III. The Doctrine of Christ's Work.

III. The Doctrine of Christ's Work.

(De opere sive officio Christi.) The work of Christ in general. Christ is such a wonderful Person, namely God-man (jecvipwmoc), to accomplish an exceedingly wonderful?’ work given to him by God and willingly undertaken by him °?) work (epyov). This is the work of making men saved, ooa1 To ANOAWAHG, ALApTOAODs cdo.?4) So the doctrine of Christ's Person in the natural order is followed by the doctrine of Christ's work or office. Everything that Christ, the God-man, has done for the salvation of man in the state of humiliation, and still does in the state of exaltation, belongs to the office or work of Christ. 9°) Christ's work is also expressed in terms of content by the name given to him by God, "Jesus": AdTOS YAP GHGEL TOV AGOV AdTOD ANd TAV GLApTIOV adTaV. 77

LE KOL TEAELMOW OLVTOV TO EPYOV.

sic agendi, vulgo functio. (official function. The epyov, for which a profession exists)

great emphasis on this divine naming. Chemnitz explains (Harm, ev., c. 9, Luke 2:21): The divine naming is reported in To the question since when the incarnate Son of God was in his redeeming office is to be answered: not only since the baptism which marked the solemn inauguration of his public Scripture "not merely to praise Mary's and Joseph's obedience, but chiefly that it may be immovably established (ratum et firmum sit) that we do not call upon Christ as ‘Jesus' merely according to human intention, which may err, but by God's authority and command, that is, seeking in Him the saving of sins.... That's why Peter says Acts 4:12 " Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, but the name of JESUS". The name of Jesus is the "gospel in nuce". — The name "Christ" is also interpreted by Scripture itself, Jn 1:41: Ebpjkapev tov Meooiav 6 gotiw LEOeppnvevdptEevov Xptotds. Xptotds (MwA,xMW7 [HEBREW)]), the Anointed, is the official name which describes the official endowment of Christ according to his human nature. In Old Testament times, priests and kings (Ex. 29:7; 1 Sam. 16:13), sometimes also prophets (1 Kings 19:16), were anointed. The Person Christ, however, who is to carry out the unique office of the salvation of mankind, is the Anointed xat' s€oyrv. The anointed of the Old Testament, says Chemnitz, were only models of the uniquely anointed. Harm. ev., c.9, p.m. 114; c. 23, p. 304: Christus a reliquis unctis praefiguratus, unctus simul in Regem, Sacerdotem et Prophetam [Christ prefigured by the rest of the anointed, anointed at the same time as King, Priest and Prophet]. Through the anointing, Christ was communicated not only to dona finita, but also to dona infinita. One has Isaiah 61:1 (preaching the gospel) and Acts 10:38 (miracles) from the dona finita and thus want to refer to an equal status with prophets and human miracle workers. But passages like Joh. 1:18; 3:31-35; 2:11 deny the relationship to mere dona finita. So we will have to leave it at the old sentence: y bsdtns yptots Tis Gv& pondtntoc. Cf. Hollaz, Examen, De pers., qu. 3. 3; Kromayer, Theol. pos.-pol. 1, 85. Correct Meyer on the "God was with him" (Acts 10:38): "The metaphysical relationship of Christ to the Father is not excluded by this general expression. An excellent explanation of the anointing of Christ can be found in Chemnitz, De duab. nat., c. 24, p. 139: Quando de unctione Spiritus unde Christus nomen habet, Scriptura loquitur, intelligit unctionem humanae naturae in Christo. Divina enim natura Christi non est uncta Spiritu, sed est ipsa unctio, est enim una essentia Filii et Spiritus Sancti, a Patre ac Filio procedit. Est autem secundum assumptam naturam Christus unctus prae consortibus (Ps. 45) non tantum donis spiritualibus infusis, nec tantum inhabitatione Spiritus per gratiam, ut vel quasdam tantum vel multas et magnas virtutes in Christo operetur, sed quia divina natura tov dOyov tota substantiali sua plenitudine personaliter inhabitat in assumpta Christi natura. Et per consequens propter djoovoiay etiam Spiritus Domini ipsi datus est, non quod Spiritus Sanctus personaliter carnem assumpserit, sed propter Trinitatis essentiam, sicut Ioh, 14 Christus inquit: Pater in me manens facit opera. [Google] In this anointing of Christ according to his human nature "non ad mensuram" [without measure] it is established, ut omnes divinas suas virtutes in illa (in human nature) operetur, atque per illam Spiritus ipse cum donis suis effundatur super omnem carnem, Act. 2. [that all his divine virtues might work in it Gn human nature), and through it the Spirit himself with his gifts might be poured out upon all flesh, Acts 2] activity took place, but from his incarnation, with which also his humiliation coincides in time. Christ was a Christ for us not only since His public emergence, but already in His conception, birth, circumcision, child obedience, etc. It was already explained in the doctrine of the state of humiliation that and why Christ had to begin his work of redemption very early: "Christ came through all the stages of human age, so that he might fundamentally heal our impure conception and birth. Luther spoke particularly gloriously about this: " That is the right reason for salvation, which unites Christ and the believing heart in such a way that everything becomes common what they have on both sides. But what do they have? Christ has a pure, innocent, holy birth; man has an impure, sinful, damned birth, as David Ps. 51:7 says. The same may not be helped but by the pure birth of Christ... Christ therefore takes our birth from us and sinks it into his birth and gives us his own, so that we may become pure and new in it, as if it were our own, so that every Christian may not rejoice and boast of this birth of Christ any less than if he had been born of Mary in the flesh like Christ. °27) Furthermore: "For his own person he did not need to be circumcised, nor did he need to be obedient to his mother or die on the cross for his own sake. Because for his own person he would have been right and proper not to be subject to the Law. But he does it for our sake. For we need such a man who would be without sin, and would fulfil the Law for us, and so quench the wrath of God, or we must remain under the curse of the Law forever. For this cause he has put himself under the Law and with his ministry and work he has earned us freedom from the Law, as St. Paul says Gal. 4:4. 5: When the time was fulfilled, God sent His Son, born of a woman and put under the law, that He might redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption.’ 77°) The view that the Son of God would have become man even if men had not sinned is a useless and dangerous philosophical speculation. The Scriptures mention no other purpose of the incarnation of the Son of God than the salvation

