Saturday, April 21, 2018

Jonathan Edwards calling Jesus a "Creature"

Speaking of the depiction of the resurrected, glorified Christ as depicted in Rev 5:5-6, Jonathan Edwards wrote:

[I]n his exalted state, he most eminently appears in manifestation of those excellencies, on the account of which he is compared to a lion; but still he appears as a lamb; Rev. xiv. 1. “And I looked, and lo, a Lion stood on mount Sion;” as in his state of humiliation and he chiefly appeared as a lamb, and yet did not appear without manifestation of his divine majesty and power, as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Though Christ be now at the right-hand of God, exalted as King of heaven, and Lord of the universe; yet as he still is in the human nature, he still excels in humility. Though the man Christ Jesus be the highest of all creatures in heaven, yet he as much excells them all in humility as he doth in glory and dignity; for none sees so much of the distance between God and him as he does. And though he now appears in such glorious majesty and dominion in heaven, yet he appears as a lamb in his condescending, mild and sweet treatment of his saints there; for he is a Lamb still, even amidst the throne of his exaltation; and he that is the Shepherd of the whole flock is himself a Lamb, and goes before them in heaven as such. Rev. vii. 17. “For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living foundations of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” Though in heave every knee bows to him, and though the angels fall down before him adoring him, yet he treats his saints with infinite condescension, mildness, and endearment . . . (The Excellency of Christ, IV in The Works of Jonathan Edwards [2 vols.; Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1974], 1:685, italics in original, emphasis in bold added)

This stood out for me as Edwards, notwithstanding being a convinced Trinitarian and defender of the deity and personal pre-existence of Jesus, has no issue with calling the person (not simply the "human nature") of Jesus as being a “creature”—as the Hypostatic Union notes, Jesus is a single person with two natures, and one of those natures, his humanity, is created. Therefore, in Trinitarian Christology, Jesus is, in some sense, a “creature.” Such should be noted when Evangelical (falsely) claim "Mormons" worship a "creature" (such is usually coupled with the charge that, as a result, "Mormonism" is "idolatrous").

This is important for Latter-day Saints as we are often falsely accused of believing that Jesus is a “creature” in the sense of Arianism, although such is simply false. In LDS theology, Jesus personally existed eternally, but LDS theology adds an extra wrinkle—in our theology, everyone personally pre-existed.

For more on this and related topics, see, for e.g.: