07 - Chapter 7
CHAPTER VII. The Immutability of our Lord Jesus Christ.
NOTWITHSTANDING all ’that may have been said by Unitarians in opposition to the doctrine of the immutability of Jesus Christ, yet we think this hypothesis is easily sustained by the word of inspiration. Men are subject to changes, as says one of old, “Thou changest his countenance and sendest him away.” Angels are likewise changeable, and are charged with folly. But there is one being who changes not, and t with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.” James 1:17. It must be evident to any candid mind that that Being who eternally was and is the same must be uncreated. Then, if we prove Jesus Christ to have been in any sense immutable, thus far we ^h all prove him to be God. We will therefore hear the words of the Almighty himself as testimony on this controverted point. “ And of the angels he saith, who maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire, but unto the Son he saith, “Thy throne, GOD, is forever and ever, a sceptre of righteousness is -the sceptre of thy kingdom.” Hebrews 1:7-8. Here we have the word of Jehovah to prove his throne of power to be (aiona tou aipnos,) eternal, and eternally the same. “ Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, to-day and forever,” (aionos.) Hebrews 13:8. Here then is a sure foundation for the saints of God to build their hopes of eternal felicity upon. The things of this life are fluctuating, but the Creator, and Redeemer, and the Savior of the world changes not. He is the same. The terms “yesterday, to-day, and forever,’? fully express his eternity. The same language is applied to Jehovah; and the same sense is conveyed when God said to Moses, “ I am that I AM.” Exodus 3:14. Now this august title is often applied to Jesus Christ, to denote his eternal existence; that is, eternity of duration is said to belong to him. Then, if the Bible proves the immutability of Jehovah, it does also that of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he spread out the! mighty curtain, of the skies, and yet “His throne eternal ages stood, Ere seas or hills were made;
He is the’ ever-living God, Were all the nations dead.”
How exceedingly vain would it be. to apply to any creature in the universe the titles applied to Jesus Christ. To which of the angels could Jehovah say, “ Thy throne O GOD, is forever and ever?” He could say this to none of the angels, because they are creatures; that is, they are created beings. The Son is either a creature or he is not, and If he is uncreated, he is self-existent;
If he is self existent, he is eternal; And if he is eternal, he must be God;
Therefore, if Jesus Christ is uncreated, fie must’ be God.
Then, upon his Almighty, immutable arm we may rest secure; but if he is not immutable, he may fail us in the time of our greatest heed. “ And if the foundation be destroyed, what _ shall the righteous do?” But, notwithstanding all the attacks that have been made upon his precious character, by hell, anti-christ, and the devil, he still is to the Christian his only refuge, his hiding-place, and his everlasting reward beyond the grave. His language is, while he reflects on him who bore his sorrows on the tree, “Jesus is all to my soul.”
Yet “Some take him a creature to be, A man or an angel at most, Sure these have not feelings like me, Nor know themselves wretched and lost. So guilty, so helpless am I, I could not confide in his word, Nor on his protection-rely, Unless I could call him MY LORD.
If asked what of Jesus I think, Though still my best thoughts are but poor, I say he ’s my meat and my drink, My life, and my strength, and my store; My shepherd, my husband, my friend, My Savior from sin and from thrall; My hope from beginning to end, My portion, my LORD, and my all.”
It is evident that Jesus Christ could not have been immutable, and the same from eternity to eternity, if he was ever created. The Word, or Wisdom, (Logos,) that John speaks of as being in the beginning with God, and as being God, must have been a substance or an attribute. If in his pre-existent state, he was an attribute of Jehovah, and was a created being as Unitarians would have him, then it follows, unavoidably, that God created his attributes! And if he is a substance created by the Father, how could he be God? “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1. If the first time in this text y John uses the word-God (Theos,) to signify Jehovah, what does it mean in the second Use he makes of it? “The Word was God,” Is it possible that there is an infinite difference in the sense of this very word^ used as it is, twice in the same sentence? There is an infinite difference between God and any of his creatures. So we come to the conclusion, irresistibly, that as Jehovah is immutable or unchangeable, so is the Son also in his divine nature.