Chapter XIII.
Of the incarnation of Christ, and his pre-existence thereunto.
The testimonies of Scripture which affirm Christ to have been incarnate, or to have taken flesh, which inevitably proves his pre-existence in another nature to his so doing, they labour, in their next attempt, to corrupt, and so to evade the force and efficacy which from them appeareth so destructive to their cause; and herein they thus proceed:—
Ques. From what testimonies of Scripture do they endeavour to demonstrate that Christ was, as they speak, incarnate?
Ans. From these, John i. 14; Phil. ii. 6, 7; 1 Tim. iii. 16; Heb. ii. 16, i.John iv. 2, 3; Heb. x. 5.1
Of the first of these we have dealt already, in the handling of the beginning of that chapter, and sufficiently vindicated it from all their exceptions; so that we may proceed immediately to the second.
Q. What dost thou answer to the second?
A. Neither is that here contained which the adverse party would prove: for it is one thing which the apostle saith, “Being in the form of God, he took the form of a servant;” another, that the divine nature assumed the human; for the “form of God” cannot here denote the divine nature, seeing the apostle writes that Christ exinanivit*, —* made that form of no reputation, but God can no way make his nature of no reputation; neither doth the “form of a servant” denote human nature, seeing to be a servant is referred to the fortune and condition of a man. Neither is that also to be forgotten, that the writings of the New Testament do once only, it may be, use that word “form” elsewhere, namely, Mark xvi. 12, and that in that sense wherein it signifies not nature, but the outward appearance, saying, “Jesus appeared in another form unto two of his disciples.”
Q. But from those words which the apostle afterward adds, “He was found in fashion as a man,” doth it not appear that he was, as they say, incarnate?
A. By no means; for that expression contains nothing of Christ’s nature: for of Samson we read that he should be “as a man,” Judges xvi. 7, 11; and, Ps. lxxxii., Asaph denounced to those whom he called “sons of the Most High,” that they “should die like men;” — of whom it is certain that it cannot be said of them that they were, as they speak, incarnate.
Q. How dost thou understand this place?
A. On this manner, that Christ, who in the world did the works of God, to whom all yielded obedience as to God, and to whom divine adoration was given, — God so willing, and the salvation of men requiring it, — was made as a servant and a vassal, and as one of the vulgar, when he had of his own accord permitted himself to be taken, bound, beaten, and slain.2
Thus they. Now, because it is most certain and evident to every one that ever considered this text, that, according to their old trade and craft, they have mangled it and taken it in pieces, at least cut off the head and legs of this witness, we must seek out the other parts of it and lay them together before we may proceed to remove this heap out of our way. Our argument from this place is not solely from hence, that he is said to be “in the form of God,” but also that he was so in the form of God as to be “equal with him,” as is here expressed; nor merely that “he took upon him the form of a servant,” but that he took it upon him when he was “made in the likeness of men,” or “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” as the apostle expresses it, Rom. viii. 3. Now, these things our catechists thought good to take no notice of in this place, nor of one of them any more in any other. But seeing the very head of our argument lies in this, that “in the form of God” he is said to be “equal with God,” and that expression is in another place taken notice of by them, I must needs gather it into its own contexture before I do proceed. Thus, then, they:—
Q. How dost thou answer to those places where Christ is said to be equal to God, John v. 18, Phil. ii. 6?
A. That Christ is equal to God doth no way prove that there is in him a divine nature. Yea, the contrary is gathered from hence; for if Christ be equal to God, who is God by nature, it follows that he cannot be the same God. But the equality of Christ with God lies herein, that, by that virtue that God bestowed on him, he did and doth all those things which are God’s, as God himself.3