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We find, as a general thing, that Jesus, in his public instructions, aimed principally at the improvement and correction of the Jewish doctrine, in order to prepare and qualify the great multitude for the reception of his religion; while in his private instructions, on the other hand, he discoursed more particularly on his own institutions. Vide Matt. xxii. 29; John, iii. 1, seq.; iv. 7, seq. In his public discourses, he frequently treats of general moral truths; not, however, in the common unprofitable way in which men are told what they ought to do, without being told how to do it. He shews how the law of Moses should be interpreted, and warns against the false explanations commonly given to it, and the additions made to it by men, and against the falsification of the Divine commands; Matt. v. seq.

He was accustomed, like many of the Jewish teachers in his age, to travel about with his disciples, and to teach in the synagogues, on the highways, in the market-places, the field, and the temple. Vide John, xviii. 20.

(3) The private instruction of Christ.

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Christ completed and amended these doctrines, made additions to them, and placed them in relations and connexions which were entirely new and peculiar, thus giving them new weight and interest. This was the case with the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, regeneration, prayer, &c. It may therefore be said, with truth, that a great part of all the doctrinal and moral instruction which is found in the discourses of Jesus, actually existed among the Jews of his own age. We find many of his maxims, parables, &c., in the Talmud and the Rabbins. Vide Lightfoot, Schöttgen, and Wetstein, on the New Testament.

But while we willingly concede this, we may also truly maintain that Jesus founded a new religious system. He himself says distinctly that the religious teacher must make use of both new and old doctrines. "A Christian teacher must be like a householder, who brings out of his treasure things new and old; Matt. xiii. 52. But Christ did more than any other religious teacher before or since his time, by teaching, not simply what men have to do, but by pro

they can perform their duties. Vide John, i. 17; Titus, ii. 11, seq.

He had destined his intimate friends (esotericviding and pointing out the means by which disciples) to be the future teachers, through whom his great plan should be carried into execution. To these he gave more minute explanation and instruction respecting the doctrines mentioned in No. 2. He solved for them any difficulties or obscurities which remained in his public discourses. Vide Mark, iv. 10, 11, 34. But even this instruction was in a great measure only elementary, and preparatory to their future destination. Hence he frequently endures their weakness and their prejudices with wise forbearance; John, xvi. 12—15, 25, seq.; Acts, i. 7, seq. He tells them expressly that they could not understand or endure, at that time, many things which it was important for them to know. And he promises to instruct them more perfectly after his departure, by means of the Paracletus, and to make known to them the whole extent of whatever it should be necessary for them to know and to teach, for their own good or the good of others, John, xiv. 26; xvi. 12-14, &c.

Note. Although Jesus frequently declares that his doctrine is of divine origin, and revealed to him by God himself, (since he was the greatest of the divine messengers,) we are not to suppose from this that every particular doctrine which Christ taught was given out by him as entirely new, and as imparted to him by direct inspiration of God. Many of his theoretical and practical doctrines were known to the Jews of his age, from the writings of the Old Testament, as Christ himself says, Matt. v. 17; or by some other means-e. g., the unwritten instructions of the prophets who lived at and after the time of the Babylonian captivity. But

The question disputed by theologians, Whether Christ can be called a new lawgiver, may be decided by these considerations. Civil laws and institutions are here out of the question; such Christ did not intend to establish, since his kingdom is not of this world. Law must be understood as synonymous with religion, religious doctrine; according to the use of the Hebrew, and the Greek vóμos. The question would then be, more correctly, whether he was a new religious teacher. The remarks above made shew that Christ is entitled to this name, and in a far higher sense than Moses was. He himself calls his religion, and the ordinances and institutions to be connected with it, xav Siarany, in opposition to the ancient Mosaic dispensation, Matt. xxvi. 28. And Paul calls Christ the author and founder of the new dispensation, (uɛoitys xains diasńxns,) Heb. ix. 15; xii. 24. His religion, according to Paul, succeeds to the Mosaic, and puts an end to the Mosaic dispensation as such. The term novus legislator has been rendered suspicious in the view of some theologians from the use which Socinians make of it, designating by it the whole office and merit of Christ.

