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Well, you can turn in your confessions 
to chapter eight, as we now have arrived at the doctrine of Christ 
the mediator. And a fitting time of the year, 
we're not bound by any liturgical calendar, but as the world seems 
in some measure to be drawn to a consideration of Christ during 
this time, it's good timing that we've landed upon the doctrine, 
the topic, the title, and the chapter of Christ the Mediator. 
And so we're gonna start this morning with an introduction 
to the doctrine. I'm mixing words this morning. 
An introduction to the doctrine of Christ. We'll spend, I think 
the topic is certainly worthy of more than one Lord's Day morning, 
especially given the topic, but also given the length of the 
chapter and what's contained in these 10 paragraphs. So this will be an introduction 
to the doctrine of Christ this morning. From the Confession, 
I'm simply going to read the first two paragraphs as we get 
into a study of Christ this morning. So the first two paragraphs. 
It pleased God in His eternal purpose to choose and ordain 
the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, according to the covenant 
made between them both, to be the mediator between God and 
man, the prophet, priest, and king, head and savior of His 
church, the heir of all things and judge of the world, unto 
whom he did from all eternity give a people to be his seed 
and to be by him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, 
and glorified. The Son of God, the second person 
in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness 
of the Father's glory, of one substance and equal with him 
who made the world, who upholdeth and governeth all things he hath 
made, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon him 
man's nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities 
thereof, yet without sin. being conceived by the Holy Spirit 
in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit coming down upon 
her, and the power of the Most High overshadowing her, and so 
was made of a woman of the tribe of Judah, of the seed of Abraham 
and David, according to the Scriptures, so that two whole, perfect, and 
distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person, 
without conversion, composition, or confusion, which person is 
very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between 
God and man. Amen. So, before getting to the 
content of the confession, and specifically, largely and specifically, 
the content, the particulars, the various articles and doctrines 
concerning the person and work of Christ, we're just going to 
introduce the study of Christ. Some important things to consider, 
and some ground and foundation for our minds as we seek illumination 
and enlightenment as we work through the doctrine of our Savior. So there is a link in the title 
of the chapter to chapter 7 of God's covenant. Notice the title 
of this chapter is of Christ the mediator. He is the mediator 
of the new covenant, the mediator of the covenant of grace. And 
so moving from the chapter on the covenant of grace, now into 
the doctrine of Christ, it's a fitting title for the chapter. 
He is the champion of the covenant, the mediator of the covenant. 
So this is a study of Christ the mediator. And we're going 
to be using a lot of a lot of big words and phrases, and we'll 
define them as we move along, but we need to understand, and 
we'll note this in a number of minutes, that that's important 
to do as we seek precision, as we seek clarity, and as we seek 
to lay hold of the truth and push away and jettison error 
on the point of the doctrine of Jesus Christ. But these sessions 
won't be about big phrases and about big words, but about the 
riches and excellencies of Jesus Christ, Leontius of Byzantium, 
on this point, as if we were interested in fitting ourselves 
out with verbal beauty rather than gazing on the truly golden 
face of truth, than which nothing is lovelier, even if there is 
no elegance or brilliance of style involved. For truth needs 
no further ornament for its decoration, but is splendid with natural 
beauty, and has no need of deceptive transformation of language like 
cosmetic powers. He's talking about the intrinsic 
glory of truth, and as we study the Lord Jesus Christ, there 
is intrinsic to the topic and intrinsic to the one who is the 
object of our study, there is blessed truth and blessed beauty 
in the study of Christ our Savior. One text we're going to read 
as a launching pad for our study in the Lord Jesus Christ is in 
Philippians 2, and you can turn there. no doubt you know which 
passage we're going to, Philippians 2, 5 to 11. This is a passage 
replete with the glory of Jesus Christ. It doesn't simply present 
one aspect or one truth concerning Jesus Christ, but actually is, 
in essence, a summary of the whole point of the Bible. and 
that point of the Bible being the glory of God through the 
salvation of the elect by the champion and captain of our salvation, 
Jesus Christ. So notice in Philippians 2, beginning 
in verse 5, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ 
Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery 
to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. taking 
the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. 
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself 
and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the 
cross. Therefore God also has highly 
exalted him, given him the name which is above every name, that 
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven 
and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that 
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the 
glory of God the Father. What a beautiful summary of Bible 
and Gospel truth there. We have in this passage the essential 
deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is very God, as the Confession 
says. We have this passage setting 
forth His equality, the Son's equality with the Father. He 
is not eternally subordinate to the Father. There is no measure 
of obedience that is inherent to being the Son of God, but 
rather He is equal with His Father. He has true humanity, the passage 
sets forth. His work in obedience unto death, 
his exaltation, which assumes his resurrection, and then the 
praise and glory that is due Christ. And so we have this passage 
replete with the person and the work of Christ, which is the 
study of Christology, properly speaking. So that's a word there, 
Christology. What is it in short? It just 
simply means the study of the doctrine of Christ. The study 
of or the doctrine of Christ. We know different ologies. Biology 
is the study of life. Anthropology is the study of 
man. Christology then is the blessed 
study of that blessed subject of study, Christ. And we want 
to note the necessary posture. So this is, we're working in 
one, an introduction to Christology, and then two, the importance 
of Christology. So, the necessary posture in 
studying Christ. And we noted that, well, this 
should be our posture when studying the Bible. But certainly when 
we come to the topic of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are to have 
a measure of joy-filled humility as we approach so glorious a 
topic. It's not the base study of a 
thing. It's not like biology where we're 
sort of cold and detached and looking through microscopes at 
an object of study. It shouldn't be cold and detached, 
you know, we don't come with beakers and microscopes to a 
study of Christ, but we come as Christians, we come as Christians 
saved by grace through faith in this Christ, and we come with 
the weight of glorying in the triune God, and so blessed a 
Christ who saved us. by the perfection of his work. 
