CLAUSE 9

"That it was this mission that necessitatÿd the miraculous begettal of Christ of a human mother, enabling him to bear our condemnation, and, at the same time, to be a sinless bearer thereof, and, therefore, one who would rise after suffering the death required by the righteousness of God.- Mat 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-35; Gal 4:4; Is 7:14; Rom 1:3,4; 8:3, 2Cor 5:21; Heb 2:14-17; 4:15".

As expressed by the BASF, the "mission" that the Lord Jesus Christ came to accomplish was that he should "by dying, abrogate the law of condemnation for himself and all who should believe and obey him", and that having obtained "a title to resurrection by perfect obedience", he might secure a way of salvation for his brethren (Clause VIII),. But Clause IX (cited above) illustrates how that this mission required certain things in order to ensure it's success. It could not be accomplished without certain conditions being met, namely that Christ had to be a partaker of the condemnation which falls upon all men - and yet remain sinless, that he might be a perfect offering. Hence the need for him to be born of a human mother - that he might inherit our condemnation, and the need for him to be born of God - that he might strengthened to be a sinless bearer thereof, that being unworthy of death, he might be released from it's hold in being raised to Immortality. And both of these features required the miraculous nature of his conception, that as the Seed of the woman, and of God, he would be "made strong"? (Ps 80:15) to do his Father's Will in being obedient unto death.

Indeed, that was the central purpose of his 33 year mortal life; it was a preparatory period for the eventual making of that great offering - that "death required by the Righteousness of God". It is clear then, that in order to appreciate both the mission of the Lord Jesus, and how it was successfully accomplished, we need a clear perception of both how through his human maternity he could "bear our condemnation", and also why it was that the righteousness of God required even his death, as a sinless man, before the "law of condemnation"? could be abrogated.

THE FALSE DOCTRINE OF SUBSTITUTION

The popular idea, which has sadly been adopted even amongst some who should know better, is that that all of humanity inherit a 'legal condemnation', whereby they are held accountable for Adam's transgression - they are condemned for this, as well as for their own sins which render them personally deserving of that condemnation. Under this scenario, this 'legal condemnation' also fell upon Christ who was innocent. He, as a member of the human race, was condemned to death for the sin of another man (Adam) - but because he was personally sinless he was wholly innocent, and unworthy of that condemnation. Therefore, an innocent man took the punishment due to another; he died as a substitute for the guilty - he suffered the punishment due to us, and instead of us.

But this claim is not in harmony with the revealed Righteousness of God, who will not transfer the punishment due to a guilty man to another who is innocent: "but every one shall die for his own iniquity" (Jer 31:30). As Ezekiel spake to the rebellious of his generation: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son" (Ezek 18:20). Accepting these verses with child-like simplicity (Mat 18:4) then, we, as the sons of Adam, do not die for the iniquity of our first father. Rather, we perish deservingly for our own transgressions. "The wages of sin is death"; and so having done tthe works, at the ending of our lives we are given only what we are rightly entitled to, wages which we have earned.

THE INHERITANCE OF CONDEMNATION

But there is also a "condemnation" which falls upon all men - the Lord Jesus included - aside from that deserved by personal offences: "by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous" (Rom 5:18,19).

Because of one man's offence, all his posterity are under a certain "condemnation". But what was that condemnation? As we have gone to great lengths to demonstrate earlier in this series, it is the decree that "dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Gen 3:19) - the condemnatory curse of 'death' that passed into all men because of the entry of Sin: "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon (or, into) all men ... " (Rom 5:12). All men inherit death. By virtue of their physical descent from a dying sinner, they inevitably partake of the physical substance of his being - replicating also the condition of that substance - being of a mortal and sinful constitution.

WHY IS HUMAN NATURE CONDEMNED?

So then, condemnation falls upon all men; not a legal decree so much as the inheritance of a nature condemned to the grave. But the question must be addressed, Why is that nature condemned to the grave? It is sometimes argued that it is merely because Adam became mortal, and therefore so are we, because we are his sons. But this does not address the question; it describes the fact of the matter without getting to the heart of the reason why. In fact, left unqualified, such an explanation can be taken as another way of saying that we die, because we bear the condemnation for another man's sin - the standard Church dogma, which we strongly refute.

THE LAW OF SIN

The actual reason, as taught in Scripture, and which has been held by Christadelphians for over 150 years, is because of another feature of the human condition which Adam brought into being. That is, "the law of sin", elsewhere styled the diabolos, or "?sin in the flesh", which is at enmity with our Creator. So, after speaking of the condemnation coming upon all men as cited above, the apostle continues: "for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous"? (Rom 5:19). By one man's offence, judgement came upon all men to condemnation - for by one man's disobedience many were made sinners. Notice this; the two aspects go together, and are brought together by the Apostle. Condemnation comes upon all men for, or because, through one man's disobedience, many are "made sinners". The key to understanding why we have a condemnation from Adam therefore, lies in understanding how it is that through what Adam did, we are "made sinners" in the sight of God.

BEING "MADE SINNERS"

The Greek word for "made" <2525>, as in "made sinners" is used 21 times in the New Testament, primarily to denote a position which individuals have been appointed to, by a greater authority or power. The following examples illustrate the point:

"Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler <2525> over his household, to give them meat in due season?" (Mat 24:45)

"Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint <2525> over this business" (Acts 6:3)

"And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made <2525> him governor over Egypt and all his house (Acts 7:10)

But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made <2525> thee a ruler and a judge over us?" (Acts 7:27)

"This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made <2525> thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. (Acts 7:35)

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain <2525> elders in every city, as I had appointed thee" (Tit 1:5)

THE CONSTITUTION OF SIN

So then, for men to be "made <2525> sinners", in the apostolic sense is for them to be appointed to a position whereby they become such in the Divine estimation. Not so much by personal choice, but in this case by the effect of another man's disobedience. By one man's offence, sin entered into the world, transforming it into a world dominated by sin and rebellion (v 12), a world which can no longer be described as "very good"?, for rather "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now" (Rom 8:22).

This being so, all who are born after Adam's offence, enter into conditions created by his sin and which are sustained by the continuance of sin. They are involuntarily born into a constitution of sin - that is a system, or arrangement of things dominated by Sin and it's effects. Indeed, they are themselves part of that sinful constitution of things, for as part of their physical makeup, they have impulses of sin residing in them; "sin in the flesh"? - that is in the brain-flesh, so forming the "carnal mind" which is "enmity against God". They are part of a corrupted world; they become appointed as members, or citizens of that system by virtue of being born into it, and indeed by sharing it's dominating principles of physical and moral corruption in the very fabric of their being.

This is what it means for men to be "made sinners." Just as one born into the constitutional arrangement of Britain is called British; even so one who is born into the constitutional arrangement of Sin is called a a Sinner. And just as one can voluntarily forsake the system of Britain to become, say, a citizen of America, and become to all intents and purposes an American, even so we, through the work of Christ, might forsake the constitution of Sin, and become part of the constitution of Righteousness - that is, heirs of the Kingdom to come. Indeed, this is the comparison drawn by Bro Thomas in Elpis Israel, (p 129), to which we can only briefly allude for lack of space, and to which we heartily commend the reader.

Bro Thomas also wrote concerning the matter:

"Upon this principle, he that is born of sinful flesh is a sinner; as he that is born of English parents is an English child. Such a sinner is an heir of all that is derivable from sin" (Elpis Israel, p 130).

"The Apostle says, "By Adam's disobedience the many were made sinners"; that is, they were endowed with a nature like his, which had become unclean, as the result of disobedience; and by the constitution of the economy into which they were introduced by the will of the flesh, they were constituted sinners before they were able to discern between right and wrong".

"Thus men are sinners in a twofold sense; first, by natural birth; and next by transgression. In the former sense, it is manifest that they could not help themselves"? (Elpis Israel, p 131)

And again:

"There are two states or kingdoms in God's arrangements, which are distinguished by constitution. These are the Kingdom of Satan and the Kingdom of God. The citizens of the former are all sinners; the heirs of the latter are saints. Men cannot be born heirs by the will of the flesh; for natural birth confers no right to God's kingdom. Men must be born sinners before they can become saints; even as one must be born a foreigner before he can be an adopted citizen of the States ... Children are born sinners or unclean, because they are born of sinful flesh; and "?that which is born of the flesh is flesh", or sin. This is a misfortune, not a crime. They did not will to be born sinners. They have no choice in the case ..." (Elpis Israel p 129).