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Note 2.-Jesus always appeals to his miracles,
and proves by them that his doctrine is divine;
John, vii. 11. His apostles do the same; Acts,
ii. 22. But this proof is altogether rejected by
many at the present day, or, at least, very little
regarded. This is the case among those, prin-
cipally, who labour for the abolition of all posi-
tive religion, and the introduction of the religion

(1) Human infirmities and calamities are of two kinds-viz., (a) Natural; which are founded in the laws and constitution of human nature, and are therefore common to all men. Jesus, too, we find, was subject to these, s. 93, but in common with all others; and when he became a true man he of course subjected himself to them. (b) Contingent, (accessoriæ,) which do not happen to all, but only to a few. Such are lowliness, poverty, contempt, &c. Jesus, as a man, was not necessitated to endure these; and the very opposite of them was expected in the Messiah. He submitted to them, because the divine plan for the good of men required it; Heb. xii. 2; Phil. ii. 6, 7.

of reason; for the positive divine authority of | doctrine respecting the suffering and adversities the religion of Jesus stands or falls with his of Jesus. miracles. The truths of reason which Jesus taught would, indeed, remain valid, although confirmed by no miracles; but, in that case, his declarations would not continue to possess divine authority. We should no longer be compelled to believe in any of his doctrines because he taught them, as he always requires us to do; John, iv. Our belief, on the contrary, would be entirely independent of him and of his declarations. His declarations and doctrines would be subjected to the revision of human reason, like the declarations and doctrines of any merely human teacher. The authority of Jesus would not be more binding than that of Socrates, of Confucius, Zoroaster, and other wise men of antiquity. Whoever, then, denies the miracles of Jesus, removes all that is positive in the Christian religion; the sure consequence of which is, that every man may believe as much of the Christian doctrine as he pleases, and is by no means bound to admit the truth of whatever Jesus says, because he is of opinion that the doctrine of Jesus is subjected to the revision of his reason. To such an one the writings of the New Testament may possess an historical, but not a doctrinal value. Cf. Rühl, Werth der Behauptungen Jesu und siener Apostel; Leipzig, 1792, 8vo; especially the first treatise.

SECTION XCV.

OF THE HARDSHIPS AND SUFFErings of JESUS.

I. During his whole life upon the earth. ALTHOUGH it is true that Jesus suffered a great deal while he was upon the earth, we should avoid all unscriptural exaggeration of this subject, and not maintain that his whole earthly existence was mere uninterrupted suffering. We find scenes in the life of Jesus which caused him many happy and cheerful hours, Luke, x. 21; Matt. xvii. 1, seq. Jesus, as a man, possessed very tender feelings and warm affections, John, xi. Both pain and pleasure, therefore, made a strong and deep impression upon his heart. The evangelical history exhibits him as at one time in deep distress, and at another in great joy.

His external trials and hardships consisted principally in his great poverty and indigence, Matt. viii. 20; Luke, ix. 58; 2 Cor. viii. 9; the many difficulties and hindrances in the way of the accomplishment of his office as teacher; contempt, persecution, danger, and the suffering which the disobedience and obstinacy of his contemporaries occasioned him. The sufferings which he endured at the end of his life will be considered in No. II. The following remarks will serve to the better understanding of the

(2) Many things which are commonly accounted hardships and trials are not so in the eyes of the true sage, who is superior to the prejudices of the multitude. And, on the other hand, many things which are commonly admired as the best fortune do not appear to him either good fortune or real welfare. We should be careful, therefore, not to enumerate among the sufferings and afflictions of Jesus such things as would be so accounted only by the voluptuary and libertine, and not by the wise man. Such things are, his frequent journeys, his being born in a stable, laid in a manger, &c. These circumstances, in themselves considered, were no hardships to a man who disregarded convenience and worldly honour.

