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the same reasonableness be exercised when remoter comparisons are made, such as those
between Romans and James, or between the doctrines of Hope and Prize?
#10.
The Deity and Humanity of the Son of God.
pp. 236 - 238
If the doctrines of justification, sanctification and salvation can only be seen faithfully
and accurately when placed in the balance of the sanctuary, even so does the doctrine of
the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, demand this even balance. Some of those who
maintain the essential Deity of Christ, have gone beyond the words which the Holy Ghost
teacheth, and intrude the "sonship" of Christ into that sphere and time, when He is
denominated "The Word", "The Image" and "the Form" of God. Those who have
emphasized His perfect Manhood have at times done so to the sacrifice of His essential
Deity. Some, to maintain His Deity, have rendered His bodily presence unreal, others, in
order that His humanity shall be fully perceived have sacrificed His sinlessness, and
sought to make Him but another son of Adam. All these are aberrations from the truth,
and the doctrine of the Lord's Person like all other doctrines of the Scriptures can only be
perceived and understood when truth is seen in the balance. The subject, necessarily, is
vast, and an adequate examination demands a study far transcending anything we can
give, or the space we have available. This, however, must not deter us from pointing out
some obvious passages, which show how balanced is this teaching of the Scriptures.
Let us open our study by a reference to the first chapter of the Gospel according to
John. Suffice it for the moment to indicate the balance that is found in this one Gospel.
John's Gospel.
DEITY.
HUMANITY.
"The Word was God" (1: 1).
"The Word became flesh" (1: 14).
"God . . ."
". . . Only begotten" (1: 18, R.V. marg.).
"Before Abraham was, I am" (8: 58).
"Jesus therefore being wearied with His
journey sat thus on the well" (4: 6).
"My Lord and my God" (20: 28).
"Behold My hands . . . My side" (20: 27).
If John's Gospel only were before us, this list could be doubled and trebled. What has
been given are examples of the mighty twofold truth. The Deity of the Lord is revealed
without reserve or ambiguity. When John fell down at the foot of an angel in the attitude
of worship, the angel said,
"See thou do it not . . . . . worship God" (Rev. 19: 10).
yet the Saviour not only did not rebuke Thomas for ascribing full deity to Himself, He
positively accepted it, granting a blessing upon all who "believe" though they may not
have "seen". The Epistle to the Romans declares the same twofold truth.