(Inside front cover)
Jehovah Titles
The Paradigm of “To BE”
1. Be, Been, to Come to Be, or Become.
2. Am, Art, Is, Are.
3. Was, Were.
"To" used before a verb form indicates the infinitive.
In the A.V., Ex. 3:14 translates the verb title of God (to be) by the Heb. Qal or perfect tense - that God "BE." Since this usage is now obscure, we say "IS," or if one is speaking of himself, "l AM" is used, meaning, "I EXIST." Is God saying to Moses merely that He exists? Is He merely pointing out His self-existence, or something much more?
In the Heb. Hiphil tense God says that He will BECOME or "TO COME TO BE." That is, He will always be meeting the needs of His people by whatever manifestation or action is needful to meet their needs. He will be their Hope, Rock, Salvation, Redemption, Deliverer, or whatever they need. This last is the God of the Scriptures; He is ever seeking to become our ALL and IN ALL.
R.H.S.
Scripture Research
Volume 2 (Second Edition) Number 18
Scripture Research, Inc.
P.O. Box 51716 Riverside, CA 92571
Formerly
Ewalt Memorial Bible School
Atascadero, California
CONTENTS
Page
The Glory of the Christ ………............. 579
by Russell H. Schaefer
The Ever-Existent Christ …………. 580
THE LOGOS BECAME FLESH … 591
The Logos Dwelt Among Us ……… 596
The Logos FLESH Became ………. 605
THE GLORY OF
THE CHRIST
by Russell H. Schaefer
The unfolding of the self-revelation of God in the perfections of the Person, and in the completeness of the Work of the Lord Jesus Christ, is a worthy theme for continuous study.
As one seeks to explore the scope and grandeur implied in those texts of Scripture* that speak of the glory of God as seen in the face of Christ (2 Cor. 4:6), one is immediately confronted with a vast multitude of seemingly diverse streams of truth, all leading in varied directions. But, as these truths are viewed from the higher dictum of Christ's Deity, the multiple streams re-converge, forming a grand and beautiful design, a mosaic of Christ's glory that inspires awe and worship in its vastness, humbling in its greatness, and love begetting in its gentle condescension. The simple beauty of Christ's singular pure humanity, projected against the background of His infinite Divine nature, provides a kaleidoscopic view of God’s graciously unveiling Himself to our faith and understanding.
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*All New Testament quotations are taken from Wuest’s Expanded Translation (the meaning of the original words is expanded upon in the translation) unless otherwise indicated.
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The Ever-Existent Christ
It would seem to be a self-evident truth that, if Christ were Deity prior to the Incarnation, then by the very nature of Deity, He would always remain Deity. The notion that Deity can be "put on" or "put off" at will befits a pagan conception of God, but not a Bible-instructed believer. If Deity can unclothe itself of inherent Deity, then that type of deity isn't of much worth, has very little value, and certainly would be unworthy as an object of faith, love and worship.
Much of what follows will be concerned with the existence of Christ as Deity, as God. One can never explore with any hope of success the absoluteness of God's being, for only another being equally composed of all Divine perfections, in all possible dimensions and infinite infiniteness, could comprehend such a Being. Concerning this possibility, Isa. 44:6 states:
Thus saith Yahweh-King of Israel, even His Redeemer Yahweh of Hosts, I AM FIRST, and I LAST, and beside Me there is no God.
Or: Isa. 45:5a,
I AM Yahweh, and there is none else,
Besides ME there is no God.
The titles, "I AM FIRST and I LAST," as well as "Redeemer" and "King of Israel" are all interpreted and applied to The Lord Jesus in the N.T. If this be truth, then He must also be The Yahweh mentioned. There cannot be but one Godhood, but His manifestation may be as varied or as singular as He chooses. It is true that the nature of God's perfections may be a proper subject of study, and what is discovered is true; however, it must be born in mind that no finite mind can span the infinite amount of that perfection.
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This would also apply to anything He is pleased to reveal of Himself at any time. The very name "Yahweh or Jehovah" implies that His revelation will be a continuous one. Thus, whenever God is pleased to condescend to reveal Himself within the framework of our ability to understand, then Christ shines forth as the very medium in which, on which, through which, by and with which that manifestation is made.
Before proceeding, it might be well to comment on the use of the word MEDIUM used above as it applies to Christ. It is NOT used here in the sense of Christ Himself being an object of creation in an earlier state, and thereafter being merely a creative instrument to affect and fulfill the purposes of God. Such a fallacious concept of the mediate person and function of Christ has caused one translation of the N.T. to render John 1:1b as follows:
... and the Word was a god.
The literal Greek text reads:
... and Theos (God) was the Logos (Word).
Because the subject, “Logos” has the definite article “the,” most translations render it:
... and the Word was God.
The Greek language has no indefinite article, such as our English "a," and to insert the indefinite "A" before Theos in the text is without any justification. To do this with any consistency would cause John 1:6 to read:
There was a man sent from a god,
whose name was a John.
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Or, John 1:13b:
... nor the will of man, but of a god.
Or, John 1:18a:
No man hath seen a god...
Or, John 1:49:
... thou art the Son of a god...
Thus, with the use of an indefinite article, plus the use of a lower case "g" in spelling "God," an impression is created that Christ, the Logos, the Word or Expresser of God, is some sort of lower, illegitimate god, not Jehovah. The question is asked, "How can He be the God He is said to be WITH" (John 1:1)? It might be asked, "How can solar energy, registering as heat-light waves, be said to have been in the sun, out from in the sun, on the sun, with the sun, and now with us?" The analogy is not unscriptural, since Christ is called THE LIGHT in John 1:4, 7 and 8. It should be pointed out that the usual Greek word for WITH, beside, is PARA. In John 1:1 the word is PROS, an acc. preposition denoting a view toward God, whereas the Logos, the Living Word, He, by His personal presence, reveals the invisible God. It is the glory of God seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
Others have followed the concept of this same translation in Rev. 3:14b:
... the beginning of the creation by God.
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The spurious insertion of "by" into the text leaves the impression that Christ was the first of a series of creative acts by God, whereas John 1:1 affirms that it was Christ, as the Logos, who created everything that ever was created. Note John 1:3:
All things through Him came
into existence
And without Him came into
existence
NOT EVEN ONE THING.
Also, in the Rev. 3:14b passage as quoted, the reader is not alerted here, or in the A.V., that the word “beginning” is a translation of the Greek word ARCHE. Aside from having the meaning of the absolute beginning of anything or everything, this word also bears the meaning of Chief, First, First Estate, Magistrate, Power, Principality (Fr. Princes), Principles, and Rule. The text is stating that Christ is Chief or Head of creation (so reads the Nestle-Marshall Text), and, as such, He has the right to issue judgments in the Earth, as seen in the Book of Revelation.
Christ is, of course, the Medium of all redemption; however, in applying this word to Him, it is here used in a much greater sense. Wuest, in his fine expanded translation, captures the mediation role of Christ* in respect to Absolute Deity as he translates John 1:18:
Absolute Deity, in its essence, no one has ever yet seen. God uniquely-begotten, He Who is in the bosom of the Father, that One fully explained Deity.
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*Christ, the Logos, AFTER He had clothed Himself in flesh, and tented among us. See John 1:14.
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Again, as Wuest translates Col. 1:15, this beautiful role of Christ in mediation is felt:
Who (Christ) is a derived reproduction and manifestation of absolute Deity, the invisible Deity, Who (Christ) has priority to and sovereignty over all creation.
It is evident that, in God's absoluteness of being, there is an unlimited, unbounded universality. The Psalmist reflects this in Psa. 139:
God's Omniscience, illustrated in declaring His knowledge of one's activities, thoughts, paths, ways, words, past and future (verses 1-6).
God's Omnipresence, illustrated in one's inability to ever flee beyond God's ever-presence, everywhere (verses 7-16).
This same concept of God is echoed by Paul in Acts 17:28 wherein he states:
... for in Him we derive our life and have motion.
But, there is also another condition in which God exists that is different than this all-pervadingness, an existence said to be in LIGHT:
...dwelling in UNAPPROACHABLE LIGHT, Whom not even one in the human race has seen nor even is able to see (1 Tim. 6:16b).
The context of this last passage is that it is the role of Christ, in His glorious manifestation, to expose to view that which is unseeable. In this context, one feels compelled to
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quote the majestic words of Heb. 1:3a:
Who (Christ), being the out-raying (effulgence) of His glory and the exact reproduction of His essence, and sustaining, guiding, and propelling all things by the Word of His power...
Here, God's essential being is said to be OUT-RAYED (as of light coming from a source), and as this out-raying light forms a likeness, it is as a Son from a Father, bearing a genetic likeness (see Heb. 1:2). Thus Christ could say, in John 14:9:
... he who has discerningly seen me has seen the Father with discernment...
This wonderful Christ bears the impress, in His being and in His nature, of what God is like in a moral and spiritual way. For moral creatures, He images out for us what can be revealed of God.
His is a Sonwise revelation. Rotherham, in his book on Hebrews, page 27, expresses this concept:
... hath spoken unto us (en huio) in Son, Sonwise-in, and through One whom He delights to call “Son.” With the term "Son," the appeal is carried to the universal heart of man, seeing that everywhere the relation of father and son is perfectly familiar ... when the relationship is perfect, the interests of father and son coincide and are one … what, then, of transcendent force and fullness, light and love may we not expect in Divine communications so made.
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Christ, in His mediate role, makes the INVISIBLE God discernible. He makes the incommunicable God heard, and the incomprehensible God known. For those accepted in the Beloved and complete in Christ (Col. 2:10 and Eph.l:6), there is not only full freedom of access to the Father (Eph. 2:18), but also the partaking of that otherwise forbidding unapproachable realm of light. Note Col. 1:12:
...giving thanks to the Father Who qualified you for the portion of the share of the inheritance of the saints in the sphere of the light...
In the absence of any other revelation of Himself, God expects a thinking individual to deduce two basic simple truths from the universe and the elements surrounding him: 1) Imperceptible Power, and 2) Superior Deity. This is well stated in Rom. 1:20:
... because that which is knowable concerning God … for the things of Him which are invisible ... are clearly seen, being understood by means of the things that are made, namely, His eternal power and Divine Being.
God further expects a thinking man to deduce from the evidence about him that such a creative Deity was of an order infinitely above His creation (Rom. 1:23). The interesting fact is that a thinking man was also to draw the conclusion from creation that this Deity sought a kinship and fellowship with His sentient creatures, but that this was impossible whenever such creatures lowered their conceptual consciousness of god to that of corrupt man or to created things is the hidden thrust of these passages in Romans. It would be an impossible concept for such sentient creatures to ever dream that God
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would enter into time and space in an intermediate, communicable form, a step away from His inherent invisibility. All man could grasp was the all-pervasive power seemingly in all things, hence mankind’s tendency toward pantheism (identifying God with the various forces in nature and/or other creatures). Of course, as man lowers his concept of God, he lowers himself...
If the invisible God were to have any communicable residency, then the Scriptures see this as residing in Christ:
... because in Him was well pleased that all the fullness be permanently at home (Col. 1:19).
The fact that Christ was in this mediate communicable form in the immeasurable period before the dawn of time is seen in Col. 1:17:
And He Himself antedates all things, and all things in (Gr. en) Him cohere.
He is before any created thing, and in Him all things are held together. Creation itself is said to be IN Him. Col. 1:16 says:
... in Him were created all things in the heavens and upon the earth, the visible things and the invisible ones...
As to an origin, Christ is the source of creation. He was also its intermediate agent. Col. l:16b:
... all things through Him as intermediate agent.
This same thought is expressed in John 1:3 and 1:10:
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All things through His intermediate agency came into being, and without Him there came into being not even one thing which has come into existence (John 1:3).
In the universe He was, and the universe through His intermediate agency came into existence (l:10a).
Wuest, in the above translation, has expended the Gr. preposition dia into the actual concept intended, that of “agency.” While the philosopher Chrysiphus could speak of DIA as a Divine Name for Deity, through whom are all things, and Heraclitus looked upon the Logos as the discoverable laws functioning in the universe, and Plato used "Logos," the universe, and "Son Of God" as synonyms, all felt that this was an abstract force belonging to that which no one could ascribe attributes, much less actual living personality or being. They could not see that the creation about them was but the initial step of God's self-revelation, motivated by the desire to share His glory and to show His love, and that the Logos was able to take another step into creation as a Divine Person, as God and yet in man’s flesh, as so very vividly stated in John 1:14:
And the Word, entering a new mode of existence, became flesh, and lived in a tent (His physical body) among us.
This was a logical step if God was to bring the revelation of Himself to the ultimate level of our understanding. The appalling vastness of the essential and absolute being of God formed the barrier that hindered the greatest and the finest of men from ever considering that God Himself
could and would make such an abridgement. Because we cannot think His thoughts, any abridgement, much less of a personal nature, seemed an utter impossibility.
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Christ as the Logos
Whatever is helpful in conveying thoughts one to another, so is Christ as the Logos in relationship to the unseeable, indefinable, and undimensional eternal Essence. As the Living Word, He communicates with the minds He has brought into being. As the Logos, Christ is the medium of the Divine manifestation, the discloser of His thoughts, the expounder of His being, and the expresser of His character. All that we will ever know of God will come to us through the perfect Person and glorious Work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In his Gospel, John writes of the Logos using a very familiar word in the Gentile world. The Hebrew word for Logos is “Memra” and is so used in the O.T. A good illustration is Isa. 6:1-10. Isaiah had seen Jehovah:
For the King, Yahweh of Hosts have mine eyes seen! (6:5. Cp. 6:1.)
In verse 8, he hears the voice of the Memra of Jehovah:
And I heard the VOICE (Memra) of Jehovah, saying: Whom shall I send? And who will go for US?
In the 12th chapter of John, verses 37-41, it is Christ that Isaiah saw and it was to Christ that the prophecy is applied.
According to this usage of Memra for The Logos, Gen. 3:8 would read:
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And they heard the VOICE (Memra) of Jehovah walking in the garden ... concealed themselves from the presence of Jehovah God...
This VOICE episode brings to mind the incident of Elijah and the VOICE that spoke to him:
... and lo! Yahweh passing by ... and after the fire the VOICE of a gentle whisper ... when Elijah heard it ... stood at the entrance of the cave, and lo! Unto him a VOICE, and it said...
According to the Targums (paraphrases of the O.T. used by the Babylonian exiles during their exiles and into the third century A.D. -- a vernacular translation of the O.T. or portions of it; the older Hebrew had given way during the exile to the Babylon branch of the Semitic language, which may be akin to that known by Abraham, known as the Aramaean-Babylonian), the Memra, Logos, or Word is used when God reveals Himself 82 instances in the Onkelos text, 71 times in the Jerusalem Targum, and 213 times in the Jonathan text (these are critical evaluations by Edershiem). The Apostle John would sit in the synagogue and hear the reading of the original text (if the synagogue could afford other than the LXX text). This would be read twice, and then an interpreter would be called upon, as in 1 Cor. 14:27. The interpreters would relate the text from these well-known Targums, or translate on their own if no Targum was available. A Targum (translation) of Gen. 15:1 is interesting as related by Edershiem:
The “word” as spoken is distinguished from the “WORD” as speaking or revealing Himself. The former is generally designated by the term pithgama (Heb., Gr. rhema or noema), thus
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in Gen. 15:1. After these words (things), came the pithgama of Jehovah to Abram in prophecy, saying, “Fear not, Abram, My Memra shall be thy strength, and thy very great reward.”
The Targum's translation of Gen. 28:21 affords another illustration of the Memra or Logos concept as these old Jewish translators saw it:
...the Memra of Jehovah shall be my God.
So when the Apostle John wrote of the Logos, he had the usage of Gentile and pagan philosophy, the usage of the devote Targuminist, and the usage of the Rabbinical School at Alexandria (Philo being of that school) giving him a word already fraught with meaning, but to which he attributed all the beauty, honor and dignity of the Lord Jesus Christ. John did what no pagan writer could conceive of: he placed the Logos within the context of the historical and continuing self-revelation and self-presentation of God to creatures bearing a moral and spiritual relationship to Him. How well Wuest has laid hold of this point is seen in his translation of Rev. 19:13b:
And His Name has been called,
And the Name is on record,
THE WORD OF GOD.
(THE LOGOS OF GOD).
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THE LOGOS BECAME FLESH
In this context, Wuest's translation bears repeating, especially John l:14a and 18:
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And the Word (Logos), entering a new mode of existence, became flesh, and lived in a tent (His physical body) among us. And we gazed with attentive and careful regard and spiritual perception at His glory, a glory such as that of a uniquely-begotten Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (1:14).
Absolute Deity in its essence no one has yet seen. God uniquely-begotten, He Who is in the bosom of the Father, that One fully explained Deity (1:18).
In the 14th verse, above, the translated verb "became," is egeneto, the same word as in verse 3: "All things BECAME through Him." The creature-hood of the world that He, Himself, had created was to be His seamless robe, His human dress. In thus "becoming flesh," the Logos or Word did enter a new mode of existence, just as He had earlier entered into other modes of existences as seen in the O.T. In none of those did the Logos cease to be the Logos, nor did He when He took Adamic flesh. He stepped into a new mode of being, a new mode of expression, not abandoning the "form" of God, but changing the "fashion" with and through which He would bring to a needy world the very heart and love of God them- selves. The usages of the verb egeneto or one of its forms almost spell out the whole story of God's great condescension. In John 1:3, the Logos is the cause of the creation of all things He, Himself, excepted since He was and is God. Creation and the Cosmos became through Him is repeated in John 1:10 ... with the added thought that the Cosmos know not the Great Artificer, and in verse 11, when He came to His own things He was not received. Verse 14 states that The Logos’ "flesh"
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became. Gal. 4:4 records that He became of a woman. Phil. 2:7 tells how He became in the likeness of men, even as of a slave. Phil. 2:8 follows the route of the downward descent of He Who upheld all things by the word of His power, being "held," having become obedient unto death, even the death of the cursed tree. His God-hood could never die, but that mode of flesh He had assumed, that corporeal house of His human nature, that fleshly bond that identified with humanity’s needs, pains and what we should have been (and by His redemptive love and grace can yet be), that flesh, He offered up to cement the bond and make the unity with the race complete.
The word FLESH, in John 1:14, is the Greek word Sarx, and its application to Christ in His role as The Logos becoming flesh seems to be of great import in the Scriptures. Heb. 5:7 speaks of it as "the days of His flesh," those days of His self-imposed limitations and humiliation, as well as those days in which His essential being as The Logos was co-mingled with His assumed human nature. The former aspect of His existence was with Him and He was well aware of it; for instance:
... how is it possible, if I tell you about the things which have to do with heaven, that you will believe? And no one has ascended into heaven except He Who came down out of heaven, the Son of Man (John 3:l2b, 13).
