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Scripture Reading: Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:31; Matt. 5:20; Phil. 3:9
In the previous message we saw that the Man-Savior was conceived of the divine essence with the divine attributes for the content and reality of His human virtues (Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:18, 20). The Lord Jesus was conceived in this way so that the divine attributes might fill the empty human virtues, strengthen, enrich, and sanctify the human virtues, and express God in the human virtues. We have also seen that the Man-Savior was born of the human essence with the human virtues created by God for man (Luke 1:31). In Him the divine attributes and the human virtues are mingled. The divine attributes fill His human virtues, and His human virtues contain the divine attributes.
The Man-Savior was born of the human essence with the human virtues in order to rescue these virtues from man’s fall. Before the Lord Jesus was born, man had become fallen. Therefore, with the exception of the Lord Jesus, the virtues of every human being are fallen. This was true even of the human virtues of Mary and Joseph. We do not agree with the Roman Catholic teaching that Mary did not have a sinful nature. (The doctrine of the sinlessness of Mary became an official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church in 1854). This teaching has no basis in the Scriptures, and we do not believe it.
In the Gospels, we can see the difference between the Man-Savior’s human virtues and those of Mary and Joseph. For example, the record in Luke 2 indicates that the Lord’s virtues are high, pure, and perfect. When the Man-Savior was twelve, He said to His parents, who had been searching for Him, “Did you not know that I must be in the things of My Father?” (2:49). On the other hand, “He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them” (2:51). This was subjection in His humanity to His human parents. As we read this account, we see how excellent the human virtues of the Lord Jesus were. Mary’s virtues, by contrast, were not that excellent. As we compare these two kinds of human virtues, we see that the Lord’s virtues were uplifted, whereas Mary’s virtues were not strengthened, enriched, and uplifted by the divine attributes. From this we see that it certainly is necessary for the human virtues to be rescued from the fall.
The Man-Savior was born of the human essence with the human virtues also to restore and recover man’s virtues from the damage of man’s fall. Because of the fall, our human virtues have been damaged. For example, the virtue of love has been damaged. A brother may love his wife very much one day, and the next day he may be unhappy with her and even think of divorcing her. This is a strong sign that his human love has been damaged.
The love a girl has for her mother is also a damaged love. A girl may be very loving toward her mother at one moment, but this love is easily broken and may suddenly change. This proves that a girl’s human love for her mother is a fallen and damaged love.
The human virtues of righteousness and holiness have also been damaged by the fall. Our righteousness has so many “holes” in it that it can be compared to a beehive. Can you count how many holes you have in your righteousness? Our love, brightness, righteousness, and holiness have all been damaged.
The Man-Savior’s incarnation was not only to rescue our virtues from the fall; His incarnation was also to restore and recover our virtues from the damage of the fall. Something may be rescued without being restored, or may be restored without being recovered. Our human virtues need to be rescued, restored, and recovered.
Furthermore, the Man-Savior was incarnated in order to uplift the human virtues to the highest standard, to the standard that matches God’s attributes for the expression of God. Because our virtues were damaged and deformed, they could not match God’s attributes. But the uplifted human virtues can match God’s attributes. The Man-Savior was born of the human essence with the human virtues in order to uplift these virtues to such a standard that they can match God’s attributes for His expression.
The Man-Savior’s being conceived of the divine essence with the divine attributes and being born of the human essence with the human virtues produced the highest standard of morality. This morality is for the saving power of the Man-Savior’s dynamic salvation. The result of the divine attributes filling the empty human virtues, strengthening, enriching, and sanctifying the human virtues, and expressing God in the human virtues is the highest standard of morality. The Lord Jesus refers to this morality in Matthew 5:20: “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens.” Here the Lord charges us to have a surpassing righteousness, which is not merely an objective righteousness, but a subjective righteousness, the indwelling Christ lived out of us as our righteousness. Of course, the Man-Savior Himself had such a surpassing righteousness, and this righteousness is the highest standard of morality.
Paul in Philippians 3:9 speaks of the highest standard of morality: “And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God based on faith.” Paul was endeavoring to be found in Christ not with his own righteousness, a human righteousness, but having the righteousness of God. This indicates that we Christians need to live a righteousness that is actually God Himself. Paul aspired to be found in Christ having such a surpassing righteousness, a righteousness of the highest standard, that is, the righteousness of God.
How can we have the righteousness of God? We can only have this righteousness by having God live in us. If God does not live in us, we cannot live Him. If we do not live God, we cannot live the righteousness of God. To live the righteousness of God, we must have God Himself living in us. This is the surpassing righteousness, the righteousness of the highest standard. The Man-Savior’s incarnation was to produce this highest standard of morality, and this morality is for the saving power of His dynamic salvation.
Due to the influence of tradition, many Christians have the wrong concept concerning the Lord’s salvation. Their concept is that our Savior, Jesus Christ, came merely to save us from hell and to bring us to heaven. This understanding of salvation is very inadequate. The Man-Savior’s way of saving us is much higher than this.
According to His way of saving us, the Man-Savior first brought God’s attributes into man’s virtues. Then He lived a life with the human virtues filled, strengthened, enriched, and sanctified by the divine attributes. In such a living there is saving power. The Lord does not save us by merely stretching out His hand to rescue us from hell. Rather, when He saves us, He comes into us as the One with the human virtues filled with the divine attributes. Such a life saves us from within and uplifts our human virtues, restoring, sanctifying, and transforming us. A person who is saved in this way will surely not go to hell. Instead, he will go to the place where God is.
However, suppose a person could actually be saved according to the natural concept of merely being rescued from hell and brought to heaven. If Christ simply stretched forth His hand to lift us out of hell into heaven, God would not be pleased. He would say to such a person, “I am not happy with what you are. Your person is offensive to Me. I don’t want you to remain here in heaven with Me.”
We need to see that the Man-Savior’s way of saving us is not superficial. In order to save us, He, the very God, came into man, bringing God’s attributes into man’s virtues. While He was on earth, He lived the life of a God-man, with the divine attributes filling His human virtues. Eventually, He died on the cross and was resurrected. In His resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). Now as the life-giving Spirit He enters into us to bring God into our being and to fill our virtues with God’s attributes. In this way we are being saved day by day. We are being saved in the way of the Lord’s restoring, His transforming.
The highest standard of morality constitutes the qualification for the Man-Savior’s dynamic salvation. Only the Man-Savior has this qualification; no other person, including Confucius and Plato, is so qualified. In the Gospel of Luke there are a number of cases illustrating that the Man-Savior’s standard of morality qualifies Him for dynamic salvation. The best illustration is the parable of the good Samaritan (10:25-37). This Samaritan lived the highest standard of morality, and He saved the fallen one by His standard of morality.
The highest standard of morality also constitutes the basic factor for the Man-Savior’s dynamic salvation. We see this in the case of Zaccheus (19:1-10). Because of the Man-Savior’s dynamic salvation, Zaccheus became another person immediately after coming into contact with Him.
When the Man-Savior came to the house of Zaccheus, He came with the Spirit of power (Luke 4:18) and with the indestructible eternal life (Heb. 7:16) to impart into him at his believing in Him (John 3:15). The Spirit of power and the eternal life were both conveyed in the highest standard of His morality. When He, as such a dynamic Man-Savior, looked at Zaccheus and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down; for today I must stay in your house,” Zaccheus responded.
We may compare Zaccheus to an electrical toy that responds as soon as electricity flows into it. What made Zaccheus respond as he did? It was the Spirit with the eternal life, as the divine electricity, that flowed into him from the Man-Savior. Without the Spirit, there would have been no way for Him as the eternal life to get into Zaccheus. His humanity in the highest standard of morality was the “wire” conveying the “electricity” of the Spirit with the eternal life. The Spirit with the eternal life as the divine electricity was within the Lord’s humanity of the highest standard. When He looked at Zaccheus and talked to him, the Spirit with His eternal life entered into him.
During the years of His ministry on earth, the Lord Jesus was like a great magnet drawing people to Himself. Attracted by Him, the disciples left everything to follow Him. We know from the four Gospels that great crowds went after Him. We also have been drawn to Him by His powerful Person. The reason we spend so much time in meetings is that we have been attracted to the Man-Savior. We have been drawn by His dynamic saving power. The Man-Savior’s dynamic saving power is constituted of His highest standard of morality in which His powerful Spirit and eternal life are.
The Triune God is a mystery, and the incarnation of Christ is also a great mystery. Furthermore, the Man-Savior’s living on earth was mysterious. First, He was a magnet attracting His followers. Eventually, He came into His followers and made each one of them a mystery. This is the reason that, as believers, we are a mystery to our relatives and friends. They do not understand what we are doing day by day and why we are doing it. Actually, we are all living a mysterious life.
Our being a mystery is altogether due to the Man-Savior, the God-man, whose divine attributes fill His human virtues to produce the highest standard of morality. As we have emphasized in this message, the Man-Savior’s highest standard of morality constitutes the qualification for His dynamic salvation; it also constitutes the basic factor for this salvation. How marvelous!
What we have been covering in this message is not merely a doctrine. We have been considering a living Person, the God-man with the highest standard of morality as His saving power. We should not be content with teachings — we need the Man-Savior with His dynamic salvation. I encourage you to bring to the Lord this matter of the Man-Savior’s highest standard of morality constituting His qualification and the basic factor for His dynamic salvation. If you bring this to the Lord in prayer, I believe that He as the Spirit will speak more to you concerning His highest standard of morality.
