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Christ was not Immaculate

By Myrtle B

It is a mighty phenomenon to grasp that the Creator of all things, manifested himself in and through his son Jesus Christ. And yet Jesus was a distinct person, keeping the relationship of father and son, having to develop a character under trial, just like those he came to save.

Paul speaks of this, in a quite difficult verse to understand: 1 Timothy 3:16 "And without dispute great is the mystery of godliness. He who was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit,seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." Jesus Christ overcame without failure. We overcome through many failures.

Concerning Jesus Christ
Luke 1:35 "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee and therefore that Holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Matthew 1:16 - This chapter is the line/genealogy of Mary and you will notice that they take the line through Joseph as the line in that historical time was always taken through the father.

Christ's sonship to God was told openly while he was in the flesh:

  • Matthew 3:17 "This is my beloved son..."
  • John 1:34 "I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God"
  • Galations 4:4 "God sent forth his son, made of a woman"
  • Hebrews 2:17 "In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren"
  • Isaiah 9:6 "...the government shall be on his shoulders, and he shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting [age] Father, the Prince of Peace."

Jesus was a unique man - as was Adam
It cannot be denied that there was a difference between Jesus and us (or regular men).
  • He was born of the Spirit
  • Angels celebrated his birth
  • A star guided wise men to his home
  • At 12 years of age he confounded Doctors of Law
  • He was called the arm of the Lord
  • He was without spot or blemish
  • He was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him.
God saw that no man in Adam's line was strong enough to save men from their grievous sinful nature so he had to create this unique man who felt all the temptations of other man, and yet was strong enough never to give in to them.We saw that he was without spot or blemish, so as he was born of Mary and had her temptations, it must been his character that was without blemish.

Did he then have an advantage?
Could he be a child of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit not be in him? See Luke 1:15 where even John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Let this fact be noted that the human brain brings no wisdom into this world. It is like a clean sheet of paper and wisdom is only acquired by experience and even then it does not always come.

John Thomas wrote in his book Eureka Vol 1, page 112 and 113: "Was the Holy Thing born a mere Son of Adam? Did the union of Spirit (God) and flesh (Mary) annihilate Spirit and leave only flesh? There was a connection between God and his son that other men never had. Of no other man could it be said." John 14:9-10 "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" and John 10:30 "I and my Father are one."

In John 6:38 it says "I came down from above" and in John 8:23 it says "You are from beneath, I am from above."

How did his body of flesh come down from above?
It was the Holy Spirit in Jesus that came down from above. Remember the Father and the Holy Spirit are one, so what he does by the Holy Spirit he does by himself. So God dwelt in Jesus and spoke by him and worked by him. This lets us see that although Jesus is the Son and a separate person he is God revealed in the flesh.

Now we know the mind of Christ was strengthened by being born of the spirit. We need also note the imperfect body that he had inherited from his mother. This body of his was born under the sentence of death, even though he always kept it under subjection.Because the wages of sin is death, by this inherited law in his flesh (even though he had never given in to its impulses) he had to die. But he never sinned!? No, he never sinned and that is why he could not stay dead - he didn't deserve that. The Bible says that the grave could not hold him.

Meaning of sacrifice: To give up something valuable for the sake of something more worthy.
Jesus willingly sacrificed his life then for a more worthy prize for him and us.
  • For Him: A body to die no more, to be made higher than the angels, to rule over the whole earth and turn it into a paradise and thus glorifying his father.
  • For us: That if faithful we may gain life everlasting, be made an equal to the angels and glorify God in righteousness for ever.