Or:
Not that anyone has discerningly seen the Father except He Who is from the presence of God. This One has with discernment seen the Father (John 6:46).
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Again, the following verses reveal that although He was the Son of Man during His brief sojourn in frail flesh, still He knew from whence He was and to where He would return:
I alone am the Bread, the Living Bread which out of heaven came down (John 6:50a).
What if you would be seeing with discernment the Son of Man ascending where He was before (John 6:62)?
Before Abraham came into existence, I AM
(John 8:58).
In anticipation that the days of His flesh would soon draw to a close with the death of that beautiful manhood, John 17:4 and 5 reveal Christ's inner longing for that far more noble state He had had before even the Cosmos existed:
I glorified you on the Earth, having carried through to completion that which you have given me to do. And now glorify me, Father, beside Yourself, with the glory which I was constantly having with you before the universe existed.
As the intermingling of these two states, the pure Deity and the sinless humanity, brought Christ to the spot where very soon Calvary would be a marker in human history, he drew upon the knowledge that at least some of humanity would see His glory, and thus He rested His weary but unsullied manhood upon the love He had with the Father before the foundation of the universe:
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... in order that they might be continually
beholding the glory which is mine, which You have given Me because You loved me before the foundation of the universe (John l7:24b).
This becoming FLESH of the Logos should cast some light upon the true rendering of 1 Tim. 3:16:
... God was manifest in the flesh (A.V.).
As readers may know, the manuscript controversy has raged over the presence or absence of a bar (-). Its absence would make the text read "Who" and its presence would make the text read "God." Of course, the Who would still have to be identified from a near or more remote context. John 1:1 states the Logos was God, and John 1:14 states that the Logos became FLESH. If the One manifested in flesh is Christ, the JEHOVAH-SAVIOUR, then it is still Deity that is manifest in flesh. If it is Christ, the Messiah, then it is still Deity. If it is Christ as the personification of godliness or piety, then it is still Deity. Christ as the Logos at the time of the beginning already WAS (John 1:1). He already was a personality; He was God. Not "a god," since at that time frame there was no one to call anyone "a god." His assuming flesh is the test of true faith against false prophets and that which is actually antichrist:
Because many deceivers went forth into the world, those who do not agree (with the teaching) that Jehoshua (Jehovah-Saviour), the Anointed One (Christ), sphere of flesh, this one is the deceiver and the antichrist (2 John 7; cp. 1 John 4:2, 3).
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It is clear to anyone reading of the resurrected Christ that now He has a body described as a body of glory (Phil. 3:21). Corporal, corruptible flesh and blood or that being subject to decay and death, is not worthy to inherit anything (see 1 Cor. 15:50), and a natural body certainly must be at least transmuted from the natural to the spiritual, as so clearly stated in 1 Cor. 15:44-47.
To that which has decayed to dust and has become a part of God's great Earth, and to the one being or having been a tenant of that house of clay, God gives a body as it pleases Him (1 Cor. 15:38). For the one enjoying the calling of Phil. 3:21, this will be like Christ's own body in resurrection, a wonderful instrument indeed if one will take time to read about His different acts of visibility after the resurrection. To a doubting Thomas, an invitation is given to thrust his hand into His open side. To those on the Emmaus road, He appeared in a different form. It seems He could be what He wanted to be and where He wanted to be. In many places His resurrection is attributed to God, but even in His death, the death of that man-hood life, He attributes to Himself as well as its resurrection (John 10:17, 18):
On this account My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life in order that again I might take it. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down Myself. Authority I have to lay it down, and authority I have to take it again. This commandment I received from My Father.
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The Logos Dwelt Among Us
In John 1:14 the Logos is said to have DWELT among us. Wuest translates closer to the original:
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... lived in a tent (His physical body) among us...
The phrase "lived in a tent" is a translation of the Gr. word eskenosen from the old verb skenoo, to pitch one's tent, to tent or tabernacle. The figure is from the O.T. tent or tabernacle, the manifest dwelling place of Jehovah and the meeting place of God and man. The figure is carried further and depicts the Logos as having tented in our humanity, and co-mingling the human and Divine in His person.
Omitting the parenthetical portion of John 1:14, the unbroken sentence reads:
... And the Logos flesh became and tabernacled among (in) us, full of grace and of truth (Gr. Text).
The writer continues:
… we beheld the glory of Him ... (Gr. Text).
"We beheld," Gr. etheasametha, denotes a calm, continuous contemplation of an object which remains before a spectator, an attentive and careful regard. There were those who did see the glory of the Presence (Shekinah -- to dwell) in this Logos who had tented in flesh. Peter wrote (2 Pet. 1:16):
For we did not follow out to their termination cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and personal coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but became spectators of that One's magnificence.
In a similar way, John wrote (I John 1:1):
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... that which we gazed upon as a spectacle, and our hands handled with a view to investigation, that which is concerning the Word (Logos) of Life.
There is no way of knowing whether the changing of the appearance of Christ's face and His apparel at the transfiguration was in John’s and Peter's minds as they wrote, but the scene on the Mount was likely a part of the whole viewing they had had of Him.
In a most beautiful way, John word-sketches for us the consummate image he sees in the glory of Christ:
... glory as an Only-begotten from his father. (Rotherham)
Looking at the Greek text will help us here:
Hos monogenous para patros
as only-begotten fr. with Father
This is the first time God as Father is used of Deity in relationship to the Logos. Bernard writes:
The manifested glory of the Word was as it were the glory of the Eternal Father SHARED WITH His Only Son.
The intimation seems to be that the Glory of Christ as the Logos seen in flesh was of the nature of one who partook of his father's essence, a son imaging out for all to see what His Father was like. Looking at this One, so full of grace and truth, was to look on Whom the Father's love was lavished.
The word "only-begotten" is a very human term, and is
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used of the young man, beloved of his mother, whom Christ raised from the dead (Lk. 7:12-14). It is used of Jairus' daughter (Lk. 8:42, see also Lk. 9:38). Among the Greek and Hebrew Ancients, this was a term of special distinction. In the Greek O.T. (LXX), it occurs in two of the Messianic Psalms:
... they pierced My hands and My feet. They counted all My bones, and they observed and looked upon Me. They parted My garments among themselves, and cast lots upon My raiment.... Deliver My soul from the sword, My Only-begotten One, from the Power of the dog (Gentile) (Psa. 21:16b, 17, 18, 20 LXX, Psa. 22, A.V.).
