JESUS

Part 1 of 11: Introduction to “JESUS - THE SON OF MAN” by Arthur J Licursi

This study is written to provoke consideration of the genuine humanity of “Jesus of Nazareth” as “the Son of man,” who also is the true “Son of God.” From it, we will see the absolute necessity of Jesus’ incarnation, to take on human flesh, just as every human possesses since Adam’s fall.

The humanity of Jesus is every bit as important to our full salvation as the divinity of Jesus. His sinless living, in the face of His possessing a very real, human, Sin-laden and sin-capable physical body, is what makes Him the acceptable offering as the innocent “Lamb of God” that frees us from the power of the Sin nature. Even Pilate found no fault in Him. In the face of His very real human body condition, He was “yet without sin” (Heb 4:15b). 1 Peter 2:22 Who (Jesus) did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:

Jesus’ sinlessness, in the face of His, Sin-infected human container of flesh, made Him the only One who could be qualified to redeem mankind by His blood shed at the cross, on behalf of us (Rom 5:9). Also, His human body lifted up on the cross (John 3:14), representing us as the little Serpents that we were (Mat 16:23), and thereby rendering the Sin nature in our flesh “to be of no effect” (Rom 6:6-7, 7:4).

2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (ktisis, new formation or new creation): old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

The points covered in this series will touch upon these central issues that reveal some key understandings to aid us in seeing our true state of being as believers, since we believers are now “in Christ,” as being already “complete in Him” (Col 2:10).

These understandings will help us see that we can live the Christian life overcomingly, in liberty, peace, and rest. We do this by … learning to trust not only in His blood, shed for us to take away our sins; but also … By trusting in His death as us, which frees us from Sin’s dominion. We must “learn Christ” (Eph 4:20); that is to now learn to trust His spontaneous “spirit of life,” which indwells our spirit (1Cor 6:17), as the new us.

Galatians 2:20a I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…

Christ in us is all. Col. 1:27b …Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Our relationship with The Father as our Father is just as Jesus of Nazareth’s relationship was toward The Father. John 20:17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

The divine life and nature we possess as Christians is gained by His living in us as our life. We are in union with Him, since He indwells us (Rom 8:11, 1John 4:13). This makes us one with Him, as the individual members of His body – “the church, which is His body” (Eph 1:22b-23a). 1 Cor. 12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

What He is, we are, by His indwelling “spirit of life.” Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me… What we learn of Him, His nature and His relationship with the Father is also true of us; our new nature and our relationship with the Father. We must come to know Him in order to know our new selves.

Jesus was able to overcome all, including the death of the cross. We should note that Jesus of Nazareth did not live by His self-preference or His own will, but rather, according to the life and will of the Father. Because Jesus knew something we likely do not yet know or entirely believe and trust, Jesus knew He was okay by depending upon the Father’s life in Him, so He yielded to the Father’s will. We come to know and trust the Father by depending upon and trusting Christ in us as our life. Since, only the Son knows the Father (Luke 10:22).

Now consider these of the many statements of Jesus that show us how sure and secure Jesus was in His relationship with the Father. Jesus and the Father bear the one eternal life of God the Father.

John 10:30 I and my Father are one. John 3:35 The Father loveth the Son.

Matthew 11:27a All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son…

Thus, Jesus of Nazareth, even as the “Son of man,” knew the Father and the Father knew Him, such that Jesus could trust the Father. Resting in that intimate knowledge and trust, Jesus fully submitted to the Father’s will. Jesus of Nazareth had such a mindset (Philip 2:5, mind = mindset) that He knew His place was to trustingly submit to and carry out the will of the Father, even unto death on the cross.

John 5:30…I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

John 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me,

John 6:38 For I came …, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

John 10:32 Jesus answered, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father,

John 15:15 …for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

To sin is not a specific act of “doing,” rather it is to live apart from being dependent upon God. It is to be “the god of your own life.” Jesus said, I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. (John 5:30) Here we see that Jesus limited or denied His own self in order to do the will of the Father. Thus, Jesus of Nazareth, who did no sin (1 Peter 2:22), was qualified to take our sin upon Him to be our sin-bearer and to pay for our sins.

