|
Chapter 3 |
|
|
|
" Man... God's image and glory " (1 Corinthians 11 : 7) |
|
|
|
In what we have said so far we have concentrated on showing the mediatorial place that Christ occupies between God and man, and the relationship of Son in which He stands to God on the one hand, and to man on the other. From the consideration of what Scripture has said of Him it has emerged that He stands out in his own uniqueness, distinct from God on the one hand and from Adam's race on the other, though intimately connected with both. |
|
It is now proposed to consider more specifically what He is personally - " the second man " (1 Corinthians 15 : 47), " who is the image of God " (2 Corinthians 4 : 4). Of Him, the first man was but a figure (Romans 5 : 14). |
|
Scripture is clear that Christ was a man. John the Baptist said of Him, " A man comes after me who takes a place before me, because he was before me " (John 1 : 30). Paul said of Him " Through this man remission of sins is preached to you " (Acts 13 : 38). The truth is, He was a man both outwardly and inwardly. |
|
As to what He was outwardly Scripture is clear that when He was on earth He had the " likeness of men " (Philippians 2 : 7). He moved about on earth in a body prepared for Him (Hebrews 10 : 15). Note : not any body, but one prepared by God for Him. Psalm 139 : 14-18 is worthy of mention in this connection. However, his body was not a body of glory such as He has now (Philippians 3 : 21), but one like ours. It was a body of blood and flesh as it says in Hebrews: "Since therefore the children partake of blood and flesh, he also, in like manner, took part in the same, that through death he might annul him who has the might of death" (Hebrews 2 : 14). Clearly unless He had taken a body of blood and flesh He could not have died. There could have been no blood shedding and consequently no remission of sins (Hebrews 9 : 22). Scripture speaks of Christ's sojourn here as " the days of his flesh " (Hebrews 5 : 7), and as we know the condition in which He had been when alive on earth was given up when He died, so that Paul says, " If even we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know [him thus] no longer " (2 Corinthians 5 : 16). His blood was poured out (John 19 : 34), and although in resurrection He was seen having " flesh and bones " (Luke 24 : 39), He never had again a life sustained by blood. Now He has " indissoluble life " (Hebrews 7 : 16). However, the body Christ had when here was a real human body in every way. Christ had the normal mental and physical faculties of a man, so that it could be said of Him as a child that He grew both mentally (in wisdom) and physically (in stature) (Luke 2 : 52). His flesh was real flesh; He could be handled (Luke 24 : 39; 1 John 1 : 1). The denial of the reality of his flesh is a serious error, so that the apostle John says: " Every spirit which does not confess Jesus Christ come in flesh is not of God " (1 John 4 : 3). Need we say more? |
|
As to what Christ was inwardly we cannot of course know more than what Scripture tells us, and ought not to assume to be able to (1 Corinthians 4 : 6). However, Scripture does let us know a good deal as to Christ's inward feelings. They were those of a true man, though a sinless one. He knew joy (Luke 10 : 21), and also sorrow and depression (Matthew 26 : 37). He felt angry (Mark 3 : 5), and also troubled (John 12 : 27). However, unlike Adam's race, of whom it is said, " For there is no difference, for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God " (Romans 3 : 22/23), He was impervious to the temptations of the Devil (Luke 4 : 13). Christ was in this respect different from all men. However, He was not only different in this negative way (i.e. without sin), but was positively "full of grace and truth " (John 1 : 14). He was the first of a completely new order of manhood. As Paul says, He is "the last Adam" in contrast to "the first man Adam" (1 Corinthians 15 : 45), and "the second man" in contrast to "the first man" (1 Corinthians 15 : 47). What this shows is that Christ, as to all that He is essentially, is, though still man, a different sort of man. As Christ's disciples said: " What sort [of man] is this " (Matthew 8 : 27). It is not just that Christ was different, but that He was also far greater in every way. The first Adam was but an image of Him (Romans 5 : 14). He was only " a living soul ", but Christ was "a quickening spirit" (1 Corinthians 15 : 45). "The first man" was " out of the earth, made of dust ", but Christ was "out of heaven" (1 Corinthians 15 : 47). In no way therefore can men of Adam's order be put on a level with Christ, He stands out as to the greatness of his person, a man apart. |
|
The distinction we have made between what Christ was outwardly and what He was inwardly is not in any way arbitrary. With each one of us there is an outward man and an inward man as Paul recognises (2 Corinthians 4 : 16). |
|
Again, as with us (1 Thessalonians 5 : 23) Christ had a soul and a spirit (For the distinction between soul and spirit see Appendix XII) as well as a body. Scripture speaks of his soul: " My soul is full of grief " (Mark 14 : 34), and of his spirit: " Jesus rejoiced in spirit " (Luke 10 : 21). When Christ died his spirit was separated from his body, "He delivered up his spirit" (John 19 : 30), but his body was buried (John 19 : 38-42). |
|
Christ's link with Adam's race was through his body. In this connection Scripture stresses what He was as a vessel rather than as a person. The word to Joseph was, " That which is begotten in her (Mary) is of the Holy Spirit " (Matthew 1 : 20) (That rather than He), and the word to Mary was, " The holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God (Luke 1 : 35) (Thing rather than child). Note: the vessel was holy, being begotten in Mary of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, Christ came "of woman" (Galatians 4 : 4) as we all do, and in this He had a real link with Adam's race. (Christ's genealogy through the woman is traced back to God in Luke 3 : 23-38. So in that way He is ultimately linked to God) |
|
Christ's link with God immediately was through his spirit. Hence Christ said: "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23 : 46). This is of course true of all of us. God is the God of the spirits of all flesh (Numbers 16 : 22), and it is the spirit that returns unto God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12 : 7). |
|
It is clear that Christ must have his link with God through his spirit, for God is a spirit (John 4 : 24); He has no body. Hence God speaks of his spirit (Genesis 6 : 3), and of his soul (Isaiah 1 : 14), but never of his body. He is not a being made of flesh: " Hast thou eyes of flesh? " (Job 10 : 4). On the other hand we are flesh: " He (man) is flesh " (Genesis 6 : 3). NEXT |