The position that Christ took fallen human nature has had only a few supporters throughout the history of Christianity, and those who taught it have often been considered heretics. This must be readily acknowledged. But truth does not depend on the number of its followers. Many essential biblical truths have been distorted throughout the centuries by reason of preconceived ideas or erroneous concepts, resulting in teaching that was often completely foreign to the Scriptures.
The problem of the nature and destiny of humanity is a prime example.[l] By accepting the Platonic idea of immortality of the soul, the Church Fathers perpetuated serious errors concerning death, resurrection, and eternal life. Likewise, disregarding the New Testament data on the subject of Christ's human nature, arbitrary theories were formulated, resulting in faulty doctrine.
The New Testament Evidence
To solve a problem, one must start with a careful analysis of the data. A problem well understood is half solved. The clearly defined scriptural data on which Christology rests can be summarized as a paradox: Christ participated "in the likeness of sinful flesh" without participating in any of the sins of humanity.
This twofold affirmation is set forth in the heart of the prologue of John's Gospel. On the one hand, the apostle declares, "The Word became flesh"; and on the other hand he states that the Word "made his dwelling among us ... full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). The paradox arises from the fact that while having become human in a state of fallenness, Christ nevertheless lived among us without sin, in perfect obedience to the law of God.
John makes this truth the touchstone of his Christology: "This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus [come in flesh] is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist" (1 John 4:2, 3).
The word "flesh" in John generally has a pejorative connotation. Human beings are born according to "the will of the flesh" (John 1:13, KJV), and they "judge after the flesh" (John 8:15, KJV). And John concludes: "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world" (1 John 2:16, KJV). Jesus Himself systematically opposed "the flesh" to "the Spirit." "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit" (John 3:6). "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing" (John 6:63).
Paul likewise emphasized in his Epistles the opposition between the flesh and the Spirit in the person of Christ. In the introduction of his Epistle to the Romans, he defines the twofold nature of Christ in these terms: "made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness" (Rom. 1:3, 4, KJV). Then, appealing to the greatness of the "mystery of godliness," Paul states once again the basics of Christology: "God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit" (1 Tim. 3:16, KJV).
Not content with affirming that Christ is at the same time flesh and Spirit--that is to say, both truly man, and truly God--Paul says God sent "his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh," thus condemning "sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3). Whatever the meaning given to the word "likeness," it cannot signify that Christ's flesh might be different from that of humanity at His birth. Jesus, therefore, was not like Adam before the Fall, for God had not created Adam "in the likeness of sinful flesh."
In his Epistle to the Philippians Paul emphasizes the paradox between the reality of the human condition and the perfection of Jesus' obedience to the very end of His life. On the one hand, the apostle stresses the full and entire participation of Christ in human nature: He took "the very nature of a servant" (literally, slave); He was "made in human likeness"; He was "found in appearance as a man" and was "obedient to death--even death on a cross" (Phil. 2:7, 8). In other words, although "born of a woman, born under law" like all human beings, by His perfect obedience to the law of God, Christ not only "condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3, KJV), but He became the Redeemer of "those under law" (Gal. 4:5). In effect, writes Paul, "through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2).
The Epistle to the Hebrews emphasizes this same twofold aspect of the person and work of Christ. "For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way" (Heb. 2: 16, 17). Since the brothers "are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took part of the same" (verse 14, KJV). Therefore, He "has been tempted in every way, just as we are," yet "without sin" (Heb. 4:15). This was the condition necessary to fulfill His mission of serving as "a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted" (Heb. 2:17, 18, KJV).
This is the fundamental biblical data of Christology. No one has the right to weaken or alter the data with arguments lacking sound biblical foundation.
The Biblical Concept of Sin
One of the main problems in Christology involves misconceptions about the nature of sin. In order to resolve the problem of Christ's human nature, we must determine first the biblical concept of sin. Throughout the centuries it has been understood in many ways, but rarely in harmony with the teaching of the Scriptures.
Catholics and many Protestants teach the doctrine of original sin. There are various ways of understanding this doctrine, but the basic concept is that we are sinners by birth, guilty simply because we belong to the human family as descendants from Adam. From this point of view, if Jesus had been born with the same sinful nature as all other men, He would be a sinner, guilty by birth. Consequently, He could not be our Saviour.
Having adopted this premise, in harmony with evangelical theologians, the promoters of the new Adventist Christology could only conclude that "Christ had taken the nature of Adam before the Fall." In order to be the Saviour of the world, Christ had to possess a sinless nature, which He could not have had if He was born with the nature of Adam after the Fall.
Because there is no biblical basis for the doctrine of original sin, traditional Adventism condemned it or simply ignored it. Ellen White, in all her writings, never mentioned it. Once only she used the expression "the original sin," in relation to Adam's sin committed in the very beginning. "Every sin committed," she wrote, "awakens the echo of the original sin".[2] Today some theologians of other confessions likewise consider the doctrine of original sin as foreign to the teaching of the Bible.[3]
In order to understand the teaching of the Bible on the subject of sin, it is not enough to know that "sin is lawlessness" (1 John 3:4), and that all men are sinners "because all sinned" (Rom. 5:12). The writers of Scripture, and Paul in particular, establish certain distinctions without which Christ's human nature remains incomprehensible. First, it is important not to confuse sin as a principle of action, and sins in action.
1. Sin as Power, and Sins as Actions
The Bible establishes an important distinction between sin in the singular, as the power of temptation, and sins in the plural, as acts of transgression of the law. Paul, in particular, makes a difference between what he calls "the law of sin," which held him "prisoner" (Rom. 7:23), and "the works of the flesh," which he catalogs (Gal. 5:19-21, KJV; Titus 3:3).
In his analysis of the man "sold under sin," Paul specifies that the principle of sin lives in him, that is to say, in his flesh. This principle acts in his members, and is "waging war against the law" of the mind. Even "when I want to do good," he says, "evil is right there with me." "I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out." Consequently, "if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me" (Rom. 7:14-23).
Paul defines the principle that makes humanity "a prisoner of the law of sin" by using various expressions. First, he calls it "the minding of the flesh" (phronema tes sarkos), as opposed to "the minding of the Spirit" (phronema tou pneumatos) (Rom. 8:6). This word phronema includes the affections, the will as well as the reason of the one who lives "according to our sinful nature" or "according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:4, 7). Paul also uses the expression: "the desires of your sinful nature" (epithumian sarkos) (Gal. 5:16, 17), translated most often by the word "lust" (Rom. 1:24; 6:12; 7:7). Finally, the expression "the power of sin" (dunamis tes hamartias) (1 Cor. 15:56) conveys well the dynamic aspect of the principle that works in man and renders him a slave of sin.
By these expressions Paul does not refer to acts of sin, but simply to the tendencies of the flesh that impel us to sin. These are only inclinations and not yet sins. But these natural tendencies to disobedience, inherited from Adam, inevitably become actual sins when we yield to their enticements.
In his analysis of the process of temptation, James establishes precisely the difference that exists between "lust" (epithumia) and the sinful act. According to him, "each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire (epithumia), he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death" (James 1:14, 15). In other words, "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16), which are at the origin of all the temptations, even those of Christ in the wilderness, become sins only with the consent of the one who is tempted.
Ellen White confirms this point of view when she writes: "There are thoughts and feelings suggested and aroused by Satan that annoy even the best of men; but if they are not cherished, if they are repulsed as hateful, the soul is not contaminated with guilt, and no other is defiled by their influence".[4] Whatever may be the intensity of the temptation, it is never, in itself, a sin. "No man can be forced to transgress. His own consent must be first gained; the soul must purpose the sinful act before passion can dominate over reason or iniquity triumph over conscience. Temptation, however strong, is never an excuse for sin."[5]
Ellen White writes: "The Son of God in His humanity wrestled with the very same fierce, apparently overwhelming temptations that assail men--temptation to indulgence of appetite, to presumptuous venturing where God has not led them, and to the worship of the god of this world, to sacrifice an eternity of bliss for the fascinating pleasures of this life."[6] "He knows by experience what are the weaknesses of humanity, what are our wants, and where lies the strength of our temptations; for He was 'in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.'"[7]
The difference between Jesus and human beings does not lie at the level of the flesh, or at the level of temptation, since He "was in all points tempted like as we are." The difference rests in the fact that Jesus never yielded to the enticements of the flesh, whereas all of us, without exception, have succumbed to them, and are now under the power of sin (Rom. 3:9). Even when a person has the desire to do good, he does not have the power by himself to resist the power of sin which dwells within him (Rom. 7:18). Christ alone, by the power of the Spirit of God, of which He was the bearer, was able to resist "unto blood, striving against sin" (Heb. 12:4, KJV). Ellen White confirms: "Though He had all the strength of passion of humanity, never did He yield to temptation to do one single act which was not pure and elevating and ennobling."[8]
To understand how Jesus could live without sin "in the likeness of sinful flesh," another important distinction should be made: the difference between the consequences of Adam's sin, transmitted to all his descendants according to "the great law of heredity,"[9] and guilt, which is not transmissible from parent to child.
2. Only Those Who Sin Are Guilty
According to the doctrine of original sin, not only are the desires of the flesh guilty, but all humans are considered guilty by nature from birth because of Adam's sin. This explains the practice of infant baptism to take away the curse of sin. This belief and practice are totally foreign to Scripture. Not even Romans 5:12, the locus classicus of the doctrine of original sin, affirms at all that all human beings are born sinners. Besides, Paul adds that up to the time of Moses, humankind "had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression" (verse 14, KJV).
Scripture teaches that guilt is not transmissible by heredity. Only the one who sins is guilty. "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin" (Deut. 24:16; 2 Kings 14:6). The prophet Ezekiel repeats this same law in these terms: "The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him" (Eze. 18:20).
Each is therefore guilty for his own faults. Consequently, even if I am "sinful from the time my mother conceived me" and "sinful at birth," according to the words of the psalmist (Ps. 51:5), I am in no way guilty of the sins of my ancestors. Paul writes that before their birth, the children of Isaac and Rebekah had not yet "done anything good or bad" (Rom. 9:11). Certainly, they carried in themselves, by heredity, the consequences of Adam's sin, which would make them sinners inevitably, responsible for their own transgressions of the law of God, but they were not guilty, either by nature or by heredity. Thus it is for all who are "born of a woman, born under law" (Gal. 4:4), as was Jesus Himself.
On this point Ellen White writes, It is inevitable that children should suffer from the consequences of parental wrongdoing, but they are not punished for the parents' guilt, except as they participate in their sins. It is usually the case, however, that children walk in the steps of their parents. By inheritance and example the sons become partakers of their father's sin; Wrong tendencies, perverted appetites, and debased morals, as well as physical disease and degeneracy, are transmitted as a legacy from father to son, to the third and fourth generation".[10]
What the posterity of Adam and Eve has inherited is the tendency to sin and the consequences of sin: death. By their transgression the venom of the serpent was injected into human nature like a deadly virus. But in Christ God has provided a saving vaccine.
"In the Likeness of Sinful Flesh"
In the light of what we have just said concerning the nature of sin, it should be understood that it was possible for Jesus to live without sin, free from all corruption, in thought and in deed, "in the likeness of sinful flesh."
There has been much discussion on the meaning of the word "likeness" (homoiomati). Obviously, it emphasizes resemblance, similitude, identity, but not difference. In the three passages where the expression is used, it always indicates an identity of nature that has to do with the resemblance to the flesh (Rom. 8:3), with man (Phil.2:7), or with temptation (Heb. 2:17). In order to be in a position to help "Abraham's descendants ... he had to be made like his brothers in every way" (Heb. 2:16, 17).
However, it is important to understand that Paul did not say that Christ "resembled" carnal man. Nor that His flesh "resembled" that of sinful man, defiled by a life of sin, and slave of evil propensities. The apostle limited the resemblance to the flesh in which dwelt "the law of sin," and where "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16, KJV) held sway.
According to James 1:15, lust is only the father of sin, and not sin itself, just as sin is the father of death, and not death itself. These lusts are temptations to which all human beings are subject, and that Jesus Himself had to confront, since He was "tempted in every way, just as we are" (Heb. 4:15). But, unlike all others, Christ never allowed His evil tendencies although hereditary and potentially sinful, to become sins. He always knew "enough to reject the wrong and choose the right" (Isa. 7:15), from the day of His birth until His death on the cross.
Ellen White and the supporters of traditional Christology distinguish between "hereditary tendencies," and "cultivated tendencies to wrongdoing".[11] Now, if Jesus inherited evil tendencies, He never "cultivated" them. This is why she could write that Christ knew "by experience ... the strength of our temptations,"[12] as well as the strength of passion of humanity,"[13] but without ever yielding to their powers of attraction.
The best explanation concerning the difference between inherited and cultivated tendencies is found in Ellen White's letter to Baker. This explanation is all the more significant because this letter is the principal document on which the promoters of the new Christology rely to affirm that Christ took the sinless nature of Adam before the Fall. In truth, Ellen White contrasts the nature of Christ with the nature of Adam before the Fall.
"Do not set Him [Christ] before the people as a man with the propensities of sin. He is the second Adam. The first Adam was created a pure, sinless being, without a taint of sin upon him; he was in the image of God. He could fall, and he did fall through transgressing. Because of sin his posterity was born with inherent propensities of disobedience. But Jesus Christ was the only begotten Son of God. He took upon Himself human nature, and was tempted in all points as human nature. He could have sinned; He could have fallen, but not for one moment was there in Him an evil propensity".[14]
By equating "inherent propensities of disobedience," inherited by all of Adam's posterity, with "evil propensity," which Jesus did not have, the theologians of the new Christology, like those of the alternative Christology, have misinterpreted Ellen White's letter to Baker, in contradiction to her own writings elsewhere.
"In treating upon the humanity of Christ," she wrote to Baker, "You need to guard strenuously every assertion, lest your words be taken to mean more than they imply, and thus lose or dim the clear perceptions of His humanity as combined with divinity."[15] "I perceive," she adds, "that there is a danger in approaching subjects which dwell on the humanity of the Son of the infinite God."[16]
Hence these warnings: "Be careful, exceedingly careful as to how you dwell upon the human nature of Christ. Do not set Him before the people as a man with the propensities of sin."[17] "Never, in any way, leave the slightest impression upon human minds that a taint of, or inclination to, corruption rested upon Christ, or that He in any way yielded to corruption. ... Let every human being be warned from the ground of making Christ altogether human, such an one as ourselves; for it cannot be."[18]
However, if Ellen White insists, on the one hand, on the perfect sinlessness of Christ, she also states that His sinless nature was acquired "under the most trying circumstances,"[19] "that He might understand the force of all temptations wherewith man is beset".[20] But "on not one occasion was there a response to his [Satan's] manifold temptations. Not once did Christ step on Satan's ground, to give him any advantage. Satan found nothing in Him to encourage his advances." "'It is written' was His weapon of resistance, and it is the sword of the Spirit which every human being is to use."[21]
Certainly, we shall never understand perfectly how Christ could be "tempted in all points like as we are, and yet be without sin." Ellen White affirms, "The Incarnation of Christ has ever" been and will ever remain a mystery".[22] Paul even stated that "the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory" (1 Tim. 3:16).
Since the new Christology claims support from some Ellen White statements--particularly those in her letter to Baker--it is appropriate to show that this letter is in perfect agreement with the teaching of the early pioneers, and in harmony with the teaching of the apostles.
The Reasons for the Incarnation
Without doubt, the Incarnation of the Son of God will always hold a certain mystery to human understanding. However, the mystery concerns more the how of the Incarnation than the why. No Bible passage explains how "the Word became flesh," or how the divine and human natures were combined in the person of Christ. On the other hand, Jesus and the apostles expressed themselves clearly about the why of His coming. That is to say, the solution to the problem of the Incarnation should first be sought in the light of what God has revealed.
Throughout the centuries theologians have gone astray in their answers to the why of the Incarnation. Most frequently they have explained the sacrifice of Christ in relation to God rather than to man. The theories of penal substitution have made it seem that God needed Christ's suffering, or the blood of an innocent victim, to pardon sins. But God defines Himself as being, by nature, "the compassionate and gracious God, ... forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin" (Ex. 34:6, 7).
Isaiah 53 shows to what extent human understanding of the gift of God can be erroneous: "yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted," whereas "he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities" (Isa. 53:4, 5). Obviously, Jesus did not offer Himself in sacrifice to appease the wrath of an offended God. God did not avenge Himself on Jesus to satisfy His justice. All the texts that explain the reason for Jesus' coming affirm, to the contrary, that God sent His only Son for us. God is always presented as the Initiator of the plan of salvation and Jesus as the Mediator between God and men. "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for [hyper] us all" (Rom. 8:32). Jesus confirmed this through the symbols of the Lord's Supper: "This is my body given for [hyper] you ... This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for [hyper] you" (Luke 22:19,20).
Paul did his best to help us understand the reasons for the coming of Christ. But we must agree with Peter that in his Epistles are "some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort" (2 Peter 3:16). Paul's Christology indeed constitutes one of the major difficulties. However, no passage is more revealing than the one in which he shows on one hand the wretched situation of man "sold unto sin" (Rom. 7:14-24, KJV); on the other, the reasons for which God sent "his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Rom. 8:2-4, KJV).
To the question that Paul asks himself: "Who will rescue me from this body of death?" he replies: "Thanks be to God-- through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 7:24, 25). Then the apostle summarizes four specific reasons--to explain the why of God's saving action.
"To be a sin offering"
This reason is fundamental and justifies all others. For obviously, if there had been no sin in the beginning, the Incarnation of Christ would not have been necessary. But, because of sin, and because of His love for humanity, "God ... gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). The entire Bible is God's response to the problem of sin.
As soon as sin entered the world, as the result of Adam and Eve's disobedience to the laws of the Creator, God revealed His plan for salvation. Before revealing to our first parents the consequences of sin, He promised them a Saviour born from the seed of the woman. White the serpent would bruise His heel, He vowed to crush its head (Gen. 3:15).
Thus, through the centuries, the promise of a Saviour has been renewed. Through the angel Gabriel God announced to Daniel the prophet that the Messiah would come at a specified time to accomplish His work of redemption: "to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness" (Dan. 9:24). Ultimately, when Jesus presented Himself to John the Baptist on the shores of the Jordan River, John proclaimed him as the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
The mission of Christ once accomplished, Paul explains in similar terms the reason why God sent "His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh"; namely, to condemn "sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3, KJV).
2. To Condemn "sin in the flesh"
Evidently this condemnation of sin was not made "vicariously" or on the basis of a simple legal transaction on God's part. Because of sin it was necessary for the word to become flesh (John 1:14), that Christ be "made like unto his brethren" (Heb. 2:17, KJV), and that He be "tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15, KJV).
To condemn "sin in the flesh," Paul specifies that it is "in the body of his flesh" (Col. 1:22) that Christ triumphed over sin, struggling against sin to the point of shedding blood (Heb. 12:4). Through "His flesh" Christ "opened a new and living way" (Heb. 10:20), which led to our reconciliation with God. Peter declared that Christ "bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness" (1 Peter 2:24).
Moreover, to abolish death (2 Tim. 1:10), as well as all "the devil's work" (1 John 3:8), Christ had to participate in the "flesh and blood" of man, "so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is the devil" (Heb. 2:14). That was prerequisite for Christ to become "a high priest ... who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (Heb. 7:26), and to be in a position to "deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb. 2:15, KJV). That is the third reason given by Paul to justify the Incarnation of Christ.
3. To Free Human Beings "from the law of sin and death"
Having condemned sin in the flesh, Christ could now act to deliver man from the bondage of sin. "Because he himself suffered when he was tempted [yet without sin], he is able to help those who are being tempted" (Heb. 2:18; 4:15). To free man from sin constitutes, therefore, the primary objective of Christ's Incarnation.
To help us understand, the sacred writers used the language of a society that practiced slavery, and where it was necessary to pay a ransom to free a slave. Jesus Himself made use of these words to illustrate the reason for His mission. "Everyone who sins," He said, "is a slave to sin." But He adds for the benefit of His public: "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:34, 36). For "the Son of Man came ... to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45; Matt. 20:28).
Paul, likewise, uses these expressions. He writes to the Galatians: "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem [literally: "to buy up"] those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons" (Gal. 4:4, 5). In his letter to Timothy, he reminds that Jesus Christ "gave himself as a ransom for all men" (1 Tim. 2:6). Then in Titus he writes that Jesus "gave himself for us to redeem [literally: "to set free"] us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good" (Titus 2: 14). In short, Jesus not only appeared to take away our sins (1 John 3:5), but also to free us from them (Rev. 1:5; 1 John 1:7-9).
4. "That the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us"
This is the ultimate objective for which God sent His Son "in the likeness of sinful flesh." The conjunction "in order that" (ina), which introduces this last statement of Paul, marks the purpose of the action of Christ on our behalf. Note that it is not justification (dikaiosune) which is dealt with here but rather the righteous (dikaioma) requirements of the law.
In our situation as human beings, prisoners of the law of sin, we are incapable of obeying the commandments of God. Even when we desire to, we lack the power. Furthermore, by itself the law is powerless to free us from the power of sin. "If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" (Gal. 2:21). However, that does not mean that the law is abolished and that we no longer need observe it. On the contrary, Paul affirms that "keeping God's commands is what counts" (1 Cor. 7:19). Jesus was sent to enable us to live according to the will of God, expressed in His law, for which He has given us the example.
By His participation in the blood and flesh of humanity, and by reason of His victory over "sin in the flesh," Jesus became for us a vital principle, an empowerment for transformation, able to empower every sinner to "the obedience that comes from faith" (Rom. 1:5; 16:26). For if, through human solidarity, "just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners," Paul gives us the assurance also that "through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous" (Rom. 5:19).
In harmony with the promised new covenant, of which Christ is the Mediator, the law is no longer simply written on tables of stone. "After that time, says the Lord, I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds" (Heb. 10:16). In this way the righteousness of the law can be accomplished in us, so that thereafter we should no longer walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit, following Christ's example.
Victory Through "the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus"
In the same passage of the Epistle to the Romans Paul does not merely explain the why of Christ's mission. He also shows us the secret of His victory over sin, and how the impossible can become possible for those who are in Christ. Twice the apostle makes reference to the Spirit: first, to say that in Christ was "the Spirit of life"; then, to show how, through the Spirit of Christ, we are enabled to "walk as Jesus did" (1 John 2:6).
1. Christ, Justified in the Spirit"
One of the essential revelations of Christology resides in the fact that Christ Himself, during His manifestation in the flesh, had to be "justified in the Spirit" (2 Tim. 3:16). By reason of His victory over sin and death, Jesus "through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God" (Rom. 1:4). Although Jesus "was made of the seed of David according to the flesh" (Rom. 1:3, KJV), Matthew specifies that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18, 20). According to the psalmist, He was placed under the care of God from His birth (Ps. 22:10).
Then, at His baptism, Jesus "saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him" (Matt. 3:16). The Spirit also led him into the desert, "to be tempted by the devil" (Matt. 4:1). Because God gave Jesus "the Spirit without limit" (John 3:34), Paul wrote that "in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form" (Col. 2:9). In all actuality, "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto them" (2 Cor. 5:19, KJV).
The whole life of Jesus in this world, like all His work in behalf of man's salvation, carries the stamp of "the Spirit of life" that was in Him. "Anointed ... with the Holy Spirit and power ... , he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him" (Acts 10:38). Without the Spirit, Jesus would never have been able to achieve the works He accomplished. "The Son can do nothing by himself" (John 5:19, 30). Moreover, without the Spirit of God, He would not have been able to vanquish the power of sin in His own flesh. But by the Spirit He sanctified Himself (John 17:19), in order to become "such a high priest ... who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens" (Heb. 7:26).
To help us understand how God wants us to benefit from Christ's victory, Paul applies the typology of the two Adams. He presents Jesus as the new Adam, destined to replace Adam the transgressor. Whereas, "the first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam [Christ], a life-giving spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45); in other words, a spirit that creates life. Hence, according to the principle of human solidarity, by the disobedience of the first Adam "sin entered the world ... , and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men" (Rom. 5:12). But by His obedience the Second Adam brought "life for all men" (Rom. 5:18). "And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man," the apostle concludes, "so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven" (1 Cor. 15:49). There is one condition, however: the Spirit of life which was in Christ must likewise dwell in us. For "if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ" (Rom. 8:9).
2. Transformed by the "Spirit of Christ"
The same Spirit that allowed Jesus to win the victory over sin should likewise act in us with power to make of us children of God. Jesus was the first to explain this to Nicodemus: "No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ... You must be born again." Like the action of the wind, "so it is with everyone born of the Spirit" (John 3:5-8).
Jesus spoke to His disciples of "the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive." But John explains: "Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified" (John 7:39). That is why, after having announced His departure, Jesus reassured His disciples: "But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment" (John 16:7, 8). Even more, "when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13).
Immediately after his resurrection Jesus renewed the promise: "In a few days, will be baptized with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:5). Then He repeated: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). What Jesus had promised to the twelve, and fulfilled at Pentecost, He likewise promised to all who respond to the pleading of the Spirit. For "all authority in heaven and on earth" has been given to Him (Matt. 28:18). Christ is working to draw all human beings to Himself (John 12:32), both to make the truth clear to them and to enable them to live by the Spirit, as He Himself did.
Since Pentecost God bestows His Spirit on whoever asks Him for it (Luke 11:13). And for those who receive it, the Spirit dwells in them, and Christ through His Spirit. Just as Jesus conquered "sin in the flesh" by the Spirit, He likewise enables His children to conquer by the power of the Spirit. Indeed, (2 Peter 1:4) states that they may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."
By His ministry Jesus has therefore opened the way for the Spirit, and given birth to a new generation of human beings regenerated by the Spirit. And to all who are born of the Spirit, God gives not only the power "to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions" but also "to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:12, 13).
Ellen White summarized perfectly what Adventists believe regarding the role of the Spirit in the life of the believer. "It is the Spirit that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world's Redeemer. It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church".[23] "Christ died on Calvary that man might have the power to overcome his natural tendencies to sin."[24]
The life of professing Christians is therefore not limited to the forgiveness of sins, or that of "an easy religion that requires no striving, no self-denial, no divorce from the follies of the world".[25] on the contrary, the Spirit of life that is in Christ has actually freed the Christian from the slavery of sin so that he can live victoriously after the example of the Saviour. "The life that Christ lived in this world, men and women can live through His power and under His instruction. In their conflict with Satan they may have all the help that He had. They may be more than conquerors through Him who loved them and gave Himself for them."[26]
Conclusion
To conclude this chapter we will quote one last passage taken from an Ellen White manuscript on the subject of the humiliation of Christ. In it Ellen White explains Christ's human nature in a way that could not be clearer.
First she recalls the fundamental data of biblical Christology: "He [Christ] had not taken on Him even the nature of the angels, but humanity, perfectly identical with our own nature, except without the taint of sin."
Then, recognizing the difficulties of some in understanding a truth totally opposed to the creeds of the mainline churches, Ellen White continues: "But here we must not become in our ideas common and earthly, and in our perverted ideas we must not think that the liability of Christ to yield to Satan's temptations degraded His humanity and He possessed the same sinful, corrupt propensities as man.
"The divine nature, combined with the human, made Him capable of yielding to Satan's temptations. The test to Christ was far greater than that of Adam and Eve, for Christ took our nature, fallen but not corrupted, and would not be corrupted unless He received the words of Satan in the place of the words of God. To suppose He was not capable of yielding to temptation places Him where He cannot be a perfect example for man"[27].
The passage that follows clearly shows that if Jesus had lived a sinless life in a human nature different from ours and if He had not been "made like his brothers in every way" (Heb. 2:17), He would not be "able to help those who are being tempted" (Heb. 2:18). This is the same truth John outlines in the prologue of his Gospel, and that is at the heart of biblical Christology: "The Word"--which "was with God in the beginning"--"became flesh and made his dwelling among us," "full of grace and truth. ... From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another." "To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the power to become children of God" (John 1:2, 14, 16, 12)
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