At the New Surrey Tabernacle, Borough Road
THE Jews had in the days of the Savior evidently lost sight altogether of the nature of the humiliation, and of that work in which the coming Messiah was to appear. When therefore he declared among them his Sonship, they could not understand it, but put all sorts of wrong constructions upon what he said and being led by the spirit of darkness, the spirit of disobedience, they were filled with enmity against Jesus Christ; and sought every possible occasion to bring something against him by which they might put him to death. And they well knew that blasphemy was by their law death; so when the Savior said, as you find recorded in the 5th of John, “My Father works hitherto, and I work; this he said just after he had healed the man on the sabbath day, and therefore they sought the more to kill him, because he had not only broken, they said, the sabbath day, but also said that God was his Father; making himself equal with God. Now Jesus Christ did not declare He was equal with God; he was equal with God, because he was God and is God. But Jesus Christ did not on that occasion, previously to their saying he made himself equal with God, he did not declare his equality with God, but merely declared that he was the Son of God; and they said that he made himself equal with God. The reason of their bringing this in was to establish against him the crime of blasphemy; to the end that they might put him to death. And hence you find the same construction put upon his words again in the 10th of John; where the Savior said, “Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do you stone me? The Jews answered him saying, For a good work we stone you not but for blasphemy, because that you, being a man, make yourself God.” But he had done no such thing; he was God but he did not declare on that occasion his Godhead to them; and hence his answer to them was, “If he called them gods,” (that is, rulers) “to whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; say you of him whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world. You blaspheme because I said, I am the Son of God.” And you find when he was before the chief priests at the last, they watched him narrowly in this matter, to condemn him on the ground of blasphemy. Hence “the high priest said unto him, I adjure you by the living God, that you tell us whether you be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said unto him, You have said; nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall you see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power; and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes saying, He has spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold now you have heard his blasphemy.” Such was their blindness. So that Jesus Christ did not there declare himself equal with God, though he was equal with God. How is it then that persons who hold the heathen fable that Jesus Christ as God underwent a transition from being absolute God into a position very much lower, that of being merely the Son of God; how is it that they run to that scripture that the Jews understood him to say he was equal with God? The Jews understood no such thing; they wrested his words; they were putting a wrong construction upon his words; their object was, as I have said, to entangle him; and yet eternal generationists run to that scripture to build up their heathen fable of a generated divinity. That doctrine of eternal generation is a doctrine derogatory to the godhead of Christ; inasmuch as it makes him out even as God to be merely the Son of God; it is derogatory to the manhood of Christ, inasmuch as it makes the manhood of Christ a mere nothing, and presents to us the Savior in a most ungracious light. I therefore myself feel more and more convinced that the doctrine of eternal generation is a piece of heathenism; that it ought to be cast out of the church of the living God.1
Not that I am going this morning to occupy your time controversially; I shall not do that, but at the same time we are not much account before the Lord, nor much account in the church, if we are not firm to our principles. Let us therefore receive no doctrine that has the least tendency to lower the godhead of Christ; let us receive no doctrine that has the least tendency to becloud the Sonship of Christ; let us receive no doctrine that puts in any measure into the background the complexity of the Lord Jesus Christ2. Now hear the apostle in connection with our text, see how he declares this Sonship; “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.” And this same person that was made of the seed of David, this same person being generated, his manhood generated, by the power of God, was born by the power of God; this same person is “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” I cannot forbear saying before I enter upon the subject that the doctrine of a generated divinity is something so abhorrent to the Divine nature, and something altogether so strange to the scriptures, and something so contrary to the dignity of Christ, and something so contrary to the way in which the Eternal Three exist: for when John would set before us, carefully set before us, the co-equality of the Eternal Three, he says, “There are three that bear record in heaven,” not the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; for that would not have been presenting their equality, but “the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.” The term Word, is a term that God has chosen by which to nominate the godhead of Christ, as you have in the first chapter of John; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” So “there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.” When John would set before us the co-equality of the Eternal Three, he does not say Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: but the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. But when the Savior would set before us the gospel relations of the Eternal Three, that is another thing, then he says, “Go you into all the world, and preach the gospel, baptizing-them” this is a gospel matter; here the Savior is not declaring the co-equality, though the co-equality is fairly implied of course; still gospel relationship is there declared “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” We must distinguish, therefore, between the essential essence, and co-equality of the Eternal Three, and this gospel relationship in which the Lord appears as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Now, this morning, I shall try and set before you the person of the lord Jesus Christ in his complexity; that shall be the first part of our discourse, and the second shall be his power; “the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness.” I say nothing this morning about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, because I am sure I shall not reach so far as that part, interesting as that part is, and especially as that part is here intended to be a demonstration of the fact that he was not only the Son of God, but the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness.
