[March 31st, 1878.]
I. This is not an exclamation.
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Because such exclamations were abhorrent to the Jews.
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It would be without an example in the Scriptures.
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It is by its form necessarily an address; Thomas said to him, i.e., to Jesus. He acknowledged Christ to be his Lord and God.
II. Meaning of the words, or the difference between the words Lord and God.
, lord, means owner, and as ownership includes control, hence expressed (a.) The idea of Lordship founded on possession, as Lord of the vineyard, Lord of slaves, Lord of the whole earth. (b.) The Lordship without reference to its ground; hence kings are called lords, so also heads of families, husbands, teachers, etc. (c.) Hence a mere title of courtesy as dominus, mister, etc. (d.) As applied to God, it retains its relative meaning. It expresses the relation of God to his creatures as their owner and absolute ruler. It is used hundreds of times in the Septuagint for God inappropriately, as when it is substituted for Jehovah, Shaddai and for Elohim, and not only for Adhôn and Adhonai. Hence in the New Testament it is used for Christ. He is our Lord, in the sense in which Jehovah was the Lord of the Hebrews. He was their absolute owner and ruler. Christ owns us both as Creator and Redeemer.
What the word “God” means passes all understanding and imagination.
It is easy to say “God is a Spirit infinite, eternal,” etc. etc. But who can comprehend the infinite? We know that a being infinite in his Being and perfections must be (a.) The object of adoration, (b.) of supreme love, (c.) of absolute submission. (d.) The ground of confidence. (e.) That his favor is spiritual and eternal life. All that God is Christ is. All that is due to God is due to Christ.
What is the force of the word “my?” It is a possessive pronoun. It means not only that Christ is the person whom we acknowledge and confess to be our Lord and God, to the exclusion of all other persons out of the Godhead; but that he stands in the relation of Lord and God to us and that we stand in a corresponding relation to him; that he is to us Lord and God, that we recognize his ownership and authority, depend on his protection, adore, love, trust and serve him as our Lord and God.
This it is to be a Christian. “No man can say that Jesus Christ is Lord but by the Holy Ghost.” Whosoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God is born of God. The way in which a man becomes a Christian is by having Christ revealed to him as Lord and God. And the way in which men grow in grace is by growing in the knowledge of Christ.
The great duty of men, therefore, is preaching Christ. The blessed glory of heaven is to know Christ as we are known.
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