Spurgeon, on this particular topic, he writes, indeed we have 
before us a subject as inexhaustible as the river of God and as bright 
as the sapphire throne. If we should endeavor to show 
how precious the well-beloved is in all respects, we would 
need eternity in which to complete the task. And so our posture 
should be one of a joy-filled Christian heart that approaches 
the God of heaven and earth, that God in the Son of God who 
assumed our humanity for our redemption. It's a blessed topic, 
and so we ought to have a posture of joy-filled humility. Christology 
elaborated, so it's the doctrine and study of Christ. We would 
elaborate and want to say that it's the study of the person 
and the work of Christ. To paraphrase John Owen, the 
dignity of his person and the virtue of his office. So the 
dignity of his person, who he is, and the virtue of his office, 
what he did and what he does. Because his work hasn't stopped, 
he ever lives to intercede for his people at the right hand 
of the Father. And so it's a study of the person 
and the work of our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. It isn't 
then to be left aside, and it's not to be consigned to just occasional 
consideration. The blessed topic of Christ is 
one that we visit every Lord's Day. We're Protestants. We don't 
adhere to a liturgical calendar. we proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ, 
His blessed incarnation, His person, His incarnation, His 
life, death, resurrection, and exaltation in current session, 
and we proclaim that regularly. We proclaim that frequently. 
We come to Christ every Lord's Day, and we observe and we glory 
in the blessed person and the blessed work. It is, of course, 
Christ, the namesake of our high and holy religion. We are Christians. It's a wonderful word to identify 
as. We're Christians. We are of Christ. We are of the blessed Lord of 
Lords and King of Kings. And on this point of the doctrine 
of Christ, there is one question that is the most important question 
that's ever been asked, and that is the question that the Savior 
asked his disciples, who do you say that I, the Son of Man, am? That's the most important question 
ever asked. And the answer is of the utmost 
importance for Christians. Who is this Christ? Which Christ 
are we confessing? Which Christ are we worshiping? 
Are we worshiping a low Christ brought down from the throne 
of heaven and lowered to the point of simply a creature that 
exercised some measure of salvation in this lower world? Or are we 
worshiping with that high Christology that He is essential deity, that 
He is equal with the Father, that He owes no obedience except 
in the taking on of humanity, He rendered obedience in the 
stead of the elect, in the stead of guilty sinners. We are to 
have a high Christology in answering the question, who do you say 
that I the son of man am? And as we work through this study, 
we will be engaging in the answering of that question. So what we're 
going to do is we're simply starting with this introduction this morning 
and then we'll work through the content of the confession as 
we study the Lord Jesus Christ. We want to note before moving 
to the importance of Christology some important interpretive rules. in Christology. So in the doctrine 
of Christ, in studying the Lord Jesus Christ, what are some important 
interpretive rules as we approach the study? Well, first off, truths 
contained in Holy Scripture are either 1. expressly set down 
or 2. necessarily contained. We looked 
at that, and Jim looked at that in the study of chapter 1 of 
the Holy Scriptures. The interpretive rule in paragraph 
6, we have those things that are expressly set down in the 
Scriptures, and then we have those things that are logically 
implied, or that we logically gain a recognition and a and 
a study of by virtue of examining those things that are expressly 
set down. A biblical example is the Lord 
Jesus Christ in Luke 24. The disciples on the road to 
Emmaus, and then the disciples later on, as he's eating broiled 
fish and honeycomb, were supposed to know from the Old Testament 
scriptures that there is a Christ, that he was to come in the world 
to be born of Bethlehem, that he would die, that he would rise 
again, and that he would be exalted to the right hand of the majesty 
on high. Well, the Old Testament, while 
it is replete with Christ, it doesn't have the exact specificity 
as the New Testament, which opens up what the Old had concealed. And so the Lord Jesus Christ 
engages in an exercise of what's necessarily contained by virtue 
of a study of the Old Testament. And these two things, and more 
importantly the second one, those things that are of that are necessarily 
contained or deduced from the scriptures is very important 
for Protestant and Reformed theology, and we'll see that as we move 
along, because there is a modern, and there always has been a historical 
rejection of that. Arius, in the fourth century, 
rejected this idea. He didn't have the Westminster 
Confession of Faith, the Savoy, and the Second London, but Athanasius 
and the heroes of Nicene Christology employed this aspect of interpretation 
in order to combat the Arians. The Unomians after that, who 
were basically Arians, just worse, the Cappadocian fathers and others 
opposed them with this same interpretive rule, that there are truths expressly 
set down and there are those truths that are necessarily contained. Secondly, we are not to attend 
nakedness of words, but to attend fullness of meaning. And for 
what we mean by that, this is Jerome. In dealing with the Scriptures, 
it is the sense we have to look to and not the words. and let 
them not flatter themselves if they think they have Scripture 
authority for their assertions, since the devil himself quoted 
Scripture. And the essence of the Scriptures 
is not the letter, but the meaning." And as we move through, we'll 
look at that. Obviously, we subscribe to sola 
scriptura and the primacy of the Bible as that ground of knowledge 
that discloses salvation by Jesus Christ and is true and perfect 
