We have already demonstrated that Christ's divinity had to be united to our corporate fallen humanity that needed redeeming in order for Him to legally qualify to be mankind's substitute and representative. At the incarnation these two distinct, opposite natures were united together in one person, and Christ became the second Adam. This is the in Christ motif which is the central theme of Paul's theology (see 1 Corinthians 1:30, 31; Ephesians 1:3-6).
According to W. W. Prescott, one of the pioneer theologians of the Adventist Church, this truth constitutes the very heart of the Christian message—and it is a truth that Ellen White endorsed. Note what he said, in one of the six sermons on the topic of the "Divine-Human Family" he presented at the 1895 General Conference session:
Now what does it mean to us that Jesus Christ became the second head of this human family? It means this: Just as, when Adam was created, all the members of the human family were created in him, so also when the second man was created "according to God in righteousness and true holiness," all the members of that family were created in him.
It means that, as God saw in Adam all the members of the human family, so he saw in Christ, the second father of the family, all the members of the divine-human family; so he saw in him all his sons, all his daughters, all his descendants; all that belong to the family.
That is to say that Jesus Christ was the representative of humanity, and all humanity centered in him, and when he took flesh, he took humanity. He took humanity and he became the father of this divine-human family, and he became the father by joining himself in this way to humanity, and the flesh which he took and in which he dwelt was our flesh, and we were there in him, he in us, just as what Abraham did, Levi did in Abraham, so what Jesus Christ in the flesh did, we did in him.
And this is the most glorious truth in Christianity. It is Christianity itself, it is the very core and life and heart of Christianity. He took our flesh, and our humanity was found in him, and what he did, humanity did in him (The Divine-Human Family, 1895 General Conference Bulletin, 8, 9).
Because Christ was both God and Man, He was not only unique (the meaning of "begotten") but also a paradox. What He was as God contradicted what He assumed as man. This is the great mystery of the Incarnation, a mystery which our finite human minds cannot fathom, but which we accept by faith because the Word of God declares it so.
One of the great errors that the early leaders of the Christian church made was to try to reconcile Christ's divinity with His humanity. Many of them could not accept the fact that a holy God could dwell in sinful flesh, or the fact that one person could be both fully God and fully man at the same time. Thus began the great Christological controversies that lasted almost four centuries. In this battle over the twofold nature of Christ, some denied His real divinity, while others his real humanity.
Another error made by many of the church Fathers, including the great Reformers of the sixteenth century, was their failure to keep Christ's divine nature distinct from the human nature He assumed at the Incarnation. Thanks to the insights God gave Ellen White, the Adventist Church has correctly taken the position that the two natures of Christ, His divine nature and His human nature, were distinct yet united in one person. "In Christ, divinity and humanity were combined. Divinity was not degraded to humanity; divinity held its place, but humanity by being united to divinity withstood the fiercest test of temptation in the wilderness" {Selected Messages, 1:408).
It is extremely important that we keep the two natures of Christ distinct if we are to truly comprehend what kind of human nature He assumed, and also if we are to appreciate the paradox that existed between His two natures. When we do keep the two natures distinct, many of the problems created by the post-Fall view of Christ's humanity disappear. Much of the difficulty the church Fathers had in the Christological controversies over Christ's human nature would have been eliminated if they had kept the two natures of Christ distinct.
One of Ellen White's favorite ways of expressing the dual natures of Christ was to point out how He reaches to heaven by His divine nature, while by His human nature, He reaches down to the human race He came to redeem. Here are two typical statements:
In assuming humanity Christ took the part of every human being. He was the Head of humanity. A Being divine and human, with His long human arm He could encircle humanity, while with His divine arm He could lay hold of the throne of the Infinite {Selected Messages, 1:252).
But it is only through a correct understanding of Christ's mission and work that the possibility of being complete in him, accepted in the Beloved, is brought within our reach. His long human arm embraces the human family; his divine arm grasps the throne of the infinite, that man may have the benefit of the infinite sacrifice made in his behalf. And to as many as receive him, he gives the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name (Review and Herald, 18 July 1899).
The truths she expresses in these statements require us to believe and teach that there was no gap between our human nature which needs redeeming and the human nature Christ assumed in order for Him to be the Saviour of the world. Apart from the fact that Jesus never actually sinned, any distinction we make between the human nature He assumed and our sinful nature, that separates us from God, destroys the ladder that links the fallen human race to God's throne.
That is why I must emphasize the paradox between Christ as the Son of God and Christ as the Son of Man. That is the only way we can understand how Christ could fully identify with the fallen human race He came to save and yet be sinless. As God, He was sinless and one with the Father; as Man, He was made sin and became one with us in every way, assuming our sinful nature. And because He chose not to participate in sin, even by a thought, but condemned our sin in His flesh on the cross, this Elder Brother of ours can not only sympathize with us and aid us with our struggles against the flesh, but above all, He can represent us and intercede on our behalf before the throne of God.
In examining Scripture, especially the New Testament, we will discover many paradoxes between Christ's divine nature, which was His by native right, and His human nature, which was our corporate sinful nature that He assumed at the Incarnation in order to be the Saviour of the world. Let's look at some of these paradoxes.
As God, Christ is called the "Son of God" (Luke 1:35); as Man, He is referred to as the "Son of Man" (Luke 19:10) by the same Bible writer. These Hebrew expressions "Son of God" and "Son of Man" simply mean Christ was both God and man at the same time. Likewise the apostle Paul tells us that it was not robbery for Christ to equate Himself with the Father (see Philippians 2:6). Yet, in the very next verse, he tells us that in order to save the fallen race, Christ emptied Himself of all His divine prerogatives and was made in the likeness of man, totally subject to God (see verse 7). He was equal with God the Father as the Son of God, and at the same time He became subservient to Him as the Son of man.
As God, Christ was self-existing; He had life in Himself (see John 1:4). This was something some of the pioneers of our church had difficulty understanding. But Ellen White solved the problem when she declared by inspiration: "In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived" (The Desire of Ages, 530). Yet as man, He had a beginning; He "was born of a woman" (Galatians 4:4); His human life was mortal, subject to death (see Hebrews 2:14, 15). It was this human life—our corporate condemned life—that died forever on the cross as the wages of sin. In exchange, God gave us the eternal life of His Son (see 1 John 5:11,12). This is the great exchange that took place in the death and resurrection of our Saviour and which we experience by faith in Him (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). All this was possible because Christ, the God-Man, was a paradox.
Again, as God, Christ was Spirit (John 4:24), but in becoming a man He "became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory ... full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). Here, again, is a paradox—two opposite natures united in one Person. Because of this union, Christ has limited Himself so that He cannot be in two places at the same time. He accepted this limitation in order to be our Redeemer. Out of infinite love He not only united Himself to the fallen race while He was on this earth, but He will be one with the redeemed human race throughout eternity.
As God, Christ was equal with the Father, but by becoming one with us He not only gave up His divine prerogatives, but became a "slave" of God, totally dependent on the Father (see Philippians 2:6, 7; John 5:19, 30). It is hard for us sinful human beings to understand such condescension, but God's ways are not like ours (see Isaiah 55:8, 9). Unlike us, He is pure, unselfish agape love (see 1 John 4:8, 16). This love not only led Him to give up His equality with the Father, but it caused Him to be clothed with the same nature we untouchable lepers are born with—this filthy humanity He came to redeem. Such a paradox we can never fully understand.
Thus, Christ, who was by native right self-dependent (see John 10:18), became totally God-dependent (see John 5:19, 30). He who was immortal (see 1 Timothy 1:17), became mortal (see Hebrews 2:14,15). He who was a lawgiver (see James 4:12), was made under the law (see Galatians 4:4). These are the great paradoxes of our God-Man Saviour. But the greatest and most glorious paradox is that the sinless Son of God was willing to be made sin for us so that we who are sinners may be made the righteousness of God in Him (see 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Unfortunately, some limit this glorious truth only to what happened to Christ on the cross. Thus they limit, as well, God's glory, His true self-sacrificing love, only to what took place at the cross. On the contrary, however, Christ manifested the self-emptying love of God from the moment He united Himself to our filthy flesh. Yes, the cross was the supreme manifestation of this love, but don't limit His glory only to the experience of the cross He hung on. After all, He was on the cross only for about six hours! But He manifested the self-emptying love of God from birth to death and carried the cross of self-denial all His earthly life. Otherwise, His admonition to His disciples, to follow Him and carry the cross daily by denying self, becomes meaningless (see Luke 9:23).
We must ever keep in mind why Christ was willing to become one with us in spite of the fact that He was one with the Father and enjoyed all the privileges of the Deity. The reason lies in God's great love. God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son that all who receive Him as our God-Man Saviour may not perish but live and reign in eternity with Him (see John 3:16). That is why God has exalted the name of Christ above every other name (see Philippians 2:9-11).
When Jesus died on the cross, our condemned corporate life forever came to an end. The race of Adam, which stood under the curse of the law, was executed in that one Man, Jesus Christ (see John 12:31; Galatians 3:13). But God did not leave us to remain in the grave in Christ. The good news is that by giving us His eternal life, the life He had submitted to His Father at the Incarnation and the cross, we were raised up with Christ. And when He ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God, so did we in Him (see Ephesians 2:6).
Thus by His death and resurrection, Christ abolished death—the second death—and replaced it with immortality (see 2 Timothy 1:8-10; Revelation 20:6). All that we are, as a result of the Fall, Christ was made at the Incarnation, and the result is that through His life, death, and resurrection, we are made, in Him, all that He is. This is what makes up the incredible, fantastic good news of the gospel. I believe this is the good news God raised up the Adventist Church to lighten the world with before the end comes.
Thus, we who were spiritually dead were made spiritually alive in Christ (see Ephesians 2:5). This renewal of the Spirit makes it possible for all who receive Christ to experience the new birth and become once again the temple of God (see 1 Corinthians 3:16). But this new birth is only "the firstfruits" of the blessed hope we have in Christ (Romans 8:23). Only when Christ comes to take us believers to heaven will we fully realize the exceeding riches of His grace towards us sinners (see Ephesians 2:7).
Note how Peter expressed this wonderful hope that comes to all believers because Christ was willing to fully identify with our corporate humanity that needed redeeming:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials (1 Peter 1:3-6).
When Jesus did away with our sinful life on His cross and replaced it with His eternal and righteous life in the resurrection, He created a new humanity out of the old. This is what Paul meant when he declared to the believers at Corinth: "If anyone is in Christ [that is, accept by faith their new history in Christ], he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
By birth we are born sinners, children of wrath (see Ephesians 2:3), but in Christ we were made righteous (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). By nature we are indwelt by sin; our bodies are bodies of sin (see Romans 7:17,20,24). But in Christ we were made holy and blameless (see Ephesians 1:4). In and of ourselves, we stand under sin and condemned to death (see Romans 3:9, 19), but in Christ we were justified to life (see Romans 5:18). By nature we are the sons and daughters of men, but in Christ we were made the sons and daughters of God (see 1 John 3:1).
Left to our own, we are hellhound, cursed by the law of God (see Galatians 3:10). But in Christ we are citizens of God's kingdom, sitting in heavenly places (see Philippians 3:20, 21; Ephesians 2:6). Because of the Fall, we are born with a mortal life that is doomed to death, but in Christ we have eternal life and will live forever (see 2 Timothy 1:8-10; 1 John 5:11, 12). Of ourselves, we are spiritually bankrupt, but in Christ we have been made spiritually rich (see 2 Corinthians 8:9). When we were created in Adam, we were created a little lower than the angels (see Psalm 8:5), but by putting us in Christ and rewriting our history, God has made us joint heirs with Christ, the King of kings (see Romans 8:16, 17; Hebrews 2:6-12).
This complete reversal of our history and status was made possible because Christ, the Son of God, was willing to become the Son of Man. Everything that we are by nature He was made through the incarnation, when His sinless divinity was united to our sinful humanity. Thus He took this ruined humanity of ours, fit only for the lake of fire, and refashioned us so that we may be elevated to the status of sons and daughters of God. This is what Christ, our High Priest, will say to Satan, the accuser of the brethren, in the investigative judgment of the saints: "The Lord rebuke you, Satan!... Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?" (Zechariah 3:2).
The only way this was possible was for Christ to take us unto Himself and remake us into what He originally meant us to be—and much more. That is why His humanity is "everything to us" (Ellen White, Selected Messages, 1:244). Surely, every believer who realizes this truth will join Paul in exclaiming, "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift" (2 Corinthians 9:15, KJV).
Key Points in Chapter Seventeen Jesus Christ, the God-Man Saviour