Many parts of this Psalm are quoted in the N.T. as having been fulfilled on the day of Christ's crucifixion. The prayer "Deliver My Soul" and "My Only-begotten One" both refer to the same Person, God's own most priceless possession, the Person of the Saviour. They are both terms of tender love for one's own heart, the One Most Beloved.
Monogenes (Only-begotten) occurs in Psa. 34:17 LXX (Psa. 35 in the A.V.) as follows:
Deliver My soul from their mischief, Mine Only-begotten One, from the lions.
Spurrell's Hebrew translation may have captured some of the intent of the original, starting at the 10th verse (Psa. 35) to the 17th verse:
... Yea, the Afflicted and Despised One, from him who carried Him off by force. False witnesses did rise up against Me, who laid to My charge that of which I was not conscious. They reward-
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ed Me evil for good; they seek the taking of My life. Yet when they were sick, My clothing was sordid rags (sackcloth, sign of desolation): I afflicted My soul with fasting, and in My bosom repeated My prayer (hiding one's face in grief while praying). As a friend, as an own brother, conducted I Myself, as one mourning for a mother, so was I saddened and bowed down. Yet in My adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together; the smiters gathered themselves together against Me, for what cause I knew not. They tore My flesh with stripes and ceased not. They polluted Me, they derided Me sneeringly, gnashing upon Me with their teeth. O Jehovah, how long wilt Thou regard it? Restore My Soul from their destruction, Mine Only One, from the lions.
The LXX of Psa. 24:16 (Psa. 25:16, A.V.) gives a pathetic use of Only-begotten:
Look upon me, and have mercy upon me, for I am an only child and poor.
Paul does not use the term, Only-begotten. Instead, he uses FIRST-BORN, an ancient title of great honor, denoting position and heirship.
Rom. 8:29: Christ would be "Firstborn" to those conformed to His image.
Col. 1:15: Christ, as the One who embodies forth the otherwise invisible God, is the First-born, i.e., Head and Heir of all creation.
Col. 1:18: Christ, the First-born out of death, holding the First-place in every realm, especially those identified with Him in death and resurrection.
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In speaking of the Logos becoming flesh, John draws attention to the essential and vital relationship between the Logos and God by the use of a very human analogy, that of a well-beloved Son with a Father. The analogy casts God in the role of the Begetter, and the Logos (Who appeared in the midst of humanity as a man) as the Only-begotten. Human attributes of pro-creation are attributed to Deity in order to vividly project to our minds the unique relationship between the Logos as embodied in flesh, and absolute Deity, Who, in His invisibility and un-material nature, is certainly without sexual parts or passions.
Strictly translating the passage, it would merely be drawing the analogy of a beloved only-begotten or only-born son with a father, whereas in John 3:16 and 1 John 4:9 the identification is more exact:
For in such a manner did God love the world, insomuch that His Son, the uniquely-begotten One, He gave...
In this was clearly shown the love of God in our case, because His Son, the uniquely begotten One, God sent off into the world on a mission in order that we may live through Him.
In both of the above verses, TON MONOGENE (the Only-begotten) is speaking of Christ. He is called "Son" and is spoken of as being "sent" in full awareness of His prior existence, and in anticipation of this SON-FATHER relationship, the Logos tented in a body of flesh in our humanity. The very terms, SON and FATHER, suppose that there is a humanity to whom these terms have actual meaning, that is, one who is actually of the substance of his father, and who, as such being well disposed, is greatly beloved.
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The Scriptures distinguish between the Lord Jesus as the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD and the many children of God (John 1:12). These "children" (tekna, pl. of child, fr. to beget or bear) are made such by God's power effected through their faith in Christ, thus, and in such a manner, the Logos coming into the world was received by some. It is unfortunate that in John 1:12 tekna is translated "sons" in the A.V. The text is telling how one becomes a "child" of God, not a "son." In Scripture, "Son" is used of maturity, heirship, and of a certain character. Eph. 1:5-6 is a good illustration of this. Adoption in the Greek meaning is "The Placing of a Son-Heir," not as in our modern society where it means the placing of an infant. The "adult" was brought before official wit- nesses, given the adopter's name and title, and appointed as heir. An official date was usually given as to when he could enter upon his inheritance. The moment the recorder's ingot of bronze was struck and the instrument of adoption was sealed, the adoptee lost all his former identity. His debts were canceled and he stood forth in all the rights and duties of his adopter. The one "believing" in Eph. 1:13 was sealed, and it pleased the Father to place such a one in reference to Himself, as a "son-heir," because they were made accepted or engraced in the Beloved Son. As such, of course, they were made to sit together in the heavenlies, in Christ (Eph. 2:6). It is such a "SON," well-loved, that those beheld when they saw the Logos and the glory that was His, a human-like presentation of God with a human nature and human form and human fashion, not, however, for one moment being other than still the Logos, albeit, now a composite of the Logos, plus MAN. We know from Phil. 2:7 that from this point on until after His resurrection, the LOGOS-MAN took the role of a MAN-SLAVE. His inherent power and Deity was never set aside, but was never used for or in behalf of Himself, only for others. He, in this, became "lower than all" to raise us “higher than all.”
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Earlier in this study, John 1:18 was cited:
Absolute Deity in its essence no one has ever yet seen. God uniquely-begotten, He Who is in the bosom of The Father, that One fully explained Deity.
Wuest, in his expanded translation, as above, has indicated God's invisibility as stated elsewhere in the Word of God (see Col. 1:15; 1 Tim. 1:17, and intimated in John 5:37; 6:46). The portion of the text that draws attention is the words:
God uniquely-begotten, etc ...
What is implied in verse 14 --
monogenous para Patros
only-begotten fr. with father
is bluntly stated in the 18th verse:
monogenes Theos
only-begotten God.
A reader of the A.V. will read "Only Begotten Son" (ho monogenes Huios) after the Textus Receptus (and other translators of note). Westcott and Hort follow the best of the Greek manuscripts (Aleph B C L) and later fragments and read:
Only-begotten God...
Whatever is read, the sense of the passage is in keeping
with what has already been stated in John 1:1, 1:3 and 1:14,
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that GOD and ONLY-BEGOTTEN are combined in one person. The Logos is stated to be GOD in verse 1. The Logos and FLESH are united in verse 14. In this God-flesh combine, the end result would be as the best manuscripts indicate:
... God Only-begotten...
