Chapter 7.—Of Christ’s
Session at the Father’s Right Hand.
14. We believe also that
He Sitteth at the Right Hand of the Father
.
This, however, is
not to lead us to suppose that
God the Father is, as it were, circumscribed by a human form, so
that, when we think of Him, a right side or a left should suggest
itself to the mind. Nor, again, when it is thus said in express
terms that the Father sitteth, are we to fancy that this is done
with bended knees; lest we should fall into that profanity, in
[dealing with] which an apostle execrates those who “changed the
glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of corruptible
man.”
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For it is
unlawful for a Christian to set up any such image for God in a
temple; much more nefarious is it, [therefore], to set it up in the
heart, in which truly is the temple of God, provided it be purged
of earthly lust and error. This expression, “at the right
hand,” therefore, we must understand to signify a position in
supremest blessedness, where righteousness and peace and joy are;
just as the kids are set on the left hand,
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that is to say, in misery, by
reason of unrighteousness, labors, and torments.
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And in accordance with this, when
it is said that God “sitteth,” the expression indicates not a
posture of the members, but a judicial power, which that Majesty
never fails to possess, as He is always awarding deserts as men
deserve them (
digna dignis tribuendo
); although at the last
judgment the unquestionable brightness of the only-begotten Son of
God, the Judge of the living and the dead, is destined yet to be
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a thing
much more manifest among men.
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Rom. i. 23
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Matt. xxv. 33
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Reading
propter iniquitates,
labores atque cruciatus
. Several
mss
.
give
propter iniquitatis labores
, etc. = by reason of the
labors and torments of unrighteousness.
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Reading
futura sit
; for
which
fulsura sit
also occurs = is destined to shine much
more manifestly, etc.