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    154 Dr . J . P . Smith s Reply to Dr . J . Jones s Remarks .

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    questionable that the Greek fathers , who were likely to understand their native language , took [ xopcpYj , as here used by the apostle , to signify cpva-iq and ovcricc . " As the form of a servant , " says Chrysostoin , " signifies no

    other than real and perfect man , so the form of God signifies no other than God / ' See Suiceri Thesanr . II . 377 , 37 ^ . If . there be any propriety in explaining the phraseology of the New Testament by the use of terms among the followers of Aristotle , "it is unquestionable " savs the learned and

    pious Sir Richard Ellys , ( Fortuita Sacra , p . 189 , ) " that with them f ^ opfprj was used to signify to eivoci twos , that which constitutes the essence of a subject . I venture , therefore , still to think that Sehleusner , in giving this interpretation , had a little more reason on his side than that " he mi < dit as well have said that white may mean black . "

    " 1 he form of a slave / ' says my learned friend , " means the death of a slave / ' That the apostle , in using the expression form of a servant or slave , had no reference at all to << r the death of the cross" which he so soon after mentions , 1 by no means affirm : but that this was the single circumstance comprised in the allusion , does not appear probable . The frequent use of ( jovXoq in the New Testament , in various moral significations , suggests a more extensive application of the

    ideas of servitude to the circumstances of the . Lord ? Jesus . See John xiii . H > , xv . 20 , and the numerous passages in which the apostles and ( -hristnins in general are called servants of God , or of Christ ; while , on the other hand , wicked men are represented as the servants or slaves of sin . in the , whole view of the case , there appears to me

    most evidence- that our Lord ' s " taking the form of a servant'' denotes his submission , in his assumed human nature , to " the characteristics of that servitude and dishonour which sin has inm ' cted upon our nature , and upon all our circumstances in the present state ; that which is called in Scripture ( 77 '( jovXeirx rrjc ; <\) 9 oootq ) * the bondage , servitude , or slavery of corruption . ' " ( Script . Test . II . 41 CM

    J ) r . * Jones is equally confident that " a form of Cod can only mean a divine or splendid form : " and he has

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    no hesitation in regarding * the exp res , sion as an allusion to the transfi gUration of Jesus , on the mountain , where " assumed an appearance bri ght as the sun , and was seen to converse with Moses and Elias ; " and that , from this magnificent appearance , Peter eagerly conceived the hope of Christ ' s evad - ing his predicted suffer ings and death . The Doctor has depicted the scene with great ingenuity and pathos . (^ the opinion , I beg leave to remark :

    1 . That the allusion supposed rests only upon conjectural grounds . 2 . That , had it been intended by Paul , it is reasonable to think that he would have made his allusion more definite , as Peter did in referring to the very transaction : 2 Pet . i . 18 .

    3 . That the tense of v 7 ra , p % cov does not well agree with the supposition of reference to a single past fact , while it properly comports with the idea of a state or habit . Had the former been the object of reference , the proper form of the participle would have been VTTGCpEoCC .

    4 . That , if the allusion were admitted , a believer in the proper Deity of the Saviour might reasonably contend that the " form of God" most naturally and justly expresses some manifestation , by the symbol of a visible brightness exceeding that of tbe most magnificent objects in nature , and probably similar to the representations made to Moses and others of the prophets , of that Divine Nature and Perfection which he believes , on other and independent grounds , that the Scrintures ascribe to Christ .

    (() . ) \^ v . Jones , whose soul is filled with the enthusiasm imbibed from his familiarity with Crecian poetry and eloquence , declares his " unspeakable pleasure" in disclosing to the world his discovery that this passage of the Kpistle to the l'hilippians contains allusions to Aristotle ' s Hymn to

    Virtue . I must , however , confess that my duller powers of perception cannot see clearly the evidence of this discovery . The resemblances appear to me to be faint and precarious . Indeed , if J am not mistaken , much closer coincidences of both thoug ht and expression often occur to men or reading , in authors of widely different a # es and nations , and of whom it ij certain that neither could have received

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1822, page 154, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2510/page/26/