Animadversions on William Dells Book, Section 13
SECT. XIII. But Chriſt lives in me.
(A) FOr leaſt any ſhould think that Paul had a new habit of life created in him, he adds this, that we muſt know it was Chriſt himſelf within him that was his life, even that Word of life, and Son of God that made the world, and no created habit of life. That as that Word that was with God, and was God, and dwelt in the humanity of Chriſt, was that very life of his humanity; So the ſame Word of God dwelling in us through Chriſt, is alſo our life as it was his. And as the body hath no habit of life in it ſelf diſtinct and apart from the reaſonable ſoul; but the ſoul it ſelf that dwels in the body, is the life of the body; and when the ſoul withdraws the body is dead, and hath no habit of life in it ſelf afterwards; ſo the life of a Chriſtian doth as immediately flow from Chriſt, as the life of the body from the ſoul; and if Chriſt ſhould withdraw, all Spiritual life would leave him, and the Second death would ſwallow him up. And as the very preſence of the ſoul in each member, is the Life of it, ſo is Christs preſence in all his Members their true and very life. Wherefore ſaith Paul here, Chriſt lives in me, as God lived in Chriſt, and as the Soul lives in the Body.
And ſo as Paul had affirmed before, That it was not he that lived, ſo here he ſhows Who it was that did live in him, and that is Chriſt; Chriſt lives in me.
(B) Indeed the Soul and Body were Pauls, but Paul did not live in his own Soul and Body, but Chriſt himſelf did live in them; and ſo Paul lived the life of another in himſelf, the life of Chriſt in his own ſoul and body: and the ſoul and body of Paul were but a Temple in which Chriſt lived more then himſelf, as the humanity of Chriſt was but a Temple in which God lived more then himſelf.
(C) So that it is Christ himſelf that lives in a true believer, and he is, and doth, and ſuffers, and overcomes all in him.
(D) Now that we may not miſtake in this great matter, we muſt rightly underſtand, What this Chriſt is that lives in a believer: now this is not the fleſh of Chriſt; for that being a Creature, and in all things like unto our fleſh, ſin excepted, can be but in one place at a time; but this Chriſt is the Eternal Word, and Son of the living God, the Power, Wiſdom, and Righteouſneſſe of God, and the true God, and Eternal life. This is the Chriſt that lived in Paul, and lives in every believer.
ANIMADVERSION 13.
(A) HOw Mr Dell will expound theſe words of his, ſc. That as that word that was with God, and was God, and dwelt in the humanity of Chriſt, was that very life of his humanity: So the ſame word of God dwelling in us through Chriſt, is alſo our life as it was his: How, I ſay, he will expound theſe words, and not confeſſe that the Godhead dwelleth in us as it doth in Chriſt, and ſo that we are God as he is, I ſee not: Yet I am willing to hope that he doth not ſo apprehend, although his words (as far as I can judge) import ſo much. But I very much doubt that in this paragraph, he puts aſunder thoſe things which God hath inſeparably put together, ſc. A new habit of life created in a believer by Chriſt, and Chriſt himſelf dwelling in a believer by his ſpirit; for I take it, through the Spirit of Chriſt dwelling in a believer; he is born again to a new habit of a ſpiritual life, which is called the ſpirit born of the ſpirit, John 3.6. I ſee no cauſe therefore why we may not think that Paul had a new habit of life created in him, and yet that Chriſt lived in him by his ſpirit as the fountain of that life. The Philoſophie whereby Mr Dell illuſtrateth his divinity, ſeems as ſtrange to me, as what he intendeth to explain by it: for though the body hath no habit of life in it apart from the ſoul, yet I think, it hath a habit of life in it diſtinct from the ſoul, even that habit of life which floweth from the ſoul, even as the habit of ſpiritual life flows from Chriſt, dwelling as the fountain of this life in his believing people by his ſpirit.
(B) I take it that in theſe words thoſe things are made to claſh which do ſweetly accord, ſc. Pauls living a natural and perſonal life in his own ſoul and body, and Chriſts living in Paul by his ſpirit as the fountain and (as I may ſay) the ſoul of a ſpiritual life. I conceive that this poſition hath no ſelf contradiction in it, Chriſt by his ſpirit lived in Paul, whileſt Paul lived in his own ſoul and body a natural and perſonal life. For notwithſtanding Mr Dels confidence (I take it) it will hold for truth, that when Chriſt lived in Paul, Paul then lived in his own ſoul and body: that text aſſureth ſo much, 2 Cor. 4.11.
(C) Theſe words of Mr Dell are very ſound being not overſtrained; for queſtionleſſe Chriſt himſelf, by his ſpirit, lives in a true believer, and by reaſon of the ſpiritual and myſtical union of a believer, as a member to Chriſt as his head; the Lord Chriſt is originally, as to the being of the new creature, and doth, and ſuffers, and overcomes all in him.
(D) Doth not Mr Dell in theſe words, too much divide the Godhead from the manhood in our bleſſed Saviour, whilſt he maketh the eternal word and Son of God, in oppoſition to his fleſh, that Chriſt, which lived in Paul and liveth in believers. Me thinks it is evident that the Apoſtle ſpake not of Chriſt under the notion of the eternal Word alone, but as the word made fleſh, when he wrote that Chriſt lived in him, and that he lived by the faith of the Son of God; ſeeing he immediately added, who loved me and gave himſelf for me; for it is clear that it was Chriſts fleſh which he gave for the life of the world, John 6.57. And though the fleſh or humane body of our Saviour in the Capernaits ſence carnally partaken of, could profit nothing, John 6.63. yet our Lord Jeſus, as the word made fleſh, is the mediatour, head and ſaviour of his people, who dwelleth in them, and acteth in them by his ſpirit, as the fountain of their ſpiritual life. And therefore our Saviours fleſh is not to be put by in the matter of believers vivification through him, as if it had no part or place in that work; for the fleſh or humane nature of our Saviour, having an incomprehenſible worth put upon it, and power into it by his Godhead or divine nature united to it, became in and through theſe ſufferings, which it ſuſtain'd, the effectual means of eternal life to all thoſe who believe on the name of the Lord Jeſus, as our Saviour himſelf hath fully teſtified, ſaying, The bread that I will give, is my fleſh which I will give for the life of the world, John 6.51. And again, Except you eat the fleſh of the Son of man, and drink his bloud, you have no life in you: who ſo eateth my fleſh and drinketh my bloud hath eternal life, and I will raiſe him up at the laſt day; for my fleſh is meat indeed, and my bloud is drink indeed: He that eateth my fleſh and drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and I in him, verſ. 53, 54, 55, 56. upon the laſt of which verſes, Calvin hath thus written; Neque enim ad Christum Deum unquam perveniet qui Hominem negligit; quare ſi tibi vis cum Chriſto aliquid eſſe commune, cavendum inprimis nè carnem ejus faſtidias. He ſhall not come to Chriſt as God, who neglecteth him as man: wherefore if thou wouldſt enjoy any communion with Chriſt, thou muſt eſpecially beware that thou deſpiſe not his fleſh.