ALL ABOUT JESUS #4

 All About Jesus #4

His Divinity and Humanity

        by

         Finis Dake

VIII. OF WHAT DID CHRIST EMPTY HIMSELF?

The various doctrine books teach that Christ possessed all the

glory, nature, and attributes of God during His earthly life just

as much as when He was in the form of God. They give us proof for

their conclusion that Christ had:

1. Omnipotence (Matt.8:16, 26-27; Luke 4:35-41; 5:25; 7:14-15;

8:54-55; Eph.1:20-23; Heb.1:3).

2. Omniscience (Mark 2:8; Luke 5:4-5,22; 22:10-12; John 1:48;

2:24-25; 4:15-19; 6:64; 13:1; 16:30; 21:17; Col.2:3).

3. Omnipresence (Matt.18:20; 28:20; John 3:13; 14:20; 2 Cor.

13:5; Eph.1:13).

4. Eternity (John 1:1; 17:5; 8:58; Mic.5:2; Col.1:17; Heb.13:8; 1

John 1:1). 

5. Immutability (Heb.1:12; 13:8).

Upon examination of these passages it can be seen that NOT ONE

passage teaches that Christ had or used these attributes of

Himself while on Earth. The majority of them refer to the power

Christ had to heal, read the thoughts of men, and do certain

works by the direct anointing of the Spirit and not by being God

manifest in the flesh. Some of them refer to Christ before His

earthly life while still in the form of God. The rest of them

refer to Christ after His earthly life when He was exalted and

had His glory restored to Him as before becoming man. Thus not

ONE of them refers to Christ as acting of Himself without the

anointing of the Spirit and because He was God in flesh, having

all the natural attributes and powers that God had from all

eternity.

The true Biblical teaching of the 'kenosis' of Christ is that in

taking human form He divested Himself of His divine attributes,

or at least power to use them, having laid aside His God-form and

voluntarily given up His glory which He had with the Father

before the world was and become limited in knowledge, wisdom,

power, glory, and in every way that man was, and that He retained

His deity or His divine nature.

The Bible further teaches that He was made of a woman without a

human father ... It could not be that Christ laid aside His

divine nature, for then He would cease being God. Paul did not

say He ceased being God, but that He laid aside His God-form and

emptied Himself of everything that would hinder Him from being a

true and real human being and "in all things" like His brethren

(Heb.2:9-18). The following points prove this to be the true

Biblical teaching of the 'kenosis' of Christ:

1. This harmonizes perfectly with every Scripture given by the

various writers. If Christ retained all divine attributes or the

free use of them in becoming man, then of what did He empty

Himself? And how could we harmonize all the many limitations of

His earthly life with the fact that He was equal with God in

every sense? If God, with all divine attributes, is as limited as

Christ was in His earthly life, then God is not so much greater

than man after all. On the other hand, if God is as infinite and

great as He is revealed in the Bible to be, and Christ

demonstrated just the opposite in His earthly life, then it must

be concluded that Christ divested Himself of the divine powers in

taking human form.

2. The manifestations of attributes as given by the above-stated

opinion can be explained as operations of the gifts of the Holy

Spirit of 1 Cor.12:4-11, which Christ possessed to the full. The

limitations of Christ in knowledge and wisdom cannot be explained

and harmonized with the fact that Christ had omniscience. His

limitations in power and His powerlessness to act and do things

in Himself cannot be harmonized with the fact that He had his

original attribute of omnipotence. These and other facts make it

clear that Christ's emptying Himself in reality includes the

laying aside of His attributes and powers or at least limitations

of them in becoming man ...

3. Paul definitely teaches in Phil.2:5-11 that Christ emptied

Himself and that He laid aside His Gad-form and His equality with

God and took human form and was "made in the likeness of men."

Paul further teaches in Heb.2:14-18; 5:8-9, that it was necessary

for Christ to be made "IN ALL THINGS . . . like unto his

brethren," that He should live among them and be like them, that

He should suffer with them and for them and in their stead, and

that He should be limited like them and have to depend upon God

for daily grace for body, soul, and spirit, so as to be "able to

succor them that are tempted." For "Though He were a Son, yet

learned He obedience by the things which He suffered" (Heb.5:9).

4. Peter's doctrine o f the sufferings of Christ so as to leave

"its an example, that we should walk in His steps" would mean

nothing to ordinary human rebels if He endured the sufferings as

a God and not as a man. What injustice it would be to expect

ordinary, frail, and weak man to suffer as only a God could

suffer. On the other hand, if He suffered as any other human

being would suffer, having God as a helper only and not as being

a God, then every suffering human being can be inspired by such

an example and endure all as He did.

