JOHANNES

COCCEIUS [strictly

See also:

• KOCH
• KOCH, ROBERT (1843–1910)

KocH] (1603-1669)  , Dutch theologian, was born at Bremen . After studying at Hamburg and Franeker, where Sixtinus Amama was one of his teachers, he became in 163o professor of biblical philology at the " Gymnasium illustre ". in his native town . In 1636 he was transferred to Franeker, where he held the chair of Hebrew, and from 1643 the chair of theology also, until 1650, when he succeeded Fr . Spanheim the elder as professor of theology at Leiden . He died on the 4th of November 1669 . His chief services as an oriental scholar were in the department of Hebrew philology and exegesis . As one of the leading exponents of the " covenant " or " federal " theology, he spiritualized the Hebrew scriptures to such an extent that it was said that Cocceius found Christ everywhere in the Old Testament and Hugo Grotius found him nowhere . He taught that before the Fall, as much as after it, the relation between God and man was a covenant . The first covenant was a " Covenant of Works." For this was substituted, after the Fall, the " Covenant of Grace," to fulfil which the coming of Jesus Christ was necessary . He held millenarian views, and was the founder of a school of theologians who were called after him Cocceians . His theology was founded entirely on the Bible, and he did much to promote and encourage the study of the original text . In one of his essays he contends that the observance of the Sabbath, though expedient, is not binding upon Christians, since it was a Jewish institution .

His most distinguished

pupil was the celebrated Campeius Vitringa . His most valuable work was his Lexicon et Commentarius Sermonis Hebraici et Chaldaici (Leiden, 1669), which has been frequently republished; his theology is fully expounded in his Summa Doctrinaede Foedere et Testamento Dei (1648) . His collected works were published in 12 folio volumes (Amster-dam, 1673-1675) . See Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie .