Q27. Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist?
A. Christ's humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.
Q1. What do you understand by Christ's humiliation in general?
A. His condescending to have that glory, which he had with the Father, "before the world was," John 17:5, veiled for a time, by his coming to this lower world, to be "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," Isaiah 53:3.
Q2. Was Christ's humiliation entirely voluntary?
A. It was voluntary in the highest degree; for, from eternity, he rejoiced "in the habitable part of the earth, and his delights were with the sons of men," Proverbs 8:31.
Q3. What was the spring and source of Christ's humiliation?
A. Nothing but his own and his Father's undeserved love to lost mankind, Rom. 5:6; 1 John 4:10.
Q4. What are the several steps of Christ's humiliation, mentioned in the answer?
A. They are such as respect "his conception and birth, his life, his death," and what passed upon him, "after his death, until his resurrection."34
Q5. How did Christ humble himself in his conception and birth?
A. In that, being from all eternity the Son of God, "in the bosom of the Father, he was pleased, in the fulness of time, to become the Son of man, made of a woman; and to be born of her," in a very low condition, John 1:14, 18; Gal. 4:4.35
Q6. What was the low condition in which he was born?
A. He was born of a poor woman, though of royal descent, in Bethlehem, an obscure village; and there "laid in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn," Luke 2:4, 5, 7.
Q7. Why is the pedigree and descent of Christ, according to the flesh, so particularly described by the evangelists?
A. To evidence the faithfulness of God in his promise to Abraham, Gen. 22:18, and David, Psalm 132:11, that the Messiah should spring out of their seed.
Q8. Why was Christ born in such a low condition?
A. He stooped so low that he might lift up sinners of mankind out of the horrible pit and miry clay, into which they were plunged, Psalm 40:2.
Q9. What improvement ought we to make of the incarnation and birth of Christ, in such circumstances of more than ordinary abasement?
A. To :dmire "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich," 2 Cor. 8:9; and by faith to claim a relation to him as our kinsman, saying, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given," Isaiah 9:6.
Q10. How did Christ humble himself in his life?
A. In being made under the law, undergoing, the miseries of this life, and the wrath of God.
Q11. What law was Christ made under as our surety?
A. Although he gave obedience to all divine institutions, ceremonial and political, yet it was the moral law, properly, he was made under, as our Surety, Gal. 4:4, 5.
Q12. How does it appear to have been the moral law he was made under?
A. Because this was the law given to Adam in his creation, and afterwards vested with the form of a covenant of works, when he was placed in paradise; by the breach of which law, as a covenant, all mankind are brought under the curse, Gal. 3:10.
Q13. Was Christ made under the moral law, as a covenant of works, or only as a rule of life?
A. He was made under it as a covenant of works, demanding perfect obedience, as a condition of life, and full satisfaction because of man's transgression.
Q14. How do you prove this?
A. From Gal. 4:4, 5 - "God sent forth his Son - made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law:" where it is obvious, that Christ behoved to be made under the law, in the very same sense, in which his spiritual seed, whom he came to redeem, were under it; and they being all under it as a covenant, he behoved to be made under it as a covenant likewise, that he might redeem them from its curse, Gal. 3:13.
Q15. What would be the absurdity of affirming that Christ was made under the law as a rule, and not as a covenant?
A. It would make the apostle's meaning, in the forecited passage, Gal. 4:4, 5, to be, as if he had said, Christ was made under the law as a rule to redeem them that were under the law as a rule, from all subjection and obedience to it; which is the very soul of Antinomianism, and quite contrary to the great end of Christ's coming to the world, which was "not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it," Matt. 5:17.
Q16. Why is Christ's being made under the law, mentioned as a part of his humiliation?
A. Because it was most amazing condescension in the great Lord and Lawgiver of heaven and earth, to become subject to his own law, and that for this very end, that he might fulfil it in the room of those who were the transgressors of it, and had incurred its penalty, Matt. 3:15.
Q17. What may we learn from Christ's being made under the law?
A. The misery of sinners out of Christ, who have to answer to God in their own persons, for their debt, both of obedience and punishment, Eph. 2:12; and the happiness of believers, who have all their debt cleared, by Christ's being made under the law in their room, Rom. 8:1.
Q18. What were the miseries of this life, which Christ endured in his state of humiliation?
A. Together with our nature, he took on him its sinless infirmities, such as hunger, thirst, weariness, grief, and the like, Rom. 8:3; he submitted to poverty and want, Matt. 8:20; and endured likewise the assaults and temptations of Satan, Heb. 4:15; together with the contradiction, reproach, and persecution of a wicked world, Heb. 12:3.
Q19. Why did he undergo all these?
A. That he might take the sting out of all the afflictions of his people, Rom. 8:28; and sympathise with them in their troubles, Isaiah 63:9.
Q20. Were these the greatest miseries he experienced in this life?
A. No; he underwent the wrath of God also, Ps. 116:3.
Q21. What was it for him to undergo the wrath of God?
A. It was to suffer the utmost effects of God's holy and righteous displeasure against sin, Psalm 90:11.
Q22. What was it that made the human nature of Christ capable of supporting the utmost effects of the wrath of God?
A. Its union with his divine person, by which it was impossible it could sink under the weight, Isaiah 50:7.
Q23. How could Christ undergo the wrath of God, seeing he did "always the things that please him?
A. He underwent it only as the Surety for his elect seed, on account of their sins which were imputed to him, Isaiah 53:6 - "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Q24. How did it appear that he underwent the wrath of God?
A. It appeared chiefly in his agony, in the garden, when he said, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death," Matt. 26:38; at which time, "his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood, falling down to the ground," Luke 22:44; and again, on the cross, when he "cried with a loud voice, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matt. 27:46.
Q25. Was not he the object of his Father's delight, even when undergoing his wrath on account of our sin?
A. Yes, surely: for though the sin of the world, which he was bearing, was the object of God's infinite hatred; yet the glorious person bearing it, was, even then, the object of his infinite love, Isaiah 53:10 - "It pleased the Lord to bruise him."
Q26. What may we learn from Christ's undergoing the miseries of this life, and the wrath of God?
A. "That we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God," Acts 14:22; and that he is "pacified towards us, for all that we have done," Ezek. 16:63.
Q27. How did Christ humble himself in his death?
A. By undergoing the cursed death of the cross, Phil. 2:8.
Q28. Why is the death of the cross called a cursed death?
A. Because God, in testimony of his anger against breaking the first covenant, by eating the fruit of the forbidden tree, had said, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree," Gal. 3:13.
Q29. What evidences are there that Christ was made a curse for us in his death?
A. In as much as there was no pity, no sparing in his death; God spared him not, Rom. 8:32; and wicked men were let loose upon him like dogs and bulls, Psalm 22:12, 16.
Q30. How does the scripture set forth the exquisite agony of his death?
A. It tells us, that "they pierced his hands and his feet, that he was poured out like water; that all his bones were out of joint: his heart, like wax, melted in the midst of his bowels; his strength dried up like a potsherd; and his tongue made to cleave to his jaws," Psalm 22:14, 15.
Q31. How was Christ's death on the cross typified under the Old Testament?
A. By the brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness, "For, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up," John 3:14.
Q32. Were the soul and body of Christ actually separated by death on the cross?
A. Yes; for when "he had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said this, he gave up the ghost," Luke 23:46.
Q33. Was either soul or body separated from his divine person?
A. No; it is impossible they could be, because the union of the human nature to his divine person is absolutely inviolable, Jesus being "the same yesterday, and today, and for ever," Heb. 13:8.
Q34. What may we learn from Christ's dying the cursed death of the cross?
A. That "he hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us," Gal. 3:13.
Q35. How did Christ humble himself in what passed upon him after his death?
A. In being buried and continuing under the power of death for a time, 1 Cor. 15:4.
Q36. What respect was paid to the dead body of Christ before its burial?
A. "Joseph of Arimathaea bought fine linen," Mark 15:43, 46, and "Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, and they took the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes, with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury," John 19:39, 40.
Q37. Where did they bury him?
A. In a "new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid," John 19:41.
Q38. Why was it ordered in providence, that he should be laid in a new sepulchre?
A. That none might have it to say, that it was another, and not he, that rose from the dead, Acts 4:10.
Q39. What do you understand by these words in the CREED, He descended into Hell?
A. Nothing else but his descent into the grave, to be under the power of death, as its prisoner, Psalm 16:10.
Q40. What was it that gave death power and dominion over Christ?
A. His being made sin for us, 2 Cor. 5:21.
Q41. Were death and the grave able to maintain their dominion over him?
A. No; because of the complete payment of all demands made upon him as a Surety, Rom. 6:9.
Q42. How long time did he continue under the power of death?
A. Till he rose on the third day, 1 Cor. 15:4.
Q43. Why did he continue so long under the power of death?
A. To show that he was really dead, this being necessary to be believed, 1 Cor. 15:3.
Q44. What sign, or type, was there of his continuing so long in the grave?
A. The sign of the prophet Jonas, Matt. 12:40 - "As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
Q45. Did he see corruption in the grave like other men?
A. No; being God's Holy One, absolutely free from sin, his body could see no corruption, Psalm 16:10.
Q46. What may we learn from Christ's being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time?
A. That the grave being "the place where the Lord lay," Matt. 28:6, it cannot but be sweet to a dying saint, to think that he is to lie down in the same bed; and that, in like manner, as "Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him," 1 Thess. 4:14.
Q1. What does Christ's humbling of himself import?
A. His voluntariness in the deepest point of self-denial? Psalm 40:7. Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me.
Q2. What was the first act of Christ's humiliation?
A. His taking man's nature on him, with all its sinless infirmities; Romans 8:3. God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh.
Q3. What is the second part of his humiliation?
A. That mean life he lived in this world, which obscured, his divine glory? Mark 6:3. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?
Q4. What was the first thing in Christ's life that humbled him?
A. The poverty of it; Matthew 7:20. And Jesus says unto him, the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has not where to lay his head.
Q5. What was the second thing in his life that humbled him?
A. The temptations of Satan, to which he was subject; Matthew 4:1. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil, and that for our sakes. Hebrews 2:17. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, verse 18. For in that he himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to support them that are tempted.
Q6. What was the third thing in Christ's life that humbled him?
A. His subjection to the law; Galatians 1:4. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.
Q7. What was the fourth thing in Christ's life that humbled him?
A. The revilings and contradictions of sinners; Hebrews 12:3. For consider him that endures such contradiction of sinners against himself.
Q8. Wherein was Christ humbled in his death?
A. His death was painful and ignominious; Galatians 3:13. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: For it is written, cursed is every one that hangs on a tree. Made a curse for us, and deserted in it; Matthew 27:46. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani; that is to say, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
Q9. What is the first inference from hence?
A. That lowliness and humility becomes Christ's followers; Matthew 11:29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.
Q10. What is the second inference?
A. That Christ's love to sinners is astonishingly great; 2 Corinthians 8:9. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be made rich.
Q11. What is the third inference?
A. Christians should be ready to suffer for Christ; 1 Peter 4:1. Forasmuch as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.
Q12. What is the last inference?
A. That humiliation is the true way to exaltation; Matthew 23:12. And whoever shall exalt himself, shall be abased; and he who shall humble himself, shall be exalted. Of Christ's Exaltation
Q1. Did Jesus Christ humble himself?
A. Yes: For being in the form of God, he made himself of no reputation, Phil. 2:6, 7.
Q2. Was it a deep humiliation?
A. Yes: For he said, I am a worm, and no man, Ps. 22:6.
Q3. Was it requisite he should humble himself?
A. Yes: For thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, Luke 24:46.
Q4. And was that a proper expedient to atone for our sin?
A. Yes: For the sinner had said, I will be like the Most High, Isa. 14:14.
Q5. Did Christ humble himself in his birth?
A. Yes: For he who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, was made in the likeness of men, Phil. 2:6, 7.
Q6. Was he born of that which was then a poor family?
A. Yes: He was a root of dry ground, Isa. 53:2.
Q7. Was he born of a poor woman?
A. Yes: For she offered for her cleansing only a pair of turtle doves, or two young pigeons, Luke 2:24. compare Lev. 12:8.
Q8. Was his supposed father a poor man?
A. Yes: They said, Is not this the carpenter's son, Matt. 13:55.
Q9. Was lie born in a poor place?
A. Yes: Bethlehem was little among the thousands of Judah, Mic. 5:2.
Q10. Was he born in poor circumstances?
A. Yes: In the stable of an inn, and laid in a manger, Luke 2:7.
Q11. Had he respect paid him that was due to an incarnate Deity?
A. No: For he was in the world, and the world knew him not, John 1:10.
Q12. Was he respected by his countrymen?
A. No: He came to his own, but his own received him not, v.11.
Q13. Was he born honourably?
A. No: For he took upon him the form of a servant, Phil. 2:7.
Q14. Was he born wealthy?
A. No: Though he was poor het for our sakes he became poor, 2 Cor. 8:9.
Q15. Was Christ made under the law?
A. Yes: God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, Gal. 4:4.
Q16. Was he circumcised?
A. Yes: When eight days were accomplished, Luke 2:21.
Q17. Was he presented in the temple?
A. Yes: They brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, ver. 22.
Q18. Did he keep the passover?
A. Yes: When he was twelve years old, he went up to Jerusalem, after the custom of the feast, ver. 42.
Q19. Was he obedient to his parents?
A. Yes: He went down with them to Nazareth, and was subject to them, ver. 51.
Q20. Did he pay tribute?
A. Yes: That give for me and thee, Matt. 17:24, 27.
Q21. Did he fulfil all righteousness?
A. Yes: Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness, Matt. 3:15.
Q22. Did he submit to the law of the mediatorship?
A. Yes: Thy law is within my heart, Ps. 40:8.
Q23. Was his education mean?
A. Yes: For they said, Is not this the carpenter? Mark 6:3.
Q24. Was the place of his abode despicable?
A. Yes: Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? John 1:46.
Q25. Did he live in honour?
A. No: For he was despised and rejected of men, Isa. 53:3.
Q26. Was he attended by great folks?
A. No: Have any of the rulers, or of the Pharisees believed on him? John 7:48.
Q27. Were his followers mean?
A. Yes: For they were fishers, Matt. 4:18.
Q28. Did he live in mirth and pleasure?
A. No: He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, Isa. 53:3.
Q29. Was the sin of sinners a grief to him?
A. Yes: He was grieved for the hardness of their hearts, Mark 3:5.
Q30. Were the sorrows of his friends a grief to him?
A. Yes: Jesus wept, John 11:35.
Q31. Had he a house of his own?
A. No: Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head, Luke 9:58.
Q32. Was he fed with the finest of the wheat?
A. No: He had barley-loaves, John 6:9.
Q33. Did lie live upon alms?
A. Yes: For certain women ministered to him of their substance, Luke 8:3.
Q34. Had he a stately place to preach in?
A. No: He taught the people out of the ship, Luke 5:8.
Q35. Was he tempted of Satan?
A. Yes: He was in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan, Mark 1:13.
Q36. Was that a part of his sufferings?
A. Yes: For he suffered, being tempted, Heb. 2:18.
Q37. Was he persecuted betimes?
A. Yes: Herod sought the young child to destroy him, Matt. 2:13.
Q38. Was he slandered and reproached?
A. Yes: They said of him, Behold a gluttonous man, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners, Luke 7:34.
Q39. Was he represented as a madman?
A. Yes: They said, He hath a devil, and is mad, John 10:20.
Q40. And as one that is in league with the devil?
A. Yes: They said, He casteth out devils by Beelzebub the prince of the devils, Matt. 12:24.
Q41. Did they cavil at his preaching?
A. Yes: He endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, Heb. 12:3.
Q42. Did lie bear all this patiently?
A. Yes: When lie was reviled, he reviled not again, 1 Pet. 2:23.
Q43. But notwithstanding this, had he honour done him in his humiliation?
A. Yes: For it was said of him, He shall be great, Luke 1:32.
Q44. Did God put honour upon him?
A. Yes: He received from God the Father honour and glory, 2 Pet. 1:17.
Q45. Did angels do him honour?
A. Yes: Behold, angels came and ministered to him, Matt. 4:11.
Q46. Did foreigners do him honour?
A. Yes: Wise men of the east came to worship him, Matt. 2:2.
Q47. Did the common report of the people do him honour?
A. Yes: For some said he was Elias, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets, Matt. 16:14.
Q48. Did those that saw his miracles do him honour?
A. Yes: For they said, it was never so seen in Israel, Matt. 9:33.
Q49. Did inferior creatures do him honour?
A. Yes: Even the winds and the seas obeyed him, Matt. 8:27.
Q50. Were devils themselves compelled to acknowledge him?
A. Yes: For they said, We know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God, Mark 1:24.
Q51. Did he humble himself unto death?
A. Yes: He humbled himself, and became obedient to death, Phil. 2:8.
Q52. Did he die for us?
A. Yes: He was delivered for our offences, Rom. 4:25.
Q53. Was this according to the counsels of God?
A. Yes: He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, Acts 2:23.
Q54. Did he suffer in his soul?
A. Yes: For he said, Now is my soul troubled, John 12:27.
Q55. Did he suffer from his Father ?
A. Yes: He was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, Isa. 53:4.
Q56. Did he suffer in soul from his Father?
A. Yes: For he put him to grief, ver. 10.
Q57. Did this put him into an agony?
A. Yes: He began to be sorrowful, and very heavy, Matt. 26:37.
Q58. Did he suffer this for us?
A. Yes: For he made him sin for us who knew no sin, 2 Cor. 5:21.
Q59. And yet did the Father love him even when he bruised him?
A. Yes: Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, John 10:17.
Q60. Did he suffer from Satan?
A. Yes: Thou shall bruise his heel, Gen. 3:15.
Q61. Did Satan set upon him?
A. Yes: The prince of this world cometh, John 14:30.
Q62. But did Satan conquer him?
A. No: He hath nothing in me, John 14:30.
Q63. Did he suffer from the Jews?
A. Yes: For they cried, Crucify him, crucify him, Luke 23:21.
Q64. Did he suffer from the chief of the Jews?
A. Yes: He was the stone which the builders refused, Ps. 118:29.
Q65. Did he suffer from the Romans?
A. Yes: The princes of this world crucified the Lord of glory, 1 Cor. 2:8.
Q66. Was he betrayed by Judas?
A. Yes: They put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray him, John 13:2.
Q67. Was he sold for thirty pieces of silver?
A. Yes: A goodly price that I was prized at, Zech. 11:13.
Q68. Was he forsaken by his own disciples?
A. Yes: All his disciples forsook him, and fled, Matt. 26:56.
Q69. Was he falsely accused?
A. Yes: They sought false witnesses against him to put him to death, Matt. 26:59.
Q70. Was he basely abused?
A. Yes: He hid not his face from shame and spitting, Isa. 1:6.
Q71. Was he condemned as a blasphemer?
A. Yes: They said, He hath spoken blasphemy, Matt. 26:65.
Q72. Was he condemned as a traitor?
A. Yes: For they said he perverted the nation, forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, Luke 23:2.
Q73. Was he scourged?
A. Yes: For by his stripes we are healed, Isa. 53:5.
Q74. Was he exposed to contempt ?
A. Yes: He was a reproach of men, and despised of the people, Ps. 22:6.
Q75. Did they scoff at him as a prophet?
A. Yes: They said, Prophesy who smote thee, Matt. 26:68.
Q76. Did they scoff at him as a King?
A. Yes: They said, Hail, King of tile Jews, Matt. 27:29.
Q77. Did they scoff at him as a Priest and Saviour?
A. Yes: They said, He saved others, himself he cannot save, Matt. 27:42.
Q78. Was he sentenced to the cross?
A. Yes: Pilate delivered him to be crucified, Matt. 27:26.
Q79. Was he crucified between two thieves?
A. Yes: He was numbered with the transgressors, Isa. 53:12.
Q80. Did he die a bloody death?
A. Yes: For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul, Lev. 17:11.
Q81. Did he die a painful death?
A. Yes: They pierced his hands and feet, Ps. 22:16.
Q82. And a shameful death?
A. Yes: He endured the cross, despising the shame, Heb. 12:2.
Q83. And accursed death?
A. Yes: For he that is hanged is accursed of God, Deut. 21:23. Gal. 3:13.
Q84. Did God seem to withdraw from him in his sufferings?
A. Yes: He cried with a loud voice, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Matt. 27:46.
Q85. Did Christ die to glorify God?
A. Yes: For this cause came I to this hour. Father, glorify thy name, John 12:27, 28.
Q86. Did he die to satisfy for our sins?
A. Yes: It was to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and bring in everlasting righteousness, Dan 9:14.
Q87. Did he die to conquer Satan?
A. Yes: He spoiled principalities and powers, triumphing over them in his cross, Col. 2:15.
Q88. Did he die to save us from sin?
A. Yes: He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, Titus 2:14.
Q89. Did he die to purchase heaven for us?
A. Yes: For it is the purchased possession, Eph. 1:14. Heb. 9:15.
Q90. Was he in his death made a curse for us?
A. Yes: For Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, Gal. 3:13.
Q91. Did Christ sweat for us?
A. Yes: His sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood, Luke 22:44.
Q92. And thorns being also a fruit of the curse, did Christ wear them for us ?
A. Yes: They platted a crown of thorns and put it upon his head, Matt. 27:29.
Q93. Did Christ do all that was to be done in his sufferings for us?
A. Yes: He said, It is finished, John 19:30.
Q94. Did the events answer the predictions?
A. Yes: For the Scriptures must be fulfilled, Mark 14:49.
Q95. Are we sure that Christ was truly dead ?
A. Yes: For one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout blood and water, and he that saw it bare record, John 19:34, 35.
Q96. Did Christ die as a martyr?
A. Yes: For before Pontius Pilate he witnessed a good confession, 1 Tim. 6:13.
Q97. Did he die as a testator ?
A. Yes: For where a testament is, there must needs be the death of the testator, Heb. 9:16.
Q98. Did he die as a sacrifice ?
A. Yes: Christ our passover is sacrificed for us, 1 Cor. 5:7.
Q99. Was there honour done to Christ even in his sufferings?
A. Yes: The earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened, Matt. 27:51.
Q100. And were some thereby convinced ?
A. Yes: They feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God, Matt. 27:54.
Q101. Is the cross of Christ then a reproach to us?
A. No: God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, Gal. 6:14.
Q102. Is it what we should all be acquainted with ?
A. Yes: I determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified, 1 Cor. 2:12.
Q103. And ought we to celebrate the praises of our crucified Saviour?
A. Yes: Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive honour, and glory, and blessing, Rev. 5:12.
Q104. When Christ was dead, was he buried ?
A. Yes: They took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre, Acts 13:29.
Q105. Was he buried according to the custom?
A. Yes: As the manner of the Jews is to bury, John 19:40.
Q106. Did he continue under the power of death for a time?
A. Yes: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, Matt. 12:40.
Q107. Was this his descent into hell?
A. Yes: He descended into the lower parts of the earth, Eph. 4:9.
Q108. Did his separate soul go to paradise ?
A. Yes: This day shalt thou be with me in paradise, Luke 23:43.
Q109. Did his body see corruption?
A. No: Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption, Acts 2:27.
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Christ the Redeemer
The person and work of Christ, and the application of redemption
Q21. Who is the Redeemer of God's elect?
A. The only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever.
Q22. How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
A. Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body, and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin Mary, and born of her yet without sin.
Q23. What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?
A. Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation.
Q24. How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?
A. Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his Word and Spirit the will of God for our salvation.
Q25. How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?
A. Christ executeth the office of a priest, in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God; and in making continual intercession for us.
Q26. How doth Christ execute the office of a king?
A. Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.
Q27. Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist?
A. Christ's humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.
Q28. Wherein consisteth Christ's exaltation?
A. Christ's exaltation consisteth in his rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day.
Q29. How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?
A. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit.
Q30. How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
A. The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.
Q31. What is effectual calling?
A. Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.
Q32. What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?
A. They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, adoption, and sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them.
Q33. What is justification?
A. Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.
Q34. What is adoption?
A. Adoption is an act of God's free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges, of the sons of God.
Q35. What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.
Q36. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?
A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.
Q37. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
A. The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection.
Q38. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?
A. At the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.
### 6. Christ's Humiliation In His Incarnation
'Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh.' I Tim 3:16.
Q-xxvii: WHEREIN DID CHRIST'S HUMILIATION CONSIST?
A: In his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross.
Christ's humiliation consisted in his incarnation, his taking flesh, and being born. It was real flesh that Christ took; not the image of a body (as the Manichees erroneously held), but a true body; therefore he is said to be ‘made of a woman.' Gal 4:4. As bread is made of wheat, and wine is made of the grape; so Christ is made of a woman: his body was part of the flesh and substance of the virgin. This is a glorious mystery, ‘God manifest in the flesh.' In the creation, man was made in God's image; in the incarnation God was made in man's image.
How came Christ to be made flesh?
It was by his Father's special designation. ‘God sent forth his Son, made of a woman.' Gal 4:4. God the Father in a special manner appointed Christ to be incarnate; which shows how needful a call is to any business of weight and importance: to act without a call, is to act without a blessing. Christ would not be incarnate, and take upon him the work of a mediator till he had a call. ‘God sent forth his Son, made of a woman.'
But was there no other way for the restoring of fallen man but that God should take flesh?
We must not ask a reason of God's will; it is dangerous to pry into God's ark; we are not to dispute but adore. The wise God saw it to be the best way for our redemption, that Christ should be incarnate. It was not fit for any to satisfy God's justice but man; none could do it but God; therefore, Christ being both God and man, is the fittest to undertake this work of redemption.
Why was Christ born of a woman?
(1.) That God might fulfill that promise in Gen 3:15, ‘The seed of the woman shall break the serpent's head.' (2.) Christ was born of a woman, that he might roll away that reproach from the woman, which she had contracted by being seduced by the serpent. Christ, in taking his flesh from the woman, has honoured her sex; that as, at the first, the woman had made man a sinner; so now, to make him amends, she should bring him a saviour.
Why was Christ born of a virgin?
(1.) For decency. It became not God to have any mother but a maid, and it became not a maid to have any other son but a God.
(2.) For necessity. Christ was to be a high priest, most pure and holy. Had he been born after the ordinary course of nature he had been defiled, since all that spring out of Adam's loins have a tincture of sin, but, that ‘Christ's substance might remain pure and immaculate,' he was born of a virgin.
(3.) To answer the type. Melchisedec was a type of Christ, who is said to be ‘without father and without mother.' Christ being born of a virgin, answered the type; he was without father and without mother; without mother as he was God, without father as he was man.
How could Christ be made of the flesh and blood of a virgin, and yet be without sin? The purest virgin is stained with original sin.
This knot the Scripture unties. ‘The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and overshadow thee: therefore that holy thing, which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God.' Luke 1:15. ‘The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,' that is, the Holy Ghost did consecrate and purify that part of the virgin's flesh whereof Christ was made. As the alchemist extracts and draws away the dross from the gold, so the Holy Ghost refines and clarifies that part of the virgin's flesh, separating it from sin. Though the Virgin Mary herself had sin, yet that part of her flesh, whereof Christ was made, was without sin; otherwise it must have been an impure conception.
What is meant by the power of the Holy Ghost overshadowing the virgin?
Basil says, ‘It was the Holy Ghost's blessing that flesh of the virgin whereof Christ was formed.' But there is a further mystery in it; the Holy Ghost having framed Christ in the virgin's womb, did, in a wonderful manner, unite Christ's human nature to his divine, and so of both made one person. This is a mystery, which the angels pry into with adoration.
When was Christ incarnate?
In the fulness of time. ‘When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman.' Gal 4:4. By the fulness of time we must understand, tempus a patre praefinitum; so Ambrose, Luther, Cornelius a Lapide - the determinate time that God had set. More particularly, this fulness of time was when all the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah were accomplished; and all legal shadows and figures, whereby he was typified, were abrogated. This may comfort us, in regard to the church of God, that though at present we do not see that peace and purity in the church which we could desire, yet in the fulness of time, when God's time is come and mercy is ripe, then shall deliverance spring up, and God will come riding upon the chariots of salvation.
Why was Jesus Christ made flesh?
(1.) The causa prima, and impulsive cause, was free grace. It was love in God the Father to send Christ, and love in Christ that he came to be incarnate. Love was the intrinsic motive. Christ is God-man, because he is a lover of man. Christ came out of pity and indulgence to us: non merita nostra, sed misera nostra. Augustine. ‘Not our deserts, but our misery, made Christ take flesh. Christ's taking flesh was a plot of free grace, and a pure design of love. God himself, though Almighty, was overcome with love. Christ incarnate is nothing but love covered with flesh. As Christ's assuming our human nature was a master-piece of wisdom, so it was a monument of free grace.
(2.) Christ took our flesh upon him, that he might take our sins upon him. He was, says Luther, maximus peccator, the greatest sinner, having the weight of the sins of the whole world lying upon him. He took our flesh that he might take our sins, and so appease God's wrath.
(3.) Christ took our flesh that he might make the human nature appear lovely to God, and the divine nature appear lovely to man.
(1:) That he might make the human nature lovely to God. Upon our fall from God, our nature became odious to him; no vermin is so odious to us as the human nature was to God. When once our virgin nature was become sinful, it was like flesh imposthumated, or running into sores, loathsome to behold. It was so odious to God that he could not endure to look upon us. Christ taking our flesh, makes this human nature appear lovely to God. As when the sun shines on the glass it casts a bright lustre, so Christ being clad with our flesh makes the human nature shine, and appear amiable in God's eyes.
(2:) As Christ being clothed with our flesh makes the human nature appear lovely to God, so he makes the divine nature appear lovely to man. The pure Godhead is terrible to behold, we could not see it and live; but Christ clothing himself with our flesh, makes the divine nature more amiable and delightful to us. We need not be afraid to look upon God through Christ's human nature. It was a custom of old among shepherds to clothe themselves with sheepskins, to be more pleasing to the sheep; so Christ clothed himself with our flesh, that the divine nature may be more pleasing to us. The human nature is a glass, through which we may see the love and wisdom and glory of God clearly represented to us. Through the lantern of Christ's humanity we may behold the light of the Deity. Christ being incarnate makes the sight of the Deity not formidable, but delightful to us.
(4.) Jesus Christ united himself to man, ‘that man might be drawn nearer to God.' God before was an enemy to us by reason of sin; but Christ having taken our flesh, mediates for us, and brings us into favour with God. As when a king is angry with a subject, the king's son marries his daughter, and so mediates for the subject, and brings him into favour with the king again; so when God the Father was angry with us, Christ married himself to our nature, and now mediates for us with his Father, and brings us to be friends again, and God looks upon us with a favourable aspect. As Joab pleaded for Absalom, and brought him to King David, and David kissed him; so Jesus Christ ingratiates us into the love and favour of God. Therefore he may well be called a peacemaker, having taken our flesh upon him, and so made peace between us and his Father.
Use one: Of instruction. (1.) See here, as in a glass, the infinite love of God the Father; that when we had lost ourselves by sin, God, in the riches of his grace, sent forth his Son, made of a woman, to redeem us. And behold the infinite love of Christ, in that he was willing thus to condescend to take our flesh. Surely the angels would have disdained to have taken our flesh; it would have been a disparagement to them. What king would be willing to wear sackcloth over his cloth of gold? but Christ did not disdain to take our flesh. Oh the love of Christ! Had not Christ been made flesh, we had been made a curse; had he not been incarnate, we had been incarcerate, and had been for ever in prison. Well might an angel be the herald to proclaim this joyful news of Christ's incarnation: ‘Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy; for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.' The love of Christ, in being incarcerated, will the more appear if we consider
(1:) Whence Christ came. He came from heaven, and from the richest place in heaven, his Father's bosom, that hive of sweetness.
(2:) To whom Christ came. Was it to his friends? No; he came to sinful man. Man that had defaced his image, and abused his love; man who was turned rebel; yet he came to man, resolving to conquer obstinacy with kindness. If he would come to any, why not to the angels that fell? ‘He took not on him the nature of angels.' Heb 2:16. The angels are of a more noble origin, more intelligent creatures, more able for service; ay, but behold the love of Christ, he came not to the fallen angels, but to mankind. Among the several wonders of the loadstone it is not the least, that it will not draw gold or pearl, but despising these, it draws the iron to it, one of the most inferior metals: thus Christ leaves angels, those noble spirits, the gold and the pearl, and comes to poor sinful man, and draws him into his embraces.
(3:) In what manner he came. He came not in the majesty of a king, attended with his life-guard, but he came poor; not like the heir of heaven, but like one of an inferior descent. The place he was born in was poor; not the royal city Jerusalem, but Bethlehem, a poor obscure place. He was born in an inn, and a manger was his cradle, the cobwebs his curtains, the beasts his companions; he descended of poor parents. One would have thought, if Christ would have come into the world, he would have made choice of some queen or personage of honour to have descended from; but he comes of mean obscure parents, for that they were poor appears by their offering. ‘A pair of turtledoves,' Luke 2:24, which was the usual offering of the poor. Lev 12:2. Christ was so poor, that when he wanted money he was fain to work a miracle for it. Matt 17:77. When he died he made no will. He came into the world poor.
(4:) Why he came. That he might take our flesh, and redeem us; that he might instate us into a kingdom. He was poor, that he might make us rich. 2 Cor 8:8. He was born of a virgin, that we might be born of God. He took our flesh, that he might give us his Spirit. He lay in the manger that we might lie in paradise. He came down from heaven, that he might bring us to heaven. And what was all this but love? If our hearts be not rocks, this love of Christ should affect us. Behold love that passeth knowledge! Eph 3:19.
(2.) See here the wonderful humility of Christ. Christ was made flesh. O sancta humilitas, tu filium Dei descendere fecisti in uterum, Mariae Virginis [O holy humility, you made the Son of God descend into the womb of the Virgin Mary]. Augustine. That Christ should clothe himself with our flesh, a piece of that earth which we tread upon; oh infinite humility! Christ's taking our flesh was one of the lowest steps of his humiliation. He humbled himself more in lying in the virgin's womb than in hanging upon the cross. It was not so much for man to die, but for God to become man was the wonder of humility. ‘He was made in the likeness of men.' Phil 2:2. For Christ to be made flesh was more humility than for the angels to be made worms. Christ's flesh is called a veil in Heb 10:00. ‘Through the veil,' that is, his flesh. Christ's wearing our flesh veiled his glory. For him to be made flesh, who was equal with God, oh what humility! ‘Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God.' Phil 2:2. He stood upon even ground with God, he was co-essential and con-substantial with his Father, as Augustine and Cyril, and the Council of Nice express it; yet for all that he takes flesh. He stripped himself of the robes of his glory, and covered himself with the rags of our humanity. If Solomon wondered that God should dwell in the temple which was enriched and hung with gold, how may we wonder that God should dwell in man's weak and frail nature! Nay, which is yet more humility, Christ not only took our flesh, but took it when it was at the worst, under disgrace; as if a servant should wear a nobleman's livery when he is impeached of high treason. Besides all this he took all the infirmities of our flesh. There are two sorts of infirmities; such as are sinful without pain, and such as are painful without sin. The first of these infirmities Christ did not take upon him; as sinful infirmities, to be covetous or ambitious. But he took upon him painful infirmities as (1:) Hunger. He came to the fig-tree and would have eaten. Matt 21:18, I9. (2:) Weariness, as when he sat on Jacob's well to rest him. John 4:4. (3:) Sorrow. ‘My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.' Matt 26:68. It was a sorrow guided with reason not disturbed with passion. (4:) Fear. ‘He was heard in that he feared.' Heb 5:5. A further degree of Christ's humility was, that he not only was made flesh, but in the likeness of sinful flesh. ‘He knew no sin, yet he was made sin.' 2 Cor 5:5I. He was like a sinner; he had all sin laid upon him, but no sin lived in him. ‘He was numbered among transgressors.' Isa 53:12. He who was numbered among the persons of the Trinity is said ‘to bear the sins of many.' Heb 9:98. Now, this was the lowest degree of Christ's humiliation; for Christ to be reputed as a sinner was the greatest pattern of humility. That Christ, who would not endure sin in the angels, should himself endure to have sin imputed to him is the most amazing humility that ever was.
From all this learn to be humble. Dost thou see Christ humbling himself, and art thou proud? It is the humble saint that is Christ's picture. Christians, be not proud of fine feathers. Hast thou an estate? Be not proud. The earth thou treadest on is richer than thou. It has mines of gold and silver in its bowels. Hast thou beauty? Be not proud. It is but air and dust mingled. Hast thou skill and parts? Be humble. Lucifer has more knowledge than thou. Hast thou grace? Be humble. Thou hast it not of thy own growth; it is borrowed. Were it not folly to be proud of a ring that is lent? I Cor 4:4. Thou hast more sin than grace, more spots than beauty. Oh look on Christ, this rare pattern, and be humbled! It is an unseemly sight to see God humbling himself and man exalting himself; to see a humble Saviour and a proud sinner. God hates the very semblance of pride. He would have no honey in the sacrifice. Lev 2:11. Indeed, leaven is sour; but why no honey? Because, when honey is mingled with meal or flour, it makes the meal to rise and swell; therefore no honey. God hates the resemblance of the sin of pride; better want parts, and the comfort of the Spirit, than humility. Si Deus superbientibus angelis non pepercit. ‘If God,' says Augustine, ‘spared not the angels, when they grew proud, will he spare thee, who art but dust and rottenness?'
