SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY

VOLUME TWO

Grounded in Holy Scripture and understood in the light of the Church

DOUGLAS F. KELLY

THE BEAUTY OF CHRIST: A TRINITARIAN VISION

Douglas F. Kelly is the Richard Jordan Professor of Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Scripture quotations are taken, unless otherwise stated, from the Authorised Version/King James Version, 1611.

Copyright © Douglas Kelly 2014

hardback ISBN 978-1-78191-293-5

ePub ISBN 978-1-78191-375-8

Mobi ISBN 978-1-78191-376-5

Published in 2014

in the

Mentor Imprint

by

Christian Focus Publications Ltd.,

Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire,

IV20 1TW, Scotland, Great Britain

www.christianfocus.com

Cover design by Daniel van Straaten

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying. In the U. K. such licences are issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London, EC1 8TS. www.cla.co.uk

This volume is dedicated to my grandchildren,

those present and those to come:

Katherine H. Kelly

Douglas F. Kelly, III

Mary Martha Kelly

Malcolm G. Kelly

Duncan W. B. Kelly

My prayer for them is that God will have them in the communion of saints, where in union with Christ, He makes real what He says through the Apostle Paul: ‘But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord’ (2 Cor. 3:18).

Contents

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Introduction

The Beauty of Christ: The Trinitarian Context of Christology

PART ONE

The Trintarian Context of the Person and Work of Christ

Chapter 1

The Witness of Old and New Testaments to Christ

Chapter 2

Names and Titles of Christ in Old and New Testaments

Appendix 2.1

The Genealogies of Jesus Christ

Appendix 2.2

The Issue of Translating Divine Familial terms for Muslim Language Communities

Chapter 3

Crucial Passages on the Lord’s Incarnation and Atonement

Chapter 4

The Hypostatic Union

Appendix 4.1

Early Thirteenth-Century Development of the Theology of the Hypostatic Union in Western Church

Appendix 4.2

Historical and Contemporary Application of Chalcedon

Chapter 5

Questions Raised by the Hypostatic Union

Chapter 6

The Post-Critical Christ: The Continuing Influence of the Epistemology and Christology of Immanuel Kant

PART TWO

The Humiliation of Christ

Chapter 7

The States of Christ

Chapter 8

Christ’s Active Obedience (His Sonship)

Chapter 9

The Humiliation of Christ in the Sufferings of His Life and Death

Chapter 10

Seven Last Words, Burial, and Descent into Hell

Appendix 10.1

Metaphors for the Atonement

PART THREE

The Exaltation of Christ

Chapter 11

The Resurrection of Christ

Appendix 11.1

The Truth of God is known in the Church

Chapter 12

The Ascension, Session, and Return of Christ...