The Vineyard
Jesus told the story of the incarnation in parable form. Since it was
the Lord's story, He could have told it any way He liked; He could have told it the 'Oneness'
Pentecostal way if He had chosen. He didn't: "Then He began to speak to them in parables: 'A man
planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And
he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now at vintage-time he sent a
servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the
vinedressers. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent
them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away
shamefully treated. And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and
killing some. Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, "They will
respect my son." But those vinedressers said among themselves, "This is the heir. Come, let us kill
him, and the inheritance will be ours." So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the
vineyard." (Mark 12:1-8).
So do we hear, from the Lord, about 'the Father' trekking to the vineyard,
disguising Himself as 'the Son' once He reaches the boundary? No; we hear that He had a son, "his beloved", hanging
about the premises, Whom He sent.
Without beginning of Days nor end of Life
The Old Testament is a book of types in which the realities of Christ and
His Kingdom are set forth veiled, under shadows and figures. One of these is Melchizedek, a
shadowy mystery man who is revealed in Psalm 110 as a type of Christ. In the Bible's vagueness
about Melchizedek's background and genealogy -- ordinarily essential information for establishing
priestly credentials - the author of Hebrews finds a lesson about the eternal Son of God:
"For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High
God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham
gave a tenth part of all, first being translated 'king of righteousness,' and then also king of
Salem, meaning 'king of peace,' without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days
nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually." (Hebrews 7:3).
Here we learn that "having neither beginning of days nor end of life"
is an attribute of "the Son of God"! What was dimly foreshadowed in the type shines forth in
fullness in the antitype, Jesus Christ the Son of God, who is eternal.
"Nor does this objection disturb me, that the reality does
not correspond with the figure or type, because Christ has a Father in heaven, and had a mother on
earth; for the Apostle immediately explains his meaning by adding without descent, or kindred.
He then exempts Melchisedec from what is common to others, a descent by birth; by which he
means that he is eternal, so that his beginning from men was not to be sought after. It is
indeed certain that he descended from parents; but the Apostle does not speak of him here in his
private capacity; on the contrary, he sets him forth as a type of Christ. He therefore
allows himself to see nothing in him but what Scripture contains. For in treating of things
respecting Christ, such reverence ought to be observed as not to know anything but what is
written in the Word of the Lord. Now, as the Holy Spirit in mentioning this king, the most
illustrious of his age, is wholly silent as to his birth, and makes afterwards no record of his death,
is not this the same thing as though eternity was to be ascribed to him? And what was shadowed forth
in Melchisedec is really exhibited in Christ. It behooves us then to be satisfied with this
moderate view, that while Scripture sets forth to us Melchisedec as one who had never been born and
never died, it shows to us as in a mirror, that Christ has neither a beginning nor an end." (John
Calvin, Commentary on Hebrews).
From Everlasting
"'But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the
thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings
forth are from of old, From everlasting.'" (Micah 5:2).
"This description of Christ's eternal generation, or his going forth as
the Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, shows that this prophecy must belong only
to him, and could never be verified of any other. The going forth is used
(Deut. viii. 3) for a word which proceeds out of the
mouth, and is therefore very fitly used to signify the eternal
generation of him who is called the Word of God, that was in the beginning with
God, John i. 1, 2." (Matthew Henry Commentary).
The Same Yesterday, Today and Forever
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Hebrews 13:8).
Had Jesus Christ come into existence at some point in time, He could not
be said to be "the same" yesterday, today, and forever, because non-existence is not "the same" as
existence.
As the hymn puts it,
O how sweet the glorious message
Simple faith may claim:
Yesterday, today, forever,
Jesus is the same!
Still He loves to save the sinful,
Heal the sick and lame,
Cheer the mourner, calm the tempest -
Glory to His name!
Yesterday, today, forever,
Jesus is the same;
All may change, but Jesus never -
Glory to His name!
