09 - Chapter 9

CHAPTER IX. The equality of our Lord Jesus Christ with God the Father.

WE do not pretend that the humanity of our blessed Lord was equal with God -the Father, in power and eternity. Trinitarians do not say that the human nature of Christ was “ the very and eternal (God,” nor that there are three Gods, though frequently accused of such sentiments by their opposers. When we speak of Jesus- Christ as being God, we speak of him in his divine nature. And when we speak of him as man, we speak of him in his humanity. Now this manner of speaking is in common use. Says David:? “Why art thou cast down, O my soul.” Here he seems to address his spirit, Again he says, “ My flesh and my heart faileth,” so we see him mentally speaking of his body, and yet none supposes David was inconsistent in his expression, and in fact this is the every day expression of almost all persons. But if the Bible speaks of Christ as equal with God, he is so, or the Bible is not true. “ Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be EQUAL WITH GOD.” Php 2:15. No man nor angel can be said to be equal with God. But our Lord thought it not robbery (arpagmon) to be so. The original word (arpagmon,) which is translated “ robbery,” signifies seizing by fame. If he had no* been equal with God, it would have been “seizing by force” for him to have claimed equality, but there was no robbery in his claiming that which belonged to him. But the reader will indulge us in making a few remarks on these words.

1. Jesus Christ was eternally in the bosom of the Father y and of the same dazzling glory with hinu 2. He clothed his brightness in a human body. While he was transfigured on the mount before three of his disciples, he displayed some of his former glory, that glory he had with the Father before the world was. 3. We see that if he had not been equal with God, his pretensions to equality must have been not only robbery but blasphemy. 4. If he possessed but one nature* and that was derived, or created nature, he could not in any sense have been “equal with God,” for the highest grade of creatures falls infinitely short of equality with God. 5. To be equal with God, is to be God, or there are two Gods, which none will allow. 6. In order for Christ to have been equal with God, he must have possessed equal power, and equal eternity of existence, for how, (with any respect to truth), could the pen of inspiration call a creature, whose very existence was given to him by his Creator) equal with him? Yet, notwithstanding his glory with his Father before time began, qr creature was formed, he “Is led by choice to take his gloomy walk, Beneath Death’s dreary, silent Cyprus shade, Unpierced by vanity’s fantastic ray, To read his monuments, to weigh his dust, Visit his vaults and dwell among the tombs.”

Again: Jehovah says that He is his equal. “Awake, O, sword, against, my shepherd, and the man that is my fellow, (equal,) saith the. Lord.” Zech. 18:7. “Therefore the Jews sought the more to Mil him, because he had not only broken the Sabbath, -but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. “ Then answered Jesus, and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do, for what thing soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son- likewise.. ’.. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.” John 5:18-21. The Jews understood our Savior right, when they said he made himself equal with God; for he conveyed the obvious idea that they, (that is, the Father and Son,) possess the same nature. The Jews accused him of two crimes; one was breaking the Sabbath, the other was making him the equal of God. We learn from what our Lord said at this time, that 1. God does no works but what Christ also does. 2. The Son can do nothing but what he sees the Father do, consequently if the Son has sinned, the Father also has sinned. If the Son has broken the Sabbath, the Father has broken it also. 3. That such was the union of nature and design between them, that one did nothing without the other, and what either did was equally the work of both. The text in Zechariah, which we have just cited, proves this equality beyond the possibility of confutation.

“ The man that is my fellow,” (Heb. Ve-al geber amiti.) The hero that is with me. Here inspiration acknowledges the equality between the Father and Son. Again. Jesus says, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” John 14:9. These words our Lord addressed to Philip, when he wished Christ to show them the Father. He seemed to possess the same feeling that Moses did when he said, “ I beseech thee show me thy glory.” Exodus 33:18. He was not with the three apostles to whom the transfiguration was exhibited, and therefore was in some degree, at least, excusable for making this request. What angel could in truth say to Philip, “’If you have seen me, you have seen God?” Was Jesus trying to deceive Philip and the rest of the disciples? Certainly not. How could they understand him to be a creature when he said this? He also told them that he was in the Father and the Father in him, and the very works that he did, the Father that dwelt in him really performed. “ I and my FATHER are ONE.” John 10:30. Could any created being truly say, “I and God Almighty are One?” Certainly no one would answer this affirmatively. Well, Jesus did say this, and we must acknowledge him to have been correct. With these unequivocal declarations of inspiration before us, how can we deny that the Lord Jesus, in his divine nature, was equal with the Father? And if he possessed but one nature, and that derived, must we not unavoidably suspect his veracity! “ Let God be true and every man a liar.” Paul. How supremely irreverent it would be for us to call in question the veracity of him whose garments, are Unsullied) whose throne is unspotted, whose messengers are the holy angels, whose palace is the heavens, and who hurls the thunderbolts of God, and guides the lightnings in their vivid march. With what trembling awe should we receive all his precious instructions, and humbly sit at his feet, and devoutly implore the guidance of his Spirit.