CHRIST IN HOLY FLESH, OR A HOLY CHRIST IN SINFUL FLESH.
By Stephen N. Haskell
It is impossible for a finite mind to comprehend how the divine Son of God could come into a mortal body and be born of humanity, to “meet life's peril in common with every human soul, to fight the battle as every child of humanity must fight it, at the risk of failure and eternal loss.” He came “a helpless babe, subject to the weakness of humanity.” This was “God manifest in the flesh;” for “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” To deny this would be to deny our only means of salvation. To say that he did not take humanity as it was, and as it is, would be to deny that the base of the ladder that Jacob saw rested on the earth, while the topmost round reached to the throne of God. Man could not raise himself one single iota, in order to reach the ladder. It must reach man where he is, that man may attain to the true standard of righteousness. It did not simply reach Adam as he was before he fell, bearing the image of God; but Christ took humanity in its lowest condition, all seared and marred by sin. Human reason sees many contradictions in Christ; for human reason can not find out God. “Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven, what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?” Job 11: 7, 8. “In the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knows not God . . . because the foolishness of God is wiser than men. . . . God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things that are not, to bring to naught things that are; that no flesh should glory in his presence.” 1 Cor. 1: 21–29. It is by faith that we understand. A belief in God's testimony simply because God has spoken, is light to the soul. The divine Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, as of the only begotten of the Father. John 1: 14. Most wonderful thought! How it could be, is only comprehended by infinite wisdom. He took humanity in its fallen condition. “When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law [For what purpose was he made under the law?] to redeem them that were UNDER THE LAW, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Gal. 4: 4, 5. Had not Christ been made under the law, as all mankind was by sin, he could not have redeemed them, so as to call them sons. To be under the law is to be a transgressor of the law, and condemned by the law. “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Rom. 3: 19. Again, the same apostle says: “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” 1 Tim. 3: 16. What is justification? Let the word of the Lord answer: “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” To be justified is to be made free from condemnation. “Sin is the transgression of the law.” Mankind are condemned because they have broken the law of God. Christ was made under the law, to save those who are under the law. What did Christ have to do with sin?—“He hath made him TO BE SIN for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Cor. 5: 21. He bore655the sins of the whole world. “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” “Who his own self bare our sins in his OWN BODY on the tree.” 1 Peter 2: 24. He bore our sins in HIS BODY, and not in his character. He repented for the sinner. He was baptized for the sinner. He was justified for the sinner. He died the sinner's substitute. The sinner must walk in his steps, if he would have the righteousness of Christ. The enmity that was abolished was “in his flesh.” “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity; . . . for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.” Eph. 2: 15. “He who stilled the angry waves and walked the foam-capped billows, who made devils tremble and disease flee, who opened blind eyes and called forth the dead to life, offers himself upon the cross as a sacrifice, and this from love to thee. He, the Sin-bearer, endures the wrath of divine justice, and for thy sake becomes SIN ITSELF.” . . . “The Desire of Ages,” trade edition, page 907. Again, on pages 361, 362: “Christ is the ladder that Jacob saw, the base resting on the earth, and the topmost round reaching to the gate of heaven, to the very threshold of glory. If that ladder had failed by a single step of reaching the earth, we should have been lost. But Christ reaches us where we are. He took our nature and overcame, that we through taking his nature might overcome. Made ‘in the likeness of sinful flesh,’ he lived a sinless life. Now by his divinity he lays hold upon the throne of heaven, while by his humanity he reaches us.” This is fallen humanity with all its hereditary inclinations. He who was as spotless while on earth as when in heaven took our nature, that he might lift man to the exaltation of himself by his righteousness. Again, on pages 119, 120, of the same book, we read: “Notwithstanding that the sins of a guilty world were laid upon Christ, notwithstanding the humiliation of taking upon himself our FALLEN NATURE, the voice from heaven declared him to be the Son of the Eternal.” Once more, in speaking of the condition of Adam, the writer says, on pages 49, 50: “It would have been an almost infinite humiliation for the Son of God to take man's nature, even when Adam stood in his innocence in Eden. But Jesus accepted humanity when the race had been weakened by four thousand years of sin. Like every child of Adam, he accepted the results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these results were is shown in the history of his earthly ancestors. He came with such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us the example of a sinless life.” The Bible is the only reliable history of his ancestors. In the Gospel by Matthew four women before Mary, the mother of Jesus, are mentioned by name: Thamar (Matt. 1: 3), who acted the part of a harlot with her father-in-law (see Genesis 38); the harlot Rahab (see verse 5; also Joshua 2); Ruth, a Moabitess, a descendant of the daughter of Lot by her own father (see Gen. 19: 30–38); and Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Bathsheba's course with David has been a reproach in the mouth of scoffers for thousands of years. This is not the way that men would naturally write a history of the ancestors of Christ. They would select the good women and the men of influence, whose birth and lives were exemplary. But it is God's way, and it presents hope to the fallen. Even if we have inherited tendencies and appetites of the worst kind, there is hope. It was Christ through David who said: “Behold I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” This states plainly the nature of the humanity in which Christ was conceived. The same prophet, in Ps. 22: 9, says: “But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.” This illustrates how it was with Christ, and how it is with every believer in Christ who has the righteousness of Christ. Christ was the Son of God, equal with his Father. Yet to save a lost race he stepped down from his exalted throne, and came to this world, all seared and marred with sin; he went lower, and still lower, until there was no lower depth to which he could go, to encircle the human race with his human arm, and through his righteousness take them back to his throne. Through the prophet Isaiah God said, “Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins; thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.” Isa. 43: 24. He who has struggled against hereditary temptations for years, and often fallen beneath the tempter's power, can appreciate a Saviour like this. The words of the apostle are full of meaning: “Verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.” “For we have not an high priest which can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Heb. 2: 16–18; 4: 15, 16. Our Saviour, then, is a holy Christ in sinful human nature, who by his presence in sinful nature sanctifies fallen humanity, so that humanity, by the presence and holiness of the sinless Saviour, can be saved to the uttermost. And thus Jesus can save and does save to the uttermost all, however low they may have fallen, however held by hereditary traits, that will come to him and be sanctified, body, soul, and spirit. S. N. H.