{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_13652/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_13652","id":"gutenberg_13652","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13652","summary":null,"tags":["Apostles' Creed","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"EXPOSITION\n\nOF\n\nTHE APOSTLES' CREED\n\n\nBy\n\nTHE REV. JAMES DODDS, D.D.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\n    Though I am an old Doctor of Divinity, to this day I have not\n    got beyond the children's learning--the Ten Commandments, the\n    Belief, and the Lord's Prayer; and these I understand not so\n    well as I should, though I study them daily, praying with my son\n    John and my daughter Magdalen.--LUTHER'S _Table-Talk_.\n\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nEDITORIAL NOTE\n\nPREFATORY NOTE\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nARTICLE\n\n1 I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH\n\n    SECTION\n        1. I BELIEVE\n        2. GOD\n        3. THE FATHER\n        4. ALMIGHTY\n        5. MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH\n\n\n2 AND IN JESUS CHRIST HIS ONLY SON OUR LORD\n\n    SECTION\n        1. AND IN JESUS CHRIST\n        2. JESUS\n        3. CHRIST\n        4. HIS ONLY SON\n        5. OUR LORD\n\n3 WHO WAS CONCEIVED BY THE HOLY GHOST, BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY\n\n4 SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE, WAS CRUCIFIED, DEAD, AND BURIED\n\n    SECTION\n        1. SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE\n        2. WAS CRUCIFIED\n        3. DEAD\n        4. AND BURIED\n\n5 HE DESCENDED INTO HELL, THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD\n\n    SECTION\n        1. HE DESCENDED INTO HELL\n        2. THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD\n\n6 HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN AND SITTETH ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD\nTHE FATHER ALMIGHTY\n\n7 FROM THENCE HE SHALL COME TO JUDGE THE QUICK AND THE DEAD\n\n8 I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY GHOST\n\n9 THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH, THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS\n\n    SECTION\n        1. THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH\n        2. THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS\n\n10 THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS\n\n11 THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY\n\n12 AND THE LIFE EVERLASTING\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nAPPENDIX\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\nSOME BOOKS ON THE APOSTLES' CREED OR BEARING UPON ARTICLES THEREOF\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\n\nEDITORIAL NOTE\n\n\nDr. Dodds' _Exposition of the Apostles' Creed_ will supply a real\nneed. It contains a careful, well-informed, and well-balanced statement\nof the doctrines of the Church which are expressed or indicated in the\nCreed, and it will be helpful to many as arranging the passages of\nScripture on which these doctrines rest. Though historical references\ncould have been easily made, the Editors agree with the author in\nthinking that to insert them in the discussion of doctrines would have\nprobably perplexed the readers for whom the book is designed.\n\n_February_ 1896.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nPREFATORY NOTE\n\n\nThe title and purpose of this Handbook limit its subject matter to an\nexposition of the doctrines which have place in the summary of belief\ntermed the Apostles' Creed. It is not meant to cover the whole field of\nChristian doctrine.\n\nA history of the Creed has not been attempted. There is much that is\ninteresting in its origin and growth. It did not come into existence all\nat once, but was built up from time to time by the insertion of clauses\nformulated by Councils or by leading representatives of the Christian\nChurch. The space available is not sufficient to include a history.\n\nThe Handbook being not controversial but expository, references to the\nheretics and heresies that gave occasion for the articles which have\nplace in the Creed are few and brief.\n\nJAMES DODDS.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nTHE APOSTLES' CREED\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nWhile the disciples had Jesus with them, there was no occasion for a\nformal summary of the doctrines which His followers were called to\naccept and to maintain. He was present to resolve all doubts and settle\nall difficulties, so that when their faith was assailed or their\nteaching impugned they could refer to Him. Then, as now, faith had Him\nfor its object,--with this difference, that He was visibly at hand to\ncounsel and to direct, while now He is passed into the heavens and\nguides His people into all truth, not by personal instruction but by\nHis invisible though ever present Spirit.\n\nAnother reason why Jesus gave His disciples no creed may be found in the\nfact that His work was not finished until He had laid down His life, and\nthat no creed could have been satisfactory which did not cover those\ngreat unfulfilled events in His history that lie at the foundation of\nthe Christian religion.\n\nJesus did indeed require belief in Himself as a condition on which\nhealing and salvation were bestowed. Unbelief hindered His work, while\nfaith in His Messianic claims and mission never failed to secure a rich\nblessing to those who confessed Him. The faith which He recognised was\nnot the acceptance and confession of a summary of doctrine such as any\nof the Creeds now existing, but a simple statement of belief in Himself\nas the Son of God and the Messiah. On one occasion only does He appear\nto have called for a confession which went further than this, when,\nhaving declared to Martha the great doctrine of Resurrection, He put to\nher the question, \"Believest thou this?\"[001]\n\nAfter His death and resurrection, when Jesus charged His disciples to\npreach the Gospel, He bade them teach their followers to observe all\nthings whatsoever He had commanded them.[002] The Apostles, accordingly,\nappear to have furnished the leaders of the churches they planted with\nsummaries of doctrine, such as we find in the fifteenth chapter of\nPaul's first Epistle to the Corinthians.[003] Paul seems to refer to\nsuch a summary when he writes to the Romans commending them for\nobedience to the \"form of doctrine\" which was delivered them,[004] and\nwhen he bestows his benediction on those Galatians who walked according\nto \"this rule.\"[005] It was, doubtless, such a compendium of doctrine he\nhad in view when he charged Timothy to \"keep that which was committed to\nhis trust,\" contrasting this \"deposit\" with \"profane and vain babblings,\nand oppositions of science falsely so called.\"[006] The bearing of this\ncharge is made more emphatic when it is repeated by the Apostle in\nconnection with the exhortation, \"Hold fast the form of sound words,\nwhich thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ\nJesus.\"[007]\n\nIt would thus appear that from Apostolic times there existed a form of\nwords of the character of a creed, which, for some reason, came to be\njealously guarded and concealed from all who were not Christians. It was\nperhaps Paul's reference to the summary of doctrine as a \"deposit\" to be\ncarefully kept, that led the early converts to regard it as a private\npossession--a trust to be hidden in the heart and covered from\nunfriendly eyes. The Apostle did not mean that it should be so regarded,\nbut this interpretation given to his words, or some other cause, led to\nits being used as a watchword rather than as an open confession, the\nconsequence of which is that in the writings of the earliest Christian\nfathers no statement of doctrines corresponding to a creed is found.\n\nThe absence of creeds or of allusions to them in the oldest Christian\ntreatises gives seeming point to the objection urged by Professor\nHarnack and others against the Apostles' Creed as now held and\ninterpreted by the Church, that it is not a correct summary of early\nChristian belief. That such objections are not well founded will become\napparent as the various articles of the Creed are considered in the\nlight of Apostolic teaching. The absence of creeds in early Christian\nwritings is sufficiently accounted for by the care with which the\nsummary was cherished as a secret trust, to be treasured in the memory\nbut not to be written or otherwise profaned by publicity.\n\nThe word \"creed\"--derived from the Latin \"_credo_, I believe\"--is,\nin its ecclesiastical sense, used to denote a summary or concise\nstatement of doctrines formulated and accepted by a church. Although\nusually connected with religious belief, it has a wider meaning, and\ndesignates the principles which an individual or an associated body so\nholds that they become the springs and guides of conduct. Some sects of\nChristians reject formal creeds and profess to find the Scriptures\nsufficient for all purposes that creeds are meant to serve. The\nChristian religion rests on Christ, and the final appeal on any question\nof doctrine must be to the Scriptures which testify of Him: but it is\nfound that very different conclusions are often reached by those who\nprofess to ground their beliefs upon the same passages of the Word of\nGod. Almost every heresy that has disturbed the unity of the Church has\nbeen advocated by men who appealed to Scripture in confirmation of the\ndoctrines they taught. The true teaching of the Word of God is gathered\nfrom careful and continuous searching of the Scriptures, and there is\ndanger of fatal error when conclusions are drawn from isolated passages\ninterpreted in accordance with preconceived opinions. It has been found\nnot only expedient but needful that the Christian Churches should set\nforth in creeds and confessions the doctrines which they believe the\nScriptures affirm. They are bound not only to accept Scripture as the\nrule of faith, but to make known the sense in which they understand it.\nAs unlearned and unstable men wrest and subvert the Sacred Writings, it\nis fitting that those who are learned and not unstable should publish\nsound expositions of their contents. In the light of creeds, converts\nare enabled to test their own position, and to put to proof the claims\nof those who profess to be teachers of Christian doctrine.\n\nOne of the most widely accepted of these forms is the Apostles' Creed,\nso called, not because it was drawn up by, or in the time of, the\nApostles--although there is a tradition to the effect that each of them\ncontributed a clause--but because it is in accordance with the sum of\nApostolic teaching. The history of this Creed is not easily traced. The\ncare with which it was guarded excluded it from the writings of the\nearly fathers, and it is impossible, therefore, to assign to their\nproper dates, with certainty, some of the articles of which it is\ncomposed. This, however, is evident, that it came gradually into\nexistence, clauses being added from time to time to guard the faithful\nagainst false doctrine, or to enable them to defend the orthodox belief.\nIt appears to have been the general creed of the Christian Church, in a\nform very similar to that which it now bears, from the close of the\nsecond century.[008] At that time and afterwards it served not only as a\ntest of Christian doctrine, but was also used by catechists in training\nand instructing candidates for admission to the Church.\n\nIt is sometimes urged as an objection to this Creed that it is not a\nsufficiently comprehensive summary of Christian doctrine. Those who\nobject to it on this ground should consider the purpose of creeds. They\nwere not meant to cover the whole field of Christian faith, but to\nfortify believers against the teaching of heretics. The Apostles' Creed\nwas not intended, and does not profess, to state all the things that\nChristians ought to believe. There is no reference in it to Scripture,\nto Inspiration, to Prayer, or to the Sacraments. It sets forth in a few\nwords, distinct and easily remembered, the existence and relations to\nmen of the three Persons of the Godhead--those facts and truths on\nwhich all doctrine and duty rest, and from which they find development.\n\nIt is especially objected that there is no reference in this Creed to\nthe atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But, though not directly\nexpressed, this doctrine is really and substantially contained in it.\nThe Creed is the confession of those whose bond of union is common\nfaith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. The articles which\ntreat of Him and of His sufferings and work are intelligible only to\nthose who believe in the reality and efficacy of the Atonement.\n\nThe Creed contains twelve articles, and to each of these, and to every\npart of it, the words \"I believe\" belong. One article relates to God the\nFather, six to God the Son, one to God the Holy Ghost, and four to the\nHoly Catholic Church and the privileges secured to its members. These\narticles are--\n\n    1. I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and\n        earth.\n\n    2. And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord,\n\n    3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary,\n\n    4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and\n        buried,\n\n    5. He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the\n        dead,\n\n    6. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God\n        the Father Almighty;\n\n    7. From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.\n\n    8. I believe in the Holy Ghost,\n\n    9. The Holy Catholic Church; the Communion of saints;\n\n    10. The Forgiveness of sins;\n\n    11. The Resurrection of the body,\n\n    12. And the Life Everlasting.\n\nIn estimating the value of creeds in the early ages of the Christian\nChurch, it is important to bear in mind that the converts were almost\nwholly dependent on oral instruction for their knowledge of Divine\ntruth. Copies of the Old and New Testaments existed in manuscript only.\nThese were few in number, and the cost of production placed them beyond\nthe reach of the great majority. A single copy served for a community or\na district in which the Hebrew or the Greek tongue was understood, but\nin localities where other languages were in use the living voice was\nneeded to make revelation known. It is only since the invention of\nprinting and the application of the steam-engine to the economical and\nrapid production of books, and since modern linguists have multiplied\nthe translations of the Bible, that it has become in their own tongues\naccessible to believers in all lands, available for private perusal and\nfamily reading. It was therefore a necessity that Christians should\npossess \"a form of sound words,\" comprehensive enough to embody the\nleading doctrines of Christianity, yet brief enough to be easily\ncommitted to memory.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nARTICLE 1\n\n\n_1. I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth_\n\nSECTION 1.--I BELIEVE\n\n\nThe Creed is the expression of personal belief. Whether spoken in\nprivate or in a public assembly, it is the confession of the faith held\nby each individual for himself. Each of us has a separate life, and each\nof us must personally accept God's message and express his own belief.\nReligion must influence men as units before it can benefit them in\nmasses. Faith that saves is a gift of God which every one must receive\nfor himself. The faith of one is of no avail for another, therefore the\nCreed begins with the affirmation \"_I_ believe.\" In repeating it we\nprofess our own faith in what God has revealed concerning Himself.\n\n\"I _believe_.\"--The Apostles' Creed is a declaration of things\nwhich are most surely believed among us, and its several parts or\narticles are founded upon the contents of Scripture, which is our one\nrule of faith. It does not begin with the words _I think_ or _I\nknow_, but with the statement \"I believe.\" \"Belief\" is used in\nvarious senses, but here it means the assent of the mind and heart to\nthe doctrines expressed in the Creed. When we repeat the form we declare\nthat we accept and adopt all the statements which it covers. \"With the\nheart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession\nis made.\"[009]\n\nFaith differs from knowledge. There are some things which we know to be\ntrue, and there are others of which we say we believe them to be true.\nThere are certain truths which are termed axiomatic. When the terms in\nwhich they are expressed are understood, the truth they convey is at\nonce admitted. We know that two and two make four, we know that two\nstraight lines cannot enclose a space; but we do not know in the same\nsense those things which the Creed affirms. It deals with statements\nthat, for the most part, have never been, and cannot be, tested by\nsense, and that cannot be demonstrated by such proof as will compel us\nto accept them. We believe them, not because it is impossible to\nwithhold our assent, nor only because nature, history, and conscience\nconfirm them, but on the ground of testimony. \"Faith cometh by hearing,\nand hearing by the Word of God.\"[010] We believe because we are assured\non sufficient and competent authority that these things are so. We know\nthat we live in a material universe, but our knowledge does not extend\nto the manner in which the universe came into being. That is a matter of\nbelief. \"Through faith\"--not by ocular or logical proof, but on\ntestimony--\"we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of\nGod.\"[011]\n\nFaith differs from opinion. When a man believes his mind is made up. By\nwhatever process it may have been reached, the conclusion commends\nitself as one that is fixed and irreversible. Opinion, on the other\nhand, is held loosely. It is based not on certainty but on probability.\nThe possibility of error is recognised, and the opinion is readily\nsurrendered when the grounds on which it was formed are seen to be\ninsufficient or misleading. \"A man,\" says Coleridge, \"having seen a\nmillion moss roses all red, concludes from his own experience and that\nof others that all moss roses are red. That is a maxim with him--the\n_greatest_ amount of his knowledge upon the subject. But it is only\ntrue until some gardener has produced a white moss rose,--after which\nthe maxim is good for nothing.\"[012]\n\nThe testimony on which faith rests is human or Divine. It is human in so\nfar as it is based on human experience and observation. It is Divine in\nso far as it rests upon the direct revelation of God. Faith in man is\ncontinually exercised in business and in all the departments of life. It\nis necessary to the very existence of society. Faith in God moves in\nanother sphere. Its objects are not seen or temporal, and they do not\nrest for proof upon the testimony of man. It receives and assents to\nstatements which are made on the authority of God, who knows all things,\nwho therefore cannot be deceived, and who is truth and therefore cannot\ndeceive us. On this Divine rock of faith, and not upon her own\nknowledge, the Christian Church rests. \"If we receive the witness of\nmen, the witness of God is greater.\"[013] Among Christian virtues faith\nstands first. It must precede everything else. It is the foundation on\nwhich all Christian character and life are built. \"He that cometh unto\nGod must believe that he is.\"[014] \"Without faith it is impossible to\nplease God.\"[015]\n\nThat which Christian faith realises and grasps is expressed in doctrine.\nFaith is not a separate and self-dependent grace. Its existence and\ngrowth arise from those things which are believed, and therefore it is\nnecessary to study and understand, as far as we can, the doctrines of\nthe Christian faith before we can possess or manifest belief. It is\nimportant that we should have a definite knowledge of these doctrines;\nthat we should study them in relation to the Scriptures upon which they\nprofess to be founded, and that we should be in a position to defend\nthem against assailants. Thus faith will gather strength, and believers\nwill be \"ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh them a\nreason of the hope that is in them with meekness and fear.\"[016]\n\n\nSECTION 2.--GOD--[017]\n\n\nThe existence of God is the basis of all religious belief. If there is\nno God, there is no moral obligation. If there is no Almighty Being to\nwhom men owe existence, and to whom they must give account, worship is a\nvain show and systems of religion are meaningless. Theologians,\ntherefore, from the days of the first Christian apologists to our own\ntime, have endeavoured to establish by proof the doctrine of the Divine\nexistence. To those who accept the authority of Scripture the existence\nof God is a fact which no argument can overthrow; but as there are many\nwho reject this authority, evidence has been sought elsewhere than in\nScripture to establish the doctrine. The arguments for the Being of God\nare mainly threefold, being drawn: (_a_) from the consciousness of\nmankind; (_b_) from the order and design that are manifest in the\nuniverse; and (_c_) from the written revelation which claims to\nhave come to men from God Himself.\n\n(_a_) (_Consciousness_) There is a wonderful agreement among men as\nto the existence of a great invisible Being by whom the world was\ncreated and is governed, and who charges Himself with the control and\nguidance of its inhabitants and concerns. In a land such as our own, in\nwhich Christianity has held place for many centuries, belief in God,\nhowever it may fail to produce holy living, is almost universal. This\nbelief exercises a strong influence, and has contributed not a little to\nthe formation of our national character. It is an atmosphere always\naround us, sustaining and promoting the healthy life of those even who\nare the least conscious of being affected by it. The belief is indelibly\nimpressed upon our laws, our literature, and even our everyday\noccupations. It is stamped upon the relations men sustain to one\nanother. It is this which for one day weekly suspends labour that\nChristians may have leisure to worship God and to meditate upon the\nduties they owe to Him. It is in recognition of this that we see tall\nspires pointing heavenward, and churches opening their portals to the\ninhabitants of crowded cities and to the dwellers in scattered villages.\nIn Christian lands the consciousness of men bears testimony to the\nexistence of God, but it is not in such lands only that this\nconsciousness exists and confirms belief in the Divine. In the earliest\ntimes, long before history began to be written, such a consciousness was\nprevalent, leading men to faith in and worship of a Being or Beings\ninfinitely greater than themselves, present with them and presiding,\nthough invisibly, over their destinies. The study of Comparative\nReligion has shown how nearly the primeval inhabitants of lands widely\ndistant from each other were at one in the views they had come to\nentertain. Hymns, prayers, precepts, and traditions are found in the\nsacred books of the great religions of the East, and archaeologists have\ndeciphered on ancient monuments, and traced in primitive religious\nrites, clear evidence of belief in the existence of the Divine. The\nvalleys of the Nile, of the Euphrates, and of the Tigris have revealed\nfacts for the theologian's benefit that are almost exhaustless. In the\nEgyptian Book of the Dead, and in the religious hymns and the ritual of\nwhich they formed part in the sacred literature of Babylonia, there is\nproof that four thousand years ago hymns were sung in honour of the\ngods, and prayers were offered to propitiate them and secure their\nfavour. But belief in God had place long before these hymns were sung or\nthese prayers offered. This is shown by the existence of words in the\nmost ancient hymns, prayers, and inscriptions which could not have been\nused unless the ideas which they conveyed had already existed in men's\nminds. These words--some of which are preserved in modern tongues--when\ntraced to their roots, help greatly to explain the character of early\nreligious thought, and prove the existence of a widely diffused belief\nin the Divine Being and His government. They serve as confirmation of a\nbelief, which is in harmony with many facts, that God had revealed\nHimself to humanity before He furnished the revelation which has come\ndown to us. Words are not originated by accident. They are expressions\nof real existences, and before they found place in hymns or prayers the\nideas which they denoted must have been matters of faith or knowledge to\nthose who used them. Before man is found professing faith in pagan\ndeities some idea of God must have existed in his mind. Men did not like\nto retain God in their knowledge, and so the idea of the Divine became\nperverted, and in its first simplicity was lost, and the multitude\nfollowed numberless shadows all illusory and vain. Still, there\nlingered remnants and traditions of belief in a Divine Creator and\nGovernor which must have originated in such a primeval revelation as the\nbook of Genesis records. We find there the statement that God revealed\nHimself to our first parents by direct intercourse. They heard and saw\nand talked with God. They therefore knew of the existence of God by\npersonal perception, and the ideas they held regarding Him were founded\non His own manifestation of Himself.\n\nClosely connected with this consciousness is the sense of responsibility\nuniversally prevalent. There is a law written on the heart of every\nrational human being, under the guidance of which he recognises a\ndistinction between good and evil, right and wrong. He possesses a\nfaculty to which the name of conscience has been given, that convicts\nhim of sin when he violates, and approves his conduct when he conforms\nto, its dictates. However much different peoples and different ages may\nbe at variance in their particular ideas of what is right and what is\nwrong, the conception itself has place in all of them. There are certain\nfundamental notions as to what is just and what is unjust, what is\nvirtuous and what is vicious, that find universal or all but universal\nacceptance. This power of distinguishing between right and wrong\nconstitutes man a moral being, and separates him by infinite distance\nfrom the lower animals. To the beasts that perish there is nothing right\nor wrong. They live altogether according to nature, and have no\nresponsibility. Man stands in a different relation to the Lawgiver who\nbestowed on him the faculty of conscience and impressed on his soul a\nconviction that he will have to give account for all his actions. The\nBeing to whom he must give account is God.