.
Order of Contents
Body: Wholly from Mary 6+
Whether & in What Way Christ was Under the Law? 6+
Could Christ have Gotten Sick? 10+
Emotions
.
.
Articles
1200’s
Aquinas – Summa Theologica, 3rd Part, Treatise on the Incarnation
Question 5, Of the Parts of Human Nature which were Assumed (4 Articles)
(1) Whether the Son of God ought to have assumed a true body? [Yes]
(2) Whether He ought to have assumed an earthly body, i.e. one of flesh and blood? [Yes, as opposed to a heavenly body]
(3) Whether He assumed a soul? [Yes]
(4) Whether He assumed an intellect? [Yes]
Question 13, Of the Power of Christ’s Soul (4 Articles)
(2) Whether the soul of Christ had omnipotence with regard to corporeal creatures? [Yes & No]
(3) Whether the soul of Christ had omnipotence with regard to His own body? [Yes & No]
Question 15, Of the Defects of Soul Assumed by Christ (10 Articles)
(3) Whether there was ignorance? [Yes & No]
(4) Whether His soul was passible? [Yes, but not exactly as ours]
…
(7) Whether there was fear? [Yes]
(8) Whether there was wonder? [Yes & No]
Question 16, Of Those Things which are Applicable to Christ in his Being & Becoming (12 Articles)
(1) Whether this is true: “God is man”?
(2) Whether this is true: “Man is God”?
(3) Whether Christ may be called a lordly man?
…
(6) Whether this is true: “The Son of God was made man”?
(7) Whether this is true: “Man became God”?
(8) Whether this is true: “Christ is a creature”?
…
(10) Whether this is true: “Christ as man is a creature”?
(11) Whether this is true: “Christ as man is God”?
…
Question 18, Of Christ’s Unity of Will (6 Articles)
(1) Whether there are Two Wills in Christ? [Yes]
(2) Whether in Christ’s human nature the will of sensuality is distinct from the will of reason? [Yes, though joined]
…
(4) Whether there was free-will in Christ? [Yes]
(5) Whether Christ’s human will was always conformed to the Divine will in the thing willed? [Yes & No]
(6) Whether there was any contrariety of wills in Christ? [No]
.
1500’s
Calvin, John
‘That Christ was True Man’ in The Two Last Articles in A Short Instruction for to Arm All Good Christian People against the Pestiferous Errors of the Common Sect of Anabaptists (London: Daye, 1549), no page numbers
ch. 13. ‘Christ Clothed with the True Substance of Human Nature’ in Institutes of the Christian Religion tr. Henry Beveridge (1559; Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1845), vol. 2, bk. 2, pp. 13-22
Beza, Theodore – A Brief & Pithy Sum of the Christian Faith made in Form of a Confession (London, 1562)
Ch. 3, 19. Wherefore it behoved Jesus Christ to be a very natural man in body and soul without sin
Ch. 7, 2. If the doctrine of the Papists be true, it follows that Jesus Christ is not very man
Viret, Pierre – A Christian Instruction… (d. 1571; London: Veale, 1573), A Familiar Exposition of the Principal Points of the Catechism, 8th Dialogue
Of the Communion of the nature, which Jesus Christ has with man, and not with angels, and how necessary it is to man’s salvation
Of the Spiritual marriage between Jesus Christ and his Church, and first of the union of nature that is required in this marriage
How that Jesus Christ cannot be the Savior of mankind, unless He have as well an human soul, as an human body
Olevian, Caspar – An Exposition of the Apostle’s Creed (London, 1581), pt. 2
Olevian (1536–1587) was a significant German reformed theologian, and has been said to be a co-author of the Heidelberg Catechism along with Zacharias Ursinus (though this has been questioned).
Finch, Henry – 2. Of the Sanctification of Christ’s Human Nature in The Sacred Doctrine of Divinity gathered out of the Word of God… (Middelburg: 1589), bk. 3
Finch (d. 1625) was an English lawyer and politician.
.
1600’s
Leigh, Edward – ch. 3. Of Christ’s being Man in A System or Body of Divinity… (London, A.M., 1654), bk. 5, pp. 396-404
Brooks, Thomas – pp. 166-75 of The Golden Key to Open Hidden Treasures… in Works, vol. 5
Manton, Thomas – Works, vol. 18
‘Sermon upon Lk. 2:52’, pp. 116-23
‘Sermon upon Hebrews 2:11’, pp. 430-42
Turretin, Francis – Institutes of Elenctic Theology, tr. George M. Giger, ed. James Dennison Jr. (1679–1685; P&R, 1994), vol. 2, 13th Topic
5. ‘Was the human nature assumed by the Logos like ours in all respects (sin excepted) and his flesh taken from the substance of the blessed virgin; or did it come down from heaven? The former we affirm; the latter we deny against the Anabaptists.’ 306-10
12. ‘What graces were bestowed on the human nature of Christ? And did he have faith and hope? We affirm.’ 347
13. ‘From its very creation was the soul of Christ so filled with knowledge that it could be ignorant of or learn nothing? We deny against the papists.’ 348
.
1700’s
Erskine, Ebenezer – Action Sermon: The Human Nature Preferred unto the Angelical in Works, vol. 3 on Heb. 2:15
.
1800’s
Alexander, James W. – ‘The Man Christ Jesus’ in God is Love: Communion Addresses, pp. 289-312 on 1 Tim. 2:5
Candlish, Robert – The Man Christ Jesus in Sermons, pp. 24-42 on 1 Tim. 2:5 Leader in the Free Church of Scotland
Bavinck, Herman – 2nd half of ch. 16, ‘The Divine & Human Nature of Christ’ in Our Reasonable Faith (Eerdmans, 1956), pp. 308-29
.
1900’s
Warfield, B.B.
Warfield, B.B. – ‘On the Emotional Life of our Lord’ (1912), pp. 36-90 also in The Person & Work of Christ, pp. 93-145
‘The Human Development of Christ’ in Selected Shorter Writings 1.158-66
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.
Latin
1500’s
Aretius, Benedict – Locus 11, ‘On the Humanity of Christ’, pp. 30 in Sacred Problems of Theology: Common Places of the Christian Religion Methodically Explicated (Geneva, 1589; Bern, 1604)
Aretius (1505–1574)
Zanchi, Jerome – On the Incarnation of the Son of God… (Heidelberg: Harnisch, 1593), bk. 2, ch. 3
Q. 2, What was assumed? 107The true body of Christ is asserted 108contrary objections from apparitions are dissolved 109 out of Rom. 8, ‘in the likeness of flesh’ 110 He assumed a truly human flesh and soul 111-12 why He is called a heavenly man 112 ‘flesh’ signifies also a soul 113 what essential and natural properties are 113 the defects which He assumed 116 even of the soul, so ignorance 119 the affections: anguish, fear, wonder, wrath 120 the discrimination of the affections in Christ and us 121 four causes why he also assumed defects 122 He did not assume a person but a nature 124 a person and a hypostasis, what it is 125 what a nature is 127 12 arguments against Nestorius 130-40 the fundamentals and reasons of Nestorius 141 other arguments out of Thomas 147 Ubiquitarians badly conclude the human nature to be everywhere because in it subsists the Person of the Word 148 the humanity is not in the Word as an accident 153
Q. 3, Christ assumed a human nature immune from sin 154Mary was infected with sin 155in what way Christ was in Adam, nor did he sin 157
Q. 4, By which way He was born of a mother, in a new way He ought to be born, why He was born solely of a mother 161in what way He was from the Father 162, the sanctification of Mary 163the absurdities of Ambrose the Cathar being for the purity of Mary from Original Sin 165 why He was begotten in betrothal 166 of the virginity of Mary 167 whether she vowed? 168
Q. 5, Of what kind of material was the soul of Christ created, that it works against traducianism 169it was created in the womb of the Virgin in the person of the Logos, and that most purely 170the body of Christ was from the seed of David and Abraham 171 why the genealogy of Christ by the Evangelists leads all the way to Adam 171 the heresies of Valentinus, that the flesh of Christ was from Heaven 173
Q. 6, Of the time of the Incarnation, which is the Last Days 174the discordance of chronologies 175why He did not assume the flesh earlier or later 177-80
Q. 7, Of the order of the assumption 181the conception was made in the virgin with consent [or knowingly] 182Christ assumed to Himself a soul and a body simultaneously, but a soul immediately 184
Q. 8, Of the perfection of assuming the living body 188it was not formed gradually 189a twofold union of the Word and of the human nature (soul and body) was in Christ 191 the union of the soul and body proved 193
.
1600’s
Bachoff, Reinhard – Catechism of the Christian Religion, which is Taught in the Churches & Schools of the Palitinate (Hanau, 1603) 720 pp. This is a commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, following the order of its questions.
Bachoff (1544-1614)
Pareus, David – Disputation 18. ‘On the True Divinity & Humanity of Christ’ in Theological Collections of Universal Orthodox Theology… (1611/1620), vol. 1, Collection 2, pp. 213-20
Pareus (1548-1622)
Martinius, Matthew – A Theology on the Singular Person of our Lord Jesus Christ in Two Natures… (Bremen, 1614), Bk. 2, Of his true, & Homoousias [Same-Substance] with Us, Humanity, for the Orthodox Doctrine, contra the Ubiquitarians…, Pt. 1, Of the True Human Nature of our Lord Jesus Christ, Tract 1, The Doctrine of the True Church is Briefly Premised, & the Union of his [Human] Nature with the Hypostasis [Person] of the Son of God is described in full in certain, clear articles for it…
ch. 1 The necessity of this doctrine, that Christ is a man 526
ch. 2 That Jesus Christ is a true & perfect man 527
ch. 3 A forewarning of the flights of them to these arguments that have been asserted 527
ch. 4 1st Proof: out of that, that He is openly called a man 530
ch. 5 2nd Proof: out of Reasons 532
ch. 6 3rd Confirmation: out of the Authority of the Ecumenical Councils & the Athanasian Creed 537
ch. 7 That Christ was a Holy Man 539
ch. 8 In what way Christ was Made Man 541
ch. 9 Wherefore was Christ made Man 545
…
ch. 12 What is similar & different between the human nature of Christ & ourselves 619
…
ch. 23 Conclusion of the Tract, of the True Humanity of Christ, where is a Demonstration out of the Propositions & a Vindicating of the Collected Sayings 1,430-72
Hommius, Festus – Disputation 8, ‘On the Human Nature of Christ, or of the Body & Soul of Christ’ in 70 Theological Disputations Against Papists (Lugdunum Batavorum, 1614), pp. 29-33
Voet, Gisbert – Tract 2, ‘Of the Person, Offices & States of Christ the Mediator’ in A Syllabus of Theological Problems, which, for the Needed Thing to be Proposed or Pressed, are Accustomed to be Used in Private & Public Exercises of Disputations, Examinations, Gatherings & Consultations… (Utrecht, 1643) no page numbers Abbreviations
I. Of the Person of Christ the Mediator
1. Of the Assumption & Union of the Human Nature
…
Of the Human Nature Assumed
…
2. On the Consequences & Effects of the Union
…
Of Those Things which are Convenient to Christ by Reason of the Human Nature
Of the Knowledge [Scientia] of Christ &
. his Ignorance
Of the Power of the Soul of Christ
Of the Defects of the Body
Of the Defects of the Soul
On the Will of Christ
Alting, Henry
Theological Problems: Theoretical & Practical, pt. 1, ‘Theoretical Problems’ in The Scriptural Theology of Heidelberg (Amsterdam, 1646), vol. 2
Problem 37, ‘Whether there may be Two Filiations [Sonships] in Christ? [Yes]’, p. 164
…
Problem 40, ‘In what sense is the rule(s) of the Fathers: All which has been given to Christ in time, has been given according to the humanity?’, p. 170
ch. 12, ‘Of the Person & Office of Christ’ inA New Elenctic Theology, or a System of Elenctics (Amsterdam, 1654), pp. 483-508
Calumnies:
…
2. That we even deny the true humanity of Christ, in that the personality should be taken away from it, p. 484
3. That in Christ we mark and acknowledge something of sin, that is, perturbations, immoderate affections of the soul and other things, from which things, indeed, He deserves to be called a sinner, p. 485
…
Locus 12, ‘Of the Person & Office of Christ’ in A New Problematic Theology, or a System of Theological Problems (Amsterdam, 1662)
…
6. ‘Whether the Holy Spirit is truly called the father of Christ? [No]’, p. 567
7. ‘Whether Christ is called the Son of God because of his conception from the Holy Spirit?’, p. 569
8. ‘In what way was the human nature of Christ conceived without orginal sin?’, p. 571
9. ‘Whether the formation of the body of Christ in the womb of Mary was successive, or rather instantaneous, or perfected in a moment?’, p. 573
10. ‘Whether the human nature of Christ, hence, from the first conception, was anhypostatic, devoid of a proper subsistence? [Yes]’, p. 575
…
15. ‘Whether the nature assumed in the union remains outside [extra] the Trinity?’, p. 580
16. ‘How much grace was the soul of Christ furnished with, even from its conception?’, p. 581
17. ‘Whether faith, trust or hope were at that time in Christ, or were able to be?’ [Yes], p. 582
18. ‘What ought to be thought of the five-fold knowledge of Christ that the Sophists attribute to Him?’, p. 584
19. ‘Whether even perfect beatitude was able to be given to Christ according to his soul during the time of his traversing in the earth? [No]’, p. 585
20. ‘Whether Christ is to be worshipped according to either nature, whether even according to another than the divine nature?, p. 586
…
32. ‘Whether the blood of Christ poured out on the cross putrified?’ [Probably], p. 605
…
Chamier, Daniel
Ch. 4. ‘Of the Properties of the Human Nature’ in A Body of Theology, or Theological Common Places (Geneva, 1653), bk. 5, pp. 176-78
Chamier (1564–1621)
Bk. 4, ‘On the Incarnation’, ‘On the Human Nature’ in Panstratiae Catholicae, or a Body of the Controversies of Religion Against the Papists (Frankfurt, 1627-1629), vol. 2 (God), Locus 2, of God & the Worship of God, pp. 110-44
ch. 3, ’On Christ’s Nativity’
ch. 4, ’On the Blessedness of the Soul of Christ’
ch. 7, ’On the Faith of Christ’
ch. 8, ’On the Knowledge of the Soul of Christ’
ch. 12, ‘Whether according to [Reformed] Catholics, they acknowledge something of sin in Christ?’[respecting Christ’s affections: No]
ch. 13, ’On Desperation’
Maresius, Samuel – Article 18, ‘On the Incarnation & the Humanity of Christ’ in The Orthodox Federated States of Belgium, or An Exegesis of the Confession of the Belgic Churches… (Groningen, 1652), pp. 251-67
Hoornbeek, Johannes – ch. 9. ‘Of Christ’ in Theological Institutes, Harmonized from the Best Authors (Leiden, 1658), pp. 270-339
…
5. Christ is also true man: Junius & Trelcatius 287
6. He has a human nature from mother Mary, through the operation of
. the Spirit: Walaeus 288
7. Thus the divine Person of the Son was incarnate: He united to
. Himself a human nature in the unity of his Person: Synopsis,
. Junius, Walaeus, Zanchi 289
8. Each nature abides in Christ with its distinct properties, nor is omniscience, omnipotence, ubiquity or adorability gathered to the human nature: Piscator, Walaeus & Polanus 291
Maccovius, Johannes
A Theological Collection of all that which is Extant… (Franeker, 1641), First Part: a Collection, 5. ‘Of the Mediator’
Disputation 3, ‘Christ, True God, Assumed Human Nature in Union to Himself’, p. 193
Disputation 4, ‘In Christ are Two Natures, Divine & Human’, p. 206
Maccovius (1588-1644)
Johannes Maccovius Revived, or Manuscripts of his… ed. Nicolaas Arnoldi (Amsterdam, 1659)
‘An Examination of the Lutheran Controversies’
3. ‘Of the Human Nature of Christ’ 580-81
Maccovius (1588-1644)
‘Anti-Eckhardus’ [Heinrich Eckhardi 1580-1624]
3. ‘Of the Human Nature of Christ’ 636-37
Braun, Johannes – ch. 16, ‘Of the Person & Personal Union, or of the Hypostasis of the Divine Nature & Human Nature of Christ, & of the Communion of Properties’ in The Doctrine of the Covenants, or a System of Didactic & Elenctic Theology (Amsterdam, 1691), Locus 19, ‘Of the Economy under the New Testament in General & of the Messiah’, pp. 518-36
Braun (1628-1708) was a Cartesian, Dutch, reformed minister.
Heidegger, Johann H. – The Marrow of Christian Theology: an Introductory Epitome of the Body of Theology (Zurich, 1713)
Locus 17, ‘Of the Person of Jesus Christ’
Theses 1-3. Of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ
4-7. Of the Person & Natures of Jesus Christ
8-17. Of the Conception of Jesus Christ & his Acts
18-20. Of the Union of Natures in Christ
21-24. Of the Communication of Grace Having Been Made to the Human Nature
25-27. Of the Communication of Properties
28. Of the Communication of Office & Honor
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That Christ’s Body was Wholly from Mary and not created ex nihilo, either wholly or in part.
Articles
1500’s
Hooper, John – ‘A Lesson of the Incarnation of Christ’ in Later Writings (Parker Society), pp. 1-18
Beza, Theodore – Ch. 3, 23. The virgin Mary is mother of Jesus Christ God and man in A Brief & Pithy Sum of the Christian Faith made in Form of a Confession (London, 1565), pp. 10-11
Ursinus, Zachary – Which was Conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary in The Sum of Christian Religion: Delivered… in his Lectures upon the Catechism… tr. Henrie Parrie (d. 1583; Oxford, 1587)
.
1600’s
Turretin, Francis – Institutes (P&R), vol. 2, 13th Topic,
Q. 5, ‘Was the human nature assumed by the Logos like ours in all respects (sin excepted) and his flesh taken from the substance of the blessed virgin; or did it come down from heaven? The former we affirm; the latter we deny against the Anabaptists.’ 306-310
sections 10-12 of Q. 11, ‘How was Christ conceived from the Holy Spirit and born of the blessed virgin?’ 342-43
Heidegger, Johann – Locus 17, section IV, pp. 118-19 in The Concise Marrow of Theology trans. Casey Carmichael (RHB, 2019), pp. 117-23
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Order of Quotes
Heppe
Riissen
.
Quotes
Heppe, Heinrich – Reformed Dogmatics ed. Ernst Bizer (1950; Wipf & Stock, 2007), ch. 17
sections 10 & 11, pp. 421 & 424
“‘It is the conception of Christ, by which without male action and with the sole blood of the Virgin Mary his human nature was formed, sanctified by the operation of the H. Spirit, assumed by the Son of God and united personally to Himself.’ (a Diest, p. 178)”
“Rissen (XI, 25): ‘By the aid of the Holy Spirit the Son assumed human nature from the blood of the Virgin Mary… Further, the Spirit’s attitude here is not material but efficient only, δημιουργικὸς not σπερματικος; so that He might be conceived by the Spirit’s power, not substance; not by generation but by benediction and consecration; so that the preposition ἐκ is the mark of efficient cause, as often elsewhere, Rom. 11:36 (‘of Him and through Him and to Him are all things’), since all things are said to be of God and 1 Jn. 3:9, the good are born ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ. From this it is clear that the ἐκ in Mt. 1:18, 20 is used for ἀπό.’ (Cf. Alting, p. 996).
In this sense must be answered the question raised by the Socinians, whether the Holy Spirit is to be described as the Father of Jesus Christ. ‘For since the title of father requires generation from the substance of him who generates and the generation of a nature like itself, and neither occurs here, it is evident that the Holy Spirit cannot be called the Father of Christ.’ — Wolleb 63. ‘The Holy Spirit is not the material but the efficient cause of the conception of Christ. He was conceived not of his substance but of his power, not by generation but by command and blessing.’ (Aug.)”
.
section 12, p. 425
“Keckermann 323f.: (2) ‘Of the seed and blood of the Virgin Mary was formed Christ’s flesh, the Holy Spirit adding quickening force to this material. Of course the seed and blood of the Virgin Mary also possessed their own vital and animal spirits, as other men’s seed usually has. But these were by no means sufficient for the plastic or formative force of the foetus in question. And so the Holy Spirit’s extraordinary shadowing and quickening were added: whence also it is said to have been conceived of the Holy Spirit, a phrase and manner of speaking which is human and metaphorical, not strictly appropriate.–(3) Thus Christ’s incarnation was at once ordinary and extraordinary: ordinary as regards the material supplied by the Virgin Mary, extraordinary as regards the formative force added to this material…'”
.
Leonard Riissen
A Complete Summary of Elenctic Theology & of as Much Didactic Theology as is Necessary trans. J. Wesley White MTh thesis (Bern, 1676; GPTS, 2009), ch. 11, ‘Christ’
pp. 113-4
“Controversy – Is Jesus Christ the natural Son of God because He was generated from eternity from the Father by a communication of the nature and not called “Son” on account of His conception by the Holy Spirit or anything else? We affirm against the Socinians. Arguments:
…
2. He is God’s own (proprius) Son (Rom. 8:32), but he who has not been generated from His substance is only more loosely speaking (improprius) a son.”
.
p. 117
ҤX. The Son assumed the human nature from the blood of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit.
§XI. And although the Holy Spirit can be said to have formed Christ’s body, created His soul, and joined them together, the Holy Spirit is not, however, the father of Christ, since nothing is generated from Him.”
.
p. 118
“Controversy 2 – Did Christ have his flesh from the substance and blood of the Virgin Mary? We affirm against the Anabaptists.
Arguments
1. He is the seed of the woman, Abraham, and David; therefore, He has His substance from them (Gen. 3:15, 22:18; Rom. 1:3).
2. He is from the fathers according to the flesh (Rom. 9:5), from Judah (Heb. 7:16), and from the loins of David (Acts 2:30).
3. He is the Son of man (Mt. 9:6) and David (21:9), the fruit of the womb of Mary (Lk. 1:42), and just like other infants (Heb. 2:14).
4. He has a genealogy from the Fathers (Mt. 1, Lk. 3).
5. He is a shoot from the root of Jesse (Is. 11:1).
Objections
1. Women do not have seed. Reply. Nonsense (Lev. 18:9-10, 12).
2. He would be a sinner. Reply. No, He is from Adam as to nature, not as to moral state, because He is another Adam (1 Cor. 15:45).
3. He is from heaven (Jn. 3). Reply. Sent by the God whose throne is in heaven like the baptism of John (Mt. 21:25).
4. He is not from earth but heaven (1 Cor. 15:48). Reply. In holiness and power.
5. The Word became flesh (Jn. 1:14). By assuming flesh from Mary.
.
Historical Theology
Irwin, Joyce – ‘Embryology & the Incarnation: A Sixteenth-Century Debate’ The Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 9, no. 3 (Autumn, 1978), pp. 93-104
Irwin analyzes the views of Menno Simons (Anabaptist), Guy de Bres (Reformed) and Michael Servetus (heretic).
.
Whether & in What Way Christ was Under the Law? (Mt. 17:24-27; 21:38; Gal. 4:4-5; Heb. 1:2)
Order of Contents
Article 1
Quotes 3
Latin 3
Webpages 2
.
Article
Campos, Junior, Heber Carlos – Part III, Ch. 7.3, ‘The Person of Christ in Relationship to the Law’, pp. 275-85 in Johannes Piscator (1546-1625) and the Consequent Development of the Doctrine of the Imputation of Christ’s Active Obedience PhD diss. (Calvin Theological Seminary, 2009)
As to a final synthesized answer on the question, we recommend the answer and distinctions that Turretin makes on pp. 283-84, from his Institutes, vol. 2, 14th Topic, Question 13, on Active Obedience, sections 15-16, pp. 449-50.
.
Quotes
Order of
Rutherford
Hoornbeek
Mastricht
.
1600’s
Samuel Rutherford
Christ Dying & Drawing Sinners to Himself… (London: 1647), pp. 273-74
“Assertion 3. There be two things in the Law:
1. The authority and power to command, direct, and regulate the creature to an end, in acts of righteousness and holiness.
2. A secondary authority, to punish eternally the breakers of the Law and to reward those that obey. These are two different things: suppose Adam had never sinned: the Law had been the Law; and suppose Adam had never obeyed: the Law also should have been the Law; and in the former case there should have been no punishment, in the latter no reward.
…
Crisp and his followers are far wide, for Christ died freely out of extreme love and yet He died out of a command laid on Him, to lay down his life for his sheep though no penal power was above Christ’s head to punish Him if He should not die, Jn. 10:18. Nor was there need of any power to force Him subpena [under penalty], or to awe Him if He should not obey; so do angels, with wings of most exact willingness, obey God, yet are they under the authority of a Law and command, but yet under no compelling punishment, Ps. 103:20-21; 104:4.”
.
Johannes Hoornbeek
‘Theological Disputation on the Satisfaction of Christ’ tr. by AI by Onku (Utrecht, 1650) Latin
“3. Nor does it hinder [the legitimacy of the atonement] that Christ, as subject to the divine law, also owed obedience, which seems to destroy all merit (Socinus ibid. ch. 5 and Praelections, ch. 18, §4).
For he did not owe it by that title of justice by which he now offered it, namely for sins. And what else is merit with respect to God than if a rational person offers those formal acts which are in the pact? as Adam and the fallen angels would have merited salvation if they had rendered the obedience that was in the pact. Why therefore will we detract praise of merit from Christ, who most exactly satisfied the divine demands?”
.
Peter van Mastricht
Theoretical Practical Theology (RHB), vol. 3, bk. 3, ch. 12, section 9, ‘Was it [the CoW] also entered into with the second Adam?’
“Certainly from one perspective, as a creature and as man, it seems that He [Christ] cannot be exempted from the moral government of God, nor otherwise could He as a man have merited anything for Himself. From another perspective, if He were in Adam under the covenant of nature, then it would seem that in and with Adam who sinned, He violated that same covenant, which is beyond absurd.
Therefore it seems most safe to state: although as a rational creature He cannot be exempted from moral government with respect to his natural duties, yet He could have been withdrawn by God from the same moral governance in the positive duties, such as the commandment not to eat of the forbidden fruit (upon the transgression of which the sin of the human race
hangs).”
.
Latin Articles
1600’s
Voet, Gisbert – Syllabus of Theological Problems (Utrecht, 1643), pt. 1, section 2 Abbr.
tract 2
Of the Presupposed Condition of the Priestly Office, which is on the Obedience of Christ to the Law
tract 3
1. Of the Obedience, Satisfaction & Merit of Christ
.
Webpages
The Covenant of Redemption (which obliged Christ to fulfill the law for his elect by way of covenant).
Whether Christ Merited Glory for Himself
.
Could Christ have Gotten Sick?
Yes
Quotes
1600’s
van Mastricht, Peter – Theoretical Pratical Theology (RHB), vol. 4, bk. 5, ch. 4
section 28
“but also made Him like unto men, in fact united Him with men, and not that He might command men, but that He might become like a child (Isa. 9:6), indeed a slave (Phil. 2:7), and even a worm (Ps. 22:6), and not this only, but also exposed Him to the law, to weaknesses and sicknesses of every kind (Gal. 4:4; Heb. 4:15; Isa. 53:2–6).”
.
section 29
“He willed to assume (4) not only the nature and the natural affections of the nature, but also its weaknesses, and in addition all its weaknesses, however lowly, provided they are not shameful and
sinful (Heb. 4:15)…”
.
section 31
“(3) In the case of weaknesses and diseases, because the Son of God also assumed our nature, which was exposed to our weaknesses and diseases (Isa. 53:3–4, 10), so that he might heal our weaknesses and diseases (Matt. 4:23).”
.
No
Articles
1200’s
Aquinas, Thomas – Summa Theologica, pt. 3, a Treatise on the Incarnation
Question 14, Of the Defects of Body Assumed by the Son of God 4 Articles
Aquinas doesn’t here answer this specific question, but the thrust of his answers leans towards: Yes.
(3) ‘Whether His body was decomposed in the tomb? [No]’ in Question 51, Of Christ’s Burial (4 Articles)
“It is written (Ps. 16:10): “Nor wilt Thou suffer Thy holy one to see corruption”: and [John the] Damascene (De Fide Orth. iii) expounds this of the corruption which comes of dissolving into elements….
…It was not fitting for Christ’s body to putrefy, or in any way be reduced to dust… Christ’s death ought not to come from weakness of nature, lest it might not be believed to be voluntary: and therefore He willed to die, not from sickness, but from suffering inflicted on Him, to which He gave Himself up willingly.”
.
2000’s
Murray, David – ‘Was Jesus Ever Ill?’ (2017) 15 paragraphs
Murray makes distinctions, gives Biblical support for his position, and quotes Smeaton, Spurgeon and Goodwin to a like effect.
.
Order of Quotes
Perkins
Goodwin
Maccovius
Owen
Smeaton
Spurgeon
.
Quotes
1500’s
William Perkins
An Exposition of the Symbol or Creed of the Apostles… (Cambridge, 1595), p. 152
“Secondly, infirmities be either general, or personal; general, which appertain to the whole nature of man, and are to be found in every man that comes of Adam: as to be born unlearned, and subject to natural affections, as sorrow, anger, etc. Personal, are such as appertain to some particular men, and not to all, and arise of some private causes and particular judgments of God, as to be born a fool, to be sick of an ague, consumption, dropsy, pleuresy, and such like diseases.
Now the first sort be in Christ, and not the second: for as He took not the person of any man, but only man’s nature, so was it sufficient for Him to take unto Him the infirmities of man’s nature, though He took not the private infirmities of any man’s person. And the reason why Christ would put on not only the substance and faculties of a true man, but also his infirmities, was that He might show Himself to be very man indeed, also that He might suffer for us both in body and soul, and that he might give us an example of patience in bearing all manner of evil for God’s glory and the good of our neighbor.”
.
1600’s
Thomas Goodwin
The Heart of Christ in Heaven to Sinners on Earth, section 3, p. 136
“…it may be said of Christ whilst He was here below that in the same sense or manner wherein He bore our sicknesses, Mt. 8:17 (who yet was never personally tainted with any disease) in the same sense or manner He may be said to have born our sins, namely thus:
Christ when He came to an elect child of his that was sick, whom He healed, his manner was, first by a sympathy and pity to afflict Himself with their sickness, as if it had been his own: Thus at his raising of Lazarus it is said that He groaned in spirit, etc. and so by the merit of taking the disease upon Himself, through a fellow-feeling of it, He took it off from them, being for them afflicted, as if He Himself had been sick.
And this seems to be the best interpretation that I have met with of that difficult place in Mt. 8:16-17 where it is said:
‘He healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, [and bare our sicknesses.]’
Now in the like way or manner unto this, of bearing our sicknesses, He might beare our sins too…”
.
Johannes Maccovius
Scholastic Discourse: The Distinctions & Rules of Theology & Philosophy Buy (1644), p. 221
“44. Christ is similar to us in all things, according to nature, but not according to all the weaknesses of nature.
These weaknesses are either culpable such as sins: in these things He is not like us; or they are inculpable , such as the affects of sorrow, grief, tears, hunger,
weariness: in these things He is like us.
Next, weaknesses are either a general punishment of sin, such as the possibility to die, or they are a particular punishment, such as becoming ill. Christ did take up the weaknesses of the first category, not those of the second.”
.
John Owen
Works, vol. 3, Pneumatologia, or a Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit, bk. 2, ch. 3, p. 167
“Although he took on him those infirmities which belong unto our human nature as such, and are inseparable from it until it be glorified, yet he took none of our particular infirmities which cleave unto our persons, occasioned either by the vice of our constitutions or irregularity in the use of our bodies.
Those natural passions of our minds which are capable of being the moans of affliction and trouble, as grief, sorrow, and the like, he took upon him; as also those infirmities of nature which are troublesome to the body, as hunger, thirst, weariness, and pain,—yea, the purity of his holy constitution made him more highly sensible of these things than any of the children of men;—but as to our bodily diseases and distempers, which personally adhere unto us, upon the disorder and vice of our constitutions, he was absolutely free from them.”
.
1800’s
George Smeaton
The Doctrine of the Atonement taught by Christ Himself (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1868), pp. 130-31
“Nor was this perfect exemption from violence or injury at the hand of men a mere isolated fact. It
was part of the general scheme or of the understood relation to human life occupied by Christ.
He was not to dash His foot against a stone (Ps. xci.). Disease in the ordinary course, or as it is commonly contracted, could not touch Him, because He did not come within the power of sin in the world; and hence we never read of His contracting any distemper or disease like other men. Nor could death in any of the thousand forms in which it comes to other men, come to Him, till He consented…”
.
Charles Spurgeon
‘Help for your Sickness’ on Matthew 8:16-17 (1890) Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 36
“Christ was able to heal the diseases of men, because he bare them Himself. Do not think that our Lord Jesus was actually diseased: He suffered greatly, but I read not that any disease was upon Him. Probably there was no man in whom there was less tendency to natural disease than in Him. His pure and blessed body was not subject to the diseases which are brought upon men through sin being in them. How, then, did He take upon Him our sicknesses and our sorrows?”
.
Latin Article
1600’s
Voet, Gisbert – Of the Defects of the Body in Syllabus of Theological Problems (Utrecht, 1643), pt. 1, section 2, tract 2 Abbr.
.
On the Affections, Passions or Emotions of Christ
Compare also ‘On the Affections of God’.
.
Order of
Articles
Desire
Compassion & Love
Joy
Wonder
Anxiety
Pain
Sadness
Sorrow
Anger
Shame
Fear
Fear of God
Self-Denial
.
Articles
1600’s
Baxter, Richard – ‘If there were any passions in Jesus Christ, and wherein they differed from ours’ in The Government of the Passions according to the Rules of Reason & Religion… (London: J. Knapton, 1700), pp. 19-21
.
1900’s
Warfield, B.B. – ‘On the Emotional Life of our Lord’ (1912), pp. 36-90 also in The Person & Work of Christ, pp. 93-145
.
Desire
Quote
1900’s
B.B. Warfield
‘On the Emotional Life of our Lord’ (1912), p. 82
“Once ‘desire’ is attributed to him (Lk. xxii. 15),—he had ‘set his heart’, as we should say, upon eating the final passover with his disciples—the term used emphasizing the affectional movement.”
Compassion & Love
Article
1900’s
Warfield, B.B. – sect. 1, ‘Compassion & Love’ in ‘On the Emotional Life of our Lord’ (1912), pp. 40-51
.
Joy
Article
1900’s
Warfield, B.B. – sect. 3, ‘Joy & Sorrow’ in ‘On the Emotional Life of our Lord’ (1912), pp. 67-71
.
Wonder
Article
1200’s
Aquinas – Summa Theologica, 3rd Part, Treatise on the Incarnation, Question 15, Of the Defects of Soul Assumed by Christ (10 Articles), (8) Whether there was wonder? [Yes & No]
.
Quote
1900’s
B.B. Warfield
‘On the Emotional Life of our Lord’ (1912), p. 82
“On two occasions we are told that Jesus felt that occurrences which he witnessed were extraordinary and experienced the appropriate emotion of “wonder” regarding them (Mt. viii. l0; Lk. vii 9; Mk. vi. 6).¹
¹ [Greek] Thaumazo: see Schmidt, Synonymik etc., iv. §165, pp. 184sq.: “it is perfectly generally ‘to wonder’ or ‘to admire’, and is distinguished from thambein precisely as the German sich wundern, or hewundern is from staunen: that is, what has seized on us in the case of thaumazein is the extraordinary nature of the thing while in the case of thambain it is the unexpectedness and suddenness of the occurrence.” Cf. Art. “Amazement” in Hasting’s DCG. I, pp. 47, 48.”
Anxiety
Quotes
1500’s
John Calvin
Commentary, Harmony of the Evangelists, on Mt. 26:37
“And whence came to Him both sorrow and anxiety and fear, except because He felt in death something sadder and more horrible than the separation of the soul and body? And certainly He underwent death, not merely that He might move from earth to heaven, but rather that He might take on Himself the curse to which we were liable, and deliver us from it.
His horror was not, then, at death simpliciter, as a passage out of the world, but because He had before his eyes the dreadful tribunal of God, and the Judge Himself armed with inconceivable vengeance; it was our sins, the burden of which He had assumed, that pressed Him down with their enormous mass. It is, then, not at all strange if the dreadful abyss of destruction tormented Him grievously with fear and anguish.”
.