5. The prophets foretold His being limited as man. Isa.7:14-16

speaks of the virgin-born son as growing in knowledge as any

other child and that there would be a time in His life when He

would not know to choose the good and refuse the evil because of

being so young and immature. What a strange thing to say of Jesus

if He were a full grown God having all the use of the attributes

of God in a small human baby! Also in Isa.50:4-11 we read, "The

Lord God hath given me [Messiah] the tongue of the learned, that

I should know how to speak a word in due season to him that is

weary: He [God] wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear

to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I

was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to

the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked out the hair: I

hid my face from shame and spitting." Again, what strange words

to speak of a person if He had the attribute of omniscience! In

Isa.11:1 and 53:1-12 we have a detailed picture of the Messiah

growing up before God as a "tender plant" and "as a root out of

dry ground," which needs much nourishment and care in growth - a

man of sorrows, not a God of sorrows, smitten of God and

afflicted.

In Ps.119:97-104 we have another clear prophecy of the Messiah

meditating in the Word of God and becoming wiser than His

enemies, His teachers, and all the ancients. One could not

possibly harmonize such statements in connection with a full

grown, mature, and highly educated man, much less a great God

with all the use of His divine attributes and powers. We cannot

conceive of a God who still had omniscience and had to be taught

and be instructed as was Jesus, who still was immutable and

eternal and yet too young to know good from evil or capable of

death, who still was omnipotent and could not help Himself, who

still was omnipresent and yet was limited to a small, helpless

baby body, and who was limited by both Old Testament and New

Testament writers to the status of a human being during His

earthly life, He is certainly not the unlimited and almighty God

who has not emptied Himself as had Christ.

6. History proves Christ was limited during His earthly life.

Mark definitely states that Christ was limited in knowledge while

in His earthly life, for He did not know the day of His return to

Earth as did the Father (Mark 13:32). Luke also records how Jesus

"grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom ... the

grace of God was upon Him. . . . Jesus increased in wisdom and

stature, and in favor with God and man" (Luke 2:40-52). Paul

speaks of Him as having "learned obedience by the things which He

suffered (Heb.5:8). Such could never be said of Christ if He had

retained all His divine attributes of omniscience, immutability,

etc.

7. Christ Himself claimed no power or exercised no personal

attribute of deity apart from, the full anointing of the Holy

Spirit (Matt.12:28; Luke 3:21-22; 4:1,14-21; John 3:34; Acts

10:38). If His works were through the anointing of the Spirit,

then they could not be through the exercise of His own natural

attributes of deity. Prophecy foretells that Christ was to be

anointed with the Spirit and do all His works by this anointing,

not by being God and having the exercise of all divine attributes

as before and since His earthly life (Isa.11:1-2; 42:1-5; 48:16;

61:1). History plainly records the fulfillment of these

predictions (Matt.3:16-17; 12:22-32; 20:22; Luke 3:21-22;

4:14-21; John 1:31-34; 3:34; 5:19,30; 6:57; 8:28; 14:10,24; Acts

10:38; Rom.1:4; 3:1; 5:6; Heb.2:9-18; Rev.5:6). Christ did no

miracle or exercised no divine power until His anointing with the

Holy Spirit (Matt.3:16-17; Luke 4:14-21; John 2:11; 3:34; Acts

10:38).

8. The fact that Christ promised all disciples that they could do

the same works and even greater works than what He did if they

would but empty themselves and "tarry until" they were endued

with power from on high, proves the source of His power was the

anointing of the Spirit instead of exercising divine attributes

by virtue of being God (Matt.10:1-20; 16:18; Luke 10:1-20; 24:49;

Mark 16:15-20; John 14:12-15; 20:22; Acts 1:8). 

The fact that disciples did exercise this power proves the same

contention. Disciples had power to impart the baptism in the

Spirit by laying on of hands, and they did a number of acts that

are not recorded in the life of Christ (Acts 8:5-20; 19:1-6). The

time was not yet come that men could be baptized with the Spirit

until Christ was glorified; hence Christ could not baptize men in

the Spirit while on Earth (John 1:31-33; 7:37-39; Acts 2:33;

Matt.20:22-24). Hence the "greater works."

9. Christ prayed for His original glory to be restored, which He

had with the Father before the world was (John 17:5). It is not

until after the resurrection that He said, "All power is given

unto me in Heaven and in Earth" (Matt.29:18). Christ and others

repeatedly stated that God "gave" Him certain powers and

blessings which enabled Him to do His works (John 3:34-35; 5:22,

26-27; 17:2; Acts 10:38), that He did His works in the Father's

name just as believers are supposed to do them in His name (John

5:43; 10:25; 17:6-12,26), that He was not as great as the Father

(John 10:29; 14:28; 1 Cor.11:3), that He was sent of God and did

not come of Himself (John 3:14-18,34; 4:34; 5:17,30,36; 6:29,

38-40,57; 7:16,28; 8:16,28,29,42; 10:36; 12:44-45; 17:4,8), that

His works were not of Himself but were of the Father (John 5:17,

19; 10:32; 14:10), that He could do nothing of Himself (John

5:19,30), that He did nothing of Himself (John 8:28), that His

doctrine was not His own (John 5:20; 7:16; 8:26,28; 10:18; 14:31;

15:15), that He did not speak of Himself (John 8:38,40; 12:49;

14:10), that He sought God's glory, not His own (John 8:50), that

He was a servant of God and perfectly obedient to Him (John 8:35;

Isa.42:1; 50:5; Heb.5:8-9; 10:7), that His works were proof that

God was "with Him" and was doing the works, and therefore, they

were no proof that He had the essential attributes of God and was

using them of Himself (John 3:2; 5:31-36; 9:4; 10:25,38; 11:42;

14:10; Acts 10:38), that He was sending His followers to confirm

the gospel and do divine works just as the Father had sent Him

(John 17:18; Mark 16:15-20; Matt.28:19-20; Acts 1:1-4; Heb.