(Albert B. Simpson)
Behold, I come
The Bible records a pre-incarnation conversation between Son and Father
on the topic of the upcoming incarnation: "So, coming into the world, Christ says: You did not
want sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me. In whole burnt offerings even
for sin, you took no delight. Then I said: Behold, I come; in the scroll of a book it is written
concerning me; to do, O God, your will." (Hebrews 10:5-7 Lattimore).
This is a quote of the Septuagint: "Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
not; but a body hast thou prepared me: whole-burnt-offering and [sacrifice] for sin thou
didst not require. Then I said, Behold, I come: in the volume of the book it is written
concerning me, desired to do thy will, O my God, and thy law in the midst of mine heart." (Brenton
Septuagint, Psalm 40:6-8). A ready volunteer, Jesus stepped forward "to do...your will".
Given that the flesh of the incarnation is the very topic of conversation: "you prepared a
body for me" - said 'flesh' cannot also be one of the conversationalists!
With the Father
The Bible does not ever say that Jesus pre-existed His incarnation
as the Father, but always that He was with the Father: "And now, O Father,
glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."
(John 17:5)
"I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you
have seen with your father." (John 8:38).
Eternal Life
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life
-- the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that
eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us - that which we have seen and
heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father
and with His Son Jesus Christ." (1 John 1:1-3).
"And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an
understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus
Christ. This is the true God and eternal life." (1 John 5:20).
Son of God
"He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him;
for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'" (Matthew 27:43).
The 'Oneness' Pentecostals claim that words like 'Son' and
'begotten' imply a beginning in time. While it's true that all earthly sons came into existence
in time, the same is true of all earthly fathers -- and no one has ever plausibly claimed as a result
that the Eternal Father had a beginning in time! What differentiates 'begetting' from
'creating' is that like begets like, whereas one can make or create anything at all, like or unlike.
Begetting runs true to form; pigs beget pigs, sheep beget sheep. Eternity is one of the
essential attributes of Deity:
"Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and
there called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God." (Genesis 21:33);
"Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the
earth and the world, Even from everlasting to
everlasting, You are God." (Psalm 90:2).
"Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting."
(Psalm 93:2);
"Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures
throughout all generations." (Psalm 145:13).
'Oneness' Pentecostals understand 'begetting' in a weak,
metaphorical sense, meaning no more than 'created'. They do not
understand the only-begotten Son of God to be of the same nature as His eternal Father, as would be a true-born son.
By Him all things were created
The 'Oneness' Pentecostals deny that 'the Son of God' existed at
any time before a baby was born to Mary. But "the son of His love" created the world! Surely the
creation predates the incarnation: "...giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of
darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love...He is
the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were
created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created
through Him and for Him. And He is before all
things, and in Him all things consist." (Colossians 1:12-17).
Hebrews testifies to the same state of affairs: "God, who at various
times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days
spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the
worlds..." (Hebrews 1:1-2). Given that it was "by His Son" that God the Father created the worlds,
how plausible is it that there was no 'Son' in existence at the time!
In the Beginning
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. He was in the beginning with God." (John 1:1-2).
Realizing how lethal this verse was to his denial of the eternal Son, Faustus
Socinus found a novel way out: that 'the Word' means a 'thought' or 'plan'
in the mind of God the Father that someday He would create a savior. But
the Bible teaches that this same 'Word' created the world: "All things
were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made...He
was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him." (John 1:3-10).
Can a 'thought' or a 'plan' have created this entire huge
world and everything in it? Can an imaginary or fictitious cause produce a
real result? And is that how people talk: if I were to bake a cake while
thinking about Alan Greenspan, would I then say, 'Alan Greenspan baked a cake'?
Thy throne
"But to the Son He says: 'Your throne, O God, is
forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom'...And: 'You, LORD, in the
beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will
perish, but You remain; and they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will fold them up,
and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not fail.'" (Hebrews 1:8-12).