in everything it asserts. But if we just look to the nakedness 
of words, there are a multitude of heretics who use the Bible 
and the nakedness and bareness of the words in order to assert 
heresy. So it's the sense of the scriptures, 
the meaning of those words that we are after, and not simply 
the bare, wooden, literal nakedness of the words. Thirdly, clearer passages are 
to be searched to answer questions about the true and proper sense 
of the less clear. So our confession says when there's 
a question about the clear and the true and the proper sense 
of a biblical passage, we're to search out other passages 
in the scriptures that have a greater measure of clarity on that same 
topic that will help us with that in order to answer those 
questions, and so that's important with the study of any topic, 
certainly then with the study of the Lord Jesus Christ. We 
go to the more clear passages to help us with the less clear. Fourthly, the unchanging divine 
perfections, and therefore the unchanging divine perfections 
of the sun. Chapter 2 is absolutely vital 
for our understanding of Chapter 8. In Chapter 2, we have the 
doctrine of God. And in chapter 2, paragraph 1, 
and we can include paragraph 2, we have the perfections, the 
divine perfections set out for us. That God is infinite, eternal, 
and unchangeable in all of his glorious perfections. He is most 
loving, most absolute, most gracious, most holy. He is immutable. He is a most pure spirit without 
body, parts, and passions. And then in paragraph three, 
we have the Trinity set forth, where it says, in this divine 
and infinite being, there are three subsistences, or persons, 
the Father, the Son, or Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these 
three are of one substance, one power, and one eternity. each 
having the whole divine essence and the essence undivided. So 
that says something about the Lord Jesus Christ, doesn't it? 
So we are to have this understanding of the unchanging divine perfections 
in mind, and specifically at the topic of the second person 
of the Trinity, which we're starting to study, who we're starting 
to study now, the unchanging, therefore, divine perfections 
of the Son of God. The Son and the Spirit are equal 
to the Father in all things. The Son and the Spirit are identical 
to the Father with the exception of not being unbegotten. The Spirit is identical to the 
Son with the exception of not being eternally begotten. He 
proceeds from the Father and the Son. But Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit are all perfect in the divine perfections, each 
having the whole divine essence undivided. Fourthly, excuse me, 
fifthly, the recognition of the union of the two natures, divine 
and human, in the one Christ. This is a vital, an absolutely 
vital interpretive rule or undergirding principle as we study Christ. 
We need to understand that there is a union of the two natures, 
divine and human, in the one Christ. We don't have two Christs. We don't have a Christ changed 
by the incarnation or the assumption of humanity. In the condescension, 
nothing changes in the Son of God. He doesn't somehow empty 
himself of divine prerogatives and cast off his glory for a 
time or divest himself of certain divine attributes. But rather, 
we have the union of two natures in the one Christ. Here are some 
helpful quotes from the early church with regards to this particular 
rule. When anything lowly is said of 
him, conjoined as he is with the flesh, there is no disparagement 
of the Godhead in what is said, the economy admitting the expression. So what he's saying is when we 
have these lowly sayings like Christ wept, Christ ate, Christ 
wearied, Christ was tired, these sorts of things, were to understand 
that with regards to the economy of redemption, specifically the 
assumption of humanity. It is Christ, according to his 
humanity, who wept. It is Christ, according to his 
humanity, who ate, who drank, who slept, and who was weary. 
attributing to the deity the higher and diviner expressions, 
and the lower and more human to him, who for us men was the 
second Adam. That's Gregory of Nazianzus. The first one was Christostom, 
I'm not sure if I said that, but we attribute to the deity 
the higher and diviner expressions, and to the humanity we attribute 
those lower and human expressions, because it is Christ who assumed 
our humanity as the second Adam. John of Damascus wrote, those 
texts then that are sublime must be assigned to the divine nature, 
and those that are humble must be ascribed to the human nature. And then Leontius, to put it 
briefly, we know that whole troops of souls have been snatched and 
pulled underwater because they stumbled in their ignorance over 
the lowly sayings and notions of Christ our God, which come 
from his condescension. An example of this, in the gospel 
accounts, we have the Lord Jesus Christ saying things like, the 
Father is greater than I. We have him saying things like, 
no one knows the day or hour, not even the sun. So no one knows 
the day or hour except the Father, not even the Son. Well, we need 
to have an interpretive rule because Christ isn't ignorant 
according to His divinity. That would be madness and that 
would be heresy. We need to understand these realities, 
that there are lowly sayings and notions of Christ our God 
which come from his condescension. So when he confesses ignorance 
on a topic, and not a sinful ignorance, it's an ignorance 
according to his assumed humanity, because God, the Son of God according 
to his divinity, knows all things. When He says, the Father is greater 
than I, He's speaking with respect to His assumed humanity as the 
mediator between God and man who is exercising redemption. 
According to His deity, He is equal with the Father, and He 
confesses that. As Pastor Butler has been working 
through the Gospel of John, we see that time and time again 
where Jesus asserts His essential deity that He is God, but also 
His equality with the Father because of that essential deity. 
