To fully quality, however, as the last Adam in this mediatorial redemptive work, God's second Man must succeed where His first man failed, and He must succeed under the same circumstances and limitations. The first man failed on earth: the second Man must succeed on earth. The first man had a tripartite human nature subject to human limitations. The second Man must have a tripartite human nature subject to human limitations. The first man was tempted from without by satan to doubt, disobedience and disloyalty. The second Man must be tempted in the same way, by the same person, to do the same thing. If God's second Man succeeded where God's first man failed then He would qualify as the last Adam to become the Redeemer of the human race and the Head of a new order of beings.
Let us see how God's second Man in the incarnation met every one of these requirements.
The eternal Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. The only begotten Son left the Father's bosom in glory to be born of a virgin in a manger in Bethlehem. A Saviour was born in the city of David. The Lord from heaven came to earth.
God's second Man was human subject to human limitations. Christ's humanity began where ours did and went though all the stages of human life from infancy to manhood. Christ has a human ancestry.
Romans 1:3, "Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh."
Acts 13:23, "Of this man's (David) seed hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus."
The Son of god became the Son of Man by a human birth. He was "a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes." Mary was His Mother.
Luke 1:30, 31, "And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS."
He was a "child" subject to the law of regular development, living in a home with brothers and sisters and growing under the training and discipline of His home life as other boys grow.
Luke 2:40, "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon him."
He was "a man" and as a son and brother in the home, as a neighbor and tradesman in the community, as a citizen of the nation, He performed every duty and met every obligation that these human relationships demanded. Christ Jesus was not only "made in the likeness of men" but He was in His earthly life "found in fashion as a man" (Phil. 2:7, 8). "In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren" (Hebrews 2:17). In everything the Son of Man was not only humanly perfect but He was perfectly human.
God's second Man had a tripartite human nature.
Luke 23:6, "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said this, he gave up the ghost."
Matthew 26:38, "Then said he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me."
Matthew 26:12, "For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial."
God's second Man had a spirit. It was ever open Godward and heavenward. He loved His Father and delighted in His Father's world, word and will. Communion with His Father was His supreme delight and He ever lived in the consciousness of the Father's presence (John 8:29) and in the joy of the Father's smile (Matthew 17:5). In Jesus the human spirit was always in perfect adjustment with the Spirit of God and was dominant over both His soul and body.
God's second Man had a soul. The last Adam thought, loved and willed as the first Adam had done.His familiarity with the Holy Scripture shows how He must have read and pondered the sacred writings. His parables taken largely from nature or the events of human life reveal the mold that shaped His thought life. He loved people and enjoyed fellowship with them. He was capable of intense sympathy and sorrow, of great indignation and anger, of deep joy and gladness, of exquisite appreciation and gratitude. Jesus had a soul in which was manifested a mighty capacity to think, love and will.
God's second Man had a body. He was made "in the likeness of sinful flesh." The Samaritan woman knew Him to be a Jew. Mary Magdalene thought Him to be a gardner. Those who saw and heard Him in the synagogue at Nazareth while wondering at His gracious words still took Him to be only Joseph's son. He ate, slept, walked, worked and lived as other men did. While in His countenance, conversation and carriage there must have been that which his sinlessness and holiness produced which made Him different from all other men yet in His physical form there was nothing which differentiated Him.
God's second Man was not only human but He was subject to all the sinless infirmities and limitations of humanity. Jesus hungered, thirsted, slept, wept, wearied, mourned, suffered and died. "There is not a note in the great organ of our humanity which, when touched, does not find a sympathetic vibration in the might, range and scope of our Lord's being, saving, of course, the jarring discord of sin."
Hebrews 2:10, 11, "For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren."
~Ruth Paxson~
(continued with # 3)
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