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AUT . IXI /^ 4 Itngyrttirice t ^ the $ ripture $ 9 ahcf the fcauseV to which the general Mis-tnterpretation elf ihein is owing . By Wffliarn Joferis . l ^ rirp . pp . 60 . Lofngman and Co .
Mr . Iqbns ' s object , in which be appears to . us to have succeeded , is to establish the following rule in the reading of the scriptures , — "—to receive what is plain and
explicit as certain arid indubitable - > to reserve what is doubtful and obscure for further investigation ; and , by no means and on no account , to wrest the sense of what is hard to be understood , so as to contradict that which is obvious
and plan . " ( P * 55 . ) Examples of judicious interpretation trf th £ scfriptiires illustrate and recofnitiend the author ' s " Rale : " e . g . , " Acts xviu 11 . Many adduce the passage thus translated" ( strange gods )
" as , a prd <» f pf t&e incarnation of deity ; one of the four doctrines , according to Dr . Buchanan , ( see Christian Researches in India ) "which the scriptures reveal the most plainly and explicitly of all other *! , ^ This passage ought to be translated thtis- ^* Others said , he
appears to ba a ptoclaimer of Strange ( i . e . foreign ) , « terndns ; because he preached to theni esus and tfce Resurrection / By derflons J , $ he Athenians , being heathen idolaters , meant an intermediate
order of beings between God and man , some o | which ^ rere g ood and some e vil . irA ^ rijfore the incarnation of any deity be implied in the expression , it must be some Pagan deity or demon / ' ( P . 30 . )'
John i . i , is adduced in proof ( of ) the saint doctrine ( the incarnation of ^« ty } . It is alleged tha t no Unit arian int erpretation of this passage is tolerable , that no Socinian torture will here ***** out turn i but that on the ortho-®* or Trinitarian hypothesis every thmg is easy , consistent and satisfacto-JJ . Let us try this passage fairly upon
* ' miUrian principles , and vre shall soon ** whether it will end in the consisten-< much boaBted W , err involve us in ^ most palpable absurdity . By logos Jjj word , in the firat clause , say the or" ^ ox , is meant God the Son—the
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second person in the Trinity ; and by lheos Kyod ± in the second clause , is mearit God the Father , or the first person in the Trinity . Now instead of the terms logos , the word , and theos , God , let us substitute the orthodox explanations , and mark the result . * In the beginning was God the Sod , and God the Son was with God the Father , and God the Son was God the Father / Or . xhus :
s In the beginning was the second person in the Trinity , and the second person in the Trinity was with the first person in the Trinity , and the second person in the Trinity was the first person in the Trinity . ' " ( Pp-3 1 , 32 . )
«* X Pet . i . 4 . ' That ye must be par ' takers of the divine nature . * If it had so happened that this expression had no where in the scriptures been applied to Christians , but that it had been said in reference to Christ , that he had been partaker of the divine nature ( the verjr language assumed by reputed
ortfeddoxy ) how loud would be the language of triumph over the scripture-torturing Socinians ; in how contemptuous a manner would every effort at explanation , be treated , how hardily would it J * e asserted that they denied the very words of scripture in their plainesf , most obvious meaning , and , in a word , what would not be said against them , infidels ,
deists , &c . &c . Yet notwithstarrding all this , had it been expressl y said of Christ , that he was partaker ojthe divine nature ^ and the expression had never been applied to Christians , nor supposed to be applicable to them , the Socinian torture would have been the only true method of explaining the expression , and it would not have evinced the deity
of Christ , any more than it does at present the deity of alJ true Christians . *' ( Pp . 33 , 34 . ) We agree with Mr . Johns , ( p . 43 ynote ^) that ' * to speak correctly , wie should always say the deity , and never the divinity ^ of CbrisU All Christians believe in his
divinity or divine commission . ' * Upon ! J * £ wj ^ ojie , we know of no Vnitarian tr ^ ct fit ^ r thq > a ihisy to be put Into $ * e ha nd ** of $$£ ious , intelligent religious inquire rs * To unlearned CI * rislf * H 8 it seems peculiarly suitable , since the author , though evidently a scholar , has
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Hetiiew . —Johns ' s Importance of tie Scriptures . 617
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voi . vui . 4 J-
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1813, page 617, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2432/page/57/
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