Calvin Synod Herald, 2003 (104. évfolyam, 3-12. szám)
2003-05-01 / 5-6. szám
8 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD (Continued from page 7) “Thus in Isaiah 6 & 40 & 43, He is called Jehovah Who sits on the throne Who sends Christ and the Prophets. Yet in the Book of Acts, Paul says this is the Holy Spirit. Thus Jeremiah 31 mentions that Jehovah Lord of Hosts shall make the New Testament and led the Jews forth from Egypt. Yet in Isaiah 40 & 48 & 63 and Hebrews 3 & 10 it is said it is the Holy Spirit Who would make the New Testament over the House of Judah and Who led the Jews forth from Egypt. “Isaiah 63 says in Hebrew ‘ki Hu Elohenu; and that we ‘am wezon jado; hajóm bekolo tishmau. That is to say: ‘For He is our God and we are the people and the flock of His hand; today if you hear His voice.’ The one is said of Jehovah our God - referring to God Who is earlier called El Jehovah, our God, our worthy-of-worship Creator. The other is said of the third Person Who follows... Thus says Jehovah: ‘Do not harden your hearts, as in the wilderness in the day of temptation, where your fathers tempted Me and I swore in My wrath that they would not enter in!” “But look! Above, it is said in the third person: kolo. That is, if you hear the voice of Jehovah the Creator. Here it says the same. It says: ‘If you hear the voice of Jehovah’ - of the second Person - ‘do not harden your hearts!’ "Yet thus He speaks about Himself in the first: ‘As your fathers tempted and vexed Me in the wilderness, and I swore.’ Exodus 4 & 5 & 6 & 13 14 and Isaiah 1 and Jeremiah 31. In Deuteronomy 4 & 5 & 32 it is said that Jehovah, the one and only God, led forth the Jews; that the one Jehovah cause them to rest; and that Jehovah was vexed. So too in First Corinthians 10. “In Psalm 68 it is said that Christ led them forth, and that Christ was vexed. So too in Isaiah 63. In Ezekiel 2 & 3 & 8 & 10 & 11 it is said that the Spirit led forth the Jews, and was vexed, and led them forth. Soo too in Psalm 95. “In Hebrews 3 & 4, it is said of the Holy Spirit that He was tempted and vexed in the wilderness. For it was not simply the word of David - ‘Do not harden your hearts, as your fathers hardened themselves and tempted Me in the wilderness! (Psalm 95 and Numbers 14:23). For in First Corinthians 10, it was not David who was tempted. And Hebrews 4 states: ‘God appoints a certain day, saying in David... “Today if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts!”” “The One Who, previously above, was called ‘the Holy Spirit’ - is, in the fourth chapter [of Hebrews], called ‘God’ (just as in Psalm 95). Also praises were added to this, which are proper only unto the one and only God. I thus explain these words ‘as the Holy Spirit says “Do not harden your hearts like your fathers tempted Me!”” - from Ezekiel 2 & 3 & 8 & 11 and Isaiah 6 & 63 - to refer to the Holy Spirit. “For, if speaking of the Father, He would say ‘if they hear His voice (that of the Father) - do not harden your hearts like they who tempted Him (the Father)!’ But He [the Holy Spirit] is speaking mystically, on account of one and the same kind of nature which belongs to Jehovah God, Which I [the Holy Spirit] am together with the Father and Son. Thereby He exhibits one and the same kind of nature, in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” “That is why He [the Spirit] says, ‘If they heed His voice - just as your fathers did not heed Me.’ For the Spirit speaks about Himself directly in the first person and directly in the third person (according to the dominant custom of Scripture). And in the Book of Acts, Peter and the Apostles explain that the Holy Spirit spoke through the mouth of David and Prophets as the true God Jehovah. Acts 1&2&3&13&28 and First Peter 1 & 3 and Second Peter 1.” The Hungarian Confession then continues with a “Declaration of the Pastors of the Church of Jesus Christ, presented at Czenger, concerning the one and only God Who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit, grounded upon the explanation of the Hebrew expressions and reliable rules taken from the Word of God.” We now present only what it says: “About the one and only God”; “About the Trinity of the one Jehovah”; About the eternal Father”; “About the Son of God”; and “About the Holy Spirit” - together with portions of what it says “About the Sacraments”; “About Infant Baptism”; “About the Presence [of God] in the Lord’s Supper”; About Eternity”; and lastly, “About the Mediator” (at the end of the Confession). “About the one and only God. Truly and uprightly, we confess according to Holy Scripture that the true God is unique and the one and only - the Creator and Maintainer of all things... He is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit [Genesis 1:1-3 & 1:26 and Matthew 28:19]. “About the Trinity of the one Jehovah. We believe this one and only God to be the three witnesses in heaven - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.. There are three according to their permanent properties and offices of management. Yet these three are also one, of which the Apostle is witness. First John 5. “About the eternal Father. The Father, according to God’s Word, we call ‘God’ and ‘Jehovah’. He has life within Himself. He has no origin; and, throughout, no beginning. From His Being, as the Expression and Outshining of His Glory, He beget His Only-begotten Son - from all eternity - and He created and maintains it at [and from] the beginning; and saved the elect through justification, while damning the reprobate [Hebrews 1]. “About the Son of God. We believe that Christ was made the Son of David according to the flesh, in all respects except sin similar to His brothers. We believe and acknowledge that his same Christ was the Word (Logos), the only-begotten Son of God the Father. He is the selfsame God and Jehovah as the Father. He was begotten, before all creatures, from the ‘mouth’ of the All-Highest - the Outshining of His Glory and the Expressions of His Being. Through Him, all things were made - before creation, at creation and after creation [John 1]. He is called the Angel of the Covenant and the Word of God, Who in the fullness of time became flesh. Romans 1 & 8 & 9 and Hebrews 1 & 2 & 3 and Galatians 3 & 4 and Psalm 2 and First Timothy 3 and Romans 3 & 4 & 8 and Hebrews 3 & 8 & 9. He was in the form of God, just like the Father. He humbled Himself and took upon Himself the form of a servant. (Will be concluded in our next issue)
