401 QUESTIONS CONCERNING JESUS. that is, the glorious personwho was ordained to be the Messiah is come into the world. As in these places where the word Christ or Messiah is not mentioned, Son of God, signifies more directly the Messiahor appointed Saviour, so there are other places wherein the word Christ is joined with it, where Son of God Lath thesame signifi- cation, and intends chiefly the office of the Messiah or Saviour ; because in those texts the word Christ Both not properly signify a characteror office, but the proper name or surnameof the man Jesus, who was generally so called after his resurrection *. The eunuch's confession must have this sense Acts viii. 37. i0 I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." that is, this man' named Jesus Christ is the promised and appointed Saviour: And in this same sense did St. Paul " preach Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God ?" Acts ix. 20. that is, that the man Jesus Christ is the promised Saviour. For the grand question of that day was not whether Jesus were eternally begotten of the Father, nor whether he was the true and eternal God himself, nor whether he were formed in an extraordinary andmiraculous manner as to his soul or his body, but whether he was the promised Messiah and Saviour of the world ? And if we consult the writings of the New Testament, espe- cially the gospel and epistles of St. 'John, we shall find the name Son of God, and the name Christ, which in Hebrew is Messiah, used very promiscuously for one another, and sometimes with a design to explain each other, and both to denote the great pro- mised Redeemer, the Saviour of the world. This will appear if we read the following verses ; John xi. 27. Martha confesses, " I believe that thou art the Christ the Sonof God, which should come into the world." 1 John iv. 14, 15. " Andwe have seen and do testify, thatthe Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Sonof God, God dwelleth in ltim, and he in God." 1 John v. 1. " Who. soever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God." And a little after, " He that is born of God overcometh the world." And then, " Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God ?" Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ ? He is anti-christ, that de- nieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same bath not the Father." And that awful text, John viii. 24. is certainly to be interpreted the same way, "Ifye believe not that I" AM ME, ye shall die in your sins ;" that is, as Christ himself explains it in the next verse, that I am " the same that I said * This is a common 'thing in our nation and language,, where the surnameof a man and his family is Smith, Taylor, Clark, Dyer, Steward, &c. being drawn originally from the trade, office or employment, which perhaps the first of the lamily enjoyed or practised.
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