NATURE OF CHRIST
1914 "Bible Readings For The Home Circle"
Published by the Review and Herald Publishing Association
1. Concerning Christ’s life:
1
Peter 2:22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
2. What is true of all other members of the human family?
Rom
3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
3. With what question did Christ challenge His enemies?
Joh
8:46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why
do ye not believe me?
4. To what extent was Christ tempted?
Heb
4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are,
yet] without sin.
5. In His humanity, of what nature did Christ take?
Heb
2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might
destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
6. How fully did Christ share our common humanity?
Heb
2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto [his]
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
[pertaining] to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
[Note]
"In His humanity Christ partook of our sinful, fallen
nature. If not, then He was not "made like unto His Brethren", and was
not "in all points temped like we are," did not overcome as we have to
overcome, and is not, therefore, the complete and perfect Saviour man needs
and must have to be saved. The idea that Christ was born of an immaculate
or sinless mother, inherited no tendencies to sin, and for this reason
did not sin, removes Him from the realm of a fallen world, and from the
very place where help was needed. On His human side, Christ inherited just
what every child of Adam inherits---a sinful nature. On the divine side,
from his very conception, He was begotten and born of the Spirit. And all
this was done to place mankind on vantage-ground, and to demonstrate that
in the same was every one who is "born of the Spirit" may gain like victories
over sin in his own flesh. Thus each one is to overcome as Christ overcame.
Rev.
3:21 Without the birth there can be no victory over temptation, and
no salvation from sin. " John
3:3-7
7. Where did God, in Christ, condemn sin, and gain
the victory for us over temptation and sin?
Rom
8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for
sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
[Note]
God, in Christ, condemned sin, not by pronouncing against
it mearly as a judge on the judgement seat, but by coming and living in
the flesh, in sinful flesh, and yet without sinning. In Christ, He demonstrated
that it is possible by His grace and power, to resist temptation, overcome
sin and live a sinless life in sinful flesh."
8. By whose power did Christ live the perfect life?
John
5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my
judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the
Father which hath sent me.
John
14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in
me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father
that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
[Note]
In His humanityChrist was as dependent upon divine power
to do the works of God as is any man to do the same thing. He employed
no means to live a holy life that are not available to every human being.
Through Him, every one may have God dwelling in him and working in him
""o will and to do of His good pleasure" 1
John 4:15; Phil.2:13
9. What unselfish purpose did Jesus ever have before
Him?
Joh
6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the
will of him that sent me.
In 1949, these notes were deleted from the newly printed ‘Bible Readings’. That is when the compromise to join our belief with other Christian denominations began. To be accepted as a fellow believer in the nature of Christ, was more important than the truths presented to the early pioneers and established by the Holy Spirit. Our problem is we are too far removed from the beginning….we are loosing a vision that belongs to this unique Church, may the Lord have mercy.