Mind in Christ
"Let each of you look out not only for his own
interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in
Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but
made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of
death, even the death of the cross." (Philippians 2:4-8). When Paul speaks of taking on "the
likeness of men", he is referring to the incarnation. So, prior to the incarnation, Christ Jesus,
then "equal" with God the Father, displayed a "mind" of humility, humbling Himself and
becoming "obedient".
He was before me
"This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before
me.'" (John 1:30). When John the Baptist says that Jesus was "before" him, he cannot mean birth
order; Luke's narrative records that John was born approximately six months before Jesus.
I know that my Redeemer lives
"For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on
the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh
I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold,
and not another." (Job 19:25-27). Job doesn't say that he knows
his Redeemer will live someday, he knows that "my Redeemer lives".
First and Last
"And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me,
saying to me, 'Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives,
and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades
and of Death.'" (Revelation 1:17-18). One cannot easily exhaust the implications
of the title, "the First and the Last", an Old Testament name of God (Isaiah 48:12).
At a bare minimum it's hard to see how 'the First' could be a Johnny-come-lately who didn't even
exist until the days of Herod the King.
Before Abraham was
"Then the Jews said to Him, 'You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen
Abraham?' Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.'" (John 8:57-58).
Enduring Love
"Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am,
that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the
foundation of the world." (John 17:24).
Downward Mobility
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes
He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich." (2 Corinthians 8:9). When was
He rich? As a babe in the manger? No, before that.
Beginning
"And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the
Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God...'"
(Revelation 3:14). Another translation, the New English Bible, has, "These
are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the prime source of all God's
creation...", reading this Greek word, 'arche', to mean origin, first cause:
"...that by which anything begins to be, the origin, the active cause" (Thayer's Greek Dictionary).
The same thought is expressed in Ephesians 3:9: "...and to make all see what is the fellowship of
the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things
through Jesus Christ..." Again, Jesus was present and active on the day of creation. To
be the 'origin, first cause, prime source' of all creation, He surely must have existed at the time!
Where He was Before
"What then if you should see the Son of Man
ascend where He was before?" (John 6:62).
The Lord calls His hearers' attention to the fact that it was the Son of Man who was
on high "before." 'Oneness' Pentecostals 'correct' this to mean it was 'the Father' who was on
high before...but perhaps no correction is called for.
Came down from Heaven
"And so it is written, 'The first man Adam
became a living being.' The last Adam became a life-giving spirit....The first man was of the
earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven." (1 Corinthians 14:45-47).
"No one has ascended to heaven but He who came
down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven." (John 3:13).
"He who comes from above is above all; he who is
of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He
who comes from heaven is above all." (John 3:31).
"For the bread of God is He who comes down from
heaven and gives life to the world." (John 6:33).
"For I have come down from heaven, not to do My
own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." (John 6:38).
"I am the living bread which came down from
heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My
flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." (John 6:51).
If one was elsewhere at a prior time,-- whether in heaven or in Altoona,--
then surely one also existed.
In the Wilderness
"Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud,
all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same
spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock
that followed them, and that Rock was Christ." (1 Corinthians 10:1-4). God had promised His
"Presence" would go with the children of Israel in their wilderness wanderings, and this was Christ:
"And He said, 'My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.'" (Exodus 33:14).
Temple Vision
The apostle John said that Isaiah had seen Christ's glory: "These things Isaiah said when he
saw His glory and spoke of Him." (John 12:41). After quoting Isaiah 6:9-10, John notes that Isaiah
had said those things "when" he saw Christ's glory. It is not obvious from Isaiah's account of
the temple vision that he was seeing the glory of a then non-existent party:
"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted
up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six
wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And
one cried to another and said:
'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!'
"And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out,
and the house was filled with smoke."
