. 1:3 — "God said: Let there be light, and there was light." John 1:1-3 shows that this was none else than the Personal Word of God, or Second Person of the Trinity, expressing and revealing the thought and purpose of God. 14. What zvas the product of creation? Heaven and earth. By the former is meant not only the visible heavens with their stars, planets, comets, me- teors, etc., but the entire superterrestrial world of spirits (2 Cor. 12:2; Rev. 4:1). By the latter, also all that earth contains. The physical insignificance of the earth is compensated by its destiny as the abode of the incarnate God, and the theatre of Redemption. 15. What zvas the purpose of Creation? The manifestation of the perfections of God, as the ultimate end ; the highest welfare of man as the subor- dinate. 16. What perfections? The glory of His goodness, wisdom and power. Ps. 19:1, 2 — "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge." Ps. 104; Ps. 106:4-9; 148; Rev. 4:11. Ps. 8:1, 3 — "0 Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, who hast set thy glory upon the heavens. When I consider thy heavens Chap. IV.] CREATION. 61 the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him?" These attributes are specifically mentioned: Goodness, Ps. 145:9, 10; Wisdom, Ps. 104:24; Power, Is. 40:26; Rom. 1:20. 17. Show that the highest welfare of man zvas the subordinate end? Ps. 8:4, 6 — "What is man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of man that thou visitest him? Ihou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet." 18. But docs not the Epistle to the Hebrews {Chap. 2:7) declare that this refers to Christ? Yes, as the Son of man, the ideal or representative Man, through whom the dominion over creation, lost by the fall, is more than restored. 1 Cor. 3:21 — "For all things are yours." 19. Where else is the same doctrine taught? Gen. 1 126 — "And 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 birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth." Ps. 115:7 — "The earth hath he given to the children of men." 20. But does not the New Testament go still further? Yes, by declaring that all creatures, even angels, exist for the sake of men. Heb. 1:14 — "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation." 1 Cor. 3:22 — "The world or life or death or things present or things to come, all are yours." Rom. 8:28 — "We know that to them that love God, all things work to- gether for good." 21. Does this, however, depend upon the Order of Creation? No ; but of Redemption, in which the superiority of Man appears in that the Son of God personally united Himself to a human nature, thus distinguishing it above all creatures. Nevertheless God had this exalted destiny of the human race and the Plan of Redemption in view from the beginning. It was no afterthought ; for God has no afterthoughts. 22. But is not the difficulty greater in regarding the lozvest of creatures subservient to mans highest welfare? 62 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. IV. Yes, for, to natural reason, some seem absolutely use- less, and others harmful. In answer to this, we need only cite a passage from Augustine : "If an unskilled person were to enter the shop of a mechanic, he would see many instruments of whose use he would be ignorant, and if very unintelligent they would seem superfluous. Or if an incautious person were to fall into a furnace, or were to wound himself with some steel instrument, he would re- gard many things harmful, whose use the artisan well knows, and therefore laughs at the folly and unadvised words of the critic. Nevertheless men are so silly, that while they do not venture to blame such a mechanic with respect to tools of which they are ignorant, but when they see them believe them necessary and adapted to some use ; nevertheless in this world, whose Maker and Admin- istrator is God, they attempt to criticise many things, the causes for which they do not see, and in regard to the works and tools of the Almighty Workman want to seem to know that of which they are ignorant." 23. For what various uses of man are creatures in- tended? Some are for the nourishment of the bodily life. Gen. 1:29 — "Behold I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tiee yielding seed; to you it shall be for food." Prov. 27:26 — "The lambs are for thy clothing." Others for man's thankful delight and pleasure. 1 Tim. 6:17 — "Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy." Ps. 145:16 — "Thou openest thy hand and satisfieth the desire of every living thing." 1 Tim. 4:4 — "Every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be re- jected if it be received with thanksgiving." Some are remedies. E. g. Oil, James 5:17; Oil and wine, Luke 10:34; Figs, 2 Kings 20:7. Others are preventives of disease, and preservatives of health. Ps. 103:5 — "Who satisfieth thy desire with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's." Some aid man in his life and appointed work on earth. Chap. IV.] creation. 63 Gen. 1:15 — "Lights in the firmament of heaven, to give light upon the earth." Ps. 78:53 — "The sea overwhelmed their enemies." Acts 14:17 — "He gave from heaven rain and fruitful seasons." Amos 6:12 — "Will one plow there with oxen?" Others are for example and imitation. Matt. 6:26 — "Behold the fouls of the air." Prov. 6:6 — "Go to the ant, thou sluggard." Is. 40:31 — "They shall mount up with wings as eagles." Matt. 10:27 — "My sheep hear my voice and I know them." 1 Cor. 15:41 — "One star differeth from another star in glory." Ps. 125:1, 2 — "They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem." Ps. 1 :3 — "Like a tree planted by the streams of water." 24. What proof of this can be found outside of Rev- elation? Man's progress in civilization is determined by the pro- gress made in the application of the objects and forces of the natural world to his use. Objects regarded useless for centuries are estimated at a high value when their proper use has been discovered. Illustrations are found in the modern application of steam, light (Photography), electricity, radium and other results of Physics, Chem- istry, Astronomy and Meteorology, and in the constant advance of discovery and the cultivation of regions pre- viously unknown, or regarded irreclaimable. The light- ning is used to flash man's words around the globe, and even the most irresistible floods of waters are diverted to commercial ends and to carry men from place to place. Niagara is harnessed. All is in virtue of the divine com- mand, "Replenish the earth and subdue it." 25. In what did Creation end? First of all in God's admiring contemplation of the result. Gen. 1:31 — "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good." Nothing that God has created is in itself evil ; it can become such only by its use in another sphere than that for which God designed it. 64 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. IV. 26. What is Optimism? The theory that the world as it came from God is the very best that was possible. 27. Hozv must this theory be qualified? By the circumstance that the original creation was only preparatory to still higher stages of perfection at- tainable only in the New Heavens and the New Earth. The goodness of the creature as it came from God's hands was that of the acorn not of the oak, that of the new-born child, and not that of the fully developed man. So would it have been even if sin had not entered. But through Redemption, as we shall hereafter see, it attains a yet higher grade. 28. What accompanied God's admiring contemplation of Creation? Gen. 2:2 — "He rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made." This is made prominent by the frequent references to it, as in Heb. 4:4; Ex. 20 : 1 1 ; 31 : 17. 29. Does this mean a cessation of God's activity? No. For this would be in contradicition to His life, and we read 1 John 5:17 — "And Jesus answered, My Father worketh even until now, and I work." The reference is to a change of work. Creation ceases. God's activity is henceforth in the sphere of Providence, and, except where the new Order of Re- demption intervenes, through second causes. God's rest is, therefore, only a change in His mode of work. He no longer creates, but sustains and concurs with things created, yet so as not to exclude, when He so wishes, His miraculous activity. 30. What can be said of an alleged conflict between Science and Revelation on this article? Between true Science and Revelation, there can be no conflict, for the true in the natural, and the true in the Chap. IV.] creation. 65 supernatural, cannot be contradictory. But when the facts of the natural world are elevated to the position of a standard by which the supernatural is to be decided, Science passes beyond its own limits, and ceases to be true science (see Chapter I, 32). When, on the other hand, some theologians push incidental allusions to na- tural events in the language and according to the popular conceptions of the age in which a book of Holy Scripture is written, to the position of an integral part of Revelation itself, they also sometimes imagine a conflict of Science, with Revelation, where no such conflict exists. 31. Explain this more fully. Where sceptical scientists and some well-meaning champions of Revelation agree in maintaining that it is an important part of Holy Scripture, that the earth does not move, and hold that the Ptolemaic System of the Uni- verse is essential to belief in Revelation, they should be reminded that the language of every day life that "the sun rises" and "sets," is not an untruth, but only de- scribes a real fact from the standpoint of the ordinary spectator, although not from that of astronomical obser- vation. The most common facts in nature would be unintelligible to all except those technically educated, if they were always described in scientific terminology ; and if so stated, would have been without meaning in the age when the Holy Scriptures were written. 32. What other caution must be observed? The rash acceptance of scientific hypotheses as though they were final. The theories of one generation of learned men in regard to the natural world, are ridiculed by their successors in the next. In the middle of the nineteenth cenairy, the Biblical account of Creation was attacked because it taught the unity of the human race, while only a few decades later, the same account was criticised be- cause of its antagonism to the Darwinian theory of evo- 66 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap: IV. lution of all forms of life from a common source. One generation attacks the Biblical account of creation because it teaches that light existed before the sun was created; a later generation learnedly treats of the luminous effects produced by electricity generated from the friction of an assumed "star dust." 33. To zvhat should this lead? To modesty in pressing the claims of "science" as well as to moderation on the part of students of Scripture in regarding any thoroughly established fact as capable of affecting the truth of Revelation. 34. State some of the useless controversies that have been waged? Such, for instance, as to whether the "day" of the Bib- lical account of Creation, be the natural day of twenty- four hours, as we measure time, or a long period, ac- cording" to 2 Peter 3 : 8, "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years." Another is as to whether Gen. 1 : 7 teaches as an article of faith that there is an immense reservoir somewhere above the clouds. Kindred to this is the question as to whether the world was created in the spring or the autumn. It would be just as pertinent for New Testament students to enter into learned discus- sions concerning the words that introduce the Sermon on the Mount as given by Luke (Chap. 6: 20), "He lifted up his eyes on his disciples," instead of treating of the dis- course of the Master. Various theories might be sug- gested as to how it were possible and how impossible for one "to lift up" his own eyes. Intense literalists could insist that "to lift" must mean to apply one's hands to an object, and that any other conception is heretical ; and sceptics might urge the same as an argument for the re- jection of the entire record. It is so easy to be diverted by accidentals, and to overlook the essentials of Holy Scripture. Chap. V.] providence. 67 35. What method has been used to explain some ap- parent difficulties? The suggestion of Augustine by which the first verse of Genesis refers to an original creation which had fallen into chaos before the events described in the succeeding verses occurred. Then, some urge, the description pro- ceeds as the events would have appeared to one who had been present as day after day recorded something new. But all this, and all other hypotheses are speculative, and their extended consideration only withdraws atten- tion from what is the actual purport of the account taken as a whole, to which we have referred in Q. 4. 36. Does the occurrence of similar accounts in an- cient Oriental literature, deciphered from inscriptions on tablets or otherwise preserved in any way affect the value and force of the Mosaic account? No. For the Mosaic account gives the history of creation its true religious value, and places it in proper relations to the history of the preparation of Redemption for mankind. The Christian should ever consider it from the standpoint of the fulness of the revelation he has re- ceived in Christ. CHAPTER V. PROVIDENCE. 1. What is Providence? God's administration of created things. 2. Hozv is it related to Creation? Since Creation gives being, and Providence preserves and directs it to its end, the latter is only the continuation of the former. Hence Scripture frequently joins them. Ps. 121:2, 3, 4 — "My help cometh from Jehovah, who made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved, he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold he that keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep." So also Ps. 146:5-10; Acts 17:24-28. 68 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. V. 3. Against zvhat errors must it be constantly main- tained? Those of Epicureans and Deists, who acknowledge a Creator, but teach that all things occur by the operation of forces implanted in Nature from the creation, as though, to use a figure of Augustine, God were a ship- builder who delivers the vessel, when finished, into other hands, and has for it no further care, or a carpenter who erects a house, and then entirely relinquishes it to its owner. 4. What proofs can be given from Scripture for the reality of Providence? It is found or presupposed on every page. Only a few passages need be cited. Matt. 5:45 — "Your Father who is in heaven maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and unjust." Matt. 6:26 — "Your heavenly Father feedeth them." Matt. 6:30 — "If God so clothe the grass of the field which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" 1 Peter 5:7 — "Casting all your anxiety upon him; for he careth for you." Acts 17:28 — "In him we live and move and have our being." Heb. 1 :3 — "Upholding all things by the word of his power." 5. Are there other arguments that might be cited? (a) It is involved in our conception of the Divine At- tributes, as the Goodness, Wisdom, Power, and Justice of God. His Goodness implies His constant communica- tion of blessings to those He has created. What sort of Wisdom would it be to create a universe and leave it? Or is it consistent with Omnipotence to limit its sphere to the beginning, instead of deeming it coextensive with the entire sphere of derived being? So also, as supremely just, He can allow no punishment to be inflicted unde- servedly, or reward to be given without merit. (b) From the constancy of Nature, and the perpetuity of creatures amidst the changes which centuries bring with them. (c) From the adaptation of creatures to their place, Chap. V.] providence. 