So we need to understand that when we come across sayings in 
the scriptures, we're not to be snatched and pulled underwater 
in our ignorance, not appreciating the fact that there are those 
things that speak of Christ according to his divinity, and then these 
lower sayings that speak of Christ regarding to his assumed humanity. Lastly, under important interpretive 
rules in Christology, not that we're exhausting them. But lastly, 
the wholesome use of extra-biblical words and phrases. the wholesome 
use of extra biblical words and phrases. We use those. If we 
couldn't use those, if using them was bad, we would never 
preach from a pulpit because we would just have to simply 
rehearse the words of the Bible, which would be great. We read 
the Bible in worship and it's a wonderful liturgical element 
of our congregational worship. But the call of God and the commandment 
of God is to preach the Word. And so in preaching, God, by 
the Spirit, assumes and helps us with, assumes that we will 
use and helps us with, the use of extra-biblical words and phrases 
in order to, by the Spirit, articulate the things that the Word contains 
and expresses to us. There's an interesting account. 
I don't know the specifics and I don't have the words verbatim, 
but in the early church, Alexander of Alexandria and Athanasius 
were at the Nicene Council when they were defending the Trinity 
and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, his full deity, his consubstantiality, 
or that he is of one substance with the Father. And initially, 
they were working through the scriptures, arguing for, of course, 
from the scriptures, arguing for the deity of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Well, the Arian party loved that 
and were, you know, elbowing each other and snickering because 
they were simply answering by the same verses and by the Bible. 
That is when they, the Nicene heroes, understood that they 
needed to capture what the word proclaims in words and phrases 
in order to defend that which the word proclaims. Sorry, you 
probably saw with the sun, something coming out of my mouth there. 
We'll edit that later. The use of extra-biblical words 
and phrases, it's absolutely vital, and the Bible expects 
that we're going to use those. Earnestly contend for the faith 
which was once for all delivered to the saints. We need to employ 
words in our God-blessed human language to defend, to proclaim, 
to propagate the blessed truth of the Bible. So that's important 
to understand as well, the wholesome use of extra-biblical words and 
phrases. So let's now move on then to 
the importance of Christology, and I have seven points here, 
the number of perfection. because it is a topic concerning 
Christ Jesus the Lord. So the importance of Christology. 
First off, the importance of Christology is seen in the fact 
that Christ is the scope of Scripture. That is, He is the target, the 
aim, the trajectory or terminus of the Old Covenant and New Covenant 
documents. He's the scope of Scripture. 
He is that one to which the Scripture points. We see this at the outset 
of divine revelation in Genesis. The commentary or the narrative 
with respect to Adam isn't first and foremost about Adam, it's 
about Christ. Because Adam is typologically 
the first Adam who points forward to the second Adam, the Lord 
Jesus Christ. And we get very quickly to the 
point of the Bible in chapter 3, the hero born of woman who 
will crush the serpent with his heel. And so from there, the 
biblical revelation moves and rolls along in a Christ-word 
trajectory until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, where 
we have that revelation summing up and wrapping up the blessed 
story of the King of kings and Lord of lords who gives himself 
for guilty sinners. And so the scope of Scripture 
is Christ. Its target, its center, its aim, 
the aim of divine revelation is Christ. This is Nehemiah Cox, 
one of our particular Baptist forefathers. In all our search 
after the mind of God in the Holy Scriptures, we are to manage 
our inquiries with reference to Christ. It's a wonderful statement. In all our search after the mind 
of God in our Bibles, we're to manage our inquiries with respect 
to the Lord Jesus Christ. We're Christians on this side 
of the New Testament. Not that those on the other side 
of the New Testament weren't operating according to Christ, 
because they had the messianic prophecies, they had the expectation 
of that hero born of woman. But as we are here in 2023, and 
as Christians always have been, the scope of the Scriptures is 
the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we read our Bibles, we're 
reading with Christ in mind. And we are to study Christology 
and read our Bibles at the topic of the Lord Jesus Christ with 
Him in mind. And study the Bible, you know, 
when we come to the book of Esther, when we come to, well, we'll 
notice this morning, when we come to the book of Psalms, were 
not to read the Psalms in a Christ-less fashion, as if because he hadn't 
come yet, were to just understand the Psalms in some sort of physical 
and provisional way, and not with respect to the Christ to 
whom those Psalms point, and in large part, to whom or of 
whom those Psalms are about. So the, Scope of Scripture. The importance of Christology 
is seen first in that Christ is the scope of Scripture. And some passages that set that 
forth, you can make a note of some of them. Luke 18, 31-34. 
John 5, 39 and 46-47. Acts 3, 18-26. And you can turn with 
me to Acts 26. For a moment, Acts chapter 26. 
