Salvation Exemplified in Christ
By T. H. Starbuck
THE INTERRELATION OF THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL. NO. 13.
Salvation Exemplified in Christ.
God has revealed his saving power to the world in the person of Jesus Christ. The operation of his grace is exemplified in his perfect, sinless life. Sin imposes such conditions that it is impossible to reach the lost without a visible manifestation of the workings of saving grace. Jesus said, “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” There are numerous reasons why such an exhibition of saving power is necessary; but a few only will be considered:— 1. Sin has such tendencies that moral instruction alone can not reach man and reclaim him. The effort of the sinner to extricate himself is rendered nugatory by the nature of sin. “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified.” Perfect music can not be produced by an imperfect instrument. Neither can the divine force of the law produce in man a sinless life, because of the imperfections of the flesh. The secret of that inability of the flesh lies in the carnality which must be destroyed by crucifixion before the grace of God can have free course in man; and an example showing how that work is accomplished became necessary to open the doorway of faith. Such an exhibition is given to the world in the perfect life of Christ. 2. Man is so constituted by nature that an example, or model, is better fitted to transform the life and elevate the character than precept or oral instruction alone. The perfect life of our Saviour is the model which, if imitated, makes the transformation of character an absolute certainty. We are “to run with patience the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith;” and as we look we “are changed into the same image.” Jesus set that race before us by running it himself in a perfect, sinless life, while encompassed by all the frailties of human nature with which men have to contend. Taking our nature upon him, he was made perfect by the things which he suffered, and thus became the Author of eternal salvation to all who follow him. Heb. 5:8, 9. Man finds it impossible by his own strength to discontinue the life of sin. This truth is revealed in many scriptures. God’s grace is sufficient to save man from the servitude of sin; but man can know that only as it is exemplified in Christ. The knowledge and the glory of saving grace are revealed only through him. In order to have a perfect illustration of saving power it was necessary for Jesus to come into the world in the form of man. There is much confusion in the minds of men relative to the nature of Christ as he revealed himself to the world. The darkness of sin leads the mind to theorize rather than to believe the simple statements of truth. The Bible speaks definitely in regard to all that we need to know. There are profound mysteries in regard to the incarnation, for a finite mind can not measure the infinite power of God. The mysteries connected with Christ clearly reveal his divinity. If there were nothing in the Bible which our minds could not fathom, there would be no evidence6of divinity revealed in it, and consequently nothing superior to human power. The pre-existence of Christ, the nature he assumed in his incarnation, and how he could pass from an immortal, independent state of existence to a moral, dependent one, are questions that have agitated the minds of thinking men for ages; and yet all are made sufficiently clear in the word to insure our salvation. Christ is called God in many scriptures, and he existed from eternity. It is positively stated that he was made flesh and in humanity revealed God in his divine characteristics to the world. God’s power to save sinful man could not be properly manifested in the person of Christ unless he became man. Some of the scriptures touching the nature of Christ incarnate will here be considered to elucidate the statements above:— 1. Christ “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” Phil. 2:7. 2. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1. 3. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1:14. 4. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. . . . Verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren.” Heb. 2:14–17. 5. God sent his Son “in the likeness of sinful flesh.” Rom. 8:3. 6. He “was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.” Rom. 1:3. 7. “God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.” Gal. 4:4, 5. 8. “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” 2 Cor. 8:9. 9. “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.” Heb. 5:7, 8. 10. “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. 11. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.” 2 Cor. 5:19. 12. “I can of mine own self do nothing.” John 5:30. 13. “But the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” John 14:10. 14. “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” John 5:26. 15. “Now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” John 17:5. 16. Christ “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Heb. 4:15. 17. “God can not be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man; but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” James 1:13, 14. 18. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.” (He was made to assume our sinful nature, that we might be saved.) 2 Cor. 5:21. 19. “Who his own self bare our sins [sinful nature] in his own body on the tree.” 1 Peter 2:24. The conclusions below are drawn from this array of divine truth. The numbers placed after each proposition refer to the scriptures above which establish it. The reader will please consider them carefully. 