Sad to say, the Seventh-day Adventist Church
today is polarized over the issue of the human nature of Christ. One
camp affirms that Jesus came in a “sinless” nature — the spiritual
nature Adam possessed before the Fall. Another group, what the present
editor of the Adventist Review correctly referred to as a
“more insistent group” (July 22, 1993), maintains that Jesus came
in the “fallen” nature humanity assumed after sin entered Eden.
One thing is clear: whatever consensus the church may reach on this
vital issue will affect the gospel it proclaims to the world. William
Johnsson, editor of the Adventist Review, has written, “The
stakes in this debate are high. This isn’t some abstract
theological discussion; it’s about our salvation. It’s
about the very gospel God calls us to proclaim.” (Ibid.)
Because the issue of Christ’s human
nature is so closely intertwined with implications for our salvation,
it is imperative that we study one in the light of the other. That
is the only way we will ever come to a correct biblical consensus
on the human nature of Christ. When we deal with this subject as a
separate topic, we miss the whole point of why He became a man,
and we come to all kinds of false conclusions. That is why this
book will attempt to analyze carefully what constitutes the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ and how that gospel is linked with the
nature of our Saviour’s humanity.
I believe that Satan is fully aware that “the
humanity of the Son of God is everything to us” (Ellen White,
Selected Messages: 1, 244). He knows that a correct
understanding of Jesus’ humanity will play a vital part in the
proclamation of the everlasting gospel in these last days. That is
why he has produced a counterfeit teaching within Adventism on this topic
of Christ’s humanity. He has done this in order to blind the
eyes of God’s people and turn them against the matchless charms of
our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, thus preventing the world from being
lightened with God’s glory.
What is Satan’s counterfeit teaching
on this subject? It is not the “sinless nature” view of
Jesus’ humanity — the view that teaches He took on the
spiritual human nature of Adam before the Fall. Although I believe
this view presents major problems when considered in the light of
the full and complete gospel, I do not believe it is Satan’s
counterfeit. Rather, I believe, the “sinless nature” view of
Jesus’ humanity is a reaction to Satan’s counterfeit. I
believe Satan’s counterfeit on this topic is the view of that
“more insistent” group mentioned above — the view that Jesus
assumed the “fallen” human nature of Adam after sin entered
our world.
As taught by some of the major independent
ministries in Adventism today, the post-Fall view of Jesus’
human nature is placed in the setting of Christian living, rather
than in the context of the good news of the gospel. It is this
emphasis, I believe, that makes a satanic counterfeit out of the
teaching that Jesus assumed fallen human nature. You see, when the
emphasis of Christ’s humanity is focused primarily on Jesus
as our Example, rather than as our Saviour, legalism becomes the
inevitable result. The reasoning runs this way: “Christ, through
the power of the Holy Spirit, lived a sinless life in our sinful
humanity. Therefore, God expects us, especially the last generation
of Christians, to do the same in order to make it to heaven.” Such
a teaching of perfectionism has led many into despair and robbed
them of the joy and peace Christ brought to the human race through
His gospel.
Further, the legalism resulting from this
wrong emphasis on the post-Fall view of Christ’s humanity has
produced wrong motivations for Christian living — fear of
punishment or desire for reward. “Such religion,” says Ellen White,
“is worth nothing” (Steps to Christ, 44).
At the same time, this wrong emphasis has
also turned many against the post-Fall view of the human nature of
Christ. They see the fruits this view can produce when the emphasis
is on Jesus as our Example — how it has robbed many sincere
Adventists of the joy and peace of salvation — and consequently,
they want nothing to do with it.
The legalism produced by this emphasis has
also resulted in Pharisaism: a critical spirit that is unwilling to
tolerate or respect anyone who does not see things in the same way
I do. The result is fragmentation of the church, the very thing
Satan delights in.
Yet, it is true, I believe, that Jesus took
on our fallen human nature when He came to be one with us. According
to the clear teaching of the New Testament, the primary reason Christ
assumed our human nature was so that He could be the Saviour of the
world (see Hebrews 2:14-17). Only after we have received Him as our
Saviour, only after we have experienced the “peace with God” (Romans
5:1), that comes through justification by faith alone, does Christ
present Himself to us as our Example (see 1 Peter 2:21; Philippians
2:5). His role as our Saviour must always precede His role as our
Example. That is why this book will present the post-Fall view of
the humanity of our Saviour in the light of the gospel, the truth
as it is in Christ.
The experience of salvation is based on a
foundation that has already been laid: the holy history of Christ our
righteousness (see 1 Corinthians 3:11-13). Therefore, all truth
pertaining to our salvation must be studied within the context of the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is an extremely important point
to keep in mind if we are to come to a correct understanding of the
humanity of our Saviour or, indeed, of any biblical truth. Unless this
approach to studying any doctrine of the church is kept in the forefront,
the doctrine loses its significance.