Though it's in the nature of things for prophets to see things which are not yet, Isaiah's reaction
to this visitation displays no awareness that the "LORD of hosts" Whom he has seen -- Who John says is
Christ -- is not slated to exist yet for centuries:
"So I said:
'Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The LORD of hosts.'" (Isaiah 6:1-5)
'Oneness' Pentecostals will be untroubled by this vision, claiming that Isaiah saw 'the Father',
Whom they allow to have existed in Old Testament times. But wait - why does Jesus say no man
has seen the Father?: "Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the
Father." (John 6:46).
The Firstborn
In the widest sense, every living creature is an "offspring" of God:
"...for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we
are also His offspring.'" (Acts 17:28).
More intimately, the Bible speaks of believers as 'children of God':
"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become
children of God, to those who believe in His name..." (John 1:12);
"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."
(Romans 8:14).
But only Jesus is called the "only begotten" Son:
"No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the
Father, He has declared Him." (John 1:18);
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16);
"In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His
only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him." (1
John 4:9).
"Deliver my soul from the sword; my only-begotten
one from the power of the dog." (Psalm 22:20, Brenton Septuagint).
So the manner of our 'Sonship' isn't the same as the "only begotten": rather, we're adopted children:
"But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth
His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption as sons." (Galatians 4:4-5);
"For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father.'" (Romans 8:15);
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having
predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by
which He made us accepted in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:3-6).
Not only is Jesus called the "only begotten", He's also the "firstborn":
"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." (Colossians
1:15);
"And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem
the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will
mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and
grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn." (Zechariah 12:10);
"But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: 'Let
all the angels of God worship Him.'" (Hebrews 1:6).
It was at a point of time, the resurrection, that Jesus was declared to
be the Son of God: "...the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy
Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according
to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power
according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." (Romans 1:1-4).
But it's one thing to be, another thing to be declared to be. Jesus was the Son of God when
born to Mary (Luke 1:32), as well as on the Day of Creation (Colossians 1:12-18, Hebrews 1:1-2).
Since first century Jews like Philo already realized that the Logos was
the "first-born son" of God, deferring and delaying this Biblical title belonging to Jesus until the
incarnation serves no purpose: "For there are, as it seems, two temples belonging to God; one
being this world, in which the high priest is the divine Word, His own first-born son."
(Philo Judaeus, c. 25 B.C. - 45 A.D., On Dreams, Book I, XXXVII, 215).
In explaining these "only begotten" and "firstborn" references,
'Oneness' Pentecostals borrow a page from the Jehovah's Witnesses and claim 'begotten' means
'created', and that thus these must be references to the incarnation. Yet by what logic could
Jesus thereby be called either the "only begotten" or the "firstborn"? Is one first born to Mary
in the days of King Herod, after eras of human fruitfulness and multiplying, the "first" to be
"born"...or One born in eternity, Who in the fulness of time came to be incarnate? Truly
one born in eternity trumps all born in time; He really is the "firstborn", just as the Bible says!
The Word Stands Forever
"The voice said, 'Cry out!' And he said, 'What shall I cry?' 'All flesh
is grass, And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower
fades, Because the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. The grass
withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever." (Isaiah 40:6-8).
"Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven." (Psalm 119:89).
Who is this enduring "Word of God", in the Bible? A barren
vocable? No, somebody: "Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who
sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His
eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that
no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called
The Word of God." (Revelation 19:11-13).
From the Womb
The early church used the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament
completed prior to the first advent of Christ. A scripture often
quoted by the early church fathers touching on the eternity of Christ is
Psalm 110:3. You'd never guess why, from the wildly varying English
translations of a corrupt Hebrew text of uncertain meaning. But the
Septuagint reads like so, "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my
right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall
send out a rod of power for thee out of Sion: rule thou in the midst of
thine enemies. With thee is dominion in the day of thy power, in
the splendours of thy saints: I have begotten thee from the
womb before the morning." (Brenton Septuagint). Here is how Justin Martyr quotes the passage:
"From the womb, before the morning star, have I begotten thee." (Justin Martyr, Dialogue with
Trypho, Chapter XXII); "In the splendors of Thy holiness have I begotten Thee from the womb, before
the morning star." (Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter LXIII). "Before the morning"
means 'before time' -- i.e., in eternity.
