Jesus the Measure of Men

By Fred Zaspel

B.B. Warfield loved to boast of the perfections of Christ, and he did so in many places throughout his works. His 1894 article, “Jesus the Measure of Men,” provides just one sample. He begins with a brief consideration of the idea of “straight,” citing the Greek proverb, “By the straight is judged both the straight and the crooked.” Whether a carpenter’s straightedge or a yardstick or a plumbline, the purpose of the tool is to provide a standard in order to judge both what is right and what is wrong.

In moral and ethical terms that standard, of course, is the law of God — “through the law comes the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20). What a straightedge is to a board, the law is to the soul, revealing the moral and ethical crookedness of us all. The Lord Jesus, however, is the exception. He is the very embodiment of God’s law, and he himself provides the measure, establishing a standard more vivid than the law could ever hope to be. The law merely issues commands. The Lord Jesus himself displays all that the law calls us to be.

And so as we lay open the Gospel narratives we see in Jesus the perfections of humanity as humanity was intended to be, and in contrast to Jesus we see a flawed humanity in everyone around him. As Warfield remarks, “we note on the one hand the ever-growing glory of the revelation of his perfect life, and on the other the ever-increasing horror of the revelation of human weakness and of human sin.” Jesus simultaneously displays a stunningly perfect life and exposes the contrasting spectacle of human weakness and sin.

Warfield takes as an example the scenes of Jesus’ trial. “Here the priests, the rabble, the Roman governor, the Jewish king, are all brought into sharp contrast with that one calm figure of a perfect man, looking down unmoved upon all their turbulence and folly and wickedness.” Commentaries and sermons on these passages regularly analyze the character of Jesus’ enemies, exposing their inconsistencies, evil tendencies, and such. But Warfield reminds us that all this is highlighted in these passages first by the simple fact that they stood in the presence of a perfect measure. Here was the perfect man in their immediate presence, the very human ideal, and measured by him every other man is shown to be morally flawed.

Fred Zaspel holds a Ph.D. in historical theology from the Free University of Amsterdam. He is currently a pastor at the Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia, PA. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Systematic Theology at Calvary Baptist Seminary in Lansdale, PA. He is also the author of The Continuing Relevance of Divine Law (1991); The Theology of Fulfillment (1994); Jews, Gentiles, & the Goal of Redemptive History (1996); New Covenant Theology with Tom Wells (New Covenant Media); The Theology of B.B. Warfield: A Systematic Summary (Crossway, 2010). Fred is married to Kimberly and they have two children, Gina and Jim.