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TOPIC: Edwards, Jonathan - Rational Biblical Theology (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: Chapt 25 Incarnation
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There being the perfect holiness of God and the perfect unholiness of man only a mediator could prevent the eternal destruction of sinful man by an angry God. This mediator would have to be divine and human. The classical Anselmian argument for why God became man is accepted by Edwards as I will show more fully in the discussion of his thinking on the atonement. In this chapter we will consider first the deity of Christ and then His incarnation by means of the virgin birth. His three offices as prophet, priest, and king will be surveyed as well as a consideration of His two states as incarnate mediator - that of humiliation and exaltation. The chapter will close with a brief survey of post-Edwardsian theological development of this doctrine.
1. The Deity of Christ
Although we usually think of the Mediator as reconciling God to man, thus making man, in a sense, the center, and his reclamation the purpose of the mediatorial ministry, there is a more ultimate purpose in the mind of Jonathan Edwards. That purpose is to manifest the love that is between the Father and the Son. We notice that the mediatorship of Christ accomplishes that manifestation, but Edwards insists on that as the main purpose of it. This in itself is a putting of man in proper perspective so characteristic of Edwards. Our redemption has a far greater significance than our creation. All things work together for our good, but the ultimate purpose of all things working together for our good is the glorification of God. So here with respect to the incarnation we notice that its purpose is to glorify or reveal the love between the two persons in the Godhead - Father and *Son_1:1-17* The divine Son came in order to repair the injury done to the Father’s honor by sin. The Father, in turn, honored the Son showing His deep and perfect affection for Him by saving even God’s enemies for Christ’s sake.
So the Mediator had to be a divine person. “Christ is a person of transcendent worthiness in the sight of God.” *2* Again, “Christ is the shining forth of the Father’s glory.” *3* The latter sermon is especially interesting because it describes the Son as eternally from the Father. Edwards develops this as different from a generation of the creature. Although the eternal generation of the Son was to become a suspect doctrine in later New England theology, Edwards is surely not objecting to it here. His expression, eternally proceeding, seems equivalent to eternally being generated. He is careful simply to note that that generation is not the generation of a creature. Because Christ is eternally proceeding from the Father, He is the means by which the glory of the Father shines forth to men.
Again, Christ is called “the original and fountain of all spiritual life and nourishment.” *4* Christ and believers are one and believers receive all nourishment from Him because of His own eternal divine nature. It is well for us to remember that Edwards never forgets the deity of Jesus Christ even when he is speaking most intimately of His humanity. Here it is being observed that Christ is infinitely close to His disciples and the source of infinite nourishment because He is an infinite person who has come to them as the Mediator. The sermon on Son_1:3 is especially interesting because it studies the various attributes of Christ as casting light on one another. *5* All of them together, of course, illumine His divinity. In the sermon on “The Lord Jesus Christ is an unspeakable gift,” Edwards shows the excellence of Christ incidental to his being given as the mediator. *6* That is, Edwards considers the nature of the person who is given and shows His transcendental excellence quoad nos, as it were.
All of these many tributes to the excellency of Christ that we find scattered throughout all of the writings of Edwards throughout his entire life add up to this:
Jesus Christ is infinitely above us in nature, he being of a divine nature. There is no distance between man and man but between God and man there is an infinite distance of nature. A greater distance than there is between the nature of a man and the nature of worms. *7*
In the course of this sermon on Rom_5:7-8, while discussing the love of Christ for His elect, Edwards remarks that there “never was any instance of such a stoop made by any beloved.” Even if men did love as much as Christ did, the sheer excellence and infinite transcendence of His nature make His love incomparable. If a man loved another a hundred times so much as Christ, it would not have been so great.
Isaac Watts had a novel and heretical notion of the pre-existence of the human soul of the Mediator. M 1174 mounts no less than 13 arguments against this doctrine. *8* According to Edwards and orthodoxy in general the transcendental excellence of Christ before His incarnation was His deity and not His human pre-existence:
It is said, Heb_2:8. “Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him.” Here it is represented, that God the Father has put every individual thing under the power and government of another person, distinct from himself. But this cannot be true of the human soul of Christ, as it must be according to Dr. Watts’s scheme, let the powers of that be never so great, if they are not infinite. For things and circumstances, and dependencies and consequences of things in the world, are infinite in number; and therefore a finite understanding and power cannot extend to them: yea, it can extend to but an infinitely small part of the whole number of individuals, and their circumstances and consequences. Indeed, in order to the disposal of a few things, in their motions and successive changes, to a certain precise issue, there is need of infinite power and wisdom.
§ 62. The work of creation, and so the work of upholding all things in being, can, in no sense, be properly said to be the work of any created nature. . . . *9*
Edwards also has objections to Watts’s view because of what it would do to the covenant of redemption doctrine. He argued:
§ 59. On this scheme, it will follow, that the covenant of redemption was made with a person that was not sui juris, and not at liberty to act his own mere good pleasure, with respect to undertaking to die for sinners; but was obliged to comply, on the first intimation that it would be well-pleasing to God, and a thing that he chose. *10*
Furthermore, it would implicitly deny the virgin birth of Christ, “To be the son of a woman, is to receive being in both soul and body, in consequence of a conception in her womb.” *11* Most serious of all is the implied denial of the divinity of Christ as distinct from that of the Father.
According to what seems to be Dr. Watts’s scheme, the Son of God is no distinct divine person from the Father. So far as he is a divine person, he is the same person with the Father. So that in the covenant of redemption, the Father covenants with himself, and he takes that action of himself, &c. *12*
Edwards devotes considerable space to dealing with the objection from John’s gospel that all men being called “gods” the Messiah is not unique in His divinity. “Yet it is very remarkable,” notes Edwards, “that in that only place where they are so called by God, they are commanded to worship Christ; and in the same verse, a curse is denounced on all such as are guilty of idolatry. Psa_97:7, compared with Heb_1:6.” *13*
Thomas Emlyn in 1702 wrote An Humble Inquiry into the Scripture Account of Jesus Christ. This was republished in Boston as late as 1756. Emlyn was a Presbyterian pastor in Dublin who was dismissed from his charge because of this Unitarian book. He later was imprisoned for his views. *14* There can be no doubt that Emlyn’s thinking influenced Experience and Jonathan Mayhew and excited the fears of Jonathan Edwards.
While Edwards lived almost a full century before the really significant beginnings of Unitarianism in New England, he was already apprehensive. With the help of Dr. Cudworth he attempts to show that Arianism, which was beginning to raise its heretical head even in New England, was sub-pagan. “Dr. Cudworth, in his ‘Intellectual System,’ abundantly shows, that the heathen generally worshipped but one supreme, eternal, universal, uncreated Deity; but that their best philosophers maintained, that this Deity subsisted in three hypostases: though they had many created gods.” *15* Edwards goes on to show, citing Athanasius, that this paganism is being revived in Arianism.
For though the pagans worship one uncreated and many created gods; but these Arians only one uncreated, and one created, to wit, the Son, or Word of God; yet will not this make any real difference betwixt them; because the Arians’ one created god, is one of those many pagan gods; and these many gods of the pagans or Gentiles have the same nature with this one, they being alike creatures. *16*
While there can be no question that the Mediator is indeed divine and the pre-existent eternally generated Son of God, the question for Edwards still remains why was the second person of the Godhead, not the first or the third, to become the Mediator. As I have noted in the earlier discussion of the Trinity, while Edwards consistently maintains the absolute equality of the three Persons of the Godhead, he also tends to think always of the Father as God in the most proper conceivable sense. So here he rather assumes that the Father would be the one who sends the Mediator and not be the Mediator. He then goes on to ask the question why it was not the Holy Spirit that was sent. To that question he replies that the Holy Spirit is love but the Son is the object of the Father’s love. It is agreed that the one who is sent to be the Mediator of a covenant would be one whom the Father especially loved. Edwards tries to prove that the Son is uniquely the object of the Father’s love whereas the Holy Spirit is the love itself. The whole M 737, which develops this theme, makes the Holy Spirit seem to be an impersonal attribute rather than a constituent personal member of the Trinity. We know from our earlier study this is not Edwards’ intention, but one can see why the rumor got abroad that Edwards might have lapsed into Unitarianism at some time. In M 614 Edwards sees a peculiar propriety in the Son’s being the Mediator because He is in a sense a Mediator between the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is the object of the Father’s love and thus the Son is the bond of union between the Father and Spirit as the Father moves toward the Son in affection and the Spirit proceeds from the Son_2:1-17. The Humanity of the Mediator
Edwards contended for the “fitness” of the incarnation along various lines of argument. The final judgment provides one such occasion:
1. That God seeth fit, that he who is in the human nature, should be the judge of those who are of the human nature: Joh_5:27. . . . Seeing there is one of the persons of the Trinity united to the human nature, God chooses, in all his transactions with mankind, to transact by him. He did so of old, in his discoveries of himself to the patriarches, in giving the law, in leading the children of Israel through the wilderness, and in the manifestations he made of himself in the tabernacle and temple: when, although Christ was not actually incarnate, yet he was so in design, it was ordained and agreed in the covenant of redemption, that he should become incarnate. And since the incarnation of Christ, God governs both the church and the world by Christ. So he will also at the end judge the world by him. All men shall be judged by God, and yet at the same time by one invested with their own nature.
God seeth fit, that those who have bodies, as all mankind will have at the day of judgment, should see their judge with their bodily eyes, and hear him with their bodily ears. If one of the other persons of the Trinity had been appointed to be the judge, there must have been some extraordinary outward appearance made on purpose to be a token of the divine presence, as it was of old, before Christ was incarnate. But now there is no necessity of that: now one of the persons of the Trinity is actually incarnate, so that God by him may appear to bodily eyes without any miraculous visionary appearance. *17*
We human beings tend to assume that if God was going to be merciful then it would be we human beings who would be the beneficiaries. But we recall that there were fallen angels also who could have benefited from the Mediatorial work of the Son of God. Edwards faces the question, Why did God become man rather than an angel? Rather ingeniously he argues that it was fitting Christ should take human nature because it is a next step to God. When the reader reminds him that angels are much more exalted than man and superior in strength and wisdom he has an answer for that also. Yes, angels are stronger and wiser but that is because of their role as aids to man. They do not excel man in holiness and love to God. These spiritual gifts are always superior to any merely natural gifts. In fact, the angels were made for man and not man for the angels. *18*
It is not only that man is next in order to God but that humble man is highest among men. The greatest among men are the servants of all. So the man Christ Jesus became the greatest of men by descending to the lowest. *19* How low He became I will consider below when we take up the humiliation of the Mediator.
The Mediator having chosen to become man, how did He accomplish that? One of Edwards last sermons, a small four-page outline to the Stockbridge Indians, was devoted to this subject. There the preacher worked to “Shew you how Christ Became a Man. . . .” *20* The sermon on Luk_2:6-14 is a much more extensive study of the Virgin Birth. *21* From Heb_2:16 Edwards’ preached that Christ took on the seed of Abraham. *22* A very long drawn out exposition of Zec_3:8-9 constitutes M 1043 dealing with the Virgin Birth and Incarnation by the Holy Spirit.
Much earlier in the “Miscellanies” Edwards had written, “Christ, although he was conceived in the womb of one of fallen mankind, yet he was conceived without sin; because he was conceived by the Holy Ghost, which is divine love and holiness itself. That which infinite holiness and love immediately forms, it is impossible that it should have any sin.” *23* That brief “Miscellany” is followed by a much more extensive treatment of the theme in M 676.
Seeing this thing is formed by the Holy Ghost it must be a holy thing. Seeing it was the immediate work of infinite omnipotent holiness itself that thing wrought must needs be perfectly holy without any unholiness though wrought in the midst of pollution and brought out of it. . . . It is in the proper work of this infinite divine holy energy to bring good out of evil light out of darkness life out of death holiness out of impurity.
Edwards goes on to explain Christ’s own perfect holiness to which we will devote a later section of this chapter. This reflection also leads Edwards to draw a corollary which expresses a persistent theme of his concerning sanctification: “[T]he creature is more or less holy according as it has more or less of the Holy Spirit dwelling in it. But Christ has so much of the Spirit and hath it in so high and excellent a manner as to render Him the same person with Him whose Spirit it is.”
That last statement that Christ “has so much of the Spirit and hath it in so high and excellent a manner as to render Him the same person with Him whose Spirit it is” suggests that for Edwards the hypostatic union is actually not in the Son but in the Spirit. Indeed he says in M 766, “The bond of this union is the Holy Spirit.” There follows a long proof of this doctrine.
Commenting on Joh_10:36 Edwards explains that as man Christ is united to the deity by being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. He becomes the Son of God by the manner of his incarnation. By sending the Spirit, bringing His flesh into being and uniting it the person of the Divine Logos, at the same time and by the same act, the Father sent Christ into the world, or incarnated him by an act of sanctification. Thus Edwards equates the sending and the Incarnation. “It was not properly the making the flesh of Christ that was sending Christ into the world but making the word flesh. It was not merely giving being to the manhood of Christ but the communicating the divine personality from heaven to earth in giving being to Christ’s manhood that was sending Christ into the world. . . .” *24*
With regard to the moral character of the God-Man, Edwards’ view can be summed up in one of the headings of his great work on the freedom of the will:
SECTION 2. THE ACTS OF THE WILL OF THE HUMAN SOUL OF JESUS CHRIST NECESSARILY HOLY, YET TRULY VIRTUOUS, PRAISEWORTHY, REWARDABLE, ETC. *25*
It seems unnecessary to follow Edwards’ lengthy and profound discussion of the orthodox reformed view of Christ’s humanity. Any Arminian will admit his main point; namely, that the Bible represents Christ as truly and perfectly holy and yet that He was certainly so in such a manner that it was not possible that He should have failed to be so. Arminians no more than Calvinists ever entertained the notion that Christ might not have been the Savior of all who believe in Him, which both groups admit would have been impossible if He should have fallen into sin.
The question is whether that admission precludes Arminian liberty of will as Edwards argues. Again the premise is accepted by both sides, but does the conclusion follow; namely, that Christ was necessarily virtuous? We have seen already that Clarke admitted that which is foreknown is certain but denied that it was necessary. We said there that Edwards did not really answer Clarke (and Whitby) on that point. Here the point is similar. Granted that Christ certainly would not sin. Does that mean that He necessarily could not sin? Edwards is here too assuming that certainty and necessity are synonyms without quite proving it.
Edwards points out that Christ is said to be rewarded so that His virtue is not questioned on that point (as the virtue of God was questioned) by some Arminians. Edwards seems still to be missing the point. He is satisfied to demonstrate from Scripture that Christ could not have sinned assuming that this proves his point that “necessity” is compatible with virtue. But Arminians see no more than “certainty” here and Edwards does not show that there is more. He continues to us the word “necessity” as if it contained more than “certainty” without showing what that “more” is. All the while the Arminians are maintaining that anything “more” spells “compulsion.”
3. One Person
We cannot imagine Jonathan Edwards dealing with the subject of the Incarnation and not facing the apologetic problem raised. Is God and man in one person not a contradiction in terms? Are we faced with a paradoxical theology here, being required to believe something that is incomprehensible in its very nature? While it is indubitably mysterious for Edwards, he insists
[t]hat there is nothing impossible or absurd in the doctrine of the Incarnation of Christ. If God can join a body & a rational soul together, which are of natures so heterogeneous and opposite, that they cannot of themselves act one upon another; may He not be able to join two spirits together, which are of natures more similar? And if so, he may, for ought we know to the contrary, join the soul or spirit of a man to Himself. *26*
He continues by observing that this notion of Incarnation has been wide-spread even in heathen religions so that it obviously is not an outrage against reason. He notes too, that
reason did not hinder Spinoza, Blount and many other modern philosophers, from asserting, that God may have a body, or rather that the universe, or the matter of the universe, is God. - Many nations believed the incarnation of Jupiter himself. - Reason, instead of being utterly averse to the notion of a divine Incarnation, hath easily enough admitted that notion and suffered it to pass almost without contradiction, among the most philosophical nations of the world. *27*
For Jonathan Edwards the glory of God appeared in the face of Jesus Christ, and this he preached in the sermon on 2 Corinthians 4:6. *28* As such glory is the “chief end” of man, for him to “enjoy him forever,” the incarnation was thus the object of the church’s desire. Edwards preached this doctrine in his sermon on Song of Solomon 8:1. *29*
The hypostatic union is the explanation of the unchangeableness of Christ’s human nature. So Edwards argued that
Christ in his human nature was not absolutely unchangeable, though his human nature, by reason of its union with the divine, was not liable to those changes to which it was liable, as a mere creature; as for instance, it was indestructible and imperishable. Having the divine nature to uphold it, it was not liable to fall and commit sin, as Adam and the fallen angels did, but yet the human nature of Christ, when he was upon earth, was subject to many changes. *30*
In even more detailed fashion he discusses the relationship of the Logos to the human nature in M 738:
The divine logos is so united to the humanity of Christ that it spake and acted by it and made use of it as its organ as is evident by the history of his life and as it is evident he will do at the day of judgment. And this he does not occasionally once in a while as he may in the prophets but constantly not by an occasional communication but a constant and everlasting union. Now ’tis manifest that the logos in thus acting by the humanity of Christ did not merely make use of his body as an organ but his soul not only the members of his body but the faculties of his soul. Which can be no otherwise than by such a communication with this understanding as we call identity of consciousness. If the divine logos speaks in (?) with the man Christ Jesus so that the man Christ Jesus in his speaking should say I say thus or thus and his human understanding is made use of by the logos and it be the speech of his human understanding it must be by such a communication between the logos and the human nature as to communicate consciousness. *31*
What is the grand effect of the Incarnation? That God can bring a measure of His own measureless blessedness to the sons of men. “God being infinitely happy, he cannot desire [the creature] to communicate his happiness to him, which is nothing to the happiness God enjoys. But in the gospel God is come down to us, and the person of God may receive communications of happiness from us. The man Christ Jesus loves us so much, that he is really happier for our delight and happiness in him.” *32* This is Edwards’ answer to the “full bucket” problem. How can one add anything to the already complete blessedness of God? The traditional answer is that he cannot add anything to God because He is the one being who has everything. But in the Incarnation when Christ becomes truly man, man is able to give to the man Christ Jesus who is God, and thus man makes God “really happier.”
This beholding, loving and serving of God is not merely with the eyes of faith. “The saints do actually see a divine person with bodily eyes, and in the same manner as we see one another.” *33* In this sermon Edwards preaches that such sight was one of the purposes of God in assuming a human body; that believers might see Him “not only in the understanding but in all ways of seeing that the human nature is capable of. . . .”
What was Edwards’ opinion of the kenosis doctrine? Did he suppose that Christ by becoming a man ceased to be God or laid aside certain attributes of God, one or many? Apparently he had no such notion. It is clear from what has been presented that he eschewed any Nestorianism which would separate the human person from the divine and equally clear that he also resisted any tendency to have the human nature lose its human characteristics by being absorbed into the divine nature. “God Glorified” and “Jesus Christ, the Same Yesterday, Today and Forever” provide sufficient sermonic evidences, although many other pronouncements show the same orthodox doctrine. *34*
In the sermon on 2Co_8:9 Edwards does explain what the divestiture actually was - of what it was that the Son of God emptied himself. *35* “He did as it were divest Himself of all that manifestation of (?) glory and the appearance of the infinite Sovereign of the world. That manifestation of power and greatness which He had.” His sovereignty became a voluntary subordination to God the Father and to the human Caesar also. From infinite happiness he condescended to pain without ever losing that happiness in reality. Edwards explained:
Our Lord Jesus Christ, in his original nature, was infinitely above all suffering, for he was “God over all, blessed forevermore;” but, when he became man, he was not only capable of suffering, but partook of that nature that is remarkably feeble and exposed to suffering. . . . he did not take the human nature on him in its first, most perfect and vigorous nature, but in that feeble forlorn state which it is in; and therefore Christ is called a “tender plant,” and “a root out of a dry ground.” *36*
Christ not only divested himself of all show of deity but He condescended to the feeblest form of humanity. While He retained the perfection of His deity, He assumed the vast imperfection of feeble humanity.
Probably nowhere is the kenotic question raised more acutely than with respect to Christ’s human knowledge. Edwards addresses this “grand objection” directly in terms of the classical text: “Of that day and hour knoweth no man, nor the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father” Mat_24:36. Says Edwards:
I would observe, that even the Arians themselves, with regard to some things said of Christ, must make the distinction between his power or knowledge, as to his inferior and superior nature; or, if they do not allow two natures, then, at least, as to his humbled state, and his state before and after his humiliation: as Mar_7:24. “And would have no man know it, but he could not be hid.” This cannot mean that the person who created the whole world, visible and invisible, &c. and by whom all things consist and are governed, had not power to order things so, that he might be hid. *37*
In other words, Edwards is saying that these two texts can be construed only as referring to Christ’s knowledge qua human and Christ’s power qua human. He is using an ad hominem argument against the Arians. The Arians believed, of course, that Christ was the first born of all creatures, and therefore they could not deny that he had some knowledge as a pre-existing being beyond what he possessed in his incarnate state. To admit that much was to admit the possibility of a difference in knowledge between Christ qua human and qua divine. He is obviously inferring that the reference to Christ’s ignorance about his return must apply only to his human knowledge and not to his divine, just as his being unable to hide himself would have to refer to his human capacity and not to his omnipotent power as deity.
According to Edwards, the Son of God incarnate clearly retained his divine knowledge. He says that
It seems to me reasonable to suppose that that which the man Jesus had is divine knowledge by that he had his union with the divine Logos by (?), for doubtless this union was some union of the faculties of his soul. But Christ had his divine knowledge by the Holy Ghost, Act_1:2. ‘After that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles.’ *38*
Again Edwards notes that when Christ asked his disciples a certain question He did not need to be told what men really thought of Him. He simply wanted to teach his disciples a lesson. *39*
Perhaps it is at this point that we should consider the human character of Jesus Christ. Edwards is constantly extolling the moral excellence of Jesus. His best known sermon on that subject is on Rev_5:5-6. We print this in full, so the reader may have some feel for Edwardsian Christology.
