Theodicy Soteriology, Hermeneutics

SOTERIOLOGY : M. M. NINAN
sentiments, and that the utmost creditis to be given to him who sacredly, and in the presence
of God, bears testimonyto his own meaning.
The articles of doctrine about which your excellency madeinquiries, were, as far as my
memory serves me, the following: the Divinityof the Son of God, Providence, Divine
Predestination, Grace and Free Will,and Justification. Beside these, you inquired about the
things which concernedour opinions, in answer to the interrogatories of the States of
Holland,concerning the mode of holding the proposed synod. But as the latter relateto that
most eminent man, the Revelation John Uytenbogard, minister of thechurch at the Hague, as
much as to me, I leave them to be explained by him,whose residence is much nearer to that
of your excellency.
With regard to all these doctrinal Articles, I confidentlydeclare that I have never taught
anything, either in the church or in theuniversity, which contravenes the sacred writings, that
ought to be withus the sole rule of thinking and of speaking, or which is opposed to theDutch
Confession of Faith, or to the Heidelberg Catechism, that are our strictformularies of consent.
In proof of this assertion I might produce, as mostclear and unquestionable testimonies, the
theses which I have composed onthese several Articles, and which have been discussed as
Public Disputationsin the university; but as those theses are not entirely in readiness forevery
one, and can be with difficulty transmitted, I will now treat uponeach of them specially, as far
as I shall conceive it necessary.
1. THE DIVINITY OF THE SON OF GOD.
Concerning the divinity of the Son of God, I have taught,and still teach, that the Father has
never been without his Word and hisSpirit, but that the Word and the Spirit are not to be
considered in theFather under the notion of properties, as wisdom, goodness, justice, or
power,but under that of really existing persons, to whom it belongs to be, to live,to
understand, to will, to be capable, and to do or act, all of which, whenunited, are indications
and proofs of a person, but that they are so in theFather as to be also from the Father, in a
certain order of origin, not throughcollaterality, to be referred to the Father, and that they are
from the Fatherneither by creation nor by decision but by a most wonderful and
inexplicableinternal emanation, which, with respect to the Son, the ancient church
calledgeneration, but with respect to the Holy Spirit, was denominated inspirationor breathing,
a term required by the very [etymology of the] word spirit.But about this breathing, I do not
interpose my judgment whether it is fromthe Father and the Son, as the Latin fathers express
themselves, or fromthe Father through the Son, as the Greek fathers prefer to define it,
becausethis matter, I confess, far surpasses my capacity. If, on any subject, weought to think
and speak with sobriety, in my opinion, it must be onthis.
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