\n\n(_b_) (_Order_) Another ground of this belief is the order manifest\nin the universe. There is a symmetry that pervades all material things\nof which we have knowledge. Part is adapted to part; objects are\naccurately adjusted to each other; \"wheels within wheels\" move smoothly;\nevery portion fits into and works in harmony with every other portion\nwithout discord or jarring. It is unthinkable that these effects should\nbe due to chance or to a cause that is without intelligence. The perfect\narrangement of parts that work together must have been planned by a\nliving Being of infinite wisdom, knowledge, and power. This Being, whose\ncreatures they are, must exist. Behind the pervading order there must be\npersonality, purpose, and action. The fool may say in his heart, \"There\nis no God,\" but, as nature bears testimony to the existence of an\nomniscient and omnipotent Creator, reason calls for another conclusion.\n\n(_c_) (_Scripture_) There is a limit to the knowledge of God which\nthe consciousness of man and the order and design in the universe\nimpart. These serve to establish the truth that God is, but they do not\nconvey the intimation that He is a moral Governor and the rewarder of\nthem that diligently seek Him. They declare little of His character, and\nare silent as to many of the duties which He requires. To make God\nknown, the teaching of conscience and of reason must be supplemented by\nrevelation. It is in the Bible that the believer finds the strongest\nproofs of the existence of the Divine Being, and from the Bible he\nobtains also the most comprehensive and satisfying view of the Deity\nand of man's relation to Him. He there finds that what he has to believe\nconcerning God is, that He is Jehovah--the Being infinitely and\neternally perfect, self-existent, and self-sufficient; the only living\nand true God, there being none beside Him. The heathen believed in and\nworshipped many gods. The untutored savage peopled the groves with\nthem, and the pagan philosopher built innumerable temples in their\nhonour. The Pantheons of Greece and Rome were crowded with the statues\nof favourite deities. The doctrine of one living and true God was\nprominent in the revelation given to Israel. God's message by Moses had\nits foundation--truth in the proclamation: \"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our\nGod is one Lord.\"[018] His glory and His work are shared by no other\nbeing. He is the absolute Sovereign and Lord of all creatures. In the\nBible, too, man learns that God is his own personal God who cares for\nhim, and to whom he owes love, allegiance, and obedience. All who refuse\nto believe in the existence of God reject the testimony of Scripture\nregarding Him, but to such as acknowledge its claim to be the Word of\nGod, the evidence it supplies is convincing and all-sufficient.\n\nExamination of ancient heathen religions and of the views they set forth\nregarding God shows clearly the distance at which they stand from the\nrevelation of Scripture. The gods of the heathen were of like passions\nwith their worshippers--selfish, cruel, vindictive, and without regard\nfor equity or justice in their treatment of men. The God of the Bible,\non the other hand, is a righteous God, merciful to His creatures, and\ndesirous of their temporal and eternal wellbeing, and when He inflicts\nsuffering it is not as a passionate Judge, but as a Father who chastens\nHis children for their profit.\n\nThe doctrine of the Trinity of Persons in the God-head, though not\nexpressly stared in the Creed, is implied in the clauses which refer to\neach of the Persons who compose it. There is one God, but in the Godhead\nthere are three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, whose\nnames indicate the relation in which each stands to the others.\n\nEach of the Persons is complete and perfect God. While there are three\nPersons in the Godhead, the same in substance, equal in power and glory,\nthese three are one. The doctrine thus stated is termed the doctrine of\nthe Trinity. This word is not found in Scripture, but the truth which it\nexpresses is set forth there, dimly in the Old Testament, distinctly in\nthe New. In the first chapter of Genesis the word \"God\" is in the Hebrew\na plural noun, and yet it is used with a singular verb, thus early\nseeming to intimate what afterwards is clearly made known, that there is\na plurality of Persons, who yet constitute the one living and true God.\nThe same indication of plurality in unity appears in the account of\nman's creation: \"Let _us_ make man.\"[019] This doctrine of the\nTrinity is essentially one of revelation. Natural religion testifies to\nthe existence, the personality, and the unity of God, but fails to make\nknown that the unity of God is a unity of three Persons. The doctrine\ndoes not contradict reason, it is above reason.\n\nIt is sometimes said that the doctrine of the Trinity involves a\ncontradiction in affirming that three Persons are one Person. This\ncharge misrepresents the doctrine. Trinitarians do not say that Father,\nSon, and Holy Ghost are three Persons in the sense in which three men\nare three individuals. They believe that there is one God, and that\nFather, Son, and Holy Ghost are yet so distinct that the Father can\naddress the Son, the Son can address the Father, and the Father can\naddress and send the Spirit. God's ways are not as our ways. He is not a\nman that He should be limited by the conditions of human relationships.\nWhen we say there are three Persons in the Godhead, we use a word\napplicable to men, which, though the most fitting one at our disposal,\nmust come far short of fully describing the relations of Father, Son,\nand Holy Ghost to each other. Possessing no celestial language, we\ncannot fully describe or understand heavenly things.\n\n\nSECTION 3.--THE FATHER\n\n\nThe first Person in the Godhead is the Father. This name may be viewed\n(_a_) with reference to the second Person, Jesus Christ His only\nSon, or (_b_) as descriptive of His relation to believers in Christ\nJesus, or (_c_) as indicating His universal Fatherhood as the\nAuthor and the Preserver of all intelligent creatures. The relation in\nwhich the Father stands to the Son, that He is His Father and has\nbegotten Him, is one that we cannot explain. Any attempt to do so must\nbe arrogant and misleading, for who \"by searching can find out\nGod\"?[020] Secret things belong unto God, but revealed things unto us\nand our children.[021] The term \"Father\" is a relative one and involves\nthe idea of sonship. No one who accepts the teaching of Scripture can\ndoubt that the Father is God. The statements as to His attributes and\nuniversal government are so many and so strong that, but for other\naffirmations regarding Deity, we should naturally conclude that the\nFather alone is God. But the very name \"Father\" corrects such a view,\nand when we search the Scriptures we find it untenable. God is our\nFather, but He was \"the Father\" before He called man into being. From\nall eternity He was Father. As from everlasting to everlasting He is\nGod, so from everlasting to everlasting He is Father. He did not become\nFather when His Son assumed human nature, but is such in virtue of His\neternal relation to the Word as the Son of God. It is the Son's\nexistence that constitutes Him Father; and that existence was in\neternity. \"I and my Father are one,\"[022] is the Son's testimony to His\neternal Sonship; and when He prays His Father to glorify Him, He asks to\nbe glorified with the glory which He had with Him before the world\nwas.[023] There are other senses in which the first Person of the\nGodhead is termed Father. All men are declared to be His offspring, and\nthose who have received the Spirit of adoption cry, \"Abba, Father,\" and\nare taught, when they pray, to say, \"Our Father.\"\n\nIn an exposition of the Creed the Fatherhood in relation to men\ngenerally, or to believers in particular, need not be considered. Here\nthe name is used to indicate the relation in which the First Person\nstands to the Second, in virtue of which alone those who are adopted\ninto fellowship with the Son become the children of God--the children\nof Christ's Father and their Father. The Scriptures teach that the\nFather is God, that the Son is God, and that the Holy Ghost is God. At\nthe same time the doctrine of the Divine Unity is affirmed.\n\nThe difficulty felt in connection with the doctrine of Trinity in Unity\nhas led to attempts in ancient and modern times to show that those\npassages of Scripture in which it appears to be taught may be otherwise\ninterpreted. One explanation is, from the name of its first exponent,\ntermed Sabellianism, or, the doctrine of a Modal Trinity. The view which\nit presents of the Divine Being is that the same Person manifests\nHimself at one time and in one relation as Father, at another time and\nin another relation as Son, and at a different time and in another\nrelation as Holy Ghost. It attributes divinity to this One Divine Person\nin each of His manifestations, but denies that there are three Persons\nin the Godhead. The facts of Scripture do not accord with such a view of\nthe Divine Personality. We find each Person addressing the Others and\nspeaking of Himself and of Them as distinct Persons. Each speaking of\nHimself says \"I.\" The Father says \"Thou\" to the Son, the Son says \"Thou\"\nto the Father, and the Father and the Son use the pronouns \"He\" and\n\"Him\" with reference to the Spirit. The Father loves the Son, the Son\nloves the Father, the Spirit testifies of the Son.[024]\n\nIn the Athanasian Creed we find the following statement of this\ndoctrine:--\n\n    \"This is the Catholic Faith, that we worship one God in Trinity,\n    and Trinity in Unity. Neither confounding the Persons nor\n    dividing the Substance. For the Person of the Father is one, of\n    the Son another, of the Holy Ghost another. But the divinity of\n    the Father and the Son and of the Holy Ghost is one, the glory\n    equal, the majesty equal. Such as is the Father, such also is\n    the Son, and such the Holy Spirit. The Father is uncreated, the\n    Son is uncreated, the Holy Spirit is uncreated. The Father is\n    infinite, the Son is infinite, the Holy Ghost is infinite. The\n    Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, the Holy Ghost is\n    eternal. And yet these are not three eternal Beings but one\n    eternal Being. As also there are not three uncreated beings, nor\n    three infinite beings, but one uncreated and one infinite\n    Being.\"\n\nIt is sometimes said that the doctrine of the Trinity is of little\npractical importance, but such a view of it is inconsistent with the\nteaching of Scripture, and with the atoning work of Christ. It is the\nDivinity of the Son that gives efficacy to His sacrifice. As sinners we\nneed pardon. Pardon must be preceded by propitiation, and if Christ is\nnot Divine there is no propitiation. The doctrines of Scripture are so\nlinked together that the rejection of one invalidates the others. If we\ndeny the Trinity we deny the Gospel message of salvation, and we\naccordingly find that most of those who reject the doctrine of the\nTrinity do not believe in the reality and efficacy of Christ's\natonement.\n\n\nSECTION 4.--ALMIGHTY\n\n\nThe term \"Almighty,\" which occurs twice in the Creed, represents two\nGreek words, the one denoting absolute dominion, the other infinite\npower in operation. When we say that God the Father is Almighty, we\naffirm that He is possessed of entire freedom of action, and that His\npower is unlimited. He cannot, indeed, act in opposition to His own\nnature. In executing His eternal decrees none can stay His hand from\nworking, but He can do nothing that would derogate from His eternal\npower and Godhead. Such inability has its origin not in any limitation\nof power, or restriction imposed from without, but in Himself. He knows\nall things and so cannot be tempted of evil. He can do whatever He\nwills, but His will cannot contradict His character.\n\nThe statement that God is Almighty implies that all beings are governed\nand controlled by Him. All things, save Himself, are His creatures and\nsubject to Him. Even those things that seem to resist and defy His\nauthority are under His government. Rebellion serves but to make His\nomnipotence more apparent, for He causeth the wrath of man to praise\nHim, and the remainder of wrath He restraineth.[025] He so governs the\nuniverse that all things work together, and work together for good to\nthem that love Him.[026]\n\nWhen we say, \"God the Father Almighty,\" it is not meant that the Son and\nthe Holy Ghost are not Almighty. The Father is Almighty because He is\nGod, the Son, who is one with the Father, is God and therefore Almighty,\nand the Holy Ghost is also God and therefore Almighty. In the unity of\nthe Godhead the same attributes mark the three Persons.\n\n\nSECTION 5.--MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH\n\n\nBelief in the Almighty power of God is further declared by a confession\nof faith in Him as the Maker of heaven and earth, and this is but a\nrepetition of the statement contained in the first chapter of\nGenesis--the only account of Creation which is fitted to solve all\ndifficulties and to meet all objections. \"Maker\" in this article is used\nin the sense of Creator, implying that heaven and earth were called into\nexistence out of nothing by the word of Divine power; and by \"heaven and\nearth\" are meant all creatures, visible and invisible, that have existed\nor do exist.\n\nThose who object to the Scripture statements regarding Creation have\nmaintained views as to the origin of the material universe differing\nlargely from those held by persons who accept this article of the Creed,\nand differing also greatly from one another. Various solutions have been\ngiven, among which may be stated:--\n\n    (_a_) The view of those who hold that all phenomena and all\n    existence originate in Chance or a blind fortuitous concourse of\n    atoms. To state such a doctrine is to refute it. No one\n    possessed of reason can believe in his heart that Intelligence\n    did not create and organise matter, or that the material\n    universe, with all its adaptation of parts, was evolved, and is\n    governed, by chance or accident. This theory, if it is worthy of\n    the name, seems to have been devised in order to evade the idea\n    that man is subject to Divine government.\n\n    (_b_) Another view is that all existence owes its origin to Fate\n    or Necessity and is now held in its resistless grasp. The\n    advocates of this theory are at variance among themselves. One\n    school maintains that all things existed from eternity in their\n    present condition, and are destined to continue as they are,\n    controlled by relentless and undeviating necessity. Another\n    school--the ancient Fatalists--held that at first there was a\n    fortuitous concourse of atoms and phenomena, until Fate or\n    Chance decided the present order, which became an established\n    necessity. A third class hold doctrines of Development. Some of\n    them agree with the ancient Fatalists in maintaining that\n    development, in a fortuitous concourse and action of matter and\n    force, issued in evolution or originated a course of evolution.\n    Others again deny fortuitous concourse and affirm that this\n    process of evolution had no external beginning, but has\n    continued from eternity under the control of evolutionary law.\n    The term \"law\" as used by them has no specific meaning, and is\n    simply an adaptation, to a theory naturally atheistic, of a word\n    which may serve to commend their doctrine. The \"law\" of which\n    they speak has its origin in matter itself, and is not under the\n    control of a Supreme Intelligence. That this is the fact is\n    shown by the denial of free-will in man and of the\n    superintending providence of God; of the efficacy of prayer and\n    of the forgiveness of sin; and by the prominence given in their\n    writings to the absolute control of all things by undeviating,\n    unchanging law.\n\n    (_c_) A third view affirms that while there is a distinction\n    between the Ego and the non-Ego (the me and the not-me), it is\n    impossible to know anything about either in its essence. That\n    they exist and that they are different are facts within our\n    knowledge, but as to the absolute nature of mind and matter we\n    can discover and believe nothing. The ultimate or absolute is\n    beyond our reach, as is the infinite and unconditioned. We can\n    have no knowledge of First Causes, or of the Ultimate Cause, or\n    of the Absolute Cause. The infinite cannot even be apprehended,\n    and those who undertake to learn or to speculate regarding the\n    infinite engage in a task beyond their powers. Such knowledge is\n    not practical. The term \"God\" is merely an expression for a mode\n    of the unknowable, conveying no meaning to those who use it. The\n    view thus expressed originated in concessions unhappily made by\n    certain writers, as Sir William Hamilton and Dean Mansel, who,\n    thinking to defend revealed religion, taught that reason cannot\n    know the Infinite, and that therefore the Infinite must reveal\n    Himself. Herbert Spencer took advantage of this concession, and\n    carried it to a logical conclusion, when he argued that, if\n    reason could not know or apprehend the Infinite by reason,\n    neither could it by revelation.\n\n    (_d_) Another class hold the view which is termed cosmogonies\n    than that of Moses, whether contained in the sacred books of\n    religions that have long existed, or professing to be based on\n    modern scientific discovery, raise difficulties that are\n    insuperable. Whence came matter if not from the creative word of\n    God? To assign eternity to it is to invest it with an attribute\n    that is Divine, and Pantheists carry such an explanation to its\n    logical conclusion when they affirm that the universe is God.\n    The existence of a single atom is an unfathomable mystery. Man\n    cannot create or destroy even a particle of matter. How\n    overwhelming, then, if we reject the simple statement of the\n    Bible, is the mystery of the great universe, in whose extended\n    space suns, planets, stars, and systems unceasingly revolve, and\n    in which our own world is but a little speck. All things created\n    point to God as their origin and source. \"The invisible things\n    of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being\n    understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power\n    and Godhead.\"[027]\n\n\"I asked the earth,\" wrote Augustine in his _Confessions_, \"and it\nanswered me, 'I am not He.' And whatsoever things are in it confirmed\nthe same. I asked the sea and the deeps and the living creeping things,\nand they answered, 'We are not thy God, seek above us.' I asked the\nmorning air, and the whole air with its inhabitants answered,\n'Anaximenes was deceived, we are not thy God.' I asked the heavens, sun,\nmoon, stars, 'Nor,' say they, 'are we the God whom thou seekest.' And I\nreplied unto all the things which encompass the door of my flesh, 'Ye\nhave told me of my God that ye are not He: tell me something more of\nHim.' And they cried out with a loud voice, 'He made us.'\"[028]\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nARTICLE 2\n\n\n_And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord_\n\nSECTION 1.--AND IN JESUS CHRIST\n\n\nThe first article of the Apostles' Creed has numerous adherents. Jews\nand Christians are at one in affirming their belief in God the Father\nAlmighty, Maker of heaven and earth. Many too who, unlike Jews and\nChristians, have not been favoured with a written revelation, have yet\nrisen to the conception of such a Divine Being as that article sets\nforth. Mohammedans believe in an Omnipotent Creator, and many thoughtful\nheathens have accepted and maintained the doctrine as an article of\nfaith. It expresses a conviction reached by Plato and Aristotle, by\nSeneca and Epictetus, and is a truth proclaimed by Old Testament\nprophets and New Testament saints. No belief regarding things invisible\nis more generally professed.\n\nIt is otherwise with the second article of the Creed, \"I believe in\nJesus Christ His only Son our Lord,\" which expresses doctrines so hotly\ndisputed that they prove the saying true, \"This child is set for a sign\nwhich shall be spoken against.\"[029] It is rejected by the Jew and the\nMohammedan, and finds opponents in many who profess to accept the\nScriptures of the Old and New Testaments as a Divine revelation, and to\nregard the exemplary life of Jesus as a model to be copied, while they\ndeny His Divine origin, His sacrificial death, and His universal\nauthority.\n\nThe early controversies concerning the Second Person of the Trinity were\ndisputes regarding His nature and the relation in which He stands to the\nFather. Certain heretics affirmed that Jesus was a mere man, selected by\nGod and specially endowed with the gift of His Spirit. Others maintained\nthat Christ was not God, but a created spirit, nearest to the Father in\ndignity, who took upon Him human nature, and, having finished the work\nappointed Him on earth, went up again to God the Father. One class, the\nEbionites, regarded Him as a being essentially human, though begotten of\nthe Spirit, by whom He was anointed above measure; while another, the\nDocetae, regarded Him as a Divine Being seemingly bearing human form and\nunited with the man Jesus. These views were finally rejected by the\nCatholic Church, because they conflicted with the Word of God which\naffirms the true Divinity of the Son of God, the true humanity of the\nSon of Man, and the true union of the two natures of God and man in One\nPerson, Jesus Christ.\n\nThe Gnostics, who were the leaders in connection with such heretical\nviews, are generally thought to date from the time of Simon Magus. He\nhad been enrolled as a disciple of the Apostles, and, professing faith\nin Christ, was baptized by Peter. But he had joined the Christian Church\nfor selfish ends,[030] as Luke's statements show. Hymenaeus,[031]\nPhygellus, and Hermogenes,[032] referred to by Paul in his second letter\nto Timothy, are believed to have been Gnostics, and towards the close of\nthe first century Cerinthus and Ebion extended the system.[033]\n\n\nSECTION 2.--JESUS\n\n\nJesus is the personal name of our Lord. In ancient times names had often\na meaning and importance which they do not carry now. \"Name\" means a\nword by which any person or thing is known, and names were originally\ngiven from some quality attribute inherent in the person or thing to\nwhich they were attached. Proper names among the Hebrews had a deeper\nmeaning and a closer connection with character and condition than\nelsewhere. The care that marks the Scriptures in recording the origin of\nnames of individuals and places, the frequent allusions to names as\nhaving a special relation to character or qualities, the solemnity with\nwhich a change of name is stated as marking an epoch in the history of\nindividuals or nations, and the frequency with which names are\nassociated with great events, with promises, threats, or prophecies,\nshow the importance that was attached to them. This feature is most\nmarked in the use by the Jews of the word \"Name\" in reference to God.\nThe \"Name of the Lord,\" or an equivalent expression, constantly occurs\nto denote God Himself. His Name is in Scripture identified with His\ncharacter, marking His attributes and His nature as distinguished from\nall other beings. The Name, Jehovah, by which God revealed Himself to\nMoses was so closely identified by the Jews with the Divine Personality\nand Holiness that it was never pronounced by them.\n\nIn Old Testament times the Deliverer foretold as the object of faith and\nhope and love under the Gospel Dispensation was announced by a\ndeclaration of His name. \"His name shall be called Wonderful,\nCounsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of\nPeace.\"[034] Immediately before He appeared a messenger was sent from\nheaven with the Divine command, \"Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he\nshall save his people from their sins.\"[035] The name is thus not the\nascription to Him of qualities evolved from our own conception of what\nHe is, or of what God is in Him, but God's disclosure of His infinite\nlove and of His purposes for man's salvation. In His Divine power and by\nHis efficacious sacrifice He is Jesus, the Saviour. He does not save, as\nsome who profess to be Christians hold, by the influence of His own\nexample and teaching only, just as one man may be said to save another\nwhom he persuades to abandon evil habits and form good ones. He is our\nSaviour because He died as a sacrifice for our sins. Had He not expiated\nour guilt by dying for us, His example, teaching, and sympathy would\nnever have brought us salvation.\n\nThe name \"Jesus\" is a human name. In its Hebrew form Joshua, Jehoshua,\nHosea it had been borne by others. We read of one Jesus in the New\nTestament[036] and of many in the pages of Josephus. In this respect, as\nin other particulars, Jesus was \"made like unto his brethren\" and bore a\nhuman distinctive name. \"Jesus\" was accordingly the name given to Him at\nHis circumcision, by which He was to be known in His family and among\nthe people of Nazareth. During His ministry He was described as \"Jesus,\nthe prophet of Nazareth of Galilee\";[037] and the title affixed to His\ncross by Pilate was \"Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.\" Yet, as\nif to make emphatic the truth that His humanity did not derogate from\nHis Divine power and Godhead, the first Evangelist, who describes the\nangel's visit, quotes in immediate connection Isaiah's prophetic\nannouncement, \"They shall call his name Emmanuel, which being\ninterpreted is, GOD with us.\"[038] In the name Jesus thus bestowed we\nhave the announcement of Himself as a personal Saviour from sin, in its\npower and consequences. Of those who had borne it before Him some were\nraised up to deliver the people of their nation from suffering in time,\nbut He came to be man's everlasting Saviour. \"Neither is there salvation\nin any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men,\nwhereby we must be saved.