01 - The Importance of the Biblical Docrtine
Chapter One THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BIBLICAL DOCTRINE
OUTLINE 1. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT 2. A DEFINITION OF THE TERMS USED 3. BELIEVING IN THE VIRGIN BIRTH ESSENTIAL 4. THE OBJECTIONS GIVEN TO BELIEVING IN THE VIRGIN BIRTH 1. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT
It is impossible to overstate the importance of this subject. We’re not dealing with “much ado about nothing,” but we are dealing with the very tap-root of the Christian faith.
Today, theology is alive more than ever before in the history of Christianity.
There are ’three subjects which stand out foremost’ in the theological laboratories of the world with which men are wrestling and trying to comprehend and explain.
These three subjects are, 1. The authority of the Bible.
2. The meaning of JESUS CHRIST.
3. The nature of the Church. When we come to discuss the life of CHRIST, we find it begins with the miracle of the Virgin Birth and ends with the miracle of the Resurrection. No true study of His life is complete without a clear understanding of the Virgin Birth; 1. Not Elective, but Essential. This doctrine is not elective, but is essential. There are those who would tell us today that the doctrine of the Virgin Birth is not the only way that JESUS could be the real, true Son of GOD. The Virgin, Birth, they tell us, is only one way and we can elect either to believe in the Virgin Birth or other ways that have been suggested.
It is reasonable to think, we are told, that JESUS grew in Godliness. Born into a pious home in the midst of a God-revering people, schooled in the Old Testament, seeing GOD everywhere - in the lilies of the field, in the blind beggar by the roadside, turning often to Him in prayer, living in constant fellowship with Him, JESUS might conceivably, we are told, have become steadily more Godlike until He and GOD were one in spirit. If, therefore, we can believe in the Virgin Birth, well and good. But, if we have firm basis for our conviction that JESUS came from GOD in another way and we cannot believe in the Virgin Birth, we are told not to worry about it; but in our own way, hold fast to that same conviction. In either case, try to view with understanding those who differ from us. This sounds like broadmindedness to many people. But I remind you that we are not dealing with an isolated theory that we may believe or not believe without any spiritual benefits or ill effects.
We are dealing with the cornerstone in the whole framework of New Testament faith.
2. Not an Isolated Theory, but the Cornerstone in the Whole Framework of New Testament Faith.
II. A DEFINITION OF THE TERMS USED
1. The Virgin Birth By “Virgin Birth” we mean that doctrine founded on the Gospel of Matthew, “And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus” (Matthew 1:25).
“And the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).
These teach that JESUS was miraculously begotten of GOD and born of a virgin without an earthly father.
While His birth was supernatural, it is not enough to just say “supernatural” or “miraculous” birth, because there are other evidences of supernatural births in the Bible.
2. The Miraculous Conception.
Another term that we will be using quite frequently will be the term “Miraculous Conception.” It is not enough to just say Virgin Birth. It is entirely biologically possible for a virgin to conceive in various ways, but by “Miraculous Conception,” we mean a direct miracle of GOD, operating upon the virgin Mary and she is conceived and with child, not by any natural biological means, but by a miraculous conception of the HOLY SPIRIT.
3. The Incarnation.The word “Incarnation” will be used frequently also throughout this message, and by “Incarnation,” we mean a clothing with flesh, hanging on, or being made manifest in bodily form or in fleshly form. Thus, by “Incarnation,” we mean the union of the divine with the human, that is, GOD, Deity, takes on the form of flesh. Therefore, Deity becomes incarnated in human form or human flesh. It shall be my contention that JESUS became incarnate by no means other than the Miraculous Conception and the Virgin Birth.
4. The Deity or Divinity of CHRIST. The words “Deity” of CHRIST and “Divinity” of CHRIST shall be used. By “Deity,” we mean the essential nature of GOD. The Deity of the CREATOR is seen in His works. Thus, “Deity” means like GOD. The word “Divinity” refers also to GOD, but it is a much lighter word than the word “Deity.” We speak of other people as being divine - He is a divine being. We have a man in the United States who calls himself “Father Divine.” He takes on the divine nature, but no man of recent history has called himself a “Deity.” We find in the theological works, the older the work is, the more frequently the word “Deity” is used because it is a stronger word in referring to CHRIST than the word “Divinity.” Our more modern, liberal scholars speak more frequently of the “Divinity” of JESUS than they do the “Deity” of JESUS, because He could be divine and yet not be very GOD. But, He could not be “Deity” without being as much GOD as though He were never man. Therefore, I shall use the word “Deity” of JESUS instead of His “Divinity,” because it is a stronger and more expressive word.
