December 1927
K i ín g ’ s
T h e
B u s i n e s ' s
785
became flesh, but it was sinless flesh. His humanity was perfect. If we could reason from the state of Adam before he fell, when God created him in His own image, when He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul, then we might be better able to reason concerning -the characteristics; of the human .nature assumed by our Lord. It has been claimed for Adam before he fell, that he was endowed, “with certain gifts and powers supernat ural,’! and th a t‘gf . these, “divine illumination or knowl edge was a leading grace.” That may be so, or .not, but we know that it is stated that Adam (unfallen) was a figure of Him Who was to come (Christ) (Rom. 5:1), H is PERsoti not C hanged Whatever th e ' meaning may be of the astounding words rendered: “He.emptied Himself” and “He humbled Himself,” His Person was not changed. lie remained Himself, but by His own voluntary act altered His con dition, and instead of being rich, He became poor. Instead of being clothed in unapproachable glory, He was clothed with humble flesh, being found in outward fashion (changeable) as a man. He lived in lowly estate, instead of all the pomp and Ceremony of a King. Proud men have taken advantage of His humility, of His gracious, lowly condescension, and have imputed to Him ignOrahce/flimited understanding and weakness.,, In relation to the unique. Person and character of our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Son of Man, in one Person, “Perfect God and Perfect Man,” we submit the following thoughts for the careful consideration of those whose minds may have been troubled by the criticisms and doctrines of certain modern teachers, who are now found in circles where we least expected to find them. When considering Christ in His manhood, we must not set aside His Person, Which is eternally the same. His humanity endowed Him with a capacity to enter into the experiences of the life of man on earth. Thus there were things He learned, which He would not have learned had He not become incarnate. For instance, “Though He zvere a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered” (Heb. 5:8). So that through His human experience there was Communicated to His Divine nature this knowledge. Again, He experienced the grief which the death of a loved friend brings to the human heart, when He stood and wept beside the grave of Lazarus. Many other illustrations could be brought forward in sup port of this. However, being Perfect Man, “He knew no sin.” He was untainted by sin. These experiences do not affect the claim that our Lord possessed unerring and unlimited knowledge; that He excelled in wisdom; that He was not enslaved to current Jewish traditions, but revealed the true and inner meaning of the Old Testament revelation, and corrected the errors of Judaism; that He possessed supernatural powers and exercised them as oc casion required. We must ever remember that the nature of the humanity of our sinless Lord was not, and by the nature of the case, could not.be, on the same footing with that of His fellow men. We must look at Christ, God manifest in flesh, as One Person, in whom were both the Divine and human natures, and that the union (not con fusion) of these natures added perfection to His human- ity. His D iv ine W isdom In the course of our Lord’s life on earth, from child hood onward, many were compelled to acknowledge His wisdom and understanding. His teaching, His illumina tion called forth expressions of wonder. When in the
midst óf the doctors, as a child of twelve, they were “as tonished at His understanding” (Luke 2:46-47)'. “The Jews marveled,- saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (John 7:15). “The people were astonished at His doctrine^ for He taught as one having authority ,. and not as the Scribes” .(Matt. 7 :28-29). “The - officers.anszi’éred, Never man spake like this man” (John 7 :46). All classes were impressed with the extent of His knowledge, and the wisdom of His teaching, yet they were ignorant of the secret. He was God, manifested in the flesh. He was the Low of Man living in intimate and uninterrupted communion with His Father in Heaven. Never failing to know His will, and receiving from Him . the thoughts and words, by which He knew and expressed the mind of God. Further, the Holy Spirit of God was with H im ;from His conception, and on entering upon His public ministry, the event was marked by the descent upon Him of the Holy Spirit in a public manner. He was the true Temple of God on earth, wherein the glory of God dwelt and could dwell complacently. What limitations could there he with One Who walked in such holy intimate commun ion with God, and to Whom was given the Spirit without measure ? (John 3 :34). Who will presume to draw imaginary lines of demár- veation round the plenitudes of light, knowledge and wis dom of. Oné so richly endowed with the gifts and illumi nation of the Holy Spirit of God? We must recognize the distinctions between the sinless and illumined nature of the Soil of Man, and the sinful and darkened condi tion of our own human nature. With regard to our Lord’s human body it is indis putable that it, as well as the soul of Christ, received (Di vine and human) qualities and powers above nature, which enabled Him “to do more than man in this world hath power to comprehend.” The evidences of this are seen in the Lord walking on the sea (and giving the Apostle Peter power to do the same) ; in healing virtue flowing forth at the touch of faith; and in the scene on the Mount of Transfiguration. The mystical union of the Divine and human, so wondrously interacting, yet ever distinguishable, imparted to the body and soul of Christ, such powers and qualities, that no room is left for ignorance and human weakness, which some modern teachers attribute to our Lord. When men attribute to Him, “the possibility of intellectual falli bility,” “that He was humanly ignorant of natural science, historical criticism,” and the like, we then protest against the idea that the teaching of Him “in Whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” must be subjected to the testing of the sin-clouded intellect of mortal man. The confusion of thought on this subject is simply prodigious, and no wonder, when men attempt to clear up the “mystery of godliness,” forgetting that, “No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; „neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son zvill reveal him” (Matt 11:27). G reat M ysteries I nvoeved Yet it is a great mystery. We cannot understand how the Son of God could beepme an embryo, a babe, a dying and a dead man. How the little Baby which lay in the manger of Bethlehem, with Its human soul, with Its unde veloped mind and spirit, was the Eternal Son and nothing less. We come to a point where we must pause before the Divine mysteries and simply worship and adore, like the angelic host who sang their praises over that little Babe, and like the wise princes from the East, who fell
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