69 and of parts and functions of creatures to their per- petuity and welfare. (d) From the general purpose of human history, which everywhere shows divine purpose directed towards a given end. The rise and fall of empires, the wonderful preservation of the Christian Church against the plots of enemies and the indifference of its friends, etc. 6. With zvhat objects is Providence occupied ? With all. Nothing is so great as to be beyond it. For angels are beneath its control (Ps. 91:11; Heb. 1:14; 1 Thess. 4:16). Nor is anything so small and unim- portant as not to have a place in its plans. For it has to do with young ravens (Ps. 147:9), sparrows (Malt. 10:29), frogs and vermin (Ex. 8:13,18), lilies and grass (Matt. 6:28,30), the hairs of our heads (Matt. 10:30), our tears (Ps. 56:8). 7. What error does this disprove? The modified casualism of Jerome who taught that it was beneath God's Majesty to regard the humbler crea- tures. With God the distinction of great and small that obtains among men disappears. 8. What practical application of this universality and particularity of Providence is made by Holy Scripture? The doctrine that it is not simply the life of each in- dividual that is regarded, but that, in each individual life, each stage and step are explicitly and separately con- sidered. 9. Cite proofs. (a) As to the beginning of man's life, Providence is described, as active in man's conception. Ps. 139:15, 16 — "My frame was not hidden from thee when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my unformed substance, and in thy book they were all writt?n, even the days that were ordained for me." Job 10:8 — "Thy hands have framed me and fashioned me." JO A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. V. And in his birth. Ps. 71:6 — "By thee have I been holden from the womb; thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels." (b) As to the progress of man's life. Food. Ps. 145:15 — "The eyes of all wait upon thee,- and thou givest them their meat in due season." Undertakings. Prov. 20:24 — "A man's goings are of Jehovah. How then can man under- stand his way?" Calling in life. Jer. 1:5 — "Before thou earnest out of the womb, I sanctified thee: I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations." Marriage. Prov. 19:14 — "A prudent wife is from Jehovah." Children. Ps. 127:3 — "The fruit of the womb is his reward." Protection from danger. Ps. 127:1 — "Except Jehovah keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." Protection from diseases. Ps. 91:3 — "He will deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence." (c) As to the end of life. Job. 14:5 — "His days are determined; the number of his months is with thee; and thou hast appointed his bounds, that he cannot pass." Ps. 139:16 — "The days that were ordained for me when as yet there was none of them." 10. Does this mean that God has set limits to man's life and otherwise determined its details irrespective of any agency of man himself? God's Providence, comprehending all the circumstances of man's course and the manner in which in every future contingency man would exercise his freedom, does not absolutely exclude man's agency. There are limits be- yond which man has no freedom. Since the fall no one by any compliance with divinely-appointed conditions can reach the age of a thousand years. Human strength has its utmost limits (Ps. 90: 10). But within these limits it is God's will that man's free agency be a factor, according Chap. V.] providence. 71 to which the period which God would otherwise have ap- pointed may be abbreviated (Ps. 55:23), or lengthened (Eph. 6:3), by His Providential activity. Accordingly, theologians distinguish between "the natural" and "the preternatural limits of life," and distinguish the latter into "the limit of grace" and "the limit of wrath." 'The limit of grace," however, does not always indicate a lengthen- ing of life. Sometimes the abbreviation of life is a blessing. Is. 57:1 — "None considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come." 11. Is it, therefore, absolutely necessary that every one die at the particular time and by the particular disease which proves fatal? No. For such doctrine would deny the efficacy of prayer, and the truth of God's promises with respect to obedience, and of His threats with respect to disobedi- ence. The preternatural limit of life is always hypothet- ical, including the condition of godliness or ungodliness, and the use or contempt of means. 12. But if Providence is occupied zvith all things, does this mean that it has something to do zvith the wicked deeds of men? Undoubtedly. For while God gives them no aid, He foreknows them, sustains the nature that sins, permits them, limits them and overrules them for good. 13. What acts are comprised in Providence? Three. Of these two are immanent, or occurring within God, Foreknowledge and Predetermination; and one is transient, viz., the execution of what has been pre- determined. 14. But does not this imply succession in God? No, for the order is anthropological, in order to enable us, by the analogy of what occurs in man, to distinguish what must always be kept separate in our consideration of God. *J2 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. V. 15. How is the Foreknowledge to be distinguished from the P redetermination f Foreknowledge comprises all things, bad as well as good. But Predetermination pertains only to what is good. 16. Can anything that God has foreknown occur other- wise than He has foreknown it? No, for He is omniscient. 17. Must not His foreknowledge, therefore, he the cause of the events foreknown? By no means. For God foreseeing the end from the beginning is, in those things He has left to human liberty, determined, in His foreknowledge, by the future decision of man. The event does not depend upon God's fore- knowledge, but God's foreknowledge depends upon the event. The foreknowledge of God is the record of the result of the exercise of free choice by the creature ; for to God the future is ever present. If the free choice of the creature were otherwise than it is, God's foreknowl- edge of the event would differ. The foreknowledge of God no more brings necessity to things foreknown, than my sight of a house has built it. 18. How is the execution of what has been predeter- mined effected? In three ways, viz., by preservation, concurrence and government. 19. What is Preservation? Since God's presence pervades all things, their exist- ence continues by His omnipresent power. Were He to withdraw His hand, they would return to nothingness. "The continued existence of creatures is more dependent upon God's presence, than rays of light upon the sun" (Calovius). Col. 1:17 — "By him all things consist." Heb. 1:3 — "Upholding all things by the word of his power." Acts 17:28 — "In him we live and move and have our being." Chap. V.] providence. 73 Ps. 104:29, 30 — "Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created." This preservation, beyond individuals, belongs also to species. Generation after generation passes away, indi- viduals die, but their places are supplied, and the race remains. 20. What is Concurrence? Nothing, either great or small occurs, without God's active co-operation (Job 10:8,9; 1 Cor. 12:6; Acts 17: 28). Applied to human acts, this implies: (a) A certain degree of liberty with respect to man's free will. For otherwise God would not concur or co- operate, but would only operate. (b) The activity of God in and through that of the creature. The effect is produced neither by God alone, nor by the creature alone, but, at the same time, by God and the creature. God is the First Cause ; creatures are second causes. God acts through second causes, not only by creating and sustaining them, but especially by im- parting His energy to all their actions. 21. What qualification must be attached to the ex- planation of this concurrence? The abuse of the energy communicated by God, in its application to sinful ends, comes entirely from the crea- ture. This abuse God permits ; for otherwise, the free- dom of man's will would be denied. God concurs with the effect, not with the defect of an action. 22. What is meant by Government? God's control of all acts of second causes. 23. In what different ways does this occur? (a) By permission. God sometimes places no insu- perable barrier in the way of those abusing their free will. Ps. 81:12 — "I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart, that they might walk in their own counsels." Acts 14:16 — "Who suffered all the nations to walk in their own ways." Rom. 1:24, 28 — God permits even when he does not will what is permitted. 74 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. V. (b) By hindrance. God sometimes prevents the actions of creatures from reaching the end they would otherwise attain by the natural exercise of the powers He has allotted them, or by the use of their free wills. ' An illustration is seen, where, in Dan. 3: 21, the fire did not harm the three faithful confessors of the only true God, or where, in Num. 2.2.'. 11, Balaam's purpose to curse Is- rael is thwarted, or, in 2 Kings 7 : 6, where the counsels of the Syrians are thrown into confusion. (c) By direction. All actions of creatures, good and bad, are guided to the ends which He has designed. God has a plan ; and every act of man's will is made to contribute to its ultimate result. He brings forth good out of evil, and converts evil into good. Saul went forth to seek asses, and, through God's direction, returned a king. The sons of Jacob sold Joseph into slavery, who, as governor of Egypt, became the means of saving the entire family from famine. Gen. 50:20 — "Ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good." The Jews crucified Christ, and through His death, sal- vation is prepared for the race, and the highest glory re- sulted for him whom they hated (Acts 4: 27, 28). (d) By determination. God appoints certain limits to the strength and activity of creatures (Job 1:12; 2:6; 1 Chron. 21 : 27). 24. Is Providence occupied with all things in the same way? No. God disposes events in one way with respect to the good and in another with respect to the wicked. The former are the objects of His especial care and guidance. Providence considered with respect to them is sometimes called "Special Providence" (Matt. 10:31; Heb. 1:14; Deut. 32:9- J 5; Ps - 33- 18; 37: 19,25; 91: n). 25. What is meant by the distinction between Ordi- nary and, Extraordinary Providence ? Chap. V.] providence. 75 Ordinary Providence designates God's regular opera- lion through second causes. Extraordinary, refers to His activity either independently of second causes, or through these causes in an unusual way. 26. What other term designates Ordinary Providence? "Law of Xature." When second causes have been ob- served to act uniformly under given circumstances and conditions, this uniform method is called "a law." Day has been found to follow night, and summer winter, with- out exception, in the experience of mankind ; and, hence, we deduce the rule or law, according to which all our expectations conform. 27. What caution must be observed in the tracing of "laws''? The widening of experience often shows that the method accepted as law is not absolutely uniform, but changes under conditions that had not been observed be- fore. The inhabitant of the tropics may know nothing of the solidification of water at a low degree of temperature. An uneducated man would deny the possibility of light- ing a candle with a piece of ice ; and yet the chemist can do it by attaching to the wick a pellet of sodium. Super- ficial observation shows that cold contracts objects; but wider observation shows that from 39 degrees Fahren- heit until the freezing point, the law changes. Only a few years ago, the possibility of holding a conversation half way across a continent would have been derided, as would also have been the assertion that the eve could, under certain circumstances, penetrate a human body and see objects on the other side. A so-called "law" is not, there- fore, God's ordinary way of working; but it is an infer- ence based upon man's observation. It is the result at- tained by generalization from the widest sphere of facts that have fallen beneath the experience of the one who undertakes to state the law, j6 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. V. 28. But if human experience were to haze all the de- tails, so far as the past and the present are concerned, could God be bound in the future to the rules underlying such details? This would make God the creature and subject of law, and would virtually deny that there is a God. For God is nothing, if not supreme and sovereign. He who has fixed the so-called "laws of nature," could just as readily have ordained other laws, varying from them, and, when and where He pleases, He can act through them extraor- dinarily, or dispense with them altogether. 29. What, then, is extraordinary Providence ? A miracle. It may be defined as a suspension of a' law of nature, i. e., an activity that varies from the mode that has heretofore fallen under man's observation. Second causes may be employed in an extraordinary way, so that their activity may be accelerated or retarded ; or God may act without them. 30. Upon what then does the possibility of a miracle depend ? Upon the freedom of God. "God works miracles in order to testify that He is omnipotent, and above nature. The ordinary course of things testifies that Nature has an Architect, who is wise, kind, righteous, viz., God. But He acts outside of and beyond this order, as when He raised the dead, or made the sun stand still, or turned it back, in order that we may know that He is Almighty, and stronger than the whole world, and that He can bring aid from outside of the natural order" (Melanch- thon ) . 31. Upon what does the necessity of a miracle depend f It stands and falls with the necessity of Revelation ; for Revelation is a miracle. The order of Nature, violated and disarranged by sin, is restored by God's working over and beyond the sphere of purely natural causes. The two Chap. V.] providence. 77 fundamental miracles are Creation and Redemption. The working out of what was introduced by Creation having been interrupted by sin, every miracle, since the fall, points to and centers in Redemption. The necessity for a miracle was introduced by sin. A low view of the ex- tent and significance of sin results in the denial of the necessity of the miraculous. Where human guilt is passed over lightly, the need of a Redeemer is depreciated. The denial of the possibility of the miraculous is grounded, therefore, not so much in intellectual, as in moral difficulties. The strongest arguments are those which appeal more to the conscience than to the under- standing. 32. What is the great proof of the reality of miracles? The Person of Christ, the miracle of miracles (1 Tim. 3 : 16) ; and next to this, the regenerate life of the child of God, proceeding from that of Christ ( 1 Cor. 6 : 11). 33. From what standpoints is the possibility of mir- acles attacked? (a) From that of Atheism, which in its denial of God, necessarily denies that His Supreme will orders all things, and also makes exception to this order. The most wide- spread form of Atheism, and the one whose attacks on miracles is most frequently heard, is Materialism, with its assertion that there is neither God, nor mind, nor pur- pose in the universe. (b) From that of Deism, with its conception that when the clock is wound up it henceforth runs forever of itself, and that God acts in nature exclusively through the forces He once placed there. The world, according to it, has been so framed, that there can never be a variation from what ordinarily occurs. What ordinarily occurs must al- ways occur ; and what ordinarily does not occur, can never occur. Such are its postulates. (c) From that of Pantheism, where God is degraded to a mere personification of the powers of Nature. 78 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. V. 34. Does the exposure of pretended miracles in any way affect the argument for the miracles recorded and prophesied in Scripture? They only point to faith in the miraculous as grounded in the very nature of man's mind. What they abuse and mislead, finds its true end and satisfaction within the limits fixed in Holy Scripture. The detection of counter- feits does. not disprove the value of genuine coins. 35. But have not miracles been wrought by Satan and his adherents? The magicians in Egypt wrought wonders (Ex. 7: 11, 12), and the false prophet in Rev. 19: 20. The Israelites, in Deut. 13 : 1-5, are warned against being misled by errorists notwithstanding their signs and wonders. These may have been nothing more than inexplicable facts tran- scending the experience of their witnesses, or as super- natural power may be conceded temporarily to the wicked in order that, in the conflict, God may be glorified, by counterbalancing and overcoming their very highest ef- forts and achievements by the still greater supernatural power with which He interferes for man's deliverance. Every so-called Satanic miracle may be interpreted, how- ever, by a more than usual acquaintance with purely nat- ural resources, as though some one were to appear among uncivilized people and would use wireless telegraphy. 36. Are miracles then evidences of the truth of the cause for which they are wrought? Not in themselves. A miracle attracts attention, awak- ens reflection, leads to investigation, and brings the cause proclaimed to the test of Holy Scripture (Gal. 1:8.) "Miracles are seals of doctrine ; as, therefore, a seal torn from a letter proves nothing, so miracles, without doc- trine, are not valid" (Gerhard). See Chapter XIII, 21-23. 37. What distinction was made by the Scholastics? Into miracula, or miracles properly so called, and mira- Chap. V.] providence. 79 bilia, or apparent miracles. The former are deeds utterly surpassing natural powers, and wrought, therefore, only by God (Ps. 136:4). The latter were explained as wrought by the application of natural agents in a mys- terious way, so as to excite astonishment, and to be re- garded as miraculous. 38. Into what two classes have miracles been divided? Into Miracles of Nature, and Miracles of Grace. The former were wrought by God in matters subject to sense, as when Christ raised the dead, and stilled the tempest, or when He Himself arose from the tomb. The latter are wrought within men for their salvation, or pertain to man's relation to God. The former are subordinate to the latter. John 14:12 — "Greater works than these shall he do, because 1 go unto the Father." The awakening of one born in sin to spiritual life is more wonderful than the quickening of Lazarus. All external miracles wrought by Christ and His Apostles were for the purpose of bringing men under the influence of spiritual power to justify, regenerate and glorify them. 39. What particular practical application is to be made of the doctrine of Providence? It leads to a correct estimate of second causes. On the one hand, they are to be diligently used, as the ordinary means through which God communicates His gifts and blessings (i Thess. 4: 11; 2 Cor. 3: 10, 11; Matt. 4:7). On the other hand, we are not to rest in them ; but, in our faithful discharge of the duties of our callings we may be assured that God has ways of caring for us and of rendering our work effective far above all we can ask or think (Ps. 127 : 1, 2 ; Matt. 4:4; 6 : 25-39 ; Phil. 4:6; 1 Peter 5:7). 80 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. VL CHAPTER VI. OF ANGELS. 1. Why is the doctrine of Angels treaied at this place ? Because after treating of Creation and Providence, we consider the chief creatures of God, Angels and Men, and the chief instruments of God's Providential activity, Angels, 2. Why is so Utile prominence given it in the Confes- sions of the Church? Because with the pfift of the Holv Ghost at Pentecost, and His abiding presence with the Church, the conscious- ness of the favor and nearness of God in Christ, com- pletely subordinates their agency in the heart of the Christian. With the fuller appropriation of assurance of faith and of adoption as children of God, which entered with the study of St. Paul at the Reformation period, the chief allusions in the Confessions are in the cautions given against an abuse of the doctrine. 3. Is the doctrine, therefore, unimportant? By no means. But the Reformation had to protest against the excessive attention that had been previously accorded it. 4. What are angels? Pure and complete spirits, created by God, to be His agents in the administration of creation. 5. Why do ive call them "pure" or "complete spirits"? In distinction from men who need bodies for the com- pletion of their being. Man, between death and the res- urrection, exists without body, but it is an incomplete con- dition endured as a result of sin. 6. Arc angels the only pure or complete spirits? God is such. But angels differ from God in that while He is an infinite, they are finite spirits. Chap. VI.] OF ANGELS. 81 7. But are not angels sometimes described as having bodies? Yes, but these bodies are assumed temporarily, and cast aside when the purpose for which they have been used has been accomplished. They have no more identity with the personality of angels than the pen has with the writer, or the needle with the seamstress. 8. What do we know of their creation? Nothing more than the fact (Col. 1: 16). The entire absence of any allusion to the creation of angels in the Mosaic account shows that the record does not aim to be exhaustive. They are described as being in existence, if not before the creation of the earth, at any rate cotem- poraneously with it. Job 34:4, 7 — "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" That "sons of God" in the Book of Job are angels is proved from Chap. 1 : 6. 9. What are the attributes common to Good and Bad Angels? Those belonging to complete finite spirits. They are simple or irresolvable into parts ; invisible except through an assumed form; immutable so far as inner physical changes are concerned; immortal, i. e., dependency upon God ; and illocal, or independent of ordinary spatial rela- tions. They have extraordinary intelligence, a free will, great power, limitation with respect to presence, but abil- ity to change this presence with extraordinary swiftness. 10. Hozv as to their number? Dan. 7:10 — "Thousands of thousands ministered unto him, and ten thou- sand times ten thousand stood before him." Matt. 26:53 — "He shall even now send me more than twelve legions of angels?" 11. How many states of angels are there? Three. The State of Grace, the State of Glory and the State of Misery. &2 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. VI. The State of Grace is that in which they were all ori- ginally created equally wise and holy, and for eternal happiness (Gen. i : 31 ; John 8: 44). The State of Glory is that in which the angels who abode in the wisdom and holiness in which they were created, have been admitted to the clear sight of God, and perpetually enjoy His goodness (Matt. 18:10; Ps. 16:11). The State of Misery is the sad condition of the angels who, of their own accord and by the abuse of their free will, departed from God (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). 12. What differences in these three states wiih re- spect to the possibility of sinning? In the State of Grace they were able either to sin or not to sin {posse peccare aut non peccare). In the State of Glory they are not able to sin (non posse peccare). In the State of Misery they cannot refrain from sin- ning (non posse non peccare). 13. What ground is there for affirming the impecca- bility of the Good Angels ? The godly, after the resurrection, are said to be im- mortal, and "equal unto the angels" (Luke 20:36) ; and the Lord's Prayer refers to the perfection with which God's will is done in heaven (Matt 6: 10). 14. But is such impeccability consistent with free- dom of the zuillf Yes. Not to be able to sin is the highest degree of free- dom. Such is the freedom of God. To be raised not only aoove all imperfection, but especially above all liability to suffer from an imperfection, is the highest perfection. (See Chapter XXIII, 29, 30.) 15. What was the ground for the exaltation of the Good Angels to this higher stage? No absolute decree of God, for it was based upon the condition of merit. Not .the merit of Christ, for He Chap. V-L] of angels. 83 came to seek that which was lost (Luke 19: 10) while the Good Angels were never lost ; and He is the "Mediator between God and men" (1 Tim 2:5), not between God and angels. Nor was it any merit of their own ; since they were under obligation, in virtue of their creation, to serve God to their utmost power. The sole ground, therefore, is the unmerited goodness of God. 16. What of the knowledge of angels ? When Christ wished to state the impossibility of know- ing a certain event, He made it very emphatic by saying that not even the angels in heaven know it (Mark 13: 32). Thus He declared both the greatness and the limi- tations of their knowledge. Only God knows the secrets of men's hearts (1 Kings 8: 39). Not only is there much beyond which they have desired to know (1 Peter 1 : 12), but, in God's own time, this is made known to them by revelation (Eph. 3:10). 17. What of their power? The destruction of Sennacherib's army of 185,000 men, in one night, by a single angel (2 Kings 19: 35), is a sufficient proof. They are said to be "mighty in strength" (Ps. 103:7), "angels of his power" (2 Thess. 1:7). 18. What are the works of Good Angels? (a) The adoring worship of God (Dan. 7: 10; see Q 10 ; Is. 6:2; Rev. 4:8; Matt. 6 : 10) . (b) The service of the godly. Heb. 1:14 — "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation?" Ps. 91:11 — "He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." 19. Has each child of God a guardian angel? It is going too far to derive such a doctrine from Matt 18: 10 and Acts 12: 15. The godly are frequently com- forted with the assurance that they are protected not by an angel, but by angels. See Ps. 91 : n, cited above. A 84 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. VI. number of angels — sometimes a host — attend one man (Gen. 32:2; 2 Kings 6:16; Luke 16:22), and -rejoice over the repentance of but one sinner (Luke 15: 10). 20. Within zvhat sphere do they serve \he godly ? Within that of the natural world. They are revealed as active at peculiarly critical epochs in human life (Matt. 1:10; 4:11; Acts 10:3; Luke 16:22). There is no evidence that they work otherwise than through second causes. Their connection with the Kingdom of Grace is only for the disposition of Providential agencies in its service. The mysteries of incarnation and redemption were beyond their grasp (Eph. 3:9). It is not their office to effect any of those spiritual changes within man, which the Holy Spirit works through the word of the Gospel. Angels bring deliverance from bodily dangers, but they are no way revealed as regenerating or sanctifying. 21. Where is their activity especially prominent? At every great epoch of God's revelation of Himself in deed. At Creation (Job 38:7) ; the Giving of the Law (Deut. 33 : 2 ; Gal. 3 : 19) ; the Incarnation (Luke 1 : 20; 2:9,13); the Temptation (Matt. 4:11); the Passion (Luke 22:43) 5 the Resurrection (John 20: 12) ; the As- cension (Acts 2:11), and the Final Judgment (Matt. 25:31; Mark 13:27; Matt. 13:41,49; 1 Thess. 4:16; 2 Thess. 1:7). 22. Is this activity confined to individuals? No. It is extended to nations (Dan. 10), and to the assemblies of Christians (1 Cor. 11:10; 1 Tim. 5:21; Eph. 3 : 10). 2^. Are we to invoke angels for their aid? This is forbidden by Col. 1:18 — "Let no man rob you of your prize by worshipping of the angels." Rev. 19:10 — "And I fell down before his feet to worship him. And he saith unto me, See thou do it not: I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God." Cf. 22:8, 9. It also conflicts with the sole mediatorship of Christ (Rom. 8:34; 1 Tim. 2:5; 1 John 2:1). Chap. VI.] OF ANGELS. 85 24. But ere there not several kinds of worship, one of which belongs to God alone, and another also to angels? For this argument of the Greek and Roman churches, there is no Scriptural warrant. We indeed should honor and revere them as God's ministers, and thank Him for what He effects for us through their agency ; but this is far different from worshiping them or invoking their in- tercession (1 Cor. 11 : 10; 1 Tim. 5 : 21 ; Luke 15 : 7, 10). 25. Are there no: instances zvhere zvorship is actually accorded an angel ? If such passages as Gen. 18: 1-3 actually accord such worship, it is because it is given either to the "Angel of the Lord" as the uncreated Angel, who is none less than Jehovah Himself, or to the Angel, as the representative of Jehovah.* 26. What different orders cf Good Angels are there? Col. 1:16 — "Things invisible, whether thrones or dominions, or principali- ties, or powers." Rom. 8:38 — "Nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers." Eph. 3:10 — "The principalities and powers in heavenly places." 1 Thess. 4:16 — "The voice of the archangel." Jude 9 — "Michael the archangel." 2J. What higher orders appear in the Old Testament? Cherubim and Seraphim, distinguished from angels properly so called, in that while angels go forth as mes- sengers, they stand in the presence of God. The Cheru- bim are described four-winged. Their appearance indi- cates a special divine presence. They are the attendants of the divine glory as it descends to man (Ps. 18:10; 80 : 1 ; 99 : 1 ; 2 Sam. 22 : 11 ; Is. 37 : 16). The Seraphim are described six-winged and dwell in the secret glory of God. They do not descend, but are manifested only when man is raised to contemplate the glory of God (Is. 6:2-6; Rev. 4: 7 sqq.). 28. By what figure is the brilliancy of their endow- ments indicated? *The former view is advocated at length by Kurtz, "History of O, T. Covenant" I, Sec. 50. 86 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. VI. They are sometimes called stars (Job 38 : 7 ; Ps. 148:3) and compared to lightning (Luke 10: 18). 29. What problem meets us when we consider the fall of some angels ? That of the origin of evil. 30. Is it explicable? No. The farthest we can go is to learn that it was God's will that the perfections with which angels were originally endowed should be increased and developed in their struggle against evil. To this end, therefore, they were endowed with a will which was able to sin. 31. Did the sin of the Bad Angels come from any ex- ternal source? No, but from the will of beings originally pure and holy spontaneously turning from God. John 8:44 — "When he speakelh a lie, he speaketh of his own." 32. Did i: come from any lack of divine grace which those who did not fall enjoyed? This would make God the author of their sin. 33. What was the form of the sin whereby they fell? Because of the motive presented Eve for her sin (Gen. 3:5), and of the final temptation addressed our Lord by Satan (Adatt. 4:9), many have thought that it was pride.* The root of all pride, however, is unbelief. 34. What zvas the order of their fall? First, the fall of a chief, called Satan, "the adversary, " or the Devil, "the accuser," or "the Prince of the power of the air" (Eph. 2:2) ; and through his instrumentality, the fall of the rest. For John 8 : 44 calls him a "mur- derer from the beginning," and Luke 11: 15, "the prince of the demons," while Matt. 25:41 and Rev. 12:7 refer to the rest as his "angels." *Ecclesiasticus 10:13: "For pride is the beginning of sin," was cited by the old writers as a proof. Chap. VI.] OF ANGELS. 87 35. What effect had their fall upon {heir angelic en- dowments? A contraction of their knowledge and intellectual pene- tration ; for while an extraordinary knowledge of super- natural things remains, the effort of the devil to lead Christ astray by temptation, and the putting into the heart of Judas the thought of betraying Him, and there- by of preparing Satan's own ruin (i Cor. 2:7,8), show his ignorance. A great limitation also of their power. While accord- ing to Matt. 12:29; Luke 11:21; Eph. 6:12; 1 Peter 5 : 8, this power is still such as is not to be overlooked or despised, except by a special permission of God it can- not harm (Job 1 : 12 ; 2 : 6; Matt. 8:31). In Jude 8, this limitation is expressed under the figure of "chains," whereby they are confined until the Day of Judgment. This power God knows how to turn to His own purpose. 1 Tim. 2: 25, 26 speaks of those who are taken captive by Satan unto the will of God. Of this the entire drama of the Book of Job is an example. Their freedom of will was also limited. Henceforth they can will nothing but sin. Their freedom has to do only with a choice between particular evils. 36. What disposition of God have they incurred? His irreconcilable wrath (2 Peter 2:5; Jude v. 6; Heb. 2: 16). 37. What of their disposition tozvards God and His creatures other than themselves? Knowing that there is a God (James 2: 19), that He is almighty, and that, while infinitely good to the Good Angels and men, He is and will be to eternity severe to- wards them, not only are they without love, but they fear and hate Him with all the powers of their nature. This hatred extends to all whom He loves and for whom He cares. Like those among men whom they inspire and 88 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. VII. incite, they "live in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another." Whatever harmony and co-operation ex- ist among them is rooted not in love, but in their desire to harm and overthrow the good. 38. What of their future ? Matt. 25:41 — "Eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.'* 2 Peter 2:4 — "Reserved unto judgment." Jude 6 — "Kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." 39. Do they know this? James 2:19 — "The demons also believe and shudder." Matt. 8:29 — Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" 40. Meanwhile how are they occupied? They are intent upon what may bring ruin upon man, and dishonor God (Luke 22:31; Eph. 6: 11, 12; 1 Peter 5 : 8, 9 ; Luke 13 : 16 ; Job 1:12; 1 Cor. 7:5). Their at- tacks are directed not only against men individually, but are aimed particularly at the Church and its Means of Grace (Matt. 13:27; 1 Tim. 4:1,2; 1 Thess. 2:18). 41. What was demoniacal possession? A special temporary bodily possession, permitted by God, in New Testament times, particularly those of the visible ministry of Christ, as a factor in the struggle of the powers of darkness with the Son of God for the control of the human race. After principalities and powers were spoiled in our Lord's resurrection from the dead, we can find no bodily possession like that described in the Gospels. CHAPTER VII. MAN AS CREATED. 1. How many states of Man are there? Five: The state of Integrity, the state of Corruption, the state of Grace, the state of Glory, the state of Misery. 2. In which of these was man created? The state of Integrity. 3. What place does man hold in creation? Chap. VII.] MAN AS CREATED. 89 According to Gen. i : 26, he is the goal of all the crea- tive acts of God. Cf . Ps. 8 : 6-8. ^. Of how many parts is man composed? Of two, viz., Body and Soul or Spirit. 5. What is the Body? The material part of man's nature. 2 Cor. 5:1 — "The earthly house of this tabernacle." 6. But does not this imply some amount of impurity? In no way. On the contrary, even the bodily and ma- terial has a spiritual and eternal significance and destiny. 1 Cor. 6:19 — "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit." Rom. 12:1 — "Present your bodies a living sacrifice, which is your spir- itual service." 1 Cor. 15:44 — "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body." 7. But cannot the soul exist without the body? Yes, but only as a consequence and punishment of sin. The soul can exist in an abnormal way without body, just as the body also can exist with some of its limbs or organs removed. "We do not long to become bodiless souls. Endowed with bodies here, it is intended we should have them also hereafter" (Luthardt, Glaubenslehre). 8. Is it not often taught, however, that the body is the prison of the soul, or its fetter, by which its heavenward ■flight is checked? Such is the teaching of Platonism, and of heathenism generally, which fails to interpret aright the fearful sig- nificance of death. Death, or the separation of soul and body, is not of itself a blessing, but a violence done na- ture, and something which conscience declares ought not to be. The soul was made for the body, as the body was made for the soul, and both together were made for God. 9. Do all theologians agree that mans nature has but tzvo parts? On this subject, there are two schools, the Dichotomists and the Trichotomists. The former teach as we have said above that man's nature has two parts, body and soul or 9<3 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. VII. spirit ; the latter that it has three parts, body and soul and spirit. The difference is determined by the question as to whether soul and spirit be the same part of man's na- ture, designated with reference to different relations, or whether they be different parts. io. Upon zvhal grounds is the distinction betzveen "soul" and "spirit," as different parts of mans nature based ? The seeming contrast between the terms in such pas- sages as : i Thess. 5:23 — "May your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire." Heb. 4:12 — "Piercing to the dividing of soul and spirit." 1 Cor. 15:44 — "It is sown a psychical body; it is raised a spiritual body." Luke 1:46, 47— "My soul doth magnify the Lord; and my spirit hath re- joiced in God my Saviour." The soul is regarded, therefore, as the immaterial part of man's nature which he has in common with the lower animals, while the spirit is that which he has in common with God and the angels. 11. By whom was such distinction taught? The suggestion came from Plato. It was advocated by Justin Martin, Irenaeus, and the Alexandrian school, and became the doctrine of the Greek Church. With various modifications it has been taught in recent times by Ols- hausen, Neander and Meyer ; and elaborated by Delitzsch in his "Biblical Psychology." 12. Why is the theory unsatisfactory? Because in a number of passages, "soul" and "spirit" are treated as synonyms. If man is described in Matt. 10:28 as "body and soul," he is described in Eccl. 12:7 as "body and spirit." If it is the "spirit" in Matt. 2J : 50, it is the "soul" in Matt. 20 : 28 ; Acts 20 : 10. For this reason, Tertullian, Jerome, Augustine, fol- lowed by the theologians of the Western Church, Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed,, with only a few ex- ceptions, advocate Dichotomy. It appears prominently Chap. VIL] MAN AS CREATED. 9 1 in the Small Catechism : "I believe that He has given to me my body and soul;" 13. May not the two theories be reconciled? Yes, by regarding "soul" and "spirit" identical in sub- stance, but diverse in relation. When regarded with re- spect to earthly relations, i. c, those belonging to the world that now is, it is "soul" ; but when referred to the heavenly destiny for which God has created and endowed and redeemed it, it is "spirit." This is not contradicted by the fact that its destiny, even in its earthly environ- ment, does not prevent it from being sometimes called "soul," as in Matt. 10 : 28. Soul comes from God and goes to God, but its activity is through the body. Where souls of the departed are mentioned, as in Rev. 6 : 9, their former residence in bodies is implied. 14. What, then, is meant in Heb. 4:12 by "the dividing cf soid and spirit'? Not the separation of the soul from the spirit, but that the all pervasive influence of the Holy Spirit acting through the Word leaves no recess of man's nature, how- ever secret, or by whatever name called, untouched by its operations. 15. What then is the son! or the spirit? Not an etherealized form of matter or force of the body, as taught by Materialists ; for nothing is clearer than the contrast between "soul and body," and "spirit and body" in the passages above cited. But the soul is a living, immaterial, simple substance, inhabiting, sustain- ing and moving the body. 16. May it not, then, be identical with the Spirit of God? This is indeed said to dwell in man (Job 32:8; 33:4). But since the two are explicitly distinguished and con- trasted in such passages as Rom. 8: 16, 26; 1 Cor. 2: it, and man's spirit is sinful and needs the renewing grace of 92 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. VII. God (2 Cor. 7:1; Eph. 4:23), they cannot be identical, and man's spirit cannot be an emanation of that of God. When God dwells in man, it is by the presence of God's Spirit within man's spirit, as we learn elsewhere occurs in four degrees, viz., the natural life, the Mystical Union, (XXII), Inspiration (XXIV, 8), Incarnation (XI, 21 sqq,), according as it is universal or is more and more restricted, until limited to but one instance. 17. What mode of presence does the soul have in the body? The answer to this question does not belong properly to Theology. As, however, spirit is a simple substance, i. e., it is indissoluble or indivisible into parts, the soul cannot be conceived of as present in such way that a part of the soul is at one part, and another part of the soul at another part of the body. This presence of a finite spirit in a body has been termed definitive. 18. Do all men come from one ancestor? Acts 17:26 — "He hath made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth." Rom. 5:12 — "Through one man, sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned." 19. Has this ever been questioned? No one seems to seriously dispute this at present. The whole argument of scientists, advocating the Darwinian theory of evolution, is in its favor. But it must not be forgotten that, at the middle of the nineteenth century, theologians and the few scientists in America who main- tained the Unity of the Human Race, were ridiculed as singularly unscientific. With great learning, diversity of race peculiarities was urged as an irrefutable argument in favor of diversity of origin. In recent years, the pendu- lum has swung to the other extreme, and the endeavor been made to find a common source for all animal life, which, then, by the ceaseless struggles of uncounted ages, advanced until man was reached. When the Scriptural Chap. VII.] MAN AS CREATED. 93 account of creation is opposed to this theory, it is sum- marily discarded as "unscientific," because it has as little support for this "scientific" theory, as it had for its now thoroughly exploded predecessor. 20. But were the old school of nineteenth century scientists the only opponents of the Unity of the Human Race? No. The Athenians called themselves Autochthones, and boasted of springing from the soil on which they lived. The Preadamites, represented by the French theo- logian, Peyrere, taught that only Jews had descended from Adam, while the Gentiles had been created in pairs, male and female, in all parts of the earth. 21. Are there not other arguments for the Unity of the Human Race, beyond the Scriptural argument, zvhich are just as strong as those now advanced by compara*- tive zoologists? Such are : ( I ) The Psychological argument, from the identity of the various races of men in processes of thought, and of emotions as love and hatred, fear and hope. (2) The Linguistic argument, the general laws which govern all languages being the same. (3) The argument from Comparative Religion. All are respon- sive to religious appeals, and capable of religious dispo- sitions. There is everywhere the same sense of sin and guilt, and the same recognition, with greater or less de- gree of intelligence, of a Supreme Being. (4) The cor- respondence of the sagas and traditions of races most widely removed from one another. "According to science the origin of the human race from one pair is possible, not to say probable. But what Science at least admits, Theology demands upon the ground of the holy record of the fact of universal sinful- ness" (Kahnis). 94 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Qiap. VII. 22. What theories have been advanced to explain how, since Adam, souls enter the world? There are three theories : (a) The Pre-existence theory, advocated by Plato, Philo, Origen, Kant, Schelling, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Julius Mueller, and, in America, by Edward Beecher. All souls, they teach, have existed before, and have been condemned to have bodies, because, in this ante-temporal state, they have fallen into sin. Occasionally they have vague reminiscences of this former blissful condition, and the desire to return. This theory directly conflicts with the argument of Romans V, and the account of Genesis III, besides being at variance with what has been taught above concerning the body (see 6-8). (b) Creationism, advocated by Aristotle, Ambrose, Jerome, Pelagius, the Greek Church, the Roman Church, most of the theologians of the Reformed Church, there, being, however, some prominent recent exceptions (H. B. Smith, Shedd, Stearns, Strong), and by John Brenz and Calixt among Lutherans. The body alone, they say, is propagated from parent to child. With the coming of every new soul into the world, there is a new creative act of God. A soul is created by God and united with the body, and thus inherits the corruption transmitted by the parents from Adam. Against this, there are the following objections: (i) It destroys the unity of human nature, by ascribing parent- age alone to the body, and is thus incompatible with the inheritance of intellectual gifts and aptitudes and de- formities. (2) It materializes sin, since the effect of the doctrine is to make sin a subtle physical poison, trans- mitted through the inherited body, and not from the soul, thus completely reversing the order described by our Lord in Matt. 15 : 19, 20. (3) Or if this be denied, it is Chap. VII.] MAN AS CREATED. 95 driven to the alternative of either denying the existence of natural depravity, or of holding that it is created by God with the soul. (c) Traducianism, advocated in a materialistic form by Tertullian, but with more discrimination by Athanasius and Gregory of Nyssa, and held as a probable theory by Augustine and Luther. It is accepted by Lutherans, with a few T exceptions. According to this theory, soul as well as body is transmitted from parent to child. This theory is most consistent with the unity of human nature, and with that of the universality of inherited sin. The chief argument urged against it, is that it conflicts with the simplicity of the soul. But one light may enkindle another without diminishing the original flame. Neither Creationism nor Traducianism exhausts the truth concerning man's origin. Traducianism should be interpreted as Mediate Creationism. God is no less the creator of souls (Is. 57: 16; Jer. 1:5; Zech. 12: 1), when he uses second causes to bring them into the world. Hence the confessional statement : "God not only before the Fall created the body and soul of Eve, but, since the Fall, has created also our bodies and souls" (F. C, 545). 23. What distinguished the state of Integrity from the state of Corruption which has succeeded? Man's endowment with the Image of God. Gen. 1:27 — "Cod created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him." Gen. 5:1 — "In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him." Gen. 9:6 — "For in the image of God made he man." 24. As God is reported in Gen. 1:26 as saying, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," what dif- ference is there between the "image" and the "likeness" of God? The Greek and Roman Churches make much of a dis- tinction which they here find between qualities essential to the nature and those which perfect it. g6 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. VII. But "we do not distinguish 'image and likeness,' so as to refer the former to the essence of the soul, and the latter to the holiness, justice and knowledge of God in man, but we teach that the same thing is expressed by both terms, and that 'likeness' is used exegetically" (Gerhard). The proof for this is the promiscuous use of the terms. Scrip- ture sometimes uses -both terms in the same case, some- times in different cases, and sometimes gives only one term and omits the other. While God uses both terms in the declaration of his purpose (Gen. I : 26), when the re- sult is declared the one word "image" is employed. We have no warrant, therefore, to distinguish between these terms. 25. But even though the application of ihe terms "im- age" and "likeness" to such distinction cannot be ad- mitted, is not the distinction itself Scriptural? Yes ; for man's spiritual nature was created in the im- age of God, and is that image in the wide sense of the term ; and within that nature as created, certain perfec- tions capable of loss inhered, which constitute "the im- age" in the special sense of the term. Man's personality, his intellectual and moral nature, constitute the image in the former sense. There are references to the image in this sense in James 3:9 — "Therewith curse we men who are made after the likeness of God." Gen. 9:6 — "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God, made he man." While Scripture does not refer to this as frequently as to the image in the special sense, it is not because this is excluded, but because the latter is the more important. As Luther has said, "When Moses says that man was made in God's image, he shows thereby that man is not only like God in having reason or understanding and a will, but especially that he is conformed to God, i. e., he has such understanding and will as to understand God, and will what God wills." Chap. VII. ] MAN AS CREATED. 97 26. What then is the image of God In the special sense? In the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Luth- eran Church has defined it as Original Righteousness. 27. How is this explained? "That in man there were embodied such wisdom and righteousness as apprehended God, and in which God was reflected, i. e., to man were given the gifts of the knowl- edge of God, the fear of God, confidence in God and the like" (Apology, p. 79). 28. Knowledge was, therefore, one, of the constituents cf the image? Yes, according to Col. 3:10: "The new man which is being renewed unto knowledge, after the image of him that created him." This must not be interpreted, however, as though our first parents had such knowledge as was incapable of be- ing increased, or that it extended to the decrees of God, or that it included all classes of material objects in ency- clopedic survey. Contrasts have sometimes been made between the knowledge of Adam and that of Solomon and of Aristotle. Such discussions are scholastic trifles. The knowledge here meant is simply such knowledge of God and of themselves and of the world, as to enable them perfectly to attain the end for which they were destined. Their knowledge is to be estimated not by the number of topics it included, but by its religious value. 29. What other constituent is explicitly mentioned? Righteousness and holiness. Eph. 4:24 — "Put on the new man, which after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth." Man had both the strength and the desire to fear, love and serve God above all things. The body was so com- pletely under the control of a holy will that followed in all things the divine Law, as in all its activities and im- pulses, to be pure, and intent on God's glory. 98 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. VII. 30. What freedom was implied in this? Not freedom of independence, since this belongs only to God, but from compulsion, from physical necessity and from servitude. Nevertheless the will was not exempt from mutability. Adam, like the angels at creation, was endowed with the power of sinning and of abstaining from sin. He was sinless, but not impeccable. 31. In what then does the original state of man differ from that which is at last attained by grace? Augustine answers : "The first freedom of the will was to be able not to sin ; the final, is not to be able to sin. The first immortality was to be able not to die ; the final, is not to be able to die. The first power of perseverance is to be able not to desert the good ; the final, is not to be able to desert the good." 32. What external evidences of the presence of this image were there? (a) The condition of the body, reflecting and express- ing outwardly the glory of the soul, and with its various members, eye, ear, heart, etc., used to describe divine at- tributes. The erect form of man, with his countenance, unlike those of other animals turned towards heaven, re- minds man of his origin and the destiny for which he was intended. Besides his body was exempt from all pain and accident and death, as long as this image of God remained unimpaired (Gen. 2:16; Rom. 5:12; 6:23). His immortality was conditional, unlike that of God, which is absolute (1 Tim. 6: 16). (b) His dominion over all other creatures (Gen. 1 : 20, 28; 2: 16). This extends not only over brutes and rep- tiles, but over all the resources and powers of nature, the soil, the mountains, the rivers, the ocean, the winds, the stars and planets, light, heat, electricity, all the various appliances of Physics and Chemistry, Astronomy and Geology to man's interests. Like the knowledge of our Chap. VII.] MAN AS CREATED. 99 first parents, the dominion actually exercised was only such as was then needed in the simplicity of their exist- ence, and was to have been developed in their cultivation of the dominion assigned then. It differed from the more extensive dominion now exercised in the ease with which it was exercised, as contrasted with the painful struggles through which it has developed from age to age in the state which has followed. (c) The glory of his home (Gen. 2:8-17). 33. Was the image of God essential or accidental to mans nature ? The answer depends upon what is regarded as the image. If the term be used in the widest sense for man's spiritual nature and personality (see above, 25), then it is essential to man's nature. If, however, it be restricted to the perfections with which this nature was originally endowed in accordance with the New Testament pas- sages which refer to the loss and the restoration of this image, then, of course, it is accidental. The error of Flacius which occasioned a controversy in the Lutheran Church, and reappears in the treatment of Original Sin, was that even in the latter sense, the image of God was essential to human nature. 34. Was it therefore a superadded gift? It was a gift inhering in and pervading the entire na- ture, as it came from God's hands, and not something extraneous or mechanically attached thereto. The schol- astics distinguished between a so-called "status purorum naturalium/' and the image itself ; and taught that while the image has been lost, the pnra naturalia remains, al- though corrupted. Apart from the fact that such state never existed, except as a matter of purely abstract specu- lation, such doctrine represents human nature as created morally indifferent, in opposition to Gen. 1:31. i- Of c. 100 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. VII, ' "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very- good." The corruption of human nature which has followed does not make that nature as such either sin or morally indifferent. So far as human nature is a creature of God, it is good even when ruined, the ruin coming not from God, but from the abuse of God's creation. It is incorrect, therefore, to maintain, as Roman Cath- olic theologians have done, that the image of God had no more to do with man's nature, than a bit has to do with a horse, or a man's clothes with his personality. 35. Would you say, then, that the image ivas "super- natural"? Here again, everything depends upon the definition of "supernatural." Many of the discussions of theologians occur from using the same term in two senses. If "super- natural" mean having powers and capacities above the range of human nature, as it is at present, then the image was supernatural ; but if the standpoint be that of human nature in man's first state, then it was natural. In a word, it was natural to a normal and incorrupt ; it is superna- tural, with respect to an enfeebled and corrupt nature. 36. What estimate is to be placed upon the doctrine of mans first state? Just in the degree that its perfections arc denied or diminished, is the significance of sin and its consequences decreased; and just in the degree that sin and its conse- quences are extenuated, are the necessity and importance of the work of Christ disparaged. If mortality, for in- stance, were ascribed to man before the Fall, death would not be the wages of sin, and the death of Christ would have to find a different explanation from that of the New Testament. Chap. VIII. ] sin. 101 CHAPTER VIII. SIN. 1. What is sin? i John 3 : 4 — "Sin is lawlessness." 2. What does this mean? That God has fixed a standard, and that whatever in state or in act, fails to meet its requirements is sin. 3. What is the standard? His Law, or the eternal rule of right by which He has prescribed what He wants His creatures to be, to do, or to refrain from doing. 4. Give 3 then, a somewhat fuller definition. Sin is to be otherwise, and to do otherwise, than God means us to be or do. 5. Who is the cause of sin? "They teach that although God creates and preserves nature, yet that the cause of sin is the will of the wicked, i. e., of the devil and ungodly men, which will, unaided of God, turned itself away from Him" (Augsburg Con- fession, Art. XIX). 6. How many kinds of sin are there? Two : Original and Actual. 7. What is Original Sin? "Since the Fall of Adam, all men begotten according to nature, are born with sin, that is without the fear of God, without trust in God, and with concupiscence ; and this disease or vice of origin is truly sin, even now condemn- ing and bringing eternal death upon those not born again through Baptism and the Holy Ghost" (Augsburg Con- fession, Art. II). 8. Where then does Original Sin begin? In the Fall of Adam. 102 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. VIII. Rom. 5:12 — "Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all sinned." 9. But is Original Sin a Scriptural term? No, but a term employed by the Church to express the truth taught in the above passage, as well as frequently elsewhere in Scripture. 10. Docs it always refer to the same thing? Sometimes it designates the act of disobedience to God's prohibition in Paradise ("Original Sin originating"), or the First Sin of our race. Sometimes it refers to the cor- ruption or depravity of human nature in consequence of the First Sin ("Original Sin originated"). Article Second of the Augsburg Confession uses it in the second sense. 11. What was. the significance of ihe prohibition in Paradise? It was a test of obedience. 12. What was involved in the disobedience? Before the external act of reaching forth the hand and taking the forbidden fruit, there was doubt in the intel- lect (Gen. 3:3), an inordinate desire for greater resem- blance or equality with God in the will (Gen. 3:5), and lust for the gratification of sense beyond what God al- lowed (Gen. 3 : 16). 13. What commandment was violated? In breaking one commandment, the whole Law was violated. Break one link of a chain and the whole chain is broken ; cut an ocean cable at one point, and the whole cable is severed. James 2:10 — "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." 14. Why is the sin known as "the sin of Adam"? Because while Eve fell and was involved in all the consequences of the Fall, he was the head of the race, and had he proved faithful, God could have provided another mother for his descendants. Chap. VIII.] sin. 103 15. What were the consequences of ihe Fall? (a) The loss of the divine image, in its strict sense, or the perfections with which human nature was endowed at creation (see above, Chapter VII, 26-30). (b) Guilt, or the disgrace and moral taint resulting from sin. (c) A state or habit of sin. For the lack of the per- fections of the divine image is of itself sin. If the sum of the commandments is love to God, the absence of this love is assuredly sin. (d) Punishment, the inseparable attendant of guilt. 16. What zvas the Punishment? Death. Gen. 2:17 — "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Rom. 5:12 — "Death passed upon all men, for that all sinned." Rom. 6:23 — "The wages of sin is death." 17. Hozv many forms of this punishment are there? Three : Death Spiritual, Temporal and Eternal. (a) Spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God, or the interruption of the life-communion which the soul had with God. Eph. 2:5 — "Even when we were dead through our trespasses made lis alive together with Christ." Col. 2:13 — "And you being dead through your trespasses." Cf. Matt. 8:22; Luke 9:60; 15:24; 1 Tim. 5:6. What the soul is to the body, God was to the soul. With the interruption of this relation, all spiritual life vanished. (b) Temporal death, or the separation of the soul from the body. Eccl. 12:7 — "The dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit to God who gave it." (c) Eternal death is the eternal state of the soul re- united with the body and separated from God. This is called also "the second death" (Rev. 2:11; 20:14; 21:8; Chapter XXXIX). 18. How do these three unite? They are only stages of one and the same death. As 104 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. VIII. in bodily death, one sense, or one portion of the body dies before another, or a twig may blossom even after cut from its stalk, so the separation of the soul from God results in temporal death, and temporal death culminates, if un- arrested, in eternal death. 19. How was the warning, "In the day that thou eat est thou shall surely die," fulfilled f The spiritual death was immediate, and even the pro- cesses of temporal death began at once. But the fact that the culmination is reached only by a long process, is doubtless due to the provision which God was making for man's redemption. The shadow of the Cross already fell across the human race, and protected it from the full heat of the divine wrath. 20. You spoke of "the processes of temporal death." Explain this? By "processes" I mean all infirmities and diseases of body and soul, and the suffering which they bring. The healthiest body has its organs enfeebled or diseased. Since the Fall, health is only a relative term. 21. But were this guilt and this punishment limited to our first parents? Rom. 5:12 — "And so death passed upon all men, for that all sinned." 22. How can zve be responsible for the sin of another? • In one sense, Adam's sin was not the sin of another. All humanity was in Adam, and in him lost the endow- ments that pleased God. Beside, he stood not only as the organic head, but as the federal head of the race. 1 Cor. 15:22 — "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." 23. But have zve not an express declaration, "The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father" (Ez. 18: 20)? The prophet is speaking of actual sins, which he enu- merates in the context. We do not participate in the guilt of any ancestral sin, since that of Adam. The com- Chap. VIII. ] sin. 105 mon nature derived through our parents has been cor- rupted by Adam's sin ; this, with all its sin, we inherit. But the specific sins to which this common corrupt nature led in my ancestors since Adam do not belong to me. 24. How then about Ex. 20:5, "Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me"? Here the children share in the guilt of the actual sins of parents by following their example, and committing like sins. 25. What tzvo terms have theologians used to explain the relation of Adam's sin to his descendants? Immediate and Mediate Imputation. Immediate Im- putation is when the first sin in the Garden of Eden is said (as above, 22) to be ours. Mediate Imputation is where the sin of Adam is viewed as the source of the corruption of human nature which has followed, and this corruption is found to merit God's wrath. The argument of Mediate Imputation is that if the condition of our nature is sinful, and this sinfulness came from Adam, our responsibility for this sinful state means that we partake in his guilt for its existence. 26. Which form of the doctrine is taught by Luth- eran Church? Both ; but in accordance with the thoroughly practical character of our Church, chief stress is laid upon the latter, since it is most effective in convincing men of their being by nature beneath God's wrath. Hence the Augs- burg Confession in Art. II, defines Original Sin as the corrupt state of our nature, and lays all emphasis upon "Original Sin originated" (see above, 10), which many theologians, particularly in the Reformed Church, regard not as sin itself, but as a punishment of sin. 27. Into what elements does the Augsburg Confession resolve Original Sin? 106 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. VIII. Into a negative, viz., "to be without the fear of God and without trust in God," and a positive element, "to have concupiscence." 28. How can the former be sin? By being a violation of the First Commandment, which is the sum of all the commandments. Not to be able to fear and love God is of itself want of conformity with God's Law (see above, 1-4) ; it is being otherwise than what God wants us to be. 29. What is "concupiscence"? The temper or attitude or disposition of man's heart and mind in antagonism to all that God wants and is. Rom. 8:7 — "The carnal ruind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." 1 Cor. 2:14 — "The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him." Matt. 15:19 — "For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railing." Jam,es 1:14 — "Each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed." Gal. 5:17 — "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit." This concupiscence is not limited to any one of the commandments, but is directed against them all. Augus- tine, and after him, the Mediaeval Church, was inclined to place its chief sphere in desires contrary to the Sixth Commandment. 30. How extensive is Original Sin? With one exception, all are its subjects. The Augsburg Confession uses the words, "All men born according to the common course of nature are born with sin," in order to exempt from its statement the humanity of Christ. Heb. 4:15 — "In all points, tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Heb. 7:26 — "Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." 31. Prove this universality. The entire argument of the fifth chapter of Romans is to the effect that the presence of death is a proof of sin, and that whoever dies must have sinned. The death of Christ we know occurred by His bearing the sins of the Chap. VIII. ] sin. 107 human race. "Death reigned," we are told in v. 14, "from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression," i. e., even where actual sin was wanting. So in John 3 : 3, 5, 6, our 'Lord expressly excludes from the kingdom of heaven all who are not regenerate. In the words, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," He declares that every one who comes into this world is in such condition that for entrance into the new life a great internal change must occur. In Eph. 2: 1-5 St. Paul refers to Christians as having been dead in trespasses and sins, and by their very nature "children of wrath." 32. But it is explicitly declared, "Where there is no law, there is no transgression' (Rom. 4: 15). Does not Ms exempt infants zvho cannot knozv the law? The passage must be understood in accordance with the context. The argument of Paul is that death proves sin, and the violation of law, and that even though they be not guilty of actual transgression, in sinning after the similitude of Adam's sin, their death shows that they have transgressed otherwise and are under law. Other pas- sages that might be cited concerning the innocence of little children must also be interpreted with respect to actual sins, and not to Original Sin. 33. Beside infecting all men, zvhat further statement can be made concerning the extent of Original Sin? It is pervasive. It belongs to all parts and powers of human nature. It is a disease or vicious and depraved habit corrupting the whole man. "It is a deep, wicked, horrible, fathomless, inscrutable, and unspeakable corrup- tion of the entire nature and all its powers, especially of the highest, principal powers of the soul in understanding, heart and will" (Formula of Concord, 592). I08 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. VIII. 34. What is the consequence of this corruption of the highest powers? This will be considered hereafter at greater length, under "The Freedom of the Will." But, meanwhile, we may recall what has been cited above in Chapter I, 32 : "When even the most able and learned men upon earth read or hear the Gospel of the Son of God, and the prom- ise of eternal salvation, they cannot, from their own pow- ers perceive, apprehend, understand or believe and regard it true, but the more diligence and earnestness they em- ploy, in order to comprehend, with their reason, these spiritual things, the less they understand or believe, and before they become enlightened or taught by the Holy Ghost, they regard all this only foolishness or fictions." 35. Is this corruption then so great as to justify the assertion that, since the fall, man's nature is sin? No; for while the word "nature" is sometimes used in a loose sense, not for nature itself, but for a quality or dis- position in the nature, as when we say, "It is the nature of the serpent to bite," nevertheless the expression is to be avoided and condemned. Man's nature is not sin, but sinful. Much as one may suffer from diphtheria or typhoid fever, no one can be said to become either of these diseases. 36. Was such error ever taught? Yes, in the early days of Christianity, by the Marti - chaeans, and, shortly after the Reformation by Matthias Flacius Illyricus. 37. Repeat the arguments by which his error was refuted. God created human nature ; He cannot be said to create sin. The Son of God assumed human nature; He did not assume sin. He redeemed human nature; He does not redeem sin. Chap. VIII.] sin. 109 He justifies and sanctifies human nature; He does neither to sin. He will at the Last Day raise human nature from the dead ; this He will not do with Original Sin. Original Sin, therefore, is not substantial, but acci- dental to human nature. 38. How did Flacius come to advocate such a mani- festly extreme position? By his earnestness in refuting the opinion that Original Sin is only a slight corruption of man's powers, and that he still retains some good in him to begin or cowork in things pertaining to God. 39. Has Original Sin equal power in all? No. In some it reigns and makes them its slaves (Rom. 6: 16; Titus 3:3). In others, it is resisted, and its dominion broken (Rom. 8:2,13). 40. Hozv long does it remain? Its guilt is removed in justification; its dominion is broken with the beginning of renovation, and gradually and successively disappears as renovation grows. Of this process a vivid picture is found in Rom. VII. Its complete destruction does not occur until in death. 41. What other opinion has been advanced? That of the Roman Catholic Church, following some scholastics, that, in the baptized, concupiscence is no longer sin. 42. Hozv is this refuted? The argument of Chemnitz is as follows : Concupi- scence in the baptized is one of three things, either a good, or a matter of indifference or an evil. Can it be a good, when Paul says, "In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing" (Rom. 7: 18) ? Can it be a matter of indif- ference, when he says again, "The good which I would, I do not ; but the evil which I would not that I practice" (Rom. 7: 19) ? He cannot speak of concupiscence before IIO A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. VIII, baptism, but it is the baptized and experienced Christian who makes this confession. In the same chapter this concupiscence is repeatedly called sin, and its conflict with God's law described. 43. What are the fruits of Original Sinf All the wicked deeds forbidden in the Ten Command- ments. The moral quality of every deed is determined by the moral quality or character of the doer. Matt. 7:17 — "Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit." Luke 6:45 — "The good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure, that which is evil; for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh." Matt. 15:19 — "For out of the heart, come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railing." All the sins of men are, therefore, organically united in the state of sin from which they spring. Original sin is the root ; actual sins are the sprouts. Original Sin is the fountain ; actual sins are the streams. Original Sin is the ocean ; they are the waves that rise and fall upon it. Orig- inal Sin is the disease ; actual sins are symptoms. 44. Where is this particularly taught? By David in the Fifty-first Psalm. He traces his great sin which he confesses in verses 2-4, back to the source in Original Sin whence it came, vs. 5, 6, 10. (See Luth- er's exposition.) 45. When actual sins are spoken of, in what sense must "actual" be regarded? Not as synonymous with "real," as though Original Sin were not in this sense actual, i. e., a reality ; but "actual," because existing in act, as distinguished from Original Sin which refers to state, condition, habit, tem- per or disposition. 46. Define Actual Sin? Every action, whether internal or external, that con- flicts with God's Law, as well as every omission of an action which the same Law commands. Chap. VIII.] sin. in 47. What are the causes of Actual Sin? The concupiscence or inner depravity may work in two ways, viz., either spontaneously, or it may be stimulated to activity from without. To the former, James 1 : 14, 15 is especially applicable: "Each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the lust when it hath conceived, beareth sin; and the sin when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death." When it is stimulated from without, it may be either by the devil or the World. 48. How does the devil tempt or stimulate mans in- ner depravity? By suggesting the thought, and even the plan for carry- ing out the thought of sin, as in John 13 : 2. He has no power to force one to commit the sin which he suggests. The regenerate have greater power to resist him than the unregenerate. James 4:7 — "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." 1 Cor. 10:13 — "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will, with the temptation, make also the way of escape." Cf. Eph. 6:11-13; 1 Peter 5:9. 49. How does the world stimulate marts inner de- pravity? By the teaching, suggestion, advice and example of wicked men and women ; as well as by objects that appeal to sense and thus enkindle the desire of sin. 1 John 2:14, 15 — "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father', but is of the world." 50. What is meant by "an inner action"? A desire or purpose to sin that is called forth or cher- ished (Matt. 5 : 27). 51. What effect has every actual sin? A disposition of will inclining it to the repetition of similar acts of sin, and ultimately to a particular habit of sin. 52. How are sins classified t 112 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. VIII. First, into Voluntary and Involuntary. The former are those deliberately committed, with .the knowledge that they are sins ; the latter are committed in ignorance, or under the impulse of violent passion, sometimes known as sins of ignorance or infirmity, as contrasted with pre- sumptuous sins. Ps. 19:12, 13 — "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret sins. Keep back thy servant also from presumptous sins." 1 Tim. 1:13 — "I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." 53. What is a second mode of classification? Into sins of commission, or positive acts conflicting with a negative commandment, and sins of omission, con- sisting in the negation or omission of acts, prescribed by an affirmative commandment. 54. A third? Into sins directly against God, or those forbidden in the First Table of the Decalogue ; against one's neighbor, or those forbidden in the Second Table ; and against oneself, as 1 Cor. 6: 18, designates fornication, to which may be added drunkenness, suicide, etc. 55. A fourth? Into sins of heart, mouth and deed. Our Lord treats of these in Matt. 5 : 21, 22. The first is the most grievous. Habitual hatred toward an innocent neighbor or purpose to injure long cherished in the mind is a more grievous sin than the harsh answer of one to whom injustice has been done. 56. What of the distinction between Venial and Mor- tal sins? Of themselves, no sins are venial, but all are mortal. No such scheme of classification, therefore, can be adopted by which particular offences can be said to be venial and others mortal. Whether a sin be venial or mortal is deter- mined entirely by the relation of the sinner to Christ. The least sin knowingly and deliberately committed is incon- sistent with faith, and is mortal. But the regenerate, in Chap. VIII.] sin. 113 their infirmity, and against the most sincere effort of their hearts, are not without sins ; these and only these are venial. 