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XXV. Not a Divine-Human Nature
“I in them, and they in Me.”
—Johnxvii. 23.
The union of believers with the Mediator, of all matters of faith the most tender, is in-
visible, imperceptible to the senses, and unfathomable; it escapes all inward vision; it refuses
to be dissected or to be made objective by any representation; in the fullest sense of the word
it is mystical—unio mystica, as Calvin, after the example of the early Church, called it.
And yet, however mysterious, no man is at liberty to interpret it according to his own
notions; in fact, there is need of great vigilance lest under the pious appearance of this
mystic love injurious contraband be smuggled into the divine sanctuary. We have therefore
raised our voice against the false representations of former mystical sects, and of the Ethical
theorists of the present time.
Let us first explain the Ethical teaching on this point.
Their belief starts from the antithesis existing between Godand man. God is the Creator,
man is a creature. God is infinite, man finite. God dwells in the eternal, and man lives in
the temporal. God is holy, and man is unholy; etc. So long as these contrasts exist, so they
teach, there can be no unity, no reconciliation, no harmony. And as the pantheistic philo-
sophy used to talk about three stages through which life must run its course—first, that of
proposition (thesis), then that of contrast (antithesis), and lastly, that of reconciliation,
combination (synthesis)—so the Ethicals teach that between God and man there exist these
three: thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.
In the first place, there is God. This is the thesis, the proposition. Opposed to this thesis
in God, the antithesis, contrast, appears in man. And this thesis and antithesis find their
reconciliation, synthesis, in the Mediator, who is at once finite and infinite, burdened with
our guilt and holy, temporal, and eternal.
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It is only recently that we quoted the following sentence from Professor Gunning’s little
book, “The Mediator between God and Man” (page 28): “Jesus Christ is the Mediator equally
between the Jews and the Gentiles; and also between all things that need reconciliation and
mediation; as between God and man, spirit and body, heaven and earth, time and eternity.”
This representation contains the fundamental error of the Ethical theology. It interferes
with the boundaries which God has set. It effaces them. It causes all contrasts finally to dis-
appear. And by this very thing, without intending it, it becomes the instrument of spreading
the pantheism of the philosophic school. Not understanding this system, one may be deeply
in love with it. This pantheistic ferment is deeply seated in our sinful hearts. The waters of
pantheism are sweet, their religious flavor is peculiarly pleasant. There is spiritual intoxication
XXV. Not a Divine-Human Nature
XXV. Not a Divine-Human Nature
