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What Nature Did Christ Take?

By: David M. Curtis

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" But our Savior took humanity, with all its liabilities. He took the nature of man, with the possibility of yielding to temptation."  Desire of Ages p.117.

 

"In the fullness of time He was to be revealed in human form. He was to take His position at the head of humanity by taking the nature but not the sinfulness of man" - Signs of the Times May 29, 1901

The question of which nature did Christ take is as ancient as any ever presented to mankind. It dates back to the first promise God made to the human race when Adam and Eve fell.

This seed as we will soon discover is Christ Himself. Whose seed was He to become? 

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Gen 3:15

This promise meant a very special seed would be born of the woman through her descendants. What nature did this woman have when this promise was given? She had a fallen nature. Before we can go further we must understand exactly what that means.

Let’s take a look into the human soul. There are two natures in the soul, the higher nature and the lower nature.

The higher nature consists of:

1. Reason
2. Will
3. Conscience

The higher nature is the THOUGHTS

The lower nature consists of:

1. Passion
2. Desire
3. Appetite

The lower nature is the FEELINGS

In many instances (but not all), the bible calls the higher nature the MIND, and calls the lower nature the HEART.

Prior to the fall the lower nature was in harmony with the higher nature. Just to be clear let’s say this using the other terms I just referred to. The heart was in harmony with the mind, or the feelings were in perfect unity with the thoughts.

After the fall the heart in man became corrupt. That is where the entire problem is. Desire became selfish, and self absorbed with passion and appetite. The higher nature became a slave to the lower nature. The reason could still understand good and evil, but the desires of the heart would prove to powerful for the will to overcome. Inside everyman is two masters, the will and the hearts desire.

In the last days everyone will have only one master. The heart and mind will be one, either it will in unity to serve good or it will be in unity to serve evil. For now, we are all struggling between these two masters the heart and the mind.

"The only-begotten Son of God took upon Him the nature of man, and established His cross between earth and heaven." God's Amazing Grace p. 74.

"Jesus took human nature, passing through infancy, childhood, and youth, that He might know how to sympathize with all and leave an example for all children and youth. He is acquainted with the temptations and weaknesses of children." - My Life Today p. 161.

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"Day for a Year" Principal

Is Calvinism's View of Predestination Scriptural?

Answering the Difficult Questions about Predestination

The REAL Reason Judas Betrayed Jesus

Falling in Love with Jesus

Jesus Christ the same Yesterday Today and Forever

The Pharisee's Accuse Jesus of Breaking the Sabbath

Was Jesus Black or White?

Baptism for the Dead?

How to have a Living Faith

"In order to elevate fallen man, Christ must reach him where he was. He took human nature, and bore the infirmities and degeneracy of the race." Confrontation p. 33

      The mind can be educated, a dull reason can be made wise, and the conscience can be sensitive to right doing and against evil, but the heart can no man tame.

The argument has been controverted for decades in the Adventist church as to which nature did Christ take, and this argument dates back more than 17 centuries in Christianity as a whole. Some will say Jesus was born with fallen flesh and other will say his nature was the same as Adam before the fall. So who is right? BOTH! Our Bible study is still under way, but allow me to give the punch line now. Christ came in SINFUL FLESH, but HE HAD AN UNFALLEN SINLESS HEART. Both sides are right! Are you surprised by that answer?

    A computer has hardware that cannot be altered regardless of the software and programming. the best programs are unable to change the hardware. The same is true about the heart. It needs a new motherboard and operating system. The fallen heart is entirely selfish, even the good that is done is based on selfish motives.

Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

"When Christ took human nature upon Him, He bound humanity to Himself by a tie of love that can never be broken by any power save the choice of man himself." - Steps to Christ p. 72.

"Christ . . . took man's human nature upon Him that He might come right down to man in the temptation wherewith man is beset." In Heavenly Places p. 263

"Be careful, exceedingly careful as to how you dwell upon the human nature of Christ. Do not set Him before the people as a man with the propensities of sin. He is the second Adam. The first Adam was created a pure, sinless being