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purpose of Redemption is revealed as the Son. Sabellius, Arius and other `heretics' were
desperately wrong in their ultimate conclusions, but how far those other `heretics' who
are now accepted as champions of orthodoxy were responsible, in their wordy battles for
pushing others to such extremes, only the Judgment Seat will reveal. Zeal is good, zeal
without knowledge is deadly, zeal that becomes a persecuting flame is self destructive.
No.7.
To Whom is Creation ascribed in the N.T.?
pp. 31 - 35
"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth"
-- (The Apostles' Creed, Common Prayer).
"There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts or passions, of
infinite power, wisdom and goodness, the Maker and Preserver of all things both visible
and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance,
power and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost"
-- (Article I of the XXXIX articles. Common Prayer).
Those who framed the Book of Common Prayer appear to have entertained
consciously or unconsciously the conception of the Godhead which we have already
examined in No.6 of this series. Let us proceed with our study and note what the
Scriptures say concerning the Creator. The word `Creator' occurs but three times in
the O.T. (Eccles. 12: 1; Isa. 40: 28; 43: 15) and but twice in the N.T. (Rom. 1: 25;
I Pet. 4: 19). Isaiah names the Creator as "The everlasting God, the LORD", which
Dr. Young translates, literally "The God of the Age, Jehovah". If our contention set out
in No.3 of this series be accepted, namely that Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, is
the Jehovah of the O.T. Isa. 40: 28 points not to God the Father, but to the Son as the
Creator.
Isa. 43: 15 is part of a statement. The speaker is "the LORD your
Redeemer". Now the word `Redeemer' is the "Kinsman Redeemer" (Heb. gaal), so fully
set out in the book of Ruth. The self-same word that is used in Isa. 43: 14 is translated
`near kinsman' in Ruth 3: 9, and is the one Job believed should stand upon the earth in
the latter day. Isaiah, who not only wrote by inspiration of God, but was jealous of the
glory of the God he served, had no compunction in linking together the name Jehovah,
next of kin, Creator and King, every one of which titles belong to the Son of God, and
one of them, next of kin, belonging to Him alone. It can never be said that `God the
Father' is our near kinsman, but it is the glory of the gospel that this is the peculiar glory
of the Saviour. Rom. 1: 25 speaks of the coming in of idolatry, saying that those who so
grievously sinned:
"Changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more
than the Creator, Who is blessed for ever. Amen."
Did this passage stand alone, we could not use it to indicate whether the Father or the
Son was in the writer's mind, but if we read on we come to Rom. 9:, where the Apostle,
speaking of the privileges of being an Israelite, says: