The Old-New Gospel

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Dec 5, 1907

The Old-New Gospel

The Son of Man

In the previous articles upon this general subject we have found that the gospel is “the gospel of God . . . concerning his Son;” that the Son is, by virtue of his eternal sonship, the Head of the original creation in whom all things were created, and the Head of the new creation in whom we are created unto good works; and that redemption is simply the realization, in spite of the entrance of sin, of the eternal purpose of God in Christ Jesus his Son that the earth should be peopled by beings made in the image of God—those who should reveal his righteousness by lives in harmony with his perfect will. This leads us to the consideration of that great central truth of Christianity—the union of divinity and humanity in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of man.

In view of the recent trend of religious thought and discussion upon this subject, we need first of all to emphasize the Scriptural doctrine that Christ the Son is God. There are those who concede that Christ is divine, giving their own loose definition to that term, granting him simply a larger measure of divinity than they claim for every man, but denying that he is God. We affirm both the divinity and the deity of Christ. We rest our belief upon such plain statements in the Scriptures as these: “In the beginning was the Word, and the

Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1. Compare Rev. 19:11-13. “Of the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.” Heb. 1:8. (The fact that the definite article is used in the original with the word for “God” adds much force to this passage.) “Who are Israelites; . . . whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever.” Rom. 9:4, 5. With those who accept the Bible as authority this testimony is sufficient. The Father is God, and the Son is God. The deity of the Son is plainly asserted in the Scriptures, and it is an essential truth in the gospel of our salvation. We do not become gods by believing on him, but we “may become partakers of the divine nature.”

A great mystery is revealed in the Scriptures. It is variously called “the mystery of the kingdom of God” (Mark 4:11), “the mystery of Christ” (Eph. 3:4), “the mystery of the gospel” (Eph. 6:19), and “the mystery of God.” Rev. 10:7. All these expressions deal with the one vital truth, the mystery of the union of the divine and the human in him who is both the Son of God and the Son of man. This mystery constitutes the essential difference between a false religion which is a mere system of morality, such as Confucianism, and the gospel of Christ, which is “the power of God unto salvation.” A form of godliness without the power which is the experience of “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” is simply heathenism in another form. Therefore it is that the gospel is “the gospel of God . . . concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead; even Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 1:1-4. To deny the deity of Christ the Son of God is to nullify the difference between Christianity and a merely human philosophy, and to reduce the gospel of divine power to a series of powerless precepts. This is without doubt the explanation of the culmination of the philosophy of evolution as applied to the Bible in the denial of the virgin birth of Christ. It is a direct blow aimed at the most vital truth of our religion, a rejection of “the mystery of the gospel.”

We have a plain and simple explanation of “the mystery of godliness” in this scripture: “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; he who was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, received up in glory.” 1 Tim. 3:16. This is the fundamental doctrine of God manifest in the flesh which is taught in many other places.

Let us read some of them: “And she [Mary] shall bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for it is he that shall save his people from their sins. Now all this is come to pass, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel; which is, being interpreted, God with us.” Matt. 1:21-23. “And the angel answered and said unto her [Mary], The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the holy thing which is begotten shall be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:35. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.” John 1:1-14. “Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; . . . for verily not to angels doth he give help, but he giveth help to the seed of Abraham. Wherefore it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren.” Heb. 2:14-17. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” Rom. 8:3. “Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.” Phil. 2:5-8. Thus was fulfilled the original gospel prophecy which declared that it would be the seed of the woman who should bruise the head of the serpent. “By his humanity Christ touched humanity; by his divinity he lays hold upon the throne of God. As the Son of man he gave us an example of obedience; as the Son of God he gives us power to obey. . . . ‘God with us’ is the surety of our deliverance from sin, the assurance of our power to obey the law of heaven. . . . It was Satan’s purpose to bring about an eternal separation between God and man; but in Christ we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen. In taking our nature the Saviour has bound himself to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken. Through eternal ages he is linked with us. . . . God has adopted human nature in the person of his Son, and has carried the same into the highest heaven. It is the ‘Son of man’ who

shares the throne of the universe. . . . In Christ the family of earth and the family of heaven are bound together. Christ glorified is our brother. Heaven is enshrined in humanity, and humanity is enfolded in the bosom of Infinite Love.”—“Desire of Ages,” Trade Edition, pages 25-27.

The earthly name of the Son of God was “Jesus,” which signifies Jehovah as salvation, or revealed for salvation, and which tells of the purpose of the manifestation of God in the flesh. “He shall save his people from their sins.” The official name of the Son of God was “Christ,” which means the same as the Hebrew word “Messiah,” and which designates him as the Anointed of God. The prophetic name of the Son of God was “the Son of man,” a name familiar to the people of God from its use in the prophecy of Daniel, who declared that “there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom.” It was through his incarnation by which the Son of God became the Son of man, that the Son of man, God manifest in the flesh, was enabled to deliver humanity from the bondage of sin and win back the dominion for man. This was the foundation upon which the true church is built, and the assurance of its everlasting continuance.

Note this in the following quotation: “Now when Jesus came into the parts of Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of man is? And they said, Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But who say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah [son of Jonah]: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter [Greek, Petros], and upon this rock [Greek, petra] I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Matt. 16:13-18. The fact that the Son of man was also the Son of God enabled him to conquer death and the grave (Hades); and eternal life for the individual, and the eternal continuance of the church, rest upon, and are the consequence of, this same mysterious union of the divine and the human.

When he became flesh, “Christ brought human nature into a personal relation with his own divinity. Thus he has given a center for the faith of the universe to fasten upon.” To believe on Christ means more than to acknowledge the historic Christ. It means to accept him as the Son of God and the Son of man, the “one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus.” It means such a vital union

with him that we become temples of the living God through the indwelling Spirit, “sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus,” so that because he lives, and as long as he lives, clothed with humanity, we shall live also. “As many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name.”

The teaching of the scriptures considered in this article, and many others of similar import, ought to emphasize in our minds the necessity of contending earnestly for “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” That philosophy which presents to us “the immanent God,” shutting out Christ the Son of God and the Son of man from his place as the mediator, or which denies the deity of Christ, and makes him a man, who is not God, is simply a variation of the mystery of iniquity, which puts forward as God a man in whom there is no union of divinity and humanity, but who is “the man of sin,” the semi-incarnation of Satan. Beware of all such false teaching, under whatever form or from whatever source it may come. It is not the true gospel.

Soon the Son of man will come in his glory. The message which prepares the way for his coming must proclaim the truth concerning him. This is the old-new gospel, the everlasting gospel.