In this chapter, we will examine the threefold aspect of salvation realized in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of our Lord. Only in this context—the full and complete salvation Christ accomplished for the sinful human race in His earthly mission—can we appreciate the true meaning of His humanity and the redemptive work He wrought out in our corporate, sinful human nature.
In Adam the foundation was laid for everything we experience in the realm of sin, the realm which culminates in eternal death. Likewise, in Christ the foundation was laid for all that God intends us to experience in the realm of redemption, the realm which culminates in eternal life (see 1 Corinthians 3:11). As the apostle Paul so clearly summed it up: "For since by man [singular] came death, by Man [singular] also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:21,22).
Christ came to reverse the damage brought about by the fall of Adam. Everything necessary for the restoration of fallen humanity has already been prepared in the holy history of Christ so that there is nothing the believer receives or experiences in this life or in the world to come that has not been accomplished in Christ. For this reason, our faith must be built on the foundation already laid, namely Christ Jesus and Him crucified.
As the result of Adam's sin, the human race has become a ruined species. The effects of Adam's sin are passed on from generation to generation, so that all mankind is hopelessly lost apart from God's redemptive act in Christ. Adam's sin has alienated us from God, and thus we are all born into a realm over which sin and death rule. This is how Ellen White describes it:
Through the medium of influence, taking advantage of the action of mind on mind, he [Satan] prevailed on Adam to sin. Thus at its very source human nature was corrupted. And ever since then sin has continued its hateful work, reaching from mind to mind. Every sin committed awakens the echoes of the original sin {Review and Herald, 16 April 1901).
In order to fulfill the plan of salvation, as planned by God from the foundation of the world, Christ assumed this sinful condemned humanity at the Incarnation in order to save fallen humanity.
To benefit fully from such a great salvation, we must first understand the effects of the Fall. Scripture tells us that Adam's sin affected mankind in three ways: (1) spiritually, (2) morally, and (3) physically. Let's briefly examine each of these as the basis of appreciating the fullness of Christ's redemptive work:
1. Spiritually. Unlike the animal kingdom, man was created a spiritual being. Modern studies in anthropology have demonstrated that even among the most primitive societies, human beings seek to worship some form of a god. It was God's original purpose to dwell in man, and to reveal His glory through him. "From eternal ages it was God's purpose that every created being, from the bright and holy seraph to man, should be a temple for the indwelling of the Creator." (The Desire of Ages, 161).
But when Adam turned his back on God, this purpose was brought to nought. The Holy Spirit immediately left him, and Adam's life was plunged into darkness. Thus was fulfilled the warning God gave our first parents: "If you do [eat of the tree of good and evil] you will die the same day" (Genesis 2:17, GNB). The immediate result of the Fall therefore was spiritual death. And this death was passed on to all men and women; all of us are born in this world spiritually dead (see Ephesians 2:1,5, GNB) and alienated from God (see Isaiah 59:2).
Ellen White goes on to say in the quotation given above: "Because of sin, humanity ceased to be a temple of God. Darkened and defiled by evil, the heart of man no longer revealed the glory of the Divine One" (ibid., 161).
2. Morally. In sinless Eden, God created Adam in His image. This meant that Adam's nature was controlled by selfless agape love. There was perfect harmony between God's holy law and Adam's moral nature, so that, for Adam, keeping the law was spontaneous and natural. Our first parents were not given the moral law in writing, for the simple reason that it was very much part of their nature. In other words, the law was written in every fiber of their being so that obeying it was spontaneous.
However, at the Fall, that sinless nature became sinful. Adam's nature was now dominated by the law of sin, the love of self. "Through disobedience," says Ellen White, "his powers were perverted, and selfishness took the place of love. His nature became so weakened through transgression that it was impossible for him, in his own strength, to resist the power of evil" {Steps to Christ, 17).
Before the Fall, Adam loved God supremely, and he loved Eve unconditionally. But when Eve sinned, she separated herself from God and entered Satan's camp. Once this happened the enemy of souls could use Eve as his agent to secure Adam's fall. When this happened, he got the whole world because God "made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth" (Acts 17:26). This was how the Fall affected all humanity.
Ève was deceived, but what made Adam deliberately sin? When Eve brought the forbidden fruit to Adam, the choice he had to make was not between himself and God, but between God and Eve, since she had now moved to Satan's side. Adam knew the fruit his wife brought to him was the forbidden fruit, for "Adam was not deceived" says Paul (1 Timothy 2:14). He knew that eating the forbidden fruit could not save Eve whom he loved dearly. And he also knew that eating the fruit would mean death to himself.
So what caused Adam to eat that forbidden fruit, knowing it could not save Eve and would bring eternal death to himself? Obviously Adam loved Eve more than himself and therefore chose to die with his beloved wife. His sin was not putting self first, but putting Eve first before God. When he said good-bye to God he naturally said good-bye to life, since God is the source of life.
The moment Adam sinned, not only did the Holy Spirit leave him, not only did he became spiritually dead, but his very nature made a U-turn toward self. No longer was it controlled by agape love "which seeketh not its own" (1 Corinthians 13:5, KJV). Hence, when God visited him that evening, after the Fall, and asked him why he had eaten from the forbidden fruit, Adam blamed God for giving him a defective wife! Ever since then, we, too, have followed Adam in blaming everybody else for our problems except self. Surely, as Ellen White says, "every sin we commit is an echo of the original sin" {Review and Herald, 16 April 1901). This is what Isaiah meant when he said, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). It is this bent to self-love that the Bible calls "iniquity." The literal meaning of the Hebrew word iniquity means "crooked" (see Psalm 51:5). It makes all our good works polluted with self and therefore condemned as "filthy rags" in God's eyes (Isaiah 64:6). In this sense, mankind's moral nature, since the Fall, is totally depraved.
Although the natural person is capable of doing a lot of good, all our good works, apart from what we do by grace, are motivated by self even though this self is often hidden from our consciousness. "The heart" says the prophet Jeremiah, "is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). That is why, without a clear understanding of the gospel and the truth of justification by faith, Christian living will always be motivated by either fear of punishment or desire for reward— which is no different from the motivations of any pagan religion.
3. Physically. As long as our first parents had access to the tree of life, their physical nature knew no degeneration. But after being expelled from the Garden of Eden, humanity became prone to sickness, fatigue, and aging, culminating in death. All men and women have become, "all their lifetime subject to bondage" to the fear of death (Hebrews 2:15). This is the wages of sin we inherited from Adam. "In Adam all die" (1 Corinthians 15:22).
Christ came to this world as Saviour to redeem us from each of these three consequences of the Fall. But in order to do this, "in all things" He had to be "made like unto His brethren" (Hebrews 2:17, KJV). With this in view, let us observe how fallen humanity was redeemed from this threefold effect of sin in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
1. Spiritually. At the Incarnation, the Holy Spirit mysteriously united Christ's divinity to our corporate humanity in the womb of Mary. This humanity, which Christ assumed through Mary, was in and of itself spiritually dead like that of all mankind. The Roman Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is an attempt to avoid this conclusion, but that doctrine is unbiblical and a heresy.
The moment our humanity was united to Christ's divinity, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, it became spiritually alive. As a result, Christ's humanity was spiritually alive from His very conception. And since His humanity is our corporate humanity, what is true of Christ also became true of us in Him. When Paul told the Ephesians that they were made spiritually alive together with Christ, while they themselves were still dead in trespasses and sin (see Ephesians 2:5), he used the aorist tense, a past historic tense, to indicate an objective truth realized in Christ at the Incarnation— not the Ephesians' subjective experience which took place at their conversion.
Thus, we must never equate Christ's humanity with that of unbelievers who are still spiritually dead. Although no distinction exists between the flesh—the sinful human nature—of the believer and the unbeliever, there are two major differences that do exist between believers and unbelievers:
1. A true believer has repented with all that the Greek word for repentance implies—a change of mind so that the will is in harmony with God and His law (see Romans 7:22, 25). Paul refers to this converted mind as the inner or new man (see Ephesians 3:16; 4:24). This is not true of the unbeliever whose mind is still unconverted and in harmony with the self-principle of the flesh (see Ephesians 2:3; Romans 8:7).
2. Unlike the unbeliever, the believer who has been baptized into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 12:13), has become spiritually alive through the new birth experience (see Romans 8:9-11). This experience is based on the objective truth that our humanity was first made spiritually alive in Christ when divinity was united to our corporate sinful humanity at the Incarnation.
Hence the new birth, the believer's first experience of salvation that comes at conversion through justification by faith, is the result of a reality already prepared for all men in Christ. It is this new birth, referred to as "regeneration" (Titus 3:5) that changes the believer's whole situation, so that he or she not only has peace with God through justification by faith, but is also standing under grace (see Romans 5:1,2). This means that now holy living and law-keeping are brought within the believer's reach. For grace also means that the power of God is available to those who are justified by faith so that they may fulfill God's purpose in their lives (see 1 Corinthians 15:9, 10; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
Fallen humanity is totally depraved so that, in and of ourselves, none of us can be subject to the law of God (see Romans 8:7). But all those who are made spiritually alive through justification by faith in Christ, and who have God's Spirit now dwelling in them, find victory over the sinful flesh and holy living a possibility (Romans 8:9, 10; Galatians 5:16, 22, 23). To such converted persons, Christ's holy life becomes their example and their goal in Christian living (see Philippians 3: 12-14; Romans 13:14; 2 Corinthians 3:17,18).
2. Morally. To be made spiritually alive does not mean that the moral nature has been changed in any way. Thus when Christ took upon Himself our humanity, even though that humanity was made spiritually alive, its nature was still bent toward self, still under the pressure of the law of sin. Christ's holy living, therefore, always involved the cross of self-denial (see Luke 9:23).
The incarnation did not cleanse humanity of its sinfulness; the cross did that (see Romans 8:3). Otherwise, the new birth would cleanse believers of their sinfulness. But we all must confess that although we Christians may have the mind of Christ, no change has taken place in our sinful natures; they remain sinful until death or the second coming of Christ. This sinful flesh, as we all know, is the believer's greatest hindrance to holy living.
The mind of Jesus was fully surrendered to God's will so that no propensity, or even an inclination, to sin rested there. But His flesh was dominated by the principle that affects all mankind—the principle of self. Consequently, to Him, holy living was not simply a matter of following the natural inclinations of His human nature, as was the case of sinless Adam. Holy living for Jesus in His humanity involved a constant battle against "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16). When He declared to His disciples, "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33), He included in that statement His victory over the sinful flesh, for the apostle John defines the world as the evil desires and self love that draw us away from God (see 1 John 2:15, 16; James 4:4).
Such an understanding of Christ's holy living gives a deeper, more complete meaning to His redemptive mission. The International Critical Commentary makes an interesting observation referring to Paul's statement that in the likeness of sinful flesh, Christ "condemned sin in the flesh: (Romans 8:3). It says, "But if we recognize that Paul believed it was fallen human nature which the Son of God assumed, we shall probably be inclined to see here also a reference to the unintermittent warfare of His whole earthly life by which He forced our rebellious nature to render a perfect obedience to God."
According to Peter, all the sufferings of Christ that resulted in His perfect character took place in His flesh (see 1 Peter 4:1). This could be possible only because His flesh was the likeness of our sinful flesh and was denied its sinful desires. As the writer of Hebrews states "Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him" (Hebrews 5:8, 9).
We must not limit this suffering to the agony He experienced on the cross. The same writer states: "For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted" (Hebrews 2:18). And when we turn to Hebrews 4:15, we discover Christ "was in all points tempted as we are." But because Christ never sinned, His flesh was deprived of its selfish desires and therefore suffered (see 1 Peter 4:1). This, too, is an essential part of the good news of the gospel that must fill us with deep heartfelt appreciation, and make us willing, in turn, to suffer in the flesh that He may be glorified (see Romans 8:16-18).
Having produced perfect obedience by completely and totally overcoming the flesh for thirty-three years, Christ then took this condemned flesh and surrendered it to the wages of sin on the cross. Thus He "condemned sin in the flesh" both by His active and by His passive obedience and forever became the author and finisher of salvation to all who believe. In this knowledge of full and complete salvation rests the hope of fallen mankind. And this hope is twofold: "Justification of life" (Romans 5:18), as well as "sanctification of the Spirit" (2 Thessalonians 2:13; cf. 1 Peter 1:2). Both become effective by faith alone.
3. Physically. When Christ assumed our sinful humanity, not only did He identify Himself with our moral weaknesses, but He also took our physical infirmities. Thus He became subject to fatigue, aging, and death. But having redeemed and cleansed our sinful humanity at the cross, Jesus rose from the dead with a glorified body, physically as well as morally. At His ascension, He took this redeemed body to heaven where it is reserved for us at the second coming. This is the "blessed hope" of all born-again believers (see Romans 8:23-25; Philippians 3:20,21).
In the light of this full and wonderful good news of the everlasting gospel, the humanity of Christ is indeed "everything to us" {Selected Messages, 1:244). This perfect, complete message of salvation in Christ, which was once preached by the apostles, must again be restored to our doomed world before the end comes (see Matthew 24:14). "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him" (Hebrews 2:3).
When the earth will be lightened with the glory of Christ as the three angels' messages are accompanied with power from the fourth angel (see Revelation 18:1), then, and only then, will the advent movement accomplish its divine mission. Only then can Christ come to take us home. "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!' And let him who hears say, 'Come!' And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17).
Key Points in Chapter Eighteen The Fall and Restoration of Man