of sinners. Christ Jesus came into the world, apaptmAots oaoat. Therefore there is no other purpose to be devised. *) Augustine's statement: Si homo non periisset, Filius hominis non venisset [If man had not perished, the Son of man would not have come’] is in accordance with Scripture. The main or secondary purpose of the Incarnation of the Son of God has been assumed to be a perfection of creation, especially an improvement of the divine image in man, a necessary development in the divine being or in divine revelation. °° Of all these assumptions it must be said: 1. They are wypaqov and therefore in principle non-theological. Quod non est biblicum, non est theologicum [What is not biblical is not theological]. 2. they are a dvtiypagov; they contradict what Scripture says in a completely clear and doctrinal way about creation and salvation. The view that the purpose of the Incarnation is to improve creation, especially the divine image in man, contradicts Scripture, on the one hand, which gives the testimony 7&7) 210, [HEBREW], "very good", to creation in general, and to man in particular, and Scripture, on the other hand, which describes the work of redemption as the destruction of the devil's works and the restoration of that which has been lost in the Fall. Furthermore: Scripture motivates the coming of the Son into the world with

Reformed (Zanchi), Andreas Osiander (against him Wigand, De Osiandrismo, p. 23 sqq.). Luthardt reports about the more recent time: "In more recent times this statement" (Incarnation of God even without the sin of man) "is much spread, not only in the theosophical school of Baader and among philosophers, like Stephens, Géschel, Chalybaus, Ph. Fischer, but also among many theologians like Nitzsch, Martensen, Liebner, Lange, Rothe, Dorner, Ebrard etc, mostly based on Schleiermacher's view of Christ as the second Adam and finisher of creation: humanity would be without the unifying head. (Dogmatik, " ed., p. 203.) Detailed communication of the historical material in Quenstedt II, 156 ff.; Baumgarten, Streitigk. I, 149 ff.; Thomasius, Dogmatik I, 180 ff.

dogmatics", which "confuses innocence with animal brutality". On the other hand, he rebukes the "Augustinian dogmatics" for "giving the first man a purity of will, a clarity of knowledge which can only be thought of as the ultimate goal of free self- development". Hegelianism, still rumbling within him, causes Martensen not to see the contradiction to Gen. and 2. God's wonderful love for the world of sinners, Otta@c¢ yap HyamnoEev 6 Osdc TOV KOGLOV, and with God's heartfelt compassion for the human misery of sin: 610 ondGyyva gov Osod has visited us the exit from on high. 7° Through the incarnation of the Son of God for the salvation of sinners, God has revealed Himself as the greatest philanthropist, as Luther so powerfully demonstrates. °3) This image of God in the face of Jesus Christ is recorded and distorted by the advocates of the theory of the Incarnation even without the Fall that has occurred. They replace the free divine affection for a lost world of sinners with a necessity in God. Thus, 3. the representatives of that theory are accused by church teachers of all times of depressing both the greatness of divine grace and the seriousness of sin. Finally, the proponents of that theory have not been able to resist the temptation to seek cover in Scripture for their strange human thoughts and to reinterpret a number of Scripture passages in this interest. 7°) One of the quaestiones curiosae is the question why God sent his Son into the world only after four thousand years and not immediately after the fall of mankind. Kromayer quite rightly remarks: Although one can touch on reasons for this a posteriori ("God wanted to press his people through the Law first, so that they would long all the more for the promised Messiah"), one must finally answer that it thus pleased God. °°)

1:20; 1 Cor. 15:45 f. — Col. 1:15 goes mpmt6toKos mhons Kticews to Christ according to the divine nature; Rom. 8:29: mpwtotoKoc Sv moAAoic ddEA@oig loquitur de excellentia supra omnes fideles (Quenstedt, Meyer). Also Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10 speaks of the restoration of the original divine image (Calov; cf. Philippi, Glaubensl. Il, 372 ff., against the ambiguities of Meyer), about Eph. 1:10 and Col. 1:20 later, when we have to speak of the relationship of the work of redemption to the angelic world. Against Andreas Osiander, Quenstedt notes on 1 Cor. 15:45: Si creationem hominis ordine praecessit forma humanae naturae in mente divina praeconcepta, ad cuius similitudinem Adam creatus fuerit, Christus primus potius Adam dicendus erat quam secundus. [Google] (II, 167.)

vel illud faciat; cur mundum non prius creaverit; cur non sta- The work of Christ in particular. If we ask what Christ did and still does for man’s salvation, the scriptural passages relating to this can easily be grouped into three classes. °36) Scripture expressly mentions as the purpose of Christ's mission: a. to teach people, Ebayysricac0a mtmyoic; °° b. to reconcile men with God, @sdc Tv év Xpiotd Kdopov KaTaAAGoowv éavtd; °**) c. to rule the Church as its king and head and to rule over the universe, Bactievoet éni tov OiKOV Taxa sic tovc aidvac — mévta brETAEEV DIO TOs 1dda¢ adtOd Kai ADTOV ESMKEV KEMaAT dxsp TEVtO. TH &KKANSIa. °°? According to this, from earliest times in the Christian Church ™ a triple ministry or work of Christ has been distinguished: the prophetic, high priestly, royal (munus sive opus Christi triplex: propheticum, sacerdotale, regium). In this threefold ministry Christ is already described in the Old Testament. **!’ As for the formal arrangement of the teaching according to the three offices, Quenstedt reports that in his time it was followed by most Lutheran teachers. Quenstedt is right, however, not to consider this external arrangement to be essential. He points out that other Lutheran teachers only distinguish between two offices by combining the prophetic office with the priesthood. 4?’ Concerns have also tim post lapsum et promulgatum mpwotevayyéMov... promissum Redemptorem miserit... Licet a posteriori rationes eiusmodi ("Dulcia non sentit, qui non gustavit amara".) a nobis afferantur probabiles, tutius tamen in voluntate divina, quae tota facti ratio est, acquiescamus. [Google]

teaching is to be emphasized under the following section.

prophets) therefore have a relationship with the true Christ, the divine and heavenly Logos, as whom alone the high priest of the whole world, alone the king of all creation and alone the supreme prophet of his Father among all prophets is.

sacerdotale, regium; alii duplex, propheticum sacerdotali includentes...; cum sacerdotis non tantum sit sacrificare, orare, intercedere, benedicere, sed etiam docere (after Mal. 2:7). A plerisque tamen retinetur tripartita been expressed about the usual order of the threefold division. It has been recalled that the high priestly office should prevail, since Christ's reconciling activity begins at the moment of conception, while the teaching activity comes later. This is correct. But since the offices cannot all be performed successively, we leave it at the old order, according to which the prophetic office is preceded. So Christ, as has already been demonstrated in the states of Christ, is already in a state of humiliation in his royal office. Christ is a born king, and he also expressly calls himself a king in the state of humiliation. 47) — That all official works belong to the whole God-man Person, that is, that Christ performs them in and according to both natures, has already been explained in the third genus, the communication of attributes. All ministries are operationes Oeavdpikat. Whoever denies this, consequently abolishes the purpose of the incarnation of the Son of God. The prophetic office of Christ. 1. To direct the prophetic office in the state of humiliation In the state of humiliation Christ teaches in his own person (avtompoommac) or directly, while in the state of exaltation through intermediaries he teaches, as will be shown later. In his teaching on earth, Christ is the unique prophet, a prophet such as has never existed before and never will again. (Propheta xat' efoynv, propheta omnibus excellentior.) This uniqueness consists in the fact that in Christ God has appeared in the flesh, and God teaches in his own person on earth. This specificity of Christ's teaching is pointed out in Heb 1:1: "In the past God spoke to the fathers sometimes and in many ways through the prophets, but in these days he has spoken to us in the last through the Son. The Scriptures also specify that Christ as a prophet differed from all prophets with respect to the source of knowledge that he exercised in his prophetic office. distinctio, quos et nos sequemur. [Google] — Calvin has the tripartite division Jnst. I, 15, the Heidelb. Cat. Questio. 31.

335-] This had already to be explained in the doctrine of the communication of attributes. °**) Here the following is repeated: While all the prophets in revelation, which is given to men on earth, namely through inspiration, taught and in this respect spoke "from the earth" (e« Ts y1 s), as John the Baptist Jn. 3:31 says of himself and all mere human prophets, Christ taught from the council of the Holy Trinity "what he saw and heard" (6 éo@paxkev Kai ]KovoEV), v. 32, namely as "the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father" (0 wv stg tov KOAROV Tov natpdc), Jn. 1:18.°4 So Christ, in his teaching on earth, drew from a source from which no human being, not even a prophet, can draw; for - says John in describing the uniqueness of Christ's teaching — 0 @v gic Tov KOAmOVv Tod Ilatpoc, Joh. 1:18. In other words: In his teaching office, Christ, in a state of humiliation, applies the divine knowledge that was essential to him according to divine nature and communicated to him according to human nature. This is also expressed when the Scripture says of Christ according to the human nature that the Spirit was given to him "not according to measure" (obK ek LéTpOV), Jn 3:34, quod idem est [which is the same], says Baier, ac sapientiam immensam seu infinitam, ei secundum humanam naturam, in qua locutus est, esse datam [as the immense or infinite wisdom given to him according to the human nature in which he spoke]. © One should therefore not speak of an inspiration of Christ for the purpose of orienting the teaching office * nor should one

has already been rejected as contrary to the context (note 378).

