intercedes with the Father, and so is not a mere energy of the Father.
Jesus promised to send the Spirit from the Father, but the Father could
not be sent from or by Himself. It is said that the Spirit when He came
would not speak of Himself--a statement that cannot apply to the
Father; and while Christ promised to send the Spirit, He did not promise
to send the Father.
The Holy Ghost is not the Son, for the Son says He will send Him. He is
"another Comforter," who speaks and acts as a person. The Holy Ghost
said, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work where-unto I have
called them."[167]
The arguments for the distinct personality of the Holy Ghost prove also
that He is God. The baptismal formula and the apostolic benediction
assume His Divinity. The words of Christ with reference to the sin
against the Holy Ghost imply that He is God, and Peter affirms this
doctrine when, having accused Ananias of lying to the Holy Ghost, he
adds, "Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God."[168] Paul also
asserts it when, in arguing against sins of the flesh, he affirms that
the body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and also declares of it that
the temple of GOD is holy. Divine properties are ascribed to the Holy
Spirit. Thus _Omnipotence_ is attributed to Him--"The Spirit shall
quicken your mortal bodies",[169] _Omniscience_--"The Spirit searcheth
all things",[170] _Omnipresence_--"Whither shall I go from thy
Spirit?"[171] Divinity is attributed to the third Person in the
statement that "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost,"[172] taken in connection with the other statement, "all
Scripture is given by inspiration of God."[173]
Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and, because of this, though born
of a woman, He was in His human nature the Son of God. "The Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee ... therefore also that holy thing which shall be
born of thee shall be called the Son of God."[174] Each of the three
Persons has part in the work of redemption. The Father gave the Son, and
accepted Him as man's Sinbearer and Sacrifice; the Son gave Himself, and
assumed human nature that He might suffer and die in the room and stead
of sinners, and the Holy Ghost applies to men the work of redeeming
love, taking of the things of Christ and making them known,[175] till
they produce repentance, faith, and salvation. The Father's gift of the
Son and the Son's sacrifice of Himself are of the past; the work of the
Holy Spirit has gone on day by day, ever since the risen and glorified
Redeemer sent Him to make His people ready for the place which He is
preparing for them. It is through Him that we understand the Scriptures,
and receive power to fear God and keep His commandments. He comes to
human hearts, and when He enters He banishes discord and bestows
happiness and peace. Then with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness, and the fruits of the Spirit are manifested in his life.
The love of the Father and the redemption secured by the Son's
Incarnation and Passion fail to affect us if we have not our share in
the Spirit's sanctification. There is a sense in which the Holy Ghost
comes nearer to us, if we may so speak, than the other Persons of the
Godhead. If we are true believers, the Holy Ghost is enthroned in our
hearts. "He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."[176] Our bodies
become the temples of the Holy Ghost.[177] It is through Him that the
Father and the Son come and make their abode in the faithful.[178] We
are made "an habitation of God through the Spirit."[179] "If any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."[180] When we consider
the work He carries on in convicting men of sin, of righteousness, and
of judgment, and in converting, guiding, and comforting those whom He
influences, we can understand that it was expedient for us that Christ
should go away, in order that the Comforter might come.[181] If we are
receiving and resting on Jesus as our Saviour, then His Spirit is within
us as the earnest of our inheritance.[182] His presence imparts power
such as no spiritual enemy can resist. How different were the Apostles
before and after they had received the gift of the Spirit! One of them
who, before, denied Christ when challenged by a maid, afterwards
proclaimed boldly in the presence of the hostile Jewish council, "We
ought to obey God rather than men."[183] Those who, when He was
apprehended, had forsaken Him and fled, gathered courage to brave kings
and rulers as they preached salvation through Him. The disciples, who,
in accordance with Christ's injunction, awaited the descent of the
Spirit, were on the day of Pentecost clothed with power before which
bigotry and selfishness passed into faith and charity and
self-surrender; and there was won on that day for the Church a triumph
such as the might of God alone could have secured--a triumph which the
ministry of the Spirit, whenever it is recognised and accepted, is
always powerful to repeat and to surpass.
All good comes to man through the Spirit. Every inspiration of every
individual is from Him, the Lord and Giver of light, and life, and
understanding. Every good thought that rises within us, every unselfish
motive that stimulates us, every desire to be holy, every resolve to do
what is right, what is brave, or noble, or self-sacrificing, comes to
man from the Holy Ghost. He is instructing and directing us not only on
special occasions, as when we read the Bible or meet for worship, but
always, if we will listen for His voice. His personal indwelling in man,
as Counsellor and Guide, is the fulfilment of the promise--"I will dwell
in them, and walk in them." "He will guide you into all truth" is an
assurance of counsel and victory that is ever receiving fulfilment, and
that cannot be broken.[184]
* * * * *
ARTICLE 9
_The Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints_
SECTION 1.--THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH
In the clause of the Creed which expresses belief in Jesus Christ, He is
called our Lord "And in Jesus Christ our Lord." That He is their Lord is
declared by believers, when they term the society of which they are
members "the Church." This word is derived from the Greek _kurios_,
Lord, in the adjectival form _kuriakos_, of or belonging to the
Lord--the Scottish word "kirk" being therefore a form nearer the
original than the equivalent term _Church_. The Greek word translated
"church" occurs only three times in the Gospels. In English the word is
used in different senses, all of them, however, pointing to the Lord
Jesus as their source and sanction. By "church," we sometimes mean a
building set apart for Christian worship. The Jew had his Tabernacle in
the Wilderness, his Temple at Jerusalem, and his Synagogue in the
Provinces; the Mohammedan has his Mosque, and the Brahmin his Pagoda;
but the Christian has his Church, in whose very name his Lord is
honoured. Sometimes the word denotes the Christians of a specified city
or locality--the Church at Ephesus, the Church at Corinth. Sometimes it
is limited to a number of Christians meeting for worship in a house, as
in Romans xvi. 5 and in Philemon.[185] Sometimes "Church" denotes a
particular denomination of Christians, as the Presbyterian Church, the
Episcopal Church. Sometimes it expresses the distinctive form which
Christianity assumes in a particular nation--the Church of England, the
Church of Scotland. In the Creed the Holy Catholic Church means the
whole body of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, all who anywhere and
everywhere are looking to Him for salvation, and are bringing forth the
fruits of holiness to His praise and glory.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not, during His ministry, set up a Church as
an outward organisation. He was Himself to be the Church's foundation;
but in order to be qualified for this office it was necessary that He
should first lay down His life. The work of building and extending, in
so far as it was to be effected by human agency, must be undertaken by
others after His departure. He came to fulfil the law, and so He was not
sent save to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He worshipped,
accordingly, in the Jewish temple and synagogues, observed the
sacraments and festivals of the Old Testament Church, and during His
earthly ministry bade His disciples observe and do whatsoever the men
who sat in Moses' seat commanded. "The faithful saying, worthy of all
acceptation," with which the Christian Church was to be charged as God's
message to the world, was not yet published, for Christ had still to
suffer and enter into His glory, and the Holy Ghost had yet to be sent
by the Father before the standard of the Church could be set up. While
the Church rests on Christ, it is founded upon His Apostles also, to
whom He committed the work for which He had prepared them, and for which
He was still further to qualify them by bestowing power from on high.
The gifts which He received for men when He ascended were needed to
equip them for the work of founding that Church, which became a
possibility only through His death and resurrection. Applying to them
the redemption purchased by Christ, the Holy Ghost wrought in and with
them, and crowned their labours with success. The Christian Church was
set up on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost came down upon a
band of believers assembled at Jerusalem waiting for the promise of the
Father. Under His inspiration Peter preached the first Christian sermon
with such power that the same day there were added unto the Church three
thousand souls.