Religious teachers must exercise great caution on this subject. There is a double disadvantage in enumerating such circumstances among the sufferings of Jesus; one is, that the common people will be confirmed in the error, (which is very prevalent,) of considering the goods of fortune, rank, birth, splendour, and other external advantages, as of great value; the other is, that they will be encouraged in effeminacy and false sensitiveness. The example of Jesus in his humiliation ought, on the contrary, to be employed to shew that a man of true piety and magnanimity needs none of those external advantages which are commonly so highly es teemed, in order to be happy and contented; that a man, even in poverty and humiliation, may be highly useful to others, &c. The sufferings of Jesus, considered in this light, are very encouraging and cheering to despised or neglected worth. And the New Testament makes this very use of the doctrine of the sufferings and humiliation of Jesus-e. g., Hebrews, xii. 2, aiozvvns xarappovýoas-i. e., he was so superior to his enemies in greatness and strength of spirit that he disregarded their insults and their foolish judgments respecting him.

The sufferings of Jesus are eminently calculated to impress our minds with a view of his

sakes, that we might become rich. The proper effect of this view is to lead us to gratitude and cheerful obedience.

great love to men. He became poor for our | xii. 27; and Paul says distinctly, Heb. v. 7, 8, that Christ wished to resemble us, his brethren, in respect to the painful accompaniments of death, in order to qualify himself better to be(3) Some are accustomed to particularize the come a compassionate high-priest. "He praysins for which Jesus atoned by particular hard-ed to God, who could deliver him from death, ships and sufferings, and also the virtues, for the performance of which he at such times procured us the power. But we ought not to go beyond the New Testament, and to make arbitrary distinctions, which have no scriptural ground. The Bible does not represent Christ as enduring, in the highest possible degree, every imaginable distress of mind and body. The greatness of the merits of his sufferings depends neither upon their continuance nor upon their magnitude and variety. The sufferings of Christ would still possess their whole adequate value, even if he did not endure every imaginable distress.

II. Sufferings of Christ at the end of his life;

commonly called his passion.

(1) The sorrowful feelings of his soul, or his mental suffering, his anguish of heart, exhibited most strikingly on the Mount of Olives in Gethsemane; Matt. xxvi. 37-44; Luke, xxii. 4144. This anguish is described by Luke as great to an extraordinary degree. He felt it shortly before his enemies commenced their abuse. In view of this distress many difficulties have arisen. The martyrs of religion have frequently exhibited, under greater sufferings than these, and tortures which they have actually solicited, a joy and firmness which we have been accustomed to admire. Besides, Jesus exhibited throughout all the rest of his life and his after sufferings an unexampled magnanimity and power. He foresaw his sufferings with cheerful courage, and undertook them of his own accord. But Jesus did not exhibit, either in the last moments of his life, or at any other period, that ill-timed enthusiasm which was so much admired in the Christian martyrs of the second and third centuries; nor, on the other hand, did he shew any cold insensibility to suffering. Both enthusiasts and philosophers are therefore displeased with his allowing himself to feel this fear and timidity; and many interpreters have exerted their skill upon these passages, to pervert their true meaning. Why such despondency and anguish just at this time? We remark upon this subject,

(a) There is nothing in the conduct of Jesus at this time which is inconsistent with a great man. He was far from that apathy and stocism which the martyrs exhibited, either from affectation, enthusiasm, or insensibility. He actually endured therefore, for a considerable time, the pains of death which are natural to men, as appears from Matt. xxvi. 39-44; John,

with loud crying and tears." A forced, stoical apathy is entirely opposed to the spirit of Christ and his religion. Christianity pronounces against everything which is forced, artificial, and unsuited to the nature which God has given us. It is the duty of men to improve and to increase in holiness; but they should still continue to be men, and not be ashamed of human feelings, and of the natural and innocent expressions of them. The example of Christ is instructive in this respect. But the most important consideration is the following—viz.,

(b) These sufferings, as Jesus and his apostles always taught, were endured for our sakes, and were the punishment of our sins. This being the case, it was necessary for Christ to feel that he suffered. He could not, and should not, remain insensible. We must see by his example what we deserved to suffer. Some hours before his death, Jesus assigned this as the true object of his sufferings: "He would shed his blood for the remission of the sins of men," and he instituted the Lord's supper in memory of this great event; Matt. xxvi. 28. This suffering, therefore, arose principally from a view and a lively feeling of the great multitude of sins, their criminality, and liability to punishment. Cf. Harwood, Ueber die Ursachen der Seelenangst Christi, 4 Abhandl.; Berlin, 1774. The history of the sufferings and death of Christ is considered in this light throughout the gospel and epistles. He suffered and died for us, and on our account; and we thus learn what we deserve. This history was not intended to produce a short and transient emotion, or mere compassionate sympathy: and the preacher who employs it for these purposes only neglects its proper object. This is a great fault of many Passion and Good-Friday discourses!

(2) The great bodily sufferings and tortures which he firmly endured; with which is connected,

(3) His condemnation to a violent death on the cross, and his undergoing of this sentence. His life of humiliation on the earth uépaι oaprós closed with his death; for the time which he lived upon the earth after his resurrection did not belong to it. Crucifixion, which was designed for slaves and insurgents, was a very disgraceful punishment. Vide Galatians, iii. 13, coll. Deut. xxi. 23. Paul therefore considers it as the lowest point of the humiliation of Jesus, and calls it ranɛivots in distinction, Phil. ii. 5-8; cf. Heb. xii. 2. Every thing was ordered by God in such a way as to convince the

world, beyond a question, that his death had actually taken place. Vide the circumstances, John, xix. 30, seq. In that age no one doubted the fact. Jesus was laid in the tomb as plainly dead. He remained in the tomb until the third day, that the fact of his death might be the more certain. His burial was honourable. The passage, Is. liii. 9, may well be referred to this event: "he was destined to a grave among transgressors; but was buried with the rich." The New Testament does not, however, expressly cite it as applicable to this event.

The question has sometimes been asked, Whether the burial of Jesus belonged to his state of humiliation or exaltation. It is sufficient to answer, neither to one nor the other. The burial concerned only the lifeless body, separated from the soul. But according to the common way of thinking and feeling among men, the circumstances of the burial were honourable to Jesus, and should therefore be rather connected with his exaltation than his humiliation.

Note. At the time of the apostles no one doubted the actual death of Jesus. All, Christians, Jews, and Gentiles, as appears from the New Testament, were firmly convinced of it as an undeniable fact. Some, however, appeared in the second century, who either doubted or denied the actual death of Christ; or who gave such a turn to the affair as to remove from his death and crucifixion whatever was offensive to the Jews and heathen. The death of Jesus was not, however, disputed on historical grounds, for there were none; but merely for doctrinal

of his sufferings, and to whom the assistance
of God, comfort, and consolation, seem to dis-
appear altogether, or to delay too long. The
phrase to be deserted by God is frequently used
without implying a prevailing doubt in the ac-
tual providence of God; as Ps. lxxi. 11; Isa.
xlix. 14. Notwithstanding, this anxious feeling
was one of the greatest and most piercing of the
mental sufferings of Jesus. At the same time
it is very consoling and quieting to one who
comes into similar circumstances, especially at
the close of his life, since he can count upon
being heard in the same way. Thus Jesus was
enabled, shortly before his death, when he saw
his approaching end, joyfully to exclaim, tɛtė-
2o7a-i. e., now everything which I had to do
or to suffer according to the will of God is ac-
complished and perfected; John, xix. 30, coll.
v. 38. This term refers especially, as лλŋрoù
does in other cases, to the fulfilment of what
was predicted concerning him as the decree of
God. Vide Luke, xviii. 31; xxii. 37; Acts,
xiii. 29.