THE REASON FOR CONDEMNATION

Having considered these things, we return then to the reason for our Physical inheritance of condemnation. Through Adam's offence, condemnation came upon all men, for by virtue of fleshly descent alone, all men are born into a system, or 'constitution'? of sin, themselves possessing a nature which has as the fundamental law of it's existence, "?the law of sin", which determines the natural outlook and disposition of thought.

Because of the very nature of what man is - even before he has done good or bad, he is under condemnation. He is physically part of a world dominated by sin, and which is therefore condemned. He himself has sin as a law of his make-up, and therefore he himself - through no crime of his own individual responsibility - is subject to the Divine condemnation which rests upon that order of things, and all that it stands for in opposition to The Most High.

In short, human nature is itself condemned because of what it is in the sight of the Creator - the source of rebellion, sin and transgression.

WHY SHOULD A RIGHTEOUS MAN DIE?

It was into such an arrangement, or order of things that the Son of God was born. He also bore our condemnation - simply by virtue of the laws intrinsic to the physical fabric of his being, inherited from Mary. It was defiled, and part of a condemned order of things which must pass to make way for the things of Eternity. "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1Cor 15:50), not even that of the Lord Jesus in whose mouth was found no guile; and in whose actions were found no transgression. Morally, he was perfect - yet physically, it was needful for him to bare the infirmities of the flesh, in order that he might bare them away upon the cross.

This is the point of the sacrifice of Christ. It was an identification by the Son with the Father's righteous condemnation of Sin. He recognised sin for what it really was - and where it really was - dwelling in him. He recognised that such a nature, as part of a sinful constitution of things, was righteously condemned by the Father with the whole of that constitution to the grave.

And so he willingly submitted his body to a sacrificial death, that the Divine Condemnation upon Human Nature could be endorsed and made manifest by him. If it were against his will - if it were forced upon him; there would have been no willing endorsement, or declaration of his Father's righteousness in requiring the destruction of the diabolic nature of man. But such was not the case: "Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done" was the Master's prayer, as the time of his offering drew nigh. He voluntarily made his own will - that natural disposition prompted by the flesh - subservient to that of his Father.

A BASIS FOR FORGIVENESS

By so condemning sin through sacrifice (Rom 8:3), the Lord provided a declaration of the Father's Righteousness which forms the basis of our forgiveness. This is the testimony of Paul speaking of the Lord, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Rom 3:25,26).

And in this, we see that the principles of Sacrifice, and of Atonement are not merely precepts to be recognised and believed - they are principles to be enacted in life. In his Sacrifice - and indeed, in the life which went before, the Lord established a pattern for us to follow. Indeed, our ver salvation requires us to follow it; for He redeemed himself from his own cursed nature by the declaration of His Father's Righteousness - and if we likewise wish to be redeemed, we must therefore become identified with that declaration.

In Baptism, we identify ourselves in a very graphic way, with our Lord's condemnation of Sin. We openly declare that we are worthy to die - and in effect put to death the "old man" of the flesh "that the body of sin might be destroyed" (Rom 8:6). But we also identify ourselves with the Father's Righteousness as declared by Christ, for in recognising our righteous condemnation before God, we resolve to do his will, and not our own. In Baptism, we declare the utter unprofitablenesss of the flesh, and seek instead, to walk after the ways of the Spirit.

Because of the sacrificial death of Christ, being an endorsement and declaration of God's Righteousness, the Father Himself is able to be "Just and the Justifier of him which believeth". That is, in the way of reconciliation He has appointed; none of his Righteous principles are violated or compromised - rather, all are plainly made manifest. He is shewn to be Just in every point. But also, he is the Justifier of those that believe - for they have aligned themselves with the principles of the Atonement, seen in Christ. They seek to do as he did - crucify sin, and declare righteousness. Even so, they find forgiveness in the Father's Sight, and live in the hope of being partakers of the Divine Nature; even as He is (2Pet 1:4)

Chris Maddocks