The Sufferings of Christ, Part 2 · Section 2 · Chapter 3
CHAP. III. Of the Dialogues distinction between Legal and Mediatoriall Obedience.
Dialogu. IT is a neceſſary thing to obſerve a right difference between Chriſts Legal and Mediatorial obedience, which we have in part diſtinguiſhed already, but for your further ſatisfaction I will again diſtinguiſh between them.
I grant that God required the Mediator to fulfil all righteouſneſſe, but yet his obedience to the Law of works, and his obedience to the Law of Mediatorſhip muſt be conſidered as done for ſeverall ends and uſes.
Anſw. The ſcope of this diſtinction is to take away merit from the Legall obedience of Chriſt, becauſe the value of his obedience riſing from the eminency of the perſon, and its acceptation from office, in denying it to be performed by Chriſt as God-man, or as Mediator: it is deprived both of value and acceptation, which are two of the three ingredients often fore-mentioned of meritorious obedience. Meritorious obedience which is alwaies to be kept in minde requires the concurrence of three things, viz. the dignity of the perſon, ſuch a kinde of obedience, and Gods acceptation.
The fallacy of this diſtinction which is one of the fundamental errours of the Dialogue, lieth in the miſtake of an adjunct for a form, viz. in taking that which is but an inſeparable concomitant or qualification of obedience for another kinde of obedience.
The terms of Legal and Mediatorly are two names of the ſame obedience, but ſignifie not two kindes of obedience; one and the ſame obedience is called Legal, in reſpect of the Law which is the rule: and Mediatorly, in reſpect of the office of the perſon obeying.
As if upon ſuppoſition of Pauls diſcharge of the debt he engaged for unto Philemon in Oneſimus behalf, one ſhould ſay, it were both a Legal and fidejuſſorial, i.e. a ſureties act.
That the legal obedience of Chriſt was not the obedience of Chriſt as man only, but of God-man, yea, of God man Mediator, is proved thus.
Chriſt received the Law not as man only, but as God-man Mediator.
Sacrifice and offering thou didſt not deſire, Mine ears haſt thou opened, a body haſt thou prepared, Heb. 10.5. burnt-offering and ſin-offering haſt thou not required, then ſaid I, Lo I come, In the Volume of thy Book it is written of me, to do thy will O my God, yea, thy Law is in my heart; the boring of the ear, and preparing of a body note his incarnation, i e. Chriſt as God man.
The Law or will of God which he was to do, is that will whereby we are ſanctified, the word taken largely for our being conſecrated unto God, and therefore notes Chriſts redeeming of us.
Chriſt was made ſubject to the Law, not as man only but as God-man Mediator: But when the fulnes of time was come, God ſent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law, that they might receive the Adoption of Sons, Gal. 4 4.5. His Son made of a woman, ſignifieth God-man: the Law whereunto he was ſubject, is the Law whereunto we are ſubject; he was made under the Law, from under which he redeemed us: his circumciſion argued him a debtor to that Law, chap. 5.3. the end was to redeem us, which evinceth his doing thereof as Mediatour.
Chriſt fullfilled the Law not as man onelyonly, but as God-man Mediatour. Think not that I came to deſtroy the Law or the Prophets, I came not to deſtroy it but to fullfil it, Mat. 5.17. compared with Heb. 10 7. he that had a body prepared came to do the will of God, by which, i.e. by the doing of which (the relate taken together with the correlate of obedience) we are ſanctified: Chriſt came to fullfil the Law as he was ſent, but God ſet him as God-man Mediator, Gal. 4.4. thoſe words are ſpoken by Chriſt after Johns Baptiſm in the time of his Mediatorly obedience, according to the Dialogue.
If Chriſt then according to the Scripture had the Law of works or the Law of Moſes written in his heart, was made ſubject thereunto, and fullfilled it not as man only but as God-man Mediatour, then Chriſts Legal obedience was not the obedience of a man only.
All the Legal actions of Chriſt God-man from his incarnation to his paſſion were the actions of Chriſt God-man Mediator.
