, 1875-04-11
RELIGIOUS NEWS.
The New Testament On the
Divinity Of Christ.
Critical Examination Of tho Snh-
ject by Charles Fl.
Reed.
The Doctrine Of the Trinity
Illustrated.
Comments Of the English Press
on Moody and Sankey.
Notes ind Personals at
Home and Abroad.
Notes ind Personals at
Home and Abroad.


I Church Services To-Day.
THE DEITY OF CHRIST.
| CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
! To th< Editor Of 1hs Chicago Tribune:
| CHICAGO, April 10.-A reading OF 'sDer Ats
| und Neue Glaube," (The Old and New Belief OF
Faith). by Strauss, and recent re-reading OF the
Life Of Christ, by Renan, have induced me- to
critically examine the New Testament in the
original Greek, to ASCERTAIN what it teaches con-
corning this wonderful mystery.
| firmly believe that the New Testament teach
es most clearly that Christ WIS God.
HIATT t., %, is reference to Isaiah Til, II j.:
Behold, virgin shall be with child, and shall
bring forth i son. and they shall call His name
1mmanuel which, being interpreted, is God with
u.s." The last clause Of the verae, (which, be-
ing interpreted, is God With u.s." is the inspired
language Of Matthew, and is not found in Isaiah.
The Greek is no a1eos. As the God" 1t is not ssa
God" but "the God" Here is distinct and
positive statement Of Matthew that Christ was
the Gcd- John l., !, reads: "In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word Was with God, and
the Word was God" The fourteenth verse OF
the same chapter reads, in the common version,
thus; 'And tho Word WAS mada flesh
and dwe1t among us," DC. The Greek
here translated twas msde," is egeneto, and
should be rendered became" which would
make the phrase read: sand the Word became
fash, etc., strong and fo1cible statement that
God HimscH became flesh of His own will and
power. The Greek word translated in verse,
''dwelt" is eskenosen, and ia word used in
Scripture to denote the dwelling Of God among
men: All. Or. Tes. vol. !, ?. GS5. It signifies to
dwell, as in tents.. to tabernacle. The word
God Of Jacob" Acts vii, 46, is the nonn
skenonla7 derived from tho verb used in John
"A. HabitaIion is better translation than
tabernacle IN Acts vii 46.
John * % is: "Thomas answered aud said
to Him, My Lord and my Cod" The Greek
Theos raou." There is here evidently N ellipsis
Of Su ei, " Thou art, which would rnake it read,
"Thou art my Lord and nv God" Ho Kuy7os
and no 1he0s are IN tho nomipative case, and
ter an exclamation, but answered and said to
Jesus, Thou art my Lord and my God" Jesus
approved OF the manner in which he Tas ad-
dressed by what he said in the next verse. Will
anyone say that Christ was guilty Of approving
of blasphemJ? In John 1iv:9 Jesus said to
Philip, He that hath seen me- has seen the
Father" most emphatic assertion that Christ
was the Father. But come one may Say this
verse is expressly contradcted by John i: 18,
mo man hath seen God at any time" DC.
Greek. Both have the same Greek word trans
lated hath seen, VIZ: eorahen. t is the per-
feet indicative Of horao- It signifies in both
verses the seeing Of God in the eanse OF know
ing Him, Of being acquainted with Him. OF
knowing His character anu attributes. This no
seen God in the sense Of Knowing Him, lis
character, and attributes. Thus how true it Ii
that no man has seen God in the aboYs sense,
a.
Philip (above quoted) do not contradict those in
John 1:l8. No one ever saw Jesus in the seuse |
OF fully knowing Him, His true character and |
attributes. In the Sinaitlc and Vatican Greek |
manuscripts Of the New Testament, and the !
S5aic the Phsase oRy bs$ote19 Son. in
These three are the oldest OF the |
known manuscripts, and are OF the highest au-
thority. Which reading is correct, do not pre-
tend to know. John x:30, and MY Father |
Christ was God. The jews who heard Christ
use these words understood Hin as declaring
Himself to be God. IS is shown by the thirty
third verse, wherein they accused Him Of blls-
phemy.
original Greek, further examination is unneces-
sary to prove that Christ was God: 'Take
iced therefore unto yourselves, and to all the
lock- over which the Holy Ghost hath made
Eou overseers, TO feed the church Of God. which
He hath purchased With His own blood" Thus
:eads this verse in the Common version. Did Paul
,ere use the Greek words tou 1heou, 'of God"
u did be use tou Hu11ou, "of the Lord, in tho !
,hrasa "to feed the church OF, etc.2 II ho
lsed lou Theos4 then this verse alone is sufficient
o firmly establish the fact that Christ was God,
that GOD ,2nd Christ were the came in every re-
pect, each possessing the same attributes, viz:
omnlpotence, omnipreseuce, and
ternal self-e1istence. II he used tou Theou (of
iod), then God himself purchased the church
nth his {God's) own blood. that is, He Himself
Uttered death on the cross in the form OF
,hrist, and then. this verse furnishes 70 proof
hat Christ was God. When Paul uses
Iurios be refers to Christ while
he same word In tha Gospels usually refers to
9od. Winer .: T. Gram: p. 14: Green's Hand
'ook to U. T, Gram p. 2o3: Prior to the dis
overy Of the celebrated sinaitio and Vatican
the manuscripts we're about equal
divided between the two readings. But, since
hen, manuscript authority is decidedly in favor
( tou Theon as the correct reading. They (the
nd the VuIgate have it. The A1exandrine has |
Iurio4. The most learned critical editors Of ! 1
be Greek text who favor Kurion are Tischen- I
orf, Tregellis. dtiesback, and Lacbmaun- !
Jean Afford formerly adopted Knrio., but in
is sixth and last edition Of the Greek Testa- !
lent ho gives Theou AZ the correct readiu2. and,
J his notes on the verse, presents elaborate rea-
ons for his change OF views. Critics OF tho
;reek text are about equally divided between
be two words. Sec Affords Or. Tesla, vol 2 4
ages $50 and 231. The concurrence OF the t
,naitic, Vatican, and Syriao manuscripts is Of I
10 very highest ofder OF evidence in favor OF i
'heot is the correct reading. They ere certain i
tbs Oldest known to ex,st. l believe internal !
vidence favo1s 1h<ou. Ny reasons for this be-
ef are briefly these: eopy1ss, % 90 coming to ,
3nsider m az" wbether Paul would speak Of tho
Iood Of God, - such = statement {
ouId start1e any ono. "What!" be would a.
airu. was the blood OF God himself shed to &
nrchase tho Church This is amazing, incred- i
le :" And, thus rooderfng, be would attempt {
) explain the awful declaration. He might well t
ID trulv say within himself thatit uas tie blood
Christ which uas shed on the cross, and Paul | +
uet hare meant Christ, aud so / will make the | t
ord correspond to bis meaning and write Kuyi-
10 occurred It is good rule for our kuld- !
ca khat. in CASES Of paaIlY aQual a4idanca thu