ALLEGED PROOFS. 7. 2 Peter i. 1: To them that have obtained like precious faith with us, through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. of Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour.-Sharp. of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.-Margin; Bible 1596, 1607; Parkhurst, Doddridge, Dwight, Wakefield, Macknight, Burgess, Smith, &c. of our God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ. ... ILLUSTRATIVE TEXTS. h 1 Pet. i. 3: Blessed [be] THE GOD and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. - See ver. 2, 21; chap. ii. 4, 5; iii. 18, 21, 22; iv. 11; v. 10. 2 Pet. i. 17. i See 1 Pet. i. 3 (quoted above). 2 Pet. i. 2, 8, 11, 14, 16; ii. 20; iii. 2, 18. j 2 Pet. i. 2: Grace and peace be mul Eds. of Imp. Ver. of our God and of [our] tiplied unto you through the knowledge Saviour Jesus Christ.-Carpenter. of God, and of Jesus our Lord. REMARKS. Mill says, one of Stephens' MS. instead οι Θεού ήμων και Σωτήρος Ιησου hath Κυρίου ήμων Ιησου; and that the Syriac, by which he means the second Syriac version, hath "of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ;" and the Arabic, "God and our Saviour Jesus."-Macknight. This reading ["of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ"] should have been received into the text; and it is an absolute proof, that St. Peter calls Jesus Christ God, even in the properest sense of the word, with the article prefixed.-A. Clarke. Moreover, he attributes this righteousness jointly to God and Christ, because it originates from God, but flows to us by Christ.-Calvin's note in loc. See Appendix, No. I. page 268. 8. Jude 4: Denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. (Comp. 1 John ii. 22.) FROM THE RECEIVED TEXT. our Et solum illum Herum Deum ac Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum negant.- Beza. only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ.Hammond, Sharp. denying God the only Supreme Governor, and [denying] our Lord Jesus Christ.-S. Clarke. God the only Supreme Ruler, and our Lord Jesus Christ.-Wakefield. FROM THE READING ADOPTED BY GRIESBACH. denying the only Sovereign Ruler, even our Lord Jesus Christ.-A. Clarke. our only Sovereign and Lord Jesus Christ.-Smith. the only Sovereign, and our Lord Jesus Christ.Whitby (L.T.), Carpenter, Imp. Ver. the only Sovereign Ruler and our Lord J. C.- Rhemes Tr. REMARK. GEOV, God, is omitted by A [the Alexandrian MS.], B [the Vatican, C [the Ephrem Codex], sixteen others, with Erpen's Arabic, the Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, and Vulgate, and by many of the Fathers.-A. Clarke. See p. 11, No. 20; and Appendix, p. 268. k Matt. xvi. 15, 16: But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 1 Acts ii. 22-24: Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles... which God did by him, &c. Ver. 32-36: This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the holy spirit, &c. .. God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.— See chap. iii, 13, 15, 18—20, 22, 25, 26; iv. 10, 27-30; v. 30, 31; x. 38-42. m Luke ii. 28, 29: Then took he him [the child Jesus] up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, &c. sovereign Lord.-Imp. Ver. sovereign Master.-Wakefield. Acts iv. 24-27: Lord, thou [art] God, who hast made heaven and earth. Of a truth, against thy holy Child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, &c. sovereign Lord of all.-Lindsey. .... sovereign Lord.-Kenrick, A. Clarke, Imp. Ver. sovereign Master.-Wakefield. 2 Pet.ii. 1: Denying the Lord that bought them (comp. Deut. xxxii. 6. et al.)- See 2 Tim. ii. 22. Rev. vi. 10 (in orig.). sovereign.-Smith. sovereign Lord.-Whitby. n Jude 1: To them that are sanctified by GOD THE FATHER, and preserved in Jesus Christ [and] called. Ver. 25: To the ONLY wise God our Saviour, [be] glory, &c.-See page 11, No. 21. o See Deut. vi. 4. Mark xii. 29-34. OBSERVATIONS. 