Jesus did not do His own will, but rather, the will of the Father. Jesus governed His life to limit His self preference in order to live by the will of the Father. Paul likewise commends us to self-control. Have you ever noticed that the only Bible mention of the “self” of man is in the words – “self-control” or “self-limitation?” In the KJV Gal 5:23 the word “temperance,” in Greek is “egkratia,” better translated as “self-control” or “self-mastery.”

In John 10:32, 15:15 and 8:28 we see that Jesus of Nazareth controlled or limited His self to only speak what the Father gave Him to speak and do.

Jesus did not exert His own “soul-self” to in any way live His life on earth independent from the Father. Our problem is that we, as unyielding believers, oftentimes do live independent from the Father’s spontaneous will, and that’s the problem. We cannot say we don’t know God’s will because Jesus says we do hear God. John 8:47a He that is of God heareth God's words… So hearing is not the problem – the problem is much deeper, and as we will see, it is fully remedied in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus denied His own self-soul, rather yielding to the will of the Father in all cases at all times; even in the face of temptation of the Devil, when He could have taken matters into His own hand. We see this in Jesus’ exchange with the Devil (below). It is clear from the following that Jesus did not speak a word apart from the Father’s will.

Matthew 4:1-4 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. ² And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. 3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. ⁴But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Which of us doubts that Jesus could make bread out of stones? Of course He could. But Jesus limited or controlled His own self; He would not assert His own self. He told the Devil that He would only do things according to what came from His Father’s mouth – whatever God the Father told Him or permitted Him to do.

If that were me, I perhaps would have told the Devil – “Sure, I’ll make you (the Devil) into stone too!” By doing so, I would have been iniquitous (lawless), acting on my own. Yet, Jesus lived by the inner regulation that He inherently had by the life (Zoë spirit) He shared with the Father in Him. He knew and obeyed the Father’s spontaneous will that prompted Him either “to do,” or limited Him “not to do.”

Just as we see that Jesus was regulated by the inner life of the Father, Paul says we overcome the operation of Sin by the “the law (normal operation) of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:2) who now dwells within our spirit. Thus Paul commends the Galatians. Galatians 5:16 …Walk in (by the operation of) the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust (desires) of the flesh.

When I speak of Jesus’ sinlessness I am speaking of the fact that He did not ever do any act of sinning, as noted in this verse. 2 Cor. 5:21 For he (God) hath made him (Jesus) to be (become) sin for us, who knew no sin (ginosko, had no experience of sinning); that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Yet, as I am addressing in this paper, Jesus, by His incarnation, possessed a very real, human, Sin-laden, and sin-capable physical body, just as all men who are born of Adam’s race to acquire a physical body. This is what it means for Jesus to be fully human, as well as fully divine. One verse may appear to be at odds with my premise that Jesus possessed a Sin-laden body. Some may point to 1Jn 3:5 KJV ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. They interpret it as proof that Jesus could not have a Sin-nature in His physical body as other men who possess Adamic human bodies.

Let’s now note the same 1John 3:5 in the Amplified Bible, “You know that He appeared in visible form and became Man to take away [upon Himself] sins, and in Him there is no sin [essentially and forever].” The Amplified uses the phrase “in Him there is no sin [essentially and forever].” The translators of the Amplified Bible are trying to express the fact that that Jesus, in His essential self, which is at His Spirit-core; there is no sin. I agree with this. This is because Jesus’ Spirit-core, His eternal self, was born of God the Father; they are one Spirit (Jn 10:3, 17:22, Eph 4:4, 1Jn 5:7).

