Titus 2:7, 8, “In all things showing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine (showing) uncorruptness, gravity, SOUND SPEECH that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. We read, also of “wholesome words” (1 Tim. 6:3); of the form of sound words” (2 Tim. 1:13); of “sound doctrine” (Titus 1:9; see also 1 Tim. 1:10; 2 Tim. 4:3); “of things-which become sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1); of “being sound in the faith” (Titus 1:13, and 2:2) —as things which are greatly to be sought after by the Christian.
I would desire to act under a sense of the weight of these instructions whenever I attempt to communicate thoughts derived from God's written word; and I would also study that word as remembering that the present and future correction of oneself is far more important than the seeing where either oneself has in time past been wrong, or where others around us may be so still.
There is great accuracy in the Holy Spirit's use of words—though it be accuracy without labored effort; for He, who is God, does nothing save perfectly. His use of words is perfect; it must be so—for He is God. When therefore any habitual difference in His use of words exists, we may be sure that some distinction is intended by Him to be marked.
Now, in the New Testament there is such a difference between the gospels and the rest of the book, as to the way in which the Savior is commonly spoken of in the terms used to designate Him.
In the gospels He is commonly named as “Jesus;” in the rest of the book generally, with some title of honor superadded; for instance, as, “the Lord,” — “the Lord Jesus Christ,” — “Jesus the Christ,” — “the Christ,” —and He is comparatively rarely named merely as “Jesus.” This is all quite natural and consistent. He is but one; but when He is presented, as in humiliation, in the days of His association with the children of men, then He is spoken of as the Son of man. When, earth-rejected, He has been received up into glory, it is both natural and consistent that He should also be spoken of as accordingly, and that some title or other of glory should be connected with His name when He is mentioned. No one can carefully read through the gospels, and then through the Acts and the Epistles, and not see the difference; and how, also, the mention of a title is in the Gospels the exception, (though a reason may generally be seen in the context for the exception), and, on the other hand, in the Acts, together with the Epistles, the omission of all title is the exception; and the exception is generally in this case also fraught with meaning and reason. If I said that the name of “Jesus” occurred in the Gospels about 605 times without any title, and about 14 times with a title, and in the Acts, &c., about 30 times without one, and about 300 times with a title, I should not be far wrong.
To neglect so marked a contrast, and to speak of Him now, that He is exalted, in the language in which the Spirit spoke of Him, when He was in humiliation, would be a mistake, and mark, at all events, defectiveness of instruction in him that did it.
The following may serve as illustrations of the exceptions in the first case—
Matt. 1:1. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ.
16. Of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise.
16:20. Tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. 27:17. Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ. (In Pilate's mouth).
37. This is Jesus the king of the Jews. (In Pilate's mouth.)
Mark 1:1. The gospel of Jesus Christ.
5:7. Jesus; Son of the most high God? (In the mouth of one that had an unclean spirit.)
Luke 24:3. Found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
John 1:17. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
11:21. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou, &e.
17:3. And Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
19. Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews. (From Pilate, but probably under divine ruling.)
31. Believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
They are all the exceptions in the first case, which I know of.
The meaning of the name of “Jesus” is deep— “Jehovah a Savior,” and faith lays hold of those glories as being His: personally, JEHOVAH, —in action, the Savior. Yet the name (as we see in Acts 7:45, and Heb. 4:8) was a name not uncommon among the Jews, but rather one of their national ones “Joshua.”
Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, the One anointed of God, the Messiah, the root and offspring of David, the king of Israel, the seed of Abraham, in whom, and in whom alone, all the promises given to the patriarchs were secure. He came as such for the earth. But He had and was far more than these names presented. He had titles for heavenly glory, and was and is personally Jehovah and God. He had made the world, upheld it, and was to redeem it and a people for God—sons and daughters for the heavens, and a people for the earth—and to put down Satan and those that adhere to him; and therefore, He came not at first in such a form, and with such a manifestation as would have secured to Himself certain glories at once, but He came meek and lowly, in order to make good God's claims over the people. And the form in which He came was such as left the people free to show whether they desired God and His glory, or an evil world and their own ways. In the very act in which full iniquity of Israel and the Gentiles was proved, the counsel of God provided a ransom for a man and the blood of atonement.
But if the King, meek and lowly, had passed through Israel's land, and after tarrying there a little while, had been rudely thrust out of it, this same blessed One must needs be testified of in the value of His atoning blood—He sitting in patience at the right hand of God.
He Himself gone on high—the testimony of that God of heaven's estimate of Him (as set in contrast with man's) was to be preached, with the Holy Ghost sent down from Him. And this faith's recognition of God's estimate of Him in heaven is now salvation, and the walking therein is the power of Christian life. Jesus of Nazareth, the virgin's son—that very Jesus who had taught in Jerusalem, &c. (Acts 1:1; 2:22, whose mother was Mary (Acts 1:14); who had been betrayed (verse 16); whom the Jews had “taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain,” —that “Jesus” had been raised up from the dead (2:32), and, taken up into heaven (1:11), had there been owned as “Lord and Christ” (2:36).
If God “raised Him from the dead, and gave Him glory, that our faith and hope might be in God” (1 Peter 1:21), it is clear that the recognition of the glory in which He is, and the glories which belong to Him, are now of the utmost importance; still, He whom God has raised and glorified is the very one whom man rejected—the same Jesus. This will account for the list of the exceptional passages in the Acts, Epistles, and Revelation (in which He is named as “Jesus” without any title being added), being small in comparison with that in which His titles are named.
I have already noted some of them (as Acts 1:1, 11, 14, 16; 2:22, 32, 36), and I may notice a few more of them in detail, ere closing; but at present I would look, at some of the passages which speak of Him in glory, and endeavor to trace, however briefly, some of His actings toward us, and of our actings in faith towards Him.
Acts 1:24, 25. “And they prayed, and said, Thou Lord, which knowest the hearts of all (men), show whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.”
Again 2:21. “And it shall come to pass (that) whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Again, verse 32. “This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord (Jehovah) said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ,” I may observe here that, the Greek word κύριος represents two Hebrew words; 1St, Jehovah, which is one of the most sacred names of the Jewish scriptures—a name never given save to Him who is personally God in the highest; 2ndly, Adon, master, Lord, proprietor. The expression, “hath made,” proves that the word κύριος, lord, here means master; and the contrast is between the past humiliation and the present glory of Jesus. Crucified by the Jews on earth, Jehovah hath made Him universal master and Christ. In the authorized version the translators rendered the Hebrew word Jehovah by LORD in the Old Testament, and the word (master, Adon,) they rendered Lord. Jehovah, or Lord, is a sacred name, never, as I have said, applied, save to the most high Himself. To talk of making any one Jehovah would be nonsense. The term is justly applied to the Lord Jesus (Isa. 6:1, compared with John 12:41). Read the context, John 12:20-41; and this may be seen also in Zech. 11:12, 13, “And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.” Here Jehovah, or Jesus, was prized at thirty pieces of silver (Matt. 26:15). So again, chap, 13:7: “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.” This likewise was the blessed Lord (Matt. 26:31). To none from among men could the name of Jehovah be applied save to Jesus—He alone is so—in Him, too, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. But “Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord” (1 Peter 3:6).
(To be continued.)