THAT GOD THE FATHER IS THE TRUE FATHER OF THE WHOLE CHRIST, HIS SON; AND THAT THE WHOLE CHRIST IS A TRUE SON OF GOD, HIS FATHER, WHICH MICRON CONTRADICTS IN MANY PLACES, AND SAYS THAT IT IS NOT SO.
Micron writes at some places, "That the son of man had no father, or near father." He often said so at the time of the discussion, too. Something which is so diametrically opposed to all Scripture that one must be astounded and ashamed thereat.
Since he so indiscreetly denies the Father of Christ Jesus, according to his humanity - therefore, I trust I will show to the reader, who is the Father of Christ, by a number of scriptural references and by their power that he must say, if he be not entirely given up, that Micron and the learned, by their writings, have lamentably deceived him, and that they have taught nothing but an anti-christian foundation.
Thus spake the angel of the Most High to Mary, when she wondered how this should be, as she knew not a man: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God," Luke 1:35.
Which plain Scripture Micron has obscured by his infernal smoke, saying, "The angel meant to say to Mary, that her child should not be man, only (he means of her flesh), but also truly God, and his Son, according to his eternal, divine being." Not a single word did the angel say to that effect; nor did he make such a division in Christ, as does Micron. But the angel merely made it known that she should conceive, and that the fruit should be the Son of God, and that God should be the Father of the child. Behold, thus Micron breaks the testimony of the holy angel, which he, at God's command, bore to Mary from high heaven, that the holy thing which should be born of her, should be the Son of God.
Again, the heavenly Father himself testifies of Christ Jesus, saying, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him," Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35. Here the Father proclaims him to be his beloved Son, without any division. And Micron says that he is not.
Again, Christ said unto the blind man, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee," Jn. 9:35. Here the palpable, visible Christ, who, according to the foundation of Micron, was only the son of man, confesses himself to be the Son of God, without any division; and Micron says that he is not. Again, at another place Christ says, "What and if ye shall see the son of man (mark, he says the son of man) ascend up where he was before?" Jn. 6:62. Here Christ himself confesses that the son of man was from heaven; and Micron says that he was of earth, and that he is called heavenly, on account of some virtues, as if Christ was a nominal Christ and not a Christ in truth.
Again, when Christ asked his disciples, saying, "Whom do men say that I, the son of man, am?" (mark, he asks about the son of man). Then Peter said, "Thou art the Christ (without a division), the Son of the living God," Matt. 16:16, &c.; and Micron says that the son of man was not the Son of God.
Again, John the Baptist says, "He that sent me to baptize with, water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God," Jn. 1:33. Here John confesses the visible Christ (who, according to our opponent's foundation, was only the son of man), to be the Son of God; and Micron writes that he is not.
Again, the centurion, on Golgotha said, "Truly, this man (mark, he says, this man) was the Son of God," Mark 15:39; and Micron says, he is not. Paul says, "God sent forth his Son, made of a woman," Gal. 4:4; and Micron writes, God sent forth his Son, who came of a woman. At another place, Paul writes, "He that spared not his own Son," Rom. 8:32. Mark, he says, His own Son, and we are reconciled to God by the death of his Son. Rom. 5:10. John says, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin," 1 Jn. 1:7. At another place, "He (God) sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins," 1 Jn. 4:10, which reconciliation, according to Micron's false doctrine, is not brought about by the blood of the Son of God, as John and Paul teach, but by the blood of the son of man, who, according to Micron, had no father, as has often been heard.
Kind reader, if you closely observe it you will find more than sixty instances in the New Testament where Christ Jesus confesses God the heavenly Father to be his Father, and himself to be his Son. And from the beginning to the end, you will not find anything about such a division and union as our opponents teach, neither in Christ's words, nor in those of any of the holy apostles or evangelists.
Micron writes at more than one place, "If God, the Father, is the Father of the man Christ, then he must have also had flesh and blood." From which it is manifest, first, that he does not allow the crucified Christ a Father. Whereby the angel of God, the Father, and the Son, themselves, also John the Baptist, Peter, John, Paul, Nathaniel, Martha, and the whole Scriptures are made bare-faced liars and false witnesses, by him, Luke 1:31; Matt. 17:5; Jn. 9:36; 1:33; 3:16; Matt. 16:16. For they have repeatedly confessed him to be the true Son of the true and living God.