First: Now my first object then, will be for a few moments to set before you the COMPLEXITY of the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherein then do we see his complexity in a way that interests us, in a way that daily concerns us? We see it in the relations he bears, I shall mention nine or ten of those relations; but I am not going to name them in a mere abstract way; I hope and trust as we go on we shall realize a little interest in each department. Take then, in the first place, his pastoral character, see how beautifully the complexity of the Son of God appears in that character. “Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want;” there is his godhead clearly: and then notice the inference of the Psalmist; “I shall not want.” This is what David said, he saw that Jesus Christ, that this coming Messiah, was God, and he is my shepherd, and I shall not want. Now then, go to the 10th of John, and there beyond all dispute you get the manhood of Christ, and a conclusion in the 10th of John upon his pastoral character, that beautifully accords with the conclusion of the Psalmist in the 23rd Psalm. Hence then, mark in the 10th of John; “I am the good shepherd;” he appeared as man. “I am the good shepherd; I lay down my life for the sheep.” Then notice the conclusion, mark what he founds upon what he does; “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hands.” Now compare that with the conclusion in the 23rd Psalm; “Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want.” The God-man, the Son of God, this wondrous Person, is my shepherd, and so by him I have eternal life, because he lives I shall live also; this complex person is my shepherd, therefore I shall never perish. Perish my body must for a time, but that only for a time; the inward man shall be renewed day by day; neither shall life, nor death, nor tribulation, nor anything else, be able to pluck me out of his hands; so that I shall not want. Bring then, David and David's Lord together, and hear David's testimony; “Jehovah is my shepherd, and I shall not want” and then bring the testimony of the shepherd himself that you shall not want: as though the Lord should say, you have eternal life, David, and you shall never perish, and you shall never be plucked out of my hands. I took you into my hands in eternity, you were chosen in me before time was; I have held you ever since, I hold you now, I will hold you, and will present you at the last without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. See how sweetly the two accord. Here then, I get the complexity of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is God and man in one person;, here I learn his Sonship, that his Sonship is founded in his human nature: but not in his human nature apart from his divinity, because we must not make two persons of him, but only one person; so include in the term Son of God, his divinity relatively, his manhood, actually. Here then, in this wondrous person we have the shepherd, the surety: we shall not want. See then, what a sweet accordance there is between the testimony of the Old and of the New Testament upon this matter; God manifest in the flesh; the complexity of Christ. There is something in it that is ever interesting to the Christian; “shall not want.”
Again, his complexity appears not only in this pastoral character, but also in his matrimonial character. And while the Psalmist concludes, “I shall not want,” and while the 10th of John comes to the same conclusion in substance, we shall find that the truths that arise from the other characters are all of the same nature. Take, for instance, his matrimonial character; “Your Maker is your husband; Jehovah of Hosts is his name; your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall he be called.” I am now quoting from the 54th of Isaiah; and what is the conclusion? Is this wonderful person my husband? Is my soul united to him? Do my best affections center upon him, and do I love him? What have I in this? How does he speak in this part of his character? Why, he has said that “this is as the waters of Noah unto me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.” Then why should I look for this wrath, if he has sworn, he will not be wroth? Why, because I am a sinner, should I look for his wrath? Are my sins, are the evils of my heart that I daily feel, to put a negative on the almighty oath, upon the sworn covenant of the God of the whole earth, this wondrous Person? “So, have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart; and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, says the Lord that has mercy on you.” See what we have here then, friends; his wrath is gone; it is everlastingly put away; there is no more curse; “my kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, says the Lord that has mercy on you.” Ah, my hearer; if you are favored to receive into your soul the testimony of Christ's pastoral character as God-man, as that good Shepherd, as that infallible Surety wherein your needs will be all supplied; if you can receive into your soul the testimony of his matrimonial character I am sure the more you are brought into this sweet fellowship the happier you will be. I cannot live without it; when I open the scriptures I want to get at these things; when I pray I look at these things; when I look for the Lord to appear for me in providence or grace, it is on the ground of these firm, these eternal and glorious truths. They do make us happy, and shall make us happy, and will make us happy to all eternity too. Observe, friends; as we go along, that there is not a particle of wrath in any of these characters, nor can any wrath come in. But I must not lose sight of the point, his complexity then appears in these characters. Now in the 54th of Isaiah there is his godhead clearly; then come to the New Testament 3rd of John, John said of Jesus Christ, “He that has the bride is the bridegroom;” there is his manhood clearly. Then again said the angel, “I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife.” And now let me ask you one question, and I do it with a great deal of pleasure this morning; You recollect what I have just quoted in the34th of Isaiah, that “I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.” You recollect it also says there, which we have just quoted, the Lord says, “My kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed; says the Lord that has mercy on you.” Now I will “show you the bride, the Lamb's wife.” And under what circumstances does she appear at the end of the Bible? Why, in a way that entirely confirms what is said in the 54th of Isaiah, that he has not been wroth with her, that his kindness has not departed, that the covenant of his peace has not been removed; for there she appears in all her spotless splendor; there she appears in all her triumph; and in all her glory and John is obliged to take all the gold and precious stones, and trees and rivers, and all the beautiful visible things he can think of, to make a kind of representation of that state of blessedness into which the Lamb's wife is brought; in which she stands in sweet accordance both with his complexity and with his wondrous character, the Husband of the church; he that has the bride. So that John well knew that Christ possessed the church; he knew that Christ had loved the church, and given himself for it; and John knew in what way that church would be presented at the last; that it would be presented without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Oh! may the Spirit of all grace bring us more and more under the attractions of the voice of this wondrous Shepherd of Israel; may the Spirit of all grace unite us more and more to this wonderful Person in this matrimonial character, in which all clouds are taken entirely away, and there is a morning without clouds; yes, as the apostle says, and the apostle might well say in this order of things, that God is able to do abundantly above all that we can either ask or think. See then his complexity in his pastoral character, this is the Son of God; see his complexity in his matrimonial character, and this is the Son of God. The King made a marriage for his Son; the Son shall appear with the King's daughter; the daughter of heaven is his bride, and must remain his bride, and he the Husband; and no separation can take place from the love of Christ, the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.
Then take his redemptional character. “Jehovah,” says the old Testament, “of hosts is their redeemer; he shall thoroughly plead their cause; that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon” very much disquiets the Babel builders, the Lord does not care about that. Now mark, “Jehovah' of hosts is their redeemer,” and another scripture says, “their Redeemer is strong; he shall thoroughly plead their cause; that he may give rest to the land.” there is his godhead, now take the apostle; plenty of scriptures in the New Testament; but take this one, “Not by the blood of bulls and of calves, but by his own blood;” there is his manhood clearly, “he has entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Compare that with the other, in the other case their cause is to be thoroughly pleaded, and they are to have rest; there is his divinity; or there he is spoken of by his godhead; then the apostle taking up the same subject declares that Christ has obtained eternal redemption. Well then, if that be eternal, what is the result? why the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come part of the way to Zion, and there stop? no, they “shall come to Zion, and everlasting joy shall be unto them.” What will they do with their troubles? Their troubles will flee away “sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” This is the Son of God as the good shepherd; the Son of God with power to lay down his life for the sheep, and take it again; the Son of God with power to conquer the foes of his bride, and bring her up by his own mighty arm out of the wilderness. Who is this that comes out of the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? This is the Son of God, with power to obtain eternal redemption; and give eternal repose. Ah, some of you that are perhaps a little in the dark at present, enquiring your way to Zion; perhaps you are among free willers and duty faith people; well, if you are inquiring the way, and therefore I will not say a word to discourage such; I will only say that there is a great deal more gospel in the word then you are aware of, and a great deal more depravity in your hears than you are aware of; and if you learn these things as you go along, then these matters that I am now describing will be your only hope, your only refuge, then you will exclaim, Oh, without such a shepherd what could a poor silly sheep like me do? without such a faithful husband, where could I find a friend; without such a Redeemer, what hope could I have? and then your soul like the dry ground, like the thirsty land, will drink in these eternal truths, and they will assimilate you to Christ; and you will say; is this the gift of God such a person as this; is this the great theme of the Eternal Spirit of God? is this the shepherd that died for me? Is this the Person with whom I am one forever? is this my Redeemer? Oh, then what a salvation is mine; what a God is mine; who is like unto the Lord our God?
