1994 issue 6 - sermon on luke 3:21-23 - the baptism of jesus part 3 - counsel of chalcedon
TRANSCRIPT
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THE MEANING OFJESUS
BAPTISM
The
Solidarity ofJesus
With
God's Chosen People
By submitting Himself to John's
baptism,Jesus came forward publicly
to be identified with sinners, I.e., the
chosen, but fallen, people of
God.
The Inauguration ofJesus Into
..
His PriestlyCalling
At Jesus' bap
tism He is publicly
called by God to
bear the sins and to
become obedient
unto death as the
k i n g l y ~ p r i e s t and
mediatdrdfthenew
covenant.
The Bestowal
onJesus
of
the Holy
SpiritWhom He
Would Bestow
on His Church
At His baptism Jesus was anointed
with the Holy Spirit, not only
for His
own sake, I.e., to be fully equipped to
carry out His mediatorial vocation;
but also for the sake of His church
which He would baptize with the
Holy Spirtt on the Day of Pentecost,
(Acts 1-2).
The Relation of the Baptism
ofJesus and the Crucifixion
of
Jesus
At the moment of jesus' baptism
He received the divine commission to
undertake the role of the Suffertng
Servant of God, who takes upon
Himself the sins of God's chosen
people. OtherJewscome toJordan to
be baptized by John for their OWN
sins. Jesus, on the contrary, at the very
moment when he is baptized ike other
people hears a voice which
fundamentally declares: THOU an
baptized not for THINE OWN
sins
but
for
those of the whole people. For
Thou art He
of
whom Isaiah
prophesied, that He must suffer
representatively
for
the sins of the
people,
(Isaiah
42, 53).
This
means
that
Jesus
is
baptized
in view ofHis
death, which effects forgiveness
of
sins for all men. Forthis reason Jesus
must unite Himself in solidartty with
Hiswholepeople,andgodownHimself
to jordan, that all
righteousness might
be fulfilled,
Mat. 3: 15 .
In this way, jesus' answer to the
Baptist, 'to fulfill aU righteousness' ...
acqUires. a precise meaning. The
Baptism of jesus is related to
DIKAIOSUNE, (rtghteousness), not
onlyHis
own
but
also
that ofthewhole
people. The word
PASAN,
(all), is
probably to be underlined here. jesus'
reply
..
acquires a concrete
meaning:
Jesus will effect ageneral orgiveness.
Luke, like Mark, does not use this
word, but he emphasizes in his own
way the same fact at Luke 3:21: 'Now
when ALL the people were baptized,
Jesus also was baptized.' It
is
clear in
view of the voice from heaven why
Jesus must conduct himselflike other
18 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon l
July August,
1994
people.
He
is distinguished from the
mass of other baptized people, who.
are
baptized for their own sins,
as
the
One
called to the office of the Servant
of God who suffers for all others ---
Thus
the
Baptisffi ofJesus points
forward to the end, to the climax ofHis
life,
the
Cross,
in which alone
all
Baptism will find its fulfillment. There
Jesus will achieve a
general Baptism.
In His own Baptism
in
Jordan He
received commission to do this.
This explanatidn isconfirmed by
the meaning which the
w o r ~
BAPTIDZEIN has
forJesus . Wehave
seen thatJesus did
not Himself
baptize.
Now we
understand better
the reason for this
.abstinence. ar
Him, to 'be
bap.tiztd from
now on meant to
suffer, to die for
His
people.
This
is not a
J ; re guess;
it
Is
confirmed by
each of the two
sayings in which
Jesusused thewordBAPTIDZESTHAI:
Mark 10:38 and Lukt; 0 . , (pages
18-19) In both these passages be
baptized
means
die.