and power within Himself. The Word of God did not come to Him, — He was Himself the Word." And according to Martensen: "The source of Jesus' teaching was ‘not inspiration, but incarnation. Jesus was not inspired—He was the Inspirer." (Systematic Theology, p. 389.) Philippi: "The source of his [Christ's] prophethood was not inspiration coming from outside, but the whole fullness of the Godhead dwelled in himself bodily, Col. 2:9. God's omniscience itself had become the omniscience of the man of Jesus. And before that: "Like his miracles, his teaching and prophecy also had its source and origin in himself.... Therefore, it is his own knowledge, that which he has seen from the beginning with the Father, which he has made known to us. For no one has ever seen God. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has proclaimed it to us, Joh. 1,18." (Glaubenslehre IV, 2 p.19. 18.) babble with the Socinians about a rapture of Christ into heaven for the purpose of teaching. — If Christ is called a prophet like Moses, Deut. 18:16, the point of comparison is the mediation of a covenant. Just as Moses was the mediator of the old, transitory covenant, so Christ is the mediator of the new, permanent covenant, Hebr. 12:18-28. That in all other respects Christ is greater than Moses is already clearly stated by Moses himself, Deut. 18; for Moses refers the people from himself to the prophet whom the Lord will later raise up, v. 16-19. 4°) As for the content of Christ's teaching in the days of the flesh, Christ preaches to himself, as the apostles afterwards preached only to him. 4) In other words, Christ shows salvation not only as present, but as present in his person. He therefore invites all to take salvation from him through faith in him. Whoever believes in him is eo ipso in possession of salvation. Whoever denies him faith is eo ipso excluded from salvation. He expresses this in both figurative and actual words. Joh. 6:33, 36, 40, 47: "This is the bread of God, which comes from heaven and gives life to the world. I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. This is the will of him who sent me, that whosoever sees the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the Last Day. He that believeth on me hath everlasting life." Christ also leaves no doubt that he is the object of saving faith, insofar as he is crucified and thus pays the ransom for the sins of men (satisfactio vicaria). Jn 3:14, 16: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life". Matt. 20:28: "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many" (sovvat

TODTOV EoTAVpaLEVvOV; 2 Cor. 4:5: Ov yap savtovs KNPVvoooLEV, GAAG XpPLoTOV Tnoow Koptov.

336-337] THV WoXTV aAvTOD AVTPOV Avti TOAA@Vv). That Christ in his sacrificial death is the object of saving faith, he inculcates with increased determination especially also Joh. 6. After he first said: "I am the bread of life", he uses v. 51 for this: The bread of life "is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world". And when the Jews quarrelled about this among themselves (€uGyovto) and said: "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" out of Christ's mouth there is no mitigation, but a sharpening of his statement, in that for "flesh" he uses "flesh" and "blood": "If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life." °°!’ But Christ here preaches Himself most emphatically in the sense that He, the incarnate (6 ek tov ovpavod KataBdc) Son of God, is the life of the world through His reconciling death. ®°) That Christ thus preaches himself, and in his reconciling death, as the life of the world, arouses murmurings and contradiction among the Jews: &kANpdc EoTLV ObTOG 0 Adyoc V. 60. But Christ remains in the sense that one must take life from him who gives his life in death. At this point He lets it come to a separation, v. 66.°>» Joh. 8:24 He says the mighty word: "If you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins."’ And

has nothing to do with the Sacrament of the Supper."

only included": "That dedication was already stated with ey sip 6 dptos etc.; but the progress from being to giving demands something else, namely a concrete act, and that is his reconciling dying and bloodshed. Luther on St. (St. L. VI, 2352): "It is written, this and no other, that this eating of flesh and drinking of blood gives eternal life; this is not a human work. The Papists do not want to suffer it yet.... The mad fools run from Christ to the works."

belongs to the Gospel as Jesus preached it. (Wesen des Christentums: Leipzig 1902, p. 91.)

