is no God: I will gird thee, though thou hast not known Me; that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me; I am the LORD, and there is none else' (Isa. xlv. 5, 6).

'For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth; as there are gods many and lords many; yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto Him' (1 Cor. viii. 5, 6).

2. The Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. These words state that the person in whom we put our trust may be described as :

a. The Father, i.e. of our Lord Jesus Christ.

i. That God is the Father of Jesus is clear from the whole New Testament. Cf.

'I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes: yea, Father, for so it was well pleasing in Thy sight' (Matt. xi. 25, 26).

Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will but Thine be done' (Luke xxii. 42).

'We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ' (Col. i. 3).

'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Pet. i. 3).

'Yea, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ' (1 John i. 3).

ii. Through Jesus, God is the Father of men.

(a) Jesus is the agent of creation, all things are made 'in Him.' He is the power which holds all things together, and the end for which they were made. Cf.—

'All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made. That which hath been made was life in Him: and the life was the light of men' (John i. 3, 4, marg.).

'Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers: all things have been created through Him and unto Him and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist' (Col. i. 15-17).

Thus God is the Father of men because they are related to Him in His eternal Son.'

(B) He is the source of redemption. It is through Christ's work upon earth that men, united with Him by baptism, are able to claim for themselves the sonship which is theirs in Him. Cf.

'And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father' (Gal. iv. 6).

b. Almighty.--All-ruler would express the idea to be conveyed better than Almighty.

God, we know, cannot contradict Himself: He cannot act contrary to the moral laws which He has established. Cf.

'That by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie' (Heb. vi. 18).

'If we are faithless, He abideth faithful for He cannot deny Himself' (2 Tim. ii. 13).

Hence the mere vulgar idea that God is able arbitrarily to do all things without restriction, is clearly not tenable. On the other hand, that He is the supreme ruler and guide of all things is a great truth which we would do well to lay to heart. Cf.

'Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty,1 which was, and which is and which is to come' (Apoc. iv. 8).

'Which in its own times He (i.e. God) shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords' (1 Tim. vi. 15).

c. Maker of heaven and earth.—The last words are equivalent to the whole visible universe,' and do not in themselves include 'invisible spiritual beings.' These, however, are part of God's work, and must be included in the idea of creation. Cf.

'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth' (Gen. i. 1).

'He hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and by His understanding hath He stretched out the Heaven' (Jer. x. 12).

'And sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever, who created the heaven and the things that are therein, and the earth and the

In this and in other passages of the Apocalypse, where the word occurs, and in 2 Cor. vi. 18, the Greek is the same as the word which stands in all the Greek Creeds, and would be better rendered 'All-ruler.'

things that are therein, and the sea and the things that are therein, that there shall be time no longer' (Apoc. x. 6).

We must not, however, restrict our conception to the idea that God created the world out of nothing, and then left it to pursue its way alone. The true notion of creation involves the idea of God as the ever-present guide, of the ages of the world being developed in orderly sequence by Him, regulated so as to carry out His will. Cf.

'In Him we live, and move, and have our being' (Acts xvii. 28).

'By faith we understand that the ages have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which do appear' (Heb. xi. 3, marg.)

CHAPTER III.

ARTICLE II.

1. IT will be noticed that the Creed is printed in three paragraphs, each occupied with one of the Three Persons of the Trinity, and each beginning with the same confession of personal faith. In the second paragraph the words 'I believe ' are indeed omitted, but the connection formed by 'And in,' clearly marks. the transition to a new object.

The second article sets forth the description of the Person in whom we put our trust. Articles iii.-vii. describe His historical manifestation on earth.

2. And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord.—The Person in whom we trust is:

a. Jesus. This, which is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Joshua or Jehoshua, the salvation of Jehovah, marks our Lord under a twofold aspect.

i. As the name Joshua was given by Moses to the son of Nun, when he was about to enter on the work which resulted in leading the people into the promised land (Num. xiii. 16), so the name Jesus was given to the young child who was sent to save men from the bondage of sin and lead them into the heavenly Canaan. Cf.

'Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for it is He that shall save His people from their sins' (Matt. i. 21).

'And the angel said unto them, Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord' (Luke ii. 10, 11).

ii. This name was given to our Lord at His circumcision (Luke ii. 21), in the same way that names were given to ordinary Jewish children. It therefore marks strongly our Lord's human nature, and wherever it is used in the New Testament stress is laid on the fact that our Lord was perfect man.

Cf.

'The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging Him on a tree' (Acts v. 30).

'And he said, Who art Thou, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest' (Acts ix. 5).

'And no man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit' (1 Cor. xii. 3).

'Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God' (1 John iv. 15).

b. Christ.

i. Without entering into any details as to the exact form and intensity of the Messianic hopes entertained by the Jews at the time of our Lord's birth, it is clear that, from the time of the great promise in 2 Samuel vii. 12-16—'When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son : if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: but My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be made sure for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever'-the chosen people continually looked for a Messiah, a son of David, who should set up an enduring kingdom. Now the Greek word Christ (Xplorós) is simply a translation of the Hebrew Messiah, and therefore this word in the Creed involves the truth that Jesus was the longlooked-for Messiah. For the truth of this, cf.—

'For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord' (Luke ii. 11).

'I know that Messiah cometh (which is called Christ): when He is come He will declare unto us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am He' (John iv. 25, 26).

'But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this [i.e. Jesus] is the Christ' (Acts ix. 22).

ii. Christ means anointed. Hence the statement in the Creed implies that Jesus is the anointed' of God.

In the Old Testament anointing is spoken of in connection with three distinct offices:

(a) In the case of Elisha, anointing was the method adopted for appointment to the prophetic office. Cf.

And Jehu, the son of Nimshi, shalt thou anoint to be king