The Church is termed the _Holy_ Catholic Church. When the epithet "holy"
is applied to the Church, it is not meant that all who profess faith in
Jesus Christ and are in connection with the visible Church, are holy, or
that any of them are altogether holy. Our Lord taught that while in the
world His Church would contain a mixture of good and bad. He likened it
to a net in which good and bad fishes are caught, and to a field in
which wheat and tares grow together. Though all are called to be saints,
"there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good, and sinneth
not."[186] The sanctification of believers is the work of the Holy
Spirit, effected not by a momentary act but by degrees, and never
perfected in this life.
Upon all who truly receive the Lord Jesus a change is wrought by the
Holy Spirit of God, which results in holiness. Looking unto Jesus, they
behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, and are changed into the
same image. The transformation which they undergo extends to every part
of their being. The subject of sanctification is the whole man. The
understanding, will, conscience, memory, affections are all renewed in
their operations, and the members of the body become instruments of
righteousness unto holiness. As believers are enabled to die unto sin,
they live unto righteousness. Being renewed in the inner man by the
Divine Spirit, they bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. Their desire
is after holiness, for they know that the restoration of holiness is the
end for which Jesus died and for which the Spirit works. "Christ loved
the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to
himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such
thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."[187] Now, the
Church is marred by many blemishes, but her imperfection is for a time
only. When her period of work and probation is accomplished she will be
purged and perfected, and will be a church without spot or wrinkle.
Meantime she is the Holy Church because her Head is holy, and because
she is called out of the world and consecrated to the service of God.
She is holy because she is the body of Christ, of whose fulness she
receives, and whose graces she reflects, and because it is through her
teaching, prayers, and institutions that the Holy Spirit usually works
and influences men to follow holiness. The ministry, the preaching, the
sacraments, the laws, and the discipline of the Church have as their end
the turning of men from their sins and persuading them to follow
holiness.
The Christian Church is a _Catholic_ Church. The word "Catholic" means
universal, and implies that, unlike the Jewish Church, which was narrow
and local, requiring admission to earthly citizenship as the condition
of receiving spiritual privilege, the Church of Christ is coextensive
with humanity, and accessible to all. The Master's charge was that the
Gospel should be preached to every creature. The Church's field is the
world, and her commission sets before her as a duty that she shall go
into all the world bearing the glad tidings of salvation. The disciples
did not at first realise this comprehensiveness of the new faith. Even
after his address on the day of Pentecost, Peter had not risen above his
Jewish prejudices. It was not until after he beheld in vision the great
sheet let down from heaven, and was forbidden to regard anything which
God had cleansed as common or unclean, that the fulness of the Gospel
dispensation was understood by him, and he discovered to his
astonishment that God is no respecter of persons, but that in every
nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is acceptable to
Him.[188]
The Catholic Church is _One_. It is _the_ Holy Catholic Church, one in
its origin as the household of God built upon the foundation of the
Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief corner-stone;[189]
one body, with one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism.[190] The
distinctive marks of the true Church are allegiance to one Lord,
confession of a common creed, and participation in the same Sacraments.
The unity of the Catholic Church is quite compatible with the existence
of separate organisations that differ in regard to details of government
or worship. There is no outward organisation which possesses a monopoly
of Christian truth and privilege. While all who "hold the Head" stand
fast in one spirit, they are not all enrolled as members of one
ecclesiastical body, or subject to the authority of one earthly ruler.
Their citizenship is in heaven; not in Rome or in any city of this
world. The claim asserted by the Bishops of Rome to be infallible
representatives of Christ and exclusive possessors of the keys of the
kingdom of heaven, to whom all men owe allegiance, and whose decrees and
discipline cannot be questioned without sin, has no support in
Scripture, which, while it enjoins unity of spirit, never prescribes
uniformity of organisation.
What the Romanist claims for the Pope is virtually claimed for the
Church by some who reject Papal authority. By the Church they mean one
visible body of Christians under the same ecclesiastical constitution
and government, and they maintain that the right to expound with
authority the will of God is vested in this body, and that private
judgment must be subordinated to its decisions. To constitute the Church
they say there must be bishops at its head, ordained by men whose
ecclesiastical orders have come down from apostolic times in unbroken
succession. Without this apostolical succession, it is affirmed, there
can be no Church, no true ordination, no valid or effectual
administration of sacraments.
Such a definition of the Catholic Church excludes from participation in
the ordinary means of grace the whole body of Presbyterians, nearly all
the Protestant Churches of Europe, and all who refuse to admit direct
transmission of orders from the Apostles as a primary condition of the
Church's existence. Carried to its logical conclusion, it would exclude
even those who maintain it; for all attempts to trace back a continuous
and complete series of ordinations from modern times to the apostolic
age fail to show an unbroken line. It is therefore not possible for any
bishop or minister in Christendom to be certain that, in this sense, he
is a successor of the Apostles. The Catholic Church is not exclusively
Episcopalian or Presbyterian or Congregational. It is found in all
Christian communities, and maintains its identity in all. It is said by
Paul to be made up of "them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called
to be saints, with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
in every place, their Lord and ours."[191] As it is not the Pope that
admits to, or excludes from, heaven, so it is not the prerogative of any
church to bestow or to withhold salvation. The right of private
judgment, asserted and secured by the Scottish Reformers, is one which
we are not only entitled but bound to exercise. We must search the
Scriptures for ourselves, that in their light we may prove all things
and hold fast that which is good. A famous saying of Ignatius, who first
applied the term "Catholic" to the Church, supplies the true description
of a living church--"Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic
Church."[192]
SECTION 2.--THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS
This article appears to have first found place in the Creed as a protest
against the tenets of a sect called the Donatists, from Donatus their
leader. He seceded (314 A.D.) from the Christian Church in North Africa,
carrying with him numerous followers, and set up a new church
organisation, claiming for it place and authority as the only Church of
Christ. Circumstances put powers of excommunication and persecution at
his disposal, which he directed against those who refused to become his
followers.
Augustine was for a time a Donatist, but his truth-loving spirit soon
discovered the real character of Donatus, and then he became his active
and uncompromising opponent. It was probably as a protest against the
arrogance of the Donatists, and in deference to Augustine's wish, that
the clause was inserted. In this profession it is declared that the Holy
Catholic Church is one not in virtue of outward forms, or even through
perfect agreement among its members upon all details of doctrine, but
because of the holiness of those who compose it. It refuses to
excommunicate any who hold fast the form of sound words, and who adhere
to one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. It is a
brotherhood of which all who have the spirit of Christ are members.
Differences in colour, or country, or rank do not suffice to separate
those who are "the body of Christ and members in particular." The spirit
of Christian fellowship that marks the saints finds fitting expression
in the noble words of Augustine, "In things essential, unity; in things
doubtful, liberty; in all things, charity."
The primary meaning of the word "saint" is a person consecrated or set
apart. In this sense all baptized persons who are professing members of
the Church of Christ are saints. In the New Testament the whole body of
professing Christians resident in a city or district are called saints,
although some among them may have been unworthy; just as in the Old
Testament the prophets even in degenerate times termed the people of
Israel an "holy nation," that is, a nation separated from the rest of
the world and consecrated to God's service. Thus we read that Peter
visited the saints which dwelt at Lydda.[193] Paul speaks of a
collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem, and writes letters to all
the saints in Achaia,[194] to all the saints in Christ Jesus at
Philippi, and to the saints at Ephesus; and Jude speaks of the faith
once delivered to the saints. In these passages the title is applied to
all who were in outward fellowship with the Christian Church.
The term "saint" is used also in a more restricted sense. As they were
not all Israel who were of Israel, and as not every one that saith
"Lord, Lord" shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, so all who are
enrolled as members of the Christian Church do not lead saintly lives,
and those only are truly saints who are striving to live godly in Christ
Jesus, and to be holy, even as He who hath called them is holy. This
clause of the Creed expresses the doctrine that Christians ought to have
fellowship one with another, and that there ought to be harmonious
relations and stimulating communion between their several churches and
congregations--such fellowship and communion as may lead the world to
believe that they are one in Christ, and that, though compelled by
circumstances to assemble in different places and to form separate
societies, they are, nevertheless, all members of one body, of which
Jesus Christ is the Head; all stones in one building, of which He is the
chief Corner-stone; all branches in one true vine, of which He is the
Stem; and all animated and directed by the same Spirit. Thus regarded,
the clause is a protest against the exclusiveness which often marks
Christian churches, and is a recognition of the spirit of charity.
The extent of this Communion of the Saints is not revealed. Much of it
is spiritual, and is therefore invisible to us. God alone marks in full
measure the fellowship of the churches, and is acquainted with the
character and conduct of all their members. He knew the seven thousand
in Israel who had never bowed the knee to Baal, and the real, though
unrecognised, communion they had with one another in their common
fidelity and prayer to Him; but Elijah did not know how much true
fellowship he had, when he denounced the idolatries of Jezebel and
pleaded with God for Israel. The ignorance of the prophet, who thought
he was the only faithful Israelite, has its counterpart in our own
times. God knows, but we do not know, how many faithful saints there are
in the world who are in fellowship with one another because they are in
fellowship with Him. We are excluded by many barriers from the knowledge
of our brethren and sisters in Christ Jesus. Natural and moral
difficulties stand in the way, hindering this knowledge; differences in
language, in environment, in habits and modes of thought, and other
limitations, disable us for truly gauging the character of those with
whom we are brought into close contact. Communion is nevertheless real
and true. The members of the Church of the living God, however they may
be scattered and divided, have communion and fellowship with the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and being in fellowship with God, they are
of one mind, and are knit together by common faith and mutual sympathy.
They are all one with the same Head, and they have all one hope of their
calling.
Our Lord brought life and immortality to light, and taught men that
between the Church militant and the Church triumphant there is
indissoluble fellowship. Those who followed holiness in this life are
saints still in the life to which they have passed. In the Epistle to
the Hebrews, believers are told that they "are come to the general
assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven ...
and to the spirits of just men made perfect."[195]
While the clause was probably inserted at first to vindicate the
doctrine of communion of saints in this life, it has long been regarded
as extending to a communion subsisting between the spirits of just men
made perfect and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ who are still on
earth. The passage last quoted justifies the inference that death does
not suspend the fellowship which believers in Jesus Christ have with
Him, their common Lord. Death separates the soul from the body, but it
does not cut off the dead from communion with the Father or the Son. He
who is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob is the God not of the
dead, but of the living. Of the whole family of the saints, some are in
heaven and some on earth, and, between those who are there and those who
are here, there is communion. Since the heavenly Church received Abel as
its first member, there has been unceasing fellowship between militant
and glorified saints. Those who are here are shut out by the tabernacle
of the body from personal intercourse with the souls of the departed,
but are yet in a fellowship with them that is very real and precious.
The holy dead act upon the living, and, it may be, are reacted upon in
ways we do not understand. Of Abel we are told that "being dead, he yet
speaketh."[196] Those whom death has taken do not cease to exert an
influence on the lives of friends left behind. Their example, their good
deeds, their writings, the undying consequences of what they did while
on earth affect us. The veil which death interposes between us and them
hinders us from witnessing their spirit life, and we know not whether,
or in what measure, or how, they contemplate us. We do not go to them to
ask them to intercede for us with the Father, for we believe there is
but one Mediator between God and man. We do not invest them with
attributes which belong to God alone; all that we are warranted to say
about their relation to us is, that what is revealed does not forbid,
but rather encourages, the thought that they are interested in us and
concerned for our happiness. If the angels rejoice over the conversion
of a sinner, are we to think that the spirits of just men made perfect
are strangers to this joy? They are within the veil, we cannot see them,
but we know they are in communion with God. The condition of the
departed saints is one of waiting as well as of progress. They have not
attained to fruition. There are doctrines which to them, as to us, are
still matters not of experience but of faith and hope. The souls of the
martyrs seen by John under the altar were in a state of expectation,
desiring and pleading as when in the flesh they had desired and pleaded
for the consummation of Messiah's kingdom; and from them the Apostle
heard the cry ascend, "How long, O Lord?"[197] Saints here and saints
who have passed through the valley into the unseen must surely hold many
beliefs in common. Both alike believe the promises of God, and
anticipate the glorious consummation for which they wait and watch, when
the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of the living God.
They believe in the resurrection of the body and in its reunion with the
soul for ever. They have common affections. Their love is given to the
same God. They have community of worship, and have communion in
thanksgiving, praise, and, may we not say, in prayer for the overthrow
of the kingdom of darkness and the advent of the kingdom of glory? As
those who are still in the body keep the New Testament feast, they feel
that there is fellowship between them and saints departed, seeing that
they honour the same Saviour, glory in the same cross, partake of the
same heavenly food, and look for the same inheritance of perfect
blessedness.
* * * * *
ARTICLE 10
_The Forgiveness of Sins_
The Creed acknowledges God as the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and
earth; but there is another relation which He sustains to His creatures
besides those of Creator and Father. In Scripture He is represented as
the King, Ruler, Governor of the universe, who imposes laws upon all His
creatures, and requires of them scrupulous obedience. With the exception
of man, the visible creatures have these laws, from which they cannot
swerve, within their constitutions. The planet never deviates from its
appointed orbit; the insect, the bird, the beast all live in strict
accordance with their instincts; but, unlike them, man possesses freedom
of will and power of choice. This freedom, if rightly exercised, is a
noble possession, but, perverted, it is an instrument of destruction.
The lower animals cannot sin because the law of their lives is within
them, constraining them to act in accordance with its dictates. Upon
man, free to choose, God imposed law. With freedom of will he received
the gift of conscience, which, enabling him to distinguish between right
and wrong, invested him with responsibility, and made disobedience sin.
That he can sin is his patent of nobility, that he does sin is his ruin
and disgrace.
The effect of sin is separation from God, who can have no fellowship
with evil, for sin is the abominable thing which He hates, and on which
He cannot even look. A breach, altogether irreparable on man's part, was
made between man and his Creator when the first transgression of the law
of God took place. The impulse of every sinner, which only Divine power
can overcome, is to flee from God. Hence arises the necessity for
reconciliation, and for the intervention of God to effect it. That the
unity thus broken may be restored, expiation must be made by one
possessing the nature of the being that had sinned, and yet, by His
possession of the Divine nature, investing that expiation with
illimitable worth, so that all sin may be covered, and every sinner find
a way of escape from the power and the penal consequences of
transgression. These conditions meet in the Lord Jesus Christ and in Him
alone. That God might, without compromising His attributes, be enabled
to bring man back into fellowship with Himself, He spared not His own
Son, and the Son freely gave Himself to suffering and death for the
world's redemption.
In the felt necessity of atonement, which has associated sacrifice with
every religion devised by man, we have evidence of the universality of
sin. All feel its crushing pressure, and fear the punishment which,
conscience assures them, is deserved and inevitable. The heathen
confesses it as he prostrates himself before the image of his god, or
immolates himself or his fellow-man upon his altar; and the Christian
feels and confesses it as, fleeing for refuge, he finds pardon and
cleansing in the blood of Jesus Christ.
Sin is original or actual, the former inherited from our parents, the
latter, personal transgression of the Divine law. Every man descending
from Adam by ordinary generation is born with the taint of original sin.
As the representative head of humanity, Adam transmitted to all his
descendants the nature that his sin had polluted. The fountain of life
was poisoned at its source, and when Adam begat children they were born
in his likeness. "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by
sin; and so death passed upon all men." "Death reigned ... even over
them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression."
"By one man's disobedience many were made sinners."[198]
Actual sin consists in breaking any law of God made known to us by
Scripture, conscience, or reason. It assumes many forms. There are sins
of thought, of word, of deed; sins of commission, or doing what God
forbids; of omission, or leaving undone what God commands; sins to which
we are tempted by the world, the flesh, or the devil; sins directly
against God; sins that wrong our neighbours, and that ruin ourselves;
sins of pride, covetousness, lust, gluttony, anger, envy, sloth. In many
things we sin, and "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us."[199]
Man's sinfulness is set forth in Scripture by a great variety of
figures. The word rendered "sin" means the missing of a mark or aim. Sin
is sometimes described as ignorance, sometimes as defeat, sometimes as
disobedience. The definition of the Shorter Catechism is clear and
comprehensive. "Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of,
the law of God."[200] The taint of original sin, extending to man's
whole nature, inclines him to act in opposition to the law of God, and
every concession to his corrupt desire, in thought, word, or deed, is
actual sin. Because of it he is not subject to the law of God, neither,
indeed, can be.
Sin is always spoken of in Scripture as followed by punishment or by
pardon. There is no middle way. Salvation for man must therefore involve
deliverance from condemnation.
The word which expresses man's liability to punishment is "guilt," and
only a religion which makes known how he may be set free from guilt will
suit his necessities. We cannot set ourselves free from condemnation.
"Man," says the Confession of Faith, "by his fall into a state of sin,
hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying
salvation; so, as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good,
and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself,
or prepare himself thereunto."[201] Forgiveness of sin must come from
God. There is nothing in nature or in human experience to warrant hope
of pardon. Nature never forgives a trespass against her law. The
opportunity that is lost does not return. The mistake by which a life is
marred cannot be undone. The constitution shattered by intemperance
cannot be restored, the birthright bartered for a mess of pottage is
gone for ever, and no bitter tears or supplications have power to bring
it back. Whether we repent of it or not, every sin we commit leaves its
dark mark behind, and in this life at least the stain can never be
effaced; and yet we believe in the forgiveness of sin through the grace
of God.
The forgiveness of sin is a free gift purchased by "the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world," who by His Cross and Passion obtained
for men this unspeakable benefit, and commanded that repentance and
remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations.[202]
In order that the grace of God may bring salvation, it is required that
there shall be (_a_) Repentance. In Scripture repentance is set forth as
necessarily preceding pardon: "Jesus began to preach, and to say,
Repent."[203] "Peter said unto them, Repent."[204] "Him hath God exalted
with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance
to Israel, and forgiveness of sins."[205] Repentance begins in
contrition. "Godly sorrow for sin worketh repentance to salvation."[206]
(_b_) Before the good gift of God can be received, it is necessary that
we confess our sin. It is when we confess our sins that we obtain
forgiveness and cleansing. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness."[207] To produce conviction and confession is the work
of the Holy Ghost. He reveals to the sinner the sinfulness of his life,
and so works in him repentance. (_c_) Another requirement is unfeigned
faith. "He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." "Without faith it is
impossible to please him."[208] "Being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."[209] "Let him ask in faith,
nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea
driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall
receive anything of the Lord."[210] (_d_) There must be also humble,
earnest resolution to be obedient to the will of God. The forgiveness
secured by the death of Jesus is more than mere deliverance from the
penalty of sin or the acquittal of the sinner. It is the remission of
sins, the putting away of the sin. With pardon there is a renewal of the
inner man. Return to holiness is secured, and the lost image of God is
restored to man, so that he dies to sin and lives unto holiness. Nothing
less than this will satisfy the true penitent, who asks for more than
pardon, whose cry is, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a
right spirit within me."[211] It is not sufficient to be set free from
punishment, there must be the abiding desire to have the life conformed
to the Divine will. "The grace of God that bringeth salvation" teaches
and enables all who receive it "to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts,
and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world."[212]
* * * * *
ARTICLE 11
_The Resurrection of the Body_
ANIMISM--the doctrine of the continuous existence, after death, of the
disembodied human spirit--has a place in the majority of religious
systems; but belief in the resurrection of the body is almost peculiar
to the Christian faith. In Old Testament times the hope of immortality
for body and soul seldom found expression. Job seems to have had at
least a glimpse of the doctrine, although his words in the original do
not express it so strongly as those of the English version: "I know that
my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the
earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh
shall I see God."[213] In the Psalms there are various intimations that
faithful servants of God looked for a future life in which the body as
well as the spirit should find place. Isaiah prophesied, "Thy dead men
shall live, my dead body shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in
dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out
the dead."[214] Daniel still more emphatically declares, "Many of them
that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting
life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."[215] The story in the
second book of Maccabees of the seven martyr-brothers, who would not
accept life from the tyrant on condition of denying their God, proves
that they were strengthened to endure by the sure hope of "a better
resurrection." One of them thus confessed his faith: "Thou like a fury
takest us out of this present life, but the King of the world shall
raise us up, who have died for His laws, unto everlasting life." Another
of the brothers, about to have his tongue plucked out and his hands cut
off, "holding forth his hands manfully, said courageously, These I had
from heaven ... and from Him I hope to receive them again." Their
mother, who is thought to have been one of the saints that in the
Epistle to the Hebrews are said to have been tortured, not accepting
deliverance, encouraged her sons to be faithful unto death by telling
them that God who had given them life at the first would restore it. "I
am sure," she said, "that He will of His own mercy give you breath and
life again as ye now regard not your own selves for His laws'
sake."[216] The Pharisees in the days of our Lord held by the doctrine,
which the Sadducees, who rejected belief in angels and spirits, denied.
The belief expressed by Martha when she said of her brother Lazarus, "I
know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day,"[217]
was in all likelihood current in her time. It may have been to impress
the truth of resurrection-life for the body that Enoch, before the
flood, and Elijah, in later Old Testament times, were translated; but it
is in the New Testament, in words spoken by the Lord Jesus, that
resurrection is fully revealed. "Marvel not at this," said He to the
Jews; "for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves
shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth; they that
have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done
evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."[218] In reply to the
Sadducees, who attempted to ridicule His statements regarding
resurrection, He said, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the
power of God";[219] and He put them to silence by showing that the truth
of resurrection was implied in the name by which God revealed Himself to
Israel, "I am the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob." He showed
His power over the dead body, and furnished assurance of resurrection,
by raising the dead. He thus restored the daughter of Jairus and the son
of the widow of Nain, and raised Lazarus from the tomb four days after
he had died. In His own resurrection we have the most signal pledge of
our bodily immortality. When He arose triumphant from the grave and
showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs, He manifested His power
as the conqueror of death.
It is clearly taught in Scripture that there is to be a general
resurrection of the righteous and the wicked. In addition to texts
already quoted, we find John declaring, "I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God, ... and the sea gave up the dead which were in
it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them";[220]
and Paul writes to the Thessalonians, "We that are alive, that are left
unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are
fallen asleep ... and the dead in Christ shall rise first."[221]
The resurrection is associated with the second coming of Christ. It is
His voice that shall awake the dead, and the angels who will accompany
Him are to gather them from the four winds of heaven to the
judgment-seat of Christ, "that everyone may receive the things done in
his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or
bad."[222]
In resurrection, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost take part. God the Father,
who "both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own
power":[223] God the Son: "As the Father raiseth up the dead, and
quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will":[224] God the
Holy Ghost, who, as the Giver of life, by His special action will raise
our bodies: "He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you."[225] The Lord
Jesus Christ is the meritorious cause of resurrection: "By man came
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."[226] His resurrection
is the pledge and the pattern of ours. "If we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his
resurrection."[227]
Christianity teaches that the body as well as the soul is redeemed by
the Lord Jesus Christ, "the Saviour of the body."[228] We are called to
glorify God in our bodies, which are temples of the Holy Ghost, and we
must give account for the deeds done in and through the body, as well as
for those sins which are rather of the mind and will than of the body.