The 18th verse certainly includes the already stated truth of the Logos tenting in flesh, verse 14. No contrast is being drawn between a "God" that has always existed, and a "God" that has had a beginning, as some allege. It is consistent with the Divinity of our Lord that He be called by the affectionate name, "Only-begotten (John 1:14, Heb.), Only One" and "The Son, The Only-begotten"(John 3:16) and "The Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matt. 16:16). In respect to this last title, it is noteworthy that of it Christ stated to Peter:
... flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but My Father who is in heaven...
If the title had reference to the "child" born of Mary, no supernatural illumination would have been required by Peter, since "all" men are born of women. In this respect, also, we hear the statement of Christ:
All things to Me were delivered by My Father, and no one has a full and experiential knowledge of the Son except the Father, neither does anyone have a full and experiential knowledge of the Father except the Son, and he, whoever he may be, to whom the Son desires to reveal Him (Matt. 11:27).
Whoever has full knowledge of the Father must be in essence, GOD, or else this is an impossibility.
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It is the Son Who reveals the Father, One Who is of His essence, of His form. An absolute interrelation of equalities is set forth in these two titles as well as in a multitude of other titles. It is the office of the "Beloved Son" to reveal the Father. The oneness of this essential being and its relationship is beautifully expressed:
... He who is in (Gr. eis, into) the bosom of the Father, that One fully explained Deity (John l:18b).
The expression, "He who is in the bosom of the Father," although a figure of speech attributing human physical parts to God, nonetheless denotes a timeless presence or intelligent Entity residing in what is here likened to a bosom of a Father. The strength of the preposition “eis,” into the bosom, is the implied reality of an active element in God, going forth and returning. This active element is the creative agency of the Godhood, (as we know from John 1:3 and elsewhere) and this verse declares this One fully explained Deity. Or it could be said, "This One is the revelation Agency to explain Deity." The word in this text rendered "explain" by Wuest and "declared" in the A.V., is the Gr. word, exegesato, making the text read very forcefully that the Only-begotten Son (or God Only-begotten), is the Exegesis of God, that is, it is His role to interpret or translate God for us. To show forth the supreme competency of the Logos, to interpret Deity, is the reason for this entire Prologue of 18 verses in John's Gospel. The Word (Logos) of God in flesh being a living and visual narrative spells out for us in very human and touching terms and deeds what God is like. The question might as well be asked, "What then is God like? What are His thoughts? What are His ways?" According to the concept set forth in this verse, God is Christ-like: He is love; He is gracious; He is kind; He is gentle; He is longsuffering; He is redemptive; He is all that we see embodied in Christ. This certainly includes righteousness, as stated in 1 Cor. 1:30 and 2 Cor. 5:21:
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But as for you, out from Him as a source are you in Christ Jesus who became wisdom for us from God, both righteousness and sanctification and redemption...
We beg you in Christ's stead; be reconciled at once to God. He who did not know sin (in an experiential way), on behalf of us and instead of us, was made (the representative of) sin, in order that, as for us, we might become a righteousness of God in Him.
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The Logos FLESH Became
While John 1:14 anticipates a "full grown, mature and adult Son-heir from with a father," still the mode of becoming "flesh" is set out in the Scriptures:
... before they came together, she was found with child by the Holy Spirit (Rotherham, Matt. 1:18).
... for that which is in her hath been begotten, is of the Holy Spirit (Rotherham, Matt. 1:20).
The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall over-shadow thee: Wherefore even that which is to be born, Holy shall be called, Son Of God (Rotherham, Lk. 1:35).
Although it may be repetitious, nonetheless it needs to be stated again and again, if need be, that it was not the
"becoming flesh, i.e., man" that constituted the Deity of Christ
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(or the Logos), nor was it the mode of His becoming flesh that constituted His Deity. The supernatural conception effected upon Mary by the Holy Spirit, the physical processes of that birth, the state of Mary, the attending unusual events, none of these were the grounds of His Deity. The Deity of the Logos resided in Himself prior to these events, and these events had no power to confer Deity, or to take it away. What is given to us in these verses is the method whereby the Logos could become flesh and so tent in our midst.
The first citation, Matt. 1:18, tells the means by which the genesis of Jesus Christ was brought about. Mary was "found" to have become pregnant; Joseph as her betrothed and hence legally bound (Gen. 29:21; Deut. 22:23) was evidently shocked and aware that death by stoning could ensue, but not wanting to brand her as an adulteress, sought about some means to give her a bill of divorcement, according to Deut. 24:1, and avoid public scandal. (The Talmud uses the account of Matthew to support its charge of the illegitimate birth of Jesus.) As a consequence of this inner struggle, a Messenger of God assures him that this is indeed:
... of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:20).
In distinction to Matthew's account, Luke 1:35 tells how this conception took place, or by what means.
The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the POWER of the Most High shall OVER-SHADOW thee...
The POWER of the MOST HIGH would OVER-SHADOW her. The translated word OVER-SHADOW is episkiasei, from Epi, over, and Skia, a shadow. The Greeks used it of a dense, obscuring substance. With the accusative it
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is used of Peter's shadow over-shadowing some of the sick. It is used of the bright, shining cloud used of God to illumine and transfigure those upon the Mount (Matt. 17:5; Mk. 9:7; Lk. 9:34). The Shekinah glory of God's Presence and Power was manifested to Israel frequently by this Cloud, and Ex. 40:38 cites the example of its over-shadowing the Tabernacle. Hence, this Cloud over-shadowed this maid, and, as a result of this, a Divine personality was thrust upon the history of mankind. In the words of John 1:14:
... and we gazed with attentive and careful regard and spiritual perception at His glory, a glory such as that of a uniquely-begotten Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
In this association, the vivid remarks found in Phil. 2:7 take on new luster:
... having taken the outward expression of a bond slave, which expression comes from and is truly representative of His nature (as Deity), entering into a new state of existence, that of mankind.
With the over-shadowing Glory of His Presence, a mode of expression was found for the Deity. The words of Phil. 2:8 graphically present this:
... and being found to be in outward guise as man, He stooped very low....
In keeping with the above, Heb. 10:5 throws light back upon the Holy Spirit of God over-shadowing this pure maiden and the object in mind for this:
Wherefore, when coming into the world He says,
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a BODY YOU PREPARED FOR ME.