4. The Offices of the God-man
Edwards preached that “Christ has tender concern and love for His people that they should be provided for, and their wants supplied as a father has for his children.” *41* He notes that Christ cared for His own before they were born and that He even suffered and died for them before they were. Just as a father provides for his infants before they have any being or needs. It is particularly in Christ’s suffering that He shows His greatness of character and love for His people a veritable perfect holiness (M 767). “The redeeming love of Christ held out under great difficulties and discouragements” is the theme of the sermon on Hebrews 12:2-3. *42* In the message that follows seven steps of Christ’s redeeming love are spelled out in sensitive detail. In his sermon on the Gethsemane agony of the Lord he wrote,
The heart of Christ at that time was full of distress, but it was fuller of love to vile worms: his sorrows abounded, but his love did much more abound. . . . Those great drops of blood that fell down to the ground were a manifestation of an ocean of love in Christ’s heart. *43*
It is interesting that though Edwards uses the traditional distinction between the active and passive obedience of Christ he is obviously not satisfied with it. He considers and emphasizes the fact that Christ’s suffering (which is usually considered His passive obedience) was a part of His active obedience. After all, He was obedient unto death actively. He received this command and He obeyed it. So Edwards preached “Christ kept all His Father’s Commandments” in a sermon on John 15:10. *44* There he lists six points in which Christ was obedient to the Father. Furthermore His love to the Church coincided with His love to Himself because of His union with believers.
Perhaps this is the point at which we should consider the effect of the incarnation on the human character of Jesus Christ. It was this hypostatic union that made it impossible for Jesus to sin. For Edwards the ultimate theodicy of redemption is in showing that man alone, however perfect, is unable to stand against temptation and that an actual union with Deity was necessary to assure that performance. But “[t]he personal union continuing it was impossible that the man Christ Jesus should be otherwise than faithful.” *45* Though He was indeed subject to the law just as any other man, still, “our Lord Jesus Christ is full of grace and truth.” *46* This grace, Edwards explains, is a holy principle of the mind from the influence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Christ has essential holiness but only communicated holiness or grace. *47*
In the sermon on Joh_15:10 Edwards points out that the mediator was subject to the Father’s commandments even before the incarnation, though of course voluntarily. *48* In the sermon on 1Ti_2:5 Edwards observes that the probable reason the Second Person of the Trinity was chosen to become incarnate was that He was between the Father and the Spirit. *49*
Before considering Edwards’ view of the offices of Christ, we note that in the detailed M 902 he shows how historically the offices of King, Priest, and Prophet had been taken away from Israel before Christ came to fulfill them all perfectly.
(1) Christ as Prophet
The sermon on Deu_18:18 is devoted entirely to Christ’s prophetic office. *50* Here Edwards defines a prophet as “a person that is divinely instructed and sent by God to declare to men those things that are secret and not known but by divine revelation.” *51* Prophets are given the Holy Spirit and in this extraordinary influence they preach (Num_11:17, 1Sa_10:10; 1Sa_19:20). They are thereby enabled to know all secret things past (Joh_4:1-54), present (2Ki_8:12), future (1Co_13:2).
Christ is peculiarly fitted for the role of prophet for many reasons. First, He is an excellent person, and He can reveal the will of God because He made it. He can reveal whatever we need to know because He Himself is the wisdom of God. Edwards gives an exposition of wisdom in Pro_8:31 and concludes that Christ “must be omniscient.” *52* Again, He is infinitely true. He is peculiarly suited to foretell because He “has the power to verify His own prediction.” Finally, He is one of our own brethren.
One of his most interesting sermons is the one cited above on Joh_14:2. After describing how faithful Christ is, once again Edwards points out that it is impossible that Christ could be otherwise because of His very Deity. Furthermore it was His errand to enlighten people. Why would He die for them and yet deceive them?
How Christ actually communicates his light is developed in an early sermon on John 8:12. *53* Christ communicates light by the Bible which is His Word for He is the essential word. Secondly, Christ communicates light by the Holy Spirit. “Though it be sharper than any two-edged sword it cannot divide a rocky heart, except as managed by an Almighty hand.” He says this in connection with the powerful light which emanates from the presence of Christ which is nonetheless unable to penetrate to a person except for the power of the Holy Spirit.
A more historical study of the prophetic ministry of Christ is found in M 972 which Edwards says is based considerably on Archbishop Tillotson’s works. He enumerates as proof of Christ’s prophetic role some five items. First that Christ foretold His death and the circumstances thereof. Second, He foretold His resurrection and the circumstances. Third, the descent of the Holy Spirit was predicted by Christ and, four, the fall of Jerusalem in very great detail. Lastly, He predicted with great accuracy the course of the Gospel in the world.
Edwards’ grand conclusion is that “Christ above all other persons that ever did or will appear in the world is the most eminent Counselor.” *54* This sermon has a special application to students of the “college.” Beneficial as are the rays of Christ’s light to those who receive Him, they are just as destructive to those who resist them. Christ is the Sun of the spiritual world as the earthly sun illumines our universe. “That same spiritual Sun whose beams are most comfortable and beneficial to believers will burn and destroy unbelievers.” *55*
(2) Christ as Priest
It is Christ in the role of Priest who is most peculiarly the Mediator of His people. “Those lingering torments that Christ suffered would have overcome and have born down all merely human love.” *56* Here once again but most poignantly of all we see Edwards arguing that Christ’s endurance was only possible because of His deity. All merely human love would have been destroyed by the torments Christ underwent for His people. He is fond of contrasting the obedience of Adam unto life with the obedience of Christ unto death. If the perfect first Adam was unable to endure even that test, how could Adam, merely human, have endured this awful test of suffering the wrath of God as a test of His obedience?
