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JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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2. He came in order to reveal the Father (Jn 1:18; 14:9).<br />

3. He came in order to be qualified to act as a faithful High Priest.<br />

(Heb 2:17; cf. 5:1-5)<br />

In order that Jesus Christ might become our High Priest, He must become a man. In<br />

becoming a man, He partook of all human experiences except sin. He felt hunger, He wanted<br />

sympathy, He was weary, He felt all temptations, He was misunderstood, He was forsaken, He<br />

was persecuted, He was delivered to die.<br />

4. He came to provide a sacrifice for sin (9:26; 10:1-10).<br />

This was the "purpose of all purposes"<br />

(see also Jn 1:29; Mk 10:45; 1 Jn 3:5; Isa 53:6; Heb 2:9; 2 Cor. 5:21).<br />

5. He came to destroy the works of the Devil (Heb 2:14; Jn 14:30).<br />

6. He came to give us an example of a holy life.<br />

(inferred in Mt 11:29; 1 Jn 2:6: 1 Pe 2:21)<br />

7. He came to prepare for the Second Advent (Heb 9:28).<br />

We human beings were the motive of His Incarnation and it was for our salvation that<br />

God loved man to the point of being born and of appearing in a human body.<br />

The Nature of the Incarnation<br />

The Nature of the incarnation is expounded most thoroughly in Philippians 2:5-8, the<br />

passage that is sometimes called the "Kenotic Theory."<br />

"Your attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, did not<br />

consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the<br />

form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man,<br />

He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!"<br />

This passage of Scripture gives the true nature of the incarnation. The kenosis is the selfemptying<br />

manner of existence that took place with the incarnation of Christ. This passage is in a<br />

context of man's appearance to man, that is, men should not do things to be seen of men or to be<br />

motivated by pride. In other words, the Christian is being exhorted to be a humble kind of<br />

person not boasting about himself as though he has or is something better than his fellow man.

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