Then take his justificational character, there again you get his complexity. “This is the name wherewith he shall be called, Jehovah, our righteousness.” Now, compare that with the fifth of the Romans, “By one man's obedience, many shall be made righteous.” Now here, I think, I am pretty safe, we cannot dispute the divinity in the one case, or the manhood in the other; for it says, ”This is the name wherewith he shall be called, Jehovah our righteousness.” In the other ease, it says, “By one man's obedience,” not by many men's obedience, but by one man's obedience, “shall many be made righteous;” here is the complexity of Christ. Bring the two together, I get Jehovah, I get the man, I get them both in one person; and from this complexity, what do I get? I get an imputed righteousness, I get the righteousness of God, I get peace with God, I get acceptance with God. Here we stand in this grace of justification and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. I sometimes question whether I have dwelt quite enough upon this subject or not, because the complexity of Christ opens up so many things. Just take then one more view of this righteousness, look at it, that it is the work of his whole person, is it any wonder therefore that it is written, that those persons who know the joyful sound, or to whom the sound of justification by grace is made joyful, that it should be said of them that they shall walk in the light of God's countenance, they shall rejoice in his name all the day, in his righteousness shall they be exalted. Here then is the Son of God with power to do what I could not do! here is the Son of God with power to meet the demands of law, and bring in everlasting righteousness; look at his regal character, again, and again in the Old Testament age, “God is my king, working salvation in the midst of the earth, and the Lord Jehovah shall reign for ever and ever,” we have then his godhead declared again and again. Then the angel, when announcing the birth of Christ, “He,” this holy thing, this Son of God, that shall be born of you, “shall reign over the house of Jacob forever.” The Old Testament is clear upon this as well as the New, “A king shall reign in righteousness, and he is to be a hiding place.” I will make it clear if I can. The Lord gave to the Israelites; of old, a certain inheritance, as described especially in the 33rd of Deuteronomy, the king that reigned over that people, if he were a right minded man, he would hate everything that had a tendency to put the Lord out of the land, and bring a false god in, and thereby bring the people into bondage; a right minded king would hate everything of that kind. But they were not all perfectly of a right mind, David was more perfect than any king that ever reigned in that respect; hence the Lord said of the after kings, “You have not followed me with all your heart as David did;” still those kings were a type of Christ. Now, God has given to his people a kingdom, an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled and that fades not away. Now, Jesus Christ hates, he abhors, he detests everything that has a tendency to hold them, back from that liberty, and to hold them back from that inheritance, and hold them back from the land. It is wickedness in the devil, and wickedness in man, and wickedness in false systems, that would hide from us the inheritance the Lord has for us and would keep us back from it. It is in allusion to Christ as king, that it is said, “Unto the, Son he said, your throne, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, therefore God, even your God, have anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.” And do you not find that the Scriptures are everywhere clear upon this? Does not the Apostle say, “Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free?” Does not Christ say, “If the Son make you free, you shall be free indeed?” He then is King of Zion, he reigns to put the Philistines down, to put every enemy down, and to maintain the right, to maintain the freedom of his people. Here again then, I get the complexity of Christ, that he reigns as God, reigns as man, reigns as God-man, and thus in his complexity appears as the Son of God; the inheritance is given to him for the people and himself, and the people are given to him, and it is his work as king to reign until he has put down all rule and all authority. How that Scripture has been mangled and carnalized; I have read books where we are told that the time will come when the Lord will put down all monarchs, and all magistrates, and all rulers of this world, and that we Christians are to be kings and magistrates, and I don't know what all. Well, I hope not, I'm sure we are worldly enough now, I don't know what we should be then. Well, I don't believe that time will come in my day, and I don't believe it will come after my day either; I believe the world will go on pretty much as it is to the end. I hope and pray the gospel may extend more, but the rule and authority there, I understand to be the, rule of sin, and the rule of the devil; and the last rule that shall be put down is death; and when he has put down the last ruler, namely, death, then his people will be free. So that he must reign then, until he has put down all that that rules over his people, till he has put down all that that usurps authority over his people; he will allow no one but himself to rule over his subjects to have authority over his bride, to have authority over his sheep; that is the meaning of the apostle there, and when Christ shall have accomplished this, then will he deliver up the kingdom unto the Father, not by surrender, but by presentation, presenting the kingdom unto the Father; and it will be found that Christ all the time has reigned in perfect accuracy with the counsels of the living God; that while he was sinless in his pastoral character, in his matrimonial character, in his redemptional character, in his justificational character, that he is also sinless in his regal character, he has reigned without an error, without a sin, without a flaw, and without a fault; and he can deliver up the kingdom to the Father at the last, and say, Father, I have conquered all that your counsel determined to be conquered; and here am I, and those you have given me and of all that you have given me I have lost nothing. Oh, what a triumphal day will that be when the Son of God shall thus appear King of kings, and Lord of lords, in all the triumphs of the characters he bears, while his people behold him, how can it be anything short of a fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore.
Again, take him as the life of the church; there you get his complexity again. David says, “Jehovah is the strength of my life:” and the Savior says, “He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life;” so in the one case I get the godhead, and in the other case I get the manhood, and I can get them both in the Old Testament, or both in the New. I will take them in the New Testament; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Some tell us the Word was a pre-existing soul; God says it was God. Some tell us the Word was a generated divinity; God says it was God. You may go on with your pre-existing soul and your generated divinity as long as you like, while my Bible tells me the Word was God, there I stop, I stop where that stops, and there I rest: overturn, that if you can; I do not want two interpretations; God himself interprets his own word: “the Word was God, and in him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Here is his godhead as the life of men. “He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood” you cannot have life without his divinity, because nothing but Divine power could swallow up death; you could not have life without his manhood, because nothing but manhood could suffer the penalty of sin; but take the two together in one person, the suffering is undergone, the penalty is endured, death is swallowed up, Satan is defeated, and we live because this wondrous Person lives; for in the complex person of Christ we have eternal life; he is the root of life, he is the way of life. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory. And just as his life was sinless, so will our life to all eternity be sinless.
It was a good saying of an old Christian when he was asked how he felt when he was dying, “Very comfortable.” “Where do you get your comfort from?” “Why” he said, “on looking back on a well spent life; that is where I get every particle of my comfort from,”, “Oh dear I” said the friend, “I am sorry to hear you talk like that. What do you mean to say you can look back upon your life and call it such a well spent life as to get from it all the comfort you want?” “My life,” said the good man, my life; why, the best of it is all forgotten; I don't mean my life, man; I mean I look back to the well spent life of Jesus Christ; and from the life he lived and the death he died I get all the comfort I want; as to my life, I am glad to lose sight of it, the bad and the good; I would merely fall where the thief fell, as it were, at .the feet of Jesus, into the bosom of his love, with, Lord, remember me; and .his blood and his righteousness, his life and his death, will carry me triumphantly through, and bring me before the eyes of eternal glory, and that with exceeding joy.” His luminous character: “Jehovah is my light; Jehovah shall be unto you your everlasting light, and your God your glory.” Now, said the Man Christ-Jesus, “l am the light; he that abides in me shall not walk in darkness;” inextinguishable light, everlasting light. Take away godhead, the light is not inextinguishable; take away manhood, then there is no way in which the thick clouds; between us and God can be blotted out: “I have blotted out as a thick cloud your sins; as a cloud your transgressions;” but if you take away his manhood, there is no atonement by which to blot out those clouds; and if you take away his godhead, there is no inextinguishable light; but let us have his complexity, we have then both an inextinguishable light, we have the clouds removed out of the way; he becomes the morning without clouds; and so in God by Christ Jesus there is no darkness at all.
Take his sustaining character, Jehovah is my strength, trust you in the Lord forever, for in the Lord “Jehovah is everlasting strength.” Now, said one, “I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me, trust you in the Lord, for in the Lord, Jehovah is everlasting strength,” there is his godhead. “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me,” there is his complexity also in his sustaining character. Take away his divinity, where is the strength? Take away his manhood, then how can justice be on our side, how can he sustain us justly, how can mercy commiserate with us justly, how can love embrace us justly, how can the hand of friendship guide us justly, how can the Lord be on our side justly? But let us have his godhead to sustain, and his manhood to put that out of the way that stood in the way, then in this way the Lord can righteously sustain us: he has established a right by which we should be sustained, Christ, is our strength. Take his conquest, 25th of Isaiah, “The Lord of hosts,” for there is no other nominative between the Lord of hosts and swallowing up death in victory. “The Lord of hosts will swallow up death in victory.” Now, the New Testament declares of Christ that he has abolished death, and, brought life and immortality to light. Here we have his complexity then in this victory; thanks be to God that gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. I may be conquered every day in many respects, but conquered essentially, I cannot be.
In ancient times a man was never reckoned beaten until he gave up his shield; and Christ is our shield; and though the devil may knock you about in a great many ways, you are never really beaten until you give up Christ; but when you give him up turn your back upon him, cast away your shield, then the devil has indeed beaten you.
And then lastly, his heirship character; his complexity appears in that; and so the apostle views it in the 1st of Colossians, that “he is the first-born of the whole creation, the heir of the whole creation, for by him were all things created.” First' there is his manhood, then there is his Godhead. And he is also the first-born from the dead, the heir of the resurrection. Now as God he has a native right to eternity, to heaven, to the possession, to eternal glory; but as man his right is an acquired right; he must reach the end of the law before he can be discharged from his suretyship responsibility in that department; he must reach the end of sin, and the end of the pains of death ere he could be loosed; he must acquire his present position by the perfection of his work; blood marks every onward step. Is he raised from the dead? It is through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
Richard Schadle - Wells statements may surprise some readers of this sermon; especially those more theologically inclined. The view he here opposes is widely held in England and America (and elsewhere) and has been for much of history of the church. Indeed, one of the arguments for that view is its antiquity. He faced fierce opposition to his teaching during his lifetime, yet he held true to what he found taught in the Holy Scriptures. There are a great many who agree with Wells, me included. In, short there are those opposed to and those in favor of “eternal generation.” For an in-depth discussion supporting, in essence, what Wells taught please see the three-part journal article by William Grover in the South African journal Conspectus. They are in volumes 5, 6 and 7 and reference to vol 5 is give here: “Grover, W. (2008). A Review and Evaluation of Diverse Christological Opinions among American Evangelicals: Part 1: The Eternal Generation of the Son. Conspectus Volume 5, 65.” What we believe about the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ is of upmost importance. W. Grover, in the second paper referred to the above lists six important reasons why we should study this subject and not to act presumptuously. After listing these he states what is at issue in the following words:
Understand that this view of relational subordination is not simply that each Trinal Person has a personal, particular role in the economic works of creation and salvation. No, that is not the issue at all! Who could deny that? The issue is rather whether or not the obedience of Christ on earth is merely an extension of an eternal hierarchy of authority in God wherein God obeys God. The Father is seen as the eternal Sovereign over the Son as God who always gives the Father dutiful submission.
Grover, W. (2008). A Review and an Evaluation of Diverse Christological Opinions among American Evangelicals: Part 2: The Eternal Role Subordination of the Son. Conspectus Volume 6, 47.
This is that same argument as Grover 's which I quoted in the previous footnote. Wells goes more deeply into this matter. Both Christ's divinity and humanity are at the very heart of our faith.