Christ was salvifically active long before incarnate according the sermon on Joh_6:68. “It is by Christ alone that eternal life is communicated to men,” Edwards argued. *57* This was so from the beginning of the world. Thus it was by faith that Enoch and others were saved by the Lamb of God who was slain before the foundation of the world.
Edwards also develops Christ’s Priestly office by means of a contrast between Melchizedek and Aaron. Like Melchizedek Christ is a king as well as a priest. He is specially appointed, has greater honor, and He is without lineage. What is Christ’s priesthood? “It is this office of Christ in the execution of which he makes atonement for the sin of men and procures for them the favor and blessing of God.” *58* It is in this priestly office that the work of redemption is chiefly done. It is also chiefly prefigured in the Old Testament as well as in the apostles of the New Testament. Indeed all nations outside of special revelation have had some apprehension of this great Mediatorial priestly ministry.
Christ’s priestly ministry is not merely the prediction of the Old Testament and the accomplishment of the New, but it continues through His heavenly high priestly intercession. Edwards argues that that intercession is essential to the spiritual life of the believer: “Christ’s intercession is that which will effectually secure believers from ever totally and finally falling away from grace.” *59* Christ carries on this continuing intercession by representing His will before the Father on behalf of His people and pleading His own satisfaction and merits on their behalf. He places Himself below God in the role of Mediator. “The Father though no greater than the Son or the Holy Ghost in Himself yet as concerned in this affair of redemption He holds the rights of the Godhead.” The Holy Ghost, however, acts under the Son. Furthermore Christ, not being a mere man, claims to be heard by the Father on the basis of his own intrinsic merit. In this sermon Edwards reminds his congregation that there is nothing to prevent believers from falling away. As a matter of fact they are more liable than Adam was because grace now is smaller. The evil principle of death is within them. And furthermore even the angels fell. But God sees even a “little spark.” The smoking flax He will not quench. It is God’s will alone that prevents the quenching of this little spark (Isa_42:7 and 1Pe_1:5). The saints are altogether liable to sink. Compare Peter in this regard (Mat_14:30-31). But Christ who ever lives to make intercession preserves His people. This is the whole drift of Joh_17:1-26, especially 17:9 f. Consequently His intercession prevents a total fall. Psa_24:1-10; Psa_37:23 are cited. This is because the Father hears the Mediator and hears Him for His own sake.
(3) Christ as King
While Christ wrought salvation as a priest, He brought it as a king. It is His kingly office that makes His priestly endeavors effective. Thus Edwards asserts that “Jesus Christ is the prince of life.” *60* “He is not a dependent being though as to His substance He is from the Father yet His essence is from none and therefore may truly be said to have life itself naturally.” Consequently He has the power over His life and a perfect blessed life cf. Rom_9:5 and Joh_10:17. Therefore, He can dispense life as He pleases, and this eternal life is indeed bestowed according to His power. Edwards exhorts his people concerning Christ, “He has as much love as he has life indeed eternal essential life is nothing but love.” Again, Christ is an “infinite ocean of love” (Act_3:15). Christ was exalted as a Prince that He might be a Savior (Act_5:3). He is a high tower, a defender of His people (Pro_18:10), and the Lord of Hosts (Isa_47:4). A sermon on 1Co_15:25 f. is wholly devoted to His final offering up of His Kingdom to the Father. *61*
The miracles of Christ bear a significant function in pointing to His kingship. Edwards preached that “[t]he miracles that Christ wrought when He was here on earth were divine works.” *62* These divine works showed Him to be a person of divine power, and since most miracles are images of the spiritual they point to the salvation which comes from this miracle worker. *63* Christ bringing souls out of a state of nature into a state of grace is compared to the healing of a poor maid, etc. Especially the casting out of devils is an analogy to the deliverance of people out of the kingdom of Satanic darkness. Exorcism refers here to the casting out from the body, but also the spirit in the following verses. It is by means of this power as king that “Jesus Christ is the great Mediator and Head of the union in whom all elect creatures in heaven and earth are united to God and to one another.” *64*
4. The Offices of the God-man
Edwards preached that “Christ has tender concern and love for His people that they should be provided for, and their wants supplied as a father has for his children.” *41* He notes that Christ cared for His own before they were born and that He even suffered and died for them before they were. Just as a father provides for his infants before they have any being or needs. It is particularly in Christ’s suffering that He shows His greatness of character and love for His people a veritable perfect holiness (M 767). “The redeeming love of Christ held out under great difficulties and discouragements” is the theme of the sermon on Hebrews 12:2-3. *42* In the message that follows seven steps of Christ’s redeeming love are spelled out in sensitive detail. In his sermon on the Gethsemane agony of the Lord he wrote,
The heart of Christ at that time was full of distress, but it was fuller of love to vile worms: his sorrows abounded, but his love did much more abound. . . . Those great drops of blood that fell down to the ground were a manifestation of an ocean of love in Christ’s heart. *43*
It is interesting that though Edwards uses the traditional distinction between the active and passive obedience of Christ he is obviously not satisfied with it. He considers and emphasizes the fact that Christ’s suffering (which is usually considered His passive obedience) was a part of His active obedience. After all, He was obedient unto death actively. He received this command and He obeyed it. So Edwards preached “Christ kept all His Father’s Commandments” in a sermon on John 15:10. *44* There he lists six points in which Christ was obedient to the Father. Furthermore His love to the Church coincided with His love to Himself because of His union with believers.
Perhaps this is the point at which we should consider the effect of the incarnation on the human character of Jesus Christ. It was this hypostatic union that made it impossible for Jesus to sin. For Edwards the ultimate theodicy of redemption is in showing that man alone, however perfect, is unable to stand against temptation and that an actual union with Deity was necessary to assure that performance. But “[t]he personal union continuing it was impossible that the man Christ Jesus should be otherwise than faithful.” *45* Though He was indeed subject to the law just as any other man, still, “our Lord Jesus Christ is full of grace and truth.” *46* This grace, Edwards explains, is a holy principle of the mind from the influence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Christ has essential holiness but only communicated holiness or grace. *47*
In the sermon on Joh_15:10 Edwards points out that the mediator was subject to the Father’s commandments even before the incarnation, though of course voluntarily. *48* In the sermon on 1Ti_2:5 Edwards observes that the probable reason the Second Person of the Trinity was chosen to become incarnate was that He was between the Father and the Spirit. *49*
Before considering Edwards’ view of the offices of Christ, we note that in the detailed M 902 he shows how historically the offices of King, Priest, and Prophet had been taken away from Israel before Christ came to fulfill them all perfectly.
(1) Christ as Prophet
The sermon on Deu_18:18 is devoted entirely to Christ’s prophetic office. *50* Here Edwards defines a prophet as “a person that is divinely instructed and sent by God to declare to men those things that are secret and not known but by divine revelation.” *51* Prophets are given the Holy Spirit and in this extraordinary influence they preach (Num_11:17, 1Sa_10:10; 1Sa_19:20). They are thereby enabled to know all secret things past (Joh_4:1-54), present (2Ki_8:12), future (1Co_13:2).
Christ is peculiarly fitted for the role of prophet for many reasons. First, He is an excellent person, and He can reveal the will of God because He made it. He can reveal whatever we need to know because He Himself is the wisdom of God. Edwards gives an exposition of wisdom in Pro_8:31 and concludes that Christ “must be omniscient.” *52* Again, He is infinitely true. He is peculiarly suited to foretell because He “has the power to verify His own prediction.” Finally, He is one of our own brethren.
One of his most interesting sermons is the one cited above on Joh_14:2. After describing how faithful Christ is, once again Edwards points out that it is impossible that Christ could be otherwise because of His very Deity. Furthermore it was His errand to enlighten people. Why would He die for them and yet deceive them?
How Christ actually communicates his light is developed in an early sermon on John 8:12. *53* Christ communicates light by the Bible which is His Word for He is the essential word. Secondly, Christ communicates light by the Holy Spirit. “Though it be sharper than any two-edged sword it cannot divide a rocky heart, except as managed by an Almighty hand.” He says this in connection with the powerful light which emanates from the presence of Christ which is nonetheless unable to penetrate to a person except for the power of the Holy Spirit.
A more historical study of the prophetic ministry of Christ is found in M 972 which Edwards says is based considerably on Archbishop Tillotson’s works. He enumerates as proof of Christ’s prophetic role some five items. First that Christ foretold His death and the circumstances thereof. Second, He foretold His resurrection and the circumstances. Third, the descent of the Holy Spirit was predicted by Christ and, four, the fall of Jerusalem in very great detail. Lastly, He predicted with great accuracy the course of the Gospel in the world.
Edwards’ grand conclusion is that “Christ above all other persons that ever did or will appear in the world is the most eminent Counselor.” *54* This sermon has a special application to students of the “college.” Beneficial as are the rays of Christ’s light to those who receive Him, they are just as destructive to those who resist them. Christ is the Sun of the spiritual world as the earthly sun illumines our universe. “That same spiritual Sun whose beams are most comfortable and beneficial to believers will burn and destroy unbelievers.” *55*
(2) Christ as Priest
It is Christ in the role of Priest who is most peculiarly the Mediator of His people. “Those lingering torments that Christ suffered would have overcome and have born down all merely human love.” *56* Here once again but most poignantly of all we see Edwards arguing that Christ’s endurance was only possible because of His deity. All merely human love would have been destroyed by the torments Christ underwent for His people. He is fond of contrasting the obedience of Adam unto life with the obedience of Christ unto death. If the perfect first Adam was unable to endure even that test, how could Adam, merely human, have endured this awful test of suffering the wrath of God as a test of His obedience?
Christ was salvifically active long before incarnate according the sermon on Joh_6:68. “It is by Christ alone that eternal life is communicated to men,” Edwards argued. *57* This was so from the beginning of the world. Thus it was by faith that Enoch and others were saved by the Lamb of God who was slain before the foundation of the world.
Edwards also develops Christ’s Priestly office by means of a contrast between Melchizedek and Aaron. Like Melchizedek Christ is a king as well as a priest. He is specially appointed, has greater honor, and He is without lineage. What is Christ’s priesthood? “It is this office of Christ in the execution of which he makes atonement for the sin of men and procures for them the favor and blessing of God.” *58* It is in this priestly office that the work of redemption is chiefly done. It is also chiefly prefigured in the Old Testament as well as in the apostles of the New Testament. Indeed all nations outside of special revelation have had some apprehension of this great Mediatorial priestly ministry.