1900’s
B.B. Warfield
‘On the Emotional Life of our Lord’ (1912)
pp. 74-76
“Matthew and Mark almost exhaust the resources of language to convey to us some conception of our Lord’s “agony”¹ as an early interpolator of Luke (Lk.xxii. 44) calls it, in this dreadful experience. The anguish of reluctance which constituted this “agony” is in part described by them both—they alone of the Evangelists enter into our Lord’s feelings here—by a term the primary idea of which
is loathing, aversion, perhaps not unmixed with despondency.²
¹ [Greek] agonia: see G. Heine, Synonymik etc., 1898, p. 189: “Contest, quaking, agitation (and anxiety of the issue?) Lk. xxii. 44; Luther, ‘he grappled with death’, Weizsacker, ‘he struggled’, Bengel; ‘supreme grief and anguish. It properly denotes the anguish and passion of the mind, when it enters upon a conflict and arduous labor, even when there is no doubt of a good issue’.” Plummer in loc.: “Field contends that fear is the radical notion of the word. The passages in which it occurs in LXX confirm this view… It is therefore an agony of fear that is apparently to be understood.” It would be better to say consternation, appalled reluctance.”
.
pp. 80-81
“But we are never directly told that he felt this dependence on God or “feared God”, or felt the emotions “of reverence and awe in the divine presence…¹
¹ Cf. Heb. v. 7: “having been heard for his godly fear ([Greek] Eulabeia)”, i.e. for his reverent and submissive awe,” that religious fear of God and anxiety not to offend Him which manifests itself in voluntary and humble submission to his will” (Delitzsch in loc.).
Pain
Article
1200’s
Aquinas – Summa Theologica, 3rd Part, Treatise on the Incarnation, Question 15, Of the Defects of Soul Assumed by Christ (10 Articles), (5) Whether in Him there was sensible pain? [Yes]
Sadness
Quote
1600’s
Samuel Rutherford
Christ Dying & Drawing Sinners to Himself (London: Crooke, 1647)
p. 21
“…Christ’s greatest soul trouble as a Son (for that He was essentially) was in that his holy soul was sadded and made heavy even to death, for sin, as sin, and as contrary to his Father’s love. The elect sinned against the Lord, not looking to Him, as either Lord, or Father: but Christ paied full dear for sin…”
.
p. 131
“‘This hour’. Among all the hours that Christ had, this was the saddest:
1. Christ saw that his life in this hour would be taken from Him; it was convenient that Christ, who was a man, like us in all things except sin, should not be a stock in dying; but have actual pain and sense in the losing of his life, for Christ had as much nature, though no corruption, as any man; and life is a sweet inheritance, it’s nature’s excellent free-hold, and no man is willingly, and without one sigh or tear cast out of this free-hold, and Christ’s nature was not brass or iron. Sorrow and sadness found a kindly lodging in Him.
Sorrow
Articles
1200’s
Aquinas – Summa Theologica, 3rd Part, Treatise on the Incarnation, Question 15, Of the Defects of Soul Assumed by Christ (10 Articles), (6) Whether there was sorrow? [Yes]
.
1900’s
Warfield, B.B. – sect. 3, ‘Joy & Sorrow’ in ‘On the Emotional Life of our Lord’ (1912), pp. 67-82
Anger, Indignation & Annoyance
Articles
1200’s
Aquinas – Summa Theologica, 3rd Part, Treatise on the Incarnation, Question 15, Of the Defects of Soul Assumed by Christ (10 Articles), (9) Whether there was anger?
.
1900’s
Warfield, B.B. – sect. 2, ‘Indignation & Annoyance’ in ‘On the Emotional Life of our Lord’ (1912), pp. 51-67
.
Shame
Article
1800’s
Stalker, James – ch. 10, pt. 2, sect. 4, pp. 190-91 in Imago Christi: the Example of Jesus Christ (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1895)
.
Quote
1900’s
B.B. Warfield
‘On the Emotional Life of our Lord’ (1912), p. 82
“And once our Lord speaks of himself as being conceivibly the subject of “shame”, the reference being, however, rather to a mode of action consonant with the emotion, than to the feeling itself (Mk. 8:38; Lk. 4:26 [vv. 24 & 29?]).¹
¹ [Greek] ‘Epaiskunomai: see Schmidt, Synonymik, III, §140; Trench, Synonyms, §§19, 20. On Shame in our Lord’s life cf. James Stalker, Imago Christi, p. 190, and Thieme, as above, p. 111.”
.
Fear
Article
1200’s
Aquinas – Summa Theologica, 3rd Part, Treatise on the Incarnation, Question 15, Of the Defects of Soul Assumed by Christ (10 Articles), (7) Whether there was fear? [Yes]
.
Quotes
1500’s
John Calvin
Commentary, Harmony of the Evangelists, on Mt. 26:37
“And whence came to Him both sorrow and anxiety and fear, except because He felt in death something sadder and more horrible than the separation of the soul and body? And certainly He underwent death, not merely that He might move from earth to heaven, but rather that He might take on Himself the curse to which we were liable, and deliver us from it.
His horror was not, then, at death simpliciter, as a passage out of the world, but because He had before his eyes the dreadful tribunal of God, and the Judge Himself armed with inconceivable vengeance; it was our sins, the burden of which He had assumed, that pressed Him down with their enormous mass. It is, then, not at all strange if the dreadful abyss of destruction tormented Him grievously with fear and anguish.”
.
1600’s
John Pearson
An Exposition of the Creed (NY, 1843), p. 288
“In what sense the soul is capable of suffering in that He was subject to animal passion. Evil apprehended to come tormented his soul with fear, which was as truly in Him in respect of what He was to suffer, as hope in reference to the recompense of a reward to come after and from his sufferings.”
.
Samuel Rutherford
Christ Dying & Drawing Sinners to Himself (London: Crooke, 1647)
pp. 3-6
“Touching the first, the soul-trouble of Christ, we are to consider:
1st Position. This holy soul thus troubled, was like the earth before the Fall, out of which grew roses without thorns, or thistles, before it was cursed. Christ’s anger, his sorrow, were flowers that smelled of heaven, and not of sin: All his affections of fear, sorrow, sadness, hope, joy, love, desire, were like a fountain of liquid and melted silver; of which the banks, the head-spring, are all as clear from dross as pure crystal: such a fountain can cast out no clay, no mud, no dirt. When his affections did rise and swell in their acts, every drop of the fountain was sinless, perfumed and adorned with grace; so as the more you stir or trouble a well of rose-water, or some precious liquor, the more sweet a smell it casts out: Or, as when a summer soft wind blows on a field of sweet roses, it diffuses precious and delicious smells through the air.
There is such mud and dregs in the bottom and banks of our affections, that when our anger, sorrow, sadness, fear, does arise in their acts, our fountain casts out sin. We cannot love, but we lust; nor fear, but we despair; nor rejoice, but we are wanton and vain and gaudy; nor believe… O that Christ would plant some of his flowers in our soul, and bless the soil, that they might grow kindly there, being warmed and nourished with his grace: If grace be within, in sad pressures it comes out…
…
3rd Position. Undeniably, grace did so accompany nature, that he could not fear more than the object required. Had all the strength of men and angels been massed and contemperated in one, they should have been in a higher measure troubled than Christ was: So how much trouble was in Christ’s affections, as much there was of reason, perfumed and lustered with grace…
So neither were his affections above banks; he saw the blackest and darkest hour that ever any saw; suppose all the sufferings of the damned, for eternity, were before them in one sight, or came on them at once, it should annihilate all that are now, or shall be in hell. Christ now saw, or foresaw as great sufferings, and yet: 1. believed, 2. prayed, 3. hoped, 4. was encouraged under it, 5. suffered them to the bottom with all patience, 6. rejoiced in hope, Ps. 16:9.
Now our affections rise and swell before reason:
1. They are often imaginary, and are on horse-back and in arms at the stirring of a straw.
2. They want that clearness and serenity of grace that Christ had, through habituall grace following nature from the womb.
3. We can raise our affections, but cannot allay them: as some magicians can raise the Devil, but cannot conjure, or command him: or, some can make war, and cannot create peace…
And this extremity of soul-trouble was most rational, coming from the infallible apprehension of the most pressing cause of soul-trouble, that ever living man was under.”
.
p. 131
“2. He had a clay tent of flesh and blood, as the children have, that, Heb. 2:15, He might deliver them, who through the fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage. He must in our nature put on actual fear to deliver the saints, from habitual fear. Nature cannot, without horror, and a wrinkle on the brow, look straight out on the breadth of death’s black face.”
.
1900’s
B.B. Warfield
‘On the Emotional Life of our Lord’ (1912), pp. 74-76
“So profound a repugnance to death and all that death meant,manifesting itself during his life, could not fail to seize upon him with peculiar intensity at the end. If the distant prospect of his sufferings was a perpetual Gethsemane to Him, the immediate imminence of them in the actual Gethsemane could not fail to bring with it that “awful and dreadful torture” which Calvin does not scruple to call the “exordium” of the pains of hell themselves.
Matthew and Mark almost exhaust the resources of language to convey to us some conception of our Lord’s “agony”¹ as an early interpolator of Luke (Lk.
xxii. 44) calls it, in this dreadful experience. The anguish of reluctance which constituted this “agony” is in part described by them both—they alone of the Evangelists enter into our Lord’s feelings here—by a term the primary idea of which
is loathing, aversion, perhaps not unmixed with despondency.²
¹ [Greek] agonia: see G. Heine, Synonymik etc., 1898, p. 189: “Contest, quaking, agitation (and anxiety of the issue?) Lk. xxii. 44; Luther, ‘he grappled with death’, Weizsacker, ‘he struggled’, Bengel; ‘supreme grief and anguish. It properly denotes the anguish and passion of the mind, when it enters upon a conflict and arduous labor, even when there is no doubt of a good issue’.” Plummer in loc.: “Field contends that fear is the radical notion of the word. The passages in which it occurs in LXX confirm this view… It is therefore an agony of fear that is apparently to be understood.” It would be better to say consternation, appalled reluctance.
² [Greek] ademoneo: see Heine, Synonymik etc., 1898, p. 148: “pavesco, angor.” Cf. Lightfoot, on Phil. ii. 26: ” The primary idea of the word will be loathing and discontent.” “It describes the confused, restless, half-distracted state, which is produced by physical discouragement, or by
mental distress, or grief, shame, disappointment, etc.” Lagrange on Mk. xviii. 33: “seized with despondency”. Thomas Goodwin (Works, v. 276): “so that we see Christ’s soul was sick and fainted,” “his heart failed him.”
This term is adjoined in Matthew’s account to the common word for sorrow, in which, however, here the fundamental element of pain, distress, is prominent, so that we may perhaps render Matthew’s account: “He began to be distressed and despondent” (Mt. xxvi. 37).
Instead of this wide word for distress of mind, Mark employs a term which more narrowly defines the distress as consternation—if not exactly dread,
yet alarmed dismay:³ “He began to be appalled and despondent ” (Mk. xiv. 33).
³ [Greek] Ekthambeomai: see Hastings’ DCG. i. p. 48, article ” Amazement”; G. Heine, Synonymik etc., p. 149 : It “is used of those whose minds are horror-struck by the sight or thought of something great or atrocious, not merely because it injects fear, but because the mind scarcely takes
in its magnitude.” Weiss in loc: “[Greek] Ekthambeisthai cannot designate the dread (Angst) but only the horror (Erschrecken) which attacks Jesus at the thought of the sufferings which stand before him.” Thomas Goodwin (Works, V. p. 275): “It signifies ‘to be in horror’.”
Both accounts add our Lord’s own pathetic declaration: “My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death”, the central term in which expresses a sorrow, or perhaps we would better say, a mental pain, a distress, which hems in on every side, from which there is therefore no escape; or rather (for the qualification imports that this hemming-in distress is mortally acute, is an anguish of a sort that no issue but death can be thought of) which presses in and besets from every side and therefore leaves no place for defence.”
Fear of God
Quote
1900’s
B.B. Warfield
‘On the Emotional Life of our Lord’ (1912), pp. 80-81
“His profound feeling of dependence on God, for example, is illustrated in every conceivable way, not least strikingly in the constant habit of prayer which the Evangelists ascribe to him. But we are never directly told that he felt this dependence on God or “feared God”, or felt the emotions “of reverence and awe in the divine presence…¹ The narrative brings Jesus before us as acting under the impulse of all the religious emotions; but it does not stop to comment upon the emotions themselves.
¹ Cf. Heb. v. 7: “having been heard for his godly fear ([Greek] Eulabeia)”, i.e. for his reverent and submissive awe,” that religious fear of God and anxiety not to offend Him which manifests itself in voluntary and humble submission to his will” (Delitzsch in loc.). Davidson in loc: “The clause throws emphasis on the Son’s reverent submission.” Humanitarian writers debate whether “fear” of God is to be attributed to Jesus. Wellhausen (Israel, und jud. Geschichte, p. 383, expanded in Skizzen und Vorarbeiten, i. 1884, p. 98) represents him as passing his life in fear of the judge of all: “He feels the reality of God dominating life, he breathes in the fear of the Judge who demands account of every idle word and has power to destroy body and soul in hell.” Similarly Bousset
(Jesus, 1904, pp. 54, 99, E. T. pp. 112, 203) speaks of him as learning by his own experience” that God is terrible (furchtbar) and that an awful darkness and dread encircles him even for those who stand nearest to him,” and as “sharing to the bottom of his soul” “the fear of that almighty God who has power to damn body and soul together,” which he “has stamped upon the hearts of his disciples with such marvellous
energy.”
Karl Thieme, however, from the same humanitarian standpoint (Die christliche Demut, i. 1906, pp. 109 sq.) repels such representations as without historical ground: we may historically ascribe reverential awe
(Ehrfurcht) to Jesus but not fear (Furcht). “Of course he comprehended God in the whole overtowering majesty of his being, and adored his immeasurable exaltation in the deepest reverence (Ehrfurcht).” But
“we may maintain in Jesus’ case an altogether fearless (furchtlos) assurance of God and self.” “We cannot speak of a ‘fear of the Judge’ in Jesus’ case, because it does not well harmonize with his faith in his own judgeship of the world. But we can no doubt call the intensity of his obedience, the living sense of responsibility in which he made it his end, his whole life through, to walk, in all his motions, with the utmost exactness according to the will of God as the almighty majestic Lord, his fear of God.”
Lutgert (Die Liebe im Neuen Testament, 1895, pp. 88, 89) points to Jesus’ turning to the Father in Gethsemane and on the cross, not as something terrible (furchtbar) but with loving confidence, as decisive in the case. On the place of ‘the fear of God’ in Christian piety, see Lutgert’s article Die Furcht Gottes, published in the Theologische Studien, presented to Martin Kahler on 6 January 1905 (Leipzig, 1905, pp. 163 sq.).”
Self-Denial
Article
2000’s
Fentiman, Travis – 13. ‘God, Eve, Temptation, Self-Denial & Christ’ in ‘Using Contraceptives may be in Accord with Natural Law & Scripture: a Response to Feser’ (RBO, 2025)
Fentiman quotes Samuel Rutherford and Richard Baxter on the topic.
.
Quotes
1600’s
Jeremiah Burroughs
Gospel Conversation (London: Cole, 1650), sermon 5, on Phil. 1:27, pp. 93-5
“4. The gospel holds forth the greatest example of self-denial that ever was in the world, and by all ways that ever God has made known his mind, He never has revealed his will in an example of self-denial so as He has done in the Gospel, and that is in the example of the Lord Jesus Christ:
God evidences there such a work of self-denial as never was: and ’tis impossible to apprehend a greater example of self-denial than that is: though Christ thought it no robbery to be equal with God; read but the second of the Philippians, vv. 7-8, and there you may see what Christ was, and yet how He emptied Himself, how He denied Himself in his honor, how vile He was made in the world, though He was the brightness of his father’s glory, yet He was made of no reputation; how He denied Himself in riches. Christ that was the heir of all things, though He were rich, yet He was made poor for us; how He denied Himself in his pleasures, He was the delight of the Father from all eternity, and yet he was made a man of sorrows; He denied Himself in his life, for He was the Lord of life, and yet He subjected Himself to death, to a cursed death for us: Oh the example of Christ in self-denial is the greatest that ever was: and this seems to be one great end of the humiliation of Jesus Christ to hold forth a preaching pattern of self-denial to the world:
And there’s a great deal more power in the pattern and example of self-denial, then in the commands of self-denial. I only present this to show you that it is the most unbeseeming the gospel for anyone that professes the gospel to be selfish, altogether scraping for themselves; and whatsoever service they are put upon, except self may have an oar in it, they have no mind to it; Oh ’tis becoming the gospel of Jesus Christ for men and women to be emptied of themselves, no matter what becomes of ourselves, but be willing to give up ourselves for public good, to venture your estates and lives, and all your comforts, yea to be swallowed up in the glory of God, to be nothing, that Christ may be all.
In the gospel of Christ, we find that Christ, He was swallowed up with the glory of his Father; and He came not to do his own will, but the will of his father that sent Him; and though He was one that had infinitely more excellency than all men and angels in heaven and earth, yet He was content for the honor of his Father to be made as a worm and no man, to be trampled under foot, to endure the greatest extremities of all sorts; this holds out an example to us, that while we live in this world we should be taken off from ourselves: Oh this self-love sticks much in the hearts of men and women: now upon the example of Christ’s self-denial, we are required to deny ourselves, and it is the proper lesson of the Gospel, ‘He that will follow me, let him deny himself,’ you never read of such a precept in all the Old Testament;(though no question the people of God did deny themselves then), but in expresse terms so fully you have not such a thing there: and there’s no such rules among the heathens for a man to deny himself.
‘Let him deny himself;’ those that know the original, know that the word is, not only to deny, but there is that joined to it that does increase the signification, let them deny themselves, thoroughly, there is a preposition put to the word, to show that those that will come to Christ must deny themselves, and that thoroughly, it is a proper lesson of the gospel, and the first lesson. Oh when our Lord and Master has thus denied Himself, and emptied Himself for good to us, what is beseeming this gospel, but that all that are professors of it should deny themselves? It is very unbeseeming the glorious gospel, for a Christian to be selfish, to have his self-ends, and self-ways, and interests in everything, as generally almost all men in the world they are acted by self, some self-ends, or self-excellency carries them on in their actions, or else they have no heart to do anything; this is unbecoming the gospel.
But now I say, one that would live as becomes the Gospel, must be wholly emptied of himself, whatsoever parts, estate, credit, or honor he has in the world, must be melted into the glory of God; Jesus Christ for the glory of His Father, was content infinitly to deny Himself more than we can; For what have we to deny ourselves of? Do you or I live as becomes the gospel? when (I say) all that we apprehend to have any excellency in, we have it all swallowed up in the glory of God, when we can dedicate and consecrate our lives, honors, liberties, estates, comforts, and all to the glory of God, and be as nothing to ourselves, and let God be all in all to us.
Ministers may bring many reasons why we should deny ourselves, but all these reasons comes to nothing, till the soul comes to behold the clear light of the gospel, and there beholds the Son of God by faith, how He did empty Himself; nay then, says a believing soul, if the Son of God did deny Himself, was emptied thus for me, Oh then let me be wholly taken off from myself, and venture wholly upon God, I must not live in myself, nor live for myself, nor live to myself; but wholly live in God, and for God, and to God, and upon God: Oh this is that which becomes the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
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Thomas Manton
A Second Volume of Sermons preached by the late reverend and learned Thomas Manton in two parts: the first containing 27 Sermons on the Twenty-Fifth chapter of St. Matthew... (London: Robinson, 1684), Sermons on 2 Cor. 5, sermon 29, on 2 Cor. 5:15
p. 184
“Natural self is to be denied as well as corrupt self, as appears by the example of Christ, who had no corrupt self to deny, and yet ’tis said, Rom. 15:3, ‘He pleased not Himself.’ Christ had an innocent natural will, by which He loved his natural life and peace; ‘Father let this cup pass.’ But He submitted it to God; ‘Not my will, but thine be done,’ Mt. 26:39. Therefore we also must not only deny self as corrupted by sin, but self as separate from God.
How else shall we submit to God in these things wherein He may lay a restraint upon us, or put us to trial about them, whether we love them in order to Him, they being things which otherwise we may affect. And besides, to love any thing apart from God, and to seek it apart from God and rejoice in it apart from God, without any reference and respect to God, is to make the creature the last end, in which the action terminates, which is an invading of God’s prerogative.”
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p. 187
“[The] Use of all is to press us to this weighty duty of living to God, and not to ourselves. Not to our own will and interest, and according to the will, and for the glory of God. Motives:
1. Christ’s self-denial, who came from heaven not only to expiate our offenses, but to give us an example. And wherein was the example? He tells us He came not to do his own will, but the will of Him that sent Him, Jn. 6:38. And to promote his Father’s glory, Jn. 8:50, ‘I seek not my own Glory’? He was still guided by his Fathers will, and had his orders from heaven for all that He did.
Now how did He do the will of God and seek the glory of God? He did it with delight, Jn 4:34, ’twas meat and drink to Him to do his Fathers will. A will wedded to itself, and his own honour and ease, and credit, is most unlike Christ. And He did it with much patience, and self-denial, Rom. 15:3. He pleased not Himself, that is, sought not the interests of that life He had assumed, but contradicted them by his fastings, temptations sufferings, through the reproaches, and ingratitude of men, and outward meanness, and poverty of his condition. And especially by his death, and passion there, he humbled Himself, and made Himself of no reputation, Phil. 2:4-8. That the same mind might be in us; that we might learn that life, and all the comforts of life, should not be so dear to us, as the love of God, and everlasting life; for Christ loved not his life in comparison of love to his Father and his Church. He preferred the pleasing of his Father in the work of redemption, before his own life. Christ emptied himself , that God might be glorified. How unwilling are ye to go back two or three degrees in your pomp or pleasure, or profit, for God’s sake, when the Sun of righteousness went back ten degrees.”
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