Chapter 4: Work of the Holy Spirit In and On the Human Nature of Christ
Ninthly, There was a peculiar work of the Holy Spirit in his resurrection , this being the completing act in laying the foundation of the church, whereby Christ entered into his rest, — the great testimony given unto the finishing of the work of redemption, with the satisfaction of God therein, and his acceptation of the person of the Redeemer. It is, on various accounts, assigned distinctly to each person in the Trinity; and this not only as all the external works of God are undivided, each person being equally concerned in their operation, but also upon the account of their especial respect unto and interest in the work of redemption, in the manner before declared. Unto the Father it is ascribed, on the account of his authority, and the declaration therein of Christ's perfect accomplishment of the work committed unto him: Acts 2:24,
"Him hath God raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it."
It is the Father who is spoken of, and he is said, as in other places, to raise Christ from the dead; but this he doth with respect unto "his loosing the pains of death," —
<START GREEK>lu/sa$ ta\$ w)di=na$ tu= qana/tou
<END GREEK> . These are the <START HEBREW>tw#m*Áyl@b=j#<END HEBREW>, which, with a little alteration of one vowel, signify the "sorrows of death," or the "cords of death;" for <START HEBREW>t!w#m*Qyl@b=j#<END HEBREW> are the "sorrows of death," and <START HEBREW>tw#m*Áyl@b=j#<END HEBREW> are the "cords of death." See Ps 18:4; 116:3. And the "sorrows of death" here intended were the "cords" of it, — that is, the power it had to bind the Lord Christ for a season under it; for the "pains of death," that is, the
<START GREEK>w)di=ne$
<END GREEK>, "tormenting pains," ended in his death itself. But the consequents of them are here reckoned unto them, or the continuance under the power of death, according unto the sentence of the law. These God loosed, when, the law being fully satisfied, the sentence of it was taken off, and the Lord Christ was acquitted from its whole charge. This was the act of God the Father, as the supreme rector and judge of all. Hence he is said to "raise him from the dead," as the judge by his order delivereth an acquitted prisoner or one who hath answered the law. The same work he also takes unto himself: John 10:17,18,
"I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again."
For although men by violence took away his life, when "with wicked hands they crucified and slew him," Acts 2:23; 3:15, yet because they had neither authority nor ability so to do without his own consent, he saith no man did, or could, take away his life, — that is, against his will, by power over him, as the lives of other men are taken away; for this neither angels nor men could do. So, also, although the Father is said to raise him from the dead by taking off the sentence of the law, which he had answered, yet he himself also took his life again by an act of the love, care, and power of his divine nature, his living again being an act of his person, although the human nature only died. But the peculiar efficiency in the reuniting of his most holy soul and body was an effect of the power of the Holy Spirit : 1 Peter 3:18, "He was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit;"
<START GREEK>zwopoihqei\$ de\ tw=| Pneu/mati
<END GREEK>, — "he was restored to life by the Spirit." And this was that Spirit whereby he preached unto them that were disobedient in the days of Noah, verses 19,20; or that Spirit of Christ which was in the prophets from the foundation of the world, 1 Peter 1:11; by which he preached in Noah unto that disobedient generation, 2 Peter 2:5, whereby the Spirit of God strove for a season with those inhabitants of the old world, Gen 6:3; —that is, the Holy Spirit of God. To the same purpose we are instructed by our apostle: Rom 8:11, "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you;" —"God shall quicken our mortal bodies also by the same Spirit whereby he raised Christ from the dead;" for so the relation of the one work to the other requires the words to be understood. And he asserts again the same expressly, Eph 1:17-20. He prays that God would give his Holy Spirit unto them as a Spirit of wisdom and revelation, verse 17. The effects thereof in them and upon them are described, verse 18. And this he desires that they may so be made partakers of as that, by the work of the Spirit of God in themselves, renewing and quickening them, they might have an experience of that exceeding greatness of his power which he put forth in the Lord Christ when he raised him from the dead. And the evidence or testimony given unto his being the Son of God, by his resurrection from the dead, is said to be "according to the Spirit of holiness," or the Holy Spirit , Rom 1:4. He was positively declared to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead,
<START GREEK>e)n duna/mei kata\ Pneu=ma a(giwsu/nh$
<END GREEK>, — that is, by the "powerful working of the Holy Spirit ." This, also, is the intendment of that expression, 1 Tim 3:16, "Justified in the Spirit." God was "manifest in the flesh," by his incarnation and passion therein; and "justified in the Spirit," by a declaration of his acquitment from the sentence of death and all the evils which he underwent, with the reproaches wherewith he was contemptuously used, by his quickening and resurrection from the dead, through the mighty and effectual working of the Spirit of God.
