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Life and living are concerned about the possession of a physical body, and as the Lord Jesus has always been the One-of-a-kind Son of God, He now and will ever also be the One-of-a-kind divine Human (theanthropic, as the writer shows); all of which results greatly in additional glory and joy for Christ and the Father—via Their Holy Spirit of course!
As we were created in God’s image, so has His Son permanently taken on the addition of our form of physicality in order that we may see the degree of nearness we are to Them. The Son—divine, sinless and human; His saints—human and eventually sinless! No closer can we be to the Father and His Son than for His Son to be forever-human with us. Christ’s life ever in us (Col 3:4) and God’s Spirit residing with us (Jhn 14:16; Rev 22:1); that we may be one with and in Them (Jhn 17:11, 22)—now and forever more!
NC
The Father and the Spirit are seen to be associated and active in all that concerns the Son; but it was the Son alone who took upon Him the human form and who is, therefore, through glorification, a Kinsman in the human family; and as complex and difficult as it may be to our human minds, the original Trinitarian unity abides as perfectly after the incarnation as before (cf. John 10:30; 14:9, 11).
By means of the incarnation the Lord Jesus assumed a complete and perfect humanity (with exception to the infirmities of the body that He endured for us—NC). This He did not possess before, and its addition to His eternal Deity has resulted in the God-man which He presently is. Though His Deity is (has always been—NC) eternal, the humanity was gained in time. Therefore, the theanthropic Person—destined to be such forever—began with the incarnation.
It is also revealed that though the assumption of His humanity was first a condescension and afterwards a humiliation (Act 8:33; Phl 2:8, 9), through His death, resurrection and ascension He acquired a surpassing glory (the addition of being the Head of the Father’s children—NC). There was a joy which was “set before Him” (Heb 12:2), and, because of the obedience manifested in the Cross, God “hath highly exalted Him” (Phl 2:9). Reference is thus made to a glory and joy exceeding every glory and joy that had been His before.
A glorified man whose humanity has not been renounced is in heaven. As such ministers on behalf of His own who are in the world, and as such He is seated upon the Father’s throne expecting until, by the authority and power of the Father committed unto Him, His enemies shall be made the footstool of His feet (Heb 10:12, 13), and the kingdoms of this world are become “the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ” (Rev 11:15). Therefore, it is to be recognized that the theanthropic Person is very God and very man, and that His humanity, perfect and complete, is as enduring as is His Deity.
The truth that is so evidently taught in the New Testament is that undiminished Deity—none other than the second Person, whom He eternally is—has been incorporated into His Being that perfect humanity which He acquired and ever will retain. Of these two natures (lives) it may be affirmed from the evidence which Scripture provides, that they united in one Person, and not two; that in this union, that which is divine is in no way degraded by its amalgamation with that which is human; and, in the same manner and completeness, that which is human is in no way exalted or aggrandized above that which is unfallen humanity.
It is only natural to suppose that the divine nature would be injured to some extent if combined with that which is human, and the human nature would be exalted out of its precise limitations if combined with the divine. The teaching of the Scriptures serve to save us from such natural conclusions. The Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is unimpaired by its union in the one Person with that which is unfallen human nature, and the unfallen humanity retains its normal limitations. The confusion and uncertainty that would follow if these natures were subject to problematical alterations are beyond estimation.
- L S Chafer (1871 – 1952)
Excerpt from MJS devotional “None but the Hungry Heart” for September 18 (which addresses what I believe is not a commonly known problematic issue in contemporary Christendom and still has delayed many in the growth of their faith in the last few centuries, i.e. admixture of law and grace—NC).
“The Reformation, for all of its rise from Rome, to this day has never really gotten off the ground” (-Miles J Stanford).
"Almost all the theology of the various ‘creeds of Christendom’ dates back to the Reformation, which went triumphantly to the end of Romans Five, and, so far as theological development or presentation of the truth was concerned, stopped there. Therefore, you must not regard yourself as bound to accept all that legal doctrine of sanctification, which has been and still is predominantly, the sine qua non of orthodox belief." - William R Newell (1868 – 1956)
"The contrast is painful in the extreme between the uniform language of the New Testament about Christians as thus called to worship in liberty and joy and nearness to the Father, and that of liturgies ancient and modern; and this because the results of redemption soon became merged and hidden in Jewish forms, and the law was recalled to the place of the Holy Spirit, and man in the flesh intruded wholesale into realms which belong only to those solemnly accredited as God’s Church, the Body of Christ.
"The liturgies of ritualism merely fall back upon the feelings of man, with a slight tincture of Gospel and a large infusion of law. There may be sublime language and glowing ideas, chiefly borrowed from the Old Testament; but in substance they are utterly beneath spiritual or even intelligent Christian use."
