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tie ; but the comparison of Heb . ii , 2 with Gal . iii . 19 and ( which reference he omits ) Acts vii . 53 , if those passages are to be understood according to the general opinion of commentators , apparently supported by Jewish traditions , is much more to the purpose ; and as we have doubts on the subject , we
request our readers to observe , that admitting , throughout , the translation " angels , " and understanding the passage to affirm the superiority of Christ to spiritual beings employed in accomplishing the Divine purposes under the former dispensations , it is still the superiority of Christ ' s office , and the dignity to which God has exalted him , which are spoken of , and no inference can be thence fairly drawn respecting his nature .
Undoubtedly , if the New Testament distinctly teaches the Deity of Christ , the allusions of the writer to the Hebrews will be understood as confirming that doctrine . But the present question is , whether the doctrine is taught in the Old Testament , and what we hope we have proved is , that the passages treated of in Dr . S . ' s xivth , xvth , and xvith sections , neither in themselves appear to teach it , nor are proved to contain it by the use made of them in the Epistle to the Hebrews .
The xviith section is on Ps . ex ., usually regarded as prophetic of the Messiah , and quoted by our Lord himself , to confound the Jews by the acknowledgment here made by David of his superiority . We cannot , however , perceive that this Psalm contains any thing which exalts the Messiah in any other sense than as all Christians believe that he is exalted . That , although the descendant of David , he was much greater than David , and might properly in prophetic vision be called by him Lord , and be represented as
his superior , fits sovereign , is universally acknowledged . Even the Jews would not have denied this . But the difficulty proposed was , how could David address , as his Lord , one not then existing , his own descendant in distant times ? The Jews had no answer ready ; the Orthodox now answer , because Christ , being God , then existed in heaven , as was well known to David . In opposition to them is Mr . Belsham ' s judicious note : " The proper answer seems to be , that the Psalmist was transported in vision to the age of the Messiah , and speaks as though he were contemporary with Christ . This mode of
writing was not unusual with the prophets . " The Calm Inquirer's note does not then * ' proceed on a wrong assumption of the point under consideration , ' * but is a solid answer to the argument usually drawn from our Lord's question in favour of his superiority of nature , and we do not see that Dr . Smith has made the case any stronger . The priesthood , according to the order of Melchisedek , of course refers to the office and work , not to the nature of the Messiah , and as explained by the writer to the Hebrews , implies nothing which Unitarians do not fully believe . It only remains for us to notice Dr . Smith's gloss on the fifth verse of the Psalm :
" The Lord ( Adonal , which he afterwards observes is ' the name appropriated to the living and true God *) is on thy right hand : ( the address is now turned to Jehovah : ) He smiteth kings in the day of his wrath , " &c . He would have us understand , that " the Lord" here is the same person spoken of by the Psalmist as " my Lord" in ver . 1 st , and that he is here dis-p
tinguished by a name peculiarly appropriated to the Supreme God . The reason , we presume , for this construction is , that ' * the Lord" is here said to be •* on the right hand ; " whereas in the first verse we find " Jehovah said to my Lord , Sit thou at my right hand . " ** The Lord , " therefore , in the second place , must signify the same person who was before placed at God ' s right hand , and the words addressed to Jehovah who called him there .
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/> r . •/ . P . Smith ' s Scripture Testimony to the Messiah . , 167
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1831, page 167, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2595/page/23/
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