PEOPLE OF G-D, MESSIANIC
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"How clearly and transparently does this appear in His Miracles? I admit that similar and equal miracles were performed by the Prophets and Apostles; but there is this very essential difference, that they dispensed the Gifts of G-D as His Ministers, whereas He Exerted His Own Inherent Might. Sometimes indeed, He used Prayer, that He might Ascribe Glory to the Father, but we see that for the most part His Own Proper Power Is Displayed. And how should not He Be the True Author of Miracles, Who, of His Own Authority, Commissions others to Perform them? For the Evangelist relates that He Gave Power to the Apostles to cast out devils, cure the lepers, raise the dead, &c. And they, by the mode in which they performed this Ministry, showed that their whole Power was Derived from Christ. 'In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, ' says Peter, (Acts 3:6), 'rise up and walk.' It is nor surprising then, that Christ appealed to His Miracles in order to Subdue the unbelief of the Jews, inasmuch as these were Performed by His Own Energy, and therefore Bore the most ample Testimony to His Divinity.
"Again, if outside of G-D there is no Salvation, no Righteousness, no Life, Christ Having All These In Himself, Is Certainly G-D. Let no one object that Life or Salvation is transfused into Him by G-D. For it is said not that He Received, but that He Himself Is Salvation. And if there is none Good but G-D, how could a mere man be Pure, how could He Be, I say not Good and Just, but Goodness And Justice? Then what shall we say to the Testimony of the Evangelist, that from the Very Beginning of the Creation "In Him Was Life, and This Life Was the Light of men'? Trusting to such Proofs, we can boldly put our Hope and Faith In Him, though we know it is blasphemous impiety to Confide in any creature: (and let us not do this rashly but in Accordance with His Word). 'Ye Believe in G-D,' Says He, 'Believe Also In Me' (John 14:1). And so Paul (Romans 10:11 and 15:12) interprets two passages of Isaiah, 'Whoso Believeth In Him Shall Not be confounded' (Isaiah 28:16); and, 'In that Day there shall be a Root of Jesse, which shall Stand for An Ensign of the people; to It shall the Gentiles seek' (Isaiah 11:10). But why adduce more passages of Scripture on this head, when we so often meet with the expression, 'He that Believeth In Me Hath Eternal Life'?
"Again the Prayer of Faith is Addressed to Him - Prayer, which Specially Belongs To, The Divine Majesty, if anything So Belongs. For the Prophet Joel says, 'And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall Call on the Name of the L-RD (Y""H) shall be Delivered' (Joel 2:32). And another says, 'The Name of the L-RD (Y""H) Is a Strong Tower; the Righteous runneth into It and is Safe' (Proverbs 18:10). But the Name of Christ is Invoked for Salvation, and therefore it follows that He Is Y""H. Moreover, we have an example of Invocation in Stephen, when he said, 'L-RD Jesus, Receive my spirit;' and thereafter in the whole Church, when Ananias says in the same book, 'L-RD I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to Thy saints at Jerusalem; and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that Call Upon Thy Name' (Acts 9:13,14). And to make it more clearly Understood that In Christ Dwelt the Whole Fullness of the G-Dhead Bodily, the Apostle Declares that the only Doctrine which he Professed to the Corinthians, the only Doctrine which he Taught, was the the Knowledge of Christ (I Corinthians 2:2). Consider what kind of thing it is, and how Great, that The Name of the Son Alone is Preached to us, though G-D Command us To Glory Only In the Knowledge of Himself (Jeremiah 9:24). Who will dare to maintain that He, Whom to Know Forms our Only Ground of Glorying, is a mere creature? To this we may add, that the Salutations prefixed to the Epistles of Paul, Pray for the Same Blessings From the Son as From the Father. By this we are Taught, not only that the Blessings which our Heavenly Father Bestows Come to us Through His Intercession, but that By A Partnership In Power, the Son Himself Is Their Author. This practical knowledge is doubtless Surer and more Solid than any idle speculation. For the Pious soul has the best view of G-D, and may almost be said to handle Him, when it feels that it is Quickened, Enlightened, Saved, Justified, and Sanctified By Him.
Institutes: Book I, Chapter XIII:13
FOOTNOTES
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� Copyright 1999, 2000 People of G-d, Messianic Ministries, Inc. No reproduction or redistribution without the prior Written Consent and Approval of People of G-d.