The body will be raised and will be judged. God will bring to light all
hidden things--actions forgotten by ourselves, deeds of which the world
knows nothing, as well as those which memory retains and the world knows
of. Before that "great and notable day" our bodies as well as our souls
must have been purged, else we shall never see God. The bodies of the
unjust will rise; but theirs will be resurrection to shame and
everlasting contempt.
It is fitting that reward or punishment should be the portion of the
same souls and bodies that have been faithful or unfaithful. Christ rose
in the same body as He had before His death, and so shall we. How this
is to be accomplished we cannot tell, but with God all things are
possible, and faith rests with confidence in His power and in His Word.
"We wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew
the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his
glory."[229] While the body is the same as that in which the soul
tabernacled, it will undergo transformation. Christ will renew the
bodily as well as the spiritual nature of His people. Every part of
their being will be transformed, and their bodies, like Christ's, will
be spiritual bodies. We are to be sanctified wholly; our whole spirit
and soul and body preserved blameless unto His coming.[230] In this
present life the body builds up a character which it will retain
throughout eternity. Every act we do affects it, not for the time only,
but for ever. The lost soul will assume the polluted body, and while it
may shrink in horror from the union, will find no way of escape. "He
that is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is holy, let him be
holy still."[231] "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also
reap,"[232] and the harvest will abide with him for ever.
* * * * *
ARTICLE 12
_And the Life Everlasting_
The great truth affirmed in the concluding article of the Creed is the
Life Everlasting: "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is
eternal life."[233] This life will be the portion of all who are
acquitted in the day of judgment, and they will then enter upon new
experiences. Death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire, and the
redeemed, no longer subject to imperfection, decay, or death, shall be
raised to the right hand of the Father, where there is fulness of joy;
to partake of those pleasures for evermore which have been purchased for
them by the blood of the Lamb.
It is interesting to note the gradual development of this doctrine,
which was first fully expressed by Him who brought life and immortality
to light. We have the statement of the writer to the Hebrews that the
faith of Old Testament saints had in view the continuance of life after
death in "a better country, that is, an heavenly." Whether this faith
grasped the doctrine of bodily resurrection, in addition to that of the
immortality of the soul, we are not told. It is remarkable that
throughout the books of Moses there is an absence of reference to the
future life as a motive to holy living. Prosperity and adversity in this
life are set forth as the reward or punishment of conduct, leading to
the inference, either that retribution in the future life was not
revealed, or that it exercised little practical influence. As time
passed the doctrine of everlasting life for body and soul emerged in the
Psalms and in the prophetical writings, but sometimes side by side with
such gloomy views regarding death and its consequences as to leave the
impression that belief in it was weak and fitful. In the long period
that passed between the time when Old Testament prophecy ceased and the
advent of Christ, the fierce persecutions to which the Jews were
subjected appear to have strengthened their faith in a future life of
blessedness, in which the body, delivered from the grave and again
united to the soul, shall participate.
The author of the Apocryphal Book termed _The Wisdom of Solomon_ thus
records his belief:--
The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
And no torment shall touch them.
In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died;
And their departure was accounted _to be their_ hurt,
And their journeying away from us _to be their_ ruin,
But they are in peace.
For even if in the sight of men they be punished,
Their hope is full of immortality:
And having borne a little chastening they shall receive great good;
Because God made trial of them, and found them worthy of Himself.
As gold in the furnace He proved them,
And as a whole burnt offering He accepted them.
And in the time of their visitation they shall shine forth,
And as sparks among stubble they shall run to and fro.
They shall judge nations, and have dominion over peoples;
And the Lord shall reign over them for evermore.
They that trust in Him shall understand truth,
And the faithful shall abide with Him in love;
Because grace and mercy are to His chosen.[234]
Again he writes:--
The righteous live for ever,
And in the Lord is their reward,
And the care for them with the Most High.
Therefore shall they receive the crown of royal dignity
And the diadem of beauty from the Lord's hand.[235]
The happiness of the kingdom of heaven is in Scripture termed "life,"
because it constitutes the life for which man was created. Being made in
the likeness of God, his nature can obtain full satisfaction, and his
powers will expand into fruition, only when he enters upon a life which
resembles, in proportion to its measure and capacity, the life of God.
Jesus spoke of regeneration as entering into life. Those who receive the
Gospel message and walk in the footsteps of Christ are said to be born
again--to receive in their conversion the beginning of a new existence,
of which the entrance of the infant into the world is a fitting emblem.
They possess now not only a natural life, but a life hid with Christ in
God, which is a pledge to them that "when he who is their life shall
appear, they also shall appear with him in glory."[236] Knowledge of God
the Father and of Jesus Christ, imparted by the Holy Spirit, is said by
our Lord to be Life Eternal. "This is life eternal, to know thee the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."[237]
Standing at the end of the Creed, this article expresses the
consummation of the work accomplished for man by the Three Persons of
the Godhead. The Father created man and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life, that he might glorify God and enjoy Him for ever; and
when, through the fall, man had forfeited the gift of life, God spared
not His own Son, that, through His dying, pardon and blessed life might
be brought within the reach of the fallen; the Son assumed human nature
and suffered and died, that He might deliver men from death, temporal
and eternal, and procure for them everlasting life; the Holy Ghost, the
Giver of life, sanctifies the believer and makes him meet for the
inheritance of the saints. All the means of grace were given for the
purpose of convincing and converting men, and of preparing them for
entrance into and enjoyment of the blessed life in eternity.
The _Everlasting Life_ of the Creed covers more than the immortality of
the soul. Even heathens grasped in some measure the fact that the spirit
of man survives separation from the body; but life for the body in
reunion with the soul is a doctrine of revelation. In the Pagan world
various conflicting beliefs were held as to the condition of men after
death. Some thought that existence terminated at death; others that men
then lost their personality and were absorbed into the deity; and others
that the spirit was released by death and then entered on a separate
existence, possessed of personality and capable of enjoyment; but of the
Christian doctrine of resurrection-life for soul and body in abiding
reunion they were altogether ignorant. Those consolations which
Christianity brings to the mourner were unknown. There is an interesting
letter extant which was written to Cicero, the Roman orator, by a friend
who sought to comfort him after the death of his daughter Julia, in
which the consolation tendered strikingly marks the distinction between
Pagan and Christian views regarding death. Cicero was reminded by his
friend that even solid and substantial cities, such as those whose
ruined remains were to be seen in Asia Minor, were doomed to decay and
destruction; and if so, it could not be thought that man's frail body
can escape a similar experience. This is poor comfort in comparison with
the hope of glory which sustains the Christian under trial. He knows not
only that his soul shall live for ever, but that the life of eternity is
one in which the body too, then incapable of pain, weariness, or death,
shall have part. "We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle
were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens."[238]
Everlasting existence after resurrection will be the portion of the
righteous and the wicked. Attempts have been made to explain away
various emphatic Scripture statements regarding the doom of the ungodly,
with the view of lessening its terrors; but, if we are to accept the
plain meaning of these statements, there seems to be no reasonable
interpretation of them which gives sanction to the belief that this doom
can be escaped.
What is called the doctrine of Conditional Immortality finds not a few
advocates and adherents, who hold that existence in the future state is
exclusively for the faithful, and that the sentence to be executed upon
the wicked at death or at judgment is annihilation. A different belief,
termed "The Larger Hope," is maintained by others, who affirm that the
punishment to which those dying impenitent are to be subjected will in
time work reformation and cleansing, after which, restored to God's
favour, they will enter upon a life of happiness.
It is a strong argument against such doctrines that the same word which
our Lord employs to describe the permanent blessedness of the redeemed
is used by Him to denote the punishment of the wicked. The reward and
the punishment are both declared by Him to be everlasting or eternal.
The same Greek word is in the English New Testament sometimes rendered
eternal and sometimes everlasting. The portion of the righteous will be
life--life everlasting; that of the wicked is described as consisting,
not in annihilation or in terminable suffering, but in "everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his
power."[239]
While this article may be regarded as bearing upon the doom of the
ungodly, it is rather to be viewed as affirming the eternal blessedness
of the risen saints. The everlasting life begins on earth, but is
perfected only in eternity. It is sometimes spoken of as a present
possession: "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is
passed from death unto life."[240] Again it is spoken of as a reward in
futurity: "He shall receive an hundredfold now in this time ... and in
the world to come eternal life."[241] Our knowledge of what that life
will be is very limited. Human words cannot describe it; human beings in
this life cannot understand it. We know that it will arise from
knowledge of God. Men will be equal to the angels who see God. "Now we
see through a glass darkly,"[242] but "we know that, when he shall
appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."[243]
Statements regarding the happiness of the saints are in Scripture
expressed sometimes in negative and sometimes in positive terms. In the
new heavens and the new earth the redeemed "shall hunger no more,
neither thirst any more";[244] "There shall be no night there; and they
need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them
light."[245] Pain and sorrow and death can never touch them; they shall
be delivered from perplexing doubts, from all misery and trouble. Care
and anxiety shall be banished for ever, and God will wipe away all tears
from every eye.
There are also many positive statements regarding the future life. Not
only will there be the absence of all that is painful and productive of
sorrow; those for whom it is prepared shall enter into rest. They shall
possess abiding peace, and the joy of their Lord will become their own.
Their bodies shall be like Christ's own glorious body, which, when
transfigured on Tabor, shone as the sun, and was white as the light.
They shall be satisfied, when they awake, with the Divine likeness.[246]
"They shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars
for ever and ever."[247] They shall sit down with Christ upon His
throne, and shall be rulers over cities. "They are as the angels of God
in heaven."[248] In the many mansions of the Father's house there will
be a place for every saint. Each will be rewarded according to his
works. Some are to be raised to higher glory than others--some are to
have authority over ten cities, and some are to bear rule over five--but
all the saints will be happy in the eternal enjoyment of God's favour,
which is life; and of His loving kindness, which is better than life.
* * * * *
APPENDIX
The, following arrangement is from Professor Lumby's _History of the
Creeds_. It shows that the portions of the Apostolic Creed which do
not appear in the earlier forms are very few. Irenaeus omits the
conception by the Holy Ghost, while Tertullian inserts it. Neither Creed
contains the first part of the fifth article, and in both the ninth and
tenth are wanting. With these exceptions the substance of the Apostles'
Creed was in circulation as early as A.D. 180.
THE APOSTLES' CREED. CREEDS OF ST. IRENAEUS CREEDS OF TERTULLIAN
(A.D. 180). (A.D. 200).
1. I believe in God the I believe in one God, I believe in one God,
Father Almighty, Maker the Father Almighty, who the Creator of the
of heaven and earth: made heaven and earth; world, who produced all
out of nothing ...
2. And in Jesus Christ And in one Christ Jesus, And in the Word His Son
His only Son our Lord, the Son of God [our [Jesus Christ],
Lord],
3. Who was conceived by Who was made flesh [of Who through the Spirit
the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin]; and Power of God the
the Virgin Mary, Father descended into
the Virgin Mary, was
made flesh in her womb,
and born of her;
4. Suffered under And in His suffering Was fixed on the cross
Pontius Pilate, was [under Pontius Pilate]; [under Pontius Pilate];
crucified, dead, and was dead and buried;
buried,
5. He descended into And in His rising from Rose again the third
hell; the third day He the dead; day;
rose again from the
dead,
6. He ascended into And in His ascension in Was taken into heaven,
heaven, and sitteth on the flesh; and sat down at the
the right hand of God right hand of God;
the Father Almighty;
7. From thence He shall And in His coming from He will come to judge
come to judge the quick heaven ... that He may the wicked to eternal
and the dead. execute just judgment on fire.
all.
8. I believe in the Holy And in the Holy Ghost. And in the Holy Spirit
Ghost; sent by Christ.
9. The Holy Catholic
Church; the Communion of
saints;
10. The Forgiveness of
sins;
11. The Resurrection of And that Christ shall And that Christ will,
the body; come from heaven to after the revival of
raise up all flesh ... both body and soul with
12. And the and to adjudge the the restoration of the
Life Everlasting. impious and unjust ... flesh, receive His holy
to eternal fire, and to ones into the enjoyment
give to the just and of life eternal and the
holy immortality and promises of heaven.
eternal glory.
* * * * *
TRANSCRIBER'S CHANGES:--
Footnote 016 amended from "1 Peter iii. 1." to "1 Peter iii. 15."
Footnote 198 amended from "1 Rom v. 19" to "Rom v. 19"
Footnote 243 amended from "2 John iii. 2" to "1 John iii.2."
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES
[Footnote 001: John xi. 25, 26.]
[Footnote 002: Matt, xxviii. 20.]
[Footnote 003: 1 Cor. xv. 1-4.]
[Footnote 004: Rom. vi. 17.]
[Footnote 005: Gal. vi. 16.]
[Footnote 006: 1 Tim. vi. 20.]
[Footnote 007: 2 Tim. i. 13, 14.]
[Footnote 008: See Appendix]
[Footnote 009: Rom. x. 10.]
[Footnote 010: Rom. x. 17.]
[Footnote 011: Heb. xi. 3.]
[Footnote 012: _Table-Talk_, 1852, p. 144.]
[Footnote 013: 1 John v. 9.]
[Footnote 014: Heb. xi. 6.]
[Footnote 015: Heb. xi. 6.]
[Footnote 016: 1 Peter iii. 15.]
[Footnote 017: See Handbook of Christian Evidences, Principal Stewart,
chap. i.]
[Footnote 018: Deut. vi. 4.]
[Footnote 019: Gen. i. 26; iii. 22; xi. 7. Different views have been
taken of these passages. Some commentators think the plural forms
represent the plural of majesty. There is, however, no indication in the
Old Testament or in ancient monumental inscriptions that sovereigns had
adopted this style of speech. Nebuchadnezzar and Darius begin their
proclamations with the singular first personal pronoun "I"; not with the
plural "We" which modern kings assume. On the Moabite stone Mesha uses
"I," not "We," throughout the inscription in which he records his
achievements. Another view is that Moses, accustomed to hear of the
numerous gods of Egypt, used the plural inadvertently. This supposition
does not accord with any view of inspiration held by evangelical
churches. The interpretation which regards the passages as early
indications of the doctrine of the Trinity is simple and natural, and
accords with the principle of gradual revelation which is apparent in
Scripture.]
[Footnote 020: Job xi. 7.]
[Footnote 021: Deut. xxix. 29.]
[Footnote 022: John x. 30.]
[Footnote 023: John xvii. 5.]
[Footnote 024: See Hodge's _Systematic Theology_, vol. i. p. 444.]
[Footnote 025: Psalm lxxvi. 10.]
[Footnote 026: Rom. viii. 28.]
[Footnote 027: Rom. i. 20.]
[Footnote 028: _Confessions_, Bk. x. chap. vi.]
[Footnote 029: Luke ii. 34.]
[Footnote 030: Acts viii.]
[Footnote 031: 2 Tim. ii. 17.]
[Footnote 032: 2 Tim. i. 15.]
[Footnote 033: See _Landmarks of Church History_, by Professor Cowan,
D.D., p. 16.]
[Footnote 034: Isaiah ix. 6.]
[Footnote 035: Matt. i. 21.]
[Footnote 036: Col. iv. 11.]
[Footnote 037: Matt. xxi. 11.]
[Footnote 038: Matt. i. 23.]
