402 @UESTIONg CONCERNING JESUS. in him ; for this is theexpression of Nebuchadnezzar, who is not supposed to know any:thing of ;Christ or the Messiah. Now it is evident that our-LordJesus Christ is the Son of God, in:a sense superior to men and angels, for he is called God's own Son; Rom. viii. 32. his only- begotten,Son ; John i. 14,18. and hisfirst'born, the imageof the invisible God, the first-born ofevery creature, : &c. Cob i. 15, 16. " The brightness of his Father's glory,. and the express image of his person, made .so much better than angels, and has obtained a more excellent name than they ; lIeb. i. 4. " For in all things he must have the pre-eminence ; Col. i. 18. These scriptural expressions plainly imply both derivation and resent lance. Yet here I ask leave to insert onecaution, and that is, though it is sufficiently manifest from theNew Testament, and especially from I3eb. i. that Christ is the Son of God in a sense far supe- rim. to angels, yet I am in doubt whether the disciples at first could have snch.au idea of hissuperiority to all angels : Perhaps. their,idea of the Son of God arose nohigher at first than to sup- pose him superior to all their prophets and kings, who were cal- led sous of God, though afterwards it grew up to an idea superior to all the angels of God. But let us raise this idea of the name as high as we can suppose any of the disciples had attained before the death of Christ, or as high as could be requisite in order to salvation in that day, and I think it must be granted that this name Son of God, so far as it denotes the nature of Christ distinctfrom his offices, can necessarily be construed to rise no higher than to de- note some peculiar and glorious likeness to God, some more near and excellent relation to God the Father, or some Special deriva- tion from him, some divine character more eminent than belongs to men or angels when they are called the sons of God, without any precise determination wherein this peculiar relation to God consisted. Now to proceed : This glory and excellency of the person of Christ, which is originally denoted by the naine Son of God, is part of his quali- fication for the office of the Messiah, part of the foundation of his office, and what made him a proper person to undertake, sustain and fulfil it. Yet this excellency of his person, this likeness and nearness to God, is not the complete sense and meaning of the word Son of God in those forecited texts of the gospel ; but it includes also a designation to his office, viz. that glorious person of extraordi- nary nearness and likeness to God, who was ordained to be the Saviourof Men : And though the naine Son of God signifies and includes both these, yet sometimes the scripture in using this name seems to have a more special regard to the excellency of his person, and sometimes to his office, and perhaps for this reason,
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