1. Christ was God from eternity, and existed in glory with the Father before the world was created. 2, 15. 2. When he appeared in the flesh, he divested himself of his glory; for his riches were all laid aside. The wealth of the Godhead was exchanged for the poverty and humiliation of humanity. 1, 3, 4, 12, 16. 3. Before his humiliation his divinity was inherent, for it was his by nature; and this constituted his riches and glory. In his humiliation the divinity was dependent, for it was a gift from the Father; and thus he became poor for our sakes by taking our nature and dependent condition. 8, 9, 12, 16. 4. In his incarnation he was human in the fullest sense; for he had sinful flesh, with all its accumulated tendencies to evil; and in our nature he was tempted in all points as men are tempted. Environed with the frailties of our nature, he sought divine help, pleading with the Father for divine power by which alone he could overcome and hold a complete victory over the evil tendencies of humanity; and he was heard, and received that for which he sought. 4, 5, 7, 9, 12, 13, 16, 17. 5. It was through the human nature that he was tempted; for the divine nature is incapable of being tempted with evil. If the divine nature in him had been inherent instead of a gift from the Father, temptations would have been impossible. 16, 17. 6. When Christ took our nature, emptied of his own inherent divinity, God appeared in him; and Christ, as revealed in the Gospel, was divinity veiled in humanity. It was humanity with the divine nature dwelling in it. 4, 7, 11, 13. 7. While the divine nature was incapable of temptation, he was tempted through the human nature to use the divine power received from the Father, to save himself. 17, compared with Matthew 4. 8. He resisted temptation and lived a sinless life by the presence of the divine nature imparted to him from the Father. 12, 13. 9. All this was done in order that man might be made acquainted with God’s willingness to unite his divine nature with humanity in its weakness and poverty, to save man from the power of sin. 18, 19, compared with Rom. 8:3, 4; Isa. 53:4, 5. 10. It is not imputed to us as sin that we are borne with sinful flesh, or that we are tempted in that nature; for Christ voluntarily assumed that nature and was tempted in it, yet without sin. 4, 16. It is concluded then that God had a purpose in the incarnation of his Son. It was to exemplify his saving grace in the person of his Son, that the lost might see that operation of his power illustrated, and also have a perfect model of a sinless life to which they might attain by his grace. “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” 1 John 3:3. We are saved by his life, that is, by adopting it. Rom. 5:10. “The good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” John 10:11. In order to illustrate practically the operation of divine grace, it was necessary for Christ to empty himself of all the wealth of the Godhead, or the attributes of divinity, and take the nature and attributes of those who were lost. The operation of saving power could not be exemplified in the divine nature. Man is not capable of understanding it, or believing it, only as it is revealed in his own nature. Notice how perfectly it is all revealed in Christ. He assumed our sinful flesh, with its inherent sinful tendencies. He was tempted in that nature as we are tempted. The carnal nature must be crucified or destroyed before the righteousness of the law can appear in the life. Christ abolished (destroyed, or made powerless) that nature in his flesh. Eph. 2:15. Unless it operates in us in the same way, we are not saved from sin. But the abolition of the “enmity” in Christ’s flesh refers not only to his crucifixion on the cross, but to his whole life in the flesh. Paul caught the divine idea when he said, “I am crucified with Christ,” and, “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh, with its affections and lusts,” and, “I die daily.” When the flesh, with its affections and lusts, is placed upon the cross, there begins a new life; for the law of the Spirit of life is at work in the heart. The law of the Spirit of life is the Spirit’s mode of operation, or the moral law. And so it is true that “the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” It slays the carnal nature; it imparts new life; it turns all the energies of the soul into the line of righteousness; and its power to do this was revealed by its operation in Christ. If the natural tendencies of the law are not toward a righteous life, then there is no use for law. God’s grace places a man where his laws can work out their natural tendencies in him. The operation of the Spirit is law; and the operation of law as seen in Christ’s life is the Gospel. The law of the Spirit of life in him kept him from sin; and if we choose to let its divine force into our hearts, it will do the same for us that it did in him. That same law of the Spirit of life is at work in Christ Jesus now, and if we will let the Saviour into our hearts, it will do its saving work in us, making us free. It will destroy the carnal nature and free us from the condemnation of the law; and it will make us free from the power of sin. If we welcome Christ into the heart, we shall overcome as he overcame; and we shall have the privilege of being like him, because we shall have the Spirit of life at work in us, changing us into the same image.