{"number":16,"title":"The third day he rose from the dead","part":"THE SECOND PART CONCERNING THE sonne, and our reconciliation","questions":[],"paragraphs":[],"clauses":[5],"items":[],"text":"## Testimonies out of the Prophetes and Apostles concerning the resurrection of Christ\n\n[^1]Thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption. Actes *2.* Men and brethren (saith Peter) I may boldely speake vnto you of the patriarche Dauid, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre remaineth with you till this day. Therefore seeing he was a Prophet, and God had sworne with an oath vnto him, that of the fruite of his loines he would raise vp Christ concerning the flesh, whom he would place vpon his throne, he knowing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soule should not be left in graue, neither should his flesh see corruption: This Iesus hath God raised vp, whereof we are all witnesses. The figure of Ionah (Cap. *2*) is manifest and expounded of Christ himselfe. Math. *12.39 40.* Esay *53.8.* He was taken out from prison and iudgement, and who shall reckon his age and generation? And in the *10.* verse, when he shall make his soule an offeringe for sinne, he shall see the seede that shall prolong his daies, and the will of Iehouah shall prosper in his handes. There is also cited of Paul, Acts *13.* the *55.* Chapter of Esay, and the *2.* Psal. and the *16.* to the ende hee may shewe that Christ must rise againe, that he might declare himselfe to be the very sonne of God (Rom. *1.*) and that that same couenant of God made with Dauid might be firme and euerlasting. Nowe Paules sermon is on this sorte, Men and brethren, you sonnes of the stocke of Abraham, and those amongest you that feare God, to you is this worde of saluation sent. For the inhabitantes of Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knewe him not, nor yet the wordes of the prophetes which are read euery Sabboth day, they haue fulfilled them in condemning him, and though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate to kill him. And when they had fulfilled all thinges which were written of him, they put him beeing taken downe from the tree into a sepulchre, but God raised him from the dead, and he was seene many daies of them, which came vp with him from Galile to Hierusalem which are his witnesses vnto the people. And we preach vnto you that touching the promise made vnto the fathers, God hath fulfilled it vnto vs their children, in that he raised vp Iesus, euen as it is written in the second Psalme, Thou art my sonne, this day haue I begotten thee. Nowe in asmuch as he hath raised him vp from the dead, and he shall no more returne into corruption, he hath saide, I will giue you those same firme and good things of Dauid. Wherefore he saith also in an other place, Thou wilt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Howbeit Dauid after he had serued his time by the counsaile of God, he slept & was laide with his fathers, & sawe corruption: but he whom God raised vp sawe no corruption. Be it knowne vnto you therefore men and brethren, that through this man is preached vnto you the forgiuenes of sinnes; and from all things from which you could not be iustified by the lawe of Moses, by him euery one that beleeueth is iustified: Beware therefore least that come vpon you which is spoken of in the Prophet Daniel, and other Prophetes foreshewe both: that both the Messias is to be cut of, and yet notwithstanding that he shall raigne for euer. Therefore he must be quickened againe. For abiding in death, he raigneth not. Daniel *7.* and *9.*\n\nIohn *2.* Destroy this Temple, and I will raise it vp againe in three daies, where also is prophesied concerning the fulfilling of that prophesie in the *2.* of Aggei. Iohn addeth when he was arisen from the deade, his disciples remembred that he had saide this vnto them, and they beleeued the scripture and the word which Iesus had spoken vnto them. *1.* Cor. *15.* doth witnesse at large the resurrrection of Christ and the fruite of it. And the Euangelistes they beare witnesse concerning the resurrection, they set it out and confirme it by the testimonies of Angels. Math. *28.* Mark *16.* Iohn *20. 21.* Luk *24.*\n\n## The meaning of this article, The third day he rose againe from the dead\n\nI Beleeue that it was impossible that that same holie Iesus, the Christ and annointed of God, should be holden of death, which entred into the worlde for sinne onely: Actes *2.