In this paper I use the term “core” when I refer to the essence of a man, and of Jesus of Nazareth. The “core” of a human person is their motivating and empowering source. At the “core” of all fallen Adamic men is a fallen Sin-nature, which Paul says is “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,” to cause them to do acts of the Sin nature, called “sins”. Here, Paul describes the fallen state of our being, our core as fallen men, when we were without hope and without God’s life in us as our “core.” Ephes. 2:1-3 you … who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2…in time past ye walked...according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3…we all had our conversation (manner of living) in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Jesus of Nazareth had and lived by His “Spirit-core,” one which we believers formerly did not possess. Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit of God the Father. He had the very Spirit of God in Him as His Spirit-core. By His Spirit-core Jesus was in Spirit-union with God the Father. He did not live by the impulses of His fallen, Sin-laden human body of flesh, which He received from Adam, via Mary’s body. Rather, Jesus lived by His core, His Spirit-life; by His Spirit–union with His Father. Now, we also, as regenerated believers, possess a new Spirit-core, which is “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:2, Rom 8:9, 1John 4:13), which is able to overcome the operation of the Sin-nature in our flesh (Rom 8:13).

Jesus possessed the Father’s overcoming life in His Spirit-core (not his body). Jesus knew and trusted who He was by nature, according to His union with the Father. Thus, He was able to overcome the Sin-nature and impulses that were in His Sin-laden body. Like Jesus, we believers possess two natures; but only one is our true “core,” our life source and nature, and that is of “the spirit of life in Christ Jesus” in our spirit. Christ alive in us is able to overcome the operation of Sin and death (Rom 8:2) in our flesh.

1 John 3:5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. The issue we see in the first half of this verse concerns Jesus to “take away our sins.” The 2^nd half says Jesus of Nazareth was qualified to take away our sins because the core He lived by was the Father’s Spirit-life; thus He never sinned and had no sins in His account. This verse is saying, men have sins that they have done; but Jesus, who by His essential Spirit-core, had no sin on His account. Thus, being pure, Jesus was qualified to take our sins upon His self, to pay for our sins on our behalf. Jesus became our sin-bearer, to pay for our sins. In this way, for us believers, Jesus’ blood and death at the cross, as the Lamb of God, cleansed us of our sins, reconciling us to the Father… as if we had never sinned.

The fact is that every regenerated child of God is identically equipped as Jesus of Nazareth was when He walked the earth as “the Son of man.” Just as Jesus, we as regenerated believers have God’s life in our spirit by possessing the “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” – we are one with Him (1Cor 6:17). We possess the divine life (Col 3:4) and nature (2Peter 1:4), while at the very same time having a Sin nature in our flesh (Rom 7:17-20), just as Jesus of Nazareth had on earth (more on this later).

In the light of this statement some might still ask, “If we are equipped the same as Jesus was, then why don’t we live overcomingly as He did?”

Religion has often distorted our view of God and our relationship with God, often making us fearful of God’s wrath, rather than trusting God. Just as Jesus knew and trusted the Father. We must come to know and trust that we are securely the Father’s children, just as Jesus of Nazareth was. Our Father loves us as He does Jesus – for we are one with and in Christ.

John 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

(I realize Jesus is speaking in John to the Jews but this same truth applies to us, we who are of “the dispensation of the grace of God,” who have been regenerated by the life and Spirit of Christ and are “in Christ.”)

We see in John 14:20 (above) that Jesus not only considers believers to be one with Him and the Father, but He and the Father are indwelling us. Every child bears the life of his father. We can be assured that by the indwelling life of the Father we also are the Father’s children.

This is also seen in Jesus’ statement assigning us to His Father as being our Father.

John 20:17 …go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Romans 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Paul again confirms this saying,

Galatians 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Jesus is one with the Father’s life and us also; by Christ’s indwelling Spirit, have the Father’s life in us, making God our Father.

This above is true and wonderful, but some might say, “But I still have weaknesses and I often fail – why?” The truth is that, while we do possess God in Christ as the spirit of life in our spirit, we simultaneously have our fallen Adamic sinful nature in our human body that came from Adam. Sin dwells in our “flesh” bodies (Rom 7:17-20). Since we were bodily conceived in sin (Psa 51:5), we have the Sin spirit (Eph 2:2b) and the Sin nature (Eph 2:3) in our flesh body.