Obviously
Jesus
is referring to
His
own death
as
a
baptism . Itishe,jesus, who
will nOt
only baptize Individualmen with water
like John the Baptist but Will complete
the GENERAL Baptism, for all men,
and once
for
all, at the moment ofHis
atoningdeath. It
belongs to
the
essence
of this general Baptism effected by
Jesus, that it is offered in entire
Independence of the decision of faith
and understandingofthose who benefit
from it. Baptismal grace has its
foundationhere,anditisinthestrictest
sense 'prevenientgrace,mLe., itis
gr ce
that
'goes before'
man's action, in
fact,
producingman's action.(pages 19-20).
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The Relation
o
the Baptism
o
Jesus and hristian Baptism
The Center of
Christian
Baptism:
the
Person
of esus Christ
"Between John's baptism which
Jesus receivedand baptism in the name
ofjesus
Christ for the forgiveness
of
sins'istheministry,death, resurrection
and exaltation ofJesus followed by the
outpouring of he Holy Spirit. Baptism
in the name
ofjesus
Christ could
not
fail to be influenced by the
but
rather
in
the sense that the gift,
promise
and demand
'sealed' in
baptism center in Him. The Church's
baptism
points backward
to His
ministry of deeds and teaching and
vicarious identification and suffering;
it points to Him, the living Lord, risen
in
victory over sin and death, who
mediateS the gift
of
the Holy Spirit; it
points to the Lord
of
all whose lordship
will be made manifest in the
consummation of the Kingdom.
Christ Himself. He is the
link
between
water-baptism (whetherJohn's
or
the
Church's)
and
Spirit-baptism which
remains a free act of God. His own
baptism was of John and of God, of
water
and of
Spirit.
The normal
Christian experience, according
to
the
N.T. reports, was that those baptized
in water
in
the
name
ofjesus Christ
received through Him the gift
of
the
Spirit. The power
of
baptism is
notthe
power of water or its 'natural' or even
inner content of
His own
baptism
unfolded
in His
vocation. More truly, what
Jesus Christ is the
center
o
Christian Baptism.
'prophetic' symbolism, but
rather the free power
of
the
crucified
and
living
Jesus
Christ. --
He did and what He is are
inseparable.
As
the Fourth
Christian Baptism
means
When the Church
baptizes, its intention is to
point
to the living Lord as the
Baptizer acting through its
baptism of water. Through
the working
of
the Spirit,
Gospel makes clear, the
difference between John's
baptism
and
Christian
baptism is not a difference in
rite but the difference between John
andJesus. Jesus Christ is the center of
Christian Baptism. Christian Baptism
means: To be incorporated
into
Christ.
..
The Past
and
Future Orientation
of
Christian
Baptism
The baptism ofJesus (understood in
this inclusive sense of the baptism itself
and the baptism fulfilled in Hisministry,
death and resurrea:ion,and the bestowal
of the Spirit) is of central importance
for
an understanding
of
the Church's
baptism.
In
that inclusive sense, His
baptism is both
the source for the
meaning of the Church's baptism and
a criterion for the understanding of
Christian baptism.
The baptism
administered
by
the Church
100llS both
bacltward and forward
to
jesU5---the
one
baptized in
the Jordan and
endowed with the Spirit, baptized
in
the crudfixion and raised from the
dead, through
whom
the disdples are
given a share in
the new order.
"jesus Christ
is
the origin
of
baptism;
not, of
course, in the sense
thatJesus originated the rite ofbaptism,
o be incorporated
into Christ.
The
Transformation
of
Baptism
by
jesus Christ
"The new content of Christian
baptism is Jesus Christ. He who
submitted to
John's
baptism
transformed baptism by viltue of His
own person. In Him, God was
and
is
acting for man's renewal. In Him,
representatively,
(elect)
man
responded faithfully to God. In Jesus
of Nazareth, baptized by John, God
was reconciling the world to himseIP ...
God's gracious and decisive initiative
inJesus for the recondliation and the
renewal of the world is the very
foundation ofChristian baptism
as
it is
of
the whole Christian message. The
acknowledgment of he divine, decisive
action in Jesus is the tap-root of the
Church's faith
in
the incarnation;
and
it is the ground of the understanding
of Christian baptism as the sacrament
of prevenient grace. ---
The
Linh Between
Water-Baptism
Spirit-Baptism
the
Person
of]
esus
Christ
"Thus the true link betweenjohn's
baptismand Christian baptism isJesus
Christ in bapt ism gives
the
assurance
to the baptized
that
he is given new
life. Baptism is Christ's testimony to
the baptized that
His
vicarious death
and His resurrection for all men, I
would prefer
to
say
for all
the
elect--JCMIll) ,are also for
him;
that in
Christ, this man is given sonship and
eternal life. -- This rite, which from
the time ofthe N.T. has been a rite of
initiation into the Church, signifies to
the onebaptized that Christhas
united
him to Himself. By the Spirit, Christ
incorporates
him
into
His
Body, the
Church."
The Relation
of
Christian Baptism
and Faith
The
inseparability
of
God's
gracious action and man's responsive
action was actuality
in
Jesus Christ.
Through Him the Father's word
of
forgiveness was heard;
in Him
the
kingdom was inaugurated;
in
Him God
dwelt, recondlingtheworldto Himself.
And
Jesus
was
utterly
loyal and
obedient to the Father; He trusted
wholly
in
God; He loved
men
with a
self-sacrificiallove. Jesus is
much
more
July August, 199-+ THE COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon
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19
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than an example fot
His
disciples; but
He is the example for Christians, the
nOlmativeman,
manashe u g h t - t o - b e
He is the pattern of the Christian life;
and that pattern is essentially a life
responding
in
faith, in love and in
obedience to the Father.
"Baptism belongs
in
this total
context.
lIt
its complete signification
man s
response to God's action is
included. But
even
in
the
N.T.
Church .. man's responsive action was
not
complete in the human action of
receiving baptism any more than was
God's act complete
in His
action at the
moment of baptism. The Church's
water-baptism, administered to a
particular candidate, is
an
act at a
particular time. But Iieither the divine
nor the human action iscircumscribed
by the time of he baptismal rite. That
present act of administering baptism
signifies God's action in
our
past,
in
our present
and
in our future. It also
signifies the act of the candidate with
his past, his present
and
his future.
The believer who coines to baptiSm
signifies his repentance and present
faith
in
the gospel he has heard and
commits himself to live the'Christian
life.
What the one baptized does
in
the
rite of baptism is
to
give a sign and
even a proleptic (anticipatory) sign of
his faith
in
and
commitrilent to God's
saving deed in Christ.
"In the practice oftheN.T. Church,
the baptismal rite signified
both
God's
action
and
man's . esponse. In the
practice
of infant
baptism,
the
baptismal rite .does not signify the
.
response
of the
baptized
either
preceding or at the time of
the
observance. The rite ofbaptism
in
this
respect can only anticipate that the
infant baptized will respond
in faith,
owning as his own what was done to
him
in
being brought to be baptized.
"Whatever may be the temporal
relation between the administration of
baptism and the responsible action of
the baptized,fai h
sinseparable from
baptisn Thedivinegift(ofsalvatlon)
is inseparable from faith; a'nd
sacramental
teaChing
must not obscure
this inseparability. (To think of infant
baptism as a different sacrament from
believers' baptism would obscure the
inseparability
of
the power
of
God for
salvation and faith.) --- In theN.T.,
baptismsigilifies the baptized person's
participation in the new life as well as
his reception of it. Both receptivity
and panicipationareintlmatelyrelated
to each other in the Christian life. -- .
We
bave emphasized the motif of
,incorporation into Christ
and
His
Church; we have qtlled attention to
baptism as the rite ofinitlation into the
Church. As the rite of initiation into
the community, baptism signifies that
the candidate is given the status of a
member in
the
community, as
naturalization means that a person is
given the status of a citizen;and as that
same ceremony of naturalization
includes profession of loyalty and
al:ceptance of obligations
to the
political community, baptism,
in
ts
completeness, includes a professionof
loyalty to the community's Head and
acceptance of responsibilities towards
HisBody. The Christian life is personal
but not
~ n d v i d u a l i s t i c ' ;
it
is life in a
corporate body---the Church, the
people of God. -- Baptism signifies
accepting the Church as the mother
who instructs, guides, nourishes;
sustains, disciplines and surrounds the
baptized with love. -- Baptism means
the abandonment of the self-enclosed
life. -- Baptismincludesacommitment
not only to live in and to receive froll
the community, but also to contribute
to the life of the community." - (pages
32-57).
THE 'MODE OF JESUS B PTISM
The bsence of Immersion
The comments ofLenski, the great
Lutheran commentator of the N.T.,
ate wise and to the point: "Matthew's
20
,
THE
COUNSEL of
Chalcedon
July August,
1994
(or Luke s)
EBAPTIDZONTO says
absolutely nothing regarding themode
ofbaptismwhiCh the Baptist employed.
Nothing regarding . he mode can be
obtained from the added preposition
EN, in the river Jordan; for which
Mark 1:9 uses
EIS,
Withno difference
in
meaning. ThisEN
is
locative, stating
where
the
baptism took place; it
denotes place and nothing more. The
readiness With whiCh the multitudes
submitted to baptism is explained by
.the fact that purificatory rites
by
the
application of water were not new nor
strange to the Jews; and these rites
were not administered by inunersion,
Lev . 14:7,27; Num. 8:7; 10:13; Heb.
.9:
13; Exod. 19:10;Lev. 15;l.eV. 16:26;
28; 17:15; 33:6;Dt. 23:10. These were
washings, rinsings, and bathings and
NOT immersions. The Jews expected
that, when the Messiahcame,
he
would
use a purificatory rite such as this; see
the question on this point
put
to the
Baptist by the Pharisees in
John
1:25.
Instead; therefore,.ofseeking to explain
Matthew's verb 'were being baptized'
by some later fixed practice obtaining
in
the Christian ChurCh at the time
when Matthew wrote, the Christ
practice must explained by . the
pUrificatory riteS used by the
jews
since the days of Moses.
Sinc\
none of
these were immersions, immersion was
not the mode
of
either the Baptist's
or
Jesus' baptism.
"The verb BAPTIPZO, as . all
lexicons agree, refers to any mode of
applying water. It is linguistically
unwarranted to restrict it to one mode
to theexc1usion of aU other modes,
and that a mode for which Jewish
practice furnishes no evidence. How
could immersions be administered on
the desen journey and in a ,city like
Jerusalem, where water was never
abundant? But did not the BaptiSt
labor near the river Jordan? If his
baptism
was
administered
by
immersion, then, since the estimated
number
he
baptized during the brief
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period of a little over a year in which he
labored was between
200,000
and
500,000,
he
must have
lived
an
aquatic life. We have no evidence
that he
used
his
disciples as his
assistants when baptizing. Moreover,
he
also baptized
at Aenon,j
ohn
3:23,
the
very name
of which
means
"Springs." The POLLA HUDATA,
literally, 'many waters, rivulets flowing
from these springs, made the
place suitable for his work,
not by
furnishing water for
immersions, but byproviding
water for drinking, a great
necessity where many people
were gathered. Of course, he
could use these 'waters' also
to pour or to sprinkle when
baptizing.
Yet the idea prevails that
the Baptist immersed. This is
plainly traditionalism. I t is
well illustrated in the case of
Zahn, who admits that there
are
no
indications of the mode of baptism in
Matthew's words and yet, when he
tries
to
imagine how the Baptist
baptized, speaks of a 'Vollbad' (full
bath). Some refer to the baptism of
jewish proselytes,
butthey fail
of proof
regarding two points. This lite is not
mentioned until the second century,
and no one can show that it was
practiced at the time of the Baptist; still
more vital, no evidence is at hand that
the baptism of proselytes was more
than a washing, it was like similar
jewish rites. Wemayaddthatnowhere
does it appear that the Baptist thought
that he was making proselytes of the
jews
whom he baptized." -Lenski, The
Interpretation of Matthew s
Gospel,
Augsburg
Publishing
House,
Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1943, pg.
100f.
The
Suggestion of Effusion, i.e.
Pouring or Sprinkling
There are some solid reasons to
believe that jesus was baptized by
effuSion, the pouring or sprinkling of
water on His head by john: 0).
As
Lenski point out, John's mode of
baptism was patterned after the
washings and pUlification rites of the
O.T., which were sprinklings. Notice
in
Hebrew 9:
10
the writer points out
that the rites, rituals and "washings,"
("baptisms"
in
Greek), of the O.T.
pointed toward and were fulfilled
as
symbols
in
the redemptive work of
Christ. Then in the rest of the chapter
the writer applies three of these
"washings" to the work of Christ and
in each specifically mentions that they
were "sprinklings," Hebrews
9:
13, 19,
21. (2).
Since jesus' baptism was His
inauguration into priesthood, we
would expect that this inauguration
would fit the pattern of the Old
Testament, including these three
elements: the priest inaugurated had
to be 30 years ofage, asjesus was; he
had
to
be
called of God, which jesus
was from the opened heavens; and he
had to be "anointed" with oil and
"sprinkled" with sacrificial blood,
Exod. 29 :21, and the eqUivalent to this
in jesus'
baptism was surely His
"anointing" or "sprinkling" with water
by john the Baptist. In addition, (3).
jesus is "The Chlist," which means in
Greek, NOT the immersed one, but
"The Anointed One," who surely was
anointed with water by
John
symbolizing His inauguration into
priestly office in a similar way to the
. "coming down" of
the
Holy Spirit
in
the
fOrm
of a dove equipping Him for
office.
Surely Hiswater-baptism which
symbolized His Spirit-baptism, also
"sign-ified" it, i.e., pictured it.
CONCLUSION
1. In Isaiah 64: 1 the prophet cries
out
to God
in
desperation for
deliverance from the apostasy
and
judgment Israel faces:
0
that
Thou wouldst rend the heavens
and come down, that the
mountains
might quake
at Thy
presence---to make Thy Name
known to TIline adversaries,
that
the nations
may
tremble
at
Thy Presence " In Mark's
account ofjesus' baptism he
alludes to this passage
when
he writes,
He
saw
the
heavens rent asunder .., Mk.
1:10.
God answers the cries of
Isaiah injesus Christ. God tore through
the heavens andcame down to
eanhin
the Person of jesus Christ to make
known His Name to His enemies, that
all the world's nations may tremble
before His Mighty Presence. "The
heavens are opened to jesus as our
Representative and Substitute, and thus
we have the divine assurance that every
impediment and wall of partition that
might hinder our return to God have
been removed by Him. In ChristJesus
Heaven has been opened to us--the
way has been paved for us to
go
to the
Father's eternal home as His beloved
children, saved by our Redeemer."
-Geldenhuys
The uniqueness of Christianity, as
over against all the other religiOns
of
the world, is seen
in
this: God
did
not
wait for man to try to work or reason
his way to Him; He came to man,
unable and unwilling to come
to
Him;
that He might transform
him
and bring
him to Himselfin fellowship and love.
Quit trying to "get to God" on your
own initiative and effort.
You
cannot
Julyl August, 994 TH COUNSEL of halcedon :n
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Repent of what you are
o i n g ~
Trust draw the picture of His human
naOlre,
so He did also with reference to the
Christ,afterhavingcomefromGod,to For the divine narure has nohi.story, relation of
the
human narure to
God
take you to God. Obey Him out of does not run through a process of and 'men, for ,He increased in favor
gratitude for this wonderful
and
time,
but
remains
the
same withGodandmen, Favorhasreference
gracious salvation. forevermore." Therefore, in what
way
to the unfolding and development of
2. Rest your fuith in Christ and did the Spirit develop the humanity of the inward life, and maymanifest itself
Christianity, not upon the testimony Jesus? The human narure in the in a twofold way, either pleasing or
of
man,
but
upon
the testimony
of
Mediator was real, Le., in body and displeasingtoGodandmen.Ofjesus
God. God has declared from the soul it existed as it exists in us, and all it is said that in
His
development such
heavens
in
no uncertain gifts
and
faculties,
tertns: Jesus is the Son of r - - ~ ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ' - dispositions and attributes,
God, Whom God has i ~ e s t your faith
in
powers and qualifications
appointed to be the unique manifestedthemselves from
and
only Savior of sinners;
hrl
.st and Chn s
.
l a
n:
,ty.,.
the inwardlife ofHis human
There is no reason to doubt nature
that
God's favor
theclaimsofChrist,because t . th
t f j .;,'
rested on, whiletheyalfected
there is no reason to doubt
no
upon
, e es
mony those around Him in a
the testimony of the Living O
f
m
an but
upo
.nthe
refreshing and helpful way.
God. To ask for more proof Even
apart
from His
than God's witness is to Messiahship Jesus stood,
question the integrity and testimony of (jod. , withreference to Hishuman
truthfulness of God. nature, during all the days
Appendix:
L- _ of His humiliation, under
J SUS ND
THE
HOLY
SPIRIT' ,
Who through th Eternal Spirit
offered
Himself wit out spot to
God. -
Hebrews 9:14.
The presence and work of the Holy
Spirit in the humanity ofJesus Christ
are
not
exhausted
in
His
incantation.
The presence and activity of the Holy
Spirit appear throughout the life and
work
of
our
Mediator:
in
the
development of His human nature, in
His inauguration into His priestly
office, in His humiliation
Unto
death,
and in His resurrection, exaltation and
return in glory,
. FIRsT,
the
work
of
the Spirit
in
the development of Christ s
humanity. "The God-human Person
of he LordJesus . . renderedonemighty
act
of
obedienceby humbling Himself
unto death; and out
of
that humbling
He ascended not by powers developed
from His human nature,
but
by a
mighty and extraordinary act of the
power of
God, Anyone who
successfully undertook to write the
life of Christ could do no more than
inworking of divine life, light and
power could manifest itself only by
adapting itself tq the peculiarities and
limitations of the human narure. --
..He received 'the Holy Spirit without
measure.' .For this indicates that H'i)j
human nature also received the Holy
Spirit; and not this only after
He
had
lived for years without Him, but every
moment of His existence according to
the measure
ofms
capacities.
Even
in
His conception and .birth the Holy
Spitit effected
not
only a separation
from sin, but He also endowed His
human nature with the glorious
gifts,
powers and faculties of which that
nature is susceptible, ---' ...He Oesus)
never could
feel
the lack orany gift of
the Holy Spirit.
He
lacked nothing,
possessed
all;
not by virtue of His
divine nature, which can not
receive
anything, being the eterruil fullness
itsel( but by vinue of
His
human
nature, which was endowedwithsuch
glorious gifts by the Holy Spirit."
"And as the Holy Spirit with every
increase
of
His human nature enlarged
the.exercise ofitspowers and fuculties,
22
THE COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon July August, 1994
the constant penetrating operation
ofthe
Holy Spirit."
"The fact thac the Holy Spirit
descended uponJesus at His Baptism,
although
He
had receivedHimwithout
measure at His conception, can only
be explained by keeping in view the
differencebetweenthePERSONALand
OFFICIAL life ofJesus."
SECOND, the work of the Spirit in
theinauguration ofjesus toHis priestly
office. "What we have said with
reference to the communication of the
HolySpiritqualifying one for
office,
as
in the case of Saul, David, and others,
is of direct applicationhere. Although
in
His human
nature
Jesus was
personally n
constant fellowship with
the
Holy Spirit,
yet the
official
communication was established only
at the time of His Baptism," This
official influence of the Holy Spirit
accompanied Christ throughout the
entire administration ofHis
office.
