The Person of Christ

The person of Christ stands at the center of all Christian hope. The classic Reformed and Puritan authors treated this doctrine not as a speculative puzzle but as the foundation of the gospel itself. Who Christ is determines what his life, death, and resurrection can accomplish for sinners. If he is only a man, however admirable, his death cannot bear the weight of divine justice. If he is only God, he cannot truly represent humanity or die in our place. The writers gathered here return again and again to the same conviction: Jesus Christ is both truly God and truly man, one person with two natures, and this union of natures gives infinite value to his obedience and suffering.

The incarnation as condescension and love

Charles Spurgeon presents the incarnation as a great act of condescension and love. He marvels that Christ laid aside his divine glory to become a human infant (Romans 5:8). This was not a temporary disguise but a real descent. Spurgeon stresses that it was beyond even angelic thought that God himself would become flesh and die, yet the Son of God willingly declared that he would do so. I do not think it could have entered even into angelic thought to conceive that the mighty Maker of the skies should bow his awful head and sink into a grave. I cannot imagine that the brightest and most seraphic of these glorified ones would for an instant have suffered such a thought to abide with him Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Love's Commendation”

Spurgeon also emphasizes the completeness of this descent. Christ came from heaven to earth, then to the grave, and even to the lowest depths, to make his condescension complete (Romans 5:8). The incarnation was not an isolated event but the first step in a downward movement that reached its lowest point in death. Matthew Henry adds that Christ's human nature is shown in his descent from David, fulfilling the promises about the Messiah's kingly office (Romans 1:3). This grounding in a particular family line demonstrates that the incarnation was real and historical, not mythical.

Two natures in one person

Matthew Henry draws attention to Romans 1:3–4 as a summary of the gospel doctrine of Christ's two natures in one person. The same Christ is descended from David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead. Henry sees the resurrection as the great and undeniable proof that he is the Son of God (Romans 1:4). The human descent and the divine sonship belong to one and the same person.

Henry also points to Romans 9:5 as a full proof of Christ's Godhead. Christ, as to his human nature, came from the Jews, being of the seed of Abraham. Yet he is also over all as Mediator and is God blessed forever (Romans 9:5). This double truth means that rejecting Christ deserves sorer punishment, because the one rejected is not merely a human teacher but God himself. Henry does not separate the natures into two persons. The one who is over all is the same one who came from Israel.

Spurgeon presses the same point from a different angle. He argues that if Jesus was not truly God, his allowing himself to be worshipped would make him an impostor, not a good man (Romans 4:24–25). Admiring the moral beauty of Christ's life without believing he is the Son of God is not saving faith. The moral example only makes sense if the person giving it is who he claimed to be.

The infinite value of Christ's obedience and suffering

Jonathan Edwards develops the logic of why Christ's person matters for salvation. He argues that the value of a person's respect or love is proportional to the value of the person giving it, because in giving respect one gives oneself. This principle applies supremely to Christ. His obedience has infinite value because of the infinite dignity of his person, and this was necessary to answer the infinite aggravation of our disobedience.

Edwards adds that it was infinitely honorable to God that a person of infinite dignity adored and obeyed him as his God, more than any mere creature could do (Hebrews 5:8, John 8:29). The obedience of Christ was not the obedience of a creature among creatures. It was the obedience of the eternal Son, and therefore it carried a weight that no angelic or human obedience could match.

Spurgeon makes the same point in connection with the atonement. The death of Christ is available for pardon partly because of the majesty of his divine Person, which gave infinite value to his suffering and vindicated God's justice more than the damnation of all sinners could (Romans 4:25). The excellence of Christ's atonement also lay in his absolutely perfect, sinless character, which entitled him to suffer not for himself but for others (Romans 4:25). Spurgeon and Edwards agree that the person of Christ is not incidental to the atonement. It is what makes the atonement sufficient.

Christ as the willing surety

Edwards emphasizes that Christ was under no prior obligation to obey or suffer for himself. Both his obedience and his suffering were undertaken in an eternal transaction with the Father as our surety. This means that Christ's work was voluntary. He did not owe obedience for his own sake, since he was not a creature under the law. He took on the obligation as a representative of others.

This understanding shapes how Edwards reads the incarnation. Christ's incarnation shows that union is necessary for imputation: without union to us, our sin could not have been imputed to him; without vital union, his righteousness cannot be imputed to us. The incarnation is therefore not merely a display of humility. It is the means by which a real union between Christ and his people becomes possible, so that sin and righteousness can be transferred in a just way.

