05 - Chapter 5
CHAPTER V. The wisdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the wisdom of Jehovah: therefore, in this respect, he is God.:’’’
CHRIST truly possessed all the deep treasures of uncreated wisdom, even the wisdom -Of Jehovah, and this again, thus far, constitutes his perfect divinity. We wish it still borne in mind that Christ had, as we have clearly proved by God’s holy word, the nature that other men have, that is, human nature. This point, we conclude, has been fully sustained. And as it respects his divine nature, we have already proved, that the existence of Christ teas underived, that he is worshiped as God, in heaven and on earth, and that he was possessed of the attribute of omniscience in its full extent. The object of the present chapter is to show that his wisdom was not the wisdom of a created mind, but it was that wisdom which flows alone from the unfailing fountain of his Godhead, and is boundless as the realm of infinite extent over which the Almighty sways his sceptre. In proof, then, of the present position, we appeal to the veracity of the holy volume, which says, “ To the only wise God our Savior, be glory, and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” Jude 1:25. Here Jesus Christ is addressed as the only wise QOD OUR SAVIOR, and the highest tribute of praise ascribed to his venerable name. Again, he is said to be “ Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:24. And an apostle informs us that “ in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Mark: ALL the TREASURES of wisdom and knowledge are hid in. him. Is there any wisdom which he has not? Here, then, he is plainly described as possessing infinite and unbounded wisdom, which can belong only to that Being whom we call God. His boundless wisdom is most clearly seen in. the works of his hands.
For, “Who turns his eye on nature’s midnight face, But must inquire ’ What hand behind the scene, What arm Almighty put these -wheeling globes In motion, and wound up. the vast machine? Who rounded in his hand, these spacious orbs? Who rolled them flaming through the dark profound, Numerous as the glittering gems of morning dew, Or sparks, from populous cities in a blaze, And set the bosom of old night on Are?
Peopled the deserts, and made horror smile?’“
If, then, his works do not prove his uncreated wisdom and design, we can have no idea that any being in the universe possesses these qualifications.
St. Paul unhesitatingly affirms that “in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”
(Theotelos somatikos) Colossians 2:9. He does not say, “ the God” dwelleth in him, but the Godhead (theotetos.). This original word signifies “ State of being, or divine nature, the infinite attributes essential to such a nature.” Bodily, (somatikos,) signifies truly, or really, in opposition to a typical, or figurative residence. Then we understand that God dwelt in the person of Jesus Christ essentially, substantially, and personally, as the human soul dwells in, and vivifies the body.- This explains what he said to Philip. “ He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father;” and “Jam in the Father, and the Father in me.? ’ Then, if the Bible can be relied upon as testimony, we think this point, also, sustained. If the\Bible is not to be taken as decisive evidence, we must change our position, and, instead of proving the holy doctrine of the divinity of Jesus Christ from that, we must turn and strike against gross infidelity and prove, the Bible to be the truth of God. But admitting the blessed Bible to be true, as we trust all who profess the Christian religion-will do, we may safely proceed to show the contaminating error of denying the divinity and humanity of the Son of God. Were it not for this blessed mirror, that reflects upon us the purity of the upper world, we should know but little of the mode of the supreme existence. Without this lamp to illumine our benighted world, we might wander as fugitives, in darkness, through the scenes of this transient world, and sink at last, in tempests and in storms, beneath the sable waves of an eternal night, when none should weep our fall, and none record our name. But, thanks be to Heaven, for the inexpressible gift of the holy volume.
Then why not believe ’its most positive declarations?
If Jesus Christ is the wisdom and power of God, he is so inherently, or this wisdom and power is delegated to him. Shall we suppose that God delegated his own wisdom and power? Candor will reply no; and yet we may as well expect that he delegated all his wisdom, as that he delegated creative power. But see what had God left to himself after delegating his power and wisdom? if -Jesus Christ was not God, as Unitarians assert, but only “a god” in the subordinate sense that Moses was called god, then the result is, that the Father was inactive or inert, while Christ has been creating the worlds, and that the Father had neither wisdom nor power, because Christ had all wisdom, and all power, in heaven and in earth! Now the fact is that Jesus Christ, the wisdom and power of God, was o,ne with God from eternity, as says the word of inspiration. “ I was. set up from everlasting, from the beginning or ever the earth was. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth. When he prepared the heavens, I was there; when he set a compass upon the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep; when he gave to the sea his decree, that the water should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then 1 was by him, as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.” Proverbs 8:23-30.