Twenty-Seven Lectures Upon Hebrews, Lectures · Lecture 9
¶ The ninth Lecture, vponupon part of the 8. verse: & vponupon the 9. & 10. verses.
8 But we yet see not all things subdued vntounto him.
9 But we see Iesus crowned with glorie and honour, which was made a litle inferior to the Angels, through the suffering of death, that by Gods grace he might tast death for all men.
10 For it became him, for whome are all these thinges, and by whome are all these thinges: seeing that he brought many children vntounto glorie, that he should consecrate the Prince of their saluation through afflictions.
I Tolde you at the beginning, that the Apostle in the first & seconde chapter, setteth purposely out the person of Christ, how he is God & man: how he set out his godhead in y• first chapter you heard: vntounto which hee addeth this earnest exhortation in the beginning of this chapter, wherof also we hauehave already spoken.
Nowe, in these woordes, whiche wee hauehave read, he beginneth the other parte of his purpose, to teache, that our Sauiour Christe is perfect man: and taketh his occasion of the text before alledged, which he applyed vntounto Christe as chiefe and principall, though it be ment also of all men: for when he had so highly magnified man: in consideration of mans present state, a doubt is streight moued: Howe can this bee, sithe we see not these things yet subiect vntounto him?
To this the Apostle aunswereth, that it is alreadie accomplished in our Sauiour Christe, who is beecome man for our sakes, and through death hath gotten this glorie for vsus: so heere is a full declaration how this prophesie alledged, is verified in man: and a preperation to teach more at large, how Christe is perfect man. In the words of this eighth verse: But now we see not yet all thinges subiect vntounto him: he moueth the doubt, whiche is easily made against that Scripture, whiche so highly extolled man: and aunswereth thus vntounto it. In deed I graunt all things are not yet thus subiect vntounto man, but yet in Christe wee see this already accomplished: for wee hauehave seene him made lower then Angels, and yet againe exalted, and crowned with glorie and honour, euen as him selfe is witnesse: All power is giuen mee in Heauen, and in Earth: and so hee is risen from the dead, that death hath no more power ouer him for euer: who beeing made man for vsus, in him it is accomplished, that man is ruler ouer all the workes of God now in parte, and after this fullie, when our base bodies shalbe chaunged and made glorious. In this we see, how he commeth to speake of the māhod of our sauiour Christ, which after he declareth more at large. For the suffering of death: Some translate this, Through the suffering of death, as shewing the cause, why God exalted him: but neither is that so pertinent to the Apostles purpose, nor his wordes doe so signifie: but thus: For the suffering of death, that is, to the end hee might suffer death. So he sheweth the cause why Christ was made lower then Angels, and that is, because he might die: for otherwise, in the maiestie of his Godhead, all death, and all corrupion fall before him, and nothing can stand in his sight but life, glorie and immortalitie: therefore, to the end that that immortalitie and glorie of GOD might dye, and death might come vntounto him, it must needes be that he should be humbled beneath Angels.
In the words that followe: That by Gods grace he might taste of death for all men: he sheweth here y• cause why he dyed. As this was the cause of abasing him, that he might dye: so this was y• cause of his death, that he might dye for vsus, that is, that he might take our death vponupon him, & so by him we might be deliuered from it. Where he saith, By the grace of God: he sheweth that it was the free louelove of God, that gaue his sonne vntounto vsus, no desert on our behalfe: but when wee sought not after him, then hee offered him selfe vntounto vsus: and when we sate (as the prophet saith) in darkenesse, and in the shadowe of death, then a great light rose vp vntounto vsus: to this end, that we which are the Gentiles might prayse God for his merciemercy. And where it is said: that he might tast of death, he calleth here To taste of death, to hauehave in deede sense and feeling of the paines, not diminishing the passion, as a thing lightly touched: but warranting the bitternesse and all the sorrow of it, euen to the bottome of the graue, and deathe to be tasted & fealt in deed: and saying, For all: he meaneth not by (All) good or badd, whosoeuer they be: but as Sainct Iohn plainely expoundeth it: God gaue his Iohn 3.sonne to die, to the end that al that beleeue should not perish but hauehave life euerlasting. So our Sauiour Christ saith: Matt. 28. 28.All that beleeue & are baptised shalbe saued. So thus farre the Apostle hath taught plainely, both how the former prophesie is accomplished in Christ, and is verified in euerie one of vsus: and he hath aptly begun to teache this doctrine, that our Sauiour Christ is perfect man, which in this Chapter (I saide) was his especiall purpose. Now, touching this greate excellencie of man, whereof the Apostle hath spoken, & howe wee be made partakers of it, a little further weighe it.