Christ’s priestly ministry is not merely the prediction of the Old Testament and the accomplishment of the New, but it continues through His heavenly high priestly intercession. Edwards argues that that intercession is essential to the spiritual life of the believer: “Christ’s intercession is that which will effectually secure believers from ever totally and finally falling away from grace.” *59* Christ carries on this continuing intercession by representing His will before the Father on behalf of His people and pleading His own satisfaction and merits on their behalf. He places Himself below God in the role of Mediator. “The Father though no greater than the Son or the Holy Ghost in Himself yet as concerned in this affair of redemption He holds the rights of the Godhead.” The Holy Ghost, however, acts under the Son. Furthermore Christ, not being a mere man, claims to be heard by the Father on the basis of his own intrinsic merit. In this sermon Edwards reminds his congregation that there is nothing to prevent believers from falling away. As a matter of fact they are more liable than Adam was because grace now is smaller. The evil principle of death is within them. And furthermore even the angels fell. But God sees even a “little spark.” The smoking flax He will not quench. It is God’s will alone that prevents the quenching of this little spark (Isa_42:7 and 1Pe_1:5). The saints are altogether liable to sink. Compare Peter in this regard (Mat_14:30-31). But Christ who ever lives to make intercession preserves His people. This is the whole drift of Joh_17:1-26, especially 17:9 f. Consequently His intercession prevents a total fall. Psa_24:1-10; Psa_37:23 are cited. This is because the Father hears the Mediator and hears Him for His own sake.
(3) Christ as King
While Christ wrought salvation as a priest, He brought it as a king. It is His kingly office that makes His priestly endeavors effective. Thus Edwards asserts that “Jesus Christ is the prince of life.” *60* “He is not a dependent being though as to His substance He is from the Father yet His essence is from none and therefore may truly be said to have life itself naturally.” Consequently He has the power over His life and a perfect blessed life cf. Rom_9:5 and Joh_10:17. Therefore, He can dispense life as He pleases, and this eternal life is indeed bestowed according to His power. Edwards exhorts his people concerning Christ, “He has as much love as he has life indeed eternal essential life is nothing but love.” Again, Christ is an “infinite ocean of love” (Act_3:15). Christ was exalted as a Prince that He might be a Savior (Act_5:3). He is a high tower, a defender of His people (Pro_18:10), and the Lord of Hosts (Isa_47:4). A sermon on 1Co_15:25 f. is wholly devoted to His final offering up of His Kingdom to the Father. *61*
The miracles of Christ bear a significant function in pointing to His kingship. Edwards preached that “[t]he miracles that Christ wrought when He was here on earth were divine works.” *62* These divine works showed Him to be a person of divine power, and since most miracles are images of the spiritual they point to the salvation which comes from this miracle worker. *63* Christ bringing souls out of a state of nature into a state of grace is compared to the healing of a poor maid, etc. Especially the casting out of devils is an analogy to the deliverance of people out of the kingdom of Satanic darkness. Exorcism refers here to the casting out from the body, but also the spirit in the following verses. It is by means of this power as king that “Jesus Christ is the great Mediator and Head of the union in whom all elect creatures in heaven and earth are united to God and to one another.” *64*
5. The Stages of Christ’s Mediatorial Ministry
(1) Humiliation
Edwards wrote that “[t]he external meanness of Christ’s appearance in the world is a thing worthy of the highest admiration.” *65* There can be no doubt that Edwards himself gave the humiliation of Jesus Christ his very highest admiration. He is always awed by this great “stoop” of the incarnation. In a sermon on the birth of Jesus he proceeds in his inductive, meticulously detailed manner to write a sermon of great pathos because of its sheer, plain, simple listing of the actual events attending the birth of Jesus. Edwards senses that it is enough simply to state the facts. He embellishes his narrative with virtually no comment whatever. One feels the power of this sermon as much by what is not said as by what is mentioned. As we noted above when Christ became a man he chose man at his most feeble condition. So when he humbled Himself, he humbled Himself mostly to suffer constant affliction. Not mere humanity, but suffering humanity. “Our Lord Jesus Christ when he dwelt here on the earth was one that was very much used to affliction.” *66* Again here we have a very lengthy description of Christ’s suffering at the very time of His incarnation. Edwards never wearies of his subject anymore than Christ seemed to have wearied of His suffering. In his sermon on Mar_10:32-34 Edwards preached, “Christ’s behaviour when the time of his death drew near was very wonderful.” *67* He details no less than twelve steps of suffering that the Savior trod there. Christ laid aside His own glory to give it to His Church (Rev_12:1). He made her shine as the sun, while making Himself of no reputation. Christ humbled Himself indeed (Psa_113:6).
As one can imagine, Edwards is troubled by the statement in Psa_8:4-5 that the Son of Man was made a “little lower than the angels.” He insists that this expression must refer to space because the second Adam became “a worm and no man.” In the nature Christ assumed he did not become a little lower but infinitely lower than God according to Jonathan Edwards *68*
(2) Exaltation
Christ’s exaltation seems to have taken place in two stages - His resurrection and His ascension. It is a comfort to the saints that Christ who was dead is alive again (Rev_1:7). The resurrection is the proof of the pattern of eternal life (Rev_20:6). A rather silly objection to the resurrection was raised on the ground that Christ’s body was not visible. Edwards felt this justified M 1333 in reply.
The exaltation of Christ reached its peak at the ascension to glory. If Edwards could admire the humiliation of Christ, we are not surprised to hear that he preached a sermon entitled “Jesus Christ entering into his glory after his suffering was a sight worthy to be beheld with great admiration.” *69* This sermon has a six-page introduction on the ascension. *70* The sermon on Heb_6:20 addresses the fact that Christ has gone to heaven as a forerunner of the saints. *71* Edwards’ sermon on Rev_5:12 ties together the humiliation and the exaltation of Christ. *72* In M 744 Edwards shows in a lengthy treatment how Christ filled heaven, earth, and under the earth at His ascension. When He ascended to Heaven He confirmed the angels there as well as the saints. Some of the saints’ bodies were raised at the time of the resurrection and ascended with Christ.
Christ’s ascension into heaven was especially the advancing to the “glory which He had before the world was.” *73* In the humiliation the divine nature had been in some respects laid aside as to its exercise. But in the exaltation He is shown as above all creatures, over the earth, and the partaker of the divine nature. Christ