When Jesus commissioned His disciples to go into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature (see Mark 16:15),
what message did He expect them to carry? What was the gospel they were
to preach? The answer can be summed up in one sentence: Christ and Him
crucified. This is what constitutes the good news of the gospel and the
central message of the New Testament (see 1 Corinthians 1:17, 18; 2:1, 2).
Unfortunately, there is a great deal of confusion within Adventism today
as to what constitutes the gospel. So we must first deal with this problem
— what the gospel actually is — before we can discuss why it
was necessary for Christ to assume our sinful nature at the incarnation.
As a church, we have given the word gospel a
very broad meaning. As a result, many Adventists are confused regarding
the relationship between justification, which is the imputed righteousness
of Christ, and sanctification, which is the imparted righteousness of
Christ. The Bible describes three phases of salvation that are related
yet distinct. These three phases of salvation are:
the gospel,
the fruits of the gospel, and
the hope of the gospel.
I believe it is the failure to see the
relationship and distinction between these three aspects of salvation
that has produced the confusion in our midst regarding what the gospel
actually is. As a result, for many Adventists, the gospel is not “good
news,” but good advice. The following is a brief description of
these three phases of salvation, showing the relationships between them,
as well as the distinctions.
The Gospel
This is the unconditional good news of the
salvation Christ obtained for all humanity by virtue of His holy history
— His birth, life, death, and resurrection. It is referred to as
the objective fact of salvation and is a finished or completed work to
which we have made, and can make, no contribution whatsoever (see Romans
3:28, 5:18; Ephesians 2:8, 9). It is, therefore, entirely the work of God.
That is why the apostle Paul describes it as “the righteousness of God”
(Romans 1:17; 3:21). It is this holy history of Christ — His birth, life,
death, and resurrection — that constitutes the good news of the gospel
and saves sinful human beings from sin now and in the judgment. When
received by faith, the gospel becomes justification by faith or
righteousness by faith.
Each of the above four facts constituting the
gospel message — the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ
— is vital to our salvation. By Christ’s birth, God united the
sinless, divine nature of His Son to our corporate, sinful human nature
that needed redeeming. This not only qualified Christ to be mankind’s
legal substitute and representative, but it also made our sinful human
nature, which was spiritually dead, alive spiritually, in Christ (see
Ephesians 2:5).
By His life, which He lived for thirty-three years
in our corporate humanity, Christ fully and perfectly met the positive
demands of the law on behalf of the human race He came to redeem. But
because the human nature He assumed in the incarnation was our corporate,
sinful humanity that stood condemned and needed redeeming, His perfect
obedience was not enough to save fallen humanity. Consequently, having
satisfied the positive demands of the law by His obedience, Jesus took our
corporate humanity to the cross and surrendered it to the wages of sin. In
doing this, His death met the justice of the law on behalf of all mankind.
On the cross, the collective, or corporate, life
of the fallen human race died forever in Christ. This death was the second
death, the death that comes as a result of the just demands of the law. But
the incredible good news of the gospel is that God so loved the world that
He gave the eternal life of His only begotten Son to the human race. As a
result, the human race was resurrected in Christ as a redeemed humanity
(see John 3:16; 2 Timothy 1:10; 1 John 5:11, 12). That is why Paul declared
to the Corinthian Christians, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2
Corinthians 5:17). This, in a nutshell, is what constitutes the fantastic
good news of the gospel.
Every subjective experience in the believer’s
life is based on this finished work of Christ. So it is important, at this
point, to note what Christ actually accomplished in this gospel. The Bible
clearly teaches that the reason God sent His Son into this world was to
save mankind from sin (see Matthew 1:21; John 1:29; 3:17). But sin, as we
will discuss in more detail in the next chapter, is a multiphased problem.
All Adventists are aware that sin is “the transgression of the law”
(1 John 3:4, KJV) and that transgression of the law results in guilt and
punishment. But the Scriptures also define sin as a state of being: a force
or law or principle that resides in the flesh, our sinful human nature (see
Romans 7:17, 20, 23). Furthermore, the corruption and physical infirmities
of our humanity are also part and parcel of our sin problem from which we
need to be redeemed as well (see Romans 8:23; 1 Corinthians 15:53-57).
By His birth, life, death, and resurrection,
Christ redeemed fallen humanity from every aspect of our sin problem.
Thus justification, sanctification, as well as glorification have
already been accomplished in Christ for all mankind (see 1 Corinthians
6:11). The good news of the gospel is that Christ has obtained salvation
full and complete for every human being! Through the incarnation, we
who were spiritually dead were made spiritually alive in Christ (see
Ephesians 2:5). Based on this fact, believers can experience the new
birth (see Titus 3:5).