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The Man Christ Jesus.
#1.
Jesus Christ come in the flesh.
pp. 81 - 84
We have in a recent Volume of The Berean Expositor reviewed the testimony of
Scripture on the subject of the deity of Christ. We propose to take up the teaching of the
same Scriptures concerning the humanity of Christ.
It is not our intention to speculate upon the question as to how Christ could be
both God and man, for we have not the faintest idea. We do believe that we know why
God became man, at least in one important particular, and that is explained by the
Kinsman-Redeemer. Without therefore attempting things beyond our scope, we believe
that the strong emphasis which we have placed upon the deity of Christ demands an
equally strong emphasis upon His humanity.
The denial of antichrist.
Antichristian teaching denies both the deity and the humanity of Christ. It denies the
deity, for it ascribes divine honour to "The man of sin" (II Thess. 2: 4), and it denies the
humanity, as the following Scriptures show:--
"Every spirit that confesseth Jesus Christ to have come in the flesh is of God, and
every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: And
this is that spirit of antichrist whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now
already is it in the world" (I John 4: 2, 3).
"For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not Jesus Christ coming
in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist" (II John 1: 7).
The word used in I John 4: 2 for "is come" is in the prefect tense, and refers to
the past.
The word used in II John 1: 7 for "coming" is the present participle. The antichristian
denial therefore is twofold. It denies that Christ did come, or will come in the flesh. It
goes without saying therefore that true scriptural confession will believe that Christ did
come and will come in the flesh. Yes as we say these words we wonder whether there are
not many of God's children whose conceptions of the resurrection and future life are so
beclouded that they have practically reduced the state of glory to that of an abode of
phantoms. Some seem at least to need the words of Christ repeated again to them:--
"Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see; for a spirit
(some read `a phantom') hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have" (Luke 24: 39).
Scripture reveals that there is not only a "natural body", but also a "spiritual body"
(I Cor. 15: 44, 45). The first body is connected with Adam who was made a living soul,
for the word "natural" is the word psuchikon, from the word "soul" (psuche). The second