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II. The State of Exaltation
A. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE STATE OF EXALTATION.
1. THE SUBJECT AND NATURE OF THE EXALTATION.
As already indicated in the preceding,
there is a difference of opinion between Lutheran and Reformed theology on the subject of the
states of Christ. The former deny that the Logos, and assert that the human nature of Christ, is
the subject of the states of humiliation and exaltation. Hence they exclude the incarnation from
the humiliation of Christ, and maintain that the state of humiliation consists in this, “that Christ
for a time renounced (truly and really, yet freely) the plenary exercise of the divine majesty,
which His human nature had acquired in the personal union, and, as a lowly man, endured what
was far beneath the divine majesty (that He might suffer and die for the love of the
world).”[Baier, quoted by Schmid, Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, p.
383.] They hold that the state of exaltation became manifest first of all to the lower world in
the descent into hades, and further to this world in the resurrection and ascension, reaching its
completion in the session at the right hand of God. The exaltation, then, consists in this that the
human nature assumed the plenary exercise of the divine attributes that were communicated
to it at the incarnation, but were used only occasionally or secretly. Reformed theology, on the
other hand, regards the person of the Mediator, that is, the God-man, as the subject of the
exaltation, but stresses the fact that it was, of course, the human nature in which the exaltation
took place. The divine nature is not capable of humiliation or exaltation. In the exaltation the
God-man, Jesus Christ, (a) passed from under the law in its federal and penal aspects, and
consequently from under the burden of the law as the condition of the covenant of works, and
from under the curse of the law; (b) exchanged the penal for the righteous relation to the law,
and as Mediator entered into possession of the blessings of salvation which He merited for
sinners; and (c) was crowned with a corresponding honor and glory. It had to appear also in His
condition that the curse of sin was lifted. His exaltation was also His glorification.
2. THE EXALTATION OF CHRIST BOTH SCRIPTURAL AND REASONABLE.
There is abundant
Scriptural proof for the exaltation of Christ. The gospel story clearly shows us that the
humiliation of Christ was followed by His exaltation. The classical passage to prove the latter is
found in Phil. 2:9-11: “Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name
which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in
heaven and things on earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father.” But in addition to this there are several others, such as Mark
16:19; Luke 24:26; John 7:39; Acts 2:33; 5:31; Rom. 8:17,34; Eph. 1:20; 4:10; I Tim. 3:16; Heb.
1:3; 2:9; 10:12. There is a close connection between the two states. The state of exaltation
must be regarded as the judicial result of the state of humiliation. In His capacity as Mediator