Realization of what Christ accomplished on earth should increase our reverence and enhance our service. The reason for God’s son coming into the world was more complex than the need for someone innocent to be a sacrifice for the sins of others. It was not enough that the atonement, appeasing the offended holiness of God, be innocent. The one who took the chastisement through which we might have peace with God, the one who took the “stroke” we were due (Isaiah 53:5,8), had other requirements to fulfill.<\/p>\n
If innocence were all that was needed, the infant Jesus could have been put to death in Herod’s pogrom and finished his work. But the babe Jesus was protected from death at that stage in order to be perfected for his mission. If the death of an innocent one was all that was necessary, it would not even have required the death of God’s son. Any infant would have sufficed. One is reminded of Israel of old, filling the valley of the son of Hinnom with the blood of “innocents” (Jeremiah 19:1-4). Such did not, and never could, accomplish the divine scheme, even if done without the connection of their idolatry, which only increased the wrath of God.<\/p>\n
It was necessary that our propitiating substitute have more identity with us than biological similarity. Thus, the author of our salvation had to be made perfect through suffering (Hebrews 2:10). He had to experience with us a commonness of travail in life, and triumph over that, to establish him as both merciful and faithful high priest (Hebrews 2:17). Thus he who sanctified, and they who are sanctified, are all of one (Hebrews 2:11), sharing identity. The suffering that perfected Jesus to make propitiation, to appease divine wrath, climaxed in death, that he “might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage<\/em>” (Hebrews 2:15).<\/p>\nJesus did two necessary things that required the life he lived. Coming in our likeness, and coming for sin, its eradication, he condemned sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3). Not just through If this raises the question of whether we can live without sin, it is an academic question. The fact is that no man has (Romans 3:23), apart from Christ. And in that it is impossible to be justified by the law because of our weakness in the flesh, no one is going to live without sin. That is, if “no man is justified by the law<\/em>” (Galatians 3:11), because in order to do so one must keep all of it perfectly, without sin, then the Bible tells us that no man lives without sin. Assertions or speculations to the contrary are simply impertinent.<\/p>\n Anyone living flawlessly would not need the death of Christ. Yet Jesus tasted death for every man (Hebrews 2:9). Salvation is by grace that no man should glory (Ephesians 2:8-9). If all men need the death of Christ, no man is going to live without sin. If man could have justified himself in perfect obedience, God would have required that rather than atonement.<\/p>\nThe millennia before Christ were sufficient to prove that men, all men, need a savior. So, by living beyond infancy into adulthood, Jesus established identity with us through suffering, experiencing life as we do, yet without sin. In all that, Jesus glorified God’s Law, condemned our sin, and as one of us, tried and without sin, was perfected to be the author of our salvation.<\/p>\n Or we may say, summarily, that what required the life Jesus lived was his example of obedience. Though on earth he was who he always was and is, he nevertheless subjected himself as Son, learning obedience. Rather than exercise his own will or power, he subjected both to the Father (John 6:38; Acts 10:38). That his power was available is obvious in the temptation to turn the stones to bread. If it were impossible to exercise his own will and do that, where is the temptation? He did not solve that or any problem by the use of his own divine power. If he had extricated himself from every difficulty by a twitch of his nose, or anything likewise, as Samantha in the old television program, “Bewitched,” he would not have lived life as we do. He could not be identified with us or perfected as a merciful high priest who has demonstrated that he understands us. Rather than work his miracles for his own convenience in a sheltered existence, he used them to establish his deity (John 20:31), asserting God’s approval (Acts 2:22). So, living as we do, he learned obedience in suffering (Hebrews 5:8-9). If obedience is required of us (Hebrews 5:9), it is fitting that it be required of our kinsman savior also.<\/p>\n All of this, becoming one with us in nature, demonstrating the reasonableness of God’s laws, exemplifying obedience in trials, and establishing his understanding of us, all of that was God’s plan for our Savior. Being that, required more than innocence alone. Oh yes, and because he was a son of man, and did all that, it is he who shall judge us (John 5:27). He proved his right to do so by suffering the same trials we do, and yet living a perfectly obedient life. A baby who had never lived life with all its vagaries would have been insufficient to accomplish all the justice, example, and consummate propriety of God’s purpose.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Dale Smelser via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 21 No. 3, September 1995 Realization of what Christ accomplished on earth should increase our reverence and enhance our service. The reason for God’s son coming into the world was more complex than the need for someone innocent to be a sacrifice for the sins of others. It was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[73,47],"class_list":["post-96098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-jesus","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31874,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-support-conscientious-objection\/","url_meta":{"origin":96098,"position":0},"title":"Do you support conscientious objection?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you or your church support selective conscientious objection and conscientious objection? Answer: Registering for the draft is a government law that does not violate any teaching of God. \"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1296,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-boy-girl-relationships-not-advisable-at-a-young-age\/","url_meta":{"origin":96098,"position":1},"title":"Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age Answer: Youth is a time of impatient desires. They want the things available to adults, but adulthood seems so far away. The typical teenage boy enters puberty around the age of 11. The typical teenage girl enters puberty around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37138,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-lost-the-surprise-somewhere\/","url_meta":{"origin":96098,"position":2},"title":"We Lost the Surprise Somewhere","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I remember watching Mayberry RFD and related shows most of my childhood. Poor ignorant Gomer Pyle who worked as an auto mechanic was a notable character. 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Answer: We were taught to pray, \"Give us this day our daily bread\" (Matthew 6:11), but God still commands us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61889,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-book-of-my-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":96098,"position":4},"title":"The Book of My Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Job 19:23-27 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Each week the paper publishes its list of top selling books \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes the books are biographies, fictional stories, or fiction placed in historical settings. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They hope that others will also purchase the books, if for no other reason than curiosity. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many author\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6988,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-passages-that-refer-to-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":96098,"position":5},"title":"Are there passages that refer to THE Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have been studying the Lord's supper issues and one of our main concerns is about a second offering in which only a few partake, for the reasons you listed in your article (not doing it together). 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\ninnocence, but by living in our circumstances without sinning. He thereby showed that God’s laws are compatible with his creatures and that God’s demands are not unreasonable or unjust. Then he took the punishment for sin, so that the righteousness of the law, its requirement, might be fulfilled in those saved in Christ (Rom 8:1), those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Romans 8:4). In that walk and in being forgiven. God has what his law requires in his creatures. He has obedience and no sin accounted. And that dedicated faithful walk is necessary to continued forgiveness (I John 1:7).\n
\nOnce sin came into the world, the impossibility of the Law to save implies the impossibility of any man ever keeping it perfectly. That is the implication of revelation. Also, by induction, we may look at man’s failure to this point in time ever to be justified by his works, offering to God a perfect life, and conclude that such failure is an indefatigable fact of life, of everyone’s life.\n