The Christology Of John Flavel

By Brian H. Cosby

John Flavel In His Historical-Theological Context

John Flavel’s (bap. 1630-1691) The Fountain of Life Opened Up; or, A Display of Christ in His Essential and Mediatorial Glory [1] (1673) is arguably the most extensive treatment of the person and work of Christ published in English Puritanism during the seventeenth century. [2] The work spans over five hundred pages and presents a blend of meticulous theology and practical application. Despite a recent awakening of scholarly studies on Flavel, he remains a virtual unknown, overshadowed by the Puritan “greats”: John Owen, Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, Richard Sibbes, Thomas Goodwin, Stephen Charnock, William Perkins, and Thomas Boston. [3] But during the seventeenth century, there is substantial evidence that Flavel had as much influence as any of these Puritans. [4]

Anthony á Wood (1632-1695), the Oxford historian and Royalist, once wrote that Flavel had “more disciples than ever John Owen the independent or Rich. Baxter the presbyterian.” [5] One of Flavel’s contemporaries, John Galpine, wrote that Flavel was “deservedly famous among the Writers of this Age.” [6] Shortly after Flavel’s death, the New England Puritan and Harvard College president, Increase Mather (1639-1723), wrote optimistically of Flavel’s lasting influence: “[Flavel’s] works, already published, have made his name precious in both Englands; and it will be so, as long as the earth shall endure.” [7] To be sure, Flavel’s influence remained strong during the revivals in New England during the early 1740s. Jonathan Edwards quotes “Holy Mr. Flavel” [8]—as he calls him—more than anyone else in Religious Affections (1746) except for Solomon Stoddard (1643-1728) and Thomas Shepard (1605-1649). In fact, James I. Packer calls Edwards the “spiritual heir” of Flavel. [9] But since the mid-nineteenth century, his influence seems to have waned. [10]

John Flavel was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, and baptized on September 26, 1630. His father, Richard Flavel (d. 1665), was a dissenting minister and imprisoned with his wife for nonconformity. Both of them contracted the plague while in prison and, although released, died shortly thereafter. John matriculated at University College, Oxford in 1646 and was appointed assistant to the minister in the parish of Diptford on April 27, 1650. Ordained by the presbytery at Salisbury later that year, Flavel continued his ministry in the county of Devon—especially in the town of Dartmouth—until his ejection under the Act of Uniformity in 1662. Even though the Five Mile Act (1665) forced him into neighboring towns and forests to escape persecution and imprisonment, he continued to minister to the parishioners of Dartmouth by disguising himself and holding secret meetings. Other than a brief respite from persecution during 1672, Flavel did not enjoy substantial freedom to preach until the Declaration of Indulgence in 1687 under James II. He preached his last sermon on June 21, 1691, and died five days later from a stroke. [11]

Flavel’s theology was consistent with many of his Puritan contemporaries during the later-Stuart period. He was an heir of the Westminster Assembly (1642-1652) and wrote one of the earliest expositions of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. [12] Although Flavel was a man of great learning—well versed in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin—and one who understood the particulars of the theological debates of his day, he desired to focus his attention to the subject of the person and work of Jesus Christ. He explains, “There is no doctrine more excellent in itself or more necessary to be preached and studied than the doctrine of Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” [13] It is the aim of this brief study, therefore, to detail some of the more poignant aspects represented in Flavel’s doctrine of Christ.

The Christology Of John Flavel

While much of the discussion in this study will be drawn from Flavel’s The Fountain of Life, it should be noted that his Christology is certainly not confined to this work alone, but from the entire corpus of his books, sermons, letters, and treaties. [14] For the purposes of this study, however, we will consider Flavel’s Christology from The Fountain of Life in six divisions: (1) an introductory discussion of Christ, (2) Trinitarian unity and the preexistence of Christ, (3) the two natures of Christ, (4) Christ’s “general” work, (5) Christ’s work on the cross, and finally, (6) Christ’s ontological nature and the application of His work.

Introductory Discussion Of Christ

The transcendence of Christ is Flavel’s expression of the essence of Christ’s divinity and of His divine attributes. He asks the rhetorical question, “What shall I say of Christ?” His answer:

The excelling glory of [Christ] dazzles all apprehension, swallows up all expression. When we have borrowed metaphors from every creature that hath any excellency or lovely property in it, till we have stript the whole of creation bare of all its ornaments, and clothed Christ with all that glory; when we have even worn out our tongues, in ascribing praises to him, alas! We have done nothing, when all is done. [15]

Flavel’s understanding of Christ’s transcendence—as with much of his theological writing—is rarely separated from its application to the reader. He exhorts, “Let your soul be adorned with the excellencies of Christ, and beauties of holiness.” [16]

Flavel understood that writing about the doctrine of Christ would not exhaust the breadth of the knowledge of Christ. He explains, “Yet such breadth there is in the knowledge of Christ that not only those who have written on this subject before me, but a thousand authors more may employ their pens after us, and not interfere with, or straiten another.” [17] Flavel’s Christology, then, understands a “variety of sweetness in Christ” and that neither his approach nor his conclusions fully comprehend the doctrine and beauty of Christ.

The admonition and application to the reader is twofold: study to know Christ more extensively and more intensively. According to Flavel, there are so many excellent properties in the person of Christ that any study of Him will not be exhaustive. And yet, any study of Him by faith will augment the sweetness and comfort of genuine Christian experience.

Trinitarian Unity And The Preexistence Of Christ

Flavel writes at length on the unity of the Trinity, the covenant of redemption between the Son and the Father, and of Christ’s preexistent state. Flavel did not divorce his examination of the person and work of Christ from Christ’s union with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The union of the various elements of systematic theology, according to Flavel, is essential to a right understanding of those various elements. He writes, “It is the frame and design of holy doctrine that must be known, and every part should be discerned as it hath its particular use to that design, and as it is connected with the other parts.” [18]

Flavel views the riches of God’s grace as a Trinitarian tapestry of goodness toward the saints: “I cannot but observe to you the goodness of our God, yea, the riches of his goodness: Who freely gave Jesus Christ out of his own bosom for us, and hath not withheld his Spirit, to reveal and apply him to us.” [19] This unity of the Trinity, for Flavel, understands Christ not only as a redemptive partner with the Father and the Spirit, seen through the progressive revelation of God, as well as in Christ’s pre-incarnational state.

He develops Christ’s preexistence from Proverbs 8:30, “Then was I by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.” In this passage, Flavel writes, Solomon intends that “Jesus Christ is the fountain of grace” and that “the Spirit of God describes the most blessed state of Jesus Christ, the wisdom of the Father, from those eternal delights he had with his Father, before his assumption of our nature.” [20] These “delights” that Flavel speaks of are twofold: the Father, Son, and Spirit (1) delighting in one another and (2) delighting in the salvation of the elect. He continues by saying that the “glorious condition of the non-incarnated Son of God” is that Christ is the “only begotten Son who was in the bosom of the Father; an expression of the greatest dearness and intimacy.” [21]

Flavel stresses the Trinitarian work primarily in creation and redemption. [22] Christ’s preexistence is assumed in His work of creation; that “Christ shewed himself such an artist in the creation of the world.” Christ’s preexistent state was of “the highest and most unspeakable delight and pleasure, in the enjoyment of his Father.” [23] Flavel believed that the preexistence of Christ assumes His equality of essence with the Father. He writes that Christ enjoyed “all of the glory and ensigns of the majesty of God; and the riches which he speaks of, was no less than all that God the Father hath...and what he now hath in his exalted state, is the same he had before his humiliation.” [24]

Flavel’s discussion of Christ’s preexistence is particularly important because it explains Christ’s eternal essence. The delight, riches, majesty, and glory of the Godhead were shared between the persons of the Trinity. Furthermore, Christ’s preexistent nature was unacquainted with grief or poverty, and never underwent reproach or shame. It was never tempted, was never sensible of pains and tortures in soul or body, and never experienced His Father’s wrath upon Him. Jesus Christ was “one in nature, will, love and delight” with the Father. [25]

Humanity’s involvement with the preexistent Christ is an outworking of that love that exists between the Father and Son. Flavel explains that “all of [God’s] delight in the saints is secondary, and for Christ’s sake; but his delights in Christ are primary, and for his own sake.” [26] This reason for man’s salvation, then, is ultimately because of God’s love toward the Son. Flavel calls this familial relationship the “Covenant of Redemption” between the Father and the Redeemer. [27]

Flavel writes, “The business of man’s salvation was transacted upon covenant terms, betwixt the Father and the Son, from all eternity.” [28] He emphasizes that this is not identical with the covenant of grace; in the covenant of redemption, the Son offers Himself for the Father’s service and the Father offers the Son the elect for His reward.

In his approach to redemption, Flavel again applies a Trinitarian framework: “Each person [of the Trinity] undertakes to perform his part in order to our recovery.” [29] Again, he draws upon the operation of the Trinity in terms of procession: “Though all the persons in the Godhead are equal in nature, dignity and power, yet in their operation there is an order observed among them; the Father sends the Son, the Son is sent by the Father, the Holy Ghost is sent by both.” [30] Flavel understands the persons in the Trinity to be co-partners in creation and salvation, each existing from all eternity, and sharing in essence, glory, and majesty.

The Two Natures Of Christ

As noted above, Flavel understood the glorious deity of Christ, coexisting with the Father and the Spirit from all eternity, and equal in essence, glory, and majesty. Christ’s humanity, according to Flavel, takes a fully opposite character. He frames Christ’s incarnation in terms of humiliation: “The state of Christ, from his conception to his resurrection, was a state of deep debasement and humiliation.” [31] He breaks Christ’s humiliation into three categories: in His incarnation, in His life, and in His death. The first two are of particular importance for understanding Flavel’s Christology of the incarnation. The incarnation of Christ must take on the form of humiliation and abasement so that He could then be exalted: “Christ should be deeply humbled, then highly exalted.” [32] He paints the exaltation by merism in that the greatness of Christ’s glory cannot be acknowledged by believers without first acknowledging the humiliation of the incarnation. [33]

Flavel draws on the “Christ Hymn” in Philippians 2:8, where Paul writes, “He humbled himself.” He notes that this humiliation is both a real and voluntary abasement. It was real in that “he did not personate a humbled man, nor act the part of one, but was really, and indeed humbled” before both God and man. [34] Second, it was voluntary. The voluntary humiliation of Christ “singularly commends the love of Christ to us.” [35] The chronological parameters of Christ’s humiliation, according to Flavel, were “from the first moment of his incarnation to the very moment of his vivification and quickening in the grave.” [36] The humiliation of Christ, then, was made manifest in the real and voluntary work of Christ that lasted only while on earth.

Flavel does not seek to explain the hypostatic union of Christ’s two natures nor does he explain how the eternal God became a humbled man, but rather describes this phenomenon simply as a “mystery”:

This is the astonishing mystery, that God should be manifest in the flesh; that the eternal God should truly and properly be called the MAN Christ Jesus.... It would have seemed a rude blasphemy had not the scriptures plainly revealed it, to have thought, or spoken of the eternal God, as born in time; the world’s Creator as a creature; the Ancient of Days, as an infant of days.... The infinite glorious Creator of all things, to become a creature, is a mystery exceeding all human understanding. [37]

Flavel qualifies Christ’s transcendence, in part, according to the mystery of the incarnation and the hypostatic union of His two natures.

As for Christ’s righteousness, Flavel explains that the body of Christ was “so sanctified that no taint or spot of original pollution remained in it.” However, at the same time, “it had the effects of sin upon it.” [38] Christ was attended with every human infirmity such as hunger, thirst, weariness, and pain. He was, of course, without sin, but experienced the effects of sin throughout His incarnate existence. Flavel holds this in relationship with Christ’s compassion, being a result of His incarnation. By taking on human nature, Christ “knows experimentally what our wants, fears, temptations, and distresses are, and so is able to have compassion.” [39]

Flavel develops the dual-nature reality of Christ in terms of His sanctification for the elect’s redemption. He explains the phrase “I sanctify myself” in John 17:19:

[This phrase] implies the personal union of the two natures in Christ; for what is that which he here calls himself, but the same that was consecrated to be a sacrifice, even his human nature? This was the sacrifice. And this also was himself. [40]

Here, the one who consecrates is the consecrated sacrifice. According to Flavel, the hypostatic union of Christ is a mystery. The incarnation was the humiliation of the eternal God, which was both real and voluntary. The humanity of Christ contained no pollution of original sin, but at the same time, possessed the effects of sin. These effects of sin were humanity’s fears, wants, pains, temptations, and distresses, which Christ appropriated so that He could have compassion on His elect.

Christ’s “General” Work

It is impossible to separate the being of Christ from His work. However, for an accurate understanding of Flavel’s Christology, the ontological and effectual aspects of Christ must be seen independently for His general work and for His work on the cross. These two aspects will then be brought together in section 6 (Christ’s Ontological Nature and Application of His Work). For the purposes of this structure, Christ’s “general works” include: His dedication to His earthly mission, resurrection, ascension, session at the Father’s right hand, and the Second Advent, taken together as His exaltation.

