THE K I N G ’ S B US I NE S S
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light of its context. He said also, that “ one jot or one tittle (one smallest letter or part of a letter)” should “ in no wise pass from” the revelation made by God to Moses “ until Heaven and earth pass away,” (Matt. 5:18). He taught that the Old Testament Scrip tures were absolutely irrefragable and ineri;ant, that “ the Scriptures cannot he broken” (Jno. 10:35). He taught that all things written in any one of the three recognized divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures, “ the law, the prophets and the Psalms,” our present Old Testament, must be fulfilled (Lk. 24:44). Put a peg down here, the first absolutely es sential doctrine of anything that has any right to be called a Christian faith, is that of the divine, origin and abso lute reliability of every part of the Bible. Deity of Christ II. The second fundamental and cardinal point in the Gospel that Paul taught, the second of the absolutely essential doctrines of the Christian faith, is THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRUE AND FULL DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST. Any gospel that makes Jesus of Naz areth anything less than God manifest in the flesh, anything less than a person who was possessed of all the attributes and perfections of God, anything less than a person who stands absolutely alone among the sons of men as a being worthy of the worship of angels and men and all created beings, is another gospel than the gospel that Paul preached, and is a false gospel, and has no right to term itself Christian. The doctrine of the absolute deity of Christ is found not only in specific statements in Paul’s writings, but is implied every where, and forms the very warp and woof of the system of truth that he taught. There is of course not time to go into detail, but in Phil. 2:6-11 he says of Christ Jesus, “Who, existing originally in the iorm of God, counted it not a thing to be grasped to be on an equality with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, bem gm adein th e likeness of men; and being found IN FASHION as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obed ient unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which name; THAT IN THE NAME OF JESUS EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess \that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. In Col. 2:9, he says,
“ In him (that is in Jesus Christ) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” In Titus 2:13 In a correct translation of the passage, the translation of the English Revision, Paul says, “ Looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of OUR GREAT GOD and Saviour JESUS CHRIST.” In Rom. 9:5 He says of Jesus, “ Who is over all, God blessed forever.” The Jesus Christ, the Saviour, of the gospel Paul preached was a person who was absolutely divine, who was “ over all, God blessed forever.” It is true that he was God manifest in the flesh, a God who humbled Himself and took upon Himself the fashion of a man, but He did not cease to be God. Jesus Christ made the same claim for Him self. He demanded that all men should honor Him “ even as they honored the Father” (John 5:22, 23). He said that he that had seen Him had seen the Father also (Jno. 14:9). He demanded that His disciples believe in Him even as they believed in the Father (Jno. 14:1). When Thomas fell at His feet and looked up into His face and said, “ My Lord and my God,” He accepted this ascription of deity, commended Thomas for seeing it at last, but gently reproved him for not seeing it sooner (Jno. 20:28, 29). Any gospel that pre sents to us a Saviour who is anything less than very God of very God, or presents to us any other person than Jesus of Nazareth as divine Saviour, is another gospel than the one Paul preached, another gospel than the one true gospel, it belongs to another system o f doctrine than Christian doctrine. Both the doctrine of the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine of the divine origin and absolute reliability of the Bible involve the doctrine of the Virgin Birth of our Lord. You cannot discredit the Virgin Birth of our Lord without discrediting the Bible, and you cannot deny the Virgin Birth of our Lord without clouding His deity, so belief in the Virgin Birth of our Lord is abso lutely essential to a truly Christian faith. Substitutionary Atonement III. The third essential doctrine of the Christian faith, is that JESUS CHRIST DIED ON CALVARY AS A REPRESENTATIVE, AND AS A SUB STITUTE FOR SINFUL MAN, AND THAT THERE IS REMISSION OF SINS
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