III. Attributes and Motives of the Sufferings of
Christ.

cross.

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The active obedience of Christ, his

Jesus underwent all these sufferings, and death itself, (1) innocently, Luke, xxiii. 14, 15, and the parallel texts, 2 Cor. v. 21; 1 Pet. ii. 22; iii. 18; (2) freely, Matt. xvi. 21-24; John, x. 11, 17, 18; xiii. 1, 21—33; xviii. 1—8; (3) with the greatest patience and firmness, 1 Pet. ii. 23; (4) from unexampled and magnanimous love to us; also, from obedience to God, he herein subjected himself to the will and decree of God. reasons. The doctrine of Christ's death was Vide s. 88; John, xv. 13; Rom. v. 6-8. inconsistent with some of their philosophical Theologians call this obedience which Jesus hypotheses. Most of the Gnostics and Mani-exhibited in suffering, passive obedience, from cheans, who maintained that Christ had a seem- Phil. ii. 8, "obedient unto the death of the ing or shadowy body, contended that he did not actually suffer tortures and death; but only Soxnos (seemingly, in his seeming body.) Vide s. 93, II. The Basilidiani maintained that Jesus was not crucified, but Simon of Cyrene in his stead. Cerinthus taught that one of the highest æons, Christ or the Aoyos, united himself with the man Jesus, the son of Joseph and Mary, at his baptism; that Christ deserted the man Jesus during his sufferings, and returned to heaven; and that thus the man Jesus alone suffered and died. In accordance with this opinion, he and his followers explained the exclamation of Christ upon the cross, "My God! why hast thou forsaken me?" Matthew, xxvii. 46.

doing everything which was suitable to the divine will and command, was considered s. 93, III. They are one and the same obedience in reality. The origin and advantage of this distinction will be further considered in the Article on Justification. The various objects and uses of the sufferings of Christ will also be considered more fully in the same Article, s. 115. Cf. Morus, p. 160, 161, s. 7.

SECTION XCVI.

OF CHRIST'S DESCENT INTO HELL.

I. Meaning of the phraseology, "to descend into This desertion (derelictio a Deo) has been hell," (baix, karaßaívei eis ädny,) and an very differently understood, even in modern times. The words which Christ uses are taken explanation of the texts relating to this subject. from Ps. xxii. 1-a psalm which he frequently (1) THE ancients believed universally, not cites as referring to himself. It is the language excluding the Orientalists and the Hebrews, of a deeply distressed sufferer, who looks for- that there was a place in the invisible world, ward with anxious longing to the termination | conceived to be deep under the earth, into which