Yet
there is a differencebetween the official
work of the Spirit in Jesus and
His
official work on the prophets, such as
Ezekiel and Elijah: "while the
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propelling power came to them from
without, Jesus, being full of the Holy
Spirit, felt its pressure in the very depths
of His soul.
And
yet, although
operaring in His soul, this actionofthe
Holy Spirit was
not
identical with the
impulses of Christ's human nature,
LK.
4:14.
It is evidently the purpose of the
Scripture to emphasize the fact of the
inability of the human nature which
Christ
had adopted to
accomplish the work ofthe
Messiah without the
constant operations
and
powerfulleadingof heHoly
Spirit. (Mat. 12:28)
Accordingto the divine
counsel, human nature is
adapted
in
creation to the
inworking of the Holy
Spirit, without which
it
can
not unfold itself any more
than the rosebud without
the light and influence of
the sun. As the ear cannot hear without
sound, and the eye cannotsee without
light, so is
our human
nature
incomplete without the light and
indwelling o the Holy Spirit.
Wherefore, when the Son assumed
human nature He took
it
just as it is,
Le ., incapable of any holy action
without the power of the Holy Spirit.
Hence
He
was conceived by the Holy
Spirit, that from the beginning His
human nature
should
be richly
endowed with powers. The Holy Spirit
developed these powers; and He was
consecrated to
His
office by the
communication to His human nature
of the Messianicgifts by which He still
intercedes for
us
as our High Priest,
and rules us as
our King.
And for this
reason He was guided, impelled,
animated, and supported by the Holy
Spirit at every step of His Messianic
ministry.
There
are
three differences
between this communication of the
Holy Spirit to
the
human nature of
Jesus and that in us: first, the Holy
Spirit always meets with the resistance
of evil in our heans. Jesus' heart was
without sin ... hence in is human
nature
the
Holy Spirit met
no
resistance. Second the Holy Spirit'S
operation, influence, support
and
guidance in ourhumannature
is
always
individual, Le., in part, imperfect; in
the human nature of Jesus it was
central, perfect,leavingnovoid. Third,
in our nature the Holy Spirit meets
with an ego which
in
union with that
nature opposes God; whilethe Person
which He met in the human nature of
Christ, partakingof the divine nature,
was absolutely holy.
THIRD, the work of the Spirit in
the suffering anddeath ofJesusChrist.
The Deity of Christ supported His
humanity, along with the work of the
Spirit on His humanity. Christ was
always victoriousbecause His divinity
never relaxed His hold upon the Holy
Spirit in His humanity, but embraced
Him and cleaved
to
Him with all the
love and energy of the Son of God.
How could the human nature of
Christ pass through eternal death and
not
perish? The human nature of
Christ would have been overwhelmed
by it, the in-shining of the Holy Spirit
wouldhave ceased
if
His divine nature,
i.e., the infinite mightofHis Godhead,
had not been underneath it.
f the Mediator as
man
showed
in His humannature such zealfor God
and such pity for sinners that He
willingly gave Himself
in self-sacrifice
unto death, then
it
is evident that His
human naturecouldnot exercise such
consecration without theinworkingof
the Holy Spirit;
and
again that the
Holy Spirit could not have effected
such inworking unless the Son willed
and desired it. The cry ofthe Messiah
is heard
in
the words of the psalmist:
1
delight to do Thy will, 0
God.' The Son was willing
so to empty Himself that it
would be possible for His
human
nature
t pass
through eternal death; and
to this
end
He let it be filled
with all the mightiness of
the Spirit
of
God. Thus the
Son offeredHirnself through
the Eternal pirit that
we
might
serve the living God.
Hence the work of the
Holy Spirit in the work of
redemption did
not
begin only
at
Pentecost,
but
the same Holy Spirit
who in creation animates all life,
upholds and qualifies our human
nature, and in Israel and the prophets
wrought the work
of
revelation, also
prepared the body o fChrist, adorned
His human nature with gradous gifts,
put these gifts into operation,installed
Him into His office,
led
Him into
temptation, qualified Him to cast out
devils, and finally
enabled Him
to
finish that eternal
work of
satisfaction whereby our souls are
redeemed.
FOURTH, the work of he Spirit in
the resurrection, ascension, royal
dignity and second corning of Jesus
Christ. InordertounderstandChrist's
exaltation, we must first understand
the nature of His humiliation. His
self-emptying was
not
a single loss or
bereavement, but a growing poorer
and poorer, until at last nothing was
left Him but a piece of ground where
July
August, 1994 THE COUNSEL of
Cbalcedon 23
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He could weep and a cross whereon
He could die. -- Hishumiliation being
so deep and real, it
Is
not surprising
that the Holy Spirit succored and
comforted His human nature so that it
was not overwhelmed. For it is the
proper work of the Holy Spirit by
gifts
of
grace
to
enable human nature,
temptedby sorrow to sin,
to
stand
firm
and overcome.
But how different is the state ofHis
glorious exaltation. Whereas the entire
Trinity raises]esus from the dead, the
Holy Spirit performed a unique and
mysterious work FROM WITIiIN in
raising Christ. If the Spirit kindles
and brings forth all life, .espedally in
man, then it was
He
who rekindled the
spark quenched by
sin
and death.
He
did
so injesus; He will do so in us .
If,
therefore, our blessedness in
heaven
Consists in
the enjoyment of
the pleasures ofGod, andit is theHoly
Spirit who comes into COntact with
bur innermost being, it follows that in
heaven He cannot leave us. And upon
this ground
we
confess, that not only
the elect, but the glorified Christ
also,
who continues
to
be a true man in
heaven,
must
therefore forever
continue
to
be filled with the Holy
Spirit. This ourchurches have always
confessed in the liturgy: 'The same
Spirit who dwellsin Christ as the Head
and inus as His members.'
The same Holy Spirit who
performed
His
workin the conception
of our Lord, who attended the
unfolding of
His
human nature, who
brought into activity every
gift
and
MERIC
he
First
35
Years
power in Him,
who
consecrated Him
to His office as the Messiah, who
qualified Him for every conflict and
temptation, who enabled Him to cast
out devils, and
who
supportedHim in
His humiliation, passion and biuer
death, was the same Spirit who
performed
His
work
in
His
resurrection, so thatjesuswas justified
in the Spirit, I
Tim
. 3:16, and who
dwells now in the glorified human
nature of he
Redeemerln the heavenly
jerusalem.
IThe comments in this Section are taken
from
Oscar
CuUmann's
book,
aptism in
the
New
T
S tament SCM Press Ltd
.London,
1950.
lJhe
comments
in
this s e t ~ o n are
taken
fromElmerJ.F.Amdt:sbook.The Font and
the
Table.John
Knox
Press. Ri
c
hm
ond.
Va.,
1967.
'The
notes
in
this
appendix
are
from
Abraham
Kuyper's class
Ic. The Work of the
y
Spirit. published
by
Eerdmans.
For over lOOyearsAmericatl$have
been
subjected to historical misin
fonnation.
We
have been given lies for buth and myths for facts.
Modern,unbelievinghistorians have hidden the buth of our nation's
history from us. America:TheFirst350 Years fiOtonIy
corrects
the lies,
but
also points out things
overlooked
by modern historians.
I t
interprets American history froma Christianperspective so that you
hearnotonlywhathappened,bywhyithappened-and whatitrneans
to
us
today.
32 lectures on
16-90
minute cassettes, 200 page note
book 16 page study g\1ide, lecture outlines, index . bibliography.
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rate for Counsel o Chalcedon readers
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