Chapter X.
Of the names of God given unto Christ.
In the next place, as a third head, our catechists consider the scriptural attributions of the names of God unto our Saviour, Jesus Christ; whence this is our argument:—
“He who is Jehovah, God, the only true God, he is God properly by nature; but Jesus Christ is Jehovah, the true God, etc.: therefore he is God properly by nature.”
The proposition is clear in itself. Of the innumerable testimonies which are or may be produced to confirm the assumption, our catechists fix upon a very few, — namely, those which are answered by Socinus against Weik the Jesuit, whence most of their exceptions to these witnesses are transcribed. To the consideration of these they thus proceed:—
Ques. What are those places of Scripture which seem to attribute something to Christ in a certain and definite time?
Ans. They are of two sorts, whereof some respect the names, others the works, which they suppose in the Scriptures to be attributed to Christ.
Q. Which are they that respect the names of Christ?
A. Those where they suppose in the Scripture that Christ is called “Jehovah,” etc., Jer. xxiii. 6; Zech. ii. 8; 1 John v. 20; Jude 4; Tit. ii. 13; Rev. i. 8, iv. 8; Acts xx. 28; 1 John iii. 16.1
The first testimony is Jer. xxiii. 6, in these words, “In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be Jehovah our righteousness.” To which add the next, Zech. ii. 8.
Before I come to consider their exceptions to these texts in particular, some things in general may be premised, for the better understanding of what we are about, and what from these places we intend to prove and confirm:—
1. The end of citing these two places is, to prove that Jesus Christ is in the Old Testament called Jehovah; which is by them denied, the granting of it being destructive to their whole cause.
2. It is granted that Jehovah is the proper and peculiar name of the one only true God of Israel; — a name as far significant of his nature and being as possibly we are enabled to understand; yea, so far expressive of God, that as the thing signified by it is incomprehensible, so many have thought the very word itself to be ineffable, or at least not lawful to be uttered. This name God peculiarly appropriates to himself in an eminent manner, Exod. vi. 2, 3; so that this is taken for granted on all hands, that he whose name is Jehovah is the only true God, the God of Israel. Whenever that name is used properly, without a trope or figure, it is used of him only. What the adversaries of Christ except against this shall be vindicated in its proper place.
3. Our catechists have very faintly brought forth the testimonies that are usually insisted on in this cause, naming but two of them; wherefore I shall take liberty to add a few more to them out of the many that are ready at hand: Isa. xl. 3, “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” That it is Christ who is here called Jehovah is clear from that farther expression in Mal. iii. 1, and from the execution of the thing itself, Matt. iii. 3, Mark i. 2, 3, John i. 23. Isa. xlv. 22–25, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, in Jehovah have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In Jehovah shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.” The apostle expressly affirms all this to be spoken of Christ, Rom. xiv. 10–12, etc. Hos. xiii. 14 is also applied to Christ, 1 Cor. xv. 54, 55. He that would at once consider all the texts of the Old Testament, chiefly ascribing this name to Christ, let him read Zanchius “De Tribus Elohim,” who hath made a large collection of them.
Let us now see what our catechists except against the first testimony:—
Q. What dost thou answer to the first testimony?
A. First, that hence it cannot be necessarily evinced that the name of Jehovah is attributed to Christ. For these words, “And this is his name whereby they shall call him, The Lord our righteousness,” may be referred to Israel, of whom he spake a little before, “In his days shall Judah be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely,” etc., as from a like place may be seen in the same prophet, chap. xxxiii. 15, 16, where he saith, “In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness.” For in the Hebrew it is expressly read, “They shall call her;” which last words are referred of necessity to Jerusalem, and in this place answereth to Israel, which is put in the first place. It seems, therefore, likely that also, in the first place, these words, “They shall call him,” are referred to Israel. But although we should grant that the name of Jehovah may be referred unto Christ, yet from the other testimonies it appears that it cannot be asserted that Christ is called Jehovah simply, neither doth it thence follow that Christ is really Jehovah. Whether, therefore, these last words in this testimony of Jeremiah be understood of Christ or of Israel, their sense is, “Thou Jehovah, our one God, wilt justify us;” for at that time when Christ was to appear God would do that in Israel.2