THE following pages form the sequel to Dr. Van Oosterzee’s two volumes on the Christology of the Old Testament and of the New, of which they embody the results. The author having already in the preceding volumes examined the various utterances of Sacred Scripture which shed any light upon the person and work of Christ, seeks now to combine their teaching in one whole, and to give the total impression produced Shy the testimony of Scripture upon this subject—to present, in a word, the image of Christ as reflected in Holy Scripture.

In the person of Christ he sees a testimony to Scripture, as throughout Scripture a testimony to Christ. “As regards the authority of Scripture,” he writes, “if there is really such a manifest agreement in the prophetic and apostolic testimonies concerning Christ as we have again and again shown to exist, then precisely this agreement is, in our estimation, the great proof that the. Bible is something infinitely more than that which so many will now make of it, a merely human book. How should such a glorious harmony be conceivable as we have observed between the Old Testament and the New, between Jesus and the Apostles, between Apostle and fellow-Apostle, if the Scripture were no document of extraordinary revelations of God, written under the special guidance of the Holy Spirit? As Scripture, read ‘in simplicity, shows us Christ in all His fulness, so does Christ, once known aright, in turn lead us back to Scripture, and give testimony to its truth and value.”

In the supernatural origin and character of the Christian revelation and the Divine-human nature of Christ’s personality is to be found the key to the author’s whole system of Christology. With what logical severity he pushes to its ultimate consequences the view which sees in Christ, though a perfect man, nothing more than man, is evident more especially from pp. 198—201; while the calm conviction of the absolute powerlessness of those efforts directed against the very existence of the Christian Church, which makes itself felt throughout the whole argument, occasionally, as on pp. 442, 448, rises even to the height of exultation.

The issue raised throughout the work—a Christ, natural merely, or also supernatural, man merely, or also God-man—is an exceedingly clear one, as it will also become an increasingly practical one in the present day. The position of the writer in relation to this question, if it were not already well known, would be sufficiently defined by the following extract from his preface:—‘ Time must show whether the modern Christianity, which is now commended to us in place of the old and tried one, in reality possesses such an enlightening, consoling, new-creating power as—witness the history of the ages—this last possesses; or whether a Gospel interwoven with fables and legends, a Christ who is nothing more than a genial and noble man, a so-called Revelation, in a word, deprived of every supernatural element, in truth satisfies the wants of a heart which has learnt to thirst after God, the living God. For our part, we cannot but think that such a rejection of Supernaturalism—that is, of the Biblical-Christian belief of revelation—as that with which many now please themselves and their spiritual kinsmen, in its legitimate consequences leads to a merely Naturalistic Deism, or, still more consistently, to Pantheism, and in this way finally to the denial of alt religion.”

The work is written with the design of being serviceable “in advancing the science of faith among those who cannot for their everlasting peace rest satisfied with anything or any one short of the full Christ of the everlasting Gospel.” “Willingly,” says Van Oosterzee, adopting the words of a distinguished German theologian, “will we allow ourselves to be deprived of the glittering crown of exact science, if we can at this price win for the Gospel a mightier influence upon the practical life of our nation.” At the same time, while specially designed to confirm the faith of the Christian flock, this work may be found useful in suggesting a line of thought for Christian teachers also.

As regards the work in its English form, the translator has sought faithfully to reproduce the thoughts and words of the writer, with such slight modifications or omissions as might render it more generally acceptable in this country. These changes, which do not affect the sense, have been made with the concurrence of the author, and with special reference to his latest work, on Christian Dogmatics. Where a word of explanation seemed to be required, a foot-note has been added within: brackets. That on p. 160 should have been supplemented by a reference to p. 607 of the author’s Christian Dogmatics, in which he interprets Col. i. 20 of the far-reaching consequences of Christ’s death on the cross.

In the citation of Scripture the translator has sometimes followed the Authorised English version, and at other times the Dutch version—where the latter seemed better to express the spirit of the Hebrew or Greek text. In the case of the New Testament the revised version of Dean Alford has often been followed.

Nothing further remains but to wish that this work, which has proved a source of refreshing and strength to not a few, may 20 forth to witness here also—as it has already done in Holland and Germany, and now in Sweden —to the glory of Him who is the Head of the Church, the centre of God’s saving revelation, “the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things He may be first.”

M. J. E.

ADDENDUM.

The note of the translator on p. 203 applies only to the variation in the readings of Matthew. The MSS. of Mark and Luke favour the received text, which probably gives the original reading of Matthew also. -- See Van O., Commentary on Luke, ch. xviii. 19,