Saturday, January 26, 2019

Christ Took the Form of a Servant...a Slave....


 Chapter 9 -- CONCLUSION

In the Form of a Slave

Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant (KJV)

But Himself He made void a form of a slave taking Philippians 2:7 (Translated from Greek)

Php 2:7 But emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave… (LITV)

William H. Grotheer
January, 1974

 Chapter 9 -- CONCLUSION

Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness for by it God was manifest in the flesh. God-like-ness - godliness - is God manifest in human flesh. This Christ revealed even in the slave-form of man. Those who partake of the "divine nature" again manifest God in their slave-forms. God dwells in them, and walks in them.  1

2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

"Higher than the highest human thought can reach is God's ideal for His children. Godliness - godlikeness - is the goal to be reached."  2  "All who long to bear the likeness of the character of God shall be satisfied. The Holy Spirit never leaves unassisted the soul who is looking unto Jesus. He takes the things of Christ [the life-giving energies] and shows them unto him. If the eye is kept fixed on Christ, the work of the Spirit ceases not until the soul is conformed to His image. The pure element of love will expand the soul, giving it capacity for higher attainments, for increased knowledge of heavenly things, so that it will not rest short of the fulness."  3

There is revealed in the Bible another mystery, the mystery of iniquity.  4 

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 

The power of this mystery is declared to be "the working of Satan" (enrgian tou satana), and because of a "strong delusion" (enrgian planhV), permitted by God. The Greek word in both instances for "working" and "strong" transliterated is "energy". The mystery of iniquity has energy, but instead of being life-giving, it produces death. Fenton has translated these verses well. They read:        This outlaw's arrival will be accompanied by the energy of Satan with all powers, and signs, and terrors of falsehood; and with all the deceit of injustice among the perishing, who accepted not the love of the truth, so that they themselves might be saved. And, because of this, God will send to them an energy of error, for themselves to make the Falsehood credible; so that in every way those who do not trust to the truth, but on the contrary, approve falsehood, may be condemned.   5

p 69 -- When each mystery has run its course in time, certain results will become manifest. Of those who have yielded to the energies of Satan, it is prophesied:        Through yielding to satanic influences, men will be transformed into fiends; and those who were created in the image of God, who were formed to honor and glorify their Creator, will become the habitation of dragons, and Satan will see in an apostate race his masterpiece of evil, - men who reflect his own image.  6

Of those who have yielded to the life-giving energies which Christ brought with Him into humanity, and which through the Holy Spirit are ministered to each believer, it is written:        We must learn of Christ. We must know what He is to those He has ransomed. We must realize that through belief in Him it is our privilege to be partakers of the divine nature, and so escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. Then we are cleansed from all sin, all defects of character. We need not retain one sinful propensity.

As we partake of the divine nature, hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong are cut away from the character, and we are made a living power for good. Ever learning of the divine Teacher, daily partaking of His nature, we cooperate with God in overcoming Satan's temptations. God works, and man works, that man may be one with Christ as Christ is one with God. Then we sit together with Christ in heavenly places. The mind rests with peace and assurance in Jesus.  7

Again:        The true Christian obtains an experience which brings holiness. He is without a spot of guilt upon the conscience, or a taint of corruption upon the soul. The spirituality of the law of God, with its limiting principles, is brought into his life. The light of truth irradiates his understanding. A glow of perfect love for the Redeemer clears away the miasma which has interposed between his soul and God. The will of God has become his will, pure, elevated, refined, and sanctified. His countenance reveals the light of heaven. His body is a fit temple for the Holy Spirit. Holiness adorns his character. God can commune with him; for soul and body are in harmony with God.  8

p 70 --
1   II Corinthians 6:16
2   Ellen G. White, Education, p. 18
3   Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 302
4   II Thessalonians 2:7-12
5   II Thessalonians 2:9-12 Translation by Farrar Fenton 
6   EIlen G. White, Review & Herald, April 14, 1896
7   Ibid., April 14, 1900
8  Ellen G. White, Letter 139, 1898 (7BC:909)

p 71 -- Appendix A -- 
Theories of the Incarnation -- Roman Catholic -- The Roman Catholic concept of the Incarnation is expressed in the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception enunciated by Pope Pius IX. It was stated thus:        We define that the Blessed Virgin Mary in the first moment of her conception, by the singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from every stain of original sin. 1
Commenting on the meaning of this dogma, Cardinal Gibbons has written:        Unlike the rest of the children of Adam, the soul of Mary was never subject to sin, even in the first moment of its infusion into the body. She alone was exempt from the original taint.  2
The meaning of this doctrine to the individual sinner in need of the saving grace of Jesus Christ can be best illustrated in a contrasting diagram:

There is a gap between the level to which Christ came in the Catholic Dogma of the Incarnation, and where man is. This "gap" had to be bridged, and so between the Catholic church member and Jesus has been placed priests, cannonized saints, angels, and finally Mary herself. A sainted doctor of the church has stated "that all graces are dispensed by Mary, and that all who are saved are saved only by the means of this Divine Mother, it is a necessary consequence that the salvation of all depends upon preaching Mary, and exciting all
p 72 -- to confidence in her intercession." 3  Thus the instrumentalities created by the church become the door to heaven rather than Jesus Christ being the way, the truth and the life.

The Evangelical -- The position held by the Evangelicals in general is expressed by the authorities cited by William G. T. Shedd in his Dogmatic Theology.  a  

 a  The section of Shedd's Dogmatic Theology regarding the Incarnation was abbreviated in the Ministry, December, 1957, at the time thatQuestions on Doctrine was published. In a preface note to the article, it was stated that an Evangelical publishing house had provided "a classic three-volume reprint edition of Dr. Shedd's very helpful work." Then the suggestion was made - "These volumes provide much valuable material which could be used by our [Seventh-day Adventist] workers."

 Pearson is quoted as believing:      "The original and total sanctification of the human nature was first necessary to fit it for the personal union with the Word, who out of His infinite love humbled Himself to become flesh, and at the same time out of His infinite purity could not defile Himself by becoming sinful flesh. Therefore the human nature, in its first original, without any precedent merit, was formed by the Spirit, and in its formation sanctified, and in its sanctification united to the Word; so that grace was co-existent and in a manner co-natural with it."
Owen is also quoted as follows:         "The human nature of Christ, being thus formed in the womb by a creating act of the Holy Spirit, was in the instant of its conception sanctified and filled with grace according to the measure of its receptivity."  4
Shedd himself then comments:       The quickening of a portion of the human nature in the Virgin Mother was by the creative energy of God the Holy Ghost. This miraculous conception, consequently, was as pure from all sensuous quality as the original creation of Adam's body from the dust of the ground, or of Eve's body from the rib of Adam. As the dust of the ground was enlivened by a miraculous act, and the result was the individual body of Adam, so the substance of

p 73 -- Mary was quickened and sanctified by a miraculous act, and the result was the human soul and body of Jesus Christ.  5

Between this doctrine and the Catholic Dogma, there is but a "generation gap". While the entire "soul" of Mary, according to Catholic dogma, was preserved free from the fallen nature of mankind, the Evangelical doctrine teaches that the "human soul" of Christ was thus preserved. While the distance between Jesus and man is narrowed in the Evangelical theory, there is still a gulf to be bridged. This is bridged by the concept that man solely by faith - sola fide - accepts what was done in his behalf by Christ. This becomes primary in emphasis, because if there is no experimental model of what God can do in fallen human flesh, then there is no example for the Holy Spirit to emulate in working out the victory in the fallen human nature of each believer.

Such teaching makes impossible the doctrine of perfection, for if the Holy Spirit achieved the goal of the righteousness of Christ in the fallen nature of any human being, then there would be a victory obtained such as Christ only obtained in a sanctified, unfallen state. How then could Christ in all things have preeminence?   6  Thus the true doctrine of perfection of character, and the doctrine of the incarnation are inseparably linked.

If the doctrine of the incarnation - that Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh - is altered, then the doctrine of perfection of character in our fallen nature becomes only a theory, impossible of realization.

The Neo-Seventh-day Adventist -- As a result of the conference between Evangelical representatives and certain leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist church, Questions on Doctrine was published.  7  In this book, there appeared a different teaching on the
p 74 -- Incarnation than the church had previously held and taught.  8  It borrowed the very word, "exempt" as used by Cardinal Gibbons in his comments on the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, and applied it to the nature that Christ assumed in becoming man. The statement reads:        Although born in the flesh, He[Christ] was nevertheless God, and was exempt from the inherited passions and pollutions that corrupt the natural descendants of Adam.  9

While the book, Questions on Doctrine, does not teach that Christ took the nature of Adam before the Fall in so many words [the concept is implied], an article written the same year of the book's publication and directed to the ministry of the church by the head of the Ministerial Association of the General Conference so stated. It read:       When the incarnate God broke into human history and became one with the race, it is our understanding that He possessed the sinlessness of the nature with which Adam was created in Eden.  10

The Neo-Adventist teaching paralleling the Evangelical theory was fully published in the book, Movement of Destiny. In this book, Dr Froom tells of an exchange of correspondence with Dr. Schuyler English, editor of the Evangelical publication, Our Hope. The editor had written:       "He [Christ] was perfect in His humanity, but He was none the less God, and His conception in His incarnation was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit so that He did not partake of the fallen sinful nature of other men."  11   In response to this concept, Froom wrote - "That, we in turn assured him, is precisely what we [Seventh-day Adventists] likewise believe."  12   In another section of the book, Froom asserted - "Christ was like Adam before the Fall - 'a pure, sinless being, without a taint of sin upon Him."'  13

Thus a gap is created in the new Adventist theology between Jesus, and the individual member of the church. At the present writing, it has not yet
p 75 -- been clarified what the church will substitute to fill the "gap", but ever since the introduction of this new doctrine on the incarnation, along with other doctrinal deviations, the emphasis has been placed on the infallibility of the organization and its leadership. The laity have been told that the incorporated church is going through so stay with the organization. The concept of "organization", and "church" has been made to appear as one. Thus verily as the Roman Catholic church substituted human mediators between the individual and Jesus, so likewise there is being substituted a human organization between the laity of the Seventh-day Adventist church and the Saviour of mankind. Indeed as the prophet to the church declared, the leadership is following "in the track of Romanism."  14

Addendum -- At the time when the masthead of the Review & Herald carried the notation - "Devoted to the Proclamation of 'the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints'" - the editor, W. W. Prescott, wrote:        In order that the character of God might be manifested in sinful men who would believe on Him, it was necessary that Jesus should unite divinity and humanity in Himself, and that the flesh which He bore should be the same as the other men in whom God was thus to be manifested....

This is not a mere matter of theory. It is intensely practical in all its bearings. If the son of God did not dwell in sinful flesh when He was born into the world, then the ladder has not been let down from heaven to earth, and the gulf between a holy God and fallen humanity has not been bridged.  15

p 76 --
1   Pii Papae IX, Bulla Dogmat., quoted in The Faith of Our Fathers, 88th Edition, p. 171.
2   James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers, 88th Edition, p. 171.
3   St. Alphonsius Maria DeLigouri, The Glories of Mary, 2nd Edition, p. 8.
4   The Mininstry, December, 1957, p. 14
5   1bid, p. 39 
6    Colossians 1:18
7    See Movement of Destiny, Chapter 21
8   Wm. H. Grotheer, An Interpretive History of the Doctrine of the Incarnation as Taught by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. This is documentary manuscript on the subject. 
9    Questions on Doctrine, p.p. 383
10  R. Allan Anderson, "'God with Us'", The Ministry, April, 1957, p. 34
11   L. E. Froom, Movement of Destiny, p. 469
12  Ibid., p. 470
13  Ibid., p. 497 Emphasis his.
14  Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers, p. 363
15  Editorial, "'In... Sinful Flesh'", Review & Herald, December 21, 1905
p 77 -- Appendix B --
Diagram Illustrating Science of Divine Culture --

Jesus made Himself void in His "slave-form" so that the Father alone appeared in His life. He humbled Himself still further, and became "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." (Phil. 2:8) He who would be a follower of Christ must likewise accept his cross, thus denying his-self. (Luke 9:23) The life that one lives who has accepted the cross, and who continues to die daily, is a life in which the Holy Spirit alone operates. Through the working of the Holy Spirit, the "divine nature" appears in the life as the "life-giving energies" are imparted. This is the science of that experience which is life unto eternal life - the divine culture that leads to perfection.

Luk 9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 

Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 

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