66 come, he will guide you into all truth: for "he shall not speak of himself, but what"soever he shall hear, that shall he speak. "He shall glorify ME: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things "that the FATHER hath are MINE: there 66 fore said I, that he shall take of mine, " and shew it unto you." In this comprehensive assertion He clearly assumes to Himself, jointly with the Father, whatsoever is done by the Holy Spirit; all the miraculous powers afterwards exercised by the Apostles, all the extraordinary as well as ordinary gifts bestowed upon them for the great work of their ministry. Conformably with which assertion, St. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, speaks of the wonderful effusion of the Spirit at that time, as the act of Christ himself; "He hath shed forth this, which ye now see "and heara." St. Paul virtually affirms the same, in applying to Christ that prophecy of the Psalmist, "When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts "unto men"." 66 Now, the greater the characters and attributes here described as appertaining to the Holy Spirit, the greater is the proof hence derived of our Lord's divinity; since he exb Ephes. iv. 8. a Acts ii. 33. pressly claims the glory of them, in saying that the Comforter, whom he was to send, should glorify HIM. Such glory could be due to GoD alone; therefore CHRIST is God. Therefore also the Spirit proceedeth from the Father and the Son. Whatsoever he receiveth from the Father, he receiveth from the Son also. Whatsoever he imparteth to the world of the divine counsels, he imparteth as in immediate co-operation with the Father and the Son. Hence a convincing argument might be raised in proof also of the divinity of the Holy Ghost. But our present purpose is simply to shew, from these as well as other declarations by our Lord himself, that from his own discourses alone abundant evidence may be collected in proof that he was indeed the SON OF GOD, in the fullest extent of that title, as including an essential participation in the Godhead itself. The reason assigned in the words of the text for ascribing to Himself the gifts and graces bestowed by the Holy Spirit, is indeed decisive on this point: "All things that "the Father hath are mine." We cannot imagine a more direct assumption of equality with the Father. However distinct as to personal relationship, if all things that the Father hath are HIS, can there be a doubt that both partake of the same nature and perfections? Elsewhere he has also affirmed this, in terms equally significant. clared that he could "do Although he denothing of himself "but what he saw the Father do;" that he 66 sought not his own will, but the will of the Father which had sent him;" that "as the "Father had taught him, he spake these 66 66 things;" that he had "not spoken of him self, but the Father which sent him gave "him a commandment what he should say, " and what he should speak;" and that "the "Father that dwelt in him did the works" which he wrought; yet to these declarations he almost invariably subjoins expressions implying that he possessed a coordinate and coequal authority with the Father. He declares that "all men should honour the SON, 66 even as they honour the FATHER;" that "what things soever the Father doeth, these "also doeth the Son likewise";" that "as the "Father knew HIм, even so knew HE the "Father";" and that "He and the Father are "ONE" Twice the Jews charged him with blasphemy, in thus making himself "equal "with God:" yet he reiterated these asser c John v. 23. f John x. 30. d John v. 19. e John x. 15. tions. In his private conversations with the Apostles, he did the same. If ye had known "me," he says, "ye should have known my "Father also: and from henceforth ye know "him, and have seen him. Philip saith "unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and "it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have "I been so long time with you, and yet hast "thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen ME, hath seen the FATHER; and how 66 66 sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Be"lievest thou not that I am in the Father, "and the Father in me?" But we scarcely need go further for evidence of this kind, than his habitually as'suming the appellation of the SON OF GOD. The manner in which he applied this title to himself was so well understood by the Jews, that they grounded upon it a direct charge of blasphemy: "Therefore," says St. John, "the Jews sought the more to kill "him, because he not only had broken the "sabbath, but said also that God was his “FATHER, making himself equal with God"." Such was the construction the Jews put upon his assumption of that title. The primitive fathers of the Church did the same. "To “call him the only-begotten, or the Son of 8 John xiv. 7-10. John v. 18. "God the Father," Dr. Waterland observes, 66 was in their account declaring him to be of "the same nature with God the Father; as 66 truly GoD as the Son of Man is truly "MAN." There is no instance, indeed, in Scripture of this title being individually applied to any other person, except once to Adam; and that in a peculiar sense, as coming immediately out of the hands of his Creator, and not born of any earthly parent. But our Lord uses it familiarly of himself, with manifest reference to his mysterious union with the Deity. Thus when the Jews were about to stone him for making himself God, "Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your Law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them 66 66 66 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? If I "do not the works of my Father, believe me "not. But if I do, though ye believe not 66 me, believe the works; that ye may know "and believe that the Father is in me, and I " in Him1:”—that is, If in a far inferior sense the title of Gods has been given to men invested only with earthly power, do ye charge i John x. 34-38. |