Verse 17

For a Testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all, while the Testator liveth.

It is not of the making and constitution of a Testament, but of the force and execution of it, that he speaks. And in these words he gives a reason of the necessity of the death of the Testator thereunto. And this is because the validity and efficacy of the Testament depends solely thereon. And this reason he introduceth by the Conjunction [in non-Latin alphabet], For.

A Testament, [in non-Latin alphabet], is of force, say we; that is, firm, stable, not to be disannull'd. For if it be but a mans Testament, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereunto (Galatians 3:15). It is ratified, made unalterable, so as that it must be executed according to the mind of the Testator. And it is so [in non-Latin alphabet], among them that are dead; after men are dead; that is those who make the Testament. For it is opposed to [in non-Latin alphabet], while the Testator liveth. For Testaments are the wills of dead men.

Living men have no heirs. And this sense is declared in those words, [in non-Latin alphabet], quandoquidem, quoniam, seeing that; otherwise, say we; without this accession to the making of a Testament. As yet it prevaileth not, it is not of force for the actual distribution of the inheritance or the goods of the Testator.

Two things must yet farther be declared. (1) What are the grounds or general reasons of this assertion. (2) Where lies the force of the argument from it.

1. The force of a Testament depends on the death of the Testator; or the death of the Testator is required to make it effectual for these two reasons.

(1) Because a Testament is no act or deed of a man, whereby he presently and in the making of it, conveys, gives or grants, any part of his possession to another, or others; so as that it should immediately thereon, cease to be his own, and become the property of those others; all such instruments of contract, bargain, sale, or deeds of gift, are of another nature, they are not Testaments. A Testament is only the signification of the will of a man, as to what he will have done with his goods after his death. Therefore to the force and execution of it his death is necessary.

(2) A Testament, that is only so, is alterable at the pleasure of him that makes it while he is alive. Therefore it can be of no force while he is so; for that he may change it or disannul it when he pleaseth. The foundation therefore of the Apostle's argument from this usage among men, is firm and stable.

2. Whereas the Apostle argueth from the proportion and similitude that is between this New Testament or Covenant, and the Testaments of men, we may consider what are the things wherein that similitude does consist, and shew also wherein there is a dissimilitude whereunto his reasonings are not to be extended. For so it is in all comparisons; the comparates are not alike in all things, especially where things spiritual and temporal are compared together. So was it also in all the types of old. Every person or every thing that was a type of Christ, were not so in all things, in all that they were. And therefore it requires both wisdom and diligence to distinguish in what they were so, and in what they were not, that no false inferences or conclusions be made from them. So is it in all comparisons; and therefore in the present instance, we must consider, wherein the things compared do agree, and wherein they differ.

1. They agree principally in the death of the Testator. This alone makes a Testament among men, effectual and irrevocable. So is it in this New Testament. It was confirmed and ratified by the death of the Testator, Jesus Christ, and otherwise could not have been of force. This is the fundamental agreement between them, which therefore alone the Apostle expresly insisteth on, although there are other things which necessarily accompany it, as essential to every Testament; as,

2. In every Testament among men, there are goods disposed and bequeathed, to heirs or legatees, which were the property of the Testator. Where a man has nothing to give or bequeath, he can make no Testament. For that is nothing but his will concerning the disposal of his own goods after his decease. So is it in this New Testament. All the goods of grace and glory, were the property, the inheritance of Christ, firmly instated in him alone. For he was appointed Heir of all things. But in his death, as a Testator, he made a bequeathment of them all to the elect, appointing them to be heirs of God, coheirs with himself. And this also is required to the nature and essence of a Testament.

3. In a Testament there is always an absolute grant made of the goods bequeathed, without condition or limitation. So is it here also; the goods and inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven are bequeathed absolutely to all the elect, so as that no intervenience can defeat them of it. And what there is in the Gospel which is the instrument of this Testament, that prescribes conditions to them, that exacts terms of obedience from them, it belongs to it, as it is a Covenant, and not as a Testament. Yet,

4. It is in the will and power of the Testator, in and by his Testament, to assign and determine both the time, season and way, whereby those to whom he has bequeathed his goods, shall be admitted to the actual possession of them. So is it in this case also. The Lord Christ, the great Testator, has determined the way whereby the elect shall come to be actually possest of their legacies, namely, by faith that is in him (Acts 26:18). So also he has reserved the time and season of their conversion in this world, and entrance into future glory in his own hand and power. And these things belong to the illustration of the comparison insisted on, although it be only one thing that the Apostle argues from it, touching the necessity of the death of the Testator. But notwithstanding these instances of agreement, between the New Covenant and the Testaments of men, whereby it appears to have in it in sundry respects the nature of a Testament, yet in many things there is also a disagreement between them, evidencing that it is also a Covenant, and abideth so, notwithstanding what it has of the nature of a Testament, from the death of the Testator. As,

A testator among men ceases to have any right in, or use of the goods bequeathed by him, when once his testament is of force. And this is by reason of death, which destroys all title and use of them. But our Testator devests himself neither of right nor possession, nor of the use of any of his goods. And this follows on a twofold difference, the one in the persons, the other in the goods, or things bequeathed.

In the persons: For a testator, among men, dies absolutely; he lives not again in this world, but lies down and rises not, until the heavens be no more. Hereon all right to, and all use of the goods of this life, ceases for ever. Our Testator died actually and really to confirm his testament; but (1) He died not in his whole person; (2) In that nature wherein he died, he lived again, and is alive for evermore. Hence all his goods are still in his own power.

In the things themselves. For the goods bequeathed in the testaments of men, are of that nature, as that the propriety of them cannot be vested in many, so as that every one should have a right to and the enjoyment of all, but in one only. But the spiritual good things of the New Testament are such, as that in all the riches and fullness of them, they may be in the possession of the Testator; and of those also to whom they are bequeathed. Christ parts with no grace from himself, he diminishes not his own riches, nor exhausts anything from his own fullness, by his communication of it to others. Hence also,

In the wills of men, if there be a bequeathment of goods made to many, no one can enjoy the whole inheritance, but every one is to have his own share and portion only. But in and by the New Testament, every one is made heir to the whole inheritance. All have the same, and every one has the whole. For God himself from there becomes their portion, who is All to All, and All to every one.

In human testaments, the goods bequeathed are such only as either descended to the testators from their progenitors, or were acquired during their lives by their own industry. By their death they obtained no new right or title to anything, only what they had before, is now disposed of according to their wills. But our Testator, according to an antecedent contract between God the Father and him, purchased the whole inheritance by his own blood, obtaining for us eternal redemption.

They differ principally in this, that a testament among men, is no more but merely so; it is not moreover a solemn covenant that needs a confirmation suited thereunto. The bare signification of the will of the testator witnessed to, is sufficient to its constitution and confirmation. But in this mystery the testament is not merely so, but a covenant also. Hence it was not sufficient to its force and establishment, that the Testator should die only; but it was also required that he should offer himself in sacrifice by the shedding of his blood, to its confirmation. These things I have observed, because as, we shall see, the Apostle in the progress of his discourse, does not confine himself to this notion of a testament, but treats of it principally as it had the nature of a covenant. And we may here observe,

It is a great and gracious condescension in the Holy Spirit, to give encouragement and confirmation to our faith, by a representation of the truth and reality of spiritual things, in those which are temporal and agreeing with them in their general nature, whereby they are presented to the common understandings of men. This way of proceeding the Apostle calls a speaking, [〈in non-Latin alphabet〉] (Galatians 3:15), after the manner of men. Of the same kind were all the parables used by our Savior; for it is all one whether these representations be taken from things real, or from those which according to the same rule of reason and right, are framed on purpose for that end.

There is an irrevocable grant of the whole inheritance of grace and glory, made to the elect in the New Covenant. Without this it could not in any sense have the nature of a testament, nor that name given to it. For a testament is such a free grant, and nothing else. And our best plea for them, for an interest in them, for a participation of them, before God, is from the free grant and donation of them, in the testament of Jesus Christ.

As the grant of these things is free and absolute, so the enjoyment of them is secured from all interveniences by the death of the Testator.