It is important for understanding Flavel’s Christology that Christ did not just come, but that He came to fulfil a mission—a rescue mission for His elect. Flavel takes up Christ’s missionary work in Chapter Seven of The Fountain of Life, which he titles, “Of the Solemn Consecration of the Mediator.” He begins: “Jesus Christ being fitted with a body, and authorized by a commission, now actually devotes, and sets himself apart to his work.” [41] He again draws on John 17: “And for their sakes I sanctify myself” (v. 19). The sanctification of Christ is His consecration to holy mission and service. Christ is saying, as it were, “I consecrate and voluntarily offer myself a holy and unblemished sacrifice to thee for their redemption.” [42] The commissioning of Christ and His dedication issue in perfect obedience to the Father, which came to its ultimate agony on the cross and then to its ultimate fruition in salvation for the elect.

Christ’s work on the cross will be studied separately because Flavel distinguishes this work from the others, not necessarily in terms of importance, but simply in terms of the vast amount of writing on the subject. However, what chronologically follows the work of Christ on the cross—His resurrection, ascension, exaltation, and intercession—will be addressed briefly here.

Flavel calls the resurrection of Christ the first step of His exaltation. It is significant to note that Flavel usually makes the natural contrast between Christ’s death and His resurrection. The resurrection, then, is the recovery of Christ’s light and glory that was “eclipsed” by His humility and death. Flavel again draws upon the voluntary work of Christ, even here in His resurrection. He explains: “‘He is risen’ [from Matt. 28:6] imports the active power or self-quickening principle by which Christ raised himself from the state of the dead.” [43] While it was the human nature that died, “it was the divine nature, or Godhead of Christ, which revived and raised the manhood.” [44] The resurrection of Jesus Christ had many witnesses and Flavel does not pass up the opportunity to assert its certainty: “No point of religion is of more confessed truth, and infallible certainty than [the resurrection].” [45] The weight of the Scriptures, according to Flavel, hangs upon this theological truth—that Christ did, in fact, rise from the dead. For if this were not the case, there would be no application of His benefits or His blood for believers. [46]

Flavel understands Christ’s ascension to be the second step of His exaltation. Flavel explains “that our Lord Jesus Christ, did not only rise from the dead, but also ascended into heaven; there to dispatch all that remained to be done for the completing the salvation of his people.” [47]

Flavel mines the different vantage points of the ascension to provide the reader with a holistic understanding. First, the ascension has a public aspect: Christ ascending upon the elect’s behalf to God. Christ is the forerunner, being the first to enter heaven directly in His own name. He ascended triumphantly into heaven, victorious over death and grave. And finally, for that which (with respect to Christ) is called ascension, is (with respect to the Father) called assumption—the receiving by the Father of the Son. [48] Flavel concludes his discussion by saying that “if Christ had not ascended, he could not have interceded, as now he doth in heaven for us.” [49]

Flavel designates four parts to Christ’s exaltation. The first two having been noted, the last two are Christ’s session at the Father’s right hand and Christ’s advent to judgment. He summarizes the first by writing, “When our Lord Jesus Christ had finished his work on earth, he was placed in the seat of the highest honour, and authority; at the right-hand of God in heaven.” [50] By “God’s right hand,” Flavel means that it is the hand of honor, where those who are highly esteemed and honored are placed. Second, the right hand indicates power and authority as a conqueror over His enemies. Third, the right hand signifies nearness to the Father. Fourth, it imports the sovereignty and supremacy of Christ over all. Finally, it implies the perfecting and completing of Christ’s work for which He came into the world. [51]

The fourth step of exaltation—Christ’s advent to judgment—is, according to Flavel, a unique part of His exaltation and honor bestowed upon Him. “The Lord Jesus Christ is ordained by God the Father to be the Judge of the quick and the dead.” [52] Though Flavel points out that judgment is the act of the whole undivided Trinity, it is specifically the act of Christ in terms of visible management and execution.

Christ’s Work On The Cross

If Christology is the focus of Flavel’s theology, Christ’s work on the cross is the center of that focus. It is here that God’s love and His wrath, His grace and His justice, confront each other. What happened on the cross gives history redemptive meaning. Flavel argues that Christ’s work on the cross includes His death, suffering, sacrifice, and priestly atonement, all of which are examined at length in The Fountain of Life.

The death of Christ was, according to Flavel, the last step of His humiliation (which began in Bethlehem). By this death, Flavel contends, we understand the most grievous and dreadful punishment for the sins of sinners by the hands of men. He writes, “In respect of man, it was murder and cruelty. In respect of himself, it was obedience and humility.... Our Lord Jesus Christ was not only put to death, but to the worst of deaths, even the death of the cross.” [53] His death was violently excruciating but voluntary, laid down of His own accord (John 10:18). The violence and the depth of pain were indescribable: “Now, to have pains meeting at once upon one person, equivalent to all the pains of the damned; judge you what a plight Christ was in.” [54]

It is important to note that Flavel clearly understood this death of Christ and His work on the cross to be part of God’s providential ordering. He explains that “the principal cause, permitting, ordering, and disposing all things about it, was the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God.” [55] Flavel presents God’s sovereign decree of Christ’s death boldly when he writes: “God in design to heighten the sufferings of Christ to the uttermost, forsook him in the time of his greatest distress; to the unspeakable affliction and anguish of his soul.” [56] Though Christ died at the hands of guilty and responsible men, that death was ultimately determined by the definite counsel of God (Acts 2:23).

Christ’s work on the cross is a significant area in Flavel’s Christology where Christ’s being and action are combined in the work of a High Priest. Flavel’s discussion of Christ as Priest is foundational for his understanding of the atonement. Flavel teaches that the justice of God was fully vindicated in Christ’s sufferings, but what or who that vindication was for is the cause behind Christ’s role as Priest—to make atonement for the sins of the elect. Flavel emphasizes that this atonement was only for “the sins of the elect,” [57] and not for the sins of all humanity. In this way, the atonement was both purposeful and definite.

Flavel divides Christ’s work as High Priest into two parts: the excellency of the High Priest’s oblation and His intercession. When dealing with these particular works of Christ on the cross, the fruits of these works will naturally be brought forth since the work and its effect are two aspects of one task. He works out Christ’s oblation—Christ’s offering as an act of sacrifice—from Hebrews 10:14, “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” He explains, “The oblation made unto God by Jesus Christ, is of unspeakable value, and everlasting efficacy, to perfect all them that are, or shall be sanctified, to the end of the world.” [58] The sacrifice of Christ was offered once, thereby paying all that was needed for the elect’s salvation. “His appearing before God as our priest, with such an offering for us, is that which removes our guilt and fear together.” [59]

The Oblation Of Christ As High Priest

Flavel divides his discussion of the oblation of Christ into various observations of the account of the cross. First, there were many other priests before Christ, but “they were all sinful men and offered for their own sins, as well as the sins of the people.” [60] Jesus Christ, however, had no sin, nor was He guilty of anything.

Second, the blood shed was not the blood of animals, but Jesus’ own blood. Jesus Christ combined the work as a Priest and the sacrifice as a Lamb on the cross. He made atonement for the sins of the elect and yet, at the same time, became the sacrifice as the means for their atonement. Flavel points to the direct effect of Christ’s oblation: as expiation for “the sins of all for whom it was offered, in all ages of the world.” [61]

Third, Jesus brings this sacrificial act before God as a “sweet smelling savor.” He writes, “As Christ sustained the capacity of a surety, so God of a creditor, who exacted satisfaction from him; that is, he required from him, as our surety, the penalty due to us for our sin.” [62]

Fourth, the persons for whom and in whose stead Christ offered Himself to God were “the whole number of God’s elect, which were given him of the Father, neither more nor less: So speak the scriptures.” [63] Flavel repeatedly argues for the Reformed doctrine of “limited atonement.”

Finally, Christ’s oblation “was to atone, pacify, and reconcile God, by giving him a full and adequate compensation or satisfaction for the sins of these his elect.” [64] Reconciliation is an important effect or fruit of Christ’s oblation for it not only assumes justification, but also includes familial relationship. Flavel defines reconciliation as “the making up of that breach caused by sin, between us and God, and restoring us again to his favour and friendship.” [65] To this end, Christ offered up Himself to God the Father.

The Intercession Of Christ As High Priest

The second part of Christ’s work as High Priest is His intercession before the Father. He introduces intercession by discussing the “eternal Sacrifice” of Christ: “Though he actually offers [the sacrifice] no more, yet he virtually continues it by his intercession now in heaven; for there he is still a Priest.” [66] Christ’s intercession is nothing else but the virtual continuation of His offering once made on earth—being medium reconciliationis, the means of reconciling.

Flavel draws many of his conclusions for this second act of Christ as High Priest from Hebrews 7:25: “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” This second act was typified by the high priest’s entering with the blood of the sacrifice and sweet incense into the holy place. [67] Christ’s act of entering heaven to intercede reflected the priest’s act of going within the veil with blood and incense. Flavel describes this second part as the “principal perfective part of the priesthood.” [68] The first part of this work—the oblation—on earth was in a state of deep abasement in the form of a servant; but He fulfils this second part in glory, where He is taken up that He may fulfil His design in dying and give the work of the elect’s salvation its last completing act. [69]

Flavel thoroughly examines the meaning of Christ’s work as intercessor and gives four general observations, which are briefly outlined here. First, he defines intercession as that which mediates between two parties: to entreat, argue, and plead with one for the other. Christ continually endeavors to heal breaches between God and us both as our attorney and advocate. He serves as a mediator also in His exaltation. A second observation Flavel makes concerning intercession is that Christ presents three things to the Father: (1) He presents Himself before the Father “in our names and upon our account,” (2) He pre­sents His blood and all His sufferings, and (3) He presents the prayers of His saints with His merits. [70]

Third, Christ’s intercession is powerful and successful. Christ is in every way able and fit for the work in which He is engaged. Whatever is desirable in an advocate is found in Him eminently.

Finally, Christ’s intercession is not only eternal—as the unceasing role of Mediator—but also a cause for reverence and encouragement in the believer’s heart. That the elect’s case is advocated only by and through Christ should provoke a deep reverence for Him as High Priest. It should also encourage the believer for it is Christ who is there, who has paid for sin, and who has sacrificed on the elect’s behalf so that he may not only be justified, but also be reconciled to God. [71]

Flavel focuses a large part of The Fountain of Life to Christ’s work on the cross—His death, suffering, sacrifice, and atonement as High Priest. He divides the atonement into oblation and intercession and combines the work of Christ and the effect of the work manifested in the lives of God’s elect. Thus, the believer’s confidence and encouragement is not in his merit or actions, but in Christ’s merit and His work on the cross.

Christ’s Ontological Nature And The Application Of His Work

The sixth section of Flavel’s Christology encapsulates his motive for writing The Fountain of Life: the practical application of the being and work of Christ for the believer. Christ’s “ontological nature” assumes the work of Christ because the two cannot truly be separated. That is why this study of Flavel’s Christology has intertwined both Christ’s nature and work. His titles—Servant, Prophet, Priest, King, and Mediator—represent these two elements, and also provide the effects and fruit of them.

Flavel uses the titles of Christ to show the effects and application of Christ’s work. The title “Servant” usually is qualified by “suffering.” In the humiliation of His incarnation, Christ became a suffering Servant on behalf of God’s elect; He “groaned, wept, laboured, suffered, sweat, yea, sweat blood, and found no rest in this world.” [72] That is why believers may come to Christ weary and heavy-laden and find rest. For the believer, His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matt. 11:30).

Flavel uses the triplet “Prophet, Priest, King” to show that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the Hebrew Messiah. By the title “Prophet,” Flavel intends to show us that Christ was fully qualified “to teach us the will of God” so that “we should be able to bear it.” [73] Here he combines Christ’s being with the application of His work for the believer. The work of Christ as High Priest, as discussed above, is to make oblation and intercession on behalf of God’s people. The effects and fruit of Christ’s role are the satisfaction for our sin and the rich inheritance for the saints. [74] The title “King” refers specifically to His sovereign power and execution of that power. Flavel summarizes this role when he writes, “Jesus Christ exercises a Kingly power over the souls of all whom the gospel subdues to his obedience.” [75] He lets the idea of “glorious exaltation” ring in his readers’ ears when writing of the King of kings. Flavel applies Christ’s Kingly office by saying that this role applies the purchase of His blood to God’s elect in order that they could have actual and personal benefit by His death. [76] He summarizes the work of Christ’s threefold office succinctly:

For what he revealed as a Prophet, he purchased as a Priest; and what he so revealed and purchased as a Prophet and Priest, he applies as a King; first subduing the souls of his elect to his spiritual government; then ruling them as his subjects, and ordering all things in the kingdom of Providence for their good. [77]

The titles that Flavel uses of Christ display both His ontological work and the direct effects of that work, which are applied to believers’ lives.

There are six major effects of Christ’s work that Flavel discusses and applies throughout The Fountain of Life: (1) the forgiveness of sins, (2) the regeneration that leads to holiness, (3) the consolation of the believer, (4) the believer’s union and fellowship with Christ, (5) a pattern of life to live by, and (6) the appropriation of joy as Christ fulfils the desire of His people. All of these are understood by Christ’s various titles, are intertwined with one another, and have been discussed above under the headings of Christ’s general work, His work on the cross, and His ontological work.

