and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:23.
3. With what question did Christ challenge His enemies?
"Which of you convinceth Me of sin?" John 8:46.
4. To what extent was Christ tempted?
"[He] was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Heb.
4:15.
5. In His humanity, of what nature did Christ partake?
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also
Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil." Heb. 2:14.
6. How fully did Christ share our common humanity?
"Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that
He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make
reconciliation for the sins of the people." Verse 17.
NOTE.- In His humanity Christ partook of our sinful, fallen nature. If not, then He was
not "made like unto His brethren," was not "in all points tempted like as
we are," did not overcome as we have to overcome, and is not, therefore, the complete
and perfect Saviour man needs and must have to be saved. The idea that Christ was born of
an immaculate or sinless mother, inherited no tendencies to sin, and for this reason did
not sin, removes Him from the realm of a fallen world, and from the very place where help
is needed. On His human side, Christ inherited just what every child of Adam inherits,- a
sinful nature. On the divine side, from His very conception He was begotten and born of
the Spirit. And all this was done to place mankind on vantage-ground, and to demonstrate
that in the same way every one who is "born of the Spirit" may gain like
victories over sin in his own sinful flesh. Thus each one is to overcome as Christ
overcame. Rev. 3:21. Without this birth there can be no victory over temptation, and
no salvation from sin. John 3:3-7.
7. Where did God, in Christ, condemn sin, and gain the victory for us over
temptation and sin?
"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh." Rom. 8:3.
NOTE.-God, in Christ, condemned sin, not by pronouncing against it merely as a judge
sitting on the judgment-seat, but by coming and living in the flesh, in sinful flesh, and
yet without sinning. In Christ, He demonstrated that it is possible, by His grace and
power, to resist temptation, overcome sin, and live a sinless life in sinful
flesh.
