A Body of Divinity, Vol. 2 (of 4): Wherein the doctrines of the Christian religion are explained and defended, being the substance of several lectures on the Assembly's Larger CatechismRidgley, Thomas
Religion
A Body of Divinity, Vol. 2 (of 4): Wherein the doctrines of the Christian religion are explained and defended, being the substance of several lectures on the Assembly's Larger Catechism
2. There is another thing, mentioned in this answer, which rendered it
requisite that the Mediator should be God, namely, that he might sustain
and keep the human nature from sinking under the infinite wrath of God,
and the power of death. It must be allowed, that the weight of the wrath
of God, due to our sin, was so great, that no mere creature could, by
his own strength, have subsisted under it. We will not deny, that a mere
creature, supposing him only innocent, but not united to a divine
Person, might have been borne up, under the greatest burthen laid on
him, by the extraordinary assistance of God, with whom all things are
possible; nor that God’s giving a promise that he should not fail, or be
discouraged, is such a security, as would effectually keep it from
sinking; yet when we consider the human nature, as united to the divine,
this is an additional security, that he should not sink under the
infinite weight of the wrath of God, that lay upon him; for then it
would have been said, that he, who is a divine Person, miscarried in an
important work, which he undertook to perform in his human nature, which
would have been a dishonour to him: so far this argument hath its proper
force. But,
3. There is another reason, which more fully proves the necessity of the
Mediator’s being a Divine Person, _viz._ that this might give worth and
efficacy to his sufferings, obedience, and intercession, that so what he
did might have a tendency to answer the valuable ends designed thereby,
namely, the satisfying the justice of God, procuring his favour, and
purchasing a peculiar people to himself. Had he been only man, what he
did and suffered, might indeed have been sinless, and perfect in its
kind; nevertheless, it could not be of infinite value, for a finite
creature, as such, cannot pay an infinite price, and thereby answer the
demands of justice. Had nothing been demanded of him but a debt of
obedience, which he was obliged to perform for himself, as a creature,
it would not, indeed, have been necessary that it should be of infinite
worth and value, any more than that obedience, that was due from our
first parents, while in a state of innocency: But when this is
considered as a price of redemption paid for us, and as designed to
procure a right to the favour of God, and eternal life, this must be of
such a value, that the glory of the justice of God might be secured,
which nothing less than an infinite price could do; and the law of God
must not only be fulfilled, but magnified, and made honourable; and
therefore the obedience, which was required, must not only be sinless,
but have in it an infinite worth and value, that hereby, when in a way
of intercession, it is pleaded before God, it might be effectual to
answer the ends designed thereby; but this it could not have been, had
he not been an infinite Person, namely, God as well as Man.
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