[Footnote 039: Acts iv. 12.]
[Footnote 040: Phil. ii. 9-11.]
[Footnote 041: John i. 41.]
[Footnote 042: John iv. 29.]
[Footnote 043: Matt. xvi. 16, 17.]
[Footnote 044: Acts xviii. 28.]
[Footnote 045: John ix. 22.]
[Footnote 046: Psalm xlv. 7; Heb. i. 9.]
[Footnote 047: John xx. 31.]
[Footnote 048: Psalm ii. 7.]
[Footnote 049: Isaiah ix. 6.]
[Footnote 050: John i. 1, 14 (R.V.).]
[Footnote 051: Heb. i. 1-3.]
[Footnote 052: John i. 49.]
[Footnote 053: John xi. 27.]
[Footnote 054: John viii. 58.]
[Footnote 055: Prov. viii. 22, 30.]
[Footnote 056: Matt. xxvi. 63; Mark xiv. 61.]
[Footnote 057: Matt. xxvi. 65, 66.]
[Footnote 058: Matt. xxviii. 6.]
[Footnote 059: John xx. 2.]
[Footnote 060: 1 Cor. xi. 23.]
[Footnote 061: 1 Cor. viii. 6.]
[Footnote 062: Matt. xxviii. 18.]
[Footnote 063: Matt. xi. 27.]
[Footnote 064: John iii. 35.]
[Footnote 065: Phil. ii. 9-11.]
[Footnote 066: Acts x. 36.]
[Footnote 067: Rev. xvii. 14.]
[Footnote 068: Isaiah xxvi. 13.]
[Footnote 069: Ques. 22.]
[Footnote 070: Mark i. 1.]
[Footnote 071: Mark i. 11.]
[Footnote 072: John i. 1-3.]
[Footnote 073: Isaiah vii. 14.]
[Footnote 074: See _The Origin and Connection of the Gospels of Matthew,
Mark, and Luke_, and _The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul_, by Mr.
Smith of Jordanhill.]
[Footnote 075: Luke i. 29, ii. 19, 51.]
[Footnote 076: Vol. i. p. 376.]
[Footnote 077: John xix. 26, 27]
[Footnote 078: John v. 31]
[Footnote 079: Col. iii. 11.]
[Footnote 080: Acts x. 35.]
[Footnote 081: 1 Cor. i. 23.]
[Footnote 082: Pearson _On the Creed_, vol. i. p. 337.]
[Footnote 083: 1 Peter iii. 18.]
[Footnote 084: Isaiah liii. 5. In this chapter, which all the earlier
Jewish authorities understood to refer to Messiah, there are no fewer
than eleven expressions which clearly describe the vicarious character
of these sufferings. See _Speaker's Commentary, in loco_.]
[Footnote 085: Luke xii. 50.]
[Footnote 086: John xii. 33.]
[Footnote 087: Matt. xx. 28; xvii. 22; xxvi. 2; John x. 11.]
[Footnote 088: John x. 17.]
[Footnote 089: Isaiah liii. 7.]
[Footnote 090: Matt. xxii. 29.]
[Footnote 091: Luke xxiv. 25, 26.]
[Footnote 092: Matt. ii. 13-15.]
[Footnote 093: John i. 11; John vii. 5; Heb. xii. 3.]
[Footnote 094: Matt. xxvi. 39.]
[Footnote 095: Heb. ii. 10.]
[Footnote 096: Heb. iv. 15.]
[Footnote 097: Gal. iii. 13.]
[Footnote 098: Heb. ix. 22.]
[Footnote 099: 1 Cor. xv. 3.]
[Footnote 100: Rev. v. 6.]
[Footnote 101: Matt. xxvi. 26, 28.]
[Footnote 102: Rom. v. 10.]
[Footnote 103: Col. i. 14.]
[Footnote 104: John x. 17, 18.]
[Footnote 105: 1 Peter ii. 24.]
[Footnote 106: Rom. v. 9.]
[Footnote 107: Rom. iii. 25, 26.]
[Footnote 108: Rom. v. 18, 19.]
[Footnote 109: Rev. i. 18.]
[Footnote 110: Isaiah liii. 8, 9.]
[Footnote 111: Deut. xxi. 22, 23.]
[Footnote 112: John xix. 31.]
[Footnote 113: Mark xv. 46.]
[Footnote 114: Luke xxiii. 53 (R.V.).]
[Footnote 115: Matt. xxvii. 63, 64.]
[Footnote 116: Matt. xxvii. 65, 66.]
[Footnote 117: Luke xvi. 19-26.]
[Footnote 118: Mark xv. 37.]
[Footnote 119: Luke xxiii. 46.]
[Footnote 120: Ques. 50.]
[Footnote 121: Heb ii. 17.]
[Footnote 122: John iii. 13.]
[Footnote 123: Heb. ix. 27.]
[Footnote 124: S.C. Ques. 37.]
[Footnote 125: 1 Peter ii. 24.]
[Footnote 126: Heb. x. 14, 26, 27.]
[Footnote 127: John i.; 1 Tim. iii.]
[Footnote 128: See Principal Stewart's _Handbook of Christian
Evidences_, chap. vi.]
[Footnote 129: Jesus appears to have shown Himself during the forty days
after His Resurrection at least ten times, viz.--
1. To Mary Magdalene, Mark xvi. 9; John xx. 11-18.
2. To two disciples, Mark xvi. 12; Luke xxiv. 13-32.
3. To Peter on same day, Luke xxiv. 34; Cor. xv. 5.
4. To ten Apostles, Thomas only being absent, John xx. 19-25.
5. To all the Apostles, Mark xvi. 14; John xx. 26-29; 1 Cor. xv. 7.
6. To the women at the sepulchre, Matt, xxviii. 9, 10.
7. To the Apostles, and at this time probably to five hundred others, on
a mountain in Galilee, Matt, xxviii. 16-20; 1 Cor. xv. 6.
8. To seven disciples at Tiberias, John xxi. 1-24.
9. To James, 1 Cor. xv. 7.
10. To the Apostles at His Ascension, Mark xvi. 15-18: Luke xxiv. 44-50;
Acts i. 4-8; 1 Cor. xv. 7.
These seem to be all the appearances recorded, but there were probably
many others, Acts i. 3. After His Ascension He appeared to Saul of
Tarsus, Acts ix. 3-18; 1 Cor. xv. 8. He was seen by Stephen also, Acts
vii. 55, 56.]
[Footnote 130: Acts ii. 25-32.]
[Footnote 131: John ii. 19.]
[Footnote 132: John xvi. 16.]
[Footnote 133: For proof of this, see Mark xvi. 1; Luke xxiii. 56 and
xxiv. 1; Luke xxiv. 11; John xx. 9; John xx. 11-18; Luke xxiv. 13-32;
Mark xvi. 13; Luke xxiv. 37, 41; John xx. 25; Mark xvi. 14; Matt.
xxviii. 17.]
[Footnote 134: 1 Cor. xv. 14.]
[Footnote 135: 1 Peter i. 3.]
[Footnote 136: Rom. i. 4.]
[Footnote 137: Acts i. 22.]
[Footnote 138: Rom. x. 9.]
[Footnote 139: Acts x. 40, 41.]
[Footnote 140: Acts i. 8.]
[Footnote 141: Matt, xxviii. 20.]
[Footnote 142: Luke xxiv. 50, 51.]
[Footnote 143: Heb. viii. 4.]
[Footnote 144: Heb. ix. 24.]
[Footnote 145: Acts i. 9.]
[Footnote 146: 1 Kings ii. 19; Psalm xvi. 11; Heb. ix. 24.]
[Footnote 147: Ephes. iv. 11, 12.]
[Footnote 148: 2 Cor. v. 20.]
[Footnote 149: Matt. iii. 16; Acts x. 38.]
[Footnote 150: Ephes. i. 22.]