Spurgeon highlights the same voluntary character of Christ's work. Christ, though infinitely glorious and holy, stooped to become a man and die for the wicked, which is the greatest of all miracles (Romans 5:6). Christ had no part in the fall or the sin that arose from it, yet he died to redeem sinners from its penalty (Romans 5:6). The Father delivered up his Son to become man, to be despised and rejected, and to die for our offenses (Romans 4:25). The language of delivery and stooping underscores that Christ's suffering was not forced upon him but accepted in fulfillment of a divine purpose.

The reality of Christ's death

Spurgeon insists that Christ's death was a real, physical death, not a fiction (Romans 5:6). The reality of that death was publicly certified by the Roman governor and by his friends who buried him (Romans 5:6). This emphasis guards against any view that treats the cross as merely a symbol or a dramatic representation. The Son of God truly died.

Spurgeon also describes the depth of Christ's suffering. His death involved a profound condescension from his divine glory, descending from heaven to earth, to the grave, and even to the lowest depths, to make his condescension complete (Romans 5:8). Christ's ransom was a goodly price because of the extreme sorrow, torture, and agony he endured in soul and body (Romans 3:24). The death of Christ is the highest demonstration of God's love because it was the eternal, divine Creator himself who died for sinners (Romans 5:8). That God himself should become man, and then should die for you! “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, Christ should die. Roll that thought over in your mind; ponder it in your meditations; weigh it in your hearts Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Love's Commendation”

Matthew Henry adds a further dimension. Christ's bearing sin and the curse was the greatest possible self-denial because of his spotless holiness, the Father's love to him, and his concern for the Father's glory (Romans 15:3). The one who had no sin bore the curse of sin. The one who enjoyed the Father's love bore the hiding of the Father's face. The one who cared supremely for the Father's glory bore the shame that sin brings upon God's name.

Christ set forth by God

Spurgeon notes that God set forth Christ in his incarnation, with angelic messengers and the star guiding the wise men to the young child (Romans 3:25). God also set forth Christ throughout his life, including through the testimony of John the Baptist identifying him as the Lamb of God (Romans 3:25). The public ministry of Christ was not a private event. God displayed him before the world as the appointed propitiation.

Henry connects this public setting forth to the Old Testament promises. The Old Testament foretold that the Gentiles would believe in Christ, who is revealed as both the root of Jesse and the one who rises to reign over the Gentiles (Romans 15:12). The gospel is the preaching of Jesus Christ, both because Christ first proclaimed it and because Christ is its central subject (Romans 16:25). The person of Christ is not one theme among many. He is the content of the message.

The living Christ and the believer's union with him

Spurgeon stresses that faith rests in Christ as the living One who was dead and is now alive forever, holding authority over death and hell (Romans 4:25). The resurrection is not an afterthought. It is the ground of confidence that the one who died for sinners now lives to save them.

Henry draws out the practical implications of Christ's universal dominion. Christ's universal dominion and right to judge all people is proven by the Old Testament prophecy that every knee will bow to him, which also demonstrates his deity (Romans 14:11). Christ's friends willingly bow to him and confess him through grace, which is the soul's cheerful subjection to Jesus Christ in understanding, will, and whole being (Romans 14:11). Christ's enemies will be forced to bow to him at his second coming, when his victories over them will be fully accomplished (Romans 14:11). The same Christ who humbled himself will be acknowledged by all.

Edwards adds that God values believers' love and obedience more highly because the persons offering them have greater dignity through their relation to Christ, just as a person gains honor by marriage to a king. The believer's union with Christ does not merely change legal status. It changes the value of what the believer offers to God. Henry makes a similar point about humility. God gives spiritual gifts in a measured portion according to faith, so no believer should be proud since even Christ, who had the Spirit without measure, was meek and lowly (Romans 12:3). The person of Christ is both the source of the believer's dignity and the pattern of the believer's humility.

Henry also grounds the believer's security in the unchanging person of Christ. God rests in his love because Jesus Christ, in whom he loves believers, is eternally unchanging (Romans 8:39). The love of God does not waver, because the Christ in whom that love is given does not change. The person of Christ is therefore not only the ground of justification but also the ground of final perseverance.

The classic Reformed and Puritan authors agree on the central affirmations: Christ is truly God and truly man, his two natures are united in one person, his obedience and suffering have infinite value because of who he is, and his death and resurrection are the ground of the believer's salvation. They differ mainly in emphasis. Spurgeon tends to dwell on the emotional and moral grandeur of the incarnation and cross. Edwards develops the logical and theological structure of imputation and the value of Christ's person. Henry weaves the doctrine through the whole of Scripture, showing how Old Testament prophecy and New Testament fulfillment meet in Christ. But their differences are complementary rather than contradictory. Together they present a coherent vision of the person of Christ as the heart of the gospel.