Secondly, it is manifest that all such writing is not of the living Fount of the Holy Ghost; nor of an enlightened, firm, believing heart which, without all wavering, trusts, with Joshua and Caleb, in the power and true promise of the Almighty God; but that it is solely of human wisdom and an unbelieving, carnal heart, which can not judge but according to nature; and yet, through excessive blindness, destroys the ordinances of this same nature, which God established in the first creation.
Kind reader, take heed! The Almighty power of God, the ineffable miracle of his divine love, and the undeceiving, sure word of his eternal truth should avail more than the blind intellect of our corrupted nature, if we would rightly learn to know Christ, and follow and obey his holy word.
The dead body of Adam, created of the dust, by the breath of God, became a living soul, Gen. 1:27, and the water gushed forth from the rock, Ex. 17:6. Yet the earth, from which the living Adam was made, was no living soul, neither was the rock from which the water flowed for Israel to drink, the ingredients of water. If they should now say that this was done by the power of God, by supernatural means, as is the case, too, then I would reply again: Thus was also brought about the miraculous incarnation of Jesus Christ, in Mary, by the omnipotence of God by which he can do any thing he pleases, as the angel says, "The power of the Highest shall overshadow thee;" for with God nothing is impossible, Luke 1:35.
I entertain the opinion that all those who believe, in power and in truth, that God was able, in the beginning, to create heaven, earth and sea, and the fullness thereof, by his mighty word, and now, by the same word, rules, disposes and maintains all this; and who believe that he is able to raise Adam and all his descendants, at the end, by the same power, from the dust, and reclaim them from the undermost parts of the earth and the depths of the sea, and place them before the sight of his majesty, will also believe that this same God had the power to send his ineffable, eternal word from heaven and to let it become, by the power of his Holy Spirit, a true, passive, mortal man, in Mary, as John says, "The Word was made flesh," Jn. 1:14. I repeat it, in Mary, for in the Father, or in heaven, before he was conceived, he was not flesh. This I have often confessed in plain language, and thoroughly proved by the Scriptures. Notwithstanding this he is not ashamed so to garble my words as if I should have said that the Word was flesh in the Father, or in heaven. Something which I can say with a good conscience never to have thought of in all my life.
I do not see what difference there can be between the spirit of our opponents and the spirit of the Pharisees and of the false prophets. For as they always garbled the words of the pious prophets and of the Lord Christ, and were always intent upon making them disreputable, and thus, out of mere hatred and envy of the truth, make way with them by violence, falsehood and wrong; thus these, out of mere hatred and envy of the truth, deal with me, old, afflicted man; for, alas, they have portrayed me all through their book, in such colors, that I do not see how they could have depicted Behemoth and Beelzebub in more unpleasant colors than they have depicted me; notwithstanding that, I have never in my life, wished them any harm and much less done them any; but have shown them all christian faithfulness and discretion by giving them good counsel in their need, as the love which is of God teaches all true christians to do. Yet, however, they have written this lying, infamous and slanderous falsehood against me, undeservedly, as thanks for my faithfulness, whereby they cause me to be tenfold more obnoxious in all countries than I was before. And this for no other reason in fact, than that we confess Christ Jesus to be the true Son of the true and living God, with the angel Gabriel, with the Father, with Christ himself, with John the Baptist, with Peter, and with all the Scriptures, and that we, in our weakness, would gladly hear and follow his word, commandments, prohibitions, ordinances and unblamable example, that we might thus be saved by his grace, which our opponents utterly hate and oppose. For they publicly avow that the son of man, whom we confess to be the Son of God, according to the Scriptures, was not the Son of God. They contradict his express ordinance of baptism, which he taught and commanded us with his own mouth, whereby all the regenerated, believing children of God submissively testify before Christ and his church that they are prepared and willing to follow his holy word and divine will, unto death.
Beloved, do observe what abomination and poisonous draught it is which they pour out for you from the Babylonian cup! True and immutable remains the testimony of the Father: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," Matt. 3:17; 17:5; Mark 1:11; 9:7; Luke 9:35; 2 Pet. 1:17.