III. BELIEVING IN THE VIRGIN BIRTH ESSENTIAL
And, now, with the importance of this subject upon our minds, and a definition of the terms we shall use, let us state just what believing in the Virgin Birth of JESUS really means. Believing in the Virgin Birth is essential to believing in all the other great fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith.
1. Believing in the Virgin Birth is Essential to Believing in the Divine Inspiration and Authority of the Scriptures. There are two camps of so-called Bible believers today.
One thinks that the Bible is merely a pre-historic and pre-scientific man, trying to set down his best impressions of GOD and of the world. The other theory is that the Bible was written by men who were supernaturally and spiritually inspired to write an authoritative record under the dynamic inspiration of the power of the Spirit of GOD. Those who reject the teachings of the Virgin Birth do so, first of all, by excluding all the supernatural accounts from the Gospels which includes the Virgin Birth. They then claim that the Bible, as we have it, is not an inspired, authentic account of things and facts as actually happened.
But, they claim, the Bible as we have it, is a book partly true, and partly a book of folklore, myths, allegories and superstitions, and unfounded rumors. They are very bold to claim that the first chapters of Matthew and Luke are stories, myths and legends that were added to the original writings and not part of divine revelation. It is sufficient to say here that this is a blatant and bold denial of the authority, inspiration and authenticity of the inspired scriptures. Those who wish to give this critical study further attention will do so by studying the treatment as given by Dr. J. Gresham Machen in his book, THE VIRGIN BIRTH OF CHRIST, published by Harper. This is the greatest one volume ever written on the subject of the Virgin Birth of CHRIST.
2. Believing in the Virgin Birth is Essential to believing in the Real Pre-existence of CHRIST, the first written record of the outright denial of The Virgin Birth appears in the writings of Justin Martyr.
Martyr is not objecting to the Virgin Birth, himself, but is recording the fact that some of his contemporaries do object and he states that they are objecting to the Virgin Birth and the Preexistence of CHRIST.
Therefore it is very significant that the first denial of the Virgin Birth included a denial in His Pre-existence.
What do we mean by His Pre-existence? We mean that CHRIST did not begin to live when He was born and became a baby. He had existed from before the foundation of the world. John tells us, “In the ’beginning was the Word, and the Word was with GOD, and the Word was GOD. The same was in the beginning with GOD. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:1-3).
He goes further to tell us that “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14 a).
John is here stating that CHRIST existed before He appeared in the form of human flesh. Again, when we turn to the seventeenth chapter of John, the record of the great intercessory prayer which JESUS prayed alone on his knees there in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said, “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” Here, JESUS CHRIST is stating the fact of His own Pre-existence. Those who deny the Virgin Birth claim that JESUS was born as other men are born into the world, but later, He was either adopted as GOD’s Son or became GOD’s Son through a process of Godconsciousness and the dedication of His life; or they refer to Him as a religious genius or in some other manner. I submit to you that of all the denials that I have ever heard men make, the worst is to deny the words of the Virgin Born, Incarnate Son of GOD as He knelt alone on His knees, facing the cross and saying, “Glorify thou me... with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”
All four of the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of Paul, the general Epistles and the book of Revelation, all affirm unmistakably the Preexistence of JESUS CHRIST.
3. Believing in the Virgin Birth is Essential to Believing in the Real Incarnation of CHRIST. By “Incarnation” we have already noted that it means appearing in the form of human flesh. That is, CHRIST was GOD in the flesh. There is a revival in preaching and writing on this subject of the Incarnation of CHRIST. In fact, this word “Incarnation” is being used almost universally here of late when referring to the earthly life of JESUS. The phrase “The Virgin Birth” is dropping from the printed pages of theological journals and theological books. The “Miraculous Conception” is being eliminated. The “Deity” and “Divinity” of CHRIST are being dropped. But the “Incarnation” is the general term that most writers are using when they talk about the earthly life of JESUS. Now, let us come to grips with the question. Is the “Incarnation” a figure of speech? Is it a theory? Is it a reality? Every page of the New Testament declares the Incarnation of CHRIST to be a real fact. It cannot be too emphatically stated that if our contemporary evangelism is to trace its full impact upon a secular age such as ours, we must go back and search again, humbly at the fountainhead of the New Testament for the message that once turned the world upside down. The message of the New Testament is characterized by its insistence upon historic facts. By historic facts, we mean facts as distinct from facts of nature or facts of intuition, rational deduction or mystical experience. It is a pathetic spectacle today to see preachers and churches trying to eliminate the controversial part of the Gospel, and by so doing, they are losing the living CHRIST in the process.
