Sabbath School Class—Life as Discovery and Hope
April 19, 2008
Larry R Evans
Quiz for Reflection
1. The nature of Christ had to be at least 51% divine for Him to be our Saviour. [Jn 1:1-3, 14] True or False?
2. The Ebionites (taken from Ebony) taught that Jesus was not a Jew but a Black African. True or False?
3. The Bible teaches that matter (including flesh) is inferior to spirit. [1 Jn 4:1-3] True or False?
4. Jesus faced the same temptations we do in order to meet our needs and become the source of our salvation. [Heb.4:14-16; 5:8,9; Phil 4:13] True or False?
5. There is one “man” who serves as the mediator between God and men. [1 Tim 2:5] True or False?
6. Christ will forever retain His human nature. [Lk 24:36-43; Acts 1:10,11] True or False?
Reflection on the Word
1. The nature of Christ had to be at least 51% divine for Him to be our Saviour. [Jn 1:1-3, 14] True
John 1:1-3
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
John 1:14
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (NIV)
The “incarnation” of Christ is not about percents. Arithmetic is not the issue. Scripture makes it clear that Christ was fully God and full man. The fact that this adds up to 200% is not an issue. That is our calculation—not God’s.
2. The Ebionites (taken from Ebony) taught that Jesus was not a Jew but a Black African. False
First of all, Ebionites is not taken from “Ebony.” Ebony does mean dark or black but it is not a root word for Ebionites. The Ebionites were early Christians who taught that Jesus became the son of God only at His baptism. According to them Christ was a nondivine being whose purpose was to call humanity to obedience. Christ, according to the Ebionites, could not save humanity. The Arians picked up this theme later on but were strongly condemned by the Council of Nicaea in AD 325.
While there were some who stressed the humanity or the flesh side of Christ there were those who stressed the “spirit” side as well. The leaders in this teaching were the Gnostics. Which leads us to our next question.
3. The Bible teaches that matter (including flesh) is inferior to spirit. [1 Jn 4:1-3] False
The word Gnostics comes from the Greek word (gnosko) meaning to come to know, recognize, perceive, understand. They eventually separated the spirit from the body and made what one knows superior to the flesh. Within the “family” of Gnostics were the libertines who said that whatever done in the body didn’t matter it was the spirit that counts. The ascetics on the other hand denied any pleasure of the body lest it corrupt the spirit. You can imagine the attitude the Gnostics had toward the Creator God. It is said that Marcion took his pruning knife and cut out all the passage related to God the Creator and related verses. The whole “family” of the Gnostics had it wrong and missed some of the richest blessings that the incarnations has to teach.
4. Jesus faced the same temptations we do in order to meet our needs and become the source of our salvation. [Heb.4:14-16; 5:8,9; Phil 4:13] True and False
This issue is hotly debated by different groups of Christians including Adventists. Rather than entering into that debate which seldom gets very far I would simply like to say that I have come to what I call the maximalist rather than the minimalist position. In other words I believe not only that Christ was tempted as much as we are but because He had the capacity to do so much more he was tempted far more than we. The main point is that Christ “understands” the force of temptation and has a genuine sense of solidarity with us. For review note the following verses – what an encouragement they are to us!
Heb 4:14-16
8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. (NIV)
Phil 4:13
13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (NIV)
5. There is one “man” who serves as the mediator between God and men. [1 Tim 2:5] True
Obviously this is a tricky question but note the following passage. What is the predominant truth in this passage?
1 Tim 2:4-6
5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men-the testimony given in its proper time. (NIV)
6. Christ will forever retain His human nature. [Lk 24:36-43; Acts 1:10,11] True
Luke 24:36-43
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."
40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence. (NIV)
Acts 1:10-11
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." (NIV)
“Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. "With His stripes we are healed." {DA 25.2}
By His life and His death, Christ has achieved even more than recovery from the ruin wrought through sin. It was Satan's purpose to bring about an eternal separation between God and man; but in Christ we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen. In taking our nature, the Saviour has bound Himself to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken. Through the eternal ages He is linked with us. "God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son." John 3:16. He gave Him not only to bear our sins, and to die as our sacrifice; He gave Him to the fallen race. To assure us of His immutable counsel of peace, God gave His only-begotten Son to become one of the human family, forever to retain His human nature. This is the pledge that God will fulfill His word. "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder." God has adopted human nature in the person of His Son, and has carried the same into the highest heaven. It is the "Son of man" who shares the throne of the universe. It is the "Son of man" whose name shall be called, "Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6. The I AM is the Daysman between God and humanity, laying His hand upon both. He who is "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners," is not ashamed to call us brethren. Hebrews 7:26; 2:11. In Christ the family of earth and the family of heaven are
bound together. Christ glorified is our brother. Heaven is enshrined in humanity, and humanity is enfolded in the bosom of Infinite Love. {DA 25f}
Reflective Review
Do we realize just how little hope we had before Christ lived and died as a human? Do we even begin to grasp what risks were involved when God became man? Do we understand the sharp contrasts between Christianity and other world religions when it comes to learning who Jesus was and what He became in order to save us?
In the process of accepting the salvation offered to us by Christ, it is easy to simply see that “one man died for all” and thus salvation was made possible. But there is more, much more involved than a good man dying for those less deserving! (Rom 5:5-8) He tasted the second death that we might not (Heb 2:9), His mercy and faithfulness made atonement for our sins possible (Heb 2:16,17), as the source of our salvation (Heb 5:8,9) He is also able to daily help us meet our own temptations and needs (Heb 2:18, 14-16) but these interim victories are undergirded with the reality that God’s plan will put an end to the one who holds the power of death! The terrible separation between us and all of Heaven will be no more. We can rejoice, and we should, because “in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Rom 5:11) we have a hope that cannot not be quenched by the “temporary” trials, heartaches and separations experienced on this earth. Even now, even now in the midst of our sufferings “hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (Rom 5:5) We are indeed a people of confident hope! We can face today and tomorrow because of who Jesus was, is and will always be. Jesus is not only our Saviour, He is also our Friend.
Comments