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The translated word "prepare" is the Gr. verb katertiso, to fully perfect a thing for its full use or destination. While the A.V. used it of "mending" nets, in all likelihood the folding of nets for future use is intended. The body of our Lord that was formed as a dwelling place for this Over-shadowing Power and Presence of God was perfectly fitted for its intended end. A facet of this is touched upon in Heb. 10:9-10:
Behold, I come to do Thy Will...
... by means of which will (God's will that His Son should be sacrificed for sin) we stand permanently set apart for God and His service through the offering of the BODY of Jesus Christ, once for all.
The prepared body of our Lord was ultimately so solidly identified with the race that He did, in respect to sin, what we should have done willingly, saying in effect to God, "Look upon me, I have sinned against Thee, slay me for I am worthy of death and unworthy of being owned as your own." In a servant form and dress, He always did the will of God, not as a compulsory servant, but as one who was a servant for love of his master. Note Psa. 40:6 in this setting:
... My ears Thou hast opened (bored).
Ex. 21:5-6 comments on this:
And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master ... I will not go free:
... and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul, and he shall serve him forever.
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Since mutilation of the body was forbidden by the Mosaic Law, evidently a bond-servant's ears were pierced so a precious jewel could be inserted as a token of the love between master and slave. Such an ear-pierced slave depicts one who is keenly harking to his master's voice and is fully desirous of carrying out his will. So, too, with our Lord, the body of this Divine Servant was to be made an offering for sin. Not His, for He had none. His being was so merged into the warp and woof of our humanity that He identified with the chasm and the abyss generated by human frailty and sinfulness that would keep us from being aware of our potential as sons of God, and from entering into the kind of status whereby we would feel at home with the God of all love, grace, and holiness. Through the instrumentality of that body He steps forth to be Himself, that needed bridge between what man is and what God is. The bridge? A stark figure on an old rugged timber on a skull-like hill outside of Jerusalem. Light was eclipsed at that hour. Darkness swaddled the earth as the body of the Lord of Creation was dying. In the very words of Scripture:
But, as for you, you denied the Holy One and the Just One...and killed the Author of the Life (Acts 3:14-15, portions).
This was man’s response to the overture of peace so lovingly made by God. At this point in time, man could have been charged with the awesome crime of being the crucifier of Him Who was the embodiment of God's love, purity, righteousness and person. Rather than this being held to mans’ account, a beautiful and simple prayer on the lips of the dying Christ reflects the mind of the suffering victim and the mind of the God that was in Him and that filled all things:
Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Lk. 23:34).
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In this simple interposing prayer lies the key to God's forgiveness. This is well illustrated in Eph. 4:32:
And be becoming kind to one another, tender-hearted, FORGIVING EACH OTHER EVEN AS AND JUST AS ALSO GOD IN CHRIST FORGAVE YOU.
What a turn-about for God to make on this grave issue. The stroke of man with scourge and rod was turned about to be an instrument of healing of that great breach between man and God:
Yet He was pierced for transgressions that were ours,
was crushed for iniquities that were ours,
The chastisement for our well-being was upon Him,
By His stripes there was healing for us.
We all like sheep had gone astray.
Every man to his way had we turned,
And Yahweh caused to light upon Him the guilt of us all (Isa. 53:5-6, Rotherham text).
The deed of shame was the ultimate expression of how insensitive man, even the most religious of men, could become to a person such as the spotless Son of Man, Son of God. Even as Christ forgave, so too in this manner God forgave. In Christ's death we read the guilt of the race, at the very least, having strayed from God. God looks at this deed and lets it become the offering for sin. Sin has exacted its ultimate price. God will make it henceforth as the grounds of propitiation (through faith in His blood, Rom. 3:25; for our sins,
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I John 2:2; 4:10) between man and Himself. The blood that flowed would henceforth be considered the blood of the great redemption as stated in Eph. 1:7:
In Whom we are having our redemption through His blood, the putting away of trespasses according to the wealth of His grace.
On the basis of that act, our Lord's death, God has instituted a whole series of imputations to those who were the object or beneficiary of that death, such as imputing faith for righteousness (Rom. 4:5), Righteousness without works (Rom. 4:6-7), and Not imputing sin (Rom. 4:8; cp. 4:22-25). It is certainly in this sense that Christ was made to be sin for us as cited in 2 Cor. 5:21. In verse 19, sin is not imputed, and it surely follows that in this manner His righteousness is made to be ours in Him (cp. Rom. 5:17-19). At no time did Christ ever become the essence of sin, which is disobedience to the known will of God. Some have made an issue of His words:
It has been finished and stands complete (John 19:30).
There is an issue revolving around the fact that He spoke this BEFORE He died. It might be mentioned that He had similarly spoken in John 17:4:
I glorified You on the Earth, having carried through to completion that which You have given Me to do.
This, too, was before His death by some time. When the Scriptures speak of "blood," it denotes a life laid down as a sacrifice. The amount of blood shed would have little bearing on the case, but if it seems to be an issue, let it be stated that the Roman Lictor knew how to order an official scourging or see that it was carried out in the power and authority of Rome. Isa. 52:13-14 describes the conqueror and the sufferer:
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Lo! My Servant prospereth,
He riseth, and is lifted up
and becometh very high:
The more that many were
amazed at Thee:
So marred beyond any man's
was His appearance,
And His form, beyond the sons
of men (Rotherham's text).
Who shall judge how much blood flowed when He was scourged with leaden whip, or when wooden or iron nails were driven through His hands and feet? Is it even proper for us to so inquire? Isn't it enough, if it were but a drop, to say with Peter:
…costly blood, highly honored, blood as of a lamb that is without blemish and spotless, the Blood of Christ (1 Pet. 1:9).
Is it not more fitting, since God cloaked those dire hours in bands of darkness, to affirm with simple faith that which stands written? Rom. 5:7-8 states:
But God is constantly proving His own love to us, because while we were yet sinners, Christ in behalf of us, died.
Much more, therefore, having been justified now by His blood, we shall be saved through Him from the wrath.
In writing the above, no supposition is made as to whether His blood was different than any other blood, but one who is familiar with the use of blood in the O.T. typification knows that the life of the soul or life of the person resided
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in the blood. Because of this identity, the blood of every living thing that died was looked upon as having given up its life that others might live. Out of this respect, God forbade the Jew from eating blood:
... then will I set My Face against the person that partaketh of the blood, and will cut him off (death) from the midst of his people (Lev. 17:10b, Rotherham).
