as to speak of Him not as Jesus only, nor as Christ only, but as Jesus
Christ. This twofold name occurs very rarely in the Gospels--once in
Matthew, once in Mark, never in Luke; but in the Epistles it is the name
by which He is designated and made known to the world. To believe in
Jesus Christ is to accept Him in all His offices, and to take home the
truth which John had in view when he penned his Gospel: "These are
written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God;
and that believing ye might have life through his name."[047]


SECTION 4.--HIS ONLY SON


God is love. Love must have an object, and from eternity the Father was
not alone. The only-begotten and well-beloved Son was with Him, dwelt in
His bosom, and shared His glory. The Filiation or Sonship of our Lord
follows the statement of His proper name and the declaration of His
Messiahship. It is expressed in the designation, "Only Son," which is
His divine name, peculiar to Himself, incommunicable to any other being.
He is the Son of the Father, and is His only Son inasmuch as He alone
partakes of His Divine nature, and in this nature is the Son. The Old
Testament Scriptures foretold that Christ should be the Son of God. "I
will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son;
this day have I begotten thee."[048] Isaiah wrote of Him, "Unto us a
child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."[049] The New
Testament in various passages bears the same testimony. "In the
beginning," says John, "was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God"; and "the Word," he goes on to say, "became flesh, and