From the beginning of the tradition, Reformed Christology argued for a Neo-Chalcedonian understanding of the distinctiveness of Christ’s two natures in the unity of the eternal person of the Son. During the first three generations, Reformed doctrine developed in self-conscious differentiation from Lutheranism’s emphasis on a metaphysical communication of attributes (Cross, Drake). After the agenda-setting developments of the 16th century, Reformed Orthodoxy saw further delineation between the two traditions as each articulated the course of Christ’s incarnational life according to the doctrine of the two estates, humiliation and exaltation (Berkouwer, Bruce, Hoogland). The distinction of the two states began in the Lutheran tradition, which saw these as denoting a transition in the human nature’s use of particular divine properties. The Reformed argued that the two states are not a matter of change in the hypostatic union itself but the transition from humiliation to exaltation is a work of the person of Christ in the economy by which his divine nature is revealed in its glory and the human nature is glorified.
To this point, scholarship on Reformed Orthodox Christology has focused primarily on specific figures (Lindholm, Daniels) but has yet to address the distinctive contributions of the Protestant Scholastics to Reformed Christology more broadly. This paper investigates how Reformed theologians of the High Orthodox period (c. 1640-1700) understood Christ’s transition from the state of humiliation to exaltation and explores the theological purpose of Christ’s exaltation within Reformed dogmatics. Looking at leading figures of High Reformed Orthodoxy—John Owen, Francis Turretin, Petrus van Mastricht, and Benedict Pictet—I will show how Christ’s exaltation functioned within Reformed dogmatics to preserve the Reformed emphasis on the distinctiveness of the two natures in the hypostatic union and the role of Christ as exalted mediator. From Christ’s resurrection and ascension, he begins a new stage of his ministry as the work of redemption accomplished during his earthly ministry is applied by the Spirit sent by the Son and the Father. Christ’s threefold office is likewise exalted as Christ continued to be the prophet, priest, and king over his Church by the Holy Spirit. Examining the exaltation of Christ in the period of Reformed High Orthodoxy contributes to the scholarly understanding of the development of Reformed distinctives in the 17th century and offers resources for contemporary retrieval of the doctrine of Christ’s exaltation.
Works Cited
Berkouwer, G. C. The Person of Christ. Translated by John Vriend. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1954.
Bruce, Alexander Balmain. The Humiliation of Christ in Its Physical, Ethical and Official Aspects. New York: A.C. Armstrong, 1895.
Cross, Richard. Communicatio Idiomatum: Reformation Christological Debates. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.
Daniels, Richard. The Christology of John Owen. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2004.
Drake, K.J. The Flesh of the Word: The Extra Calvinisticum from Zwingli to Early Orthodoxy. Oxford Studies in Historical Theology. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2021.
Hoogland, Marvin P. Calvin’s Perspective on the Exaltation of Christ in Comparison with the Post-Reformation Doctrine of the Two States. Kampen: J. H. Kok, 1966.
Lindholm, Stefan. Jerome Zanchi (1516-90) and the Analysis of Reformed Scholastic Christology. Reformed Historical Theology 37. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2016.
Mastricht, Petrus van. Theoretical-Practical Theology Volume 4: Redemption in Christ. Edited by Joel R. Beeke. Translated by Todd M. Rester. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Reformation Heritage Books, 2023.
Owen, John. “Christologia.” In The Works of John Owen, edited by William H. Goold, 1:3–348. London; Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1954.
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Pictet, Benedict. Christian Theology. Translated by Frederick Reyroux. London: Seely and Burnside, 1834.
Turrettini, François. Institutes of Elenctic Theology. Edited by James T. Dennison. Translated by George Musgrave Giger. Phillipsburg, N.J: P&R Publishing, 1992.