He was not a theory, He was not an idea.
He was a reality, and no full real, true Incarnation is possible except by means of the Virgin Birth.
4. Believing in the Virgin Birth is Essential to Believing in the Real Deity of CHRIST.
We said a few minutes ago that by the “Deity” of CHRIST, we were ascribing to Him the nature of GOD.
He is Divine or He is Deity because He is GOD. He could not be fully Deity without being as much GOD as though He were never man. The Deity and the Atonement of CHRIST must always stand or fall together because the value of the Atonement arises not from suffering, but from the character of Him who suffered. The true Deity of JESUS CHRIST is emphasized by three great facts of the New Testament.
One is calling upon the name of the Lord JESUS CHRIST. The second is trusting Him for our salvation. The third is His paying the sin debt with His suffering and death on the cross.
These three great facts of the New Testament are a mockery and a sham if CHRIST were not truly GOD, and He could not be truly GOD except for the Virgin Birth, 5. Believing in the Virgin Birth is Essential to Believing in the Doctrine of the Trinity.
One of the self-evident facts of all the New Testament is the well known doctrine of the Trinity GOD the Father, GOD the Son and GOD the HOLY SPIRIT.
One time in the New Testament we have all three persons of the Triune Godhead active at the same time, that is, acting simultaneously. They do this in the account of the baptism of JESUS.
“And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17).
Again, the doctrine of the Trinity is affirmed by Paul at the end of his second letter to the Corinthians when he said, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:14).
6. Believing in the Virgin Birth is Essential to Believing in the New Testament Doctrine of the Atonement.
Regardless of which theory we might hold as to the doctrine of the Atonement, the fact still remains that it was substitutionary and that CHRIST did something for us that we could not do for ourselves. The New Testament doctrine of the Atonement simply states that on the account of our sin, the sentence of death came upon us. JESUS had no sin. Yet death came to Him, and it came upon Him because of our sins and on our behalf.
He took upon Himself the sentence of death that was due us, and by bearing that sentence, He sets us free. That is what is meant when it is said we are redeemed with the blood of JESUS.
“But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (1 Peter 1:19). The blood stands for the life which He freely gave for us. No human blood could pay that price. The doctrine of the Atonement stands or falls upon the fact of the Virgin Birth.
7. Believing in the Virgin Birth is Essential to Believing in the New Testament Plan of Salvation.
Please notice that we said the New Testament plan of salvation. By salvation, we mean the deliverance from sin unto forgiveness and salvation and being made a child of the Kingdom of GOD.
Some have argued that salvation is dependent upon what the church does for the individual.
Others have argued that salvation is dependent upon what the individual does for himself. But the New Testament teaches neither of these to be true. It emphatically declares that salvation is dependent upon our accepting what CHRIST has already done for us. By means of His atoning death, we have just stated above, He made possible our salvation. Our salvation is dependent upon the real Atonement. The real Atonement is dependent upon the real GOD. And the real true Deity is dependent upon the Virgin Birth.
8. Believing in the Virgin Birth is Essential to Believing in the Lordship of CHRIST. By virtue of the fact that CHRIST is our Saviour, He then becomes our Lord.The Gospels report CHRIST making claims that no other man has ever made.
He said to His disciples that if men are to be His followers, they must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Him.
He told the rich young ruler that he must sell all that he had and give to the poor and follow Him.
He said that one must hate father, mother, brother and sister, houses and land, yea his own life, if he is to be a true disciple of JESUS.
One must take his yoke and learn of Him.
JESUS claimed to be the arbiter of the destinies of men. He is to return in glory and power and judge the nations, separating the righteous from the wicked.
These claims would be preposterous on the part of any man, however great the man unless he were more than a man. He demands that man put Him first - ahead of father, friends and worldly prosperity, or life itself. These claims make Him our master and demand that He be more than a man. The Acts of the Apostles acclaim Him to be both Lord and CHRIST. He is at the right hand of GOD and Stephen prays to Him. The Gospel of John pictures Him as being the only begotten Son of GOD and all judgments are committed unto Him. He is the resurrection and the life. Faith in Him brings eternal life. All should honor the Son as they honor the Father.
Paul regards Him as Lord in the absolute sense of the word.
He is the one and only Lord. In His Resurrection, He is instated in a position of power corresponding with His divine nature.
He is the last Adam.
He is the head of a new spiritual humanity.
He is given a name which is above every name, that at the name of JESUS every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that JESUS is Lord to the glory of the Father. This is the attitude of all the New Testament writers toward CHRIST, and it comes out especially in the book of Revelation. When John sees Him in His glory in the first chapter, he falls at His feet as one dead and recognizes Him as “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”
If JESUS were not truly GOD, such statements would be futile and absurd.9. Believing in the Virgin Birth is Essential to the Spiritual Growth of the Individual.
Science justifies its claim today upon the basis of what they call the pragmatic test. The scientific pragmatic simply stated is that it works.
Science discovers a hypothesis. They test it out.
They test it again. They prove it again, and they find it works. Therefore, it has passed the pragmatic test. It is a self-evident fact, and therefore, it is given to us as true.
We can also apply the pragmatic test of the belief in the Deity and the Virgin Birth of JESUS to the spiritual life, growth and development of an individual.
Every individual in this world, minister and clergy alike, who have believed implicitly in the divine authority of the Scriptures, in the Virgin Birth of JESUS, in the Deity of JESUS, in the vicarious Atonement of JESUS, in the New Testament plan of Salvation and in the Lordship of JESUS - that person has been able to grow spiritually and be a blessing to humanity.
Every individual who claims to be a follower of the Lord whose faith is not firmly grounded in all these great truths always becomes a spiritual dwarf - full of questions and doubts, has no life, no thrust, no lifting up of the eagle’s wings.
10. Believing in the Virgin Birth is Essential to the Missionary Spirit of the Church. The one scholar in the world today who has denounced belief in the Virgin Birth more than any other man to my knowledge is Dr. Nels F. S. Ferre, professor of Philosophical Theology, Vanderbilt University School of Religion, Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Ferre, in a recent book entitled “The Sun and the Umbrella,” has scoffed at the idea of the Virgin Birth of JESUS. In this book, Dr. Ferre discredits the authority of the Bible and claims it is just another book written by pre-scientific men with all their superstitions, legends, fairy tales and folklore. He discredits the missionary spirit of the church. His closing three chapters in this book are devoted to the Christian missionary attitude toward the Jews, Communists, and other religions of the pagan world.
He concludes that if we as Christians hold to the Deity of JESUS, the miracles of JESUS, the resurrection of JESUS and the spiritual new birth taught by JESUS, that we have no hope of any basis of cooperation or unification with Communism, the Jewish and the other nature religions of the world.
He argues that we should divest our thinking of all the supernatural and superiority in CHRIST and Christianity and realize that we have not the religion of the world, but a religion, and therefore, proceed upon the assumption that one is as valid as the other.
That, my friends, is a death blow to the missionary spirit of the church which CHRIST uttered as He stood on the mountainside and was received up into Heaven and gave to His church the Great Commission, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:19-20).
IV. THE OBJECTIONS GIVEN TO BELIEVING IN THE VIRGIN BIRTH The reasons the skeptics give for not believing in the Virgin Birth are now presented.
1. It is Claimed that ONLY Matthew and Luke Refer to it. The first and foremost argument they give is, they say that the Virgin Birth is mentioned in only two of the writers of the Gospels, namely, Matthew and Luke.
They go on to suggest that since only two of the four Gospel writers mention the story of the Virgin Birth, it must not be so, else the two others, Mark and John, would have also included it in their writings. May I answer this argument by first saying that assertion is not true. As we shall see later on, Matthew and Luke are the only two who actually spell out the Virgin Birth to the very letter and describe it in detail, but the whole burden of all the writers of all the New Testament is based upon the assumption of the Virgin Birth.