\"[039] It is important therefore to bear in\nmind that Jesus is a name not only given to Him by God, but a name\nitself Divine; not only the name by which, as that of a Mediator, we\nworship God, but the name under which, as that of God Himself, we\nworship Him. \"God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name\nwhich is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should\nbow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the\nearth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,\nto the glory of God the Father.\"[040]\n\n\nSECTION 3.--CHRIST\n\n\nIn ancient times no such appellations as those now termed surnames were\ngiven to individuals. One name only was distinctive. Both among the Jews\nand among the Greeks this system of nomenclature prevailed, family names\nbeing unknown. It was different with the Romans, by many of whom more\nnames than one were borne. In reading ancient Greek history, we find\nillustrious personages known by one name only, as Plato, Aristotle,\nSocrates, Solon. The same feature marks early Jewish history. Abraham,\nIsaac, Moses, Job were not known by any other names than these.\nSometimes names were changed or modified in order to express some\nspeciality of character or achievement--Abram to Abraham, Jacob to\nIsrael, Hoshea to Joshua. In later times appellations descriptive of the\nwork or office of individuals were attached to their original names, as\nin the cases of John the Baptist, of Matthew the Publican, and of our\nLord Himself, Jesus the Christ. This latter practice prevailed in early\nEnglish history, and famous kings appear bearing descriptive epithets in\naddition to their original single names--Alfred the Great, Edward the\nConfessor, William the Conqueror.\n\nChrist is not a proper name but an official title. Although now often\nused to designate the person of the Lord Jesus, it was not so when He\nlived in the world. As John was the Baptist or Baptizer, Jesus was the\nChrist--the Anointed. The title is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew\nMessiah, and means the Anointed. It denotes that He who bore it was\nseparated, consecrated, and invested with high office. These\ndistinctions met in Jesus, rendering the title appropriate.\n\nAt the time of the birth of Jesus, the coming of a great deliverer was\nat once the desire and the expectation not of Jews only, but of many\nnations. Roman historians of that period tell us that a redeemer was to\nmake his appearance from among the nation of Israel. This belief was no\ndoubt spread abroad by Jewish exiles, who, scattered through many lands,\ncarried with them the hopes and prophecies which had been given from\ntime to time to their own people.\n\nThat the expected Messiah had come to the world bearing with Him from\nheaven a message of salvation was the cardinal doctrine of Apostolic\npreaching. To accept Jesus as the Christ was to accept Him as the\nSaviour and Deliverer. When Andrew found his brother Simon he said to\nhim, \"We have found the Messias.\"[041] \"Is not this the Christ?\"[042]\nwas the appeal of the woman of Samaria to the people of her city; and\nthe confession of Peter that Jesus was the Christ, was declared by our\nLord to be a revelation not of flesh and blood, but of His Father in\nheaven.[043] Not Apollos only, but Paul and the other inspired teachers\nalso, set it before them as their appointed work, \"to show by the\nScriptures that Jesus was Christ.\"[044] To confess that Jesus was the\nChrist was an acknowledgment that in Him were vested all those\nattributes and qualities which the Old Testament Scriptures ascribed to\nMessiah, that Jesus of Nazareth was the Deliverer of whom the prophets\ntestified, to whose coming all the holy men of old looked forward, whom\nprophets and kings desired to see, and of whom all Scripture bore\nwitness. It was the acknowledgment by the common people that Jesus was\nMessiah that stirred the indignation of the Jewish rulers. They saw\nthat, if this were conceded, all His claims must be held valid, and\naccordingly the Sanhedrim passed a resolution to the effect that, \"if\nany man did confess that Jesus was Christ, he should be put out of the\nsynagogue.\"[045]\n\nThe name \"Christ\" denotes the offices which Jesus executes as our\nRedeemer. Three classes were set apart by anointing--the Prophet, who\nmade known the will of God; the Priest, who confessed sin and offered\nsacrifice for the people; and the King, who acted as their leader and\ncommander. Jesus was consecrated for His work as our Redeemer by\nanointing, but not, so far as we know, with material oil. He who\nanointed Him was God the Father, and the oil that descended upon Him was\nthe Holy Ghost, of whose influence oil was the symbol. \"God, even thy\nGod, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy\nfellows.\"[046] He fulfilled the office of a Prophet by revealing the\nFather, and making known the will of God for our salvation; of a Priest\nin the sacrifice of Himself which He offered up to God for us, and in\nthe intercession which He makes on our behalf at His Father's right\nhand; of a King in the victory He won over man's enemies, and in the\npower He imparts to His people, by which they overcome evil in\nthemselves and in the world. It was not until after He had finished His\nwork that His followers so closely associated Him with the Messiahship\nas to speak of Him not as Jesus only, nor as Christ only, but as Jesus\nChrist. This twofold name occurs very rarely in the Gospels--once in\nMatthew, once in Mark, never in Luke; but in the Epistles it is the name\nby which He is designated and made known to the world. To believe in\nJesus Christ is to accept Him in all His offices, and to take home the\ntruth which John had in view when he penned his Gospel: \"These are\nwritten, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God;\nand that believing ye might have life through his name.\"[047]\n\n\nSECTION 4.--HIS ONLY SON\n\n\nGod is love. Love must have an object, and from eternity the Father was\nnot alone. The only-begotten and well-beloved Son was with Him, dwelt in\nHis bosom, and shared His glory. The Filiation or Sonship of our Lord\nfollows the statement of His proper name and the declaration of His\nMessiahship. It is expressed in the designation, \"Only Son,\" which is\nHis divine name, peculiar to Himself, incommunicable to any other being.\nHe is the Son of the Father, and is His only Son inasmuch as He alone\npartakes of His Divine nature, and in this nature is the Son. The Old\nTestament Scriptures foretold that Christ should be the Son of God. \"I\nwill declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son;\nthis day have I begotten thee.\"[048] Isaiah wrote of Him, \"Unto us a\nchild is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon\nhis shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the\nMighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.\"[049] The New\nTestament in various passages bears the same testimony. \"In the\nbeginning,\" says John, \"was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the\nWord was God\"; and \"the Word,\" he goes on to say, \"became flesh, and\ndwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten\nfrom the Father,) full of grace and truth.\"[050] The writer to the\nHebrews makes a similar declaration: \"God, who at sundry times and in\ndivers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath\nin these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed\nheir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who is the\nbrightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.\"[051] It\nhas been noted that Christ, in speaking to His disciples, never says\n_our_ Father, but either _My_ Father, or _your_ Father, or both\nconjoined, never leaving it to be inferred that God is in the same sense\nHis Father and our Father. It appears from various passages in the New\nTestament, that when He came the Jews identified Messiah with the Son of\nGod, as when Nathanael exclaimed, \"Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou\nart the King of Israel\";[052] and when Martha said, \"I believe that thou\nart the Son of God, which should come into the world.\"[053] He did not\nfirst become the Son of God when He took upon Him the nature of man. The\nDivine Sonship existed in the beginning before He was the child of Mary,\nthe seed of the woman. He was the Son of God before the birth of\nAbraham: \"before Abraham was I am.\"[054] Though John the Baptist was\nolder than Jesus, and preceded Him in His ministry, Jesus was yet\npreferred in honour before him, \"for he was before him.\" \"The Lord\npossessed him in the beginning of his way, before his works of\nold.\"[055] In the relation of the Son to the Father, there is a mystery\nwhich we cannot solve. \"Who shall declare his generation?\" Earthly\nfigures fail to set forth Divine realities, and as we are dependent upon\nhuman emblems for the conceptions we form of heavenly things, we see\nthrough a glass darkly. But though we cannot fully understand the sense\nin which our Lord is the Son of God, we yet believe that He is so in a\nmanner analogous to that in which we are our fathers' sons--possessing\nthe same nature as His Father, and having that nature communicated to\nHim as the only-begotten Son. God has other sons. Angels are termed sons\nof God. Men are also His offspring, and believers are now the sons of\nGod; but Jesus is God's son in a higher, special, and perfect sense.\n\nThat Jesus claimed to be in this sense the Son of God is clear from many\nincidents in His history. It was ostensibly on the ground that He\ndeclared Himself to be \"equal with God\" that He was arrested and\ncondemned by the Jewish rulers. The high priest put the question to Him\ndirectly and solemnly, \"I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell\nus whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.\" The reply was distinct\nand emphatic. \"Jesus said, I am: Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man\nsitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of\nheaven.\"[056] There is no resisting the meaning which these words\nconvey. The Sonship they assert is very different from that which is\nimplied when a mere man who fears God and keeps His commandments is said\nto be a son of God. It was a claim to the possession of Divine\npersonality and power, and was so understood by His accusers. When\nCaiaphas heard the reply he accepted it in its full significance,\ntearing his clothes and exclaiming, \"He hath spoken blasphemy; what\nfurther need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his\nblasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of\ndeath.\"[057]\n\nHis saying that He was the Son of God was the \"blasphemy\" for which He\nwas condemned. The horror, real or affected, and the rent robes of the\nhigh priest, the verdict of the court, and the contemptuous treatment to\nwhich Jesus was afterwards subjected, leave no room for doubting that He\ndeclared Himself to be the Son of God, having at His disposal the powers\nof heaven and earth.\n\n\nSECTION 5--OUR LORD\n\n\nThe last title of the Second Person is expressive of His dominion. The\nname \"Lord\" is the translation of a Greek word, which signifies ruling\nor governing. Jesus Christ is not only a Lord, He rules by authority and\nin a sense peculiar to Himself, so that He is commonly spoken of in the\nNew Testament as \"the Lord\": \"Come, see the place where the Lord\nlay\";[058] \"They have taken the Lord out of the sepulchre\";[059] \"I have\nreceived of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you.\" In the time\nof Christ the title \"Lord\" had for Jews and Jewish Christians a special\npersonal meaning. \"The Lord\" was in the Septuagint, as it is still in\nthe Authorised English version of the Old Testament, the translation of\n\"Jehovah.\"[060] When, therefore, the Apostles used this title to\ndesignate their Master, there is reason to think that they did so in the\nfull belief that He was one with the Father. This view is confirmed by\nPaul's statement. \"To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are\nall things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all\nthings, and we by him.\"[061] As Lord, the government is upon His\nshoulders, His dominion is universal and His kingdom everlasting. This\nHe claims for Himself \"All power is given unto me in heaven and in\nearth\";[062] \"All things are delivered unto me of my Father\";[063] \"The\nFather loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.\"[064]\n\"God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name that\nat the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and\nthings in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue\nshould confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the\nFather.\"[065]\n\nWhile Christ is the \"Lord of all,\"[066] the Creed yet sets forth the\ntruth that there is a special sense in which He is the Lord of\nbelievers, \"our Lord.\"\n\nScripture recognises the existence in the universe of two great armies,\nmarshalled under their respective leaders--one under the rule of Jesus\nChrist, the other under His adversary the Devil, otherwise termed Satan,\nApollyon, and the Old Serpent. These powers are in constant antagonism,\nand every man takes his place in the army of Christ or in that of Satan.\nThose opposed to the Lord are rebels who, except they repent, must share\nthe doom of their leader in the place prepared for the devil and his\nangels; \"for He must reign until He hath put all His enemies under His\nfeet.\" He is their Lord for their overthrow and destruction; while to\nthose who are \"with Him,\"--\"the called, and chosen, and\nfaithful,\"[067]--He is their Lord to secure for them victory and\neverlasting salvation. When we use the expression \"our Lord,\" we declare\nthat we renounce other masters; that we make no compromise with His\nenemies, and refuse to have \"fellowship with the unfruitful works of\ndarkness\"; that, renouncing the Devil and his works, rejecting the vain\npleasures, pomps, and glories of the world, and denying ourselves the\ngratification of sinful desires, we accept Christ as our leader, with\nthe determination expressed by the prophet, \"O Lord our God, other lords\nbeside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make\nmention of thy name.\"[068] As the followers and subjects of an\nomnipotent, righteous King we shall strive to \"bring into captivity\nevery thought to the obedience of Christ.\"\n\nIt is noteworthy that a plural pronoun is used in this recognition of\nChrist as _our_ Lord, while elsewhere throughout the Creed the\nconfession of belief is personal, \"I believe.\" The plural form here\nindicates that while in following Jesus we are separated from the world,\nwe are gathered into the fellowship of the saints, and are members of\nthe whole family in heaven and earth.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nARTICLE 3\n\n\n_Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary_\n\n\nThe Creed proceeds to declare belief in the doctrine of the Incarnation,\nwhich is thus set forth in the Shorter Catechism: \"Christ, the Son of\nGod, became man, by taking to Himself a true body, and a reasonable\nsoul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the\nVirgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin.\"[069]\n\nTwo Evangelists record the miraculous birth of Jesus. Mark and John do\nnot refer to it, and their silence has led some opponents of\nChristianity to discredit the statements of Matthew and Luke. But while\nthere is no direct account given by Mark or John of the miraculous\nconception and birth of Jesus, the fact of His Divine descent is implied\nin many portions of their Gospels. The words with which Mark opens his\nnarrative clearly express it, \"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus\nChrist, the Son of God;\"[070] as does the statement he makes that at His\nbaptism there came a voice from heaven saying, \"Thou art my beloved Son,\nin whom I am well pleased.\"[071] John is equally explicit in declaring\nhis belief in the Divinity of Jesus. The opening words of his Gospel\nassert His Divine nature: \"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word\nwas with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with\nGod. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made\nthat was made.\"[072]\n\nIt is evident, therefore, that each of the Evangelists believed in the\nDivine origin of Jesus, for they would not have used such language\nregarding one who in their opinion was a mere man, the son of Joseph the\ncarpenter and of Mary his espoused wife. Matthew, who wrote for Jewish\nconverts, shows how fully the Old Testament prophecy was accomplished\nthat Christ should be born, not at Nazareth but at Bethlehem, and\nespecially that Isaiah's prophecy, \"Behold, a virgin shall be with\nchild, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name\nEmmanuel, which being interpreted is, GOD with us,\"[073] was fulfilled\nin the birth of Jesus Christ. Luke, who is termed by Paul \"the beloved\nphysician,\" gives the fullest account of the Nativity. His writings are\ncharacterised by minuteness of detail and historical accuracy. Recent\ninvestigations have shown that, even in regard to matters about which he\nwas long thought to have been mistaken, Luke's statements are strictly\ncorrect.[074]\n\nThe story of the miraculous conception would not, without the strongest\ncorroborative evidence, have commended itself to a man of his acumen\nand his calling. A physician by profession, the companion of Apostles,\nand possessing singular penetration and sagacity, he tells us that he\nhad received the facts he narrates from eye witnesses and competent\nauthorities. For information as to the events connected with the birth\nof her Son, Luke would naturally have recourse to Mary. There is\nevidence in his Gospel that he had intimate knowledge of her private\nthoughts and actions.[075] Lange, in his _Life of Jesus_, finds in the\nspecialties of the narrative evidence of a woman's diction.[076] Be this\nas it may, the minuteness of detail, the message of the angel Gabriel,\nthe preservation of the sacred songs, and of the thoughts and words of\nthe Virgin, justify the belief that Luke received his information from\nherself. When we find him assuring his friend Theophilus that he himself\nhad perfect understanding of all things from the very first, the\ninference is natural that his information was obtained from the most\ntrustworthy sources. There is no reason to doubt that Mary was\nassociated with the Apostles of her Son, and had opportunities of\nimparting information regarding Him which no other could supply Luke's\naccount corresponds with that of John, to whose care Jesus from the\nCross committed His mother, and who from that time \"took her unto his\nown home.\"[077]\n\nIt does not necessarily follow, even if the information was supplied by\nMary, that it is therefore to be accepted as true. Human witnesses are\nnot infallible or invariably honest, and it is conceivable that Mary may\nhave been a dreamer or a deceiver. This article of the Creed,\ncontradicting as it does the ordinary course of nature, stands in need\nof more than a historic statement. Jesus admitted that if His claims had\nbeen supported by no other evidence than His own word, the Jews would\nhave had excuse for hesitating to accept Him. \"If,\" said He, \"I bear\nwitness of myself, my witness is not true,\"[078] and therefore He\nappealed to the testimony borne to His Messiahship by His Father, by\nJohn the Baptist, by His miracles, and by His life. All the evidence by\nwhich the Divine nature and mission of Jesus were accredited goes to\nsupport the account of His super natural birth.\n\nThat Jesus was born of Mary is a plain historic truth to which all must\naccord belief. \"Yes,\" said Renan, who did not regard Christ as the Son\nof God, \"this story of Jesus is no fable, but a true history Christ\nreally lived.\" The miraculous birth was a fulfilment of prophecy. When\nthe angel told Mary that the child to be born of her would be the Son of\nGod, he cited Isaiah's prophecy for the confirmation of her faith, and\nindeed the same truth had been foreshadowed when the promise was given\nto Eve that her seed should bruise the head of the serpent. The first\nAdam had no human father. He was the Son of God. It was therefore\nfitting that the second Adam should resemble the first in this respect,\nbeing in a sense infinitely higher than our first father the Son of God,\nHis only Son. It was fitting too that He who was to assume the nature,\nnot of any branch of the human family but of universal man, should be\nconceived by the Holy Ghost. Other faiths than Christianity are limited\nin their adaptation to races. The religion of Mahomet is not practicable\nsave in Eastern latitudes. The Koran enjoins as duties practices that\ncannot be carried out in Western countries. The faiths of Brahma and\nBuddha find followers only under Eastern skies, and even Judaism\nrequired observances which could be rendered at Jerusalem only. All\nfaiths but Christianity are narrowed down by the nationalities of their\nfounders or adherents. It is otherwise with the religion of Jesus of\nNazareth. He came from God with a mission and a message for the world.\nIn comparison with the severe requirements of the law and the grievous\nexactions of religions devised by men, His \"yoke is easy and His burden\nis light.\" With Him there is \"neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor\nuncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free.\"[079] With Him there\nare no distinctions of sect, or country, or caste. \"In every nation he\nthat feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him.\"[080]\n\nIn being born, Jesus assumed the nature of humanity, and, in so doing,\nmore than restored to man the likeness to God which our first parents\nlost, for themselves and their descendants, through the Fall. He thereby\nmade it possible for God to dwell with man, and for man to rise into\ncommunion with God. Sin had effaced the Divine image, and no other than\nthe Son of God could give back to men the power to reflect in their own\nlives the character of God. His possession of the human nature gives us\nconfidence in approaching Him, by assuring us of His brotherhood and\nsympathy; while His possession of the Divine nature assures us that He\ncan make His brotherhood and sympathy effectual.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nARTICLE 4\n\n\n_Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried_\n\nSECTION 1.--SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE\n\n\nThe preceding articles of the Creed appeal to faith. They so far\ntranscend reason that they can be apprehended only when reason is\nsustained by faith. This article, which affirms that Jesus \"suffered\nunder Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried,\" is a simple\nhistorical statement. Pilate is a historic person, the details of whose\nlife are recorded, not in the Gospels only, but in secular history.\nJosephus records several incidents in the life of Pilate which are\nstrikingly in accordance with his character as set forth in the Gospels.\nTacitus, a Roman historian, who wrote his _Annals_ soon after the\ncrucifixion of Jesus, relates that, while Pilate was governor of Judaea,\nJesus Christ was put to death. The testimony of the Gospels and the\nstatement of the Creed are thus confirmed by the Roman and the Jewish\nhistorians. But, indeed, the event itself is not the subject of\ncontroversy. It is the conclusions drawn from it by the followers of\nChrist that are disputed. \"Christ crucified, to the Jews a\nstumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness,\"[081] still raises\nopposition and kindles hostility.\n\nThe name of Pilate is inserted not with the view of branding him with\ninfamy, but in order to fix the date of the crucifixion of Jesus. It is\nthe only intimation of the time of His death that the Creed contains. It\nstates that He was born, and that His mother was the Virgin Mary, and\nbeyond this reference to Pilate there is no intimation as to the time of\nthe nativity or the death. Bishop Pearson writes:--\"As the Son of God,\nby His deliberate counsel, was sent into the world to die in the fulness\nof time, so it concerns the Church to know the time in which He died.\nAnd because the ancient custom of the world was to make computations by\nthe governors, and refer their historical relations to the respective\ntimes of their government, therefore, that we might be properly assured\nof the actions of our Saviour which He did, and of His sufferings,--that\nis the actions which others did to Him,--the present governor is named\nin that form of speech which is proper to such historical or\nchronological narrations when we affirm that He suffered under Pontius\nPilate.\"[082] From stating the birth of Christ, the Creed passes by what\nat first sight may seem an abrupt transition to His suffering,\ncrucifixion, and death. There is no reference to His life or works,\nthough these differed so widely from those of ordinary men. The reason\nseems to be that the end for which He came into the world was to suffer\nand die. Although He spake as never man spake, and did the works no\nother man did, it was not in the first place to teach or to work\nmiracles that He emptied Himself of His glory and came to earth, but in\norder to suffer and die in the room and stead of sinners. Others had\nbeen prophets and teachers, others had worked miracles, others had done\ngood in their day and generation, but none save Jesus had come in his\nown name or wielded power so marvellous as His. No one could share with\nHim the work of suffering and dying for sinners. He was lifted up that\nHe might draw all men unto Him. \"He suffered the just for the unjust,\nthat he might bring us to God.\"[083] On the cross He tasted death for\nevery man, and made a sacrificial atonement for the sins of the world.\n\"He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our\niniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his\nstripes we are healed.\"[084] His dying was the leading thought and\npurpose of His life. Those who were with Him fixed their eyes on His\ngreatness as manifested in His wisdom and miracles, and looked for His\nsetting up a kingdom of this world, but He Himself from the very\nbeginning knew that the path to be traversed by Him was one of agony and\ndeath. He was straitened until this baptism of suffering should be\naccomplished.[085] At His first Passover He had intimated that, as Moses\nlifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man should be\nlifted up. He used this expression \"lifted up\" three times, and an\nEvangelist gives the explanation: \"This he said, signifying what death\nhe should die.\"[086] Again and again He told the disciples that He had\ncome to give His life a ransom for many, that He was to be betrayed and\nkilled, that as the Good Shepherd He would give His life for the\nsheep.[087] He intimated that His death was in accordance with the\ndeliberate counsel and foreknowledge of His Father, and with His own\nfree and full assent: \"Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay\ndown my life.\"[088] And when betrayal and apprehension brought His\nministry to a close, He would allow no sword to be drawn in His defence,\nbut was brought as a \"lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her\nshearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.\"[089]\n\nThe views which the Jews entertained with regard to the triumphant\nprogress of Messiah did not accord with the statements of their\nprophets. The sacred writers who foretold His coming pointed indeed to\nvictory as the ultimate issue of His mission, but they also clearly\nassociated His life with conflict and suffering. From the first\nintimation of a Deliverer, which spoke of a heel bruised by man's\nmalignant adversary, there was indicated in every type and prophecy the\ntruth that Messiah was to be \"a man of sorrows and acquainted with\ngrief,\" whose triumph was to be achieved through suffering. The\nexpectation current among the Jews that deliverance would be wrought by\nMessiah, without humiliation or suffering, showed that they\nmisinterpreted the messages of the prophets. Familiar with the letter,\nthey failed to grasp the spirit of the prophetical writings. Jesus laid\nthis ignorance to their charge when He said to them, \"Ye do err, not\nknowing the scriptures\";[090] and He upbraided the two disciples on the\nway to Emmaus because they had failed to discover that their Redeemer's\nglory was to be won through conflict: \"O fools, and slow of heart to\nbelieve all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have\nsuffered these things, and to enter into His glory?\"[091]\n\nThe suffering which Jesus endured was both bodily and spiritual.\nPersecution followed Him as a babe: Herod sought to slay Him, and Joseph\nand Mary had to flee into Egypt.[092] He was \"despised and rejected\" by\nHis countrymen. His claims were refused by His kinsmen. He \"endured the\ncontradiction of sinners.\"[093] He \"took our infirmities and bare our\nsicknesses.\" He hungered and thirsted and was weary; He was spit upon,\nbuffeted, and scourged. The cross on which He was to suffer was laid\nupon His shoulders, till His exhausted frame broke down; and on Calvary\na thorny crown was set upon His brow, and the cruel nails pierced His\nhands and His feet. But the sorrow within His soul was worse to bear\nthan bodily buffering. Travail of soul was the consummation of His\nafflictions, and while we do not read of a groan wrung from Him by\nbodily torture, soul-trouble led Him to ask His Father with \"strong\ncrying and tears,\" as His frame was agonized and His sweat was like\ndrops of blood--\"If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.\"[094] As\nman's Saviour Jesus was made perfect through suffering.[095] \"We have\nnot an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our\ninfirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without\nsin.\"[096] The world is full of suffering, and He alone can understand\nand sympathise with it who has experienced it. It is the knowledge that\ntheir Divine Saviour is their Brother-man that gives to believing\nsufferers boldness and confidence as they draw nigh to the throne of\ngrace.\n\n\nSECTION 2.--WAS CRUCIFIED\n\n\nProphecy in the sense of prediction is a very interesting and important\nbranch of Christian evidence. Old Testament prophets foretold minute\nevents in the history of the Lord Jesus Christ, such as His lineal\ndescent, the place and time of His birth, its miraculous character, His\ndeath, His burial, His three days' sojourn in the sepulchre, the casting\nof lots for His raiment, the piercing of His hands and feet, His last\nexclamation, His resurrection and ascension. Whatever view may be taken\nas to the dates of the various books of Scripture, it must be admitted\nthat the whole body of the Old Testament was in circulation among the\nJews hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. There can be no doubt\nthat these prophecies were separated by great distance in time from the\nevents predicted. Even the Septuagint Version, which is a Greek\ntranslation from the original Hebrew Scriptures, existed at Alexandria\nabout two hundred years before His advent.\n\nOne of the most striking features of Old Testament prediction is its\nbearing upon the closing scenes of Christ's history. In its types as\nwell as in its prophecies His death was foreshadowed, and the\nhumiliating and ignominious treatment to which He was subjected minutely\ndescribed. The predictions involved events that appeared contradictory\nand paradoxical until their fulfilment furnished the key. He Himself\ntold the disciples again and again that He should be crucified. This\nform of execution was a Roman punishment reserved for slaves and the\nvilest criminals; and the fact that Jesus was subjected to it depended\non a combination of events which no mere human sagacity could have\nforeseen. It required that, though he should be apprehended, accused,\ntried, and found guilty by Jews, His death-sentence should be inflicted\nby Gentiles; that the Roman governor of Judaea should, against his\nbetter judgment, surrender to the clamorous cry of a mob who demanded\nthat the prisoner should be crucified. It required that the betrayal and\ncondemnation of Jesus should take place during the Passover week, when\nit was unlawful for the Jews to put any man to death. The excuse of the\nJewish rulers, that they could not inflict death, did not mean that this\npower had been withdrawn from them, but that it was against their law to\nexercise it then. Had the season been different, had the Jews themselves\ncarried out the sentence of death, it would have been accomplished not\nby crucifixion, but by stoning. Such an execution would not have\nfulfilled prophecy or have been associated with the ignominy that marked\nthe Roman death-penalty. Thus the Scripture was fulfilled in Him,\n\"Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.\"[097] There is but one\nexplanation that meets these facts, which is that they were directed by\nthe counsel and foreknowledge of God, and that holy men of God spake as\nthey were moved by the Holy Ghost.\n\nThe death of Jesus by crucifixion fulfilled in a wonderful manner the\ntypes and figures of the Old Testament. He applied the type of the\nbrazen serpent to His death on the cross on which He was to be lifted\nup, and from which He was to exercise His healing power on those whom\nsin had bitten. The surrender of Isaac by Abraham, when he that had\nreceived the promises offered up his only begotten son, prefigured the\nunspeakable gift by the Father, who spared not His own Son, and the\nself-surrender of the Son, who gave Himself for us. As Isaac went forth\nbearing the wood on which he was to be offered, he was a type of Him who\nwent forth from Jerusalem to Calvary bearing His cross. Had His sentence\nbeen any other than death by crucifixion, He would not have come under\nthe doom which required that a prisoner should bear his cross. The\nPaschal Lamb, of which not a bone was to be broken, prefigured the\nAntitype in His exemption from the treatment to which the two thieves\ncrucified with Him were subjected. In crucifixion He was numbered with\nthe transgressors and associated with accursed criminals, and so\nprophecy received fulfilment.\n\nIt is a standing testimony at once to the reality of Christ's suffering,\nand to the power which He exercises over men's minds and consciences,\nthat from being associated with shame and scorn, the sign of the cross\nhas been elevated to the highest place of honour and dignity. Through\nhis reverence for Jesus, Constantine the Great, the first Christian\nEmperor of Rome, abolished crucifixion. It is recognised that through\nChrist's death upon the cross man obtains all that makes life precious.\nInstead of being regarded with scorn, a cross is the coveted emblem now\nof valour and exalted achievement. The instrument wherewith capital\npunishment was inflicted on abandoned criminals has come to be an\nornament of monarchs. Such a change is to be explained only by the fact\nthat it is the sign of Christ's redeeming sacrifice, and that to\nmultitudes who glory in the Cross, He who suffered the painful death on\nCalvary is the \"power of God and the wisdom of God unto salvation.\"\n\n\nSECTION 3.--DEAD\n\n\nThe death of Jesus Christ was the result of His being crucified. When He\ndied, the great sacrifice for the sins of the world was accomplished.\nDeath was necessary for the completion of His work, and this was the\nfact most prominent in Old Testament type and prophecy. \"Without\nshedding of blood is no remission,\"[098] and it was to His death as the\nprocuring cause of salvation that the Apostles directed their converts.\nTo the Corinthians Paul wrote, \"I delivered unto you first of all that\nwhich I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to\nthe scriptures.\"[099] It was necessary that the lamb which formed the\nchief part of the Passover meal should be slain, and so Messiah was\nbrought as a lamb to the slaughter, and when John saw Him in vision it\nwas as a Lamb that had been slain.[100] It is the death of Jesus that we\ncommemorate in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The bread represents\nHis body \"broken for us\"; the wine, His blood which was \"shed for many\nfor the remission of sins.\"[101] \"We are reconciled to God by the death\nof His Son.\"[102] \"We have redemption through his blood, even the\nforgiveness of sins.\"[103] Statements such as these fail to convey any\nmeaning if Christ did not really die on the cross, or if salvation comes\nto us in any other way than through His death as an atoning sacrifice.\nOf the reality of the death there is abundant evidence. It is recorded\nthat, after six hours of suffering on the cross, Jesus gave up the\nghost. The soldiers did not break His legs as they did in the case of\nthe malefactors, because they saw and pronounced Him dead already; but\none of them inflicted a spear-wound with a force that would have caused\ndeath had any life remained. The result was an outflow of blood and\nwater, of itself sufficient evidence that death had done its work upon\nthe Sufferer. Before Pilate permitted the body of Jesus to be delivered\nto Joseph, he was careful to make sure, by questioning the centurion in\ncharge, that the wonderful prisoner who had caused him so great anxiety\nwas dead. Thus Messiah was cut off, but not for Himself. He stood in the\nroom and stead of sinners, and, though Himself without sin, He tasted\ndeath for every man. \"He was delivered for our offences.\" \"The Lord laid\non him the iniquity of us all.\" His death was not the result of\nunavoidable circumstances, for it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; and\nHis sacrifice was voluntary, for He said, \"I lay down my life ... no man\ntaketh it from me.\"[104] The penalty of death which He endured did not\npertain to Him but to those for whom He died. \"He bore our sins in his\nown body on the tree.\"[105] We are \"justified by his blood.\"[106] \"God\nhath set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to\ndeclare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past,\nthrough the forbearance of God ... that he might be just, and the\njustifier of him that believeth in Jesus.\"[107] \"Therefore as by the\noffence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by\nthe righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to\njustification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made\nsinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.\"[108]\n\nIn the statement that Jesus Christ \"was dead,\" the Creed affirms the\nreality of Christ's death in opposition to certain early heretics, the\nDocetae, who said that His death was not real but only apparent. A\nsimilar view has been adopted by some modern writers, who assert that\nwhat the witnesses of the crucifixion saw was not death but a swoon,\nfrom which, through the ministry of His disciples, Jesus was restored\nafter He had been taken down from the cross. It is urged in support of\nthis view that a crucified criminal did not usually die as Jesus is said\nto have died, six hours after He was crucified, but lingered on for\ndays, before being relieved from his sufferings by death. Jesus' legs\nwere not broken by the soldiers, because they believed Him to be dead,\nbut--say those who deny the reality of the death--the soldiers were\nmistaken, the seeming lifelessness was not real, and recovery soon\nfollowed, so complete that He was able to appear in public on the third\nday.\n\nIn considering this statement, we must take into account the physical\ncondition of Jesus when He was crucified. On the night of His betrayal,\nand after His apprehension, He had been subjected to intense suffering\nin body and to sorrow of soul such as human thought cannot conceive. In\nGethsemane He had passed through an experience of agony from which He\nmust have risen weakened, to endure new forms of suffering. He had been\nscourged by Roman soldiers, whose cruel loaded weapons inflicted wounds\nthat left deep scars upon His flesh and caused intense pain and\nexhaustion. His hands and feet had been fixed to the cross with nails.\nHe had been crowned with thorns and mocked and hooted by a reckless mob.\nHe had been hurried from the Sanhedrim to the Judgment-hall, and had\ncarried the cross until He sank beneath its weight. He had for six hours\nendured intense suffering from pain and thirst, and when, after a strong\nRoman soldier had thrust a spear into His side, He was taken down from\nthe cross, and declared by the centurion and his company to be dead, He\nwas laid without food, and remained for two nights and a day, in a cold\nrock-sepulchre, whose door was barred by a great stone, sealed, and\nguarded by soldiers. Suppose for a moment that Jesus had survived this\nterrible ordeal of suffering, and that, having eluded His Roman guard\nand His Jewish persecutors, He had again entered into Jerusalem, it must\nhave been as a weak, disabled invalid, not as a man possessing normal\nstrength and vigour. Yet on the third day He showed Himself alive,\nbearing no traces of the suffering He had endured except the marks of\nHis wounds. The feet that had been pierced bore Him from Jerusalem to\nEmmaus, a journey of threescore furlongs; and He passed from place to\nplace with a swiftness of movement and a superiority to obstacles that\nfilled the disciples with amazement.\n\nIn the light of these facts, the view we have been considering is\nutterly untenable. It is no matter for wonder that Jesus, after such\nexhaustion, died six hours after He had been lifted up on the cross. The\ncircumstances which preceded His dying are not consistent with the\nopinion that while in the sepulchre He recovered from a swoon. It is not\npossible to conceive that a man, wounded and bruised--His hands, feet,\nand side pierced with nails and spear--could appear so soon, bright and\nradiant, strong and vigorous, undistressed by pain or weakness, and\npossessing power of movement not only restored, but marvellously\naugmented. If Jesus was not really \"dead,\" no explanation can be given\nof His disappearance from history. If He had really lived as a man after\nHis crucifixion, we should have looked for a fresh outbreak of\npersecution directed against Him. We have His own testimony by the\nSpirit, \"I am he that liveth, and was dead.\"[109]\n\n\nSECTION 4.--AND BURIED\n\n\nIsaiah thus prophesied regarding the burial of the Messiah: \"He was cut\noff out of the land of the living ... and he made his grave with the\nwicked, and with the rich in his death.\"[110] In ordinary circumstances,\nthe body of a crucified person would not have received burial. It was\nthe Roman custom to leave the bodies of slaves and criminals, who alone\nwere subjected to this punishment, suspended on the cross, a prey to\nbeasts and birds, and when these and the elements had done their work\nupon the flesh, the remains were ignominiously cast out. The Jews, who\ninflicted capital punishment not by crucifixion but by stoning, did not\nthus deal with the bodies of malefactors; but, as the law directed, gave\nthem burial on the night of execution.[111] The presence of dead bodies\nin the neighbourhood of Jerusalem during the Passover festival was\nregarded as a defilement, and steps were taken to have those of Jesus\nand the malefactors removed. The Jews could not themselves dispose of\nthe bodies, because they would have sustained pollution by contact with\nthem, and also because they had made over to the Romans the execution of\nthe death-sentence. \"The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation,\nthat the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day,\n(for that Sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs\nmight be broken, and that they might be taken away.\"[112] This request\nwas granted, but, through the interposition of Joseph, a rich man of\nArimathaea--to whom, as a member of the supreme council, the resolution\nfor the removal of the bodies would be known--that of Jesus escaped the\nignominious treatment to which the others were subjected. He came and\nwent in boldly unto Pilate and craved the body of Jesus, securing for it\nan honourable burial such as the Jews had not contemplated. Pilate\n\"gave\" the body to Joseph, and he bought fine linen, and took Him down\nand wrapped Him in the linen and laid Him in a sepulchre, which was hewn\nout of a rock.[113]\n\nIt was a new sepulchre, \"where never man had yet lain.\"[114] In Joseph's\nholy task there was associated with him Nicodemus, who brought costly\nspices wherewith to embalm the body, \"as the manner of the Jews is to\nbury.\" The disciples of Jesus do not appear to have shared in this work,\nwhich was watched from a distance by certain women from Galilee, who\nfollowed and saw where He was laid. They, too, made ready spices and\nointment with which to honour the body of the Lord; but when they came\nto the tomb on the morning of the first day of the week, they found it\nempty, for Jesus had risen. It is not without meaning that the tomb in\nwhich the body of Jesus was laid was a new one. It was thus impossible\nto affirm that any other than He had opened a way out of its dark\nrecess, the conqueror of death.\n\nSuch was the wonderful combination of circumstances that led to the\nfulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy, \"He made his grave with the wicked, and\nwith the rich in his death.\" The Jews desired that He should be buried\nwith the wicked. When they besought Pilate to remove the bodies, they\nwished that Jesus and the malefactors should be laid together. If the\nJewish rulers had not parted with their right to dispose of the bodies,\nthe three who had been crucified together would have been consigned to\nthe burying-ground set apart for the interment of Jewish criminals; but\nit was the Divine decree that Jesus should make His grave with the rich,\nand therefore the event was so overruled that the bodies of Jesus and\nthe malefactors were at the disposal not of the Jews, but of the Roman\ngovernor, who delivered the body of Jesus to the rich Joseph. While,\ntherefore, Jesus was executed in such a way that, but for the\nintervention of the Jews and Pilate and Joseph, He would have been\nburied with criminals, \"he made his grave with the rich in his death.\"\nThus He who had humbled Himself in dying was honoured in His burial.\nJoseph and Nicodemus were timid men. The one was a secret disciple and\nthe other, through fear of the Jews, came to Jesus by night. Though\nmembers of the Sanhedrim, they had lacked courage to defend Jesus when\nHe was under trial; but now, grown bold, they identified themselves with\nHim.\n\nThe sepulchre was carefully watched. The Jews, thinking that they might\nhear something about the resurrection of Him whom they called \"that\ndeceiver,\" went to Pilate and made known their fear that the disciples\nwould steal His body and say that He had risen from the dead.[115] The\nRoman governor made light of their apprehension, and said to them,\nperhaps sarcastically, \"Ye have a watch: make it as sure as ye can.\" \"So\nthey went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a\nwatch,\"[116]--proceedings which eventually furnished strong confirmation\nof the reality of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nARTICLE 5\n\n\n_He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead_\n\nSECTION 1.--HE DESCENDED INTO HELL\n\n\nIt is somewhat startling to find in the Creed this statement regarding\nour Lord, \"He descended into hell.\" The clause, which was one of the\nlatest admitted into the Creed, was derived from another creed known as\nthat of Aquileia, compiled in the fourth century. It does not appear in\nthe Nicene Creed, but it has a place in the Thirty-nine Articles of the\nChurch of England, where we read, \"As Christ died for us, and was\nburied, so also it is to be believed that He went down into Hell.\" The\nWestminster Divines, who gave the Creed a place at the close of their\nShorter Catechism, appended a note explanatory of the clause to this\neffect, \"That is, continued in the state of the dead, and under the\npower of death, until the third day.\"\n\nThe word \"hell\" is used in various senses in the Old Testament.\nSometimes it means the grave, sometimes the abode of departed spirits\nirrespective of character, sometimes the place in which the wicked are\npunished.\n\nIn the English New Testament, also, the word \"hell\" has not in every\nplace the same meaning. It represents two different nouns in the\noriginal Greek--Gehenna and Hades. _Gehenna_ was the name of a deep,\nnarrow valley, bordered by precipitous rocks, in the neighbourhood of\nJerusalem, which had been desecrated by human sacrifices in the time of\nidolatrous kings, and afterwards became the depository of city refuse\nand of the offal of the temple sacrifices. The other noun, rendered by\nthe same English word _Hell_, is _Hades_, which means \"covered,\"\n\"unseen\" or \"hidden.\" _Hades_ is the abode of disembodied spirits until\nthe resurrection. The Jews believed it to consist of two parts, one\nblissful, which they termed _Paradise_--the abode of the faithful; the\nother _Gehenna_, in which the wicked are retained for judgment. Lazarus\nand Dives were both in Hades, but separated from each other by an\nimpassable gulf, the one in an abode of comfort, the other in a place of\ntorment.[117]\n\nAs long as the spirit tabernacles in the body there are tokens of its\npresence in the visible life which is sustained through its union with\nthe body. But when it departs from its dwelling-place in the flesh,\ndeath and corruption begin their work on the body. Death is complete\nonly when the spirit has departed, and it is probable that this\nstatement in the Creed was meant to express in the fullest terms that\nChrist's death was real. As man He had taken to Himself a true body and\na reasonable soul, and when His body was crucified and dead, His spirit\npassed, as other human spirits pass at death, into Hades. It is not\nwithout a meaning that we read, \"When Jesus had cried with a loud voice,\nhe gave up the ghost.\"[118] Ghost is simply spirit, and in His case, as\nin that of every man, there was a true departure of the soul from the\nbody at death. It was with His spirit that His last thought in life was\noccupied. He knew that though it was to depart from the battered,\nbruised tabernacle of His body, it was not to pass out of His Father's\nsight or His Father's care. \"Father, into thy hands I commend my\nspirit,\"[119] were His last words on the cross.\n\nThe descent into hell is not referred to in the Westminster Confession,\nbut in the Larger Catechism this statement is found: \"Christ's\nhumiliation after His death consisted in His being buried, and\ncontinuing in the state of the dead, and under the power of death, till\nthe third day, which hath been otherwise expressed in these words, 'He\ndescended into hell'\"[120] What the Westminster Divines meant was, that\nwhile Christ's body was laid in the grave His spirit passed from the\nvisible to the invisible world, that, as He shared the common lot of men\nin the death and burial of His body, so He shared their common lot in\npassing as a spirit into the abode of spirits. The statement of this\nclause follows naturally what is said of the body of Jesus in that which\nprecedes it. As His body was crucified, dead, and buried, so His spirit\npassed into the abode of spirits. \"In all things it behoved him to be\nmade like unto His brethren.\"[121]\n\nThose who maintain that the spirit of Christ descended into hell in a\nsense peculiar to Himself, ground their opinion upon certain passages of\nScripture. Psalm xvi. 10--\"Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor wilt\nthou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption\"--is quoted in support of\nthis opinion, but does not really justify it. It expresses the\nconfidence of the speaker, that God will not deliver His soul to the\npower of Sheol (the Hebrew word equivalent to the Greek Hades), or\nsuffer His body to see corruption, and in this sense the passage is\nquoted by Peter, as a proof from prophecy of the resurrection of Christ.\nEphesians iv. 9 is also regarded as giving sanction to this view--\"Now\nthat he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the\nlower parts of the earth?\" By the \"lower parts of the earth\" some\nunderstand parts lower than the earth, but such a view rests on a\nstrained interpretation of the passage. Paul's argument is that ascent\nto heaven must have been made by one who, before ascending, was below.\nChrist had come down from heaven to earth, and was below therefore, he\nargues, Christ is the subject of the prophecy he has quoted. He it was\nthat hid ascended up on high, not the Father, who is everywhere.[122]\n\nIn Isaiah xliv. 23 we have corroboration of this view: \"Sing, O ye\nheavens ... shout, ye lower parts of the earth.\" Here \"lower parts\"\nmeans simply the earth beneath; that is, beneath the heavens.\n\nThe most difficult and important passage bearing on the clause is 1\nPeter iii. 18, 19. \"Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by\nthe spirit by which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison.\"\nIn the Revised Version the rendering is not \"by\" but \"in,\" \"which\"\nreferring to the word \"spirit,\"--not the third Person of the Godhead,\nbut the human spirit of Jesus--in which spirit, separated from the body\nyet instinct with immortal life, He went and \"preached to the spirits in\nprison,\" or rather to the spirits in custody. The passage marks an\nantithesis between \"flesh\" and \"spirit.\" In Christ's \"flesh.\" He was put\nto death. His enemies killed His body, but His soul was as beyond their\npower. His body was dead, but in the abode of souls His \"spirit\" was\nalive and active.\n\nSo far there is here simply the statement that our Lord's disembodied\nspirit passed to Hades, but the Apostle adds that He \"preached to the\nspirits in prison,\" and it is inferred by some that He preached\nrepentance, but this is an assumption for which there is no Scripture\nwarrant. We are not told what was the subject of Christ's preaching. He\nhad finished His work on earth, had atoned for sin, had overcome death\nand conquered Satan. Even angels did not fully know the work of grace\nand salvation which Christ accomplished for man, and it is not likely\nthat the spirits of departed antediluvians and patriarchs understood its\ngreatness. The least in the Kingdom of Heaven knows more than the\ngreatest of patriarchs or prophets knew. While in the flesh they had\nseen His day afar off, and, as disembodied spirits, they knew that\nMessiah by suffering and dying was to work out their redemption, but\nbefore the work was finished neither men nor angels understood the\nmystery of it, and what is more likely than that the completion of His\nredeeming work was first made known to them in the spirit by the\nRedeemer Himself? If we accept this view, the preaching to the spirits\nin prison was the intimation to those already blessed, who had while on\nearth repented and believed, that Messiah by dying had brought in\neverlasting salvation for His people.\n\nThere is still a difficulty in Peter's words. Christ is said to have\npreached to those who were disobedient in the days of Noah. Peter says\nthat in the writings of Paul there are some things hard to be\nunderstood, but what he himself writes regarding Christ's work in Hades\nis also difficult, and the passage has found a great variety of\ninterpretations. It would seem to imply that Christ in the spirit\ncarried a special message to the antediluvians who had been disobedient\nand had perished in the Flood. What that message was we are not told,\nand human conjecture may not supply what the Spirit of God has seen fit\nto conceal. While the passage is a difficult one, the inference is not\nwarranted which some have drawn from it, that those who are disobedient\nto Christ and reject His Gospel may, though they die impenitent,\nnevertheless obtain salvation after death. The plain teaching of\nScripture is that it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that\nthe judgment.[123] And whatever the statement of Peter may mean, it does\nnot sanction belief in purgatory or in universal restoration. Romanists\nteach that the department of Hades to which the spirit of our Lord\ndescended was that in which dwelt the souls of believers who died before\nthe time of Christ, and that the object of His descent was the\ndeliverance and introduction into heaven of the pious dead who had been\nimprisoned in the _Limbus Patrum_, as they term that portion of Hades\nwhich these occupied. This they say was the triumph of Christ to which\nPaul refers in Ephesians iv. 8, when, quoting the 68th Psalm, he tells\nus that He ascended up on high, leading captivity captive.\n\nAccording to the Romanists, Hades consists of three divisions--heaven,\nhell, and purgatory. Heaven is the most blessed abode reserved for three\nclasses of persons:--1st, Those Old Testament saints whose spirits were\ndetained in custody until Christ arose, when they were led out by Him in\ntriumph; 2nd, Those who in this life attain to perfection in holiness;\nand 3rd, Those believers in Christ, who, having died in a state of\nimperfection, have made satisfaction for their sins and receive\ncleansing through endurance of the fires of purgatory. Hell is the abode\nof endless torment, where heretics and all who die in mortal sin suffer\neternally. Purgatory is supposed to complete the atonement of Christ.\nHis work delivers from original sin and eternal punishment, but\nsatisfaction for actual transgression is not complete until after the\nendurance of temporal punishments and the pains of purgatory. The Church\nof Rome claims the right to prescribe the nature and extent of such\npunishments, and having devised a complicated system of indulgences,\npenances, and masses, professes to hold the Keys of Heaven and to\npossess authority to regulate penalties and obtain pardon for the living\nand the dead. Such claims are unfounded and false. God alone can forgive\nsin, and He recognises only two classes--the righteous and the\nwicked--here and hereafter; and only two everlasting\ndwelling-places--heaven and hell. The Romanist doctrine has no authority\nin Scripture, but is of heathen origin, being derived from the Egyptians\nthrough the Greeks and Romans, and having been current throughout the\nRoman Empire. Its effect has been the aggrandisement and enrichment of\nthe papal priesthood and the subjection of the people. It contradicts\nthe Word of God, which declares that there is no condemnation to the\nbeliever in Christ Jesus; that he hath eternal life; that for him to\ndepart is to be with Christ, to enjoy unalloyed, unending blessedness.\nProtestants, therefore, hold that \"the souls of believers are at their\ndeath made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into\nglory.\"[124]\n\nBetween those who hold the doctrine of purgatory and believers in\nuniversal restoration, there is not a little in common. Universalists\nreject the Atonement, and say that God always punishes men for their\nsins. The wicked must expect to suffer in the next world, but the mercy\nof God will follow them, the punishment endured will in time effect\ndeliverance, and the result will finally be the restoration of all to\npurity and happiness. They thus maintain with regard to all, what\nRomanists hold respecting those who pass to purgatory, and both are to\nbe answered in the same way. We cannot make satisfaction, and we need\nnot, for Jesus has borne \"our sins in his own body on the tree.\"[125] By\nthis \"one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified\";\nso that \"there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain\nfearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall\ndevour the adversaries.\"[126]\n\nThis clause has place in the Creed as a protest against the heresy of\nApollinaris, a Bishop of Laodicea, who taught that Christ did not assume\na human soul when He became incarnate. He thus denied the perfect\nmanhood of Christ, and in support of His doctrine appealed to the fact\nthat the Scripture says,[127] \"The Word (in Greek, Logos) was made\nflesh,\" \"God was manifest in the flesh,\" while it is never said that He\nwas made spirit. He sought to establish a connection between the Divine\nLogos and human flesh of such a kind that all the attributes of God\npassed into the human nature and all the human attributes into the\nDivine, while both together merged in one nature in Christ, who, being\nneither man nor God, but a mixture of God and man, held a middle place.\nHis heresy found many supporters, though it was promptly met by Gregory\nNazianzen, who showed that the term \"flesh\" is used in Scripture to\ndenote the whole human nature, and that when Christ became incarnate He\ntook upon Him the complete nature of humanity, untainted by sin. Only\nthus could He be qualified to become man's Saviour, for only a perfect\nman can be a full and complete Redeemer. Man's spirit, his most noble\nelement, stands in need of redemption as well as his body, for all its\nfaculties are corrupted by sin.\n\nIn affirming that Jesus descended into hell, this clause of the Creed\ndeclares that He possessed the complete nature of humanity; that His\ntrue body died, and that His reasonable soul departed to Hades.\n\n\nSECTION 2.--THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD[128]\n\n\nOn the morning of the first day of the week, thenceforth hallowed as the\nLord's Day--the Christian Sabbath--the soul of Jesus left Hades, and\nonce more and for ever entered the body, and formed with it the\nperfected humanity of the \"Word made flesh.\" The resurrection of Jesus\nis a well-attested fact of history. The close-sealed, sentinelled\nsepulchre, the broken seal, the stone rolled away, the trembling guard,\nthe empty tomb, and the many appearances of Jesus to the women, the\ndisciples, the brethren, and last of all to Saul of Tarsus, prove that\nHe had risen.[129]\n\nThe Resurrection was a fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy. Peter thus\ninterprets Psalm xvi. 10, \"For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;\nneither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption,\" affirming\nthat David in that Psalm speaks of the Resurrection of Christ.[130]\nJesus Himself often foretold, both figuratively and directly, His own\nresurrection, as when He spoke of the coming destruction of the Temple,\nand connected it with the death and resurrection of His body;[131] or\nwhen He told the disciples that in a little while they should not see\nHim, and again in a little while they should see Him.[132] The place\nwhich this doctrine holds in the Christian faith is shown by the\nnumerous references to it in the Epistles.\n\nThe Apostles had not grasped the statements of Christ in such a way as\nto lead them to look with confidence for His return, or to gather hope\nof His resurrection. On the contrary, they did not expect His\nresurrection, and, when they heard of it, they could not believe it to\nbe real.[133] Yet, convinced by the evidence of their own senses, they\ncame to hold it fast as the fact that crowned all their hopes in life\nand death. Although the preaching of \"Jesus and the Resurrection\"\nexposed them to persecution and martyrdom, they nevertheless continued\nto proclaim a risen Lord. \"If Christ is not risen,\" says Paul, \"then is\nour preaching vain, and your faith is also vain,\"[134] and he goes on to\nadmit that if the Resurrection had not taken place, he was altogether\nmistaken in the view of God's character set forth in his preaching and\nepistles. Peter makes a similar statement: \"We are begotten again unto a\nlively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.\"[135] It is His victory\nover death that confirms the truth of His claims. He is proved to be the\nSon of God by His resurrection from the dead.[136] So important a fact\nwas it regarded in connection with their work, that when they met to\nselect a successor to Judas in the apostolic college, it was held to be\nessential that no one should be appointed who was not able to testify\nthat he had seen the risen Lord.[137] Paul regarded this doctrine as so\nnecessary, that he made it the basis of faith and salvation: \"If thou\nshalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine\nheart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.\"[138]\n\nThe life of Paul is an unanswerable argument for the truth of the\nResurrection. Not only did he preach this as the central doctrine of\nChristianity; he maintained it at the cost of all that, before his\nconversion, he had held dear. He was not a man to give his faith to such\na doctrine without overwhelming evidence of its truth. As Saul of Tarsus\nhe had been in the fullest confidence of the Jewish rulers, and knew all\nthat they could urge against the reality of the Resurrection, but their\narguments had no weight with one who had seen the risen Lord on the way\nto Damascus.\n\nThe importance of the Resurrection of Christ as an argument for the\nDivine origin of Christianity is recognised alike by those who receive\nand by those who reject it. Negative criticism has assailed the doctrine\nand has devised ingenious theories to explain on natural grounds the\ntestimony on which it is received. The diversity of such explanations\ngoes far to refute them, and their utter failure to account for the\nmarvellous effects which the appearances of the risen Jesus produced on\nthe witnesses, or for the place which the doctrine held in their\nteaching, has tended rather to establish than to discredit the reality\nof the Resurrection.\n\nVarious sceptical theories, to which much importance was attached for a\ntime, are now almost forgotten. The Mythical theory fails to account for\nthe immediate effect produced by belief in the Resurrection. Myths\nrequire time for their growth and development, but the disciples of\nJesus set the Resurrection in the forefront from the very first. On the\nday of Pentecost Peter sounded the keynote of Apostolic preaching when\nhe declared, \"This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are\nwitnesses.\" And so from this time forward, \"with great power gave the\nApostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.\" The historical\nfact not only rests upon the most irresistible evidence; it is the very\ncorner-stone of the whole fabric of Gospel teaching.\n\nAnother view of the testimony for the Resurrection has found advocates\nwho claim that it explains, without having recourse to supernaturalism,\nthe belief of the disciples and others in the doctrine. With some minor\ndifferences of detail, they agree in attributing the persistency of\nthose who said that they had seen Jesus alive, to the impression\nproduced on them by His wonderful personality. This, they hold, was so\nstrong that the effect continued after His death, and the disciples saw\nvisions of Him so vivid that they believed them to be real appearances.\nHe had filled so much of their lives while He was with them, that they\nwere unable to realise His departure, and retained His image in their\nhearts continually. Exalted and excited feeling projected His figure so\nthat they saw Him apparently restored to life.\n\nA theory such as this will not stand, in the face of the evidence for\nthe Resurrection. It was no subjective impression, but the Saviour\nHimself, that brought conviction to the minds of the numerous witnesses.\nIt was no apparition, it was a body that they saw and handled and tested\nand proved to be of flesh and blood. They heard their Master speak, and\nsaw Him eat; and at frequent intervals for forty days He showed Himself\nto them. Sometimes He was seen by one, sometimes by many; and before His\nascension He charged them to carry on the work He had committed to them:\nto feed His sheep, to feed His lambs, to go into all the world and\npreach the Gospel to every creature. \"Him,\" said Peter, \"God raised up\non the third day, and showed him openly; not to all the people, but unto\nwitnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with\nhim after he rose from the dead.\"[139]\n\nWhat they saw was the true body of their Lord, the same that had been\ncrucified, dead, and buried, but a marvellous change had passed over it.\nIt was now possessed of spiritual qualities, suddenly appearing,\nsuddenly vanishing; now felt to be made of flesh and bones, and now\npassing through closed doors, or walking upon water. It was no longer\nsubject to natural law as it had been before the Resurrection; and when\nthe disciples beheld the Lord, they had not only proof of His continued\nexistence, of His being God as well as man, and of God's seal having\nbeen set upon His atoning work,--they had also an intimation of what\nlife hereafter will be for His followers, who shall be like Him, for\nthey shall see Him as He is.\n\nHow full and widespread was the belief in the Resurrection of Jesus in\nthe hearts of those who were its witnesses, is apparent not only from\nthe fact that the great theme of their preaching was \"Jesus and the\nresurrection,\" but is also evident from the importance they attached to\nthe Lord's Day and the Lord's Supper. These institutions have a direct\nconnection with the Resurrection, the former having been substituted for\nthe Jewish Sabbath expressly on the ground that on that day the Lord\nrose; the latter, while it commemorates His death, sets forth also His\nresurrection life.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nARTICLE 6\n\n\n_He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of\n    God the Father Almighty_\n\n\nForty days after His resurrection Jesus charged the Apostles, in the\nlast words He is known to have spoken on earth, to testify of Him\nthroughout the world, and assured them that they should receive power\nthrough the descent of the Holy Spirit. This last-recorded utterance\ncalled His Church to missionary enterprise: \"Ye shall be witnesses unto\nme both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the\nuttermost part of the earth.\"[140] It is when believers in Christ are\nfaithful in the performance of this duty that fulfilment of the promise\nmay be confidently looked for, \"Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the\nend of the world.\"[141]\n\nWe are told that, when Jesus had spoken these things, \"He led them out\nas far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And\nit came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and\ncarried up into heaven.\"[142]\n\nAscension is the completion of Resurrection. \"If he were on earth,\" says\nthe author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, \"he should not be a\npriest.\"[143] No part of His work would have corresponded to that of the\nhigh priest, who, when he had offered up sacrifice, passed into the holy\nplace with the blood of the victim, and laid it upon the altar. The act\nthus foreshadowed in the type was accomplished when our great High\nPriest passed into the heavens, and \"entered not into the holy places\nmade with hands, which are the figure of the true; but into heaven\nitself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.\"[144]\n\nThe Ascension took place in open day and in the sight of the Apostles.\n\"While they beheld, he was taken up.\"[145] That they might be witnesses\nof the fact, it was necessary that they should see Him go up from earth.\nUnlike the Ascension, the Resurrection of Christ took place unseen by\nmortal eye. Eye-witnesses of His rising from the dead were not needed.\nThe fact that they had seen Jesus after He rose qualified them to be\nwitnesses of His Resurrection, but it was only because they had seen Him\ntaken up that they could bear personal testimony to His Ascension.\n\nThus our Lord \"ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of\nGod the Father Almighty.\" This Article expresses the honour and dignity\nof His Person and character. To sit on the right hand is an honour\nreserved for the most favoured.[146] When the Scriptures speak of the\nright hand of God, it is meant that, as the right hand among men is the\nplace of honour, power, and happiness, so to sit on the right hand of\nGod is to obtain the place of highest glory, power, and satisfaction.\n\nAt God's right hand our Lord entered into everlasting and perfect glory\nand dominion. Being one with the Father, all that is the Father's is\nHis. He is exalted a Prince and a Saviour, having an eternal life and\nall the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in Him bodily. The Father\nHimself gave Him the place at His right hand, having highly exalted Him\nand given Him a name which is above every name. None can dethrone Him or\nsuccessfully plot against His kingdom. No weapon, carnal or spiritual,\ncan ever prevail against Him. It is this that gives to Christianity its\nstability and power, for Christianity is Christ Himself sitting at the\nright hand of God. The ascended Christ exercises absolute authority and\nunlimited dominion. The Father on whose right hand the Son sits is, in\nthis clause, as in that which stands at the beginning of the Creed,\ntermed the \"Father Almighty.\" Though the distinction is not apparent in\nthe English version of the Creed, \"Almighty\" in the original Greek is in\nthese clauses expressed by two different words. In the earlier clause,\nthe word so rendered signifies God's supreme, universal dominion, while\nhere the word employed denotes the fact that His power and operation are\nalways efficacious and irresistible, and that all things are under His\nabsolute control. This word \"Almighty\" warrants the belief which the\nclause declares, that the Son, sitting on the right hand of the Father,\npossesses absolute and universal power, and that in executing His office\nas Mediator none can resist or oppose Him.\n\nThe word \"sitteth\" is expressive not so much of the attitude as of the\nsettled and continuous character of Christ's exaltation. At God's right\nhand in heaven He executes the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, as\nHe did on earth. The prophet, as teacher of the revealed truth, held\noffice in Old Testament times; and when Jesus entered on His public\nministry, it was as a Divinely-accredited teacher that He claimed to be\nreceived. He brought out of His treasury things new and old, and\nexhorted men to hear, believe, and obey Him. By His words and His life,\nHe made known the will of God for man's salvation; and when He was\nlifted up upon the cross, it was to the end that, by the sacrifice He\noffered and the truth He taught, He might draw all men unto Him. He\nbrought life and immortality to light, and since His departure He has\nnot ceased to be the Teacher and the Guide of all who receive Him. His\nword abides with us, and His first gift to the Church after He rose was\nthe Holy Ghost, who came to lead men to all truth. When the Lord\nascended on high He received gifts for men, \"and he gave some, apostles;\nand some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and\nteachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the\nministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.\"[147] It is in Him\nthat all Christian teaching originates, and through His Spirit that it\ntakes hold of men's hearts. Our Lord does not indeed now appear in\nvisible form, speaking face to face with men as He did in Palestine, but\nHe speaks in and through every believer who in His name seeks to win\nsouls for His Kingdom. Paul recognised this when he wrote to the\nCorinthians, \"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did\nbeseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to\nGod.\"[148]\n\nIn His exaltation, Christ executes the office of a Priest. The functions\nof the Jewish high priest were not limited to the offering of sacrifice.\nWhen he had made an end of offering, he carried the blood of the victim\ninto the Holy Place and made intercession for the sins of the\ncongregation. As the mediator between God and His people, he thus\nforeshadowed the work of Him who is a \"priest for ever, after the order\nof Melchizedek,\"--succeeding none, and being succeeded by none, in His\npriestly office. As the high priest's work was partly without and partly\nwithin the Holy Place, so Christ's priestly work is twofold, consisting\nof His satisfaction for sin upon earth and His intercession in heaven.\n\"Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.\" He was once offered to bear\nthe sins of many, thereby satisfying Divine justice and reconciling men\nto God. After having as our great High Priest offered the sacrifice of\nHimself, He passed into the heavens. There He makes continual\nintercession for us.\n\nAt the right hand of God He exercises kingly prerogatives also. He was\nanointed to the royal office at His baptism, when the Holy Ghost\ndescended on Him.[149] When by death He overcame him who had the power\nof death; when He rose from the grave and announced to His disciples\nthat all power was given Him in heaven and earth, He asserted His kingly\noffice; and when God, having raised Him from the dead, set Him at His\nown right hand in heavenly places, far above all principalities, and\npowers, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only\nin this world, but also in that which is to come, all things were put\nunder His feet, He was given to be Head over all things to the\nchurch,[150] and received dominion and glory and a kingdom. He must\nreign until all His enemies are under His feet. \"To which of the angels\nsaid he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies\nthy footstool?\"[151]\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nARTICLE 7\n\n_From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead_\n\n\nThis clause of the Creed points to the future. As those who saw Jesus\nascend stood gazing up, two heavenly messengers in white apparel\nappeared and said to them, \"This same Jesus, which is taken up from you\ninto heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into\nheaven.\"[152] Jesus Himself often warned the disciples that the time was\nat hand when He should leave them and return to His Father, but that His\ndeparture was not to be final, for He would come again to gather all\nnations before Him, and to judge the quick and the dead. He comforted\nthem by the statement that His going away was expedient for them. \"I go\nto prepare a place for you.\" \"I will come again, and receive you unto\nmyself.\"[153] But the return was not to be only for the reception of the\nfaithful into His kingdom and glory, but for judgment upon all mankind.\n\"The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels;\nand then shall he reward every man according to his works.\"[154]\n\"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they\nalso which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because\nof him.\"[155]\n\nThe time of Christ's return to judgment has not been revealed. \"Of that\nday and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father\nonly.\"[156] The first Christians looked for it with joyous expectation,\nbelieving that their Lord and Master would speedily appear and redress\ntheir wrongs. Cruelly persecuted by Jew and Gentile, it is no wonder\nthat Apostles and other believers associated the second advent with\nemancipation and victory, and termed it \"That blessed hope, the glorious\nappearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.\"[157] Under the\ninfluence of false teachers, this expectation gave rise to unhealthy\nexcitement and consequent disorder in the Church. In his second Epistle\nto the Thessalonians Paul set himself earnestly to counteract their\nteaching. He indignantly repudiated the doctrine attributed to him,\napparently in connection with a forged epistle, and he supplied a test\nby which the genuineness of his letters might be proved.\n\nThe mistake of the Thessalonians has often been repeated. Attempts have\nbeen made to fix the time of the Lord's second coming, and the work of\npredicting goes on busily still. Enthusiasts and impostors have been\nmore or less successful in finding credulous followers. Again and again\nthe progress of time has falsified such predictions, but would-be\nprophets have not been discouraged by the blunders of their\npredecessors.\n\nAll men, quick and dead, are to be brought before the Judgment-seat, the\nfaithful that they may be raised to everlasting blessedness, and the\nwicked to be dismissed to everlasting punishment. Paul describes the\nevents of the great day of Christ's appearing as it will affect the\nsaints. \"The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with\nthe voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in\nChrist shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be\ncaught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the\nair.\"[158] He gives a similar description to the Corinthians: \"We shall\nnot all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the\ntwinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and\nthe dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.\"[159]\n\"He commanded us to testify,\" says Peter, \"that it is he which was\nordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.\"[160] And Paul writes\nto Timothy that \"the Lord Jesus Christ shall judge the quick and the\ndead at his appearing.\"[161]\n\nThe most awful descriptions of the Judgment, as it will affect the\nwicked, are given by the Lord Jesus Himself. In Matthew xxv. we have a\nseries of images, in which the terrors of the \"great day of the Lord\"\nare set forth. The virgins that go out to meet the Bridegroom, the\nservants with their talents, the Judge dividing all brought before Him\nas a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats, are warnings of the\ncertainty and severity of judgment, and of the doom reserved for the\nungodly.\n\n\"The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the\nSon.\"[162] As God, He has all things naked and open before Him. As man,\nHe became subject to human conditions, and was in all points tempted as\nwe are, yet without sin. Our Judge knows our frame, our temptations, our\nweakness, our difficulties; and in the Judgment, as in His life on\nearth, He will not break the bruised reed, or apply to men's conduct a\nharsher measure than they have merited. Judgment will begin at the house\nof God, and sentence on the ungodly will be severe in proportion to\nknowledge, privilege, and opportunity. Men will be judged by their\nworks, and in this doctrine of Scripture there is no opposition to that\nof justification by faith. Men cannot be justified by their own works,\nbut if Christ be in them and the Spirit of God dwell in their hearts,\nthen, being dead to sin, they follow holiness. The distinction between\nthe children of God and the children of the devil is this, that the\nformer class bring forth the fruits of righteousness, and the latter the\nfruits of sin. \"A good man out of the good treasure of the heart\nbringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure\nbringeth forth evil things.\"[163] In the Judgment the works of every man\nshall be brought to light, whether they be good or evil. \"There is\nnothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be\nknown.\"[164] The just shall be rewarded, not on account of their good\nworks, but because of the atonement and righteousness of Christ; yet\ntheir works will be the test of their sanctification and the proof that\nthey are members of Christ and regenerated by His Spirit.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nARTICLE 8\n\n_I believe in the Holy Ghost_\n\n\nThe eighth article of the Creed declares belief in the third Divine\nPerson--the Holy Ghost.\n\nThe words \"I believe,\" implied in every clause, are here repeated, to\nmark the transition from the Second to the Third Person of the Trinity.\n\nWhile this doctrine underlies all the teaching of the Old Testament\nScriptures, it was yet in a measure not understood or realised by the\nJews, and as Christ came to make known the Father, so to Him we owe also\nthe full revelation of the Holy Spirit. Prophets and Psalmists had\nglimpses of the doctrine, but they lived in the twilight, and saw\nthrough a glass darkly many truths now clearly made known.\n\nWhile we speak freely of spiritual life, our conception of it is so\nvague that we are apt to overlook, or to regard lightly, the work of the\nHoly Spirit in redemption. The disciples of John, whom Paul met at\nEphesus, believed in Jesus and had been baptized, and yet they told the\nApostle that they had not so much as heard whether there was any Holy\nGhost.[165] John tells us that even while Jesus was on earth the Holy\nGhost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.[166]\n\nThat the Holy Ghost is a Person, and not, as some hold, a mere energy or\ninfluence proceeding from the Father, or from the Father and the Son, is\napparent from the passages of Scripture which refer to Him. An energy\nhas no existence independent of the agent, but this can not be\nmaintained with reference to the Holy Ghost. He is associated as a\nPerson with Persons. In the baptismal formula and in the apostolic\nbenediction the Holy Spirit is spoken of in the same terms as the Father\nand the Son, and is therefore a Person as they are Persons. He is said\nto possess will and understanding. He is said to teach, to testify, to\nintercede, to search all things, to bestow and distribute spiritual\ngifts according to His will.\n\nThe Holy Ghost addresses the Father, and is therefore not the Father. He\nintercedes with the Father, and so is not a mere energy of the Father.\nJesus promised to send the Spirit from the Father, but the Father could\nnot be sent from or by Himself. It is said that the Spirit when He came\nwould not speak of Himself--a statement that cannot apply to the\nFather; and while Christ promised to send the Spirit, He did not promise\nto send the Father.\n\nThe Holy Ghost is not the Son, for the Son says He will send Him. He is\n\"another Comforter,\" who speaks and acts as a person. The Holy Ghost\nsaid, \"Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work where-unto I have\ncalled them.\"[167]\n\nThe arguments for the distinct personality of the Holy Ghost prove also\nthat He is God. The baptismal formula and the apostolic benediction\nassume His Divinity. The words of Christ with reference to the sin\nagainst the Holy Ghost imply that He is God, and Peter affirms this\ndoctrine when, having accused Ananias of lying to the Holy Ghost, he\nadds, \"Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.\"[168] Paul also\nasserts it when, in arguing against sins of the flesh, he affirms that\nthe body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and also declares of it that\nthe temple of GOD is holy. Divine properties are ascribed to the Holy\nSpirit. Thus _Omnipotence_ is attributed to Him--\"The Spirit shall\nquicken your mortal bodies\",[169] _Omniscience_--\"The Spirit searcheth\nall things\",[170] _Omnipresence_--\"Whither shall I go from thy\nSpirit?\"[171] Divinity is attributed to the third Person in the\nstatement that \"holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy\nGhost,\"[172] taken in connection with the other statement, \"all\nScripture is given by inspiration of God.\"[173]\n\nJesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and, because of this, though born\nof a woman, He was in His human nature the Son of God. \"The Holy Ghost\nshall come upon thee ... therefore also that holy thing which shall be\nborn of thee shall be called the Son of God.\"[174] Each of the three\nPersons has part in the work of redemption. The Father gave the Son, and\naccepted Him as man's Sinbearer and Sacrifice; the Son gave Himself, and\nassumed human nature that He might suffer and die in the room and stead\nof sinners, and the Holy Ghost applies to men the work of redeeming\nlove, taking of the things of Christ and making them known,[175] till\nthey produce repentance, faith, and salvation. The Father's gift of the\nSon and the Son's sacrifice of Himself are of the past; the work of the\nHoly Spirit has gone on day by day, ever since the risen and glorified\nRedeemer sent Him to make His people ready for the place which He is\npreparing for them. It is through Him that we understand the Scriptures,\nand receive power to fear God and keep His commandments. He comes to\nhuman hearts, and when He enters He banishes discord and bestows\nhappiness and peace. Then with the heart man believeth unto\nrighteousness, and the fruits of the Spirit are manifested in his life.\nThe love of the Father and the redemption secured by the Son's\nIncarnation and Passion fail to affect us if we have not our share in\nthe Spirit's sanctification. There is a sense in which the Holy Ghost\ncomes nearer to us, if we may so speak, than the other Persons of the\nGodhead. If we are true believers, the Holy Ghost is enthroned in our\nhearts. \"He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.\"[176] Our bodies\nbecome the temples of the Holy Ghost.[177] It is through Him that the\nFather and the Son come and make their abode in the faithful.[178] We\nare made \"an habitation of God through the Spirit.\"[179] \"If any man\nhave not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.\"[180] When we consider\nthe work He carries on in convicting men of sin, of righteousness, and\nof judgment, and in converting, guiding, and comforting those whom He\ninfluences, we can understand that it was expedient for us that Christ\nshould go away, in order that the Comforter might come.[181] If we are\nreceiving and resting on Jesus as our Saviour, then His Spirit is within\nus as the earnest of our inheritance.[182] His presence imparts power\nsuch as no spiritual enemy can resist. How different were the Apostles\nbefore and after they had received the gift of the Spirit! One of them\nwho, before, denied Christ when challenged by a maid, afterwards\nproclaimed boldly in the presence of the hostile Jewish council, \"We\nought to obey God rather than men.\"[183] Those who, when He was\napprehended, had forsaken Him and fled, gathered courage to brave kings\nand rulers as they preached salvation through Him. The disciples, who,\nin accordance with Christ's injunction, awaited the descent of the\nSpirit, were on the day of Pentecost clothed with power before which\nbigotry and selfishness passed into faith and charity and\nself-surrender; and there was won on that day for the Church a triumph\nsuch as the might of God alone could have secured--a triumph which the\nministry of the Spirit, whenever it is recognised and accepted, is\nalways powerful to repeat and to surpass.\n\nAll good comes to man through the Spirit. Every inspiration of every\nindividual is from Him, the Lord and Giver of light, and life, and\nunderstanding. Every good thought that rises within us, every unselfish\nmotive that stimulates us, every desire to be holy, every resolve to do\nwhat is right, what is brave, or noble, or self-sacrificing, comes to\nman from the Holy Ghost. He is instructing and directing us not only on\nspecial occasions, as when we read the Bible or meet for worship, but\nalways, if we will listen for His voice. His personal indwelling in man,\nas Counsellor and Guide, is the fulfilment of the promise--\"I will dwell\nin them, and walk in them.\" \"He will guide you into all truth\" is an\nassurance of counsel and victory that is ever receiving fulfilment, and\nthat cannot be broken.[184]\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nARTICLE 9\n\n_The Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints_\n\nSECTION 1.--THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH\n\n\nIn the clause of the Creed which expresses belief in Jesus Christ, He is\ncalled our Lord \"And in Jesus Christ our Lord.\" That He is their Lord is\ndeclared by believers, when they term the society of which they are\nmembers \"the Church.\" This word is derived from the Greek _kurios_,\nLord, in the adjectival form _kuriakos_, of or belonging to the\nLord--the Scottish word \"kirk\" being therefore a form nearer the\noriginal than the equivalent term _Church_. The Greek word translated\n\"church\" occurs only three times in the Gospels. In English the word is\nused in different senses, all of them, however, pointing to the Lord\nJesus as their source and sanction. By \"church,\" we sometimes mean a\nbuilding set apart for Christian worship. The Jew had his Tabernacle in\nthe Wilderness, his Temple at Jerusalem, and his Synagogue in the\nProvinces; the Mohammedan has his Mosque, and the Brahmin his Pagoda;\nbut the Christian has his Church, in whose very name his Lord is\nhonoured. Sometimes the word denotes the Christians of a specified city\nor locality--the Church at Ephesus, the Church at Corinth. Sometimes it\nis limited to a number of Christians meeting for worship in a house, as\nin Romans xvi. 5 and in Philemon.[185] Sometimes \"Church\" denotes a\nparticular denomination of Christians, as the Presbyterian Church, the\nEpiscopal Church. Sometimes it expresses the distinctive form which\nChristianity assumes in a particular nation--the Church of England, the\nChurch of Scotland. In the Creed the Holy Catholic Church means the\nwhole body of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, all who anywhere and\neverywhere are looking to Him for salvation, and are bringing forth the\nfruits of holiness to His praise and glory.\n\nThe Lord Jesus Christ did not, during His ministry, set up a Church as\nan outward organisation. He was Himself to be the Church's foundation;\nbut in order to be qualified for this office it was necessary that He\nshould first lay down His life. The work of building and extending, in\nso far as it was to be effected by human agency, must be undertaken by\nothers after His departure. He came to fulfil the law, and so He was not\nsent save to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He worshipped,\naccordingly, in the Jewish temple and synagogues, observed the\nsacraments and festivals of the Old Testament Church, and during His\nearthly ministry bade His disciples observe and do whatsoever the men\nwho sat in Moses' seat commanded. \"The faithful saying, worthy of all\nacceptation,\" with which the Christian Church was to be charged as God's\nmessage to the world, was not yet published, for Christ had still to\nsuffer and enter into His glory, and the Holy Ghost had yet to be sent\nby the Father before the standard of the Church could be set up. While\nthe Church rests on Christ, it is founded upon His Apostles also, to\nwhom He committed the work for which He had prepared them, and for which\nHe was still further to qualify them by bestowing power from on high.\nThe gifts which He received for men when He ascended were needed to\nequip them for the work of founding that Church, which became a\npossibility only through His death and resurrection. Applying to them\nthe redemption purchased by Christ, the Holy Ghost wrought in and with\nthem, and crowned their labours with success. The Christian Church was\nset up on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost came down upon a\nband of believers assembled at Jerusalem waiting for the promise of the\nFather. Under His inspiration Peter preached the first Christian sermon\nwith such power that the same day there were added unto the Church three\nthousand souls.\n\nThe Church is termed the _Holy_ Catholic Church. When the epithet \"holy\"\nis applied to the Church, it is not meant that all who profess faith in\nJesus Christ and are in connection with the visible Church, are holy, or\nthat any of them are altogether holy. Our Lord taught that while in the\nworld His Church would contain a mixture of good and bad. He likened it\nto a net in which good and bad fishes are caught, and to a field in\nwhich wheat and tares grow together. Though all are called to be saints,\n\"there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good, and sinneth\nnot.\"[186] The sanctification of believers is the work of the Holy\nSpirit, effected not by a momentary act but by degrees, and never\nperfected in this life.\n\nUpon all who truly receive the Lord Jesus a change is wrought by the\nHoly Spirit of God, which results in holiness. Looking unto Jesus, they\nbehold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, and are changed into the\nsame image. The transformation which they undergo extends to every part\nof their being. The subject of sanctification is the whole man. The\nunderstanding, will, conscience, memory, affections are all renewed in\ntheir operations, and the members of the body become instruments of\nrighteousness unto holiness. As believers are enabled to die unto sin,\nthey live unto righteousness. Being renewed in the inner man by the\nDivine Spirit, they bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. Their desire\nis after holiness, for they know that the restoration of holiness is the\nend for which Jesus died and for which the Spirit works. \"Christ loved\nthe church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse\nit with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to\nhimself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such\nthing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.\"[187] Now, the\nChurch is marred by many blemishes, but her imperfection is for a time\nonly. When her period of work and probation is accomplished she will be\npurged and perfected, and will be a church without spot or wrinkle.\nMeantime she is the Holy Church because her Head is holy, and because\nshe is called out of the world and consecrated to the service of God.\nShe is holy because she is the body of Christ, of whose fulness she\nreceives, and whose graces she reflects, and because it is through her\nteaching, prayers, and institutions that the Holy Spirit usually works\nand influences men to follow holiness. The ministry, the preaching, the\nsacraments, the laws, and the discipline of the Church have as their end\nthe turning of men from their sins and persuading them to follow\nholiness.\n\nThe Christian Church is a _Catholic_ Church. The word \"Catholic\" means\nuniversal, and implies that, unlike the Jewish Church, which was narrow\nand local, requiring admission to earthly citizenship as the condition\nof receiving spiritual privilege, the Church of Christ is coextensive\nwith humanity, and accessible to all. The Master's charge was that the\nGospel should be preached to every creature. The Church's field is the\nworld, and her commission sets before her as a duty that she shall go\ninto all the world bearing the glad tidings of salvation. The disciples\ndid not at first realise this comprehensiveness of the new faith. Even\nafter his address on the day of Pentecost, Peter had not risen above his\nJewish prejudices. It was not until after he beheld in vision the great\nsheet let down from heaven, and was forbidden to regard anything which\nGod had cleansed as common or unclean, that the fulness of the Gospel\ndispensation was understood by him, and he discovered to his\nastonishment that God is no respecter of persons, but that in every\nnation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is acceptable to\nHim.[188]\n\nThe Catholic Church is _One_. It is _the_ Holy Catholic Church, one in\nits origin as the household of God built upon the foundation of the\nApostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief corner-stone;[189]\none body, with one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism.[190] The\ndistinctive marks of the true Church are allegiance to one Lord,\nconfession of a common creed, and participation in the same Sacraments.\n\nThe unity of the Catholic Church is quite compatible with the existence\nof separate organisations that differ in regard to details of government\nor worship. There is no outward organisation which possesses a monopoly\nof Christian truth and privilege. While all who \"hold the Head\" stand\nfast in one spirit, they are not all enrolled as members of one\necclesiastical body, or subject to the authority of one earthly ruler.\nTheir citizenship is in heaven; not in Rome or in any city of this\nworld. The claim asserted by the Bishops of Rome to be infallible\nrepresentatives of Christ and exclusive possessors of the keys of the\nkingdom of heaven, to whom all men owe allegiance, and whose decrees and\ndiscipline cannot be questioned without sin, has no support in\nScripture, which, while it enjoins unity of spirit, never prescribes\nuniformity of organisation.\n\nWhat the Romanist claims for the Pope is virtually claimed for the\nChurch by some who reject Papal authority. By the Church they mean one\nvisible body of Christians under the same ecclesiastical constitution\nand government, and they maintain that the right to expound with\nauthority the will of God is vested in this body, and that private\njudgment must be subordinated to its decisions. To constitute the Church\nthey say there must be bishops at its head, ordained by men whose\necclesiastical orders have come down from apostolic times in unbroken\nsuccession. Without this apostolical succession, it is affirmed, there\ncan be no Church, no true ordination, no valid or effectual\nadministration of sacraments.\n\nSuch a definition of the Catholic Church excludes from participation in\nthe ordinary means of grace the whole body of Presbyterians, nearly all\nthe Protestant Churches of Europe, and all who refuse to admit direct\ntransmission of orders from the Apostles as a primary condition of the\nChurch's existence. Carried to its logical conclusion, it would exclude\neven those who maintain it; for all attempts to trace back a continuous\nand complete series of ordinations from modern times to the apostolic\nage fail to show an unbroken line. It is therefore not possible for any\nbishop or minister in Christendom to be certain that, in this sense, he\nis a successor of the Apostles. The Catholic Church is not exclusively\nEpiscopalian or Presbyterian or Congregational. It is found in all\nChristian communities, and maintains its identity in all. It is said by\nPaul to be made up of \"them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called\nto be saints, with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ\nin every place, their Lord and ours.\"[191] As it is not the Pope that\nadmits to, or excludes from, heaven, so it is not the prerogative of any\nchurch to bestow or to withhold salvation. The right of private\njudgment, asserted and secured by the Scottish Reformers, is one which\nwe are not only entitled but bound to exercise. We must search the\nScriptures for ourselves, that in their light we may prove all things\nand hold fast that which is good. A famous saying of Ignatius, who first\napplied the term \"Catholic\" to the Church, supplies the true description\nof a living church--\"Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic\nChurch.\"[192]\n\n\nSECTION 2.--THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS\n\n\nThis article appears to have first found place in the Creed as a protest\nagainst the tenets of a sect called the Donatists, from Donatus their\nleader. He seceded (314 A.D.) from the Christian Church in North Africa,\ncarrying with him numerous followers, and set up a new church\norganisation, claiming for it place and authority as the only Church of\nChrist. Circumstances put powers of excommunication and persecution at\nhis disposal, which he directed against those who refused to become his\nfollowers.\n\nAugustine was for a time a Donatist, but his truth-loving spirit soon\ndiscovered the real character of Donatus, and then he became his active\nand uncompromising opponent. It was probably as a protest against the\narrogance of the Donatists, and in deference to Augustine's wish, that\nthe clause was inserted. In this profession it is declared that the Holy\nCatholic Church is one not in virtue of outward forms, or even through\nperfect agreement among its members upon all details of doctrine, but\nbecause of the holiness of those who compose it. It refuses to\nexcommunicate any who hold fast the form of sound words, and who adhere\nto one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. It is a\nbrotherhood of which all who have the spirit of Christ are members.\nDifferences in colour, or country, or rank do not suffice to separate\nthose who are \"the body of Christ and members in particular.\" The spirit\nof Christian fellowship that marks the saints finds fitting expression\nin the noble words of Augustine, \"In things essential, unity; in things\ndoubtful, liberty; in all things, charity.\"\n\nThe primary meaning of the word \"saint\" is a person consecrated or set\napart. In this sense all baptized persons who are professing members of\nthe Church of Christ are saints. In the New Testament the whole body of\nprofessing Christians resident in a city or district are called saints,\nalthough some among them may have been unworthy; just as in the Old\nTestament the prophets even in degenerate times termed the people of\nIsrael an \"holy nation,\" that is, a nation separated from the rest of\nthe world and consecrated to God's service. Thus we read that Peter\nvisited the saints which dwelt at Lydda.[193] Paul speaks of a\ncollection for the poor saints at Jerusalem, and writes letters to all\nthe saints in Achaia,[194] to all the saints in Christ Jesus at\nPhilippi, and to the saints at Ephesus; and Jude speaks of the faith\nonce delivered to the saints. In these passages the title is applied to\nall who were in outward fellowship with the Christian Church.\n\nThe term \"saint\" is used also in a more restricted sense. As they were\nnot all Israel who were of Israel, and as not every one that saith\n\"Lord, Lord\" shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, so all who are\nenrolled as members of the Christian Church do not lead saintly lives,\nand those only are truly saints who are striving to live godly in Christ\nJesus, and to be holy, even as He who hath called them is holy. This\nclause of the Creed expresses the doctrine that Christians ought to have\nfellowship one with another, and that there ought to be harmonious\nrelations and stimulating communion between their several churches and\ncongregations--such fellowship and communion as may lead the world to\nbelieve that they are one in Christ, and that, though compelled by\ncircumstances to assemble in different places and to form separate\nsocieties, they are, nevertheless, all members of one body, of which\nJesus Christ is the Head; all stones in one building, of which He is the\nchief Corner-stone; all branches in one true vine, of which He is the\nStem; and all animated and directed by the same Spirit. Thus regarded,\nthe clause is a protest against the exclusiveness which often marks\nChristian churches, and is a recognition of the spirit of charity.\n\nThe extent of this Communion of the Saints is not revealed. Much of it\nis spiritual, and is therefore invisible to us. God alone marks in full\nmeasure the fellowship of the churches, and is acquainted with the\ncharacter and conduct of all their members. He knew the seven thousand\nin Israel who had never bowed the knee to Baal, and the real, though\nunrecognised, communion they had with one another in their common\nfidelity and prayer to Him; but Elijah did not know how much true\nfellowship he had, when he denounced the idolatries of Jezebel and\npleaded with God for Israel. The ignorance of the prophet, who thought\nhe was the only faithful Israelite, has its counterpart in our own\ntimes. God knows, but we do not know, how many faithful saints there are\nin the world who are in fellowship with one another because they are in\nfellowship with Him. We are excluded by many barriers from the knowledge\nof our brethren and sisters in Christ Jesus. Natural and moral\ndifficulties stand in the way, hindering this knowledge; differences in\nlanguage, in environment, in habits and modes of thought, and other\nlimitations, disable us for truly gauging the character of those with\nwhom we are brought into close contact. Communion is nevertheless real\nand true. The members of the Church of the living God, however they may\nbe scattered and divided, have communion and fellowship with the Father,\nthe Son, and the Holy Ghost; and being in fellowship with God, they are\nof one mind, and are knit together by common faith and mutual sympathy.\nThey are all one with the same Head, and they have all one hope of their\ncalling.\n\nOur Lord brought life and immortality to light, and taught men that\nbetween the Church militant and the Church triumphant there is\nindissoluble fellowship. Those who followed holiness in this life are\nsaints still in the life to which they have passed. In the Epistle to\nthe Hebrews, believers are told that they \"are come to the general\nassembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven ...\nand to the spirits of just men made perfect.\"[195]\n\nWhile the clause was probably inserted at first to vindicate the\ndoctrine of communion of saints in this life, it has long been regarded\nas extending to a communion subsisting between the spirits of just men\nmade perfect and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ who are still on\nearth. The passage last quoted justifies the inference that death does\nnot suspend the fellowship which believers in Jesus Christ have with\nHim, their common Lord. Death separates the soul from the body, but it\ndoes not cut off the dead from communion with the Father or the Son. He\nwho is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob is the God not of the\ndead, but of the living. Of the whole family of the saints, some are in\nheaven and some on earth, and, between those who are there and those who\nare here, there is communion. Since the heavenly Church received Abel as\nits first member, there has been unceasing fellowship between militant\nand glorified saints. Those who are here are shut out by the tabernacle\nof the body from personal intercourse with the souls of the departed,\nbut are yet in a fellowship with them that is very real and precious.\nThe holy dead act upon the living, and, it may be, are reacted upon in\nways we do not understand. Of Abel we are told that \"being dead, he yet\nspeaketh.\"[196] Those whom death has taken do not cease to exert an\ninfluence on the lives of friends left behind. Their example, their good\ndeeds, their writings, the undying consequences of what they did while\non earth affect us. The veil which death interposes between us and them\nhinders us from witnessing their spirit life, and we know not whether,\nor in what measure, or how, they contemplate us. We do not go to them to\nask them to intercede for us with the Father, for we believe there is\nbut one Mediator between God and man. We do not invest them with\nattributes which belong to God alone; all that we are warranted to say\nabout their relation to us is, that what is revealed does not forbid,\nbut rather encourages, the thought that they are interested in us and\nconcerned for our happiness. If the angels rejoice over the conversion\nof a sinner, are we to think that the spirits of just men made perfect\nare strangers to this joy? They are within the veil, we cannot see them,\nbut we know they are in communion with God. The condition of the\ndeparted saints is one of waiting as well as of progress. They have not\nattained to fruition. There are doctrines which to them, as to us, are\nstill matters not of experience but of faith and hope. The souls of the\nmartyrs seen by John under the altar were in a state of expectation,\ndesiring and pleading as when in the flesh they had desired and pleaded\nfor the consummation of Messiah's kingdom; and from them the Apostle\nheard the cry ascend, \"How long, O Lord?\"[197] Saints here and saints\nwho have passed through the valley into the unseen must surely hold many\nbeliefs in common. Both alike believe the promises of God, and\nanticipate the glorious consummation for which they wait and watch, when\nthe kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of the living God.\nThey believe in the resurrection of the body and in its reunion with the\nsoul for ever. They have common affections. Their love is given to the\nsame God. They have community of worship, and have communion in\nthanksgiving, praise, and, may we not say, in prayer for the overthrow\nof the kingdom of darkness and the advent of the kingdom of glory? As\nthose who are still in the body keep the New Testament feast, they feel\nthat there is fellowship between them and saints departed, seeing that\nthey honour the same Saviour, glory in the same cross, partake of the\nsame heavenly food, and look for the same inheritance of perfect\nblessedness.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nARTICLE 10\n\n_The Forgiveness of Sins_\n\n\nThe Creed acknowledges God as the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and\nearth; but there is another relation which He sustains to His creatures\nbesides those of Creator and Father. In Scripture He is represented as\nthe King, Ruler, Governor of the universe, who imposes laws upon all His\ncreatures, and requires of them scrupulous obedience. With the exception\nof man, the visible creatures have these laws, from which they cannot\nswerve, within their constitutions. The planet never deviates from its\nappointed orbit; the insect, the bird, the beast all live in strict\naccordance with their instincts; but, unlike them, man possesses freedom\nof will and power of choice. This freedom, if rightly exercised, is a\nnoble possession, but, perverted, it is an instrument of destruction.\nThe lower animals cannot sin because the law of their lives is within\nthem, constraining them to act in accordance with its dictates. Upon\nman, free to choose, God imposed law. With freedom of will he received\nthe gift of conscience, which, enabling him to distinguish between right\nand wrong, invested him with responsibility, and made disobedience sin.\nThat he can sin is his patent of nobility, that he does sin is his ruin\nand disgrace.\n\nThe effect of sin is separation from God, who can have no fellowship\nwith evil, for sin is the abominable thing which He hates, and on which\nHe cannot even look. A breach, altogether irreparable on man's part, was\nmade between man and his Creator when the first transgression of the law\nof God took place. The impulse of every sinner, which only Divine power\ncan overcome, is to flee from God. Hence arises the necessity for\nreconciliation, and for the intervention of God to effect it. That the\nunity thus broken may be restored, expiation must be made by one\npossessing the nature of the being that had sinned, and yet, by His\npossession of the Divine nature, investing that expiation with\nillimitable worth, so that all sin may be covered, and every sinner find\na way of escape from the power and the penal consequences of\ntransgression. These conditions meet in the Lord Jesus Christ and in Him\nalone. That God might, without compromising His attributes, be enabled\nto bring man back into fellowship with Himself, He spared not His own\nSon, and the Son freely gave Himself to suffering and death for the\nworld's redemption.\n\nIn the felt necessity of atonement, which has associated sacrifice with\nevery religion devised by man, we have evidence of the universality of\nsin. All feel its crushing pressure, and fear the punishment which,\nconscience assures them, is deserved and inevitable. The heathen\nconfesses it as he prostrates himself before the image of his god, or\nimmolates himself or his fellow-man upon his altar; and the Christian\nfeels and confesses it as, fleeing for refuge, he finds pardon and\ncleansing in the blood of Jesus Christ.\n\nSin is original or actual, the former inherited from our parents, the\nlatter, personal transgression of the Divine law. Every man descending\nfrom Adam by ordinary generation is born with the taint of original sin.\nAs the representative head of humanity, Adam transmitted to all his\ndescendants the nature that his sin had polluted. The fountain of life\nwas poisoned at its source, and when Adam begat children they were born\nin his likeness. \"By one man sin entered into the world, and death by\nsin; and so death passed upon all men.\" \"Death reigned ... even over\nthem that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression.\"\n\"By one man's disobedience many were made sinners.\"[198]\n\nActual sin consists in breaking any law of God made known to us by\nScripture, conscience, or reason. It assumes many forms. There are sins\nof thought, of word, of deed; sins of commission, or doing what God\nforbids; of omission, or leaving undone what God commands; sins to which\nwe are tempted by the world, the flesh, or the devil; sins directly\nagainst God; sins that wrong our neighbours, and that ruin ourselves;\nsins of pride, covetousness, lust, gluttony, anger, envy, sloth. In many\nthings we sin, and \"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,\nand the truth is not in us.\"[199]\n\nMan's sinfulness is set forth in Scripture by a great variety of\nfigures. The word rendered \"sin\" means the missing of a mark or aim. Sin\nis sometimes described as ignorance, sometimes as defeat, sometimes as\ndisobedience. The definition of the Shorter Catechism is clear and\ncomprehensive. \"Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of,\nthe law of God.\"[200] The taint of original sin, extending to man's\nwhole nature, inclines him to act in opposition to the law of God, and\nevery concession to his corrupt desire, in thought, word, or deed, is\nactual sin. Because of it he is not subject to the law of God, neither,\nindeed, can be.\n\nSin is always spoken of in Scripture as followed by punishment or by\npardon. There is no middle way. Salvation for man must therefore involve\ndeliverance from condemnation.\n\nThe word which expresses man's liability to punishment is \"guilt,\" and\nonly a religion which makes known how he may be set free from guilt will\nsuit his necessities. We cannot set ourselves free from condemnation.\n\"Man,\" says the Confession of Faith, \"by his fall into a state of sin,\nhath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying\nsalvation; so, as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good,\nand dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself,\nor prepare himself thereunto.\"[201] Forgiveness of sin must come from\nGod. There is nothing in nature or in human experience to warrant hope\nof pardon. Nature never forgives a trespass against her law. The\nopportunity that is lost does not return. The mistake by which a life is\nmarred cannot be undone. The constitution shattered by intemperance\ncannot be restored, the birthright bartered for a mess of pottage is\ngone for ever, and no bitter tears or supplications have power to bring\nit back. Whether we repent of it or not, every sin we commit leaves its\ndark mark behind, and in this life at least the stain can never be\neffaced; and yet we believe in the forgiveness of sin through the grace\nof God.\n\nThe forgiveness of sin is a free gift purchased by \"the Lamb of God that\ntaketh away the sin of the world,\" who by His Cross and Passion obtained\nfor men this unspeakable benefit, and commanded that repentance and\nremission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations.[202]\n\nIn order that the grace of God may bring salvation, it is required that\nthere shall be (_a_) Repentance. In Scripture repentance is set forth as\nnecessarily preceding pardon: \"Jesus began to preach, and to say,\nRepent.\"[203] \"Peter said unto them, Repent.\"[204] \"Him hath God exalted\nwith his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance\nto Israel, and forgiveness of sins.\"[205] Repentance begins in\ncontrition. \"Godly sorrow for sin worketh repentance to salvation.\"[206]\n(_b_) Before the good gift of God can be received, it is necessary that\nwe confess our sin. It is when we confess our sins that we obtain\nforgiveness and cleansing. \"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and\njust to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all\nunrighteousness.\"[207] To produce conviction and confession is the work\nof the Holy Ghost. He reveals to the sinner the sinfulness of his life,\nand so works in him repentance. (_c_) Another requirement is unfeigned\nfaith. \"He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a\nrewarder of them that diligently seek Him.\" \"Without faith it is\nimpossible to please him.\"[208] \"Being justified by faith, we have peace\nwith God through our Lord Jesus Christ.\"[209] \"Let him ask in faith,\nnothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea\ndriven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall\nreceive anything of the Lord.\"[210] (_d_) There must be also humble,\nearnest resolution to be obedient to the will of God. The forgiveness\nsecured by the death of Jesus is more than mere deliverance from the\npenalty of sin or the acquittal of the sinner. It is the remission of\nsins, the putting away of the sin. With pardon there is a renewal of the\ninner man. Return to holiness is secured, and the lost image of God is\nrestored to man, so that he dies to sin and lives unto holiness. Nothing\nless than this will satisfy the true penitent, who asks for more than\npardon, whose cry is, \"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a\nright spirit within me.\"[211] It is not sufficient to be set free from\npunishment, there must be the abiding desire to have the life conformed\nto the Divine will. \"The grace of God that bringeth salvation\" teaches\nand enables all who receive it \"to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts,\nand to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.\"[212]\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nARTICLE 11\n\n_The Resurrection of the Body_\n\n\nANIMISM--the doctrine of the continuous existence, after death, of the\ndisembodied human spirit--has a place in the majority of religious\nsystems; but belief in the resurrection of the body is almost peculiar\nto the Christian faith. In Old Testament times the hope of immortality\nfor body and soul seldom found expression. Job seems to have had at\nleast a glimpse of the doctrine, although his words in the original do\nnot express it so strongly as those of the English version: \"I know that\nmy redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the\nearth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh\nshall I see God.\"[213] In the Psalms there are various intimations that\nfaithful servants of God looked for a future life in which the body as\nwell as the spirit should find place. Isaiah prophesied, \"Thy dead men\nshall live, my dead body shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in\ndust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out\nthe dead.\"[214] Daniel still more emphatically declares, \"Many of them\nthat sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting\nlife, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.\"[215] The story in the\nsecond book of Maccabees of the seven martyr-brothers, who would not\naccept life from the tyrant on condition of denying their God, proves\nthat they were strengthened to endure by the sure hope of \"a better\nresurrection.\" One of them thus confessed his faith: \"Thou like a fury\ntakest us out of this present life, but the King of the world shall\nraise us up, who have died for His laws, unto everlasting life.\" Another\nof the brothers, about to have his tongue plucked out and his hands cut\noff, \"holding forth his hands manfully, said courageously, These I had\nfrom heaven ... and from Him I hope to receive them again.\" Their\nmother, who is thought to have been one of the saints that in the\nEpistle to the Hebrews are said to have been tortured, not accepting\ndeliverance, encouraged her sons to be faithful unto death by telling\nthem that God who had given them life at the first would restore it. \"I\nam sure,\" she said, \"that He will of His own mercy give you breath and\nlife again as ye now regard not your own selves for His laws'\nsake.\"[216] The Pharisees in the days of our Lord held by the doctrine,\nwhich the Sadducees, who rejected belief in angels and spirits, denied.\nThe belief expressed by Martha when she said of her brother Lazarus, \"I\nknow that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day,\"[217]\nwas in all likelihood current in her time. It may have been to impress\nthe truth of resurrection-life for the body that Enoch, before the\nflood, and Elijah, in later Old Testament times, were translated; but it\nis in the New Testament, in words spoken by the Lord Jesus, that\nresurrection is fully revealed. \"Marvel not at this,\" said He to the\nJews; \"for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves\nshall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth; they that\nhave done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done\nevil, unto the resurrection of damnation.\"[218] In reply to the\nSadducees, who attempted to ridicule His statements regarding\nresurrection, He said, \"Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the\npower of God\";[219] and He put them to silence by showing that the truth\nof resurrection was implied in the name by which God revealed Himself to\nIsrael, \"I am the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.\" He showed\nHis power over the dead body, and furnished assurance of resurrection,\nby raising the dead. He thus restored the daughter of Jairus and the son\nof the widow of Nain, and raised Lazarus from the tomb four days after\nhe had died. In His own resurrection we have the most signal pledge of\nour bodily immortality. When He arose triumphant from the grave and\nshowed Himself alive by many infallible proofs, He manifested His power\nas the conqueror of death.\n\nIt is clearly taught in Scripture that there is to be a general\nresurrection of the righteous and the wicked. In addition to texts\nalready quoted, we find John declaring, \"I saw the dead, small and\ngreat, stand before God, ... and the sea gave up the dead which were in\nit; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them\";[220]\nand Paul writes to the Thessalonians, \"We that are alive, that are left\nunto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are\nfallen asleep ... and the dead in Christ shall rise first.\"[221]\n\nThe resurrection is associated with the second coming of Christ. It is\nHis voice that shall awake the dead, and the angels who will accompany\nHim are to gather them from the four winds of heaven to the\njudgment-seat of Christ, \"that everyone may receive the things done in\nhis body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or\nbad.\"[222]\n\nIn resurrection, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost take part. God the Father,\nwho \"both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own\npower\":[223] God the Son: \"As the Father raiseth up the dead, and\nquickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will\":[224] God the\nHoly Ghost, who, as the Giver of life, by His special action will raise\nour bodies: \"He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken\nyour mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.\"[225] The Lord\nJesus Christ is the meritorious cause of resurrection: \"By man came\ndeath, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all\ndie, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.\"[226] His resurrection\nis the pledge and the pattern of ours. \"If we have been planted together\nin the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his\nresurrection.\"[227]\n\nChristianity teaches that the body as well as the soul is redeemed by\nthe Lord Jesus Christ, \"the Saviour of the body.\"[228] We are called to\nglorify God in our bodies, which are temples of the Holy Ghost, and we\nmust give account for the deeds done in and through the body, as well as\nfor those sins which are rather of the mind and will than of the body.\nThe body will be raised and will be judged. God will bring to light all\nhidden things--actions forgotten by ourselves, deeds of which the world\nknows nothing, as well as those which memory retains and the world knows\nof. Before that \"great and notable day\" our bodies as well as our souls\nmust have been purged, else we shall never see God. The bodies of the\nunjust will rise; but theirs will be resurrection to shame and\neverlasting contempt.\n\nIt is fitting that reward or punishment should be the portion of the\nsame souls and bodies that have been faithful or unfaithful. Christ rose\nin the same body as He had before His death, and so shall we. How this\nis to be accomplished we cannot tell, but with God all things are\npossible, and faith rests with confidence in His power and in His Word.\n\"We wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew\nthe body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his\nglory.\"[229] While the body is the same as that in which the soul\ntabernacled, it will undergo transformation. Christ will renew the\nbodily as well as the spiritual nature of His people. Every part of\ntheir being will be transformed, and their bodies, like Christ's, will\nbe spiritual bodies. We are to be sanctified wholly; our whole spirit\nand soul and body preserved blameless unto His coming.[230] In this\npresent life the body builds up a character which it will retain\nthroughout eternity. Every act we do affects it, not for the time only,\nbut for ever. The lost soul will assume the polluted body, and while it\nmay shrink in horror from the union, will find no way of escape. \"He\nthat is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is holy, let him be\nholy still.\"[231] \"Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also\nreap,\"[232] and the harvest will abide with him for ever.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nARTICLE 12\n\n_And the Life Everlasting_\n\n\nThe great truth affirmed in the concluding article of the Creed is the\nLife Everlasting: \"The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is\neternal life.\"[233] This life will be the portion of all who are\nacquitted in the day of judgment, and they will then enter upon new\nexperiences. Death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire, and the\nredeemed, no longer subject to imperfection, decay, or death, shall be\nraised to the right hand of the Father, where there is fulness of joy;\nto partake of those pleasures for evermore which have been purchased for\nthem by the blood of the Lamb.\n\nIt is interesting to note the gradual development of this doctrine,\nwhich was first fully expressed by Him who brought life and immortality\nto light. We have the statement of the writer to the Hebrews that the\nfaith of Old Testament saints had in view the continuance of life after\ndeath in \"a better country, that is, an heavenly.\" Whether this faith\ngrasped the doctrine of bodily resurrection, in addition to that of the\nimmortality of the soul, we are not told. It is remarkable that\nthroughout the books of Moses there is an absence of reference to the\nfuture life as a motive to holy living. Prosperity and adversity in this\nlife are set forth as the reward or punishment of conduct, leading to\nthe inference, either that retribution in the future life was not\nrevealed, or that it exercised little practical influence. As time\npassed the doctrine of everlasting life for body and soul emerged in the\nPsalms and in the prophetical writings, but sometimes side by side with\nsuch gloomy views regarding death and its consequences as to leave the\nimpression that belief in it was weak and fitful. In the long period\nthat passed between the time when Old Testament prophecy ceased and the\nadvent of Christ, the fierce persecutions to which the Jews were\nsubjected appear to have strengthened their faith in a future life of\nblessedness, in which the body, delivered from the grave and again\nunited to the soul, shall participate.\n\nThe author of the Apocryphal Book termed _The Wisdom of Solomon_ thus\nrecords his belief:--\n\n    The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,\n    And no torment shall touch them.\n    In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died;\n    And their departure was accounted _to be their_ hurt,\n    And their journeying away from us _to be their_ ruin,\n    But they are in peace.\n    For even if in the sight of men they be punished,\n    Their hope is full of immortality:\n    And having borne a little chastening they shall receive great good;\n    Because God made trial of them, and found them worthy of Himself.\n    As gold in the furnace He proved them,\n    And as a whole burnt offering He accepted them.\n    And in the time of their visitation they shall shine forth,\n    And as sparks among stubble they shall run to and fro.\n    They shall judge nations, and have dominion over peoples;\n    And the Lord shall reign over them for evermore.\n    They that trust in Him shall understand truth,\n    And the faithful shall abide with Him in love;\n    Because grace and mercy are to His chosen.[234]\n\nAgain he writes:--\n\n    The righteous live for ever,\n    And in the Lord is their reward,\n    And the care for them with the Most High.\n    Therefore shall they receive the crown of royal dignity\n    And the diadem of beauty from the Lord's hand.[235]\n\nThe happiness of the kingdom of heaven is in Scripture termed \"life,\"\nbecause it constitutes the life for which man was created. Being made in\nthe likeness of God, his nature can obtain full satisfaction, and his\npowers will expand into fruition, only when he enters upon a life which\nresembles, in proportion to its measure and capacity, the life of God.\nJesus spoke of regeneration as entering into life. Those who receive the\nGospel message and walk in the footsteps of Christ are said to be born\nagain--to receive in their conversion the beginning of a new existence,\nof which the entrance of the infant into the world is a fitting emblem.\nThey possess now not only a natural life, but a life hid with Christ in\nGod, which is a pledge to them that \"when he who is their life shall\nappear, they also shall appear with him in glory.\"[236] Knowledge of God\nthe Father and of Jesus Christ, imparted by the Holy Spirit, is said by\nour Lord to be Life Eternal. \"This is life eternal, to know thee the\nonly true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.\"[237]\n\nStanding at the end of the Creed, this article expresses the\nconsummation of the work accomplished for man by the Three Persons of\nthe Godhead. The Father created man and breathed into his nostrils the\nbreath of life, that he might glorify God and enjoy Him for ever; and\nwhen, through the fall, man had forfeited the gift of life, God spared\nnot His own Son, that, through His dying, pardon and blessed life might\nbe brought within the reach of the fallen; the Son assumed human nature\nand suffered and died, that He might deliver men from death, temporal\nand eternal, and procure for them everlasting life; the Holy Ghost, the\nGiver of life, sanctifies the believer and makes him meet for the\ninheritance of the saints. All the means of grace were given for the\npurpose of convincing and converting men, and of preparing them for\nentrance into and enjoyment of the blessed life in eternity.\n\nThe _Everlasting Life_ of the Creed covers more than the immortality of\nthe soul. Even heathens grasped in some measure the fact that the spirit\nof man survives separation from the body; but life for the body in\nreunion with the soul is a doctrine of revelation. In the Pagan world\nvarious conflicting beliefs were held as to the condition of men after\ndeath. Some thought that existence terminated at death; others that men\nthen lost their personality and were absorbed into the deity; and others\nthat the spirit was released by death and then entered on a separate\nexistence, possessed of personality and capable of enjoyment; but of the\nChristian doctrine of resurrection-life for soul and body in abiding\nreunion they were altogether ignorant. Those consolations which\nChristianity brings to the mourner were unknown. There is an interesting\nletter extant which was written to Cicero, the Roman orator, by a friend\nwho sought to comfort him after the death of his daughter Julia, in\nwhich the consolation tendered strikingly marks the distinction between\nPagan and Christian views regarding death. Cicero was reminded by his\nfriend that even solid and substantial cities, such as those whose\nruined remains were to be seen in Asia Minor, were doomed to decay and\ndestruction; and if so, it could not be thought that man's frail body\ncan escape a similar experience. This is poor comfort in comparison with\nthe hope of glory which sustains the Christian under trial. He knows not\nonly that his soul shall live for ever, but that the life of eternity is\none in which the body too, then incapable of pain, weariness, or death,\nshall have part. \"We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle\nwere dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,\neternal in the heavens.\"[238]\n\nEverlasting existence after resurrection will be the portion of the\nrighteous and the wicked. Attempts have been made to explain away\nvarious emphatic Scripture statements regarding the doom of the ungodly,\nwith the view of lessening its terrors; but, if we are to accept the\nplain meaning of these statements, there seems to be no reasonable\ninterpretation of them which gives sanction to the belief that this doom\ncan be escaped.\n\nWhat is called the doctrine of Conditional Immortality finds not a few\nadvocates and adherents, who hold that existence in the future state is\nexclusively for the faithful, and that the sentence to be executed upon\nthe wicked at death or at judgment is annihilation. A different belief,\ntermed \"The Larger Hope,\" is maintained by others, who affirm that the\npunishment to which those dying impenitent are to be subjected will in\ntime work reformation and cleansing, after which, restored to God's\nfavour, they will enter upon a life of happiness.\n\nIt is a strong argument against such doctrines that the same word which\nour Lord employs to describe the permanent blessedness of the redeemed\nis used by Him to denote the punishment of the wicked. The reward and\nthe punishment are both declared by Him to be everlasting or eternal.\nThe same Greek word is in the English New Testament sometimes rendered\neternal and sometimes everlasting. The portion of the righteous will be\nlife--life everlasting; that of the wicked is described as consisting,\nnot in annihilation or in terminable suffering, but in \"everlasting\ndestruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his\npower.\"[239]\n\nWhile this article may be regarded as bearing upon the doom of the\nungodly, it is rather to be viewed as affirming the eternal blessedness\nof the risen saints. The everlasting life begins on earth, but is\nperfected only in eternity. It is sometimes spoken of as a present\npossession: \"He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,\nhath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is\npassed from death unto life.\"[240] Again it is spoken of as a reward in\nfuturity: \"He shall receive an hundredfold now in this time ... and in\nthe world to come eternal life.\"[241] Our knowledge of what that life\nwill be is very limited. Human words cannot describe it; human beings in\nthis life cannot understand it. We know that it will arise from\nknowledge of God. Men will be equal to the angels who see God. \"Now we\nsee through a glass darkly,\"[242] but \"we know that, when he shall\nappear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.\"[243]\n\nStatements regarding the happiness of the saints are in Scripture\nexpressed sometimes in negative and sometimes in positive terms. In the\nnew heavens and the new earth the redeemed \"shall hunger no more,\nneither thirst any more\";[244] \"There shall be no night there; and they\nneed no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them\nlight.\"[245] Pain and sorrow and death can never touch them; they shall\nbe delivered from perplexing doubts, from all misery and trouble. Care\nand anxiety shall be banished for ever, and God will wipe away all tears\nfrom every eye.\n\nThere are also many positive statements regarding the future life. Not\nonly will there be the absence of all that is painful and productive of\nsorrow; those for whom it is prepared shall enter into rest. They shall\npossess abiding peace, and the joy of their Lord will become their own.\nTheir bodies shall be like Christ's own glorious body, which, when\ntransfigured on Tabor, shone as the sun, and was white as the light.\nThey shall be satisfied, when they awake, with the Divine likeness.[246]\n\"They shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars\nfor ever and ever.\"[247] They shall sit down with Christ upon His\nthrone, and shall be rulers over cities. \"They are as the angels of God\nin heaven.\"[248] In the many mansions of the Father's house there will\nbe a place for every saint. Each will be rewarded according to his\nworks. Some are to be raised to higher glory than others--some are to\nhave authority over ten cities, and some are to bear rule over five--but\nall the saints will be happy in the eternal enjoyment of God's favour,\nwhich is life; and of His loving kindness, which is better than life.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX\n\n\nThe, following arrangement is from Professor Lumby's _History of the\nCreeds_. It shows that the portions of the Apostolic Creed which do\nnot appear in the earlier forms are very few. Irenaeus omits the\nconception by the Holy Ghost, while Tertullian inserts it. Neither Creed\ncontains the first part of the fifth article, and in both the ninth and\ntenth are wanting. With these exceptions the substance of the Apostles'\nCreed was in circulation as early as A.D. 180.\n\n\nTHE APOSTLES' CREED.        CREEDS OF ST. IRENAEUS      CREEDS OF TERTULLIAN\n                            (A.D. 180).                 (A.D. 200).\n\n1. I believe in God the     I believe in one God,       I believe in one God,\nFather Almighty, Maker      the Father Almighty, who    the Creator of the\nof heaven and earth:        made heaven and earth;      world, who produced all\n                                                        out of nothing ...\n\n2. And in Jesus Christ      And in one Christ Jesus,    And in the Word His Son\nHis only Son our Lord,      the Son of God [our         [Jesus Christ],\n                            Lord],\n\n3. Who was conceived by     Who was made flesh [of      Who through the Spirit\nthe Holy Ghost, born of     the Virgin];                and Power of God the\nthe Virgin Mary,                                        Father descended into\n                                                        the Virgin Mary, was\n                                                        made flesh in her womb,\n                                                        and born of her;\n\n4. Suffered under           And in His suffering        Was fixed on the cross\nPontius Pilate, was         [under Pontius Pilate];     [under Pontius Pilate];\ncrucified, dead, and                                    was dead and buried;\nburied,\n\n5. He descended into        And in His rising from      Rose again the third\nhell; the third day He      the dead;                   day;\nrose again from the\ndead,\n\n6. He ascended into         And in His ascension in     Was taken into heaven,\nheaven, and sitteth on      the flesh;                  and sat down at the\nthe right hand of God                                   right hand of God;\nthe Father Almighty;\n\n7. From thence He shall     And in His coming from      He will come to judge\ncome to judge the quick     heaven ... that He may      the wicked to eternal\nand the dead.               execute just judgment on    fire.\n                            all.\n\n8. I believe in the Holy    And in the Holy Ghost.      And in the Holy Spirit\nGhost;                                                  sent by Christ.\n\n9. The Holy Catholic\nChurch; the Communion of\nsaints;\n\n10. The Forgiveness of\nsins;\n\n11. The Resurrection of     And that Christ shall       And that Christ will,\nthe body;                   come from heaven to         after the revival of\n                            raise up all flesh ...      both body and soul with\n12. And the                 and to adjudge the          the restoration of the\nLife Everlasting.           impious and unjust ...      flesh, receive His holy\n                            to eternal fire, and to     ones into the enjoyment\n                            give to the just and        of life eternal and the\n                            holy immortality and        promises of heaven.\n                            eternal glory.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER'S CHANGES:--\n\n\nFootnote 016 amended from \"1 Peter iii. 1.\" to \"1 Peter iii. 15.\"\n\nFootnote 198 amended from \"1 Rom v. 19\" to \"Rom v. 19\"\n\nFootnote 243 amended from \"2 John iii. 2\" to \"1 John iii.2.\"\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n\n\n[Footnote 001: John xi. 25, 26.]\n\n[Footnote 002: Matt, xxviii. 20.]\n\n[Footnote 003: 1 Cor. xv. 1-4.]\n\n[Footnote 004: Rom. vi. 17.]\n\n[Footnote 005: Gal. vi. 16.]\n\n[Footnote 006: 1 Tim. vi. 20.]\n\n[Footnote 007: 2 Tim. i. 13, 14.]\n\n[Footnote 008: See Appendix]\n\n[Footnote 009: Rom. x. 10.]\n\n[Footnote 010: Rom. x. 17.]\n\n[Footnote 011: Heb. xi. 3.]\n\n[Footnote 012: _Table-Talk_, 1852, p. 144.]\n\n[Footnote 013: 1 John v. 9.]\n\n[Footnote 014: Heb. xi. 6.]\n\n[Footnote 015: Heb. xi. 6.]\n\n[Footnote 016: 1 Peter iii. 15.]\n\n[Footnote 017: See Handbook of Christian Evidences, Principal Stewart,\nchap. i.]\n\n[Footnote 018: Deut. vi. 4.]\n\n[Footnote 019: Gen. i. 26; iii. 22; xi. 7. Different views have been\ntaken of these passages. Some commentators think the plural forms\nrepresent the plural of majesty. There is, however, no indication in the\nOld Testament or in ancient monumental inscriptions that sovereigns had\nadopted this style of speech. Nebuchadnezzar and Darius begin their\nproclamations with the singular first personal pronoun \"I\"; not with the\nplural \"We\" which modern kings assume. On the Moabite stone Mesha uses\n\"I,\" not \"We,\" throughout the inscription in which he records his\nachievements. Another view is that Moses, accustomed to hear of the\nnumerous gods of Egypt, used the plural inadvertently. This supposition\ndoes not accord with any view of inspiration held by evangelical\nchurches. The interpretation which regards the passages as early\nindications of the doctrine of the Trinity is simple and natural, and\naccords with the principle of gradual revelation which is apparent in\nScripture.]\n\n[Footnote 020: Job xi. 7.]\n\n[Footnote 021: Deut. xxix. 29.]\n\n[Footnote 022: John x. 30.]\n\n[Footnote 023: John xvii. 5.]\n\n[Footnote 024: See Hodge's _Systematic Theology_, vol. i. p. 444.]\n\n[Footnote 025: Psalm lxxvi. 10.]\n\n[Footnote 026: Rom. viii. 28.]\n\n[Footnote 027: Rom. i. 20.]\n\n[Footnote 028: _Confessions_, Bk. x. chap. vi.]\n\n[Footnote 029: Luke ii. 34.]\n\n[Footnote 030: Acts viii.]\n\n[Footnote 031: 2 Tim. ii. 17.]\n\n[Footnote 032: 2 Tim. i. 15.]\n\n[Footnote 033: See _Landmarks of Church History_, by Professor Cowan,\nD.D., p. 16.]\n\n[Footnote 034: Isaiah ix. 6.]\n\n[Footnote 035: Matt. i. 21.]\n\n[Footnote 036: Col. iv. 11.]\n\n[Footnote 037: Matt. xxi. 11.]\n\n[Footnote 038: Matt. i. 23.]\n\n[Footnote 039: Acts iv. 12.]\n\n[Footnote 040: Phil. ii. 9-11.]\n\n[Footnote 041: John i. 41.]\n\n[Footnote 042: John iv. 29.]\n\n[Footnote 043: Matt. xvi. 16, 17.]\n\n[Footnote 044: Acts xviii. 28.]\n\n[Footnote 045: John ix. 22.]\n\n[Footnote 046: Psalm xlv. 7; Heb. i. 9.]\n\n[Footnote 047: John xx. 31.]\n\n[Footnote 048: Psalm ii. 7.]\n\n[Footnote 049: Isaiah ix. 6.]\n\n[Footnote 050: John i. 1, 14 (R.V.).]\n\n[Footnote 051: Heb. i. 1-3.]\n\n[Footnote 052: John i. 49.]\n\n[Footnote 053: John xi. 27.]\n\n[Footnote 054: John viii. 58.]\n\n[Footnote 055: Prov. viii. 22, 30.]\n\n[Footnote 056: Matt. xxvi. 63; Mark xiv. 61.]\n\n[Footnote 057: Matt. xxvi. 65, 66.]\n\n[Footnote 058: Matt. xxviii. 6.]\n\n[Footnote 059: John xx. 2.]\n\n[Footnote 060: 1 Cor. xi. 23.]\n\n[Footnote 061: 1 Cor. viii. 6.]\n\n[Footnote 062: Matt. xxviii. 18.]\n\n[Footnote 063: Matt. xi. 27.]\n\n[Footnote 064: John iii. 35.]\n\n[Footnote 065: Phil. ii. 9-11.]\n\n[Footnote 066: Acts x. 36.]\n\n[Footnote 067: Rev. xvii. 14.]\n\n[Footnote 068: Isaiah xxvi. 13.]\n\n[Footnote 069: Ques. 22.]\n\n[Footnote 070: Mark i. 1.]\n\n[Footnote 071: Mark i. 11.]\n\n[Footnote 072: John i. 1-3.]\n\n[Footnote 073: Isaiah vii. 14.]\n\n[Footnote 074: See _The Origin and Connection of the Gospels of Matthew,\nMark, and Luke_, and _The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul_, by Mr.\nSmith of Jordanhill.]\n\n[Footnote 075: Luke i. 29, ii. 19, 51.]\n\n[Footnote 076: Vol. i. p. 376.]\n\n[Footnote 077: John xix. 26, 27]\n\n[Footnote 078: John v. 31]\n\n[Footnote 079: Col. iii. 11.]\n\n[Footnote 080: Acts x. 35.]\n\n[Footnote 081: 1 Cor. i. 23.]\n\n[Footnote 082: Pearson _On the Creed_, vol. i. p. 337.]\n\n[Footnote 083: 1 Peter iii. 18.]\n\n[Footnote 084: Isaiah liii. 5. In this chapter, which all the earlier\nJewish authorities understood to refer to Messiah, there are no fewer\nthan eleven expressions which clearly describe the vicarious character\nof these sufferings. See _Speaker's Commentary, in loco_.]\n\n[Footnote 085: Luke xii. 50.]\n\n[Footnote 086: John xii. 33.]\n\n[Footnote 087: Matt. xx. 28; xvii. 22; xxvi. 2; John x. 11.]\n\n[Footnote 088: John x. 17.]\n\n[Footnote 089: Isaiah liii. 7.]\n\n[Footnote 090: Matt. xxii. 29.]\n\n[Footnote 091: Luke xxiv. 25, 26.]\n\n[Footnote 092: Matt. ii. 13-15.]\n\n[Footnote 093: John i. 11; John vii. 5; Heb. xii. 3.]\n\n[Footnote 094: Matt. xxvi. 39.]\n\n[Footnote 095: Heb. ii. 10.]\n\n[Footnote 096: Heb. iv. 15.]\n\n[Footnote 097: Gal. iii. 13.]\n\n[Footnote 098: Heb. ix. 22.]\n\n[Footnote 099: 1 Cor. xv. 3.]\n\n[Footnote 100: Rev. v. 6.]\n\n[Footnote 101: Matt. xxvi. 26, 28.]\n\n[Footnote 102: Rom. v. 10.]\n\n[Footnote 103: Col. i. 14.]\n\n[Footnote 104: John x. 17, 18.]\n\n[Footnote 105: 1 Peter ii. 24.]\n\n[Footnote 106: Rom. v. 9.]\n\n[Footnote 107: Rom. iii. 25, 26.]\n\n[Footnote 108: Rom. v. 18, 19.]\n\n[Footnote 109: Rev. i. 18.]\n\n[Footnote 110: Isaiah liii. 8, 9.]\n\n[Footnote 111: Deut. xxi. 22, 23.]\n\n[Footnote 112: John xix. 31.]\n\n[Footnote 113: Mark xv. 46.]\n\n[Footnote 114: Luke xxiii. 53 (R.V.).]\n\n[Footnote 115: Matt. xxvii. 63, 64.]\n\n[Footnote 116: Matt. xxvii. 65, 66.]\n\n[Footnote 117: Luke xvi. 19-26.]\n\n[Footnote 118: Mark xv. 37.]\n\n[Footnote 119: Luke xxiii. 46.]\n\n[Footnote 120: Ques. 50.]\n\n[Footnote 121: Heb ii. 17.]\n\n[Footnote 122: John iii. 13.]\n\n[Footnote 123: Heb. ix. 27.]\n\n[Footnote 124: S.C. Ques. 37.]\n\n[Footnote 125: 1 Peter ii. 24.]\n\n[Footnote 126: Heb. x. 14, 26, 27.]\n\n[Footnote 127: John i.; 1 Tim. iii.]\n\n[Footnote 128: See Principal Stewart's _Handbook of Christian\nEvidences_, chap. vi.]\n\n[Footnote 129: Jesus appears to have shown Himself during the forty days\nafter His Resurrection at least ten times, viz.--\n\n1. To Mary Magdalene, Mark xvi. 9; John xx. 11-18.\n\n2. To two disciples, Mark xvi. 12; Luke xxiv. 13-32.\n\n3. To Peter on same day, Luke xxiv. 34; Cor. xv. 5.\n\n4. To ten Apostles, Thomas only being absent, John xx. 19-25.\n\n5. To all the Apostles, Mark xvi. 14; John xx. 26-29; 1 Cor. xv. 7.\n\n6. To the women at the sepulchre, Matt, xxviii. 9, 10.\n\n7. To the Apostles, and at this time probably to five hundred others, on\na mountain in Galilee, Matt, xxviii. 16-20; 1 Cor. xv. 6.\n\n8. To seven disciples at Tiberias, John xxi. 1-24.\n\n9. To James, 1 Cor. xv. 7.\n\n10. To the Apostles at His Ascension, Mark xvi. 15-18: Luke xxiv. 44-50;\nActs i. 4-8; 1 Cor. xv. 7.\n\nThese seem to be all the appearances recorded, but there were probably\nmany others, Acts i. 3. After His Ascension He appeared to Saul of\nTarsus, Acts ix. 3-18; 1 Cor. xv. 8. He was seen by Stephen also, Acts\nvii. 55, 56.]\n\n[Footnote 130: Acts ii. 25-32.]\n\n[Footnote 131: John ii. 19.]\n\n[Footnote 132: John xvi. 16.]\n\n[Footnote 133: For proof of this, see Mark xvi. 1; Luke xxiii. 56 and\nxxiv. 1; Luke xxiv. 11; John xx. 9; John xx. 11-18; Luke xxiv. 13-32;\nMark xvi. 13; Luke xxiv. 37, 41; John xx. 25; Mark xvi. 14; Matt.\nxxviii. 17.]\n\n[Footnote 134: 1 Cor. xv. 14.]\n\n[Footnote 135: 1 Peter i. 3.]\n\n[Footnote 136: Rom. i. 4.]\n\n[Footnote 137: Acts i. 22.]\n\n[Footnote 138: Rom. x. 9.]\n\n[Footnote 139: Acts x. 40, 41.]\n\n[Footnote 140: Acts i. 8.]\n\n[Footnote 141: Matt, xxviii. 20.]\n\n[Footnote 142: Luke xxiv. 50, 51.]\n\n[Footnote 143: Heb. viii. 4.]\n\n[Footnote 144: Heb. ix. 24.]\n\n[Footnote 145: Acts i. 9.]\n\n[Footnote 146: 1 Kings ii. 19; Psalm xvi. 11; Heb. ix. 24.]\n\n[Footnote 147: Ephes. iv. 11, 12.]\n\n[Footnote 148: 2 Cor. v. 20.]\n\n[Footnote 149: Matt. iii. 16; Acts x. 38.]\n\n[Footnote 150: Ephes. i. 22.]\n\n[Footnote 151: Heb. i. 13.]\n\n[Footnote 152: Acts i. 11.]\n\n[Footnote 153: John xiv. 2, 3.]\n\n[Footnote 154: Matt. xvi. 27.]\n\n[Footnote 155: Rev. i. 7.]\n\n[Footnote 156: Matt. xxiv. 36.]\n\n[Footnote 157: Titus ii. 13.]\n\n[Footnote 158: 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17.]\n\n[Footnote 159: 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52.]\n\n[Footnote 160: Acts x. 42.]\n\n[Footnote 161: 2 Tim. iv. 1.]\n\n[Footnote 162: John v. 22.]\n\n[Footnote 163: Matt. xii. 35]\n\n[Footnote 164: Matt. x. 26.]\n\n[Footnote 165: Acts xix. 2.]\n\n[Footnote 166: John vii. 39.]\n\n[Footnote 167: Acts xiii. 2.]\n\n[Footnote 168: Acts v. 4.]\n\n[Footnote 169: Rom viii. 11.]\n\n[Footnote 170: 1 Cor. ii. 10.]\n\n[Footnote 171: Ps. cxxxix. 7.]\n\n[Footnote 172: 2 Peter 1, 21.]\n\n[Footnote 173: 2 Tim iii. 16.]\n\n[Footnote 174: Luke i. 35.]\n\n[Footnote 175: John xvi. 15.]\n\n[Footnote 176: John xiv. 17.]\n\n[Footnote 177: 1 Cor. vi. 19.]\n\n[Footnote 178: John xiv. 23.]\n\n[Footnote 179: Ephes. ii. 22.]\n\n[Footnote 180: Rom. viii. 9.]\n\n[Footnote 181: John xxi. 7.]\n\n[Footnote 182: Ephes. i. 14.]\n\n[Footnote 183: Acts v. 29.]\n\n[Footnote 184: 2 Cor. vi. 16; John xvi. 13.]\n\n[Footnote 185: See _The New Testament and its Writers_, by Dr. M'Clymont\n(Guild Library), p 123, note 1.]\n\n[Footnote 186: Eccles. vii. 20.]\n\n[Footnote 187: Ephes. v. 25-27.]\n\n[Footnote 188: Acts x. 34, 35 (R.V.).]\n\n[Footnote 189: Ephes. ii. 20.]\n\n[Footnote 190: Ephes. iv. 4-6.]\n\n[Footnote 191: 1. Cor. i. 2 (R.V.).]\n\n[Footnote 192: _Epistle to Smyrna_, c. 8.]\n\n[Footnote 193: Acts ix. 32.]\n\n[Footnote 194: 2 Cor. i. 1.]\n\n[Footnote 195: Heb. xii. 23.]\n\n[Footnote 196: Heb. xi. 4.]\n\n[Footnote 197: Rev. vi. 10.]\n\n[Footnote 198: Rom. v. 19]\n\n[Footnote 199: 1 John i. 8.]\n\n[Footnote 200: Ques. 14.]\n\n[Footnote 201: Chap. ix.]\n\n[Footnote 202: Luke xxiv. 47.]\n\n[Footnote 203: Matt. iv. 17.]\n\n[Footnote 204: Acts ii. 38.]\n\n[Footnote 205: Acts v. 31.]\n\n[Footnote 206: 2 Cor. vii. 10.]\n\n[Footnote 207: 1 John i. 8.]\n\n[Footnote 208: Heb. xi. 6.]\n\n[Footnote 209: Rom. v. 1.]\n\n[Footnote 210: James i. 6, 7 (R.V.).]\n\n[Footnote 211: Psalm li. 10.]\n\n[Footnote 212: Titus ii. 12.]\n\n[Footnote 213: Job xix. 25.]\n\n[Footnote 214: Isaiah xxvi. 19.]\n\n[Footnote 215: Dan. xii. 2.]\n\n[Footnote 216: 2 Maccabees, chap. vii.]\n\n[Footnote 217: John xi. 24.]\n\n[Footnote 218: John v. 28, 29.]\n\n[Footnote 219: Matt. xxii. 29.]\n\n[Footnote 220: Rev. xx. 12, 13.]\n\n[Footnote 221: 1 Thess. iv. 15, 17 (R.V.).]\n\n[Footnote 222: 2 Cor. v. 10.]\n\n[Footnote 223: 1 Cor. vi. 14.]\n\n[Footnote 224: John v. 21.]\n\n[Footnote 225: Rom. viii. 11.]\n\n[Footnote 226: 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22.]\n\n[Footnote 227: Rom. vi. 5.]\n\n[Footnote 228: Ephes. v. 23.]\n\n[Footnote 229: Phil. iii. 20, 21 (R.V.).]\n\n[Footnote 230: 1 Thess. v. 23.]\n\n[Footnote 231: Rev. xxii. 11.]\n\n[Footnote 232: Gal. vi. 7.]\n\n[Footnote 233: Rom. vi. 23.]\n\n[Footnote 234: Wisdom, chap. iii. 1-9 (R.V.).]\n\n[Footnote 235: Chap. v. 15, 16 (R.V.).]\n\n[Footnote 236: Col. iii. 4.]\n\n[Footnote 237: John xvii. 3.]\n\n[Footnote 238: 2 Cor. v. 1.]\n\n[Footnote 239: 2 Thess. i. 9.]\n\n[Footnote 240: John v. 24.]\n\n[Footnote 241: Mark x. 30.]\n\n[Footnote 242: 1 Cor. xiii. 12.]\n\n[Footnote 243: 1 John iii. 2.]\n\n[Footnote 244: Rev. vii. 16.]\n\n[Footnote 245: Rev. xxii. 5.]\n\n[Footnote 246: Psalm xvii. 15.]\n\n[Footnote 247: Dan. xii. 3.]\n\n[Footnote 248: Matt. xxii. 30.]\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nSOME BOOKS\nON\nTHE APOSTLES' CREED OR BEARING\nUPON ARTICLES THEREOF\n\n\n1. _The History of the Apostles' Creed_. Anon. 1719.\n\n2. _An Exposition of the Creed_. By John Pearson, D.D., Bishop of\nChester. 1820.\n\n3. _An Exposition of the Creed_. By Robert Leighton, Archbishop of\nGlasgow. 1825.\n\n4. _The Creeds of the Church in their Relation to the Word of God_.\nHulsean Lecture, 1857. By Charles Anthony Swainson.\n\n5. _Lectures in Divinity_. By George Hill, D.D. Edinburgh, 1837. 4th\nedition.\n\n6. _The Fatherhood of God_. By Thomas J. Crawford, D.D., Professor of\nDivinity in the University of Edinburgh. 1867.\n\n7. _Theism_, being the Baird Lecture for 1876. By Robert Flint, D.D.,\nProfessor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh. 1877.\n\n8. _Anti-Theistic Theories_, being the Baird Lecture for 1877. By Robert\nFlint, D.D. 1879.\n\n9. _The Historic Faith_. By B.F. Westcott, D.D., D.C.L., Bishop of\nDurham. 1883.\n\n10. _The Creeds of Christendom_. By Philip Schaff, D.D., 1877.\n\n11. _The History of the Creeds_. By J. Rawson Lumby, D.D. 1887.\n\n12. _An Exposition of the Apostles' Creed_. By J.E. Yonge, M.A. 1888.\n\n13. _The Foundations of the Creed_. By Harvey Goodwin, D.D., D.C.L.,\nBishop of Carlisle. 1889.\n\n14. _Outlines of Christian Doctrine_. By the Rev. H.C.G. Moule, M.A.\n1889.\n\n15. _The Faith of the Gospel_. By Arthur James Mason, B.D. 1889.\n\n16. _Rudiments of Theology_. By John Pilkington Norris, D.D.\n\n17. _The Creed in Scotland_. By James Rankin, D.D. 1890.\n\n18. _The Apostles' Creed_. Sermons by Robert Eyton. 1890.\n\n19. _Christian Theism_. By C.A. Row, M.A. 1890.\n\n20. _Christianity in Relation to Science and Morals_. By Malcolm\nMacColl, M.A. 1891.\n\n21. _Primary Convictions_. By William Alexander, D.C.L., Bishop of\nDerry. 1893.\n\n22. _The Apostles' Creed, its Relation to Primitive Christianity_. By\nH.B. Swete, D.D. 1894.\n\n23. _The Nicene Creed_. By H.M. Thomson, M.A. 1894.\n\n24. _Dissertations on Subjects connected with the Incarnation_. By\nCharles Gore, M.A. 1895.\n\n25. _Defence of the Christian Faith_. By Professor F. Godet. 1895.\n\n\nTHE END\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *","title":"Exposition of the Apostles' Creed","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":36179}