Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Experiment (02/16/12)
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TITLE: Pioneering The True Post Salvation Spiritual Life | Previous Challenge Entry
By Doug Laird
02/21/12 -
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It was truly an experiment with the salvation of the human race hanging in balance. In addition, it set the mold for the Church Age believer’s reliance on a power source greater than them in order to fulfill the plan of God.
The hypostatic union refers to the First Advent when God the Son took upon Himself the form of humanity that had been “made ready (Heb. 10:5)” for Him by God the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35) for that very purpose.
It was at the First Advent that God the Son became a unique Being in that while retaining His full deity, He became fully human as well.
After completing His Mission here on Earth, it was in His resurrected humanity that He returned to Heaven, forever remaining the “God – man.”
The humanity He received was like the humanity that Adam received at Creation.
Prior to the Fall, Adam had not yet received a sin nature, but did have free will enabling him to choose between obedience and sin.
Where Adam failed, our Lord succeeded.
Never in His Deity (James 1:13), but only in His humanity was the Lord Jesus Christ tempted. In His humanity, He could have sinned, but did not (Heb. 4:15), preserving the integrity of His humanity as the spotless Lamb of God (John 1:29).
If our Lord could not have been tempted, then the many passages of Scripture that teach this are false.
It would also mean that all the temptations brought to His humanity by Satan (Matthew 4/Luke 4) would have been a farce.
There are false and blasphemous teachings that fully deny or attempt to diminish the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, disputing His claim of equality with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
Our Lord’s claim of sharing equal deity as a member of the triune Godhead resulted in His being falsely convicted of blasphemy (Matthew 26:63–64).
In truth, the blasphemers were and remain to be anyone who projects the Lord Jesus Christ as being anything less than a co-equal Member of the Triune Godhead.
The false teachings that deny or promote a diminished deity concerning the Lord Jesus Christ are based on erroneous applications of Scripture by failing to distinguish the times when He functioned in His Deity, and the times when He voluntarily chose not to make use of His divine attributes.
Deity is not subject to the natural limitations and any of the biological needs of humanity.
Scripture (Matthew 4:2/John 4:6) records that such things were a part of our Lord’s experience, highlighting His humanity.
At the same time, only God can do such things as forgive sin, highlighting His Deity.
There were occasions when the plan of God allowed Him to reveal His divine nature (John 1:48), and there were times (Mark 5:30) when God the Holy Spirit produced divine good through His humanity.
Tempting the humanity of our Lord to independently make use of His divine attributes (Matt. 4:3) and promoting a premature death (Matt.4:6) of His humanity before accomplishing His Work on the cross were among the diabolical objectives in the Matthew 4/Luke 4 temptations.
The devil’s desire was to eliminate or disqualify His humanity as the Lamb of God.
Submitting to the plan of God the Father (John 12:49) in His Humanity was what He meant when He said that the Father is greater than He is (John 14:28).
In His deity He always was, is now, and will always be equal to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit (John 10:30).
To reveal Himself as God, our Lord performed many miracles. When relying on the power of God the Holy Spirit, He revealed His Humanity (Luke 8:46).
While enduring the hours of spiritual death (Psalms 22:1), separated from God the Father in our stead on the cross, He functioned in His Humanity.
The experiment succeeded!
Accomplishing divine good by submitting ourselves to the control and enabling power of God the Holy Spirit is how Church Age believers are to produce divine good.
The question is, will we be wise enough to allow God the Holy Spirit to produce divine good through us, or will we be deceived and try to impress God, ourselves, and others by attempting to accomplish His will through human effort.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
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