Actually, we are as Jesus of Nazareth was by His physical birth because His physical body was also descended from Adam, just as ours is. Jesus received His body from Mary’s body. Mary had descended from Adam just as we are descended from Adam. It was Mary who gave Jesus His bodily tissue and bone, with Sin in it as an indwelling nature (Rom 8:3, 7:17-20). That fallen nature, sometimes called “Original Sin” is in all human bodies that descend from Adam. King David, a man after God’s own heart, writes this of his physical condition. Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

God has made provision for our victory over our sinful flesh. The answer for the situation of Sin dominating man’s flesh is in the incarnation and death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
Part 6 of 11 - JESUS’ HUMAN GENEAOLOGY

In Luke 3 we see Jesus’ human genealogy. Going back in His genealogy, we see, in Luke 3:38, Adam is listed as Jesus’ ultimate earthly father – humanly speaking. We know that by Adam, Sin as a nature, entered the world (Rom 5:12). Adam and Eve had both eaten of “the Tree of the Knowledge or Good and Evil” in an effort gain knowledge, “to make one wise” (Gen 3:6), and thereby “become as god” (Gen 3:5), independent from God (Gen 3:5). This act of Sin moved Adam toward independence from God; it is the rebellious act that separated mankind from God.

All mankind, including Jesus, traces their human lineage back to Adam. Jesus’ genealogy goes back to Adam via Mary, but without the Scripture naming Mary directly, as was the custom. Jewish custom dealt with the lineage “out-of-wedlock” children in the way seen in these Scriptures; it always names a father who “begat.”

Luke 3:23 (NASB) And when He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being supposedly the son of Joseph, the son of Eli,

This genealogy lists no man as “begetting” Jesus; rather it names Joseph as Jesus’ father, by naming Joseph as “being supposed” to be son of Eli (Heli), when actually Heli was the father of Mary. This is according to custom of the Jews for one born out of wedlock. Luke 3:23 makes a way to reconcile Jesus, who we know was Fathered by God, with His apparent earthly father, Joseph, by inserting the words “being supposedly.” It names Joseph, the son of Heli, as Jesus’ supposed father.

Nevertheless, genealogy aside, it was Mary who carried the infection of “Sin” in her physical body. Mary directly gave Jesus His physical body, with the Adamic Sin infection, to house His God-Spirit, and soul. Jesus’ Spirit was never tainted by His sinful body, just as a flower seed is not corrupted by the dirt/soil into which it is planted.

Before one gets too alarmed at what I’ve written above, we must note that though Jesus had a Sin infected human body as we, Jesus of Nazareth never committed a single act of sin. 2 Cor. 5:21 For he (God) hath made him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. We’ve seen that Jesus never even spoke a word or did anything apart from the Father’s will (John 5:30). The only way Scripture could honestly say that Jesus could be “tempted in all ways as we are” and for Him to be “touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Heb 4:15) was for Him to also have a Sinful body, just as we have.

In one verse, Rom 8:3, Paul makes clear that Jesus partook of a human flesh body, and that we all have inherited the Sin nature from Adam, which now indwells our flesh bodies (Rom 7:17-20).

Romans 8:3 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:

Romans 7:17-20 …it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19... sin that dwelleth in me.

This is as it was for Jesus of Nazareth whose body came from Adam’s lineage. The word “likeness” in Rom 8:3 …God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh…does not mean “something like.” In Greek “likeness” is “homoioma,” having its root in “hoimoioo,” meaning “to assimilate.” Jesus’ body had Sin assimilated into it, just as a sponge may have absorbed or assimilated water. Thus, Jesus had the very same kind of physical body as we have – yet He never made the Sin in His flesh manifested by any act of sinning. Rather, He overcame Sin by His spirit-union with the Father. Jesus then was not superman, but rather a completed human; One who lived by His spirit-union with the Father, in subjection to the Father’s will. We Christians have that very same spirit-union with God the Father, via His son, “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” in our spirit as our new life. Now He is the trusting Christian, within us, as us.

Part 7 of 11 – JESUS’ ROYAL GENEALOGY

We've examined Jesus’ very human genealogy from Luke’s gospel in Part 6 of this study. Matthew’s gospel concerns the Messiah and the Messianic Kingdom coming to earth for Israel , as promised to Abraham and his seed as an “everlasting” inheritance. Thus, Matthew's gospel begins with Jesus' Royal bloodline lineage as King of Israel, emphasizing Jesus as "the son of David”, the most noted King of Israel. Matthew 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

The Matthew Henry Commentary offers this for “Matthew 1:1-17 (The genealogy of Jesus)”

“The promise of the blessing was made to Abraham and his seed; of the dominion, to David and his seed. It was promised to Abraham that Christ should descend from him, Genesis 12:3; Genesis 22:18; and to David that he should descend from him, 2 Samuel 7:12; Psalm 89:3; 132:11; and, therefore, unless Jesus is a son of David, and a son of Abraham, he is not the Messiah…”

Unlike Luke’s Gospel, which presents the humanity of Jesus of Nazareth via Mary, dating back to fallen Adam, it should be noted that in Matthews’ gospel we see a quite different genealogy of Jesus. In this genealogy we will see why Jesus is referred to as “the Son of David” – the King and Lion of Judah.

The genealogy expression "begat" is used repeatedly in each genealogy; meaning one born of the seed (sperma) of the father who is named. It is not said of the mother. It is only the male, the father, who bears the mantle of the bloodline. It is notable that in Matthew, “begat” is used throughout this genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth, running from David, nearly all the way…but not directly to Jesus Himself. In this genealogy, the “begetting” runs only from Abraham to “Joseph, the husband of Mary,” not to Jesus.

Joseph was of the Davidic Royal bloodline. But, we must ask, did Joseph's blood get into Jesus?

No, Jesus was begotten by the Lord God (Psa 2:7). John 1:14 (KJV) And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. Thus, In Matthew’s genealogy there is no “begat” for Jesus from Joseph; it simply says in Matthew 1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. We might think that Jesus, via Joseph was, at least so to speak, born of the Royal bloodline of David, but God is more precise than that.

So then, we have a question needing an answer. Since Biblical “begetting” and bloodline come only through the father, and Joseph was not the birth father of Jesus; and Mary, being female, could do no “begetting,” then how does the Royal bloodline from David reach Jesus? The Bible gives us the answer.

Joseph was of David and the Tribe of Judah via Solomon (born of Bathsheba) and 12 generations later, King Jeconiah (Matt 1:11). Jeconiah bore the Lords curse that says the throne of David will not pass to Jeconiah’s lineage (Jer 22:30).

Mary, however, was of the Royal bloodline of David, and of the Tribe of Judah . Mary’s lineage, as seen in Luke 3:31, comes via David’s son Nathan (not Solomon or Jechoniah) – so she did not bear the Lord’s curse that would block the throne.

But still, how would the throne pass through Mary to Jesus? Scripture answers our question for us.

Noting Numbers 27:1-11, Joshua 17:3-6 and 1Chronicles 7:15, we see that, according to the Lord’s words in Joshua 17:4, it becomes quite significant that Mary had no brothers and was in the line of David of the Tribe of Judah.

This allowed Mary’s father’s bloodline to pass through Mary, to her first male offspring, …if she married within the same Tribe of Judah . Thus, Mary inherited the mantle of the Royal bloodline of her father Heli, when she married Joseph. Mary inherited the benefits of the Royal bloodline 1) since she had no brothers born of her father Heli, and 2) by marrying Joseph, also of the Tribe of Judah . Thus, as prophesied, Jesus was born of the Tribe of Judah , in the bloodline of David, King of Israel , as the “Son of David.”

All the while, this genealogy leaves room for God’s pure Holy Spirit conception of the Holy Child, Jesus, in Mary, “blessed among women” (Luke 1:28). Scripture is careful to make sure Jesus’ genealogy is recorded to have no earthly father. By His Holy Spirit conception, Jesus was one with God the Father, and thus, in Spirit He is pure God – fully divine. Jesus was Jewish only on His mother’s side, since he was also the Son of God the Father, “the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). In Luke we see the lineage of “the Son of man.” In Matthew we see the lineage of “the son of God,” manifested as “the son of David.” From this, we can say that our God, His plan, and His Bible are truly full of wisdom and wonder!

There are two aspects of sin that God needed to deal with in order to reconcile fallen, sinful, mankind unto Himself. There is a Sin nature, which came into the world of mankind via Adam’s act of sin (Rom 5:12), which was to attempt to make Himself as God (Gen 3:5, 27). That Sin nature now indwells all mankind, from birth. There are also acts of that Sin nature called “sins.” Sin as a nature is the root, while sins are the fruit of the root – the Sin nature. Let’s now look at these two aspects in more detail.

1. Jesus shed His blood for the sins of the world; precious as it is, the blood just dealt with the effect of the Sin nature, the sinful acts of men. When Jesus was in the Garden at Gethsemane he took the cup that God gave Him. That cup that He drank was the sins of the world. Jesus took into Himself the acts of sins committed by every human on earth – past, then present and yet future sins. Hebrews 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. Thus, God, by Christ’s innocent blood, washed away the sins of the world; this being applicable to everyone who believes to receive Jesus’ offering for us. With their sins dealt with upon believing, the believer then simultaneously upon believing, receives Christ Himself into their human spirit and He is the eternal life of God. John 6:47 …He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. 1 John 5:11-12 …God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

2. Further yet, Jesus was to make that Sin nature, which had infected and indwells the physical bodies of all living men, to be negated or of no effect, for everyone that believeth on Him. Jesus did this by taking the Sin-infected body that He received from Mary, to the cross, on behalf of all mankind. We are all as “little serpents,” having been bitten by Sin, having the fallen Serpent nature in us. Jesus took His sin-infected body, as representative of all of us, to the cross. There, we as little serpents were crucified with Him. Jesus, referring to Himself as the Serpent in John 3:14, is the fulfillment of the account of Numbers 20. John 3:14 …as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man (Jesus) be lifted up:

It was by Jesus’ death, that He loosed us from the power and dominion of Sin, as the fallen nature in our flesh. In Him “we died to Sin.” Now being dead, Sin no longer has a hold upon us, we died in Christ. Romans 6:3-4 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

We died to Sin at the cross with Christ. Romans 6:6-7 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, (so) that the body of sin might be destroyed (kartargeo, rendered of no effect), that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7For he that is dead is freed from sin. (Freed from Sin’s dominion)

We know Jesus’ life (Zoë, eternal spirit life) of His Spirit, came from and is one with God the Father, who is spirit (John 4:24). Jesus’ physical body was given to serve the purposes of that God required Him – that we might be freed from Sin and …have God’s very life that is in Christ as “the spirit of life.” Romans 6:4 we are buried with him by baptism into death: (so) that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Thus, on the positive side, just as Jesus, we as Christians also have now been born of the Father’s life, by His Seed (Gal 3:16, 1Pet 1:23), now in our spirit as the indwelling “Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.”

While we still have Sin indwelling our bodies, which came from our fallen earthly father, Adam, we now have the life of the resurrected Christ in our spirit, making us children of God, by birth of His Seed - Christ. Col. 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Galatians 2:20a I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…

Part 9 of 11 - “I know Jesus was able to overcome Sin, and I now see that I possess His Spirit of Life, Why do I still have a problem with Sin?”

The answer to this question is seen back in the beginning of this article – Jesus knew He was okay by depending upon the Father’s life in Him, so He yielded to the Father’s will.

Yes, in His humanity, Jesus was “as we are,” thus also sensing and hearing the lies and accusations of the tempter, just as we do, but the key was that Jesus did not live by His own self-will to respond to, or to control situations; rather He lived by dependence upon the Father, such that He only did the will of the Father.

Jesus knew who He was, that He had the Father’s overcoming spirit life within Him (just as we have) and He trusted the Father to the very end, the killing of His body, with Sin in it, as our liberation from Sin’s power over us.

Note from the following verse that Paul knew we had a sinful body problem, and Paul shows us the remedy for us is in the death of Jesus’ body of sin, as being representative of our old fallen man’s death.

Romans 6:6-7 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed (Greek, kartargeo, made of no effect), that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7For he that is dead is freed from sin (Sin’s dominion).

Romans 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Like Jesus, we as Christians have God’s life in our spirit and Sin in our flesh. The issue is our soul – We mostly have yet to learn to trust Him who is our true life at the core of our being – Christ in our spirit. God knows this so He has made a way for us to see the total inability of our independent self-soul to be as a Christian – We are hopeless and helpless, so God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We will see how God does it in the next installment.

Part 10 of 11 - HOW DOES THIS ACTUALLY CHANGE US? IT IS BY ENDURING SUFFERING.

Paul tells us suffering is for our good. Paul said we are “killed all the day long,” we are as “sheep for the slaughter” (Rom 8:36), and that we will suffer what he called a “momentary and light affliction,” by which we might gain an “eternal weight of glory.”

2 Cor. 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

The greatest suffering, for we who are His and who seek Him in a deeper way, is our loss of self-rule and our inability to control the situations of our daily lives. It may be health, wealth, or relationship; in the end it’s all ultimately out of our control. We may live for a while with the illusion that we are in control, but that is a lie.

The Father has set this stage of our life in order to bring us to the realization of the already accomplished fact of the crucifixion and the death of our old independent, controlling, self. Recall that Adam’s sin was that he grasped at becoming as God, thinking that by gaining knowledge he would be as God.

As Jesus did, we must learn to deny our self-love and desire to be in control, to turn to trust the Father in all things. In that trusting, Christ will be realized in us with His indwelling peace and rest; these two, peace and rest, are the markers of our overcoming by His life. We learn this by enduring suffering, as Jesus did. Hebrews 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

All those who have come to know the Lord in the deeper way have endured suffering. Look at the lives of the great men of God in the Bible - Joseph, Job, David, Peter, Paul, and many, many more.

Most of us have been taught to pray to ask God for help so we can escape suffering, so we can have our preferred way of escape, but though God can deliver us from suffering, He now delivers us while remaining in the midst of suffering.

Some of you may have read my writing concerning Paul’s prayers, wherein I explain that for the believing and trusting Christian there is no more need for petitioning God to do something for us – its all been done and its all found in Christ. I explained that I no longer find myself petitioning God for anything, but I do enjoy a confident, trusting, intimate, communion with Him who dwells in me as my very life. I do this because now I see that it is He who has orchestrated the situations of my life for my eternal good.

Paul’s several main prayers were each for revelatory knowledge, enlightenment, and understanding of the gospel of “the dispensation of the grace of God,” which is the deposit of Christ’s life in the believers…and for that gospel to be preached.

Col. 1:27b-28a this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 28Whom we preach…that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

That gospel is what Paul called “the mystery” (musterion, secret) gospel, which God had kept secret since the world began until it was first revealed to the Apostle Paul, by revelation, directly from the ascended Jesus Christ (Gal 1:12). Romans 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery (musterion, secret), which was kept secret since the world began,

Once we know we have the deposit of the eternal resurrection life of Christ within us, and that we can trust Him in all things – then nothing else matters. Then there is but one genuine and necessary prayer for every believer, which must come out of their own volition, and it is summed in just these few words – “thy will be done.” Rather than we having and possessing things, we now are had and possessed by Him.