All the Legal actions of Chriſt from his incarnation to his paſſion were the actions of Chriſt God-man, therefore all the Legal actions of Chriſt from his incarnation to his paſſion, were the actions of Chriſt God-man Mediatour. The major is not denied by the Dialogue, which though it aſſerts the Legal obedience of Chriſt to be done by him as man only, yet it affirms not (to my obſervation) that any act of God-man was not the act of God-man Mediatour. Neither indeed can the maior (with any good reaſon) be denied, even thoſe who ſay Chriſt merited for himſelf (which yet is generally denied by the proteſtants) underſtand the word wherefore Phil. 2.9. not cauſally, but as a note of conſequence, according as it is uſed, Act. 20.26. Heb. 3.17. 1 Pet. 2.10. and reading thoſe words Heb. 2.9. with a comma, or rather a colon, at death, and referring thoſe words, ſuffering death unto the words fore-going [made little] not to the word following [crowned] acknowledge, that in thoſe actions wherein he merited for himſelf, he alſo merited for us, which is ſufficient to the Propoſition aſſerted. Let an inſtance of any Legall act of Chriſt God-man incarnate, be produced, which was not an act of Chriſt God-man Mediator, as ſuch, i.e, as Mediator.
Principium operationum commune perſona, formale natura. Polan. ſyntag li. 6. cap. 27. Trelcat. Jun inſtit. l. 2. c 4. Ame. med. l. 1. c. 18. Wolleb. compend. l. 1. c. 16.The minor appears becauſe rational actions of perſons flow from the perſon as their agent; In the work of Chriſt four things are to be conſidered.
1. The agent, i.e. the perſon.
2. The principle according to which the action proceeds, viz. either or both of the two natures.
3. The action.
4. The work it ſelf, that operation which proceeds from both natures, and ſo it is twofold, in reſpect of its next principle is yet but one action; becauſe the perſon or agent is but one: actions in reſpect of their next principle proper to either nature, are common to the perſon conſiſting of both natures.
The humane nature having no ſubſiſtence of its ſelf, it is impoſſible it ſhould have any efficiency of it ſelf: Non-ſubſiſtence ſaith nothing: nothing cannot act of it ſelf, but of this I ſpake before.
That Law which faith in Chriſt a Saviour eſtabliſheth, that Law Chriſt as God-man Mediator eſtabliſheth; but the Law of works is that Law which faith in Chriſt a Saviour eſtabliſheth, Rom. 3.2. therefore the Law of works was eſtabliſhed, and conſequently obeyed by Chriſt as God-man Mediator: for the eſtabliſhing of the Law includes Legall obedience.
He who as God-man Mediator is the perfecting end (i.e. is he, in whom the Law hath its perfecting end) of the Law, performed obedience to the Law: but Chriſt i.e. God-man Mediator, as ſuch, is the perfecting end of the Law (ſo is the plain and acknowledged ſenſe of the Greek word) Rom. 10.4. therefore Chriſt as God-man Mediator performed obedience to the Law.
The Law is fullfilled as concerning them that are ſaved, Gal. 3.10. either by the obedience of Chriſt God-man Mediator, or by the perſonal obedience of the Beleever, not by the perſonal obedience of the Beleever, Rom. 3.3. Gal. 3.10. therefore by the perſonal obedience of Chriſt God-man Mediatour.
Dialogu The ſuffrage of the Godly Learned hereunto is known and acknowledged.Polan. l. 6. c. 14. Park. de deſc. l. 3 n. 52, 53. Rivet. in Pſa. 40. Conſideratio deitatis alia foreign alia foreign. Polan. ſyntag. lib. 6. c. 12. Inequalitas officiorum non tollit aequalitatem naturae, aut perſonarū. Urſin. expl. catech par. 2. qu. 33. q. 6. Chriſt Jeſus (ſaith Polanus) from the time whereat he took upon himſelf the form of a ſervant, began to pay the price of our redemption: Chriſt is ſuch a Mediator as is a debtor to keep the whole Law: to that effect it was neceſſary, ſaith Rivet, that ſeeing Chriſt was our ſurety he ſhould be made under the Law.
The divine nature conſidered abſolutely in it ſelf, is not ſubject unto the Law, as ſubſiſting in perſonall union with the humane nature, it is ſubject in reſpect of voluntary diſpenſation; the humane nature is ſubject abſolutely, and properly, being a creature.
