Page:God Manifest.djvu/204

194 given was not originally there, and that the being thus gifted could not be God, who has all things originally in Himself? This point may be thus explained. In the first place, it may be observed, that the expression given plainly does not mean given away; for that would make the passage involve an absurdity. For, in that case, if the original possessor of omnipotence be supposed to be God,—and Jesus supposed to be some being different from God—then, if God gave that omnipotence away, or over, to that other being—what would be the result? There would be a God without any power, for He has given it all away;—and consequently He would be no longer God:—and there would be at the same time another being with power and with all power, but who is not God either—because God is a Being who has all things self-derived: thus there would be no God at all. This is absurd. The word given, therefore, must mean communicated,—that is, so given that what is given is still retained by the giver; which will imply, that he to whom the gift is made, is not in fact a being different from the giver, but is the same being under another name or appearance. Now it will be observed that the form in which God appeared to men, was the assumed humanity; in that humanity, He was called Jesus Christ—"for in him," (Jesus) says the Apostle, "dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." It will be frurther observed, that this language "All power is given unto me," was used by the Lord Jesus after his resurrection, when He was about ascending into heaven, in His "glorious body" as the Apostle terms it—that is, when the humanity, having put off the weakness and infirmities of its maternal origin, was glorified or made Divine.