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tended to confirm the disciples in this prejudice . For its object was to inculcate on one hand the evanescence of Moses and the l&w , and the perpetuity of Christ and hist gospel on the other . Our Lord , indeed * was aware of thfc tendency , anc | , adcprdjjngly ,
before the scene took place , lie expressljr declared to his disciples that he was about t < x suffer , Malt . xvi . 21 ; and it is remarkable that he repeats the caution immediately after it , xvii . 2 £ . His admonition might be understood to this ^ effect : " Ydu have seen , ; niy friends , the symbol of my future glorjr ,
let it not betray you into error : the form of God , the divine and splendid form which I have assumed , is not designed to pourtray that I am to live in splendour and immortality on earth ; this form you see has already disappeared y I must soon assume the form of a slave , and suffer on a cross the
death of a slave / . The attribute most essential to the nature of God is superiority to death $ the phrase therefore , " To be in the form of God , " or like God , may principally mean to be immortal or live for ever : see Gen * iii . 22 * Now if we
place before us the considerations , that the Jews expected their Messiah to live for ever ; that the transffguration was calculated to encourage , in the disciples who beheld it , the hope of their divine Master living in
splendour and immortality on the earth ; that he himself resigned the fond idea and admonished his companions of their error ; that finally , slaves when put to death were generally crucified ; we shall then have before us the
circumstances on which the language of the apostle is founded , namely , *« Let each of you have in view not his own interest only , but also that of others ; for let that principle be in you which was in Christ Jesus , who being in the form of God , did not think of the
violence of retaining his likeness to God , but having divested himself of it , lie assu med the form of a slave , being in the likeness of men , and in structure proved to be a man , he humbled himself , being obedient unto death , land that a death on the cross . "
Having represented Christ ; as hr the forni of God , the apojstl ^ to pi ^ ent ap erroii eous conclusion , asserts jtt ' ijfi be was ^ man , 'f being in the likeness of men $ * Thejse , or similar to tfte » e ,
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were the words of the Gnostics : and lest he might appear to countenance then nojtion , that Christ was a man only in appearance , Paul adds another clause , . «'« and in frame found as a man , ' * or , " proved to he a man . '
While Jesus was transformed , a yoicefrom heaven proclaimed , <« This is my beloved son , hear ye iiim 5 " > vhicfct means , " Hitherto ye have heard and
obeyed my servant Moses but npw Moses disappears , and he who remains is my soiry him , from hen ^ efiirth , ye are called upon to imitate arid obey . " To this declaration the apostle seems to allude when he adds , " For this
reason God highly exalted him , and bestowec | on him a name above ev ^ rjr name , ( even above the name of Moses ;) that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend in heaven and upon
earth and beneath the earth , and every tongue should confess Jesus Christ to be Lord , unto the glory of God the Father . " The apostle , it is observable , does not say that in ** the name of ray Son , " the name meant to be above
every name , see Heb . i 59 but " in the name of Jesus : " the object of this substitution was to lead his readers to associate with the name of our Saviour , as a man , all the honour due to him as the Son of God , his enemies
on one hand having attached to it the bitterest ignominy , and the Gnostics , on the other , anathematized it with curses . See 1 Cor . xii . 3 , and Origen cont . Cels , p . & 94 . Every sincere believer is called upon to acknowledge Jesus as his Lord ; that is as a master whose
commands he is bound to obey , arid whose example it is his duty to follow . This was a sacrifice too great to be made by men so depraved as the Gnostics . They , therefore * denied
the obligation to acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord . See Trenaeus , p . 9 » To tliis Paul seemingly alludes when sayibg , " every tcingue should confess Jesus Christ to be tor ^ li' '
According to the deceiver ^ Cr ^ atow of the world , bei i ^ g evfl , wk ^ not ^ proper object of . woi ^ hip ^ affe cting to glorify sip , imaginary divinity of their own which they called ' * Bythus . ' * Thi ^ impious tenet ih $ apostle thus sets aside , ^ tifiuat : in t ^ ie name of Jiesus every knee should betid , to the glory < # CJ ^ d tli e ^^ be ^ ff v : J ^ Y JmiM JONES ,
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Biblieal CMticism . 4 ~ 0 nPkiUp . ii . 5—1 U \ QS
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1818, page 125, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2473/page/45/
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