* aswel because he was pure in himselfe from all blot of sinne, as also because he abolished our sinnes which were laide vpon him: and also because the humanitie beeing personally vnited to the diuine nature or to that same substantial quickening worde, and that therefore the bondes of death beeing loosed that he arose againe the thirde day by his diuine power and appeared againe to his disciples in life, deuoide of al passion and mortalitie, and so declared himselfe in verie deede, the conquerour of our sinne and of death, Matth. 28. Marke. 16.\n\n## Of the vse or fruite of the resurrection of Christ\n\nThe vse or fruite whereof we be partakers of the resurrection of Christ is fourefold. The first is that the resurrection of Christe is a publike testimonie, that by the Messias, as Daniel speaketh, there is brought a perfect and euerlasting righteousnes vpon all and ouer all that doe beleeue. For seeing that he is deade not in his owne but in our sinnes that were laide vpon him, and that out of them he is arisen againe to a life that shall neuer die, hence there shineth to the mindes of all beleeuers a wonderfull light, that not so much as one of all their sinnes remained vnwashed or vnsatisfied. For if so be that there had remained but one of all their sinnes, which (none excepted Christe tooke vpon him) either not thoroughly punished, or imperfectly punished: then could not Christ our pledge and truce-maker rise againe: for asmuch as where there is but one sinne, there of necessitie must death be: for so hath the vnchangeable trueth, and righteousnes of God decreed, Rom. 6. *The wages of sinne is death.* Neither yet doth the resurrection of Christ so make to our iustification, as it is onely a publike testimonie thereof: but also in a more highe consideration, and that sound & perfect, euerie manner of waie, to wit that that same raising vp of the Sonne, is (as I may say) an actual remission from the sinnes of all them which beleeue. For euen as the Father by deliuering Christ to death, hath in deede condemned our sinnes in Christ, Rom. 8. verse 3. so also by raising him from death, he hath in the same deed absolued Christ from our sinnes and vs in Christ. There is a most sure demonstration of this doctrine in the 1. Cor. 15. If Christ (saith he) be not risen againe, in vaine is our faith, & ye are yet in your sinnes, that is to say, ye are yet guiltie before God. Therefore because Christ is arisen, we are not any longer in our sinnes, that is, we are in very deede absolued from them, in this very thing that the father hath raised him from the dead, that they might not be laide to our charge. 2. Cor. 5.19. So also is that same place to be taken. Ro. 4. For it was written, not for Abraham alone, for that this was imputed vnto him, but also for vs, to whome it shoulde come to passe that it should be imputed, that is to say, to them which beleue in him who hath raised vp our Lorde Iesus from the dead, who was deliuered for our sinnes, & raised vp againe for our iustification. What hath the father done by deliuering Christ to death? He hath deliuered him for our sinnes, he hath punished our sinnes in him. And what hath he done by raising him vp? He hath iustified all in him: for when he had deliuered him, that is the beleeuers, so that their sins shal be no more laide to their charge, but righteousnes shall be imputed vnto them. For these wordes *raised vp for our iustification,* are to be vnderstoode of imputation, as by this it is easie to bee seene, because that in the last verse sauing one he hath saide that righteousnes is imputed of him *who hath raised him vp,* and in this laste verse he nameth it our iustification in him who is raised vppe. Loe that which before he had called imputation of righteousnes, this hee nameth now our iustification. What, for that the same Apostle in the 1. Timoth. 3. saith, And without controuersie great is the mysterie of godlinesse, God manifested in the flesh iustified in spirite, seene of Angels, preached vnto the Gentiles, beleued on in the world, & receyued vp into glorie: doth he not manifestly shewe that that same true God who was manifested in the fleshe wherein also he suffered: by the spirite which he opposeth against the fleshe, that is by the power of his owne diuinitie whereby he raised vp the fleshe from the deade, was iustified, and that not from his owne sinnes, but from ours which he had taken vppon him? After which raising vp and iustification of him their folowed yᵉ testimonie of Angels, yᵉ publike preaching of the remission of sins through him vnto the gentiles, the beleefe