The reason is expanded in verse 11:
For as for the life (soul) of the flesh, in the blood it is, therefore have I given it unto you upon the altar, to put a propitiatory-covering over your lives, for the blood it is which by virtue of the life maketh propitiation.
The use of blood in these rites represented a perfect life yielded up to God; the offerer was represented as being accepted in the perfections of the offering, not in himself. Imperfect man could not approach, have access to, or fellowship with a God of completeness or holiness. Thus, God met man at the Mercy-seat, where Mercy was enthroned and a perfect representative, accepted of God, was given. The perfect victim was accepted with sweetness, as also the one identified with the sin of man. Sin must be slain, thus death to sin in the victim followed. The impression to be carried to the mind is difficult to follow in the case of lambs and bullocks, but the two birds are easy to follow in their story. Lev. 14 gives the law concerning the leper, leprosy being the great type of sin. The scene is cast outside the camp. The leper is rep-resented by a priest, i.e., the one doing the offering. Two sparrows represent the poor man's offering, and the running water and the earthen vessel represent holding the living water and the blood.
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The one bird is slain over the living water, and the other is identified with the wood, the scarlet (worm), and the lowly hyssop (to apply the blood to the man). The wings of the living bird were touched with the wood, the scarlet (Psa. 22:6: the crushed worm gives forth the royal scarlet color) and the blood. It was then set free. In effect the story is saying: "I died and gave My life on an old timber. I gave My life of purity for thee; in Me you are accepted, and in Me you are set free." The leper's last glimpse of the bird would be a flash of Royal color winging its way into the heavens. Where sinful man could not be accepted in himself, the most innocent of God's creatures would be used to illustrate His mercy, love, and forgiveness. How much more is the fulfillment of this simple object lesson in the events of Calvary and the empty tomb?
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The formation or composition of the body of our Lord has been speculated upon. Among theories that have been propounded is one that suggests that the sinful nature of man is coded in the male genes, but not the female. So, if the male chromosomes were bypassed in the conception of Christ, then the ensuing child so conceived would be minus this genetic defect and as a result would be sinless. On this basis, all female genetic chromosome coding is incapable of passing on undesirable traits, characteristics, or disease aberrations (such as a strong tendency to bleeding, as in a hemophiliac, transmitted entirely by the female). Unless one is ready to admit that the physical body of Christ was far from perfect, the theory advanced above is frail indeed as an explanation of the sinlessness of Christ. Certainly, women are not without faults and some will admit to being sinful. Like Mary in her confession:
And Mary said, My soul is extolling my Lord, and my spirit exultingly rejoiced in God my
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Saviour (Lk. 1:46, 47).
Evidently, it was out of a real need that Mary confessed God as her Saviour. In so confessing, she was also confessing Christ, since the title is used interchangeably of God and Christ, as briefly indicated:
... this One is truly the Saviour of the world
(John 4:42).
... waiting to welcome the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:20).
... by command of God our Saviour (1 Tim. 1:1).
... in the sight of our Saviour God (1 Tim. 2:3).
...The living God, Who is the Saviour (1 Tim. 4:10). ... the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus
(2 Tim. 1:10).
... God our Saviour ... Christ Jesus our Saviour
(Tit. 1:3, 4).
... God our Saviour (Tit. 2:10).
The combined title of "God and Saviour" is applied to Christ in Tit. 2:13:
... even the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself on our behalf that He might set us free....
Genealogically, Mary was of the Royal line of David through his son, Nathan (Lk. 3:31). Her direct father was Heli (Lk. 3:23). The direct father of Joseph was Jacob (Matt. 1:16). He, in turn, was of the line of David through Solomon (Matt. 1:6). Joseph, by law, was son-in-law to Heli (Lk. 3:23). Mary's lineage in Luke's account is traced to Adam and includes many historical figures, each with their faults and virtues. It is by no means a "sinless line." What is being said is simply this: if God was seeking to communicate in human form, and did so,
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He certainly could prepare that body in any way that it
pleased Him, including the coding of the chromosomes. It was not His sinless nature that made Him Deity, for Adam was not Deity before he sinned, but He was Deity by His inherent being and essence apart from and irrespective of His mode of manifestation. The mode could change, Deity cannot. The mode could be an accommodation, whereas Deity is by its very nature, eternal. Deity is impossible of death, but a body with its attendant human nature, albeit, not sinful, would and did become the medium of Divine redemption. The varied facets of that Life that was lived among men, as a man, was the most beautiful life this world has or will ever see. It is also a promise of what these lives of ours can and will be as God's Spirit sculpts out the likeness of Christ in us. There will come to pass what is so finely stated in the following:
And we all with unveiled face receiving and reflecting the glory of the Lord, into the same image are being transformed, from glory into glory, even as from a Spirit that is Lord (2 Cor. 4:18, Rotherham Text).
Or: Eph. 3:16-21,
... that He would grant to you according to the wealth of His glory, with power to be strengthened through the Spirit in the inward man, that the Christ might finally settle down and feel completely at home in your hearts through your faith, in love having been firmly rooted and grounded in order that you may be able to grasp with all the saints what is the breath and width and height and depth, and to know experientially the love of Christ which surpasses experiential knowledge in order that you may be filled up to the measure of the fullness of God.
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(Inside back cover)
QUESTION: "How can we carry on every-day business if we act upon the rule in Matthew 6:34, to take no thought for the morrow?"
ANSWER: The passage should be rendered, "Be not anxious, or solicitous," which is the meaning of the Greek. "Be not unduly concerned for your life." Be not over-careful about tomorrow. Such thought is especially applicable today, when corroding cares are allowed to eat into the very heart's core of society.
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QUESTION: "Can the Deity of Christ be reconciled with the text in Matthew 24:26, which speaks of His knowledge being limited?"
ANSWER: The passage in question is, "Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only." No one who reads the Holy Scriptures with any attention can fail to see that our Lord sometimes speaks in His human nature, and at other times His language rises from the infinite depths of His Godhead. We read of Him that He "increased in wisdom and stature," in which case His human nature alone is referred to, and we are also informed that in Him are "hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2). In the passage before us Christ speaks not simply in His human nature, but in His condition of humiliation. Nor does the genuine believer see any incongruity in this.
It is perfectly consistent with the most entire and sincere belief in our Lord's Deity to hold that when He vouchsafed to become the Son of Man, He took our nature fully, and voluntarily entered into all the conditions of humanity, and among others, into that which makes our growth in all ordinary knowledge gradual and limited.