"... no man knoweth the Son, but the Father." Matthew 11:27
There is deep mystery connected with the Person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Part of the mystery is the combination of
absolute deity and full humanity in one Person. There is the question,
for instance, how One who has the attributes of God can at the same
time have the limitations of finite Man. No mere man can comprehend the
Person of Christ. Only God the Father understands.
Many of the most serious heresies that have
racked the Church have centered on this subject. Heedless of their own
frailty, men have occupied themselves with that which is too deep for
them. Some have overemphasized the deity of our Lord at the expense of
His humanity. Others have so stressed His humanity as to detract from
His Godhood.
William Kelly once wrote, "The point where error
comes in is as to the Son of God becoming a man; for it is the complex
person of the Lord Jesus that exposes persons to break down fatally.
There are those, no doubt, who dare to deny His divine glory. But there
is a far more subtle way in which the Lord Jesus is lowered; where,
although He is owned to be divine, the manhood of the Lord is allowed
to swamp His glory, and neutralize the confession of His person. Thus,
one is soon perplexed, and one lets that which puts Him in association
with us here below work so as to falsify that which He has in common
with God Himself. There is but one simple safeguard that keeps the soul
right as to this, which is, that we do not venture to pry and never
dare to discuss it, fearing to rush in human folly on holy ground, and
feeling that on such ground as this we should be only worshipers.
Wherever this is forgotten by the soul, it will invariably be found
that God is not with it - that He allows the self-confident one, who of
himself ventures to speak of the Lord Jesus to prove his own folly. It
is only by the Holy Ghost that he can know what is revealed about the
Only-begotten."
A venerable servant of the Lord once advised his
students to stick to the language of Scripture itself when discussing
the dual nature of our Lord. It is when we inject our own ideas and
speculations that errors creep in.
No man knows the Son. Only the Father knows Him.
The high myst'ries of His fame
The creature's grasp transcend.
The Father only - glorious claim-
The Son can comprehend.
Josiah Conder