which was giuen vnto him, and to be short the receiuing of him vp into glorie: all which testimonies verely coulde not haue followed, vnlesse he had beene iustified from our sinnes, by rising againe thorowe the power of his diuinitie. For neither coulde the Angels giue witnes of him as of the Sauiour if he had remained oppressed in our condemnation: neither remission of sinnes haue ben preched in his name, if frō thē in our name he had not beene fully iustified: neither faith haue bene giuen to him, if oppressed of sinne & death he could not haue giuē yᵉ holy gost, which is yᵉ author of faith: neither could he haue ben receiued vp into glory vnlesse yᵗ same flesh, vpon which all our sinnes had beene cast (Esay 53.) had beene iustified from them, when it was raised vp from death, to which by the counsaile of death it was condemned. This is that same power of the resurrection of Christ, whereby yᵉ righteousnes which is not of the lawe, but the righteousnes which is of God, is brought forth through faith, concerning which Paul Phil. 3. in an vndoubted and full persuasion of faith, glorieth after this manner: as touching yᵉ righteousnes which is in the lawe, I was blamelesse, but the things which were vantage vnto mee, those things I accounted losse, in respect of Christ, yea doubtles I thinke all things losse for the excellent knowledge sake of Christe Iesus my Lorde, for whom I depriue my selfe of al these things, & accoumpt them for doung, that I may gaine Christ, and may be founde in in him not hauing my righteousnes which is of the lawe, but that which is of Christ through faith, the righteousnes which is of GOD through faith, that I may knowe him, & the force and power of his resurrection. Therefore also Paul, Rom. 8. not onely opposeth death as the price and redemption against condemnation but also of the resurrection as the absolution, and as it were a higher degree. For so he saith, *Who is it that shall condemne? It is Christ which is deade, or rather which is risen againe.* Why also doth Peter recken yᵉ resurrection of Iesus Christ to be the couenaunt of a good cōscience: vnlesse it be because then the conscience is clere and restored into libertie, when that same light of iustification in the resurrection of Iesus Christ shall shine vnto it? Therefore then at length the couenaunt of Baptisme is ratified in beleeuers, when faith shall haue obtayned this victorie in our heartes, see the 1. Pet. 3 And hitherto maketh that same course and order of propounding the Gospell, which the Apostles kept in the Actes, to witte, why they so greatly vexed, that hee whome they had crucified, was raised vp againe from the deade, and why they set out in him being raised vp frō yᵉ deade, iustification or rather forgiuenes of sins: to wit, because as our sins are condēned in the death of Christ: so our absolutiō is in his resurrection: Therfore whē Paul Act. 13. shewed forth yᵉ death of Christ, and proued his resurrectiō by many reasons, at the length he concludeth, Brethren, be it therefore knowen vnto you, that through this man is preached vnto you, forgiuenesse of sinnes, and from all thinges from which you coulde not be iustified by the lawe of Moses, by him euerie one that beleeueth is iustified. And those same wordes that went before, doe shewe that Paul doth gather that same conclusion concerning iustification, not onely of the death, but also of the resurrection of Christ, which wordes are in this sort, Wee also preach vnto you the same promise, which was made vnto the fathers, which God hath fulfilled vnto their children, that is to say to you, hauing raised vp Iesus. And surely that same course or maner of propounding of the Gospel, was agreeable to the commaundement. For why, by the commandement of Christ was the full gospell sent at length after the resurrection, to the gentiles and to euerie creature, as Christe saith in Luke: For so it behooued that Christ shoulde suffer and rise againe from the dead the thirde day, and remission of sinnes be preached in his name to all nations: to wit because then at the length these things might be fullie published in his name, after he had borne our sinnes in his body vppon the tree, and had risen againe being iustified from them. For then was the Gospell full all manner of wayes, (1. Cor. 15.1.2.17.) and the grace of iustification most full and abounding ouer euerie fault in all and ouer all that do beleeue. The summe therefore of the first fruit of the resurrection of Christ, is that our sinnes can no more bee laide to our charge