comes from above (White), but par excellence: that which it is about, salvation, life, light etc. corresponds to the Old Testament N17 >1x [HEBREW] Jehovah, Deut. 32:39; Isaiah 43:10." With the eyo sip Christ at the same time declares himself as later the apostles,°> Christ also teaches in his preaching office on earth that the entire Old Testament Scripture points to him as the giver of life. © The question of the relationship between Law and Gospel in Christ's preaching must be answered: If Christ preaches himself, and especially himself in his reconciling death, then the Gospel or the sermon of grace is his real ministry. This is expressed when in Jn 1:17 Christ and Moses are confronted with each other: "The Law was given through Moses, and grace and truth came into being through Jesus Christ. The terminology of the Lutheran Confessions is based on this contrast, that Christ's real office is the preaching of the gospel, and that he teaches law propter evangelium [because of the gospel], that is, to come to his real office EvayyeAioac8a1 mtIwyoic, Knpdéor Eviavtov Kvpiov dSextév,> through the proclamation of the Law. The Romans and the old and new Unitarians let Christ be a new legislator. *°®) Christ is said to have given new, and indeed more perfect, commandments than Moses. The intention of this teaching is to teach, under Christ's name, the opposite of Christianity, namely, the obtaining of justification and salvation from the works of the law. If Christ is a more perfect teacher of the law than Moses, it seems clear why men could not be justified and saved by the works commanded by Moses, but can attain this goal by the morally superior to be Jehovah himself. Cf. Luther, StL. VIII, 188: "I am God, and I am God with one another. Do what you will! If you do not believe that Iam God, you are nothing and must die in your sins. Therefore no prophet, apostle, or evangelist may preach, saying, Believe in God, and believe also in me that I am God; or if ye do not, all things are lost with you... That is to say, to throw away in an instant all that is, He that believeth not in me, that I am he; for with me is life and death, sin and righteousness, God and devil, heaven and hell. He thereby throws all things under Christ and separates from one another what is in this life of holiness and wisdom, from the Lord Christ.

22. also Matt. 22:34-46 certainly belongs here (against Meyer). Cf. Luther, XI, 1710.

quae legi addidit, Question 199 ff; ed. Oder, p. 404 sqq. — Harnack, Wesen des Christentums: Leipzig 1902, p. 45 ff. 338-339] taught by Christ. °? On the other hand, it should be noted: Christ did not teach a new Law, only the Law of Moses, as he himself expressly declares. °60) Also in the Sermon on the Mount, Matt. 6-7, Christ does not argue against Moses, but against the reversal of the Mosaic Law on the part of the scribes. The commandment to love one's neighbor, which was missing in the Old Testament, is clearly taught there. °°) which even sensible Jews, for example the scribe, Luke 10:27, knew very well. Our old theologians therefore correctly say: Christus quidem. fuit legis doctor, sed non legislator [Christ was indeed a teacher of the law, but not a legislator]. The "evangelical counsels" (consilia evangelica) of the Roman Catholics: continentia, written as celibacy, obedientia, obedience to the ecclesiastical superiors, paupertas, renunciation of private property, are a Roman Catholic invention and serve the fallacy that a man can do even more than fulfil God's law, and that by following the "evangelical counsels" one can attain happiness even more easily and surely. °°) The Arminians also see Christ as a new lawgiver and understand by the justifying faith omnem illam obedientiam, quam Deus praescribit, quaeque per fidem praestatur [all that obedience which God prescribes, and which is guaranteed by faith]. °° In substance, all Semipelagians and Synergists make Christ a new lawgiver, inasmuch as faith in the Gospel is for them a partly human achievement, and the matter is such that Moses demands much and Christ less work to attain salvation.

Streitigk. II, 240 f.

Moses, Matt. 22:34-40 (love for God and neighbor).

saved and heaven attained without following the counsels; but that end will be reached more easily and with greater certainty if the counsels be accepted, and the Soul does now wholly coniine, herself to doing that which is definitely commanded....Christ’s advice is, if we would make sure of everlasting life, and desire to conform ourselves perfectly to the divine will, that we should sell our possessions, and give the proceeds to others who are in need, that we should live a life of chastity for the Gospel’s sake, and, finally, should not seek honors or commands, but place ourselves under obedience.

Schneckenburger, Kleine Prot. Kirchenparteien, p. 21 f. Mohler's Praise of the Arminians, Symbolik >, p. 634 ff.