The Peshitta reads, "Thy people shall be glorious in the day of thy power;
arrayed in the beauty of holiness from the womb, I have begotten thee as a child from the ages."
(George M. Lamsa translation). The Vulgate for the Greek psalms reads, "ex utero
ante luciferum genui te" (Psalm 109:3). The only modern Bible I have come across
with anything like the old text is the New American Bible, "Yours is princely power from the
day of your birth. In holy splendor before the daystar, like the dew I begot you."
This Psalm speaks of the Messiah, because Jesus Himself so applied it.
Matthew Henry says of Psalm 110, "This psalm is pure gospel;
concerning Christ, the Messiah promised to the fathers and expected by
them." So if you had asked the Greek-speaking churchmen assembled
at Nicaea for a proof-text on "begotten of the Father before all worlds",
they'd have supplied Psalm 110:3.
One of the blessings of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has been
renewed respect for the Septuagint. For centuries disrespected as
a wildly non-literal, 'free' rendition of a Hebrew text not much different
from the modern Masoretic text, it's now realized to have been a literal
translation of a older Hebrew text differing from that of the Masoretes.
Thus, some of the 'stranded' New Testament citations of Old Testament
verses one unhappily finds in the KJV translation, based on the Masoretic
Hebrew, are starting to creep their way back into the Old Testament of
modern Bibles, where the New Testament authors thought they belonged all
along. Try to find the Old Testament verse the author of Hebrews
is citing in Hebrews 1:6: "And let all the angels of God worship him"
-- you'll not find it in the KJV, it's 'stranded'. It's Deuteronomy
32:43 in the Septuagint: "Rejoice, ye heavens, with him, and let all
the angels of God worship him; rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people, and
let all the sons of God strengthen themselves in him..." (Brenton
Septuagint); but it's found its way back, albeit in debased form, into
the NRSV and NEB. Might one day this explicit statement that God
the Father begot the Messiah before the morning star will find its way home, too?
Clement of Alexandria quotes this passage also,
"And do not suppose that my song of
salvation is new in the same sense as an implement
or a house. For it was 'before the morning
star [pro heosphorou]'; and, 'in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God.' But error is old, and truth appears to be a new
thing." (Clement, Exhortation to the Greeks, Chapter 1);
"'Awake, thou that sleepest,' He cries, 'and arise from the dead,
and there shall shine upon thee Christ the Lord,' the sun of the resurrection,
He that is begotten 'before the morning star [pro heosphorou]', He that dispenses life by
His own rays." (Clement, Exhortation to the Greeks,
Chapter IX).
How does one 'beget' a word? The answer is found in scripture:
"My heart is astir with gracious
words [logos LXX];
I speak my poem to a king;
my tongue is the pen of an expert scribe."
(Psalm 45:1, Tanakh, Jewish Publication Society)
Modern commentators perceive this as an autobiographical confession by
the human writer of the Psalm, because, "...out of the abundance of
the heart the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:34). But the early
church fathers realized the prophets do not speak from their own supply:
"Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD
said to me: 'Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.'" (Jeremiah
1:9). Even those passages in Psalms which record the plaint of humanity
abandoned by God, like Psalm 22, were found ultimately to be prophetic
and thus divine, foretelling the words spoken by the Messiah on the cross.
So those early church writers who quote Psalm 45:1 as 'my heart has
emitted my good word', were understanding the speaker here to be no mortal
scribe, but the actual Author.
Another Septuagint reference proclaiming the pre-existence of Christ which has been 'lost' from
the Masoretic text, is Psalms 72:5: "And he shall continue as long as the sun, and before the
moon for ever." (Brenton Septuagint). Justin quotes this passage as, "...and He shall co-endure
with the sun, and before the moon unto all generations." (Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter LXIV).
|