Because the justice of God has been satisfied by the death of Christ, believers are now forgiven of sin. This first effect is closely associated with the second: the regeneration and redemption of life. It is Flavel’s pattern to incorporate the work of the Trinity in the redemption of God’s elect and, in so doing, describe the specific work of all three persons of the Godhead. The Holy Spirit “opens the eyes of the elect,” “displays Christ before the elect,” and “seals the work of Christ objectively and effectually in the lives of the elect.” [78] Christ accomplishes the specific sacrificial work that makes atonement for the sins of the elect. The Father elects those whom He predestines, welcomes and receives the work of the Son, and is satisfied and gives the elect to the Son. Thus, the Trinitarian union prescribes and effects the regeneration and redemption of the elect. [79]

The third and fourth effects of Christ’s work are also closely associated. Fellowship and union with Christ offer the believer consolation. [80] One who is united with Christ has fellowship with Him because of His gracious salvation. The natural effect of union is consolation. Flavel writes: “The loveliness, the desirableness, and the glory of Christ, are all so many springs of consolation.... The saints have not only so much consolation from Christ, but Christ himself is the very consolation of believers: He is pure comfort wrapped up in flesh and blood.” [81] The believer’s confidence is not in the flesh, but in Christ alone. Therefore, consolation comes not from individual piety, but from Christ’s mediatorial glory. That Christ’s satisfaction by the Father is perfect is reason for the believer to find consolation in Him. [82]

The fifth effect of Christ’s work is not that it necessarily provides a pattern for the role or function of Christ, but rather a pattern of humility and service that believers should endeavor to imitate. Flavel remarks: “Surely Christ is the highest pattern of self-denial in the world.” [83]

And finally, the sixth effect of Christ’s work is that he becomes the joy and desire of the believer. Flavel’s Christology finds meaning in that faith gives way to joy in the object of that faith. “Jesus Christ is the very object matter of a believer’s joy.” [84] Flavel writes: “The desires of God’s elect in all kingdoms, and among all people of the earth, are, and shall be drawn out after, and fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ.” [85] Flavel repeatedly exhorts his readers not to stifle the desire of Christ and the joy of fellowship with Him.

The effects of Christ’s work are the essence of what Flavel wanted his readers to understand, for he was, as James I. Packer has pointed out,

[a] man of outstanding intellectual power, as well as spiritual insight...mental habits fostered by sober scholarship were linked with a flaming zeal for God and a minute acquaintance with the human heart...[Flavel] understood most richly the ways of God with men, the glory of Christ the Mediator, and the work of the Spirit in the believer and the church. [86]

Forgiveness, redemption, consolation, union, pattern, and desire are all effects and fruits of what Christ has done.

Conclusion

John Flavel’s presentation of the doctrine of Christ in The Fountain of Life is both highly doctrinal and yet, at the same time, deeply devotional and practical. While carefully explaining the hypostatic union and the two natures of Christ, the unity of the Trinity, Christ’s preexistence, Christ’s general works, His work on the cross, and His ontological nature and how it applies to the life of the believer, Flavel not only explains a wide range of topics but also shows an underlying desire to point his readers to the work of Christ on their behalf. As a virtual unknown among the Puritan “greats,” John Flavel—a meticulous theologian and practical pastor—certainly deserves more study by both pastor and church members.

