The Catechizing of Families, Chapter 13
CHAP. XIII. Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was Crucified, Dead and Buried; he descended into Hell.
Qu. 1. WHy is there nothing said in the Creed, 1. Of Christ's overcoming the Temptations of the Devil and the World?gMatt. 4. 2. Or of his fulfilling the Law, his perfect Holiness, Obedience and Righteousness? 3. Nor of his Miracles?
A. 1. You must know that the Creed at first when Christ made it the Symbol of Christianity, had but the three Baptismal Articles;hMat. 28. 19. to be Baptized into the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 2. And that the rest were added, for the Exposition of these three. 3. And that the Errors that rose up occasioned the additions: Some denyed Christ's real Humanity, and some his Death, and said that it was another in his Shape that dyed: and this occasioned these Expository Articles. 4. But the Apostles and other Preachers expounded more to those whom they Ca…echized, than is put into the Creed; and more is implyed in that which is expressed: And had any Hereticks then denyed Christ's perfect Righteousness, and Victory in Temptation, it's like it would have occasioned an Article for these. 5. But Christ would not have his Apostles put more into the Creed, than was needful to be a part of the Test of Christianity: And he that understandingly, consentingly and practically, believeth in God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, shall be saved. 6. And as to Christ's Miracles; yea, and his Holiness, they are contained in the true meaning of Believing in the Holy Ghost, as I shall after shew.
Q. 2. But why is none of Christ's Sufferings mentioned, before that of his being Crucified?
A. This which is the consummation, implyeth the humilation of all his Life: his meaniPhil. 2. 7, 8, 9. Heb. 12. 2, …, 4. Birth, and Education, his mean estate in the World, his Temptations, Accusations, Reproaches, Buffeting, Scourging, his Agony, his Betraying, his Condemnation as a Malefactor, by false Witness, and the Peoples Clamour, and the Rulers Malice and Injustice: his whole Life was a state of humiliation, …inished in his Crucifixion, Death and Burial.
Q. 3. What made the Jews so to hate and Crucifie him?kIoh. 11. 48. 50.
A. Partly a base fear of Caesar, lest he should destroy them in jealousie of Iesus as a King: And having long revolted from sincerity in Religion, and become Ceremonious Hypocrites, God left them to the blindness and hardness of their Hearts, resolving to use them for the Sacrificing of Christ, the Redemption of the World, and the great enlargement of his Church.
Q. 4. Why is Pontius Pilate named in the Creed?
A. Historically to keep the remembrance of the time when Christ suffered: and to leave a just shame on the Name of an unjust Judge.l1 Tim. 6. 13. Col. 1. 20. & 2. 14. Eph. 2. 16. Gal. 3. 13.
Q. 5. Why was Crucifying the manner of Christ's death?
A. 1. It was the Romans manner of putting vile Malefactors to death. 2. And it was a death especially cursed by God; and Christ foretold it of himself.
Q. 6. Was it only Christs Body that suffered, or also his Soul and Godhead?
A. The Godhead could not suffer; but he that was God suffered, in Body and in Soul.mMatt. 26. 38. Ioh. 12. 27.
Q. 7. What did Christs Soul suffer?
A. It suffered not by any sinful Passion, but by Natural, Lawful fear of what he was to undergo, and feeling of pain, and specially of God's just displeasure with Mans sin, for which he suffered; which God did express by such with-holdings of Joy and by such inward deep sense of his punishing Justice, as belonged to one that consented to stand in the place of so many sinners, and to suffer so much in their stead.nLuk. 22. 44.
Q. 8. Did Christ suffer the pains of Hell, which the Damned suffer?
A. The pains of Hell are Gods just punishment of Man for sin; and so were Christs sufferings, upon his consent. But, 1. The Damned in Hell are hated of God, and so was not Christ. 2. They are forsaken of Gods holy Spirit, and Grace, and so was not Christ. 3. They are under the Power of Sin, and so was not Christ. 4. They hate God and Holiness; and so did not Christ. 5. They are tormented by the Conscience of their Personal guilt, and so was not Christ: Christs Sufferings and the Damned's vastly differ.
Q. 9. Why must Christ suffer what he did?
A. 1. To be an Explatory Sacrifice for sin: God thought it not meet as he was the just and holy Ruler of the World, to forgive sin without such a Demonstration of his Holiness and Justice, as might serve as well to the Ends of his Government, as if the Sinners had suffered themselves. 2. And he suffered to teach Man, what sin deserveth, and what a God we serve, and that we owe him the most costly obedience, even to the death; and that this Body, Life, and World are to be denyed, contemned and forsaken, for the sake of Souls, and of Life Everlasting, and of God, when he requireth it. The Cross of Christ is much of the Christians Book.oHeb. 9. 26. & 10. 12. 1 Cor. 5. 7. Luk. 14. 33. 1 Cor. 2. 2. Gal. 2. 2. & 3. 1. & 5. 24. & 6. 14. Ph. 2. 8. & 3. 7, 8, 9.