There we have a statement that respects the proclamation of 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and it sets forth the reality that the 
Bible itself, the Scriptures, are about Him. In Acts 26, notice 
at verse 26, Well, let's see here, we'll go to verse 22. Therefore, 
having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing 
both to small and great, saying no other things than those which 
the prophets and Moses said would come, that the Christ would suffer, 
that he would be the first to rise from the dead, and would 
proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. Isn't 
that a wonderful statement? The Apostle Paul isn't proclaiming 
new things as he goes about the proclamation of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. He's proclaiming old things, saying no other things 
than those which the prophets and Moses said would come, that 
Christ would come into the world and redeem his people. So the 
scope of Scripture is Christ, and that sets forth the importance 
of a study of him. You can also make a note of Luke 
24, 25 to 27, and Luke 24, 44 to 45, where 
Christ says, the law, the prophets, and the Psalms all spoke concerning 
me. Secondly, the importance of Christology 
is seen in the fact that eternal life is connected to our knowledge 
of Christ. Eternal life is connected to 
our knowledge of Christ. You can turn to John 17 for a 
moment. John 17. And when you get there. Verse 
3, John 17 and verse 3. And this is eternal life, that 
they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you 
have sent. The importance there of knowledge 
is emphasized by Jesus Christ himself. Eternal life is connected 
to the knowledge of God and Christ, that they may know you, the only 
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Jesus Christ, 
of course, they're praying according to his assumed humanity. Eternal 
life is connected to our knowledge of Christ, His essential deity. We would want to note, first 
off, our knowledge of Christ, what is contained in that knowledge 
of Christ. Remember that Christ says, if 
you do not believe that I am, in all caps, connecting to Exodus 
3.14 and Isaiah 10, if you do not say that I am, you will die 
in your sins. So the knowledge of Christ with 
respect to his essential deity is absolutely vital. And connected 
to that, the knowledge of Christ with respect to his equality 
with the Father. If we reject Christ's equality 
with the Father, we have a defective and low Christology, and we're 
not in a good place, historically speaking, because everyone else 
who has done that is a heretic. Arius, Eunomius, closer to us, 
Sosinus, who the Reformers dealt with, and Biddle and Best, to 
name a couple in England who rejected the doctrine of the 
Trinity, and all argued for some sort of subordination of the 
Son eternally. The scriptures reject that and 
uphold the eternal equality of the Son with the Father. His 
relation to the Father, connected to his essential deity, is absolutely 
vital. The Bible sets forth the doctrine 
that the Son of God is eternally begotten of the Father. That 
language often kind of rubs against people the wrong way. Well, the 
language of begotten, doesn't that mean that he was sort of 
brought forth in time? No, because he's eternally begotten. The relation of the Son to the 
Father is that the Son is eternally begotten of the Father. The relation 
of the Father to the Son is that He eternally begets the Son. 
But it's eternal. There's no point in time where 
that starts, and there's no point in time where that ends. His 
relation to the Father is such that He is eternally generated 
or eternally begotten from the Father. He comes forth from the 
Father eternally, is equal with Him, and is of the same substance 
with Him. his essential deity, and then 
subsumed under that topic, his equality with the Father and 
his relation to the Father. We use the word filiation, which 
just contains the language of sonship or son, and he is son 
such because he is eternally begotten of the Father. We can 
make a note of Proverbs 8, Psalm 2, and then, of course, John 
1, 14 to 18, where the language only begotten Son is used twice. also his humanity. When we're 
talking about eternal life connected to our knowledge of Christ, vital, 
as we've already noted, to our understanding of Christ as his 
essential deity, also vital with our knowledge of the Lord Jesus 
Christ is his assumed humanity, his true humanity. He did not 
just come into this lower world as a phantom looking like man. 
He didn't only just assume a body, in coming in the incarnation, 
but rather body and a reasonable or rational soul. You can turn 
to the book of Hebrews for a moment as we see some biblical witness 
to the true humanity of Christ, but were we to go to every part 
in the Bible, we'd be here until the Lord Christ comes again. 
Hebrews chapter two, there we have wonderful language with 
regards to the incarnation, the true humanity of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. In Hebrews 2, beginning at verse 14, and release those who through 
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed, he does not give 
aid to angels, but he does give aid to the seed of Abraham. We 
could also render that he does not take on the nature of angels, 
but he does take on the nature of the seed of Abraham. Therefore, 
in all things, he had to be made like his brethren, that he might 
be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to 
God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. So you 
see the language there of Christ's true humanity. He takes on the 
nature of the seed of Abraham. He becomes like his brethren 
or he's made like his brethren. And this language here that he 
might be is absolutely glorious. He takes on the nature of our 
humanity without sin that he might be our savior and save 
us from our sins and give us that blessed righteousness. And 
so the The confession of the true humanity of the Lord Jesus 
Christ is absolutely vital for our understanding of Christ. the Apostle John in his epistles, 
remember, uses the language of antichrist with regards to those 
who reject the true humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. If 
you do not say, or antichrist is he who says that Christ has 
not come in the flesh. And so that spirit of antichrist 
were not to anticipate some future political opposer of the church 
who rises up in the Middle East. It was simply a first century 
heresy that rejected the true humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is antichrist. So true humanity, 
on this particular point, we want to note that Christ has 
a body and a reasonable soul, as I already mentioned. Ancient 
heresies assumed that he only took on a body, and he did not 
take on a reasonable soul. So that, if that was the case, 
humanity then is only, or the elect, sinners, are only half-saved, 
because our bodies are redeemed, but what about our soul? And 
so on that point, this is Gregory of Nazianzus. If anyone has put 
his trust in Christ as a man without a human mind, he is really 
bereft of mind and quite unworthy of salvation. For that which 
he has not assumed, he has not healed. But that which is united 
to his Godhead is also saved. If only half Adam fell, than 
that which Christ assumes and saves may be half also. But if 
the whole of the nature fell, it must be united to the whole 
nature of him that was begotten, and so be saved as a whole. Let 
them not then begrudge us our complete salvation, or clothe 
the Savior only with bones and nerves and the portraiture of 
humanity. So Gregory of Nazianzus is opposing 
people who were called Apollinarians. They were followers of Apollinaris, 
who proposed that Christ, in the incarnation or in the assumption 
of humanity, only assumed a human body, only took on flesh, that 
he wore, as it were, a flesh suit without an actual human 
mind assumed also. The Bible upholds that Christ 
took on true humanity, body, and a reasonable soul, as the 
confession says, all the essential properties and common infirmities 
of humanity, yet without sin. Augustine writes, let us not 
hearken to such as say that only a human body was assumed by the 
word of God. We also want to note on the point 
of Christ and his true humanity that it's not a humanity added. It's not a humanity by subtraction, 
and it is rather a humanity by assumption. So not by addition, 
not by subtraction, but by assumption. Assumption means taking to oneself. The language of the confession 
is such that he took to himself man's nature. He assumed man's 
nature. The language of the Bible is 
such as well in the taking on of flesh. and those verses of like language. So, not by addition. He didn't 
add humanity to himself. Unfortunately, there are those, 
even within our own, good men, even within our own reformed 
tradition who use that language. But the language of the fathers 
and the language of our reformers that followed after them explicitly 
reject the language of addition. Nothing can be added to God. 
God is perfect. He does not lack anything that 
he needs to somehow be augmented by something else. Nothing can 
be added to God, but God, the son of God, can assume, he can 
take to himself man's nature. And we, well, maybe we'll talk 
about it later. There's important language with 
regards to assumption that we need to use, and we'll get to 
that when we get to the incarnation. But this is what Dolezal writes 
regarding the assumption of humanity. This instance that the word was 
made man without undergoing any change in himself is most agreeable 
to the core claims of classical theism, classical Christian theology, 
including divine pure actuality, simplicity, impassibility, and 
timelessness. In other words, if Christ somehow 
adds to himself or if Christ somehow subtracts from himself, 
that impacts the doctrine of God. One of the most important 
perfections that are touching upon this would be immutability. 
Divine eternality and immutability. God cannot change. Therefore, 
of course, the Son of God, one with the Father and Spirit, cannot 
change and does not change in the incarnation. More on that 
as we move through the study. And then thirdly, with respect 
to the humanity and the importance of it, the unity of his person. He is one person, not two persons. He's not the son of God and then 
the son of man as two persons going about doing good, saving 
man, and then one dying and rising. However that would work, it doesn't 
work because it's madness and heresy. The unity of the person 
of Christ is of the utmost importance. He is one person, the son of 
God, who took to himself man's nature. He did not assume a human 
person. but rather he provides in the 
act of assumption the personhood of the assumed humanity. I know 
that's a mouthful, but if he takes to himself a human person, 
then we're not saved by a divine savior, we're simply saved by 
the human person assumed. But if the Son of God, very God 
of very God, takes to himself or assumes human nature, then 
we have the person of the Son of God incarnate doing the perfection 
of saving work. Thirdly, under the importance 
of Christology, it's seen in the fact that the gospel is about 
Christ. The importance of Christology 
is seen in that the gospel is about Christ. Remember 1 Corinthians 
15, one to four. What is the gospel? The gospel 
is that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, 
that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according 
to the scriptures. it's about his life, death, and 
resurrection. So the importance of the doctrine 
of Christ or Christology is seen in that Christ is, the gospel 
is, about Christ. Remember that the gospel isn't 
a lot of things. The gospel isn't our feelings 
about Christ. The gospel isn't even believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. That's the blessed 
summons that comes upon the heels of the gospel proclaimed. The 
gospel is that Christ lived, died, and rose again substitutionarily 
for sinners. And so we need to understand 
what the gospel is and what it isn't. The importance of Christology 
is seen in the fact that the Gospel is about Christ. Fourth, 
the importance of Christology, or the study of Christ, is seen 
in the fact that Christ alone is the only way of salvation. Doesn't this exclimate, doesn't 
this highlight, doesn't this emphasize the importance of Christology 
that the ones studied, the blessed topic of Christology is the only 
way of salvation. We could think of a number of 
passages, Acts 4.12, where Peter confesses that there is only 
one name given among men under heaven by which we might be saved, 
and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ himself, 
no one can come to the Father except by me, the one who is 
the way, the truth, and the life. He is the only way of salvation. Acts chapter 16, of course, in 
the Philippian jailer, what must I do to be saved? The answer 
doesn't come, well, you know, work your way to heaven, do this, 
do that, check these boxes of obedience to the law of God and 
you will be saved. No, the answer comes, believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. So the absolute 
importance and weightiness and heaviness and highness of the 
study of the Lord Jesus Christ is seen here also in that He 
is the only way of salvation. Fifthly, the importance of Christology 
is seen in the fact that all redemptive benefits are in Christ 
Jesus. So, you know, we think of our 
election, we're chosen in Him. We think of our regeneration, 
receiving that fleshly heart, the stony heart removed, that 
fleshly heart put in by amazing and victorious grace, are being 
made alive. We were dead in our trespasses 
and sins. We're made alive in Christ Jesus 
by virtue of the perfection of His work. We are justified in 
Him. We are adopted in Him. We are 
sanctified in Him. And we are glorified in Him. 
In fact, that language of in Him, if you go to your Bibles 
later and you read Ephesians 1, and read the amount of times 
that it says, in Christ, in Him, in Him, in Christ. There's the 
blessed reality that all our redemptive benefits are in Christ 
Jesus and by virtue of our union with Him. So, in fact, prior 
to this, we have the work itself. We have the work itself, the 
actual life, of obedience to the law of God perfectly rendered 
in the stead of all who believe. His substitutionary sacrifice 
upon Calvary's cross, wherein he perfectly secures the multitude 
that no man can number. His resurrection and his exaltation 
and his current session, where he ever lives to intercede for 
us, that is exclusively, of course, Christ. And then that work which 
accrues to us by virtue of the perfection of His saving work. 
All of those saving benefits, election, regeneration, justification, 
adoption, sanctification, our final glorification, those are 
all in Christ Jesus, and so the study of Christ is a very important 
and a very blessed thing. What a glorious one we have in 
our precious Savior. Sixthly, the importance of Christology 
is seen in the fact that the church's commission is given 
by Christ and is about Christ. So the church's commission is 
given by Christ, and it's about Christ. It's an interesting thing 
in Matthew chapter 28, where Christ says, all authority in 
heaven and on earth has been given to me, go therefore, and 
the command goes, and the commission goes, and the content is all 
that I have taught you. baptize them in the name of the 
Father and Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe 
all that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you even to 
the end of the age. So the commission itself is given 
by Christ. And we see the preaching that 
follows is about Christ. What are some of the things that 
the Apostle Paul says? I was determined to know nothing 
among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. They go about 
preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 5.42, 1 Corinthians 1.23, 
true wisdom is seen in the proclamation of the cross. Galatians 6.14, 
God forbid that I should boast save in the cross of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 
In the early church, or in the early record of baptism, Christ 
says they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. That doesn't 
rub against Trinitarian baptism, because Christ commands us to 
be baptized in the name of the triune God, Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit. But it pertains to authority. 
Jesus Christ as Lord gave the ordinance, the sacrament of baptism, 
and it's connected to Him. You can make a note of Romans 
6, 1 to 6. The language of baptism is that 
we're buried with Christ, and as Christ was raised, so we are 
in that observance of baptism. It connects that figural language, 
which is literally expressed in the waters of baptism, reflects 
the saving reality behind it, that by virtue of Christ's death, 
burial, and resurrection, sinners are saved, all who believe. So 
the commission itself, the preaching of the word, is centered around 
the Lord Jesus Christ, baptism, and then the Lord's Supper. We 
have baptism in the Lord's Supper in the Protestant Church as those 
two remaining sacraments, those two ordinances that the Church 
is to observe. And the Lord's Supper, of course, 
is about Christ. It's not about us. As Pastor 
Butler always says, it's not a reward for our good works and 
for our good deeds done during the week. We are commanded to 
joyfully and cheerfully observe the Lord's Supper in recognition 
of and in remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do this in 
remembrance of me. And then, of course, church discipline 
has to do with the Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew 18, 18 to 20. And lastly and finally, the importance 
of a study of Christology is seen seventh in the fact that 
our abiding hope and everlasting bliss is in Christ. You see the comprehensiveness, 
the scope of the study of Christ and what it opens up and what 
it includes? What a blessed topic. It's not 
simply one of a number of topics, but it is, as we said earlier, 
the scope, the aim, the target, the center of the Scriptures. 
The Scriptures start with Christ, the hero born of woman, of the 
woman who will crush the head of the serpent with his heel, 
and it ends with Christ, that one who is the glory of God, 
who is the light. Revelation ends with that glorious 
language, the Lamb, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, is the light 
of heaven. And so, Lastly and finally, the 
importance of Christology is seen in the fact that our abiding 
hope and everlasting bliss is in Christ. Comfort and hope in 
this life, Philippians 4.6, 1 Peter 1.3, the blessed anticipation 
of the life to come, Titus 2.13, and then of course the eventual 
enjoyment of the life to come, Philippians 1.21-23. So hopefully 
in a short period of time, with an introduction to the doctrine 
of Christ, we can gain a blessed, reinvigorated appreciation for 
that one who is this blessed topic. Our Savior, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, the one who is very God and very man, yet one Christ, 
the only mediator between God and man, who perfected salvation 
and who brings us to glory. What a blessed Savior that we 
have, and hopefully as we move forward, as we open up, the doctrine 
with greater detail, we will be reinvigorated in our knowledge 
of such a blessed Christ. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, 
we thank you for this time this morning. We thank you that we 
could study our Savior. We do pray that you would bless 
us as we move along in studying Christ, that we would grow in 
the grace and in the knowledge of Him, that you would help us 
by your Spirit to grow in greater Christian appreciation for that 
one who came down from heaven, sinners to save. We pray that 
you'd go with us in worship. Do help us as we worship Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit. Give us your spirit that we might 
worship in spirit and in truth. And we pray in the name of Jesus 
Christ. Amen. Any questions about anything 
that we worked through there? A lot of information, but maybe 
something is sticking out. Yeah? Yeah. Well, if someone were to 
say it's just semantics, I think one thing Addition assumes a sum as the 
result of a formula, so that something is lacking before the 
arrival of the sum. So with regards to addition, 
that assumes that there is lack. in the one who's adding to himself 
and he's somehow completed like a formula arriving at a sum. Whereas assumption is the taking 
to oneself without change onto a uniting. So we, you know, there's 
a lot of, actually I can send you something that's very helpful 
in explaining this, but in the early church they opposed, do 
I have the, no I don't. There's a couple of quotes I 
have from Cyril Owen and that sort of a thing that talk about 
the language of addition. But I think that's probably one 
of the better arguments, that it assumes something lacking 
in the one to whom something is being added, so that at the 
end of it, there's a particular result for the one that was being 
added to. Nothing can be added to God, 
and so, you know, therefore it's not by addition, but assumption 
unto a uniting. Yes? To follow up on this, I 
think you were talking about the term of the assumption paper 
that was also published right after the conference last November. And from what I recall, what 
he tried to emphasize is that there's very limited historical 
precedent in the language of addition rather than assumption. objection from some biblicists 
or some modern, post-modern, I should say, evangelical, oh, 
that's semantics, that's just wordplay, that's just irrelevant, 
rhetorical, sleight of hand, or something like this. The answer 
is, OK, well, we're in church history first. You're abandoning 
the historical precedent like you do with everything else. 
And then more to the point, as you said, there's utter systematic 
inconsistencies at play, where if we slaughter Christology, 
we're going to slaughter theology proper, as is the case with the 
EFS position. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's good, 
thank you. And there's an ancient argument 
that obtained at the outset of Christianity with regards to 
what are called accidental additions. If God, if the Son of God adds 
something to him, then that is somehow now something that he 
as God has, whereas assumption is the provision of personhood 
to a human nature such that it's, united to him and it's not somehow 
an additional appendage to God. It's a difficult thing to articulate 
and talk about, no doubt, but I have some stuff I can send 
to you. Any other questions? I had a hard time explaining 
to someone, a non-believer, how the sinless life in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, 
and that he is God in humanity and divinity. And he came back 
to me, so God had to die. And they said, well, God provided 
the lamb for me. So it's very hard for me to articulate 
to somebody like that how was it necessary for God to die, 
or was it more necessary for a paschal sacrifice, a sinless who died, but death could not 
continue. To answer his question, so he 
died anyway. He was circularly arguing with 
me on that one, so I did not know how to answer. The answer 
to the question, did God die, is a question shedding his blood in Acts chapter 
20, and it talks about you crucifying the Lord of Glory, an allusion 
to his deity. So did God die? No, because God 
can't die, but the one who is God, who assumes humanity, died. Deity can't die. Deity can't 
bleed. It's most pure spirit, infinite, eternal, unchangeable. 
So the Son of God, who is God, who assumed humanity, died on 
the cross, but he died according to that assumed humanity. So 
God didn't die, but the Son of God, who assumed our nature, 
died on the cross and died accordingly. to navigate and to stick handle 
and to argue sometimes, it can be difficult. But does that in 
some part answer the question? I understand it, because I believe. I believe how it happened. I believe that there was no way 
to the father, but through him. I believe that. But to someone 
who does not believe, it's hard for him to wrap, if God truly 
had planned the beginning from the end, and had a tolling for 
the fallenness of man and everything. So it's his fault. But he'll fix it. By himself. By his son. So somebody's got 
to pay the bill. And so this is where I'm always 
with a lot of tough guys. Because it's always about paying 
the bill. Who pays the piper? And I said, well, ultimately 
Christ pays it all. Ultimately and finally, it's 
Christ. And it is finished. Right. And there's nothing more 
to pay. Yeah. Right. But this is very hard. When they say, well, has it really 
been paid if he's still alive? Yeah. And that's the power of 
the one Christ and the fact of he can never die, of course, 
according to his deity. But the assumed humanity, the 
person of the Son of God, fellow was asking. Absolutely, 
it's man who sinned, and so we need one without sin to, well, 
first off, be sin for us, but even before that, to render that 
obedience that we did not, that Adam didn't, and by virtue of 
the fall, we did not, we need that sin Of course, according to his deity, 
he's sinless because he's God. But as we said earlier, we need 
a human substitute in order to answer for human fault and sin. 
And so the sinlessness of Christ is according to his assumed humanity 
that is substitutionarily given and offered for us. I was going to say, I would imagine 
that when you get to Chapter 8, Paragraph 7, you'll have an 
extended and thorough conversation about the communication of idioms. 
That would be helpful. Yeah, that would be helpful. I think 
the background of this objector is theodicy issues. That's my 
sense. Yeah, the problem of evil and 
God and that sort of thing. Well, he's making God very small. Yeah. The way I'm trying to argue, 
that the God I believe in is a very big, Absolutely, yeah. I mean, the god that you are 
trying to understand has to die. Mine does not. Yeah, yeah. Very good. Very good. William? Just a question of assumption. 
I still prefer the mystical kind of fantasy. Yeah, well, it's, I mean, yeah, 
it has a two century long heritage, the language of assumption. So 
does the hypostatic union. But the language of assumption 
is important to retain, to reject the language of addition. is essentially the result of 
the assumption. So the taking on of humanity, 
the assumption of humanity, unision or the uniting is a result of 
that taking on of humanity. So there are two important things, 
assumption and then union, the hypostatic union. So yeah, a 
good point. But the last thing is to suggest 
that the Aryan emperor had no clothes. That's right. Yeah.