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I. Died as a man
А. Acquired man's blood
B. Was without sin
II. Died as God
А. For an eternal redemption
B. To give eternal life
III. Heresies concerning Christ
IV. Christ being God essentially and having the Spirit economically
Man's fall created a great dilemma for God. Man was the very center of God's desire, made to express Him. Yet because of man's sin, God's righteousness required man to be condemned. In this lesson we will see that God's solution to His dilemma is marvelously perfect and complete. The Lord Jesus is the unique Person who was qualified to die for our redemption.
All men have sinned and the wages of sin is death (Rom. 3:23; 6:23). For man's sin, God required the payment of man's blood. Hebrews 9:22 says, "Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." This is why the Lord Jesus had to become a man. Man's blood was required, so God had to acquire such blood. God had no blood; but by His incarnation, He took on blood and flesh (Heb. 2:14). As the man Jesus, He could shed genuine human blood for our sake.
God had to become not just a man, but a sinless man. If Jesus had even one sin, He could never die for others' sins because He would have to die for His own. Therefore Christ knew no sin (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15). He was made only in the likeness of the flesh of sin (Rom. 8:3). He was without spot or blemish (1 Pet. 1:19). From this we see that Christ was fully qualified to die for man. He could shed human blood and He could die for others because He had no sin.
Yet if Jesus were only a sinless man, we would still have a great problem. His death would be good for only one man; in fact, it would be good for only one sin. Let us explain. God requires man to die because of sin — even one sin. Suppose in your entire life you committed only one sin. As a sinless man, Jesus could die as a substitute for that sin. But if you were to sin again you would have to die for that second sin. Well, you know that you have sinned more than once in your life! How could one man, Jesus, die for all your sins and for all the sins of mankind? And how could it work for us two thousand years after His death?
We have pointed out before that although Christ became a man, He was still God. He was a genuine man, yet also the complete God. His being God added an eternal element to His redeeming blood. Hebrews 9:14 says that the Lord offered Himself up through the eternal Spirit. He has accomplished an eternal redemption for us (Heb. 9:12). Now Jesus' blood is effective for all men of all times. It can cleanse every sin of every man on the earth.
But redemption alone is not the goal of the Lord's work. His ultimate goal is to dispense His divine life into man. This is the aspect of Christ's death as the grain of wheat, which we saw earlier. Who could give man the eternal, divine life except God Himself? This is the second reason why Christ had to be God: only God could release the divine life into man.
Praise the Lord Jesus! He is the unique God-man. No one could do what He did for us. As a man without sin, He was qualified to shed His blood for us. As God, He has made His death eternally effective. He has accomplished an eternal redemption and He has released the divine life of God into us.
If we are clear about the previous points, we will realize how seriously wrong it is to say that Christ was not a real man or that He was not God. If either is true, then Christ's redemptive work would be utterly annulled. We would all perish.
Yet, as absurd as it is, there have been people throughout Christian history who have taught such heresies. Even today some say that Christ was God but not really a man. If that were true, then Christ could not shed human blood for man's sin. Others say that Christ was a man but not God, and that He died merely as a martyr. If that were true, His death would not be eternally effective and He could never put God's life into us. Still others say that Christ was neither God nor man but a third kind of being. This is as ridiculous as the other teachings. The Bible never gives any ground for such heresies. By now you should be very clear that the Lord Jesus was fully God and fully man. He was the complete God and a genuine man. He was a God-man. His death was the accomplishment of redemption for all mankind.
Heretical teachings about Christ come from having an inadequate understanding of the Bible's description of Him. One verse that has especially confused people is Matthew 27:46. On the cross, right before His death, the Lord cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" People have wrongly used this verse to say that Christ was not God since God forsook Him on the cross. They might also point out Matthew 3, where the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus at His baptism. They ask, "If Jesus were God, why did He need the Holy Spirit to come upon Him?" This kind of question can be properly answered with what the Bible says.
Because the Lord was conceived of the Holy Spirit, He possessed the divine essence (Lesson Fourteen). You can say that He had the Holy Spirit as His essence, as part of His being. He was essentially God. Why then did the Holy Spirit descend upon Him at His baptism? This was necessary in order for the Lord Jesus to carry out His work. His baptism was the beginning of His three and a half year ministry on the earth. During that time He did many wonderful works such as preaching and performing many miracles. In the four Gospels He healed the sick and the crippled; He fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fishes; He cast demons out of people and calmed the raging winds and seas; He even raised the dead. To do all those things He needed the authority and power of the Holy Spirit. We call this aspect of the Spirit "the economical Spirit." This is the Spirit that Jesus received at His baptism. He had the Spirit essentially for life at His birth and He received the Spirit economically for power at His baptism.
When Jesus was crucified on the cross, the sins of the human race were put on Him; He was made sin on our behalf (1 Pet. 2:24; 2 Cor. 5:21). The righteous God judged Jesus for man's sins. At that moment, God saw all the sins of the world on Jesus. The Holy God had to turn away, and the economical Spirit left Jesus. Thus Jesus cried, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
Then we read in 1 Peter 3:18 that, on the cross, Christ was "being put to death in flesh, but made alive in spirit." When Jesus died on the cross for sinners, God left Him economically. But, according to this verse, God passed through crucifixion with Him essentially. This God-man was put to death in His human flesh, but made alive in His divine spirit. He had the essence of God from birth to death. His essential being never changed; in His essence He was still God and still man.
This should help us understand who Christ was on the cross: He was both God and man. We should have no doubt that the Lord Jesus was fully and uniquely qualified to die for mankind. Praise Him for His wonderful death as the God-man! Because of His accomplishment on the cross we are saved and are being saved. Hallelujah!