– William Kelly (1821 – 1906)
As we were created in God’s image, so has His Son permanently taken on the addition of our form of physicality in order that we may see the degree of nearness we are to Them. The Son—divine, sinless and human; His saints—human and eventually sinless! No closer can we be to the Father and His Son than for His Son to be forever-human with us. Christ’s life ever in us (Col 3:4) and God’s Spirit residing with us (Jhn 14:16; Rev 22:1); that we may be one with and in Them (Jhn 17:11, 22)—now and forever more!
NC
The Hypostatic Union
The Lord Jesus Christ was not only an equal member in the Godhead before His incarnation, but He retained that reality in “the days of His flesh” (Heb 5:7—the Son being deity can do all things, as being born a divine babe, then grow and remain divinely human. So great expression of love in such a willingness of humility!—NC). But the experience of the incarnation by which two (lives) natures are united in one Person belongs only to the Son (I’m of the preference conceiving that Jesus is two forms; Son of God and human, but only one nature, divine. Conversely, believers are two natures but one form, human. The nature after Adam’s humanity is sinful; the nature after Jesus’ humanity is divine, which divinity is incommunicable with the created, e. g. man and angels)—NC).The Father and the Spirit are seen to be associated and active in all that concerns the Son; but it was the Son alone who took upon Him the human form and who is, therefore, through glorification, a Kinsman in the human family; and as complex and difficult as it may be to our human minds, the original Trinitarian unity abides as perfectly after the incarnation as before (cf. John 10:30; 14:9, 11).
By means of the incarnation the Lord Jesus assumed a complete and perfect humanity (with exception to the infirmities of the body that He endured for us—NC). This He did not possess before, and its addition to His eternal Deity has resulted in the God-man which He presently is. Though His Deity is (has always been—NC) eternal, the humanity was gained in time. Therefore, the theanthropic Person—destined to be such forever—began with the incarnation.
It is also revealed that though the assumption of His humanity was first a condescension and afterwards a humiliation (Act 8:33; Phl 2:8, 9), through His death, resurrection and ascension He acquired a surpassing glory (the addition of being the Head of the Father’s children—NC). There was a joy which was “set before Him” (Heb 12:2), and, because of the obedience manifested in the Cross, God “hath highly exalted Him” (Phl 2:9). Reference is thus made to a glory and joy exceeding every glory and joy that had been His before.
A glorified man whose humanity has not been renounced is in heaven. As such ministers on behalf of His own who are in the world, and as such He is seated upon the Father’s throne expecting until, by the authority and power of the Father committed unto Him, His enemies shall be made the footstool of His feet (Heb 10:12, 13), and the kingdoms of this world are become “the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ” (Rev 11:15). Therefore, it is to be recognized that the theanthropic Person is very God and very man, and that His humanity, perfect and complete, is as enduring as is His Deity.
The truth that is so evidently taught in the New Testament is that undiminished Deity—none other than the second Person, whom He eternally is—has been incorporated into His Being that perfect humanity which He acquired and ever will retain. Of these two natures (lives) it may be affirmed from the evidence which Scripture provides, that they united in one Person, and not two; that in this union, that which is divine is in no way degraded by its amalgamation with that which is human; and, in the same manner and completeness, that which is human is in no way exalted or aggrandized above that which is unfallen humanity.
It is only natural to suppose that the divine nature would be injured to some extent if combined with that which is human, and the human nature would be exalted out of its precise limitations if combined with the divine. The teaching of the Scriptures serve to save us from such natural conclusions. The Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is unimpaired by its union in the one Person with that which is unfallen human nature, and the unfallen humanity retains its normal limitations. The confusion and uncertainty that would follow if these natures were subject to problematical alterations are beyond estimation.
- L S Chafer (1871 – 1952)
Excerpt from MJS devotional “None but the Hungry Heart” for September 18 (which addresses what I believe is not a commonly known problematic issue in contemporary Christendom and still has delayed many in the growth of their faith in the last few centuries, i.e. admixture of law and grace—NC).
“The Reformation, for all of its rise from Rome, to this day has never really gotten off the ground” (-Miles J Stanford).
"Almost all the theology of the various ‘creeds of Christendom’ dates back to the Reformation, which went triumphantly to the end of Romans Five, and, so far as theological development or presentation of the truth was concerned, stopped there. Therefore, you must not regard yourself as bound to accept all that legal doctrine of sanctification, which has been and still is predominantly, the sine qua non of orthodox belief." - William R Newell (1868 – 1956)
"The contrast is painful in the extreme between the uniform language of the New Testament about Christians as thus called to worship in liberty and joy and nearness to the Father, and that of liturgies ancient and modern; and this because the results of redemption soon became merged and hidden in Jewish forms, and the law was recalled to the place of the Holy Spirit, and man in the flesh intruded wholesale into realms which belong only to those solemnly accredited as God’s Church, the Body of Christ.
"The liturgies of ritualism merely fall back upon the feelings of man, with a slight tincture of Gospel and a large infusion of law. There may be sublime language and glowing ideas, chiefly borrowed from the Old Testament; but in substance they are utterly beneath spiritual or even intelligent Christian use."
– William Kelly (1821 – 1906)
