We are told that our Lord, before he left his glory
to become a man, was "in a form of God"--a spiritual
form, a spirit being; but since to be a ransom for mankind he
had to be a man, of the same nature as the sinner whose substitute
in death he was to become, it was necessary that his nature be
changed. And Paul tells us that he took not the nature of angels,
one step lower than his own, but that he came down two steps and
took the nature of men--he became a man; he was "made flesh."
Heb. 2:16; Phil. 2:7,8; John 1:14
that this teaches not only that angelic nature is not the only
order of spirit being, but that it is a lower nature than that
of our Lord before he became a man; and he was not then so high
as he is now, for "God hath highly exalted him," because
of his obedience in becoming man's willing ransom. (Phil. 2:8,9)
He is now of the highest order of spirit being, a partaker of
the divine (Jehovah's) nature.
not only do we thus find proof that the divine, angelic and human
natures are separate and distinct, but this proves that to be
a perfect man is not to be an angel, any more than the perfection
of angelic nature implies that angels are divine and equal with
Jehovah; for Jesus took not the nature of angels, but a different
nature--the nature of men; not the imperfect human nature as we
now possess it, but the perfect human nature. He became a man;
not a depraved and nearly dead being such as men are now, but
a man in the full vigor of perfection.
Jesus must have been a perfect man else he could not have kept
a perfect law, which is the full measure of a perfect man's ability.
And he must have been a perfect man else he could not have given
a ransom (a corresponding price--1 Tim. 2:6) for the forfeited
life of the perfect man Adam; "For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead." (1 Cor. 15:21)
Had he been in the least degree imperfect, it would have proved
that he was under condemnation, and therefore he could not have
been an acceptable sacrifice; neither could he have kept perfectly
the law of God. A perfect man was tried, and failed, and was condemned;
and only a perfect man could give the corresponding price as the
we have the question before us in another form, that is: If Jesus
in the flesh was a perfect man, as the Scriptures thus show, does
it not prove that a perfect man is a human, fleshly being--not
an angel, but a little lower than the angels? The logical conclusion
is unmistakable; and in addition we have the inspired statement
of the Psalmist (Psa. 8:5-8) and Paul's reference to it in Heb.
was Jesus a combination of the two natures, human and spiritual.
When Jesus was in the flesh he was a perfect human being; previous
to that time he was a perfect spiritual being; and since his resurrection
he is a perfect spiritual being of the highest or divine order.
After becoming a man he became obedient unto death; wherefore,
God hath highly exalted him to the divine nature. (Phil. 2:8,9)
If this scripture is true, it follows that he was not exalted
to the divine nature until the human nature was actually sacrificed--dead.
we see that in Jesus there was no mixture of natures, but that
twice he experienced a change of nature; first, from spiritual
to human; afterward, from human to the highest order of spiritual
nature, the divine; and in each case the one was given up for
this grand example of perfect humanity, which stood unblemished
before the world until sacrificed for the world's redemption,
we see the perfection from which our race fell in Adam, and to
which it is to be restored. In becoming man's ransom, our Lord
Jesus gave the equivalent for that which man lost; and therefore
all mankind may receive again, through faith in Christ, and obedience
to his requirements, not a spiritual, but a glorious, perfect
human nature--"that which was lost."
Jesus as a man was an illustration of perfect human nature, to
which the mass of mankind will be restored, yet since his resurrection
he is the illustration of the glorious divine nature which the
overcoming Church will, at resurrection, share with him.