He hath spoken greate and maruelous thinges, euen as the Prophet had saide: Marueilous things are spoken of thee, thou Citie of God.Psa. …7. 3.
There is neither Sunne nor Moone, sea nor land, golde nor siluer, meate nor drinke, no elementes of the worlde, no obseruations of Moses lawe, no traditions of men, that is ouer man, but man ruleth all, and all is vnderunder his feete. Here streight way, bothe Iewe & Gentile saith: These be in deed golden promises, but where are these honourable personages you speake of? Are not we as our fathers were, and doth not death deuour vsus? To this the Apostle aunswereth: I graunt we do not yet see with our eyes, how these thinges are: but I say againe, our eyes are no iudges in this case. The glorie is not earthly, and the kingdom is not of this world wherof we speak: but the riches spirituall, and of the spirituall man they are discerned. Know thy selfe, y• by saith thou art Christs, and he thine: that he died for thee, and thou liuest by him: that thou art fleshe of his fleshe, bone of his bone, a member of his bodie, and what soeuer is his, is thine: hauehave this faith, and now come and see, and thou shalt see all the glorie of the worlde lesse then the glorie of suche a man: for thou seest Christe humbled in deede once, that he might suffer death, but euen then, when he was in the shape of a seruaunt, thou sawest him full of grace & trueth, euen as the onelyonly begotten sonne of God: thou sawest him soft of speache, but of merucilous wisedome: plaine in teaching, but full of grace and power: simple in countenaunce, but of an inuincible courage: of lowe degree, but of excellent power: of no account among men, but great in miracles, at which man was astonished.
Thus thou hast seene Christ, euen when he was lowest, highly exalted: that thou hast no good cause to reason against thy dignitie, though thine eye see not, euen in this time, all things subiect vntounto thee: but see further into our Sauiour Christ, and thou shalt see more of thine owne honour.
Thou haste seene him in thy fleash raysed from the dead, and in thy nature ascended into Heauen, that man in his person might be crowned with glorie and honour: we hauehave seene him carrie our fleash into the presēce of God his father: and it is no more possible to take this glorie from vsus, as many as bee one with him, then it is possible to pul away againe his personal humanitie from the person of his godhead. This I see in Christ, and know it in my selfe. And what though yet a while the outward man be grieued? Thou foole, that which thou sowest, it reuiueth not againe, except it first dye: a litle corne of 1. Co. 15. …6.wheate, it can not hauehave vertue to becōe thirtie fourtie times better then it was, beeing multiplied to so many, all as good as it selfe, & bringing beside fruitfull increase of strawe and chaffe, except it firste bee cast in the ground & dye. And how shouldest thou hauehave a change, but if thou be first corrupt? And how much art thou better then a graine of corne, y• thou mightest surely know whē through corruptiō thou shalt come into incorruption, that thy glorie shalbe then vnspekable, & althings shall serue thee to make thy life infinitely blessed more then it is? Thy hope now, if thou couldst inlarge it a thousand folde, yet it shuld be greter thē thou cāst imagine: & thy faith, if it could comprehend more assurance of immortalitie, then y• eye doth surely of y• light of the sunne, yet y• shalt finde y• fruite of it aboue al thy thoughts. This thou seest, if thou see Christe: and this thou knowest to be thine, if thou know thy self to be one with him. And for thy sinns, howsoeuer they cleaue vntounto thy bones, hate them as thou hatest hell: for from thence they are, and the diuel worketh them, but care not for them: for though they were heauie in weight and manie in number, what then? thou haste thy hope, not in thine owne person, but in the bodie of Christ, into which thou art graffed, and in which there is no▪ spott nor blemish, but perfecte righteousnesse, euen before God: and in him as all other things, so sinne also is putt vnderunder thy feete, and thou art ruler ouer…t. And thus farr of the doctrine of the Apostle heere taught vsus, in this his Exhortation.
