For scarcely for a
righteous man will one die;
yet perhaps for a
good man someone would
even dare to die. But
God demonstrates His own
love toward us, in
that while we were still
sinners, Christ died
for us. Much more then, having
now been justified by
His blood, we shall be saved from
wrath through Him.
For if when we were enemies
we were reconciled to
God through the death
of His Son, much
more, having been reconciled,
we shall be saved by
His life.
And not only that,
but we also rejoice in God
through our Lord
Jesus Christ, through whom
we have now received
the reconciliation.
Romans 5:7–11
Sometimes
we lose true understanding when we hear or have been taught certain things
without explanation; that is, we here “Christian” phrases or words but there is
no insight; so we accept them on faith, but this faith is of blind faith. For instance, what does it mean: “God was
in Christ?” Is it as the Mormons would state: “Jesus was just another God.”
Is this true, that Jesus Christ is another God, therefore it can be said that
God, the Father, conjoined Himself to this other God? Or is it as Jehovah
Witnesses teach, “Jesus Christ is a created being?” If those two theological
theories are true then Jesus Christ had to be reconciled to God. This
reconciliation had to be imbued into Him before he could become the Messiah.
This has implication in regards to the doctrine of the Trinity. So how are we
to understand that phrase: “God was in Christ”? It may be meant of the
Trinity that the Father was in Christ constitution and directing, and the Son
was in Christ by personal union, and the Holy Spirit was in Christ gifting Him
for this work of reconciliation. My personal feelings, on this matter, all is
of the Father. There is then this “inness” (a word that cannot be found in the
dictionary unless you go online) but it is what we are attempting to
understand: how God was “inness” in Christ. Inness is an informal noun and has
two meanings: 1. The state or quality of being fashionable: the inness of his
new wardrobe. 2. the state or quality of being part of a select or exclusive
group: here inness with the literary crowd.
Wow! That
seems very philosophical and tough to wrap our minds around, “inness”? But the
Scriptures do say that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Him. First,
we must admit that Jesus Christ was not some wardrobe of God the Father, that
is what the Mormons and the Jehovah Witnesses make of Him. Yes God was in
Christ and Christ had a body as we do when He was here on earth as the Son of
God, but this is not as though God needed a wardrobe to impress Himself to
others. Secondly, God being in Jesus Christ did make the Father to be a part
(in a loose sense) of a select state.
Was He not in Jesus Christ and in this state He would reconcile lost
sinners to Himself? Yes!
Let us
examine this: “God was in Christ” so we can come to know what is meant,
and, what is not meant. What is not meant by that phrase? First: We must so
confound this doctrine of the essence of God the Father and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit so as to resemble that of man. Man has a son and that son is of
the same essence and nature as the father, and even may have the temper of his
father, and in many ways resembles his father. Yet, is this what is meant when
we speak of the “inness” or the “essential inness” whereby the Father and the
Son are one in essence? If so, then Jesus Christ is not exactly God, only a
representation by lineage of God and being so is a separate being. Again, this
would mean that Jesus Christ had to in some fashion be reconciled to the
Father, God. The truth from Scripture is plain and clear that the Father and
the Son have the same nature, the same perfections and excellencies. Why?
Because Jesus Christ is God, a person of the Godhead as is the Holy Spirit. God
the Father is in the Son without any respect to reconciliation. God is in the
Son in creation, and He is also one with the Holy Spirit, not in some manner of
“inness” is He is Jesus Christ as the definition would provide if that is what
is meant by “inness.” The fact remains
that for Jesus to be the One who reconciles lost sinners to God, He must not
have had to be reconciled to God whether or not He sinned. It is not by the
reason of your sin God reconciles you to Himself. God reconciles you to Himself
by means of His will alone, and not by anything you do or are. This is the
mercy and the love of God towards all whom He chose to be the bride of His Son
Jesus Christ and to give to this bride all that the Son has to give, and the
most He gives is a reconciliation to God by means of the propitiation Jesus
Christ gave to those chose by God. Why did God choose some and not others? I
don’t know! I only know what God has revealed in His word. I do know this: God
is just, God is Love, God is merciful, and God is God who is Good and all that
He does is Good and for the good of those whom He chose. Now! Are one of the chosen
ones? Do you desire to know and convert your life to Him: no matter the cost?
Do you really believe that God through the death of His Son on the cross will
deliver you from this world and by doing so will create for you, and all those
chosen, to have a new world, and that by your faith, your conversion to Him,
you have eternal life and all that comes with eternal life? This desire must
germinate and this germination comes about by the Holy Spirit in you leading
you to read His word, and apply His word in your life. You are an ambassador
for God, for Jesus Christ, and a new creature, now, legally in heaven, now.
What then is holding you back? I hope and pray: nothing.
There is
much more and I will continue to write on this subject so that we can complete
our learning in regards to God reconciling Himself through Jesus Christ to all
those who will believe on Him. You must choose to follow Him, He does not fill
up an empty cistern.
Here am I and the children
Whom the
LORD
Has given me!
We are the
signs and
Wonders in Israel from the
LORD of
hosts,
Who dwells in Mount Zion.
Isaiah 8:18
Live today whose you are
Richard L. Crumb
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