New Park Street Pulpit · Sermon No. 258
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, June 19th, 1859.
“The mighty God.”—Isaiah 9:6.
OTHER TRANSLATIONS of this divine title have been proposed by several very eminent and able scholars. Not that they have any of them been prepared to deny that this translation is after all most accurate; but rather that whilst there are various words in the original, which we render by the common appellation of “GOD,” it might be possible so to interpret this as to show more exactly its definite meaning. One writer, for example, thinks the term might be translate! “The Irradiator,”—he who gives light to men. Some think it bears the meaning of “The Illustrious,”—the bright and the shining one. Still there are very few, if any, who are prepared to dispute the fact that our translation is the most faithful that could possibly be given—the mighty God.”
The term here used for God, El, is taken from a Hebrew or root, which, as I take it, signifies strength; and perhaps a literal translation even of that title might be, “The Strong one,” the strong God. But there is added to this an adjective in the Hebrew, expressive of mightiness, and the two taken together express the omnipotence of Christ, his real deity and his omnipotence, as standing first and foremost among the attributes which the prophet beheld. “The mighty God.” I do not propose this morning to enter into any argument in proof of the divinity of Christ, because my text dues not seem to demand it of me. It does not say that Christ shall be “the mighty God,”—that is affirmed in many other places of Sacred writ; but here it says, “He shall be called Wonderful,” called “Counsellor,” called, “The mighty God;” and I think that therefore I may be excused from entering into any proof of the fact, if I am at least able to establish the truth of that which is here foretold, inasmuch as Christ is indeed called at this day, and shall be called to the end of the world, “the mighty God.”
First, this morning, I shall speak for a moment on the folly of those who profess to be his followers, but who do not call him “the mighty God.” In the second place I shall try to show how the true believer practically calls Christ “the mighty God,” in many of the acts which concern his salvation; and then I shall close by noticing how Jesus Christ has proved himself to be indeed “the mighty God ” to us, and in the experience of his church.
I. First let note point out THE FOLLY OF THOSE WHO PROFESS TO BE THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST, YET DO NOT, AND WILL, NOT, CALL HIM GOD. The question has sometimes been proposed to me, how it is that those of us who hold the divinity of Christ manifest what is called uncharitableness towards those who deny him. We do continually affirm that an error, with regard to the divinity of Christ, is absolutely fatal, and that a man cannot be right in his judgment upon any part of the gospel unless he think rightly of him who is personally the very center of all the purposes of heaven, and the foundation of all the hopes of earth. Nor can we admit of any latitudinarianism here. We extend the right hand of fellowship to all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth; but we cannot exchange our Christian greetings with those who deny him to be “very God of very God.” And the reason is sometimes asked; for say our opponents, “We are ready to give the right hand of fellowship to you, why don’t you do so to us?” Our reply shall be given thus briefly: “You have no right to complain of us, seeing that in this matter we stand on the defensive When you declare yourselves to believe that Christ is not the Son of God, you may not be conscious of it, but you have charged us with one of the blackest sins in the entire cataligue of crime. “The Unitarians must, to be existent, charge the whole of us, who worship Christ, with being idolators. Now idolatry is a sin of the most heinous character; it is not an offense against men it is true, but it is an intolerable offense against the majesty of God. We are ranked by Unitarians, if they be consistent, with the Hottentots. “No,” say they, “we believe that you are sincere in your worship.” So is the Hottentot; he bows down before his Fetich, his block of wood or stone, and he is an idolator; and although you charge us with bowing before a man, yet we do hold that you have laid at our cool a sin insufferably gross, and we are obliged to repel your accusation with some severity. You have so insulted us by denying the Godhead of Christ, you have charged us with so great a crime, that you cannot expect us to sit coolly down and blandly smile at the imputation. It matters not what a Man worships, if it be not God, he is an idolater. There is no distinction in principle between worship to a god of mud and a god of gold, nay further, there is no distinction between the worship of an onion and the worship of the sun, moon, and stars. These are alike idolatries. And though Christ be confessed by the Socinian to be the best of men, perfection’s own self; yet if he be nothing more, the vast mass of the Christian world is deliberately assailed with the impudent accusation of being idolators. Yet those who charge us with idolatry, expect us to receive them with cordial kindness. It is not in flesh and blood for us to do so, if we take the low ground of reason; it is not in grace or truth to do so, if we take the high ground of revelation. As wren, we are willing to shew them respect, we regard them, we pray for them, we have no anger or enmity against them. But when we come to the point of theology, we cannot as we profess to be followers of Christ, tamely see ourselves charged with an offense so dreadful and so heinous as that of idol worship.