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    that Jesus Christ was ' of the house and lineage of David ; ' had he merely added that he was * the Soji of God , ' without further explaining or enforcing the meaning of his words , there might have been

    something like a plausible pretence for considering this title as nothing more than a recognition of some extraordinary and especial portion of divine favour and assistance , by which he was supported and fitted for his prophetical and regal office "—P . 15 .

    The observation for which this part of Dr . Spry ' s reasoning calls , is , that ** the Son of God" must be taken as the title of a specific prophetical and regal office , rather than as a recognition of divine favour and help , accompanying the exercise of the office . He who will compare together

    those passages in Paul ' s writings and discourses , where the phrase occurs , will readily perceive its meaning * . Nor should the order of the Apostle ' s ideas , in the text before us , be disregarded . In the parenthetical clause , Paul

    represents , first , his Master ' s nature and genealogy ; then his peculiar office ; and , lastly , a main evidence of his being invested with it ; and this , in explanation of the language used in the body of the verses , " concerning his Son , Jesus Christ our Lord " &c .

    If the reader attend to what we think a correct arrangement and division of the passage , he will be sensible that the following criticism is destitute of support : li But when the apostle proceeds to inform us , that this extraordinary person

    was the Son of God really and effectually > ev dvyoc [ A £ i - a partaker of the holy and spiritual nature of the divinity , Kccra Mtv ^ a , dyiaoG-vvriq ; and that he was thus clearly declared , in a manner beyond the reach of cavil or ambiguity , by that great surpassing miracle , his resurrection from

    the dead ; it might seem scarcely possible for language to be framed less liable to exception , less open to misconstruction , less capable of being perverted from its true meaning by the ingenuity of heresy ,

    or more clearly indicative of the fundamental truth which this great apostle seems to have been ever careful to state , as the basis upon which the whole fabric of his teaching , doctrinal and moral , was to be securely placed . "—Pp . 16 , 17 .

    Let us separate Paul ' s language from that of his commentator . " This great apostle , " as we learn from likn-

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    self , * - made theSIessiahship of Jesus the basis of his teaching . It is the same grand truth which he now affirms ; though Dr . Spry ' s criticism * on the phrases By hwaftet , and kcitcx , tcveuyut dyicoavvw would fix upon the passage a very different signification .

    The words , zv ouva / x *; , are inadequately translated by the adverbs , really and effectually . We have the same expression in 1 Cor . iv . 20 , where this apostle says , " the kingdom of i } od is not in word , but " in power ;"

    meaning that the " dispensation of the gospel is introduced by the agency of miraculous endowments , " ver . l 9 . f The complete form appears to be , ev 5 uyaf * ei 1 ZV £ VIACLTC <; , X Or EV SwafJLBl T 8 KVpi 8 , §

    One proof of the Messiahship of Jesus—of his being the Son of Godis found in the mighty works that he wrought . Isa . Jxi . 1 ; Matt . xi . 4—6 . Dr . Spry would render Kara , vvevua

    dyiGxrvvqq , by " the holy ancj spiritual nature of the divinity . " Now , J . D . Michaelis * remark on Paul ' s expression , " the spirit of holiness , " is , ||

    " Commentators have taken for granted that iri / evjLLcc dyicoo-vvvjt ; signifies the eternal Godhead , without any authority or arguments drawn from the analogy of the Greek language /* No decision of the kind can be more

    correct and unexceptionable . The phrase before us , is equivalent to luvEvpa . dyiov . ^ In the first ver of epistle , Paul had described himself as a

    servant of Jesus , the Christ : and he establishes this claim in behalf of his honoured Master , by a reference to the Holy Spirit , or inspiration , which eminently rested on our Lord , and by the energies of which he was even

    raised from the dead . Whether this be the sense which " the universal church" has put upon the passage , is a question comparatively insignificant , in the eyes of those with whom the exposition of the Scriptures by the Scriptures , must ever be an object of the first

    importance . Otherwise , it would not be difficult to produce the names of pious , learned , able and upright men , ( p . 17 , ) in favour of even what Dr . Spry has been pleased to denominate " the

    * 1 Cor . in . 11 . +- Locke , in Joe . X Rom . xv . 13 . § Luke v . 17 . || Iutrod . &c . [ Marsh ] , II . p . 406 . < fl See J , G . KoscnmuHer , iti lot \

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    294 Spry * $ Two Sermons before the University ofOocfofd *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1825, page 294, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2536/page/38/