the need for theological precision
[Unless otherwise noted, all quotes are from Bullinger’s Decades and have been lightly adapted.]
What we believe matters. It matters whether what we believe is true or false. There are consequences to the ideas we believe. There are real-world results for what we hold to in our own minds.
And in no area is this more true than in our doctrine of the Savior.
The order of these topics has required that I first speak generally about God, both his unity and his tri-unity, and after that I further deal specifically with the persons of the reverend Trinity. Now I’ll treat first of all of our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and man, then of the Holy Spirit, and if our minds are able, then all things we speak and hear will result to the glory of God’s name and to the salvation of our souls.
Ultimate and immediate ends. The ultimate goal of our study is that God will receive glory, but the immediate end of our study is that our souls will be saved. We have to hold these two together in all our theological study. A ship needs ballast and propulsion if it’s to sail; one to drive her forward, the other to keep her steady. Our theology must have a focus on the glory of our God, but it must also stay moored to our need for this glory, that is, our redemption.
In other words, doctrine matters for our salvation.
The everlasting Father, the origin and author of all things, begot the Son by an everlasting and inexpressible begetting. For the whole scripture with one agreement calls God a Father, and truly, an eternal and everlasting Father. But none is a father of himself, instead he’s a father of his son. Because God is the everlasting Father, he must therefore necessarily have an everlasting Son, equal to him in all respects, co-eternal, and consubstantial with him.
The Fatherhood of God is a foundational truth. It’s essential for understanding both who God is and who we are. The eternal Sonship of Jesus is also similarly foundational, and yet, I find the doctrine of eternal generation harder to comprehend than the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God. Eternally begotten but never beginning. Eternally generated yet never a time before his generation. These truths are beyond us. Bullinger offers a needed caution.
The simple and plain testimonies concerning the everlasting begetting of the Son by the Father, delivered to us out of the scriptures and therefore most true, are sufficient, I think, for those who are curious. For the scripture does not here satisfy the vain desires of curious men, nor does it reason these points subtly for us. It rather delivers and sets down only a few things in which it is our part to believe. But that which the scripture either does not explain or only does so in a few words, either we are ignorant of to our health, or else, we ought to stick to that which is set down and not seek any further for more.
Not that we’re the first to wrestle with these truths. There’s comfort in that isn’t there? Bullinger explores the doctrine of Jesus’ eternal generation, the significance of homoousius, the heresy of Arianism, the theological battles at Nicaea. False teaching in this area very nearly tore the church apart, and that not long after the death of the apostles. Jesus promised he would build his church, but he also promised it wouldn’t be a smooth process.
But the foundation for our understanding of Jesus’ eternal generation yet complete equality with God comes not from early church councils but the very testimony of scripture. The Gospel of John is filled with Jesus’ teaching that he is equally God with the Father. This is why the Pharisees wanted to stone him. This was why he was delivered to the Romans to be put to death. ‘You, a mere man, claim to be God.’ Yet scripture bears abundant testimony that it was true. Jesus, though fully man, was also fully God. And he was fully God from before the beginning of time.
This truth is central for our hope, because it is the reason Jesus can forgive our sins. He must be God to forgive the fact of sin, but he must be man to forgive us our sins. He must be utterly unlike us to make atonement. He must be like us to take our punishment. These are great mysteries, and they require faith without an argumentative spirit. It’s not that we’re not allowed to ask questions. It’s not that scripture simply retreats into the claim that ‘it’s a mystery’ and thus beyond our comprehension. It’s not that there’s no place for wrestling with these truths. But at some point we must put down our questions and simply trust in Jesus.
I could bring innumerable examples of this kind out of the scriptures, which witness that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is of one and the same nature with the Father, and therefore is very God of very God, but I trust that to holy hearers and those not given to arguing what I have already given will suffice.
Simply put, what scripture says we must believe.
Bullinger looks at a few of the early church heresies that developed as well as Arianism. Eutychianism, Monothelitism, Nestorianism. You can find out more about these from a good systematic theology. Bullinger’s summary, paraphrasing the great creeds, is worth noticing.
Against these early church heresies the common assertion of the whole church, holding fast to the opinion of scripture, has taught that Christ has two natures, and the properties of those natures are to be confessed; these natures are so coupled together into one undivided person, neither the divine nature is changed into the human nor the human into the divine, but both of them retain and keep their own nature, and both of them subsist in the unity of the person. For Christ, according to the disposition of his divine nature is one and the same immortal; according to the disposition of his human nature, mortal; and this very same immortal God and mortal man is the only Saviour of the world.
What a statement, ‘this same immortal God and mortal man is the only Saviour of the world.’ This is how Jesus brings glory to God, by bringing salvation to man. We bring glory to God by looking for his Son for our salvation. This is why our doctrine of the Saviour matters, because it’s the source of our salvation.
Every so often we hear news of a plane landing at the wrong airport. I’m not sure this is how it happens, but if a plane is off by a few degrees after it takes off, then it will certainly be off by miles when it lands. So in our Christology, getting even some of the smallest details of our Saviour’s nature off results not in paradise but perdition. Trusting in a false saviour is a hope that leads us to damnation rather than salvation.
Yet holding to the faith delivered by the scriptures and faithfully received by God’s people since the beginning of this age, that is the safe path. Salvation for our souls and glory to our God, it all depends on a right understanding of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, God’s only and eternally begotten Son.
Since it is without argument that this faith and doctrine from Christ’s time even to our own age has flourished in the holy church of God, and against the innumerable assaults of Satan and heretics it has remained most firm, that this doctrine is delivered and confirmed by the testimonies of scripture and the results of holy councils, I exhort you, dearly beloved, that, calling on the name of Christ, you may persevere and continue in this same doctrine, and being joined by true faith and obedience to Christ – very God and man – you may give continual thanks, worshipping him that reigns forever.
Next, Christ as king and priest