57. Is there any sin irremissible? Yes. The sin against the Holy Ghost. Matt. 12:31, 2> 2 — "Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come." Mark 3:29 — "Whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, hath never forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin." 58. Why is it irremissible? Not because it exceeds the mercy of God, and the merits of Christ (Is. i : 18), but because the very means by which the grace of God is offered are despised and blasphemed. "It is not as though God were never will- ing to pity such sinners, for His protestation is universal in which He affirms with an oath (Ez. 18:32), that He does not will the death of him who dies. Neither is it as though Christ had not died and made satisfaction for such sin ; for He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). But it is said to be irremissible by accident ; because such sinners are so hardened as to be unwilling to receive Christ, the only remedy for their sins ; but persecute Him, and with an inflexible purpose, persist in their fury; and thus cast themselves into eternal de- struction. . . . But if it could so happen that they could be led to a knowledge of this sin, the mercy of God would be accessible even to them" (Baldwin, on 1 Tim. I). The context in Matthew shows that Christ gave this warning when the Pharisees ascribed His works to the devil (Matt. 12: 24). It is not said here that the Pharisees had already incurred such sin, for it seems to be one that belongs peculiarly to the period when the Holy Ghost is fully given, but the warning is that the culmination of such sin as they were committing would be the sin against the Holy Ghost. 114 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. IX. 59. Is it referred to elsewhere in Holy Scripture t Heb. 6:4, s, 6 — "For as touching those who were once enlightened, and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." Heb. 10:26 — "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins." 60. What is here taught ? That they who commit this sin have been regenerate and godly persons who have deserted the faith, and that it is accompanied by peculiar hostility to the truth and open defiance of the Holy Spirit. 61. Are those zvho commit this sin ever troubled con- cerning it? No. For they are abandoned by the Spirit, from whom all conviction of sin comes. CHAFTER IX. THE GRACE OF GOD TOWARDS FALLEN MEN. 1. What is the natural fruit of sin? Eternal death. As seen above (Chapter VIII, 17, 18), this is simply spiritual death at its maturity, or in its cul- mination. 2. But is not Eternal Death the result of a new act or volition of God? No. All man's ruin comes from himself. If any one be lost, he is lost solely by his own fault. No one is lost by God's will. God permits much that He does not cause (Chapter V, 23). 3. All having sinned, we understand, therefore, that all would have eternally perished, unless God had inter- rupted the natural order of sin and death? Such is the clear teaching of Holy Scripture. Chap. IX.] THE GRACE OF GOD. 115 4. // God, however, had not interfered, and all had been left to the consequences of their sins, could man have complained? This would have been nothing less than what is just, and what occurred to the fallen angels. 5. If God had interfered to save one man, or a hun- dred, or a thousand, and had made no provision for the rest, would there have been any injustice? Every one who has sinned being justly liable to the full penalty, no one can plead any injustice in case God, out of pure mercy, determines to save others involved in the same guilt. 6. But if He were to save the majority of the race, would the remainder be injured? The answer is the same, even though justice would exact its extreme penalty in but one case, and all the rest escape. 7. Was such a discrimination shown? No. But we reach the true doctrine not by arguing concerning the abstract justice of God, but by learning of the universality of the Plan of Redemption as taught in the Gospel. 8. What moved God to interfere with the natural or- der of sin, and to provide for man's salvation? Nothing but His free will (Gal. 1:4; Eph. 1:1, 5, 9, etc.), or "good pleasure" (eudokia) (Eph. 1:5, 9; Phil. 2:13; Luke 2:14). He was not determined by any necessity of His nature or obligation to man. 9. What disposition of God is particularly manifest in this act of His will to save man? His Grace (see Chapter II, 73). Eph. 1:7 — "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgive- ness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace." 2:8 — "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not ot yourselves, it is the gift ot God." Tit. 2:11 — "The grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation unto all men." Il6 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. IX. This implies the absolute absence of any merit in man which could deserve this interference, but that God's love was exercised in spite of that which called for God's wrath. His Mercy (see Chapter II, *]*] ; Eph. 2:4; Titus 3:5). This presupposes the foreseen misery of men because of sin and its consequences. 10. What do you mean by the universality of Grace? That it has been extended towards all men. As univer- sal as is sin, so universal is grace. As universal as is misery because of sin, so universal is the mercy for the relief of this misery. 1 Tim. 2:4 — "God our Saviour who would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." 2 Peter 3:9 — "Not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." John 3:16 — "God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son," etc. 11. But may not the universality of Grace apply simply to the race as a whole? In its provisions, it is extended to each and every indi- vidual alike. No one is excepted or passed by. 1 Tim. 1:15 — "Faithful is the saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." Rom. 11:32 — "God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all." 12. What is the testimony of the Lutheran Church on this subject? "As the preaching of repentance, so also the promise of the Gospel is universal, i. e., it pertains to all men (Luke 24). Therefore Christ has commanded 'that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations.' For God loved the world and gave His Son (John 3 : 16). Christ bore the sins of the world (John 1: 29), gave His flesh for the life of the world (John 6:51), His blood is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world (1 John 1:7; 2:2)" (Formula of Concord, 654). Chap. IX.] THE GRACE OF GOD. 1\J 13. Explain somewhat more fully the text "God would have all men to be saved" (1 Tim. 2:4). "He does not say that it is His will that the godly be saved, but that the world should be saved through Him. For by the expression 'world,' He means the whole race of mortals. For although the whole world is not saved through Christ, nevertheless the will of God is com- mended to us as directed not towards the destruction, but towards the salvation of all" (Wolfgang Musculus quoted by Calovius). 14. Recapitulate the arguments cf our theologians in support of this position. (a) The universality of Christ's merits. 1 John 2:2 — "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world." (b) The universality of the call. Matt. 11:28 — "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (c) The universality of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 10:17 — "I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh." (d) The administration of Word and Sacraments, the purpose of which is the salvation of those to whom they come, even though the results differ with respect to dif- ferent classes. (e) The condemnation of unbelievers for their rejec- tion of the offers of the Gospel. 15. Is it right, then, io say that God willed that all should he saved provided they believe ? No. For it is God's will not only that men be saved, but also ihat they should believe (see above, 10; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). Just as Christ died even for those who do not or will not believe, so also God's gra- cious will is independent of man's faith, or any disposition of man towards God. As the call and promise are univer- sal, so also is the will of God of which they are the ex- pression. Il8 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. IX. 16. If it be God's will that all should believe and be saved, how is it that many are lost? Because it is not God's will that men be saved against their own wills. Man's will forever retains the freedom to reject what God offers and what God sincerely desires that he accept. Matt. 23:37 — "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not." 17. What is implied in saying that God wills man's salvation ? This is more than a will of complacency (see Chapter II, 72 c), by which He would be satisfied or gratified with whatever pertains to man's welfare. 18. Why? Because man being spiritually dead is without any power to will, devise or contribute to his own salvation. "In spiritual and divine things, the intellect, heart and will of unregenerate men cannot in any way, by their own natural powers, understand, believe, accept, think, will, begin, effect, do, work or concur in working any- thing; but they are entirely dead to good and corrupt" (Formula of Concord, 552). All man's help, therefore, must come alone from God. 19. What then is God's saving will towards man? It is His purpose to make every provision whereby the salvation of each and every man is rendered possible, all of which is included in the Plan of Redemption that He devised. 20. What are included in this plan? The incarnation and mediatorial work of the Son of God. The special mission of the Holy Ghost to apply the fruits of this mediatorial office. The institution of the Means of Grace, through which Chap. X.] THE PREPARATION OF REDEMPTION. IIO, the various acts of this applying grace are wrought, to the end that men may be called, justified and glorified. 21. What is the proper place for the treatment of Pre- destination ? After all the details which God's decree and purpose comprised, are learned from the Gospel. For whatever the Gospel contains and proclaims was included in this purpose. 22. What has Luther said on this subject? "Follow the order of the Epistle to the Romans, and concern thyself with Christ and the Gospel, that thou mayst recognize thy sins and His grace ; then fight with sins as Chapters I-VIII have taught. After that, when thou hast come to the eighth chapter, and art under the cross and suffering, thou wilt learn right well in Chap- ters IX-XI how comforting predestination is" (Intro- duction to Romans). 23. What has the Lutheran Church confessed concern- ing Predestination? "This 'is not to be investigated in the secret counsel of God, but to be taught from the Word of God, where it is also revealed. But the Word of God leads us to Christ, who is the Book of Life, in whom all are written and elected that are to be saved, as it is written (Eph. 1 '.4) 'He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.' " See Chapter XLI. CHAPTER X. THE PREPARATION OF REDEMPTION. i. When did God first reveal His purpose to redeem man? As soon as man had fallen. In Gen. 3 : 15 is a promise, often called the "protevangelium" or "protogospel." "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." This 120 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. X. refers to the ultimate victory which humanity, "the seed of the woman," is to obtain in the constant struggle which began in Eden. Its still deeper significance gradually be- came apparent in succeeding prophecies, culminating in One who, while "the seed of the woman" and the true representative of the race, is also true God. i Cor. 15:22 — "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 47 — "The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man. is of heaven." 2. What two-fold preparation at once began? God gradually prepared man for salvation, and pre- pared salvation for man. 3. Hozv was man prepared for salvation ? Through the education of many centuries, in which his knowledge of sin was deepened, his inability to aid him- self was recognized, and his need of redemption from a higher source w r as acknowledged and devoutly longed for, 4. Hozv was salvation prepared for man? . By the gradual revelation of the Plan of Redemption in type and ceremony and promise, until in the fulness of time (Gal. 4:4) the Son of God became incarnate. 5. State the relation of the tivo parts of the human race to this two-fold preparation ? The former occurred chiefly in heathenism, exhibiting the efforts of man by the exertion of his own powers to struggle upwards towards God (Acts 17:27). The en- tire history of the Gentile world is told in the words of Augustine : "Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart is restless until it rest on Thee." The latter occurred in Judaism (Rom. 3:1,2). Through the positive revelation, even though incomplete, there was a constant approach of God towards man, through successive stages until Christ came. 6. Are we to understand, then, that the preparation through' heathenism was entirely negative, and that through Judaism entirely positive/ Chap. X.] THE PREPARATION OF REDEMPTION. 121 No. For in a less degree heathenism afforded some positive elements, in the preparation of the means through which the Gospel was to be diffused. The universal em- pire of Rome, the universal language, the means of com- munication between nations, the culture of the race, be- came important instrumentalities for the progress of the Gospel. So there was also, a negative element in Judaism. When man attempted to attain righteousness before God by his fulfilment of all the prescriptions of the Law, he learned his helplessness. Rom. 3 : 20, "Through the law cometh the knowledge of sin." The entire system of rites and ceremonies and sacrifices, declared as the Epistle to the Hebrews shows, the incompleteness and unsatisfactori- ness of the then existing order, and pointed to what was higher and better. 7. Was there then no salvation for any who lived and died before Christ? Yes. Where there was faith that received the assur- ance of God's grace and the promise of salvation here- after to be provided in a way not understood at the time. "Paul cites concerning Abraham (Rom. 4:3), 'He be- lieved God and it was counted unto him for righteous- ness,' i. e., Abraham knew that God was propitious to him only on account of His promise ; he assented to God's promise and did not suffer himself to be withdrawn from it, although he saw that he was impure, and unworthy ; he knew that God offers His promise on account of His own truth, and not on account of our works or merits" (Melanchthon). For further Scriptural proof, see Chapter XI of the Epistle to the Hebrews. 8. What ground is there for saying that the Old Testa- ment saints had only a general promise concerning a sal- vation hereafter to be provided? Eph. 3:5; Luke 10 : 23, 24 ; Heb. 1 1 : 40 ; 1 Peter 1 : 1 1. 122 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. XI. CHAPTER XL THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 1. In ivhat relation is the Son of God considered at this place? Not in His inner Trinitarian relations, but in His Mediatorial Office. i Tim. 2:5- — "There is one God, one mediator between God and man, himself man, Christ Jesus." Acts 4:12 — "In none other is there salvation; neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, whereby we might be saved." 2. What is His name with reference to this office? Christ. Jesus was the personal name, which, in com- mon with many others, He bore because of His human nature, even though elevated above the sense in which others possessed it (Matt. 1 : 21). It designated Him as a man among other men. But Christ, or Messiah, is His official name. We would speak more accurately of "Jesus the Christ," than of Jesus Christ. Christ is the official name of the incarnate Son of God, promised in the Old Testament, and actually sent as taught in the New Testament. 3. What is the meaning of "Christ" or "Messiah"? The Anointed One. In the Old Testament, prophets, priests and kings were solemnly set apart by being anointed, as an attestation of official position, and a means of conferring grace for the discharge of official duties. Prophets (1 Kings 19: 16; Is. 61 : 1) ; Priests (Lev. 4) ; Kings (1 Sam. 10: 1; 16: 13; 2 Sam. 2:4). This exter- nal anointment with oil was a figure of an inner or spir- itual anointing, or designation for office accompanied by the necessary gifts for its exercise, as of all believers in 1 John 2 : 27, and pre-eminently Jesus of Nazareth, anointed above all others (Is. 61 : 1, as interpreted by Chap. XL] THE PERSON OF CHRIST. I23 Luke 4:18; Matt. 12:18), as our Prophet, Priest and King, and, therefore, known as Messiah or Christ. John 1:41 — "We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ." 4. What other ideas are included in the name "Christ"? The unity of the Old and New Testaments, the fulfil- ment of prophecy, and the historical foundations for Christianity in the religion of Israel. 5. What, therefore, is a prominent subject of argu- ment in the New Testament, and how is it proved? That Jesus is the Christ. Old Testament prophecies are constantly quoted that are found fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. Luke 24:27 — "Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he inter- preted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." 45, 46 — "Then opened he their minds that they might understand the Scriptures; and he said unto them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day." Luke 18:31-33; Acts 3:18; 10:43; 26:22, 23; Rom. 1:2. 6. Is this, however, the exclusive line of argument by which the claims of Jesus are enforced? No. In addressing Gentiles, the argument was from the Ascension and Resurrection of Jesus to His Lordship over all, and, thence to the truth of the Scriptures to which He appealed and the fulfilment in Him of all their prophecies. This may be seen, e. g., in the sermon of Peter to Cornelius in Acts 10 ; first, the Lordship of Jesus, as attested by the Resurrection (vs. 35-42) ; secondly, the fulfilment in Him of prophecy (v. 43), and His Messiah- ship. 7. What topics are included in Christology, or thai portion of Theology treating of the Mediatorial Office? The Person, the States and the Offices of Christ. 8. How has the Church summarized its faith on this subject? Most comprehensively in the symbol of Chalcedon: 124 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. XI. "We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one con- sent teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in Manhood ; truly God and truly Man, of a reasonable soul and body ; consubstantial with the Father, according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us, according to the Manhood ; in all things, except sin, like unto us ; be- gotten before all ages of the Father, according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our sal- vation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, ac- cording to the Manhood ; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, 'inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably' ; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved and concurring in One Person and One Sub- sistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ ; as the prophets from the beginning have declared concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed of the Fathers has handed down to us." In its simplest form, this truth is stated in the Small Catechism, Creed, Article II. 9. What is the first thing to be considered in treating of the Person of Christ? That He is true God, consubstantial, coequal and co- eternal with the Father. The proof for this is given above, Chap. Ill, Sec. 17-23. For "consubstantial," see same chapter, Q. 48. The divinity of Christ does not consist in divine gifts, but in His entire and complete oneness in all His attri- butes with God. 10. What is the second? That He is true man, consubstantial with us. The proof for this is found in that He has : Chap. XL] THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 1 25 (a) The names of man, as I Tim. 2:5; John 8:40; Acts 17:31. His favorite designation of Himself is "Son of man." He is called "flesh" (John 1:14), "a child" (Acts 4:27), "Son of Abraham, David," etc., especially in the genealogical tables of Matthew and Luke. (b) The parts of a man, body and soul or spirit, and various parts of His body are mentioned. (c) The experiences of men. He was conceived, was born, grew, hungered, thirsted, was fatigued, grieved, wept, exulted, died. (d) The acts of men. He went about, conversed, etc. 11. Why did the early Church lay such emphasis upon the word "true"? Particularly against the Docetists who maintained it was not a true body which Christ had, but only the ap- pearance of a body. 12. Upon what arguments did they base this error? They said that angels repeatedly appeared in human bodies, and yet were not true men ; that the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove without being a true dove. They quoted Rom. 8 : 3, "God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh," laying especial emphasis upon "likeness." 13. Hozu were they answered? Angels assumed human bodies only temporarily, and for some transient purpose. Christ Himself declares the difference in Luke 24 : 39. "Handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye behold me having." The union of the Spirit with the dove was symbolical ; that of the Son of God with man, personal. The former was temporary; the latter permanent. The emphasis in Rom. 8 : 3 is not on "likeness," but on "sinful ' The meaning is the same as in Phil. 2 : 7, "He was "tound it fashion as a man," i. e., to all outward appearances, He 126 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. XI. was nothing more than any other man — a child like other children, a Galilean peasant among Galilean peasants. This is not opposed to the truth of His humanity, but is contrasted simply with His State of Glory. 14. What is implied in His true manhood? Its completeness or perfection. 15. Who attacked this? Apollinaris, in the Fourth Century, who sought to ex- plain the personal union by teaching that the Divine Na- ture replaced a part of Christ's humanity, viz., the rational soul ; and the Monothelites of the Seventh Century, who taught that the Divine Nature took the place of a truly human will. 16. What is meant by saying {hat there is but one Person? That "there is one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures" (Chalcedon). "Who although He be God and man; yet He is not two, but one Christ ; one, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking the manhood into God ; one altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by Unity of Person" (Athanasian Creed). The differ- ence between "me" and "thee" is never applied to the divine and human natures. There is but one "I" acting and speaking, thinking and feeling and willing through both natures. There is but one "Thou" whom the Father addresses and one "He" to whom the Spirit bears witness. 17. What proof have yon of this unity? In Rom. 1 : 3, the same person is said to be "made of the seed of David according to the flesh," and declared to be "the Son of God." In Luke 1 : 3, that which is born of the Virgin Mary is called "the Son of God." In John 1 : 14, "the Word," who is declared in v. 1, to be God, is said to have become "flesh." In Gal. 2 : 20, "the Son of God" is said to have given Himself for sinful man. Chap. XL] THE PERSON OF CHRIST. \2J 1 8. Is the person related in the same way to each nature? The person, with the divine nature, has existed from all eternity. The human nature began in time. The person, therefore, was once without a human nature. But the human nature could not exist without a person. The person of the human nature, therefore, came not from that nature, but from the divine. Since the human nature entered into the world, i. e., was conceived and born and lived by the divine person uniting Himself with our race in the womb of the Virgin Mary, we say that the human nature has no personality of its own, but that the per- sonality of the human nature is that which it has derived from the divine. The Greek theologians called this the doctrine of the anhypostasia of the human nature, which our theologians accept, although stating that enhypos- tasia is preferable. The unity of the person requires that we must hold to the want of personality on the part of the human nature. 19. If zve zuere io affirm that the human nature had a personality of its own, what would follow ? The doctrine that in Christ, there are two persons, as as well as two natures. Unity of personality could be taught, then, only by finding place for the destruction at some time of the human personality, and its being re- placed by the divine. 20. Since there are two natures, can we say there are two Sons, viz., a Son of God and a Son of Man? No. There is but one Son, at one and the same time Son of God and Son of Man. That through which, He is the Son of God, is His eternal generation of the Father, "true God begotten of the Father from all eternity" (Small Catechism). See Chapter III, 51-53. That through which He is the Son of Man is His conception by the Holy Ghost and birth of the Virgin Mary (Luke 128 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. XL I : 35 ; Gal. 4:4). We speak, therefore, of a double gen- eration of Christ : one, eternal ; the other, temporal ; one, according to the divine ; the other, according to the hu- man nature. 21. By what term is the act of the Son of God in as- suming human nature known?-' Incarnation. John 1:14 — "And the Word became flesh." Heb. 2:14 — "Since the chil- dren are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner par- took of the same." Heb. 2:16; 1 Tim. 3:16; Rom. 9:5; 1:3. 22. Was this peculiar io the Second Person of the Trinity? Onlv the Son of God assumed human nature. But the Father who sent the Son into the world, and the Holy Spirit who appears in the conception of Christ (Luke 1:35), just as in creation (Gen. 1:2), were also active. There was a special intervention of God in and beyond the order of nature established at the creation. God, who at creation established an order, in virtue of which men came into the world through certain means, can, at His will, dispense with such means, and provide for a virgin birth. To deny the possibility of this, is to question the existence and almighty power of God. To admit its reality is to admit the possibility of everything else mys- terious and supernatural in Christianity. 23. The conception of Jesus being so unlike that of others, was the human nature that resulted also unlike that of other men? "He was consubstantial with us according to the man- hood ; in all things, except sin, like unto us" (Chalcedon). Heb. 4:15 — "He hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Christ, therefore, experienced all the infirmities that are common to the race, as hunger, thirst, sleep, fatigue, tears, sorrow, pain ; but no individual infirmities are ascribed to Him, as particular diseases which attack some, but do not afTect all. Chap. XL] THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 120, 24. Hozv do you prove the sinlessness of Jesus? (a) From distinct passages of Scripture as Heb. 4: 15, quoted under 23; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 7:26; John 8:46; 1 Peter 1:19; 2 : 22. (b) From His divinity. Sin is a personal matter. It is always a person who sins. But the person of Christ is God. (c) From the definition of sin. "Sin is the want of conformity with God's Law." But the Law is the decla- ration of God's will. God cannot will what is contrary to His will, i. e., Jesus could not sin. He was, therefore, not only sinless, but impeccable. Admit peccability, and the divinity of Christ is practically denied. 25. But if Christ were impeccable, how do you ex- plain His temptation? Is temptation possible, where a fall is impossible? Temptation properly is only testing or proving. When gold is brought to the touch-stone or submitted to the blow-pipe or treated with various chemical reagents, there is no possibility of any other result than that it will stand the test and be proved to be gold. We inevitably asso- ciate the thought of temptation with that of the possibility of a fall, from the fact that man's nature is corrupt, and that even the regenerate are only partially renewed, and, therefore fallible, and likely, under the test, to show its worst features. The agony of our Lord's temptation came not from the necessity of a great struggle in order that He might prove Himself victor, but from the fact that it was a part of His passion. That He, the manifestation of the absolute holiness of God, should endure the presence and be sub- jected to the humiliation of the conversation and sug- gestions of the lowest and vilest of all creatures, the source and head of all the crime in the universe, was an indig- I30 A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Chap. XL nity that called forth all His repugnance to the great enemy. 26. Was there any other particular in which the hu- manity of Christ was distinguished from that of others? All the excellences and perfections of human nature He had in the highest degree. These He possessed as the sin- less man, and as the one within whose body the Godhead dwelt in a peculiar way. Whatever physical attractive- ness He may have had, and for which the old teachers cite Ps. 45 : 2, came from His holy character as it was ex- pressed in His outward form. While the bodies of others contain the seeds of mortality (Rom. 6:23), that of Christ was by its own nature immortal, His death occur- ring by an act of His will (John 10: 18), and not from inner weakness or external force, and His body, after death, being incorruptible (Acts 2:31). 2J. What was the purpose of the Incarnation? The Redemption of the human race. Matt. 20:28 — "The Son of man came, .to give his life a ranson for many." Heb. 2:14 — "He partook of flesh and blood, that, through death, he might bring to nought him that had the power of death." 28. Would the Son of God not have become incarnate if Adam had not sinned? The doctrine that He would have come only for the completion of humanity, or to furnish a model of a holy life, or for any other purpose than to rescue men from sin, is without any authority from Scripture. God's will or de- cree to send His Son into the world everywhere presup- poses God's foreknowledge of sin, and His determina- tion to provide a remedy for it. 29. In what two senses is the expression, Personal Union, used? On the one hand, it designates an act {uniiio), and is synonymous with Incarnation. On the other hand, it refers to a state, resulting from the act (unio). Chap. XL] THE PERSON OF CHRIST. I3I 30. In what does the state of union consist? In that henceforth both natures have but one person — the personal communion ; and, as a result, the intimate and perpetual personal presence of each nature in and with the other. 31. How has the Church guarded the statement of this doctrine? : The Chalcedon Symbol (see above, 8) has denned this union negatively as : (a) Unconfused ( K a