The ſum is, Chriſt, i.e. the perſon who is God man Mediator was ſubject unto the Law abſolutely, as touching the humane nature, in reſpect of voluntary diſpenſation and office, as concerning the divine nature: it's a received rule given for the underſtanding of this myſtery, that inequality of office taketh not away equality of nature and perſons.
First, God appointed the Mediatour to fulfill the Law of works, I mean, ſo much of it as fell within the compaſſe of his humane courſe of life, not as a proper condition belonging to the Law of Mediatorſhip: [as Mediator] but as true man only, for he was bound to obſerve the Law of works as he was true man, as much as any other Jew, by a native right, Gal. 4.4.
Anſw. That God appointed the Mediator to fullfill the Law of works, as a proper condition belonging to the Law of Mediatorſhip as Mediator, and not as man only is already proved. Of the difference between the obligation of Chriſt and another Jew to Legal obedience, there is no need here to ſpeak: they were both bound by native right, and otherwiſe: but not altogether upon the like grounds, and for very unlike ends: the obedience to the Law whereof Paul ſpeaks, Gal. 4.4. was the obedience of Chriſt not as man only, but as Mediator, which is plain in that it was to redeem us that were under the Law, ver. 5.
Dialogu. Secondly, Though I make this Legall obedience to be no more but humane obedience, yet I grant that he was thereby qualified, and fitted to make his ſoul a Mediatorly ſacrifice, for he could not have been the Lamb of God without spot, if he had not been exact in the performance of ſo much Legal obedience as fell within the compaſſe of his humane courſe of life, Heb. 7.26.
Anſw. Rhetorf. de gra. exerc. 1. c. 2.Righteouſneſſe or obedience in Chriſt hath a double conſideration, either it is conſidered in him as in ſuch a perſon, and not our ſurety; or as in ſuch a perſon and our ſurety: righteouſneſſe in his perſon qualified him for the ſervice of a ſurety: Legal Mediatorly obedience, or his perſonall and ſurety-obedience are diſtinguiſhed only notionally not really, i. e. it is one and the ſame obedience, conſidered according to two notions.
Dialogu Thirdly, The rewards which his father did promiſe him for his Mediatorly obedience, do far exceed the rewards which he doth promiſe to Legall obedience; for I cannot finde that ever the Father did promiſe to reward any mans Legall obedience with ſuch speciall rewards as he doth promiſe unto Chriſts Mediatoriall Obedience. I will give thee the end of the earth for thy poſſeſſion, Pſa. 2. And He ſhall ſee his ſeed, and prolong his daies, when he ſhall make his ſoul a treſpaſſe-offering, Iſa. 53.10.
Anſw. The terms Legal and Mediatorly intend not two kindes of obedience, but one and the ſame obedience under two denominations called Legal in reſpect of the Law which is the Rule of obedience; and Mediatorly, in reſpect of the office of the perſon who performed this obedience unto it both the promiſes inſtanced, and all other of like kinde are made.
Dialogu. Fourthly, Chriſt was not bound to fulfil perſonal obedience to every branch of the Law of works (for he had not wife and children to inſtruct, &c.) but he was bound to fullfill every branch and circumſtance of the Law of Mediatorſhip, he muſt not be wanting in the least circumſtance thereof, if he had been wanting in the leaſt circumſtance he had been wanting in all.
Anſw. Legal obedience conſiſts not in performing perſonal obedience to every branch of the Law formally: But in performing all that the Law requireth as the Law requireth, actually or habitually.
The Law of works, and the Law of the Mediator differ not as two Laws, but as the whole and the part of the ſame Law. The will of God concerning the Mediator was that he ſhould obey the Law of works,Quando igitur quaeritur qualem obedientiam Deo praeſtiterit. Pareus in loc. Rivet. in Pſal. 40.8. and more: Pareus commenting upon thoſe words, Heb. 10.8. ſpeaks thus: If it be enquired (ſaith he) what obedience Chriſt performed unto God; we muſt anſwer, both the univerſal obedience of the whole Law given to man, and the special obedience impoſed upon the Mediator alone: Chriſt faileth not of fulfilling the leaſt iota unto either. By the Law Pſa. 40. (ſaith Rivet) he underſtands as well all the Commandments of God common to all men, as the ſingular command of laying down his life.