Q. 10. What sorts of Sin did Christ die for?
A. For all sorts, except Mens not performing those Conditions which he requireth of all that he will pardon and save.
Q. 11. For whose sins did Christ Suffer?
A. All Mens sins were instead of a meritorious cause of Christ's Sufferings; he suffered for Mankind as the Saviour of the World: And as to the Effect, his Suffering purchased a conditional Gift of free pardon and life to all that will believingly accept it, according to the nature of the things given: But it was the will of the Father, and the Son, not to leave his death to uncertain success, but infallibly to cause the Elect to believe and be saved.pRom. 5. 6. 8. & 14. 9. 15. 2 Cor. 5. 14, 15. Heb. 2. 9. 1 Tim. 2. 6. 1 Ioh. 2. 2. Ioh. 1. 29. & 3. 16. 18, 19. & 4. 42. & 6. 51.
Q. 12. Was it just with God to punish the Innocent?
A. Yes, when it was Christs own undertaking by consent, to stand as a Sufferer in the room of the guilty.
Q. 13. How far were our sins imputed to Christ?
A. So far as that his consent made it just that he suffered for them. He is said to be made sin for us, who knew no sin, which is, to be made a Curse or Sacrifice for our sin. But God never took him to be really or in his esteem a sinner: He took not our fault to become his fault, but only the punishment for our faults to be due to him. Else sin it self had been made his own, and he had been relatively and properly a Sinner, and God must have hated him as such, and he must have dyed for his own Sin when ours was made his own: But none of this is to be imagined.q1 Pet. 2. 22.
Q. 14. How far are Christ's Sufferings imputed t… us?
A. So far as that we are reputed to be justy forgiven and saved by his Grace, because he made an expiation by his Sacrifice for our Sins: But not so as i… God mistook us to have suffered in Christ, or tha… he or his Law did judge that we our selves have made satisfaction or expiation by Christ.r1 Pet. 3. 18. Act. 26. 18.
Q. 15. Was not that penal Law, [In the day tha… thou eatest thereof thou shalt die] and [The Soul that sinneth shall die] fulfilled by execution for us all in Christ, and now justifieth us as so fulfilled?
A. No: That Law condemned none but the Sinner himself, and is not fulfilled unless the Person suffer that sinned. That Law never said [Either the Sinner or another for him shall die.] Christ was given us by God as above his Law, and that he might justly and mercifully forgive sin, though he executed not that Law: That Law did but make punishment our Due, and not Christs, but not bind God to inflict it on us, when his Wisdom knew a better way. It is not that Law as fulfilled that justifieth us, but another, even the Law of Grace: Satisfaction is not the fulfilling of the penal Law.sRom. 3. 19, 20, 21. 28. & 4. 13. 15. & 10. 4. Gal. 2. 16. 21. & 3. 11. 13. 18, 19. 24.
Q. 16. Did not Christ fulfill the Commands of the Law for us by his Holiness and perfect Rrighteousness? What need was there that he suffer for us?
A. The Law or Covenant laid on him by his Father was, that he should do both; and therefore both …s the performance of that Condition on which God gave us to him to be pardoned and saved by him. If he had fulfilled the Commands of the Law by perfect Holiness and Righteousness, in our Legal Persons, so …s that God and his Law would have reputed us to have done it by him, then indeed being reputed perfect Obeyers, we could not have been reputed Sinners that needed suffering or pardon. But Christs habitual, active and passive Righteousness, were (all the parts of his One Condition) performed by him, to be the meritorious Cause of our Justification.tMat. 3. 15. & 5. 17. Isa. 53. 11. 1 Cor. 1. 30. 2 Cor. 5. 21.
Q. 17. Why is Christ's Death and Burial named besides his Crucifixion?
A. Those words have been since added to obviate their Error who thought Christ dyed not on the Cross.
Q. 18. What is meant by his descending into Hell?
A. Those words were not of some Hundred Years in the Creed: And since they were put in, have been diversly understood: There is no more certain nor necessary to be believed, but that, 1. Christs Soul was, and so ours are, immortal, and remained when separated from the Body. 2. And that as death being the separation of Soul and Body was threatned by God as a punishment to both, so the Soul of Christ submitted to this penal separation, and went to the place of separated Souls, as his Body did to the Grave.u1 Cor. 15. 4, 5. Psa. 16. 9, 10. 1 Pet. 3. 18, 19, 20, 21.
Q. 19. Of what use is this Article to us?
A. Of great and unspeakable use: 1. We lea… hence what Sin deserveth: shall we play with tha… which must have such a Sacrifice?xHeb. 9. 21. Col. 1. 20. Eph. 1. 7. 1 Pet. 1. 2. 19. Rom. 3. 25. Heb. 2. 14. 1 Io. 2. 1, 2, 3▪ & 4. 10. Heb. 9. 14. Eph. 2. 13. Rev. 1. 5. & 5▪ 9. & 7. 14. & 14. 20.
2. We learn hence that a sufficient expiatory Sacrifice is made for sin: and therefore that God is reconciled, and we need not despair, nor are put to mak… expiation our selves, or by any other.
3. We learn that Death, and the Grave, and th… state of Separate Souls, are Sanctified; and Satan conquered as he had the power of Death, as Gods Executioner: And therefore that we may boldly die i… Faith, and commit Soul and Body into the hand … him that died for them.
Q. 20. But did not Christ's go to Paradise? and c… that be penal?
A. Yes: And so do faithful Souls. But the So… and Body are a perfect Man; and Nature is against Separation; And as the Union of Christs Soul a… glorified Body now in Heaven is a more perfect sta… than that was of his separated Soul, so the deprivation of that Union and Perfection was a degree … penalty: And therefore it was the extraordinary priviledge of Enoch and Elias not to die.