So, to say that Matthew and Luke are the only two writers of the New Testament who teach the Virgin Birth is not stating the facts. To say that they are the only two who describe it in detail would be stating the facts. In the second place, just for the sake of argument, let us suppose that Matthew and Luke were the only two writers of the Bible who even alluded to it or referred to it or suggested it in any way, shape, form or fashion. Suppose that were true, would it make the doctrine null and void?
How many times does GOD have to say a thing before it becomes an established truth?
We shall make a third remark and say that there are other important events recorded in the Scriptures that only one or two of the Gospel writers record. For example, only Matthew and Luke give the account of the genealogies of Mary and Joseph. Again, only Matthew and Luke give a detailed account of the temptations of JESUS. Only Matthew and Luke give an account of the Sermon on the Mount.
Only Luke mentions the story of the Prodigal Son.
Only Luke mentions the story of the Good Samaritan, and only Luke tells us of the birth of John the Baptist.
John, and John alone, tells us the story of the first miracle of JESUS. John, and only John, tells the story of JESUS’ interview with Nicodemus and His explicit teachings as to the New Birth. It is John alone who records the great Intercessory Prayer of JESUS in the seventeenth chapter of John.Are we to conclude now that none of these accounts can be authentic and none of them are true just because they are not mentioned by all four of the Gospel writers?
Then why discredit and disbelieve the Virgin Birth on the assumption that only two of the four Gospel writers give an account of it?
2. It is Argued that the Virgin Birth is not Essential to the New Testament Faith. The next big argument that is set forth for not believing in the Virgin Birth is they claim that belief in the Virgin Birth is not essential to New Testament faith. The world renowned scholar, Dr. H. R. McIntosh, Professor of Theology, Edinburgh, takes the position that belief in the Virgin Birth is not essential to the faith of the New Testament.
Dr. McIntosh has written his immortal volume on the Doctrine of the Person of JESUS CHRIST, which is a volume of 550 pages. He has discussed CHRIST from every possible angle, and that volume has found its place into the volumes that comprise the International Theological Library. The Virgin Birth of JESUS is ignored throughout the book and after he has closed the book, he has tacked on an appendix of nine pages in which he has discussed the Virgin Birth of JESUS CHRIST.
While Dr. McIntosh has discussed the Virgin Birth in just an appendix tacked on to his book, he has one short paragraph that is well worth the price of the book.
I give it to you now, “Whether we are to call the birth narrative, only a childish attempt to utter JESUS’ greatness or valid testimony to a historical fact, will much depend upon the spiritual impression he has made upon us.”
Thus, Dr. McIntosh has left a door open to one of the main principles of New Testament faith, that of experience. The New Testament faith was based upon facts and experience, not cold isolated mathematics alone.
3. It is said to be A Myth Added to the Gospel Story It is true that around many famous men in ancient history there are woven legends about their birth or in some manner their miraculous descent into the world. For example, one of the most illustrious Greek warriors of all time was Alexander the Great. He was very anxious that he be known not as an ordinary man, but as a superman. And he did not want it to be known that he was the son of Philip. So, in later years, his biographers claimed that he, Alexander the Great, was begotten by a serpent cohabitating with his mother.
Another of the great Roman conquerors was Caesar Augustus. One story current about his life was that while his mother lay asleep in the temple of Apollo, she was visited by a god in the form of a serpent, and months later, Caesar Augustus was born.
Another fabulous, mythical story of one of the heroes of storybook was named Hercules. The mythical storybook narrative of him is simply this, His mother was a beautiful and lovely woman and the god, Jupiter, fell in love with her and assumed the likeness of her husband while he was gone. After this unusual relationship between the god and the beautiful woman, Hercules was born. Juno, the wife of Jupiter, was said not to be so pleased with this, her god husband’s act, so she sent two serpents to destroy the baby. The little fellow, however, in his great strength, strangled and killed both the snakes.
Let us take one other, that of a story relative to Buddha, the founder of the great religion, Buddhism. For the first two or three hundred years, no miraculous story was told about the life of Buddah, but then there one day developed one. The story is that the mother of Buddha is said to have had a vision in her sleep. She dreamed that she saw a white elephant with six tusks. The elephant forcibly entered her side and months later, Gautama Buddha was born.
Now, as you have already observed, none of these legends and none of these myths have any parallel, whatsoever, with the beautiful, moral and ethical story of the Incarnation of JESUS. In these myths and legends, there is no moral, there is no reason, there is no cause, there is no end, it is just snakes, elephants and gods assuming human lust and committing immoralities, and begetting monstrosities. To read these sordid tales makes the simple story of the Virgin Birth of JESUS all the more impressive. There is nothing in all the annals of time or history that can be compared to the heavenly visit of the angel to Mary. No other person on earth has ever laid claim, nor have the disciples of any other person ever laid claim to anything like the beautiful story of the Virgin Birth.
4. It is Argued that Similar Stories Are Found in Ancient Folklore and Greek Mythology The answer to that is that sordid immoral stories are found in ancient folklore and Greek mythology, but no moral, ethical and spiritual story is to be found that in any way compares with or parallels the story of the Virgin Birth. The story of the Virgin Birth does not happen without reason. It does not happen without cause.
It does not happen without significance.
There is moral purpose behind every move of JESUS becoming incarnate. There is no such purpose behind these mythological and legendary stories found elsewhere. Therefore, no comparison can be claimed.
5. It is Said to be Contrary to the Laws of Science Again, it is said that the story of the Virgin Birth is contrary to the laws of science.What are the laws of science?
Simply stated, they are the facts as man has been able to observe and test them and demonstrate them and prove them. The laws of science have changed so much till no true science would dare set down a set of laws and claim that they are infallible and must be true throughout all the centuries. The so-called laws of science of even ten years ago, most of them are now denied.
Even the long accepted theory of Sir Isaac Newton’s Law of Gravitation has of recent years been challenged by the great scientist and physicist, Albert Einstein. It is also true that science has not discovered a law whereby a woman can biologically conceive and be with child apart from the union of the female and male sperm. But that does not mean that GOD cannot bring a special decreed miracle of history and act according to His own plan and cause Mary to conceive.
GOD is simply moving into His own laws in this case.
Science can find no law for any of the miracles of JESUS.
It finds no law for the Resurrection of JESUS.
It finds no scientific facts to substantiate the doctrine of the New Birth.
It has no laws regarding the Second Coming or the Resurrection. There are no real spiritual New Testament truths that science can pour into its test tubes or put on its smears and observe through its microscopes. But that does not mean that they do not exist.
6. It is Argued that CHRIST was Adopted as the Son of GOD Again, it is argued that CHRIST was not the Virgin Born Son of GOD, but that He was an adopted Son. That theory, simply stated says that CHRIST was the natural son of Mary and Joseph and that He grew and developed as a natural, normal human being; but in His religious devotion and in His GOD consciousness and in His dedication, He managed to give Himself so completely to GOD that GOD adopted Him as His Son. The baptism is the adoption initiation when CHRIST was adopted into His priestly office and became the Son of GOD, only as GOD’s presence was revealed to Him in a special way that He has never revealed His presence in another being. The best answer to this is, if it were true, it would create a larger and more complicated miracle than the simple story of the Miraculous Conception and the Virgin Birth.
Furthermore, if JESUS were a member of the human race and merely adopted as the Son of GOD, then that would be a direct violation of the scriptural teachings of the Pre-existence of CHRIST. As we have already learned they teach emphatically that He existed from before the foundation of the world.
It would do away with the doctrine of the Deity and the Trinity, and would make null and void the New Testament doctrine of the Atonement and the Lordship of CHRIST and would also nullify the New Testament plan of Redemption.
7. It is Argued that He Became the Son of GOD by Means of His God-consciousness and His dependence upon GOD
It is argued that He became the Son of GOD by means of His God-consciousness and that His dependence upon GOD was responsible for His unique relation to GOD. This is probably the most universally and widely accepted theory among the liberals and moderns of our day.
Now let us suppose that it is true that one natural member of the human race has managed to find the secret, to find the door and the key that could unlock it and has worked his way into son-ship and into union with GOD.
Let us just suppose this to be true. Would that make the man a divine redeemer who could make atonement for other human beings?
If He were a mere human who found His way into a unique relation with GOD, that, too, nullifies the doctrine of His Pre-existence, of His real Deity, of the true Trinity, of the Atonement, and of the true New Testament Plan of Salvation.
~ end of chapter 1 ~
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