Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

THE STATES OF CHRIST
I. The State of Humiliation
A. INTRODUCTORY: THE DOCTRINE OF THE STATES OF CHRIST IN
GENERAL.
1. THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN A STATE AND A CONDITION. It should be borne in mind
that, though the word “state” is sometimes used synonymously with “condition,” the
word as applied to Christ in this connection denotes a relationship rather than a
condition. In general a state and a condition may be distinguished as follows: A state is
one’s position or status in life, and particularly the forensic relationship in which one
stands to the law, while a condition is the mode of one’s existence, especially as
determined by the circumstances of life. One who is found guilty in a court of justice is
in a state of guilt or condemnation, and this is usually followed by a condition of
incarceration with all its resulting deprivation and shame. In theology the states of the
Mediator are generally considered as including the resulting conditions. In fact, the
different stages of the humiliation and of the exaltation, as usually stated, have a
tendency to make the conditions stand out more prominently than the states. Yet the
states are the more fundamental of the two and should be so considered. 11 In the state of
humiliation Christ was under the law, not only as a rule of life, but as the condition of
the covenant of works, and even under the condemnation of the law; but in the state of
exaltation He is free from the law, having met the condition of the covenant of works
and having paid the penalty for sin.
2. THE DOCTRINE OF THE STATES OF CHRIST IN HISTORY. The doctrine of the states of
Christ really dates from the seventeenth century, though traces of it are already found in
the writings of the Reformers, and even in some of the early Church Fathers. It was first
developed among the Lutherans when they sought to bring their doctrine of the
communicatio idiomatum in harmony with the humiliation of Christ as it is pictured in the
Gospels, but was soon adopted also by the Reformed. They differed, however, as to the
real subject of the states. According to the Lutherans it is the human nature of Christ, but
11 Cf. Kuyper, Dict. Dogm., De Christo II, pp. 59 ff.
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