Nowe let vsus returne to his other purpose, howe he teacheth the humanitie of our Sauiour Christe: the first reason whereof is in these wordes: That hee might tast of death for all. For, as to the end he might suffer death, it was necessarie he should be humbled, because death else could not come into his presence: so suffering death, that man might bee deliuered, by that death it was necessarie that hee him selfe should be man, for so were the iust iudgements of God: he gaue man a lawe & pronounced a curse to him that brake it: therfore whē we had all trespassed we were fallen into the punishment of our sinne: for y• threatnings of God are not as the words of a man that can alter, or by some intercession that they can be mitigated: but with God there is no change nor shadow of change: that whiche with him is once purposed was euer decreed, and his words are not weake, but what he hath threatened, if we fal into his hands, all the creatures of the worlde hauehave no helpe for thee: So that this beeing decreed of God: Cursed is he that Deu. 27.abideth not in all things written in this booke: all people must nedes say, Amen: And, The soule that sinneth must nedes dye: redemption from this there is none to be loked for, but by suffering of it: for y• Lord had spoken, & it must be done: so our Sauiour Christ, sith he would deliuer vsus, he must be made man like vntounto vsus, and in our nature dye the death.
Our sinnes are not imputed vntounto vsus, but they were imputed vntounto him. The punishment of them is forgiuen vsus, but it was not forgiuen him. Righteousnesse is freely giuen vsus, but it was not freely giuen him. He obeyed the lawe of his father eueryevery iot and eueryevery title, that he might fulfill all righteousnesse. He bare the condemnation of hell and death, that he might abolish it. He tooke vppon him the guiltinesse of our sinnes, and bare them in his owne bodie, y• he might nay le them vponupon his crosse. Whē it pleased God our heauenlie father of his greate merciemercy, to accept the obedience of his lawe for our perfecte righteousnesse, and to giuegive vntounto it the recompence of eternall life: and when it pleased God to accept this for a full punishment of all the sinnes of man, if any man could bee found to beare it before God and ouercome it, our Sauiour Christ craued no more but this: the residue he perfourmed all in his owne bodie, and by his eternall spirite ouercame it: so that in him is life, in him is righteousnes, in him is immortalitie, in him is the reconciled good wil of God, and that excellent wisdōe which hath made vsus by faith one with him, the same hath made vsus partakers of all his honour and glorie. Thus we see with what necessitie we are constrayned to acknowledge the humanitie of our Sauiour Christe, and why he must needes be made man.
It followeth now in the tenth verse: For it became him for whome are al things &c. The Apostle now goeth forwarde, teaching more largelie this doctrine of the humanitie of our Sauiour Christ: and first he taketh away the offence of it, then setteth downe manifest reason to proue it. Touching the offence, we can not denie, but manie thoughts and cogitations arise in a carnall man, when he considereth the sonne of God to take flesh of the virgin Marie, to be made man in al likenes vntounto vsus, except sinne, to hunger, to thirst, to suffer all that he suffered: we would think this mysterie verie strange, if we had no more wisdome but of the heart of man to meditate in it. And therefore to stop all such offences, and vtterlie to take away all the tentations of the diuel touching the incarnation and suffering of Christe, he sayth thus: For it became him for whom are althings, & by whom are all things. An excellent saying, & able to bring in obedience vntounto God, all the thoughts of man. All things serue for Gods glorie, and all things are according to his will: he hath so decreede, and this was best in his eyes: Who wil reason against it?
It followeth: When he would bring many children into glorie, to consecrate the prince of their saluatiō through afflictions. In these words the Apostle setteth downe, what was this decree of God, that from hencefoorth all mouthes might be stopped, and no man should hauehave iust offence in the crosse of Christ. Beside this, in these woordes we may gather an argument also for the humanitie of our Sauiour Christ, whiche is, this: God decreed to bring man to glorie throughe afflictions, but so our Sauiour Christ entered into his glorie, therefore he was also perfect man. A necessarie and sure conclusion in the Schoole of diuinitie, where we striue not about woordes. These words: Many children, meaning all the elect, hauehave respect vntounto these: The Prince of their saluatiō, meaning Christ: for in that he is called their chiefe leader into life, it is witnessed, that he is one in nature with the residue, a brother among all the children, whom the other might follow: so these wordes, To bring into glorie, hauehave respect to ye other after, To consecrate by afflictions: so that ye decree of God, was, to make such a way of life, in which his childrē by many afflictions should be made meete for an inheritance of glorie, which way, according to the will of his father, our Sauiour Christe hathe gone, that he might bee knowne to be man, and the author of our saluation. And so we see the argument, whereof wee spake, why our Sauiour Christ was man, and submitted vntounto death.
Nowe let vsus further marke, what we may profitablie learne in this verse.
First, where it is saide: It be seemed him, for whome are all things, &c.
Let vsus learne in all thinges, whereof our heartes can consider, to make this vntounto vsus a sure principle of all trueth, equitie… goodnesse: That so it was decreed of God. How farre so euer we decline from this, to thinke it either straunge, or any other thing better, so farre we fall into all vnrighteousnesse, vntrueth, and sinne, being seduced with the corruption of our owne heartes. Let vsus hold this then with an vnchā geable purpose: if it be once reuealed, this is the decree of God. Bring downe the hautinesse of thine owne thoughtes, and humble thy minde and vnderstanding to acknowledge all counsel, wisedome and iustice to be in Gods ordinaunce: and if any thing seeme better vntounto thee, confesse the hardenesse of thy heart, and say with the prophet Dauid: This is …y sinne: further reasoning then this is all of euill, & whosoeuer presumeth to dispute more, he shalbe ouerthrowen at the last in his owne sollie, and giuegive glorie vntounto God in his owne destruction.
The Apostle here to take away al foolish questions and superfluous, about the humanitie of our Sauiour Christ, with this one worde he stoppeth the mouthes of all proude men: So the Lorde appointed: so it seemed good vntounto the Lord. Suche humilitie as this was in Moses, when he maketh his long exhortation to the people of Israel, and foretelleth them, that when they shall forget the Lord, & despise his statuts, ye wrath of god shal wax hot against them, and he wil bring vponupon them eueryevery curse that is written in the lawe, euen so doing with them, as hee did with the nations that were before them: which wonderfull iudgements of God vppon his owne people, should make the world amased: wherof yet lest any man should curiously dispute, Moses addeth: The secret things beelong to the Lord our Deu. 29. 29.God, but the things reuealed beelong vntounto vsus and to our children for euer. As if he had said: These are the ordinaunces of God, let vsus walke in them: if wee transgresse, the punishment of our sinne is before vsus: further we shal dispute in vaine, the secret things belong vntounto the Lord our God, and his iudgements can not be searched out. Such an humble confession was in the prophet Dauid, in his great persecutions & troubles, wherein (no doubt) all his sorrowe was not for the sonne of Isaie, he would not hauehave made suche complaintes and cryes for the fall of a fraile man: but he knew the promises that God had made vntounto him, and all his fayth how it rested vponupon them, so that all his foundations seemed to bee cast downe, and it shooke his heart & reines to see the strength and rage of his enimies, and him selfe as a dead dogge in Israel, that is, a man without any accompt or reckoning: yet notwithstanding all this, though his owne wisedome had fayled neuer so much, yet he sayth: I should be dumbe, and not open my mouth: for thou ô Lord dost it. How soeuer his own wi… was turned vpside downe, that he saw nothing how things could come to passe, yet he acknowledgeth his sinne, that is, his follie, his ignorance, his infidelitie, Psal. 39. 9.if he should not confesse all that God did, it was best, and the next way to bring all his purposes to passe▪ The Prophet Ieremie beeing vtterlie amased, what it should meane that the way of the wicked did still prosper, or why they liued all in wealth, that did rebelliously transgresse, why God planted them, to make them take roote and to bring foorth fruite: as he was astonished at this work, and spake foorth the thoughts of his heart, yet first he acknowledged his owne ignorance, casting downe the thoughts of his owne reason, and said: O Lord, if I dispute with thee, thou art righteous.Ierem. 12. 1.
It was a redie bridle to the holie Prophet to rule all his thoughtes, to say, The Lord hath done it, let vsus holde our peace.
And an excellent example of this humilitie, is our Sauiour Christe him selfe, to reache vsus modestie, that are but men: for he, who so loued the people of Israel, that he weapt ouer their Citie, when they would not repent, prayed for them, when they houng him on the crosse, gaue his life for them, when they had cast him off and would none of his saluation, he that had this vnchangeable louelove to his brethren, flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone … yet when he called his humane thoughts to y• consideration of the decree of God, he humbled him selfe, changed his affections, reioyced in other thoughts, and said: I thanke thee, O father, that thou hast bid these thinges from the wise and prudent, and hast reuealed them Luc. 10. 21.vntounto little ones. Whē he saw he was sent their minister for the trueth of God, to confirme the promises made vntounto their Fathers, he had no other longinge but how to winne them: when he sawe an other counsell of God, that they were not all Israel which were of Israel, he knewe this was best, reioyced in spirite, gaue glorie vntounto God, and would not reason of his vnsearcheable iudgements. Who is he now, or of what wisdome, that dare dispute against the counsel of God? Are we greater then Moses, wiser then the Prophets, or higher then our Sauiour Christ? Or hauehave all these helde their peace at Gods workes, that we should reason against them? Let vsus then rule our selues, or rather let vsus be ruled of the Lord, that we may say as the Apostle saide, and this may be reason of all our beleefe: So the Lord hath thought good. A place much like vntounto this, is in the 24. of Luke: when ye two disciples y• went to Ema…s marueled exceedingly at al the things that had happened vntounto Christ, so that their faith began to fayle them: thus our Sauiour Christe reprooueth them, and all the reasoning that was with… them: O fooles Luke. 14. 26.& slowe of heart to beleue all that the prophets hauehave spoken: must not Christ needs suffer these things and so enter into glorie? He referreth them first to ye prophets, to know y• this was the decree of God: but thē layeth a necessitie vponupon the perfourmance of his word, that it must needes be so. And if that be not onelyonly good, onelyonly iust, onelyonly wise in our sight that are but men, let vsus not boast, there is no cause in this worlde of out misliking: but because wee bee fooles, & slowe of heart to beleeue. And thus farre the thing it selfe speaketh, howe meete it is for vsus to humble our selues vnderunder all the ordinaunces of God. It followeth in the Apostle: For whom are al things, & by whom are all things: this is a singular reason, why we should be obedient, and aske none account of all the dooinges of the Lord. Is man afflicted? Why should he not be so? The Lord hath done it, and for the Lord hee was made. Are ye reprobate ordeined to destructiō? Why should they not? The lord so ordeined it, and for the Lord they were made. Are the elect freely saued? Why should they not? The Lord hath saued them, and for the Lord they were made. Yea, but the reason of these things I see not: yea, but (ô man) who art thou that takest a contrarie part to dispute against God? Are not all thinges for him, and art thou onelyonly enuious against his glorie? Thus (dearely beloued) carrie the word of God to leane on, & beleeue assuredly it shall be fulfilled: and thinke that it is best, and you shal not be moued for euer. If you come in place, with those auncient worne creatures, who with a colour of gray haire, which is the wisest part in them, so long deceiue our people, they or their disciples, if they reason against you: Hath God forsaken his Church a thousand yeare, and were all our fathers deceiued before Luther was borne, such antiquitie, vnitie, vniuersalitie, was it all in errour? These wordes taken vp againe in our dayes, and countenanced with the gray heads of our Phariseies, Watson, Fecknam, Cole, Heath, and other like, ô Lorde! how manie men doe they deceiue? For their owne reason lifteth vp it self, & they say: How can this be so? So many wise, so many learned, so many noble, all deceiued? Had God forgotten to be mercifull? First, I would aske of these men but this one question: and if they will not willingly be deceiued, let them answer as they thinke. What one word of all these, bothe might not and did not the Phariseies say against our Sauiour Christe? And howe dare they nowe reason against the Gospell of Christe, with the same argument, with whiche the Phariseies reasoned against Christ? But they will say, now Christ hath made a promise to be with his Churche to the ende.
And had he not made this promise before? It not Iesus Christe bothe to day and yesterday, and the same worlde without ende? Looke in the 18. of Deut. and in the 59. of Esaie: as absolute, as Deut. 18. 1…. Esai. 59. 10.full a promise then as nowe. But they were not so long in errour: put case they were not: he who punished the transgression of the lawe giuen by Angels, with 400. yeres blindnesse: may not he punish the transgression against his Gospell, giuen by his onelyonly sonne, with 800. or a 1000. yeres blindnesse? But for your sakes (dearly beloued) I do more then I woulde, and with reason I confute them whiche hauehave no reason. Let vsus come to the text & answere out of it. Was the world deceiued so many hundred 1. Thes. 2. 2.yeres? Why should it not? The Lord ordeined that there should come an apostasie, and a generall 1. Thes. 2. 7.fall from the faith of Christ: that the world might be seduced with the man of sinne: whose age began in the Apostles times, and shall not vtterly die till 1. Thes 2. 8.the day of Christ. Thus the Lorde appointed, and so let it be, for all thinges are for his glorie. And here let vsus rest in all the thinges that …uer our hearts can thinke vponupon, if we can see no reason of the word of God, we can see humilitie to confesse before him: ô the deapth of the riches, and of the Rom. 1…. 33.wisedome, and of the knowledge of God! How vnsearchable are his iudgements, & how are his wayes without finding out? And because we knowe, that of him, by him, and in him are all thinges, let vsus speake it: To him be glorie for euermore. All counsels, all doctours, all examples, all decrees, all what you will, they are not our scholemaisters, but our fellowe scholers, that we may learne together out of the worde of God, whose decree shal stand for euer, & whose iudgements are perfect righteousnes.
That which followeth in the latter ende of the verse: To consecrate him by afflictions: or, to make him perfect by afflictions: the meaning is, that Christ in his death accomplished a full redemption, and so was prepared to receiue an inheritance of glorie, not attributing so this worke to his death, as though all his life had ben impertinent: for in al his life, Christ was made our redemption. Sainct Paule expressely saith: By the obedience of one, a great many are presented righteous. And again he saith: For this cause he was made Rom. 5. …9.subiect vntounto the law that he might r…deeme thē which were holden vnderunder the law. And for this cause he pretermitted …. 4. 4.not one iot, or one title of it, that he might bestowe vponupon vsus the fulnesse of all righteousnes: but ye scripture attributeth commonly our redemption to his death, because it was the chiefest and greatest worke of all, the accomplishment & perfection of a… the rest vponupon the crosse, he was lowest cast downe, and vponupon the crosse he triumphed ouer sathan, and Phil. 2. 6. Col. 2.after the crosse he obteyned power ouer death and hell: therfore in it (as the Apostle saith) he was consecrate to eternall glorie. And thus farre at this time. Now let vsus pray &c.