[Footnote 151: Heb. i. 13.]
[Footnote 152: Acts i. 11.]
[Footnote 153: John xiv. 2, 3.]
[Footnote 154: Matt. xvi. 27.]
[Footnote 155: Rev. i. 7.]
[Footnote 156: Matt. xxiv. 36.]
[Footnote 157: Titus ii. 13.]
[Footnote 158: 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17.]
[Footnote 159: 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52.]
[Footnote 160: Acts x. 42.]
[Footnote 161: 2 Tim. iv. 1.]
[Footnote 162: John v. 22.]
[Footnote 163: Matt. xii. 35]
[Footnote 164: Matt. x. 26.]
[Footnote 165: Acts xix. 2.]
[Footnote 166: John vii. 39.]
[Footnote 167: Acts xiii. 2.]
[Footnote 168: Acts v. 4.]
[Footnote 169: Rom viii. 11.]
[Footnote 170: 1 Cor. ii. 10.]
[Footnote 171: Ps. cxxxix. 7.]
[Footnote 172: 2 Peter 1, 21.]
[Footnote 173: 2 Tim iii. 16.]
[Footnote 174: Luke i. 35.]
[Footnote 175: John xvi. 15.]
[Footnote 176: John xiv. 17.]
[Footnote 177: 1 Cor. vi. 19.]
[Footnote 178: John xiv. 23.]
[Footnote 179: Ephes. ii. 22.]
[Footnote 180: Rom. viii. 9.]
[Footnote 181: John xxi. 7.]
[Footnote 182: Ephes. i. 14.]
[Footnote 183: Acts v. 29.]
[Footnote 184: 2 Cor. vi. 16; John xvi. 13.]
[Footnote 185: See _The New Testament and its Writers_, by Dr. M'Clymont
(Guild Library), p 123, note 1.]
[Footnote 186: Eccles. vii. 20.]
[Footnote 187: Ephes. v. 25-27.]
[Footnote 188: Acts x. 34, 35 (R.V.).]
[Footnote 189: Ephes. ii. 20.]
[Footnote 190: Ephes. iv. 4-6.]
[Footnote 191: 1. Cor. i. 2 (R.V.).]
[Footnote 192: _Epistle to Smyrna_, c. 8.]
[Footnote 193: Acts ix. 32.]
[Footnote 194: 2 Cor. i. 1.]
[Footnote 195: Heb. xii. 23.]
[Footnote 196: Heb. xi. 4.]
[Footnote 197: Rev. vi. 10.]
[Footnote 198: Rom. v. 19]
[Footnote 199: 1 John i. 8.]
[Footnote 200: Ques. 14.]
[Footnote 201: Chap. ix.]
[Footnote 202: Luke xxiv. 47.]
[Footnote 203: Matt. iv. 17.]
[Footnote 204: Acts ii. 38.]
[Footnote 205: Acts v. 31.]
[Footnote 206: 2 Cor. vii. 10.]
[Footnote 207: 1 John i. 8.]
[Footnote 208: Heb. xi. 6.]
[Footnote 209: Rom. v. 1.]
[Footnote 210: James i. 6, 7 (R.V.).]
[Footnote 211: Psalm li. 10.]
[Footnote 212: Titus ii. 12.]
[Footnote 213: Job xix. 25.]
[Footnote 214: Isaiah xxvi. 19.]
[Footnote 215: Dan. xii. 2.]
[Footnote 216: 2 Maccabees, chap. vii.]
[Footnote 217: John xi. 24.]
[Footnote 218: John v. 28, 29.]
[Footnote 219: Matt. xxii. 29.]
[Footnote 220: Rev. xx. 12, 13.]
[Footnote 221: 1 Thess. iv. 15, 17 (R.V.).]
[Footnote 222: 2 Cor. v. 10.]
[Footnote 223: 1 Cor. vi. 14.]
[Footnote 224: John v. 21.]
[Footnote 225: Rom. viii. 11.]
[Footnote 226: 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22.]
[Footnote 227: Rom. vi. 5.]
[Footnote 228: Ephes. v. 23.]
[Footnote 229: Phil. iii. 20, 21 (R.V.).]
[Footnote 230: 1 Thess. v. 23.]
[Footnote 231: Rev. xxii. 11.]
[Footnote 232: Gal. vi. 7.]
[Footnote 233: Rom. vi. 23.]
[Footnote 234: Wisdom, chap. iii. 1-9 (R.V.).]
[Footnote 235: Chap. v. 15, 16 (R.V.).]
[Footnote 236: Col. iii. 4.]
[Footnote 237: John xvii. 3.]
[Footnote 238: 2 Cor. v. 1.]
[Footnote 239: 2 Thess. i. 9.]
[Footnote 240: John v. 24.]
[Footnote 241: Mark x. 30.]
[Footnote 242: 1 Cor. xiii. 12.]
[Footnote 243: 1 John iii. 2.]
[Footnote 244: Rev. vii. 16.]
[Footnote 245: Rev. xxii. 5.]
[Footnote 246: Psalm xvii. 15.]
[Footnote 247: Dan. xii. 3.]
[Footnote 248: Matt. xxii. 30.]
* * * * *
SOME BOOKS
ON
THE APOSTLES' CREED OR BEARING
UPON ARTICLES THEREOF
1. _The History of the Apostles' Creed_. Anon. 1719.
2. _An Exposition of the Creed_. By John Pearson, D.D., Bishop of
Chester. 1820.
3. _An Exposition of the Creed_. By Robert Leighton, Archbishop of
Glasgow. 1825.
4. _The Creeds of the Church in their Relation to the Word of God_.
Hulsean Lecture, 1857. By Charles Anthony Swainson.
5. _Lectures in Divinity_. By George Hill, D.D. Edinburgh, 1837. 4th
edition.
6. _The Fatherhood of God_. By Thomas J. Crawford, D.D., Professor of
Divinity in the University of Edinburgh. 1867.
7. _Theism_, being the Baird Lecture for 1876. By Robert Flint, D.D.,
Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh. 1877.
8. _Anti-Theistic Theories_, being the Baird Lecture for 1877. By Robert
Flint, D.D. 1879.
9. _The Historic Faith_. By B.F. Westcott, D.D., D.C.L., Bishop of
Durham. 1883.
10. _The Creeds of Christendom_. By Philip Schaff, D.D., 1877.
11. _The History of the Creeds_. By J. Rawson Lumby, D.D. 1887.
12. _An Exposition of the Apostles' Creed_. By J.E. Yonge, M.A. 1888.
13. _The Foundations of the Creed_. By Harvey Goodwin, D.D., D.C.L.,
Bishop of Carlisle. 1889.
14. _Outlines of Christian Doctrine_. By the Rev. H.C.G. Moule, M.A.
1889.
15. _The Faith of the Gospel_. By Arthur James Mason, B.D. 1889.
16. _Rudiments of Theology_. By John Pilkington Norris, D.D.
17. _The Creed in Scotland_. By James Rankin, D.D. 1890.
18. _The Apostles' Creed_. Sermons by Robert Eyton. 1890.
19. _Christian Theism_. By C.A. Row, M.A. 1890.
20. _Christianity in Relation to Science and Morals_. By Malcolm
MacColl, M.A. 1891.
21. _Primary Convictions_. By William Alexander, D.C.L., Bishop of
Derry. 1893.
22. _The Apostles' Creed, its Relation to Primitive Christianity_. By
H.B. Swete, D.D. 1894.
23. _The Nicene Creed_. By H.M. Thomson, M.A. 1894.
24. _Dissertations on Subjects connected with the Incarnation_. By
Charles Gore, M.A. 1895.
25. _Defence of the Christian Faith_. By Professor F. Godet. 1895.
THE END
* * * * *
End of Project Gutenberg's Exposition of the Apostles Creed, by James Dodds