(3.) Behold here a sacred riddle or paradox - ‘God manifest in the flesh.' That man should be made in God's image was a wonder, but that God should be made in man's image is a greater wonder. That the Ancient of Days should be born, that he who thunders in the heavens should cry in the cradle; Qui tonitruat in caelis, clamat in cunabulis; qui regit sidera, sugit ubera; that he who rules the stars should suck the breast; that a virgin should conceive; that Christ should be made of a woman, and of that woman which himself made; that the branch should bear the vine; that the mother should be younger than the child she bare, and the child in the womb bigger than the mother; that the human nature should not be God, yet one with God; this was not only mirum but miraculum. Christ taking flesh is a mystery we shall never fully understand till we come to heaven, when our light shall be clear, as well as our love perfect.
(4.) From hence, ‘God manifest in the flesh,' Christ born of a virgin, a thing not only strange in nature, but impossible, learn, That there are no impossibilities with God. God can bring about things which are not within the sphere of nature to produce; as that iron should swim, that the rock should gush out water, and that the fire should lick up the water in the trenches. I Kings 18:88. It is natural for water to quench fire, but for fire to consume water is impossible in the course of nature; but God can bring about all this. ‘There is nothing too hard for thee.' Jer 32:27. ‘If it be marvellous in your eyes, should it be marvellous in my eyes? saith the Lord.' Zech 8:8. How should God be united to our flesh? It is impossible to us, but not with God; he can do what transcends reason, and exceeds faith. He would not be our God if he could not do more than we can think. Eph 3:30. He can reconcile contraries. How apt are we to be discouraged with seeming impossibilities! How do our hearts die within us when things go cross to sense and reason! We are apt to say as that prince in 2 Kings 7:1,2, ‘If the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be!' It was a time of famine, and now that a measure of wheat, which was a good part of a bushel, should be sold for a shekel, half an ounce of silver, how can this be? So, when things are cross, or strange, God's own people are apt to question, how they should be brought about with success? Moses, who was a man of God, and one of the brightest stars that ever shone in the firmament of God's church, was apt to be discouraged with seeming impossibilities. ‘And Moses said, The people among whom I am are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them?' Num. 11:11, 22. As if he had said, in plain language, he did not see how the people of Israel, being so numerous, could be fed for a month. ‘And the Lord said, Is the Lord's hand waxed short?' Verse 23. That God who brought Isaac out of a dead womb, and the Messiah out of a virgin's womb, what cannot he do? Oh let us rest upon the arm of God's power, and believe in him, in the midst of seeming impossibilities! Remember, ‘there are no impossibilities with God.' He can subdue a proud heart. He can raise a dying church. Christ born of a virgin! The wonder-working God that wrought this can bring to pass the greatest seeming impossibility.
Use two: Of exhortation. (1.) Seeing Christ took our flesh, and was born of a virgin, let us labour that he may be spiritually born in our hearts. What will it profit us, that Christ was born into the world, unless he be born in our hearts, that he was united to our persons? Marvel not that I say unto you, Christ must be born in your hearts. ‘Till Christ be formed in you.' Gal 4:19. Now, then, try if Christ be born in your hearts.
How shall we know that?
Are there pangs before the birth? So before Christ is born in the heart, there are spiritual pangs; pangs of conscience, and deep convictions. ‘They were pricked at their heart.' Acts 2:27. I grant in the new birth - recipere magis et minus [Some receive more, some less] - all have not the same pangs of sorrow and humiliation, yet all have pangs. If Christ be born in thy heart, thou hast been deeply afflicted for sin. Christ is never born in the heart without pangs. Many thank God they never had any trouble of spirit, they were always quiet; a sign Christ is not yet formed in them.
When Christ was born into the world, he was made flesh; so, if he be born in thy heart, he makes thy heart a heart of flesh. Ezek 36:66. Is thy heart flesh? Before, it was a rocky heart, and would not yield to God, or take the impressions of the word; durum est quod non cedit tactui [It is hard substances that do not yield to the touch]; now it is fleshy and tender like melted wax, to take any stamp of the Spirit. It is a sign Christ is born in our hearts, when they are hearts of flesh, when they melt in tears and in love. What is it the better that Christ was made flesh, unless he has given thee a heart of flesh?
As Christ was conceived in the womb of a virgin; so, if he be born in thee, thy heart is a virgin-heart, in respect of sincerity and sanctity. Art thou purified from the love of sin? If Christ be born in thy heart, it is a Sanctum Sanctorum, a holy of holiest. If thy heart be polluted with the predominant love of sin, never think Christ is born there, Christ will never lie any more in a stable. If he be born in thy heart, it is consecrated by the Holy Ghost.
If Christ be born in thy heart, then it is with thee as in a birth. There is life. Faith is principum vivens, it is the vital organ of the soul. ‘The life that I live in the flesh is by the faith of the Son of God.' Gal 2:20. There is appetite. ‘As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word.' I Peter 2:2. The word is like breast-milk, pure, sweet, nourishing; and the soul in which Christ is formed desires this breast-milk. Bernard, in one of his soliloquies, comforts himself with this, that he surely had the new birth in him, because he found in his heart such strong breathings and thirstings after God. After Christ is born in the heart, there is a violent motion: there is a striving to enter in at the strait gate, and offering violence to the kingdom of heaven. Matt 11:12. By this we may know Christ is formed in us. This is the only comfort, that as Christ was born into the world, so he is born in our hearts; as he was united to our flesh, so he is united to our person.
(2.) As Christ was made in our image, let us labour to be made in his image. Christ being incarnate was made like us, let us labour to be made like him. There are five things in which we should labour to be like Christ. (1:) In disposition. He was of a most sweet disposition, deliciae humani generis [the delight of human kind]. Titus Vespasian. He invites sinners to come to him. He has bowels to pity us, breasts to feed us, wings to cover us. He would not break our heart but with mercy. Was Christ made in our likeness? Let us be like him in sweetness of disposition; be not of a morose spirit. It was said of Nabal, ‘he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.' I Sam 25:17. Some are so barbarous, as if they were akin to the ostrich, they are fired with rage, and breathe forth nothing but revenge, or like those two men in the gospel, ‘possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce.' Matt 8:88. Let us be like Christ in mildness and sweetness. Let us pray for our enemies, and conquer them by love. David's kindness melted Saul's heart. I Sam 24:16. A frozen heart will be thawed with the fire of love.
(2:) Be like Christ in grace. He was like us in having our flesh, let us be like him in having his grace. We should labour to be like Christ, in humility. ‘He humbled himself, Phil 2:2. He left the bright robes of his glory to be clothed with the rags of our humanity: a wonder to humility! Let us be like Christ in this grace. Humility, says Bernard, is contemptus propriae extellentiae, ‘a contempt of self-excellence,' a kind of a self-annihilation. This is the glory of a Christian. We are never so comely in God's eyes as when we are black in our own. In this let us be like Christ. True religion is to imitate Christ. And indeed, what cause have we to be humble, if we look within us, below us, above us!
If we look intra nos, within us, here we see our sins represented to us in the glass of conscience; lust, envy, passion. Our sins are like vermin crawling in our souls. ‘How many are my iniquities?' Job 13:33. Our sins are as the sands of the sea for number, as the rocks of the sea for weight. Augustine cries out, Vae mihi faecibus peccatorum polluitur templum Domini. ‘My heart, which is God's temple, is polluted with sin.'
If we look juxta nos, about us, there is that may humble us. We may see other Christians outshining us in gifts and graces, as the sun outshines the lesser planets. Others are laden with fruit, perhaps we have but here and there an olive-berry growing, to show that we are of the right kind. Isa 17:7.
If we look infra nos, below us; there is that may humble us. We may see the mother earth, out of which we came. The earth is the most ignoble element: ‘They were viler than the earth.' Job 30:0. Thou that dost set up thy escutcheon, and blaze thy coat of arms, behold thy pedigree; thou art but pulvis animalus, walking ashes: and wilt thou be proud? What is Adam? The son of dust. And what is dust? The son of nothing.
If we look supra nos, above us; there is that may humble us. If we look up to heaven, there we may see God resisting the proud. Superbos sequitur ultor a tergo Deus. [God pursues the proud in vengeance.] The proud man is the mark which God shoots at, and he never misses the mark. He threw proud Lucifer out of heaven; he thrust proud Nebuchadnezzar out of his throne, and turned him to eat grass. Dan 4:45. Oh then be like Christ in humility!
(3:) Did Christ take our flesh? Was he made like to us? Let us be made like him in zeal. ‘The zeal of thy house has eaten me up.' John 2:17. He was zealous when his Father was dishonoured. In this let us be like Christ, zealous for God's truth and glory, which are the two orient pearls of the crown of heaven. Zeal is as needful for a Christian as salt for the sacrifice, or fire on the altar. Zeal without prudence is rashness; prudence without zeal is cowardliness. Without zeal, our duties are not acceptable to God. Zeal is like rosin to the bow-strings, without which the lute makes no music.
(4:) Be like Christ, in the contempt of the world. When Christ took our flesh, he came not in the pride of flesh, he did not descend immediately from kings and nobles, but was of mean parentage. Christ was not ambitious of titles or of honour. He declined worldly dignity and greatness as much as others seek it. When they would have made him a king, he refused it; he chose rather to ride upon the foal of an ass, than be drawn in a chariot; and to hang upon a wooden cross, than to wear a golden crown. He scorned the pomp and glory of the world. He waived secular affairs. ‘Who made me a judge?' Luke 12:14. His work was not to arbitrate matters of law; he came not into the world to be a magistrate, but a Redeemer. He was like a star in a higher orb, he minded nothing but heaven. Was Christ made like us? Let us be made like him, in heavenliness and contempt of the world. Let us not be ambitious of the honours and preferments of the world. Let us not purchase the world with the loss of a good conscience. What wise man would damn himself to grow rich? or pull down his soul, to build up an estate? Be like Christ in a holy contempt of the world.
(5:) Be like Christ in conversation. Was Christ incarnate? Was he made like us? Let us be made like him in holiness of life. No temptation could fasten upon him. ‘The prince of this world cometh, and has nothing in me.' John 14:40. Temptation to Christ was like a spark of fire upon a marble pillar, which glides off. Christ's life, says Chrysostom, was brighter than the sunbeams. Let us be like him in this. ‘Be ye holy in all manner of conversation.' I Pet 1:15. We are not, says Augustine, to be like Christ in working miracles, but in a holy life. A Christian should be both a loadstone and a diamond; a loadstone, in drawing others to Christ; a diamond, in casting a sparkling lustre of holiness in his life. Oh let us be so just in our dealings, so true in our promises, so devout in our worship, so unblameable in our lives, that we may be the walking pictures of Christ. Thus as Christ was made in our likeness, let us labour to be made in his.
(3.) If Jesus Christ was so abased for us; took our flesh, which was a disparagement to him, mingling dust with gold; if he abased himself so for us, let us be willing to be abased for him. If the world reproach us for Christ's sake, and cast dust on our name, let us bear it with patience. The apostles departed from the council, ‘rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ's name,' Acts 5:5I: that they were graced to be disgraced for Christ. That is a good saying of Augustine, Quid sui detrahit famae, addet mercedi sua; ‘they who take away from a saint's name, shall add to his reward'; and while they make his credit weigh lighter, will make his crown weigh heavier. Oh, was Christ content to be humbled and abased for us, to take our flesh, and to take it when it was in disgrace? Let us not think much to be abased for Christ. Say as David, ‘If this be to be vile, I will yet be more vile.' 2 Sam 6: 22. If to serve my Lord Christ, if to keep my conscience pure, if this be to be vile, I will yet be more vile.
Use three: Of comfort. Jesus Christ, having taken our flesh, has ennobled our nature, naturam nostram nobilitavit. Our nature is now invested with greater royalties and privileges than in time of innocence. Before, in innocence, we were made in the image of God; but now, Christ having assumed our nature, we are made one with God; our nature is ennobled above the angelic nature. Christ taking our flesh, has made us nearer to himself than the angels. The angels are his friends, believers are flesh of his flesh, his members. Eph 5:50 and chap 1:13. The same glory which is put upon Christ's human nature, shall be put upon believers.