2:3-4), and that He used the same means of grace by prayer,

faith, and yieldedness to the Spirit that all believers after Him

must use (Luke 11:1-13; 24:49; Mark 11:22-24; Acts 1:1-8; 10:38;

John 14:12-15). 

Could such things be said of a God who had not emptied Himself of

His glory and the free use of His attributes and powers?

10. Christ's exaltation to the highest place with God is also

proof of His lowest humiliation and limitation before God - even

to do nothing, say nothing, be nothing, and depend upon God for

needed grace for body, soul, and spirit, and to make a success of

the work that He was sent into the world to do (Phil.2:9-11; Eph.

1:21-23; Col.1:15-24; 1 Pet.3:22). He could not have retained

this exalted position while becoming man, else He could not have

been exalted back to it.  

He could not have retained immutability, nor immortality bodily;

else He could not have laid aside His God-form to become a

mutable and mortal man to die upon the cross. If He had not laid

aside His glory He could not have had it restored to Him, as

stated in John 17:5. If He had retained all His riches while on

Earth He could not have become poor for our sakes, as taught in 2

Cor.8:9. If He had retained His divine form He could not have

taken human form as taught in Phil.2:5-11.

Those who hold to the theory that Christ possessed all the

attributes of deity and that He merely surrendered the

independent exercise of them and that He surrendered to the

control of the Spirit in the use of them teach, in substance, the

same that we do, for they say, "the Godhead narrowed itself down

to a point that is next to absolute extinction when it gave up

omniscience, omnipotence, and other powers." If He had not laid

aside His equality as God, then He could not have been unequal

with God as manifested in the days of His flesh.

The incarnation proves He was limited as man and grew to manhood

and developed normally as any other human child. Therefore, all

the stories of Christ before His anointing with the Spirit, such

as His making mud cakes and giving life to them which ran over

the mud cakes of other boys, of His making mud birds and

breathing into them so that they became living creatures and flew

away, of His stretching the lumber to required lengths if it was

too short, and of many miraculous powers from birth are mere

traditions manufactured by superstitious pagans to make Him equal

with pagan ideas of their gods. These stories are unworthy of the

glorious offspring of the invisible God as revealed in the Bible,

Who did no miracle until His full anointing of the Spirit (Matt.

3:16-17; John 2:11).

IX. WHAT DOES OUR LORD'S "KENOSIS" TEACH US? IT TEACHES:

1.  That Christ was always divine (Micah 5:1-2; John 1:1-3).

2.  That He could not cease being God in nature (1 Tim.3:16).

3.  That He retained His divinity when becoming incarnate in

flesh (Matt.1:23). 

4.  That He was truly human as well as divine and lived while on

Earth a normal and perfect human life as an example to all men

who desire to please God (1 Pet.2:21).

5.  That in so doing He laid aside His natural and divine

attributes or at least limited their use, and became a perfect

example of yieldedness to God and His Spirit to overcome the

world, the flesh, and the devil (Heb.10:5-9; Acts 10:38).

6.  That He did His works solely by the anointing of the Spirit

and not by the free self-exercise of the attributes of His deity

while becoming man (Acts 10:38). 

7.  That He did them to demonstrate and prove to all believers

that by the means of grace God has provided that everyone can

live victorious as He did (1 John 2:6; 3:7; 4:17).

8.  That every believer can likewise be anointed with the same

Spirit to the same degree that He was and do the works that He

did and even greater works (John 14:12).

9.  That His life and works were done as a pattern for all

believers after Him (1 John 4:17; 1 Pet.2:21; Mark 16:15-20).

10. That at His exaltation He had restored to Him His attributes

and glory He had with the Father before becoming man (John 17:5;

Matt.28:18).

11. That all the manifestations of divine attributes in His

earthly life were really the operations of the Holy Spirit, which

He was constantly baptized into (John 3:34). They were exercises

of the spiritual gifts of 1 Cor.12.

12. That He possessed the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit to

the full to demonstrate what being like God among men really is

like and to encourage one and all who aspire to that exalted

position of sons of God with power (John 3:34; Acts 10:38). Thus

by the 'kenosis' of Christ and that of believers in every

generation God proposes to demonstrate to the principalities and

powers in the heavenlies and all rebels on Earth the true nature

and manifold wisdom of God (1 Cor.4:9; 11:11; Eph.3:10-11).

                        .............

END OF STUDY

Entered on Keith Hunt's Website Auguat 2003