Notes

1. Originally published in London: Printed by Rob. White, for Francis Tyton, at the Three Daggers in Fleetstreet, 1673.
2. The Fountain of Life spans over five hundred pages and touches just about every area associated with a study of the person and work of Christ. Other Puritan titles that contend with The Fountain of Life include Thomas Goodwin’s Christ set forth in his death, resurrection, ascension, sitting at Gods right hand, intercession, as the cause of justification, object of justifying faith together with a treatise discovering the affectionate tendernesse of Christs heart now in heaven, unto sinners on earth (1642); John Owen’s A Declaration of the Glorious Mystery of the Person of Christ (1679), Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ (1684), and Meditations and Discourses Concerning the Glory of Christ Applied (1691); and James Durham’s Christ Crucified; or, The Marrow of the Gospel in 72 Sermons on Isaiah 53 (1683). Despite the prominence and influence of Flavel, there remains no in-depth study or article on Flavel’s doctrine of Christ or of The Fountain of Life.
3. Other than a study of Flavel in 1952 by Kwai Sing Chang, “John Flavel of Dartmouth, 1630-1691” (Ph.D. diss., University of Edinburgh, 1952), no in-depth study of his life or theology was published until 2007 with the publication of J. Stephen Yuille, The Inner Sanctum of Puritan Piety: John Flavel’s Doctrine of Mystical Union with Christ (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2007). For recent scholarly studies, see Clifford B. Boone, “Puritan Evangelism: Preaching for Conversion in Late Seventeenth-Century English Puritanism as Seen in the Works of John Flavel” (Ph.D. diss., University of Wales, Lampeter, 2009); Adam Burgess Embry, Keeper of the Great Seal of Heaven: Sealing of the Spirit in the Thought of John Flavel (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2011); and John Thomas, Jr., entitled “An Analysis of the Use of Application in the Preaching of John Flavel (Ph.D. diss., The New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2007).
4. For a survey of Flavel’s life, theology, ministry, and influence, see Brian H. Cosby, “John Flavel: The Lost Puritan,” Puritan Reformed Journal 3:1 (Jan. 2011): 113-32.
5. Anthony á Wood, Athenæ Oxonienses: An Exact History of all the Writers and Bishops who have had their Education in the University of Oxford (New York: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, et al., 1820), 4:323.
6. John Galpine, “The Life of Mr. John Flavell,” in Mr. John Flavell’s Remains: Being Two Sermons, Composed by that Reverend and Learned Divine (London: Printed for Tho. Cockerill, at the Three Legs in the Poultrey, 1691), 2.
7. Increase Mather, “To the Reader,” in “An Exposition of the Assembly’s Catechism” by John Flavel, The Works of John Flavel (London: W. Baynes and Son, 1820; repr., London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1968), 6:139.
8. Jonathan Edwards, “On Religious Affections,” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1974), 1:248.
9. James I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1990), 312.
10. See Cosby, “John Flavel: The Lost Puritan,” for reasons for this decline of influence.
11. James William Kelly, “Flavell, John (bap. 1630, d. 1691),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004); online ed., Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9678, accessed 4 March 2011].
12. John Flavel, An Exposition of the Assemblies Catechism, with practical inferences from each question as it was carried on in the Lords Days exercises in Dartmouth, in the first year of liberty, 1688 (London: Printed for Tho. Cockerill, 1692).
13. John Flavel, The Fountain of Life: A Display of Christ in His Essential and Mediatorial Glory in The Works of John Flavel (London: W. Baynes and Son, 1820; repr. London: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1968), 1:34.
14. See John Flavel, The Works of John Flavel.
15. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:xviii.
16. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:xix.
17. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:23.
18. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:21.
19. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:29.
20. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:42-43.
21. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:43.
22. See later section entitled “Christ’s Ontological Nature and the Application of His Work.”
23. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:43, 44.
24. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:44.
25. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:45-46.
26. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:47.
27. This terminology did not originate with Flavel, but appeared already in 1638 in George Walker (1581?-1651) The Doctrine of the Sabbath (Amsterdam, 1638), 69. Even then the idea of a “Covenant of Redemption” was not new (see John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 vols., ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1960), 2.12.4. Because of its relatively new terminology, though, the phrase did not make it into the Westminster Standards.
28. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:53.
29. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:55.
30. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:86.
31. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:235.
32. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:224.
33. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:235.
34. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:225.
35. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:225.
36. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:225.
37. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:226.
38. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:228.
39. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:235.
40. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:97.
41. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:96.
42. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:96.
43. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:487.
44. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:487.
45. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:488.
46. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:489.
47. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:503.
48. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:503-507.
49. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:508.
50. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:515.
51. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:515-18.
52. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:526.
53. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:321.
54. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:323.
55. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:321.
56. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:407.
57. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:52.
58. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:155.
59. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:155.
60. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:155.
61. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:157.
62. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:159.
63. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:159.
64. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:160.
65. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:160.
66. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:158.
67. Cf. Leviticus 16:12-14.
68. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:166.
69. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:165-66.
70. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:168.
71. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:170-76.
72. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:514.
73. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:224.
74. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:176, 188.
75. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:200.
76. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:199.
77. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:199.
78. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:35, 39, 95.
79. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:55, 88.
80. For an excellent study of Flavel’s doctrine of union with Christ, see J. Stephen Yuille, The Inner Sanctum of Puritan Piety: John Flavel’s Doctrine of Mystical Union with Christ (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2007).
81. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 2:243.
82. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:230.
83. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:51.
84. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 1:35.
85. Flavel, The Fountain of Life, 2:226.
86. J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness, 29.