Dialogu. M. Calvin obſerveth rightly, that ſome of the actions of Chriſt were proper to his God-head only; and ſome of his actions were proper to his humane nature only; and ſome of his actions were common to both his natures, and this obſervation (ſaith M. Calvin) ſhall do no ſmall ſervice to aſſoyl many doubts, if the Reader can but fitly apply it.
Anſw. The ſame is obſerved by all Orthodox Writers generally: The Margine telleth you the uſe thereof was for the avoiding (as of other errours, ſo) of thoſe wherein Neſtorius and Eutyches were condemned. Had you ſufficiently weighed the uſe that Calvin makes of his obſervation in the words immediatly following, viz. For it is marvellous how much the unskilful, yea, not utterly unlearned are cumbred with ſuch forms of speech which they ſee ſpoken by Chriſt which do rather well agree with his Godhead then with his Manhood; becauſe they conſider not that they agree with his perſon wherein he is ſhewed both God and man, and with the office of a Mediator, you might not only have ſpared this Citation, but alſo the very diſtinction it ſelf.
Dialogu. It is abſurd to affirm that all the acts of Chriſts obedience were Mediatory, becauſe his perſon conſiſted of both natures; for then his natural Actions ſhould be Mediatorial as well as any other; You may as well ſay, that all actions of the Son, and of the holy Ghoſt are the actions of the Father, becauſe they are united into one Godhead, as ſay that the acts of Chriſts Legal obedience were Mediatorial, becauſe his perſon conſiſted of two Natures.
Anſw. There are none of us that ſo affirm.
Not his perſon alone, but both his Perſon and Office are requiſite to every action of a Mediator; all his naturall actions of obedience were Mediatorly: Such natural actions which are ſo the actions of men, as yet they are not humane, Rationall, or Morall; which conſidered in themſelves, without all circumſtances of good or evil, are indifferent; not falling within the compaſſe of a rule, are not here conſiderable.
You have been already told, that we affirm not the Legal acts of Chriſt to be Mediatorly acts, becauſe his perſon conſiſts of both natures with the reaſon thereof: But we ſay, the Legal obedience of Chriſt were the actions of the perſon, conſiſting of both natures; they were not the actions of a meer man: and becauſe they were performed by ſuch a perſon, in way of ſuch an office, they were all Mediatorly actions.
The diſtinction of the perſonall actions in the Trinity, ariſing from the natures of the Perſons in the Divine eſſence, holds proportion with our aſſerting the actions of Chriſt to proceed from his Perſon as the Agent: Notwithſtanding the two Natures are Principles reſpectively of ſuch actions.
They that have competent knowledge in theſe great Myſteries of the Trinity of Perſons, in one eſſence, and the two natures in one Perſon, will ſoon ſee your inconſiderateneſſe in your comparing the Perſon, Natures, and Legal obedience of Chriſt, with the Divine Nature, Trinity of Perſons, and Perſonall or Eſſential acts.
Dialogu. As for example all the Actions of Christ from his birth until he began to be thirty years of age, muſt be conſidered as natural actions, or as Legal acts of obedience: for till he began te be thirty of years of age, he led a private life with his parents.
Secondly, When he began to be thirty years of age he did then begin to declare himſelf to be the Mediaatour, for when he was baptized of John in Jordan, the holy Ghoſt lighted upon him in viſible manner before all Johns Auditory, and the Father by his voice from Heaven declared that he was the Mediator.
Thirdly, In the upſhot of his life, as ſoon as he had fullfilled all things that were written of him he ſanctified himſelf, and ſacrificed his oblation by the joint concurrence of both natures; and this was the maſterpiece of his Mediatorial obedience. Having thus diſtinguiſhed the actions of the Mediatour, we may and muſt rank his acts of obedience accordingly; his obedience to the Law of works muſt be ranked among the actions of his humane nature, and his obedience to the Law of Mediatorſhip muſt be ranked among his Mediatorial actions, which he performed by the perſonal union of both his natures.
Anſw. The ſum is, Chriſt was not declared publikely to be the Mediator until he was about thirty years of age; therefore he did no Mediatorly act before he was thirty years of age, a meer non-conſequence: you may by the like reaſon ſay, the Father had not before declared him to be his beloved Son, therefore he was not his beloved Son. Joſeph had not declared himſelf to be the Brother of the Patriarchs and Benjamin, therefore he was not their Brother. Nor was his weeping in ſecret, Gen. 42.24. and weeping again in ſecret, and his ſoul-pouring upon his Brother, Gen. 43.30. brotherly acts.
It hath already (I hope) been ſufficiently proved, that all the Legall actions of Chriſt from his incarnation to his paſſion were the actions of a Mediator.
Chriſt was a Mediatour to be incarnate before the foundation of the world from eternity.
Dialogu. It may be you think (as many others do) that Chriſt began to pay the price of our redemption from the very firſt beginning of his incarnation, for many affirm that he was conceived by the holy Ghoſt without any original ſin, that ſo he might thereby juſtifie us from our original ſin, which opinion I have confuted: but the open Hiſtory of the Evangelists do ſpeak nothing at all of his Mediatoriall actions, till he was publikely inſtalled into the office of the Mediator by Johns Baptiſm.
Dialogu Yet the Apoſtle teſtifieth that Chriſt himſelf ſaith by the Pſalmiſt, Wherefore when he cometh into the world he ſaith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldeſt not, but a body haſt thou prepared me: In burnt offering and ſacrifice for ſin thou haſt had no pleaſure; then ſaid I, Lo I come (in the Volume of thy Book it is written of me) to do thy will O God: Coming into the world, his incarnation, doing his will, is the fullfilling the Law for our Redemption.
Whatſoever Righteouſneſſe the Law required unto Juſtification, Chriſt performed.Polan. de conceptione Chriſti. But the Law required inherent righteouſneſſe from the firſt moment of our conception, and not onelyonly active obedience. Therefore it was neceſſary that Chriſt who fullfilled the Law ſhould be inherently righteous from the firſt moment of his conception.
The Dialogue it ſelf acknowledgeth ſome Mediatorly acts before thirty years of age, viz, many Mediatorly prayers, and his incarnation, though incarnation is not a Mediatorly or office-act, but an act conſtituting the perſon called to that office. If that his meaning be of publike actions of a Mediator: Our Queſtion is not, Whether there were any publike Mediatorly acts of Chriſt before his Baptiſm, but whether his Legal obedience was Mediatorly obedience?
Dialogu Yea, when Chriſt began to be thirty years of age, he was publikely inſtalled into the Mediators office, by the joint conſent of all the Trinity; and ſo our Saviour doth explain the matter unto John, ſaying, Thus our Deſire is (or thus it becometh us) to fullfill all Righteouſneſſe, Mat. 3.14. Theſe two terms, 1. our deſire, 2. our fulfilling all righteouſneſſe had need to be explainad: the term us or our deſire muſt have relation to ſome other, namely, to the joint deſire of the Trinity: all the Trinity deſired to fullfil all that righteouſneſſe which appertained to the Mediators Perſon and Office: at this time they deſired to fulfil that part of righteouſneſſe which appertained to his publike Inſtallment.
Anſw. This is not to explain a difficult, but to take the Name of God in vain, by forcing a far fetched and impertinent conceit upon a plain place (whoſe ſenſe he that runs may reade:) 'tis ignorance or worſe to turn the Greek: thus is our Deſire, the word is rendred according to its meaning: Thus it Becometh Ʋs.
The ſpeaker is Chriſt, The Perſons ſpoken of are Chriſt and John, The Righteouſneſſe ſpoken of is the Office and Service committed reſpectively to Chriſt and John, part of which conſiſted in the preſent work, which though John at firſt hearkned not to, yet ſoon after he did. If the Dialogue intends thoſe words to fullfill that righteouſneſſe which appertained to the Mediator formally; that is to make the Trinity the Mediator: If efficiently then though the Interpretation were good, it is altogether impertinent to the confirming of that miſleading diſtinction of Legal and Mediatorial obedience.