the disembodied souls of men, good and bad, | 19; (ver. 20 is parenthetic;) by his resurrecwent immediately after death. The name of tion, ver. 21; his return to God, and his elevated this place was wy, adŋs, orcus, the under-world, situation in heaven, ver. 22. The sense then is: the kingdom of the dead. This word never de- the body of Christ died, but his soul was prenotes the place of the damned, either in the scrip- served. (Peter always uses oάps and лvɛvμɑ in tures or in the fathers of the first three cen- this sense; as iv. 1, 6.) While his body was turies. Accordingly, the phrase descendere in lying in the grave, his soul (èv 9, Sc. яrevμati) orcum always denotes in the Bible the separation wandered down to the kingdom of the dead, and of the soul from the body, and, the condition of the there preached to the disembodied spirits. It disembodied spirit after death; Num. xvi. 30, was the belief of the ancients that the manes 33; Job, vii. 9; Ps. lv. 16; Isaiah, xiv. 15; and still continued, in the under-world, to prosecute frequently in the apocryphal books of the Old their former employments. Vide Isaiah, xiv. Testament. When the heroes of Homer are 9. The same belief is seen in the fables of the slain, their souls are said to descend to Hades. Grecian kings and judges. Tiresias still conThis phrase may then be explained, in this tinued to prophesy. Vide Isaiah, xiv. 9. Christ, sense, to refer to the death of Christ; and so it by his instructions and exhortations to reformais a tropical or figurative representation of his tion, deserved well of men while he was upon death, and the separation of his soul from his earth. He continued this employment in Hades. body. When he died, he descended into Hades, He preached to the greatest sinners; and Noah's and continued there, as to his soul, as long as contemporaries are particularized as distinguishhis body continued in the grave. We find the ed examples of ancient sinners, ver. 20. Now continuance of Christ in Hades actually men- that Peter really supposed that Christ descended tioned in this sense in the New Testament. to Hades appears from Acts, ii. 31. Peter, in his speech, (Acts, ii. 27,) cites the passage, Psalm xvi. 10, οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψεις τὴν ψυχήν μου εἰς ᾅδου, which is always referred to Christ's death and continuance in the grave. The phrase xaraßaíveiv eis ädny does not indeed occur in that passage; but the omission is merely accidental. It was certainly used by the first Christians respecting Christ as deceased, in the same way as respecting other dead.

(2) But the chief dependence is placed upon two other texts of the New Testament, in which the descent of Christ to hell is expressly mentioned, and in one of which his employment in Hades is thought to be determined.

(a) Ephes. iv. 9. But the context shews that the descent of Christ to hell is not the subject in this text, but his descent from heaven down to the earth, and his subsequent return into heaven.

(b) The principal passage is, 1 Pet. iii. 1820. Various explanations are given of this passage. In the earliest times, it was universally considered as denoting the continuance of Christ in Hades; and this meaning is undoubtedly the most natural, and best suited to the words, the context, and all the ideas of antiquity. But as this meaning does not accord with modern ideas, various other explanations have been attempted. But the context shews that the continuance of Jesus in Hades is the subject of this passagei. e., that it treats of the condition and employment of the soul of Christ after death. The apostle is shewing, from the example of Jesus, that suffering for the good of others is honourable and will be rewarded. Christ laid men under great obligations to him, by suffering and dying for them, ver. 18; by what he did too after death, while his spirit was in Hades, ver.

II. A Sketch of the History of this Doctrine. For the various opinions of commentators respecting the descent of Christ to hell, cf. Dietelmaier, Historia dogmatis de descensu Christi ad inferos, ed. 2; Altorf. 1762, 8vo; Semler, in Programm. Acad. p. 371, seq.; Pott, Epistola Catholica perpetua annotatione illustr., vol. ii. ; Göttingen, 1790; Excurs. iii. (ad 1 Pet. iii.;) and Dr. Hacker, (court-preacher in Dresden,) Diss. de descensu Christi ad inferos, ad provinciam Messiæ demandatam referendo; Dresden, 1802. [Cf. Hahn, s. 472.]

The passage, Acts, ii., coll. Psalm xvi. 10, was the foundation upon which this doctrine was built. Its simple meaning is, that Christ really died, like other men, and that, while his lifeless body lay in the grave, his soul was in the same place and state with the souls of all the dead. So the early Christians undoubtedly understood it. The question now arose, Was the soul of one who while on earth had been so active for the good of men, idle and unemployed in Hades? No. Hence a third question, What was his employment while there? The same as on earth-he instructed-was the natural conclusion, which was confirmed by the word expuse, 1 Pet. iii. 19. But since, in later times, Hades was understood to signify only the place of the damned; and since puλaxń and sinners are mentioned by Peter in this passage; it was thither-to the place of the damned-that Christ was supposed to have gone, to preach repentance, (xŋpússɛw,) to shew himself as a victor in triumph, &c.

Such is the course which the investigation of this question naturally took. Now the historical sketch itself.

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