then to Christe himselfe: and that in Christ we are accounted as righteous and innocent as Christ was when he rose from the dead. Forasmuch as by his death going before, hee had taken away our sinnes through obedience, nowe hereof it followeth seeing he arose iustified, who before as a sinner was condemned, & accurssed of God in our person, that hee was iustified in our name from our sinnes. Neither is there any cause, that any man shoulde meruell that Christ by rising from the deade, was iustified from our sinnes, and we in Christ before we were borne, forasmuch as the Apostle saith 2. Tim. 1. that that same grace was giuen vnto vs before all worldes, but manifested in the son and yet also manifested in the Gospell, see also Ephes. 1.\n\n## Of the seconde fruite of the resurrection of Christ\n\nThe seconde fruite is viuification or quickening: because as Christ, is iustified from our sinnes by rising againe, and therewithall is quickened: so he that beleeueth in Christ, is both iustified and quickened, as the Apostle teacheth Ephes. 2. vntill the 11. verse. Therefore Paul Rom. 5. calleth the same iustification of life, and opposeth it *to the fault* of condemnation; and maketh an antithesis or matching of contraries betwene sinne that raigneth to death, and the righteousnes of Christ, which whosoeuer receiue, they raigne in life, verses, 17.18.21. And in deede so, as not onely Christ worketh in vs not onely that same newe life: but also Christ is that life himselfe, as him selfe saith: *I am the way, the trueth, and the life.* Iohn. 14.6. And Gala. 2.20. *Nowe I liue no more, But Christ liueth in me.* Viuification therefore is the seconde fruit of the resurrection of Christ, to wit, for that Christ himselfe alwayes liuing is become our life through faith, and because by the vertue which we drawe from our heade Christe through the spirite of faith, we arise in this life into newnes of life, that by liuing purely and holily, wee might wholy consecrate our selues to the will of God. This thing the Apostle teacheth Col. 3. *If yee be risen with Christ, seeke those thinges that are aboue, where Christ is sitting at the right hande of God. Care for heauenly thinges and not for earthly.* For this cause also the selfe same Apostle saith, Rom. 6. that *We are planted* into the similitude of the death of Christ that being partakers of his resurrection, we might walke in newnes of life, In which wordes he not onely setteth out the resurrection of Christ, as an example for vs to followe: but also especially teacheth that this thing especially wrought in vs, that by the vertue of the resurrection of Christ, wee might rise agayne into a newe life.\n\n## Of the third fruit of the resurrection of Christ\n\nThe thirde fruit which is ioyned with the second, is the assurance of our perseuerance in faith and of full victorie against sinne and death. For euen like as Christ dyeth no more, but liueth the life which neuer can faile, (for in that he is dead, he is once dead to sinne, but in that he liueth, he liueth to God, death shal haue no further dominion ouer him. Rom. 6.) so they that are engraffed into Christ through faith, do drawe out of him a spirituall life, from which they can neuer fal: and which no not in the verie separation of the body and of soule can bee extinguished, as Christ saith, *If any man keepe my word he shall neuer see death.* Iohn 8.51. Therefore seeing the faithfull liue this life of Christ in an entrance or beginning, the force and nature whereof shed into their minds from Christ is such as it can neuer altogether die: they are also assured of the full consummation and perfecting of it. The selfe same thing also Peter teacheth 1. Epist. 1. *Blessed be God and the father of our Lord Iesus Christ, who of his great mercie hath begotten vs into a liuely hope through the resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead:* And verse 4. & 6. he laieth the cause & foundation of a liuely hope in the mercie of yᵉ father & resurrectiō of Christ: because as Christ after yᵗ hee arose in our name by the mercie of yᵉ father he alwaies liueth: so hope also hath a permanent and indurable life in him, partly regeneration being begone, and partly it loketh for it in that same full consummation and finishing. In the first to the Ephesians verses 19.20.23. there is a notable place most fit and agreeable vnto this doctrine: to wit that God doeth shewe foorth yᵗ selfe same power in vs, whiles he giueth vs faith, which hee wrought and declared in his sonne, when he raised him vp from the dead, and that same substantiall word it selfe to be that, which filleth all in all thinges, The same also 1. Pet. 1. verse 3.5. 2 Cor. 4.14.16. And from hence floweth that same certaintie concerning full victorie against sinne, against the assaultes of sathan and death. For like as that euerlasting worde in flesh which it tooke, and which in it owne power it raised from the deade, Iohn 10. ouercame our sinne imputed vnto him & death: so also that same euerlasting worde shall not cease, dwelling by grace in the faithfull, but vtterly to abolish in those also the remnauntes of sinne and death, already ouercame by his vertue and power. 1. Corinthians. 15. vers. 54.57.58. 1. Iohn 5.4.5. For by no other vertue and power, but by the verie same whereby that euerlasting worde in that receiued lumpe ouercame our sin and death, we know also according to the promise the same worde also working in vs, that wee shall vanquishe and ouercome. Io. 4. Because he is mightier that is in vs then he that is in the worlde. This certayntie of our perseueraunce in true faith, and of a full victorie through faith bringeth to passe that we take all thinges from his hande, whether they be thinges prosperous or full of aduersitie, being fully persuaded that all those thinges doe hasten the fruition of that same victorie, which now is gotten for vs by Christ. 1. Cor. 15. *Thankes be to God, who hath giuen vs victorie through our Lord Iesus Christ.* The same is in the 2. Cor. 4.15.\n\n## Concerning the last fruite of the resurrection of Christ\n\nSeing yᵗ not only our soules but also our bodies, are mēbers of our head Christ, through the bonde of the spirit of faith: 1. Cor. 6. ver. 5. 15. Rom. 8.11. therefore in the resurrection of our heade Christ, our bodies haue a certaine pledge and seale that they are not onely raysed vp from sinnes in this life, as was shewed in the second fruit: but also yᵉ selfe same bodies which are yet mortall, haue both nowe the right of euerlasting life, and through that same quickening spirit of Christ, are repaired to the fruition of him, and to true immortalitie in the end of the world, and that in the selfe same state and condition with the glorious body of Christe. Phil. 3. *Who shall transforme our vile body that it may be fashioned like vnto his glorious body, according to that effectuall working whereby hee is made able to subdue all things vnto himselfe.* 1. Cor. 15.49. *As we haue borne the image of the earthly Adam, so shall we heare the image of the heauenly.* The last fruit therefore of the resurrection of Christ, is that immortalitie is adiudged vnto vs from God himselfe, made in the raysing vp of the Messiah, and offered vnto vs by the Gospell, and sealed by the spirite of Christe, 2. Tim. 1.10. *Who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortalitie vnto light thorough the Gospell.* To the Ephesians chap. 1. *In which Christ also you haue hoped, hauing heard the worde of trueth, euen the gospell of your saluation: in which also after that ye beleeued, ye were sealed with the holy spirite of promise, whiche is the earnest of our inheritaunce whiles we are redeemed into libertie to the praise of his glorie.* Although therefore wee die, yet we shall rise againe into an immortall life, because both the right of life is adiudged vnto vs, in the raising vp againe of the sonne, and wee are ingraffed into this Christ, raysed vp as branches vnto the vine, both by the outwarde testimonie of the Gospell, and also by the inwarde witnesse of the holy Ghost, 1. Corinth. 15. *If Christ bee risen againe, we also shall rise againe.* Hitherto also belongeth it, that he calleth him the firste fruits of them that rise againe, because yᵉ whole haruest of all the faithfull, from the beginning of the worlde was sanctified vnto God, by the raysing vp of that lumpe, which the sonne of God had taken of vs, to a blessed resurrection. Hitherto also it belongeth, that he is called the first begotten from amongest the dead, Colossians 1. as else where it shall bee declared more largely. Seeing therefore, that in raysing vppe of the sonne, the right of life is brought to light vnto vs, and that same quickening spirite of Christ is giuen vnto vs, hauing heard the Gospell, (that same spirit I say of faith) through which not onely our soules but also our bodies are members of our head Christe, therefore wee haue an vndoubted pledge in the resurrection of our heade Christe, that our bodies are to bee repayred, and restored to immortalitie.\n\n[^1]: Psal. 16, 20."}