101. (7) THUS GOD BECAME MAN, AND MAN GOD, IN ONE PERSON.

That Jehovah God became Man, and Man God, in one Person, follows as a conclusion from the preceding articles of this chapter, particularly from these two: "Jehovah, the Creator of the universe descended and assumed the Human, in order to redeem and save mankind," nos. 82-84; and "The Lord, by the acts of redemption, united Himself to the Father, and the Father united Himself to Him, thus reciprocally and mutually," nos. 97-100. From that reciprocal union it is clearly evident that God became Man, and Man God, in one Person. The same also follows as a consequence from the Union of both, which is like that of soul and body. That this is in agreement with the faith of the Church at this day, as it is set forth in the Athanasian Creed, ¹ may be seen above,nos. 98. It is also in agreement with the faith of the Evangelical Protestants, as stated in their chief book of orthodoxy, called the Formula Concordiae, ² where it is strongly established, both from the Sacred Scripture and the Fathers, as well as by rational arguments, that the Human Nature of Christ was exalted to Divine majesty, omnipotence and omnipresence, and also that in Christ Man is God and God Man; as may be seen in that work, p. 607, 765. Moreover it has been proved in this chapter that Jehovah God, as to His Human, is called in the Word, JEHOVAH, Jehovah God, JEHOVAH ZEBAOTH, (A.V., the Lord of Hosts), and also the God of Israel. Therefore, Paul says that in Jesus Christ "dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" Colossians 2:9;

and John says that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, "is the true God, and eternal life" 1 John 5:20.

That the Son of God, properly speaking, means His Human, may be seen above, 92 and following. Moreover, Jehovah God calls both Himself and Him Lord; for it is written:

"The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand" Psalms 110:1;

and in Isaiah:

"Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given:... and His name shall be called God, the everlasting Father" 9:8.

By the Son is also meant the Lord as to His Human in David:

"I will declare the decree: JEHOVAH hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee... Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way" Psalms 2:7, 12.

A Son born from eternity is not here meant, but the Son born in the world, for this is a prophecy concerning the Lord who was to come, and therefore it is called the decree which Jehovah announced to David. It is also written before in the same Psalm:

"I have anointed my King upon Zion," Psalms 2:6, and later,

"I shall give Him the nations for an inheritance," Psalms 2:6.

Therefore, "this day" does not mean from eternity, but in time, for with Jehovah the future is present.

Footnotes:

3803. 'Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother' means the kinship of the good represented by 'Jacob' and of the good represented by 'Laban'. This is clear from the meaning of 'telling' as making known; from the representation of 'Jacob' as good, dealt with already; from the representation of 'Rachel', to whom it was made known, as the affection for interior truth, dealt with in 3793; from the meaning of 'brother', who in this place is Jacob, as good, dealt with in 367, 2360, 3303, 3459; and from the meaning of 'father', who in this place is Laban, as good also, dealt with in 3703. From these meanings and from the train of thought it is evident that 'Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother' means the kinship of the good meant by 'Jacob' and of the good meant by 'Laban'. To explain the actual kinship however and so the joining together of the two through the affection for interior truth meant by 'Rachel' would only throw the matter into obscurity, for few know what the good of the natural is and that this is distinct and separate from the good of the rational. Neither do they know what a parallel good springing from a common stock is, nor also what the affection for interior truth is. Anyone who has not by finding out for himself gathered some idea of these matters gains merely a superficial idea, if any at all, from a description of them; for a person takes in only as much of a description given by others as fits in with ideas of his own or else which he acquires by coming to see the thing in himself. All else passes him by. It is enough if one knows that countless kinships of good and truth exist, and that heavenly communities exist in accordance with those kinships, 685, 917, 2739, 3612.

[2] The reason why Jacob calls himself Laban's brother when he was in fact his sister's son is that by virtue of good all are brothers. This also is why Laban in turn calls Jacob 'brother' in verse 15. For it is good that constitutes blood-relationship and which effects any joining together, since good is an attribute of love, and love is a spiritual joining together. This also was the reason why in the ancient Churches all who were governed by good were called brothers. The same happened in the Jewish Church, but because that Church despised everybody else and imagined that they alone were the elect it spoke only of those who had been born Jews as brothers. The rest it called companions or foreigners. The primitive Christian Church also referred to as brothers all who were governed by good, but later on it confined the term to those inside its own group. But the name brother disappeared from among Christians when good did so. And when truth took the place of good, or faith the place of charity, none was able any longer to call another brother by virtue of good, only neighbour. This is also a feature of the doctrine of faith when devoid of the life of charity, in that it seems to be beneath them to exist as a brotherhood when this includes any of lower rank than themselves. For being brothers in their case does not have its origin in the Lord, and therefore in good, but in themselves, and therefore in position and gain.

[3803a] 'And that he was Rebekah's son' means the link between these kindred varieties of good. This becomes clear without explanation, for Rebekah, who was Jacob's mother and Laban's sister, was the one in whom the link existed.