Who Do Men Say That I Am?

The Humanity & Divinity Of Christ

  Egually sincere Adventists disagree passionately concerning the nature of Christ. The following is a brief explanation of my present understanding on the subject.

 

          Let’s begin our study by discovering what the Scriptures say concerning  Jesus .Is  Jesus God?          “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1 and verse 14“And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father.) full of grace and truth.”

          Even the devil knows Jesus is God, as in Matt 4:3 he came and tried to tempt Jesus to turn stones into bread. If he didn’t believe that Jesus was God,  that would have been a ridiculous temptation.    

          In John 10:17&18 Jesus declares ”I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again.”

And John 5:21 adds, “ For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will”.     

In Luke 5: 20& 21 He showed that He has power to forgive sins, even though the Jewish leaders charged him with blasphemy

“And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, “Man, thy sins, are forgiven thee.” And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? There’s no person who would claim such things, as we are not God.

Lastly the Father himself declares the Son Divine,

But unto the Son he saith, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” Hebrews 1:8,9. 

So Jesus is God, and continues to be God when He became man.

With the previous thoughts concerning the divinity of Christ let us proceed to explore the humanity of Christ by asking the questions. What do we mean when we say that Jesus became a man?  And What Type of humanity did Jesus assume? And was Jesus exactly like you and I in His Humanity?

Ellen White reminds us that in studying the human nature of Christ we are standing on holy ground.

“The humanity of the Son of God is everything to us. It is the golden chain that binds our souls to Christ, and through Christ to God. This is to be our study. Christ was a real man; He gave proof of His humility in becoming a man. Yet He was God in the flesh. When we approach this subject, we would do well to heed the words spoken by Christ to Moses at the burning bush, “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” Selected Messages, bk 1, pp. 243-244

   Ellen White makes some comments that give us some insight into the previous questions.

“From all eternity Christ was united with the Father, and when he took upon Himself human nature, He was still one with God. He is the link that united God with humanity.” Selected Messages, bk.1, p.228.

When Jesus came to this earth she states;

“He took upon His sinless nature our sinful nature.” Medical Ministry, p.181.

 Now what does Ellen White mean by that statement.?

 Before I present what I believe Ellen White meant when she made this statement. I wish to relate that there is a incorrect view regarding the human nature of Jesus, that in some Adventist circles  has contributed to disunity in the Church.

This incorrect view originated with some of the contemporaries of Ellen White, (Waggoner, Jones, and Prescott) and today is being promoted by some well known independent ministries..

Briefly this incorrect view states. Christ’s humanity was just like every other child of Adam—including having  a tendency to sin.

Jones at the1895 General conference  stated.

“Christ’s nature is precisely our nature.” In His human  nature there is not a particle of difference between him and you.” Christ did not come like the first Adam,”but as the first Adam had caused his descendants to be at the time at which he came”(1895GCB 231, 233, 436).

There is Jones claimed, “not a single tendency to sin in you and me that was not in Adam when he stepped out of the garden.” Christ took our flesh in the Incarnation, with “just the same tendencies to sin that are in you and me.. All the tendencies to sin that are in you and me… All the tendencies to sin that are in human flesh were in his human flesh.” Yet not one of them was allowed to appear, he conquered them all” (ibid 266,267)

Thus Jesus according to Jones was born exactly like you and
I, that is, with sinful tendencies. On the other hand , He lived a life without sin. Showing the universe that individuals can overcome sin in the  human flesh.

In Short Jones states’ “Each can have “perfection of character..in human flesh in this world” Consecrated Way p84 through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit ”that type of living Jones declared in 1897 , would make a demonstration to the universe. There lives would proclaim “Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” 1897 GCB 279

In Romans 8:3 the apostle Paul states that Jesus came to  earth in the likeness of sinful flesh,----that is a form similar, not identical. In other words he had a body like ours, but He did not have sinful propensities.  

Adam  in the Garden of Eden was created in the image or likeness of God—a form somehow similar to God’s but not identical. It would be blasphemy to say that our likeness to God means that we are  exactly like  God. Similarly it would be a mistake to suggest  that Christ’s likeness to sinful flesh means that Christ was exactly like us, in His human nature , including having tendencies to sin that are in human flesh.Christ’s nature was pure and Holy, and undefiled, while ours needed salvation

“We should have no misgivings  in regard to  the perfect sinlessness of the human nature of Christ.” (Selected Messages, book 1,p.256).

What did Ellen White  mean by her statement:

“He took upon His sinless nature our sinful nature.?

Firstly Christ assumed humanity at a time in history when the physical and mental capacity  of mankind showed great deterioration.

As a man , as a human being, Jesus exhibited certain physical traits that humans are known for . He got tired John 4:6. He went to sleep in the bottom of the boat. Mark 11:12.  He experienced hunger. He experienced thirst.  We remember the experience on the cross where He stated “I thirst”.

Jesus became a man after the human race had been degenerating for 4,000 years. The race had deteriorated both physically and mentally.

Jesus got tired when Adam wouldn’t have. Jesus wasn’t Inherently as smart as Adam. Mrs. White comments.

 “In taking upon Himself man’s nature in it’s fallen condition, Christ…was subject to the infirmities and weaknesses by which man is encompassed.” EGW, SDA Bible Commentary, vol 5, p1131.

          Secondly: He took human nature but not like passions, propensities or tendencies to sin .And neither was Jesus like us in every point.

          In John 8”14 Jesus asked the question, “Which one of you convicts me of sin? And there was no one. And before His birth, Luke 1:35, the angel said, ”That Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” Jesus from birth was sinless. He never was a sinner or had an inborn tendency to sin. The rest of us however are “brought forth in iniquity,”by nature are children  of wrath” (Psalms 51:5; Ephesians 2:3).

          Mrs. White  opposed the theology that Jesus was just like every  other child of Adam without a particle of difference, between us and Jesus in our human natures. She writes of Jesus as  a child;

His inclination to right was a constant gratification to his parents… He was an example of what all children may strive to be… No one, looking upon the childlike countenance, shining with animation, could say that Christ was just like other children. (YI, Sept. 8, 1898, 704, 705).

She indicated that children do not have an “in born.inclination to do service for God” and that they have a bent to evil (CT20; ED29.) Yet as noted previously Jesus had an ‘inclination to do right.  Thus He did not have those sinful tendencies that form the heritage of every other child of Adam.    

          Ellen White notes. “Christ is a brother in our infirmities, but not in like passions.2T 202).

           “He was to take His position at the head of humanity by taking the nature but not the sinfulness of man.” Signs of the Times. May 29, 1901.

          “In identifying Himself with our needs, our weaknesses and our feelings, He was a mighty petitioner, not possessing the passions of our human, fallen natures. Testimonies, vol. 2. p.202.

          “He is a brother in our infirmities, but not in possessing like passions. As the sinless One, His nature recoiled from evil.” Testimonies, Vol 2, p202

          “He took upon Himself human nature, and was tempted in all points as human nature is tempted. He could have sinned; He could have fallen, but not for one moment was there in him an evil propensity.” EGW SDA Commentary, Vol 5, p. 1128.

          “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. 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 was the only begotten Son of God. He took upon Himself human nature, and was tempted in all points as human nature is tempted. He could have sinned; He could have fallen, but not for one moment was there in Him an evil propensity. He was assailed with temptations in the wilderness, as Adam was assailed with temptations in Eden.”The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 5., p.1131 Adam was assailed with temptations in his sinless nature.

His birth was a miracle of God…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 The SDA Bible Commentary, vol 5, pp.1128, 1129
          “He was tempted in all points like as a man is tempted, yet He is called that holy thing.” It is a mystery that is left unexplained to mortals, that Christ could be tempted in all points like as we are, and yet be without sin. The incarnation of Christ has ever been, and will ever remain a mystery. That which is revealed, is for us and for our children, but let every human be warned from the ground of making Christ altogether human such as one as ourselves; for it cannot be.” SDA Commentary, vol.5,pp.1128,1129.

          It is obvious from the previous quotes that Ellen White had a multifaceted understanding of Christ’s human nature. On the one hand she states that Christ had a sinful nature, on the other she repeatedly emphasized that he was different from others in the sense that He didn’t have propensities or tendencies to evil.

          Pastor George Knight suggests, “the best avenue to understanding Mrs. Whites meaning of propensities and infirmities is by seeing how one of the authors she used to prepare some of the material on the Incarnation employed the terms. Henry Melville was one of Ellen Whites favorite authors.In His sermon “The Humiliation of the Man Christ Jesus”

          According to Melville , the Fall had two basic consequences: (1) ‘innocent infirmities “ (2) “sinful propensities   By innocent infirmities Melville means such things as hunger, pain, weakness, sorrow, and death. These are consequences of living in a sinful world. Sin introduced pain, but pain itself is not sin.  By sinful propensities Melville refers to a proness or “tendency’ to sin.  Melville argues that before the Fall Adam had neither ‘innocent infirmities’ nor sinful propensities.’ We however are born with both. Christ  took the first the innocent infirmities but not the second. Propensities to sin.  

          So when Ellen White states that Jesus took sinful nature she is referring  to Christ’s willingness to subject himself to the infirmities and weaknesses by which man is encompassed . The realities of living in a sinful world where Satan still reigns.

          This seems to be her position when she states.

          Christ “is a brother in our infirmities (Melvilles ‘innocent infirmities) but not in possessing like passions. (Melvilles ‘sinful propensities)

          Ellen White believed with Jones, Waggoner, and Prescott that Christ is our Pattern in Holy Living. But she parts company with them when she added that “we can never equal the pattern; but we may imitate and resemble it according to our ability” (RH, Feb, 1895, 81;)