7. In both of his Epistles, St. Peter has frequent occasion to mention God and Christ; but it cannot be shown, that in any passage—exclusively of the one under consideration—he bestows the name God on his divine Master; his practice being rather to apply it invariably to the Father, and the designations Lord, and Lord and Saviour—the former in general, and the latter uniformly to Jesus Christ.i In the verse which follows the controverted text, the apostle undoubtedly treats of God and Christ as distinct existences.j If these considerations be deemed insufficient to establish our point, the inquirer may fully ascertain, from the answer of St. Peter to a question proposed by Jesus (reported in the Gospels), and by the sentiments which the same apostle uttered after the ascension of his Master, that he did not believe him to be any thing more than "the Son of the living God"—" a man approved of God"—"raised up" and "sent" into the world by God" raised from the dead," and "glorified" by his heavenly Father. Whether, in fine, we observe the general conduct of this disciple, when he was an attendant on the ministry of Christ-whether we hearken to the beautiful and pathetic discourses which he delivered to the Jews, when endowed with superior illumination from on high-or whether we peruse the Letters which he addressed to the Christian churches; the evidence is sufficiently powerful to convince the unprejudiced mind, that the Apostle Peter was neither a Trinitarian, nor a believer in the Supreme Deity of Jesus Christ. 8. Dr. JOHN PYE SMITH observes, that he omits the word God " from what appears sufficient evidence." And if that evidence be sufficient, or even highly probable, it is obvious that the passage cannot justly be adduced as a proof that Jude gives the appellation God to Jesus Christ. Granting, however, the genuineness of this reading, we do not perceive that the writer intended at all to apply to Christ the first clause of the passage; for, as observed by some learned men, the Greek term DESPOTES-Lord, Master, Sovereign, Supreme Ruler or Governor — is never in the Scriptures given to Jesus Christ, but is undoubtedly used in reference to the Father.m Even on Trinitarian principles, Jesus cannot be the only Lord God; since this epithet would imply, that the Father and the Holy Ghost were inferior to him. Leaving, therefore, such an inconsistent interpretation, let us turn to the Epistle itself with a view of ascertaining the author's meaning. In that short composition, we do not again find the word DESPOTES; but there do we discover the several words God the only wise God, or rather the only God-expressly employed in reference to one being-to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ:" thus beautifully harmonising with the sublime declaration of Moses, and of Christ himself, that JEHOVAH IS ONE.° SECT. IV.-EXAMINATION OF THE SCRIPTURAL NAMES AND PHRASES ALLEGED FOR THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST'S ETERNAL GENERATION. (1) SON OF GOD, ETC. 1. Matt. iv. 3: When the temper came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.-See ver. 6; and Par. Pas. Luke iv. 3, 9. Matt. iv. 3, 6: a son of God.-Campbell, Wakefield, A. Clarke, [the] son of God.-Imp. Ver. Luke iv. 3: a son of God.-Campbell, A. Clarke, Wakefield's note. [the] son of God.--Imp. Ver. Ver. 9: a son of God.-Campbell, Wakefield, Eds. of Imp. Ver. The article is wanting in many MSS. and approved editions.-Campbell on Luke iv. 3. See his note on Matt. iv. 3. 2. Matt. xvi. 15, 16: But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. GENERAL REMARKS. The eternal Sonship of Christ I reject for the following reasons: 1. I have not been able to find any express declaration in the Scriptures concerning it. 2. If Christ be the Son of God as to his divine nature, then he cannot be eternal; for son implies a father; and father implies, in reference to son, precedency in time, if not in nature too. Father and son imply the idea of generation; and generation implies a time in which it was effected; and time also antecedent to such generation. 3. If Christ be Son of God as to his divine nature, then the Father is of necessity prior, consequently superior to him. 4. Again, if this divine nature were begotten of the Father, then it must be in time; that is, there was a period in which it did not exist, and a period when it began to exist. This destroys the eternity of our blessed Lord, and robs him at once of his Godhead. 5. To say that he was begotten from all eternity is, in my opinion, absurd; and the phrase eternal Son is a positive self-contradiction. Eternity is that which has had no beginning, nor stands in any reference to time. Son supposes time, generation, and father, and time also antecedent to such generation; therefore, the conjunction of these two terms, Son and eternity, is absolutely impossible, as they imply essentially different and opposite ideas. —A. Clarke's note on Luke i. 35. See Appendix, No. I. page 269. ILLUSTRATIVE TEXTS. a Angels and men called SONS OF GOD: Angels.-Job xxxviii. 7: The sons of God shouted for joy. See Job i. 6; ii. 1. Dan. iii. 25. Luke xx. 36. Adam. Luke iii. 38: Adam, [the son] of God. Descendants of Adam.-See Gen. vi. 2, 4. Solomon.-1 Chron. xxviii. 6: I have chosen him [to be] my son. See chap. xvii. 13. et al. Magistrates.-Ps. lxxxii. 6: Ye [are] gods; and all of you [are] children of the most High. Benevolent men.-Matt. v. 45: Love your enemies; that ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven.-See chap. v. 9. Luke vi. 35. Jews in general.- Exod. iv. 22: Israel [is] my son, .... [even] my first-born. See Deut. xiv. 1; xxxii. 19. Prov. xiv. 26. Isa. i. 2; xliii. 6; xlv. 11. Jer. xxxi. 20. Hos. xi. 1. Jews & Gentiles.-Luke xx. 36. John xi. 52. Rom. ix. 24, 26. 2 Cor. vi. 18. Gal. iii. 26; iv. 4—7. Christians in general.—1 John iii. 1,2: What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God, &c.— See John i. 12. Rom. viii. 14-17. Phil. ii. 15, Heb. ii. 10; xii. 5-9. Rev. xxi. 7. .... b SON OF GOD used for Messiah: By John the Baptist.-John i. 32-34: And John bare record, saying, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God. (Comp. ver. 29-31.) By Nathaniel.-John i. 49: Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. (Comp. ver. 45: Philip saith unto Nathaniel, We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, &c.) By demoniacs & unclean spirits.- Mark iii. 11: Thou art the Son of God. (Comp. Luke iv. 41.) By the blind man restored to sight.-John ix. 35-38 (comp. ver. 17, 22, 33). By Martha, sister of Lazarus. John xi. 27: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who should come into the world. (Comp. ver. 22.) By the accusers of Jesus.-John xix. 7: By our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. (Comp. Mark xv. 26: The superscription of his accusation was written over, The King of the Jews.) By the high priest.- Matt. xxvi. 63: Tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. (Comp. Luke xxii. 66-71.). By passengers.-Matt. xxvii. 40: If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. By the scribes and elders who derided Jesus.- Matt. xxvii. 42, 43: If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him; for HE SAID, I am the Son of God. (Comp. Mark xv. 32: Let Christ, the King of Israel, descend, &c.) c See Luke vii. 16. John vii. 12. d See Matt. iv. 3, 6. Luke iv. 3, 9. SECT. IV. EXAMINATION OF THE SCRIPTURAL NAMES AND PHRASES ALLEGED FOR THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST'S ETERNAL GENERATION. OBSERVATIONS. 1-3. Enlightened Trinitarians, in general, do not place any reliance on the title Son of God, and kindred phrases, as a proof of Christ's eternal and incomprehensible generation from the Father. Indeed, no one, unless he is carried away by the mere sound of words, could pay the slightest attention to Jewish phraseology, and regard such expressions as amounting to any evidence for the Deity of our Lord. But, because this ground is not yet altogether relinquished, it will not be an unprofitable inquiry to ascertain in what senses the term Son of God is employed in the Sacred Volume. In its primary sense, it seems to denote a state of peculiar favour, approbation, or privilege; being generally used in Scripture to signify individuals who were beloved by God on account of their eminent piety and virtue, or who were selected by him for promoting some wise and gracious design. It was applied to angels, kings, magistrates, and prophets to the Jews, as a highly-favoured people, who were separated from the surrounding nations, and made depositaries of the knowledge of the One True God—and also to the Gentiles, who, “when the fulness of the time had come, were adopted as sons into the great family of God. The same glorious appellation was likewise bestowed on the disciples of Jesus, who were "born again," or became new creatures by the total renovation of their dispositions, being influenced by nobler principles of action than heretofore, and having all their hopes and affections centred in heaven and in God." Good and great men being thus distinguished in the Bible, it is no wonder that the best and the greatest of divine Messengers should be denominated THE SON OF GOD. It would appear that John the Baptist, who enjoyed the honour of being Christ's harbinger, and who, at the baptism of Jesus, heard the gracious declaration that was uttered from heaven in confirmation of his divine authority, considered the title referred to as bearing no other meaning than that conveyed by the term Messiah. It seems, indeed, to have been generally used among the Jews as a designation of the Christ, having probably the same import; and in this manner it was undoubtedly applied by many persons to Jesus of Nazareth. It is not, however, improbable that those of the Hebrews who viewed Jesus merely as a prophet, may have used the phrase, without any allusion to his great office as The Sent of God. In this restricted sense, the term Son of God seems also to be employed by Matthew and Luke, in their respective narratives of our Lord's temptation. It is highly probable that the pagan mariners, who inhabited the coasts of the lake of Gennesareth, and who were unacquainted with the phraseology of the Jews, would use the expression under consideration, in accordance d I. SON OF GOD, ETC. 3. John x. 35, 36: If he called them gods unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken; say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? For other passages, see page 71, No. 28-38. See also the texts in which God is called the Father of Christ, pages 36, 37. REMARKS. The emphatic and peculiar manner in which the Lord Jesus is declared to be the Son, the only-begotten Son of God, furnishes another class of testimonies to the superiority of his nature. .... It is manifest to one who reads the Scriptures with any degree of attention, that this title is given to the Lord Jesus in a higher and more emphatic sense than that in which it is ever given to any human creature.-Carlile. Christ is called the Son of God, on account of the very extraordinary power with which he was endowed, or, as it is expressed in the language of Scripture, anointed, and the important commission delivered to him. These were distinguished marks of the divine favour: such proofs of affection parents do not usually bestow on every person, indifferently, but only upon a child whom they love. In this character of a favourite son of the common Father of all mankind, does Jesus appear.-Kenrick. There is no sufficient evidence to prove that Jesus is called "the Son of God" for any other reason than as being the Messiah.-Belsham. II. GOD'S OWN SON. 4. Rom. viii. 32: He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all. - See ver. 3. John v. 18. EXPLANATIONS. Christ is called God's proper Son, to distinguish him from others, who are sons of God by creation or by adoption; that is, by some temporal dignity conferred on them.-Macknight. The reason why Christ is called God's own Son is this, that he is the Son of the only God, begotten of the only God through the Holy Spirit.-Racov. Catec. The most eminently favoured and distinguished of God's creatures.-Yates. ILLUSTRATIVE TEXTS. e Matt.xiv.33: Thou art the Son of God. a son of God.-Wakefield, Eds. of Imp. Ver. a son of God, or a son of a god.-Campbell. f Matt. xxvii. 54: Now when the centurion, and they that were with him watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. Mark xv. 39: Truly this man, &c. a son of a god.-Campbell (note), Eds. of Imp. Ver. a son of God.-Wakefield. i.e. an innocent, holy, and divine person.-A. Clarke. Comp. Luke xxiii. 47: Certainly this was a righteous man. g John x. 35, 36: as in corresponding column. (Comp. ver. 24, 25.) .... h Acts ix. 20-22: Straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard But Saul. [him] were amazed. confounded the Jews who dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. 1 John v. 5: Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? (Comp. ver. 1: Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God, &c.)-See Mark i. 1. Matt. xvi. 16 (comp. Mark viii. 29. Luke ix. 20). John xx. 31. i Rom. i. 4: And declared [to be] the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. See chap. viii. 29. Acts xiii. 33. j See Gen. xvii. 15–19; Judges xiii. 2,3, 24. 1 Sam. i, 5-20. Luke i. 7-24. |