Moreover, there are many other scriptures that speak of our Saviour as the Son of God; and particularly in Matth. xvi. 16. he is called, The Son of the living God; and in Rom. viii. 32. his own Son, ἱδιος υιος, which some render, his proper Son, that is, not only his Son, who has the same divine nature with himself, but as implying also the manner of its communication; and in Mat. iii. 17. he is called his beloved Son.
2. We shall now consider the scriptures that are generally brought to prove the procession of the Holy Ghost, in the sense before explained. Thus he is said, in John xv. 26. to be sent by the Son from the Father; and to proceed from the Father; where they suppose that this proceeding from the Father signifies the communication of the divine essence, or, at least, his personality; and his being sent by the Son, implies, that this communication is from him, as well as the Father. So in Gal. iv. 6. it is said, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son; and, in John xvi. 7. our Saviour says, I will send him unto you, and ver. 14. He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you; these scriptures, if not brought directly to prove this doctrine, are, notwithstanding, supposed sufficient to evince the truth thereof, inasmuch as the Son could not send him, if he had not proceeded from him; nor could he have received that which he shews to his people, if he had not, from all eternity, received his divine essence, or personality, from him.
There is another scripture, brought by some very valuable divines, to prove the Spiration of the Holy Ghost, which is so termed, either as supposed to be expressive of the manner of his having his personality as a Spirit, or else it is taken from those words of scripture, brought to prove this Spiration, John xx. 22. in which our Saviour is said to have breathed on his disciples, saying, Receive ye the Holy Ghost; which external sign, or symbol, used in the act of conferring him on them in time, proves his procession from him from eternity; as a temporal procession supposes an eternal one.
These are the scriptures which are generally brought to prove this doctrine. But we shall take occasion to enquire, whether there may not be another sense given thereof, which is less liable to exception, as well as more intelligible. It is to be owned, that they contain some of the deep things of God; and therefore it is no wonder, if they are reckoned among those scriptures that are hard to be understood: but so far as I have any light, either from the context of the respective scriptures, or the analogy of faith, I cannot but conclude that these, and all others of the like nature, that are brought to prove the eternal generation, or Sonship of Christ, respect him as God-man, Mediator;[[98]] and those other scriptures, that speak of the procession of the Holy Ghost, respect the subserviency of his acting as a divine Person to the Mediator’s glory, in applying the work of redemption.
And here we shall consider these scriptures in particular; and then answer some objections that may be brought against this sense thereof, whereby, I hope, it will appear, that we assert nothing but what tends to the glory of the Son and Spirit, establisheth the doctrine of the ever-blessed Trinity, and agrees with the commonly received faith, so far as it is founded on scripture, without being tenacious of those modes of speaking, which have the sanction of venerable antiquity, and are supported by the reputation of those who have used them; though it may be, those scriptures will be otherwise understood by them, who regard explications that are merely human, no farther than they are defensible.
The first scripture before mentioned, which was brought to prove the eternal generation of the Son, was Psal. ii. 7. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. This cannot, I humbly conceive, respect the communication of the divine nature, or personality to the Son, as appears from the words immediately foregoing, in which it is said, I will declare the decree, or what I had before decreed, or determined. Far be it from us to suppose that the divine nature, or personality, of the Son was the result of an act of the divine will: and, indeed, the whole Psalm plainly speaks of Christ as Mediator; as such he is said, ver. 6. To be set as God’s king, on his holy hill of Sion, and, as such, he is said to intercede with, or ask of God; and, as the result hereof, the Father is said, ver. 8. to give him the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession; and all this is spoken of him, as a farther explication of those words, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And the apostle, in Heb. i. 5. refers to this scripture, when speaking of him as Mediator, and as having, by inheritance, obtained a more excellent name than the angels; which he has done, as he is constituted heir of all things: and he subjoins that promise, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son, that is, he shall perform that obedience that is due from him as a Son; and I will give unto him those rewards, which are due from a Father, who has committed this work to him, with a promise of the conferring those revenues of Mediatorial glory on him, that should ensue on his fulfilling it. Moreover, this scripture is referred to, by the apostle, in Acts xiii. 32, 33. when he says, That the promise, which was made to the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is written in the second Psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. So that it is plain the Psalmist speaks of him as having finished his work of redemption, at which time he was raised from the dead; and then, in the fullest sense, he had the heathen for his inheritance. And, upon this account, he is also called, in Rev. i. 5. The first begotten of the dead; and, in Col. i. 18. The first-born from the dead.
The next scripture brought to prove the eternal generation of the Son, in Prov. viii. 22, 23, 25. refers to Christ, as Mediator; when God is said to possess him in the beginning of his way, the meaning is, that in his eternal design oi grace relating to the redemption of man, the Father possessed, or laid claim to him as his Son, or servant, appointed in the human nature, to bring about that great work; and accordingly it follows, I was set up from everlasting, that is, fore-ordained of God, to be the Mediator and head of his elect: and this agrees very well with what follows, ver. 30, 31. I was daily his delight, that is, God the Father was well pleased with him, when foreseeing from all eternity what he would do in time, to secure the glory of his perfections in the redemption of man, as God publicly testified his well-pleasedness in him, when he was actually engaged in this work. And it is farther added, That he was always rejoicing before him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and his delights were with the sons of men; which signifies the great pleasure Christ had, in his eternal fore-sight of what he would do for the sons of men, whom he is elsewhere said to have loved with an everlasting love.
The next scripture is in Micah v. 2. where speaking of the Son, it is said, Whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting. For the understanding of which scripture, let us consider, that God’s goings are sometimes taken in scripture for what he does, whereby he renders himself the object of his people’s astonishment and praise; these are his visible goings. Thus, Psal. lxvi. 24. They have seen thy goings, O God, even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary; that is, they shall see the great things which thou wilt do for man, in the work of redemption: so in this scripture, the sense whereof we are considering, we read of Christ’s goings forth, his invisible goings, as we may call them, or his secret purposes, or designs of grace, relating to the redemption of his people: His goings forth were from everlasting; that is, he did, from eternity, design to save them; the outgoings of his heart were towards them, and, as the result hereof, he came into the world according to this prediction, and was born in Bethlehem, as in the foregoing words.
The next scripture is in Heb. i. 3. where he is said to be the brightness of his, that is, his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person. By the former expression, I humbly conceive, is meant, that the glory of the divine perfections shines forth most illustriously in Christ, our great Mediator, as the apostle expresses it elsewhere, 2 Cor. iv. 6. God hath shined in our hearts, to give the knowledge of his glory, in the face of Jesus Christ. By the latter expression, in which Christ is called the express image of his Person, I humbly conceive, is meant, that though his divine nature be the same with the Father’s, yet his Personality is distinct; and therefore it is not said to be the same, but the image of his Father’s; and it also proves his proper divine Personality, as being, in all respects, like that of the Father, though not the same.
The next scripture is in John v. 26. As the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. We cannot think that the Father’s having given to the Son to have life in himself implies his giving him the divine perfections, for the propriety of that mode of speaking cannot be defended consistently with his proper underived Deity. But I humbly conceive that the meaning of it is this; that as the Father hath life in himself, that is, as he has eternal life, or that fulness of grace and glory, which his people are to be made partakers of, at his own disposal, and has designed to give it, in his eternal purpose; so hath he given to the Son, as Mediator, to have life in himself, that is, that, as such, he should be the treasury of all this grace, and that he should have life in himself to dispense to them. This is very agreeable to his character and office, as Mediator, and with what follows, ver. 24. where it is said; Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life; and ver. 27. it is farther added, that He, to wit, the Father, hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man; which plainly denotes, that this life, which he has received from the Father, is that eternal life, which he is impowered or commissioned to bestow on his people, as Mediator; this he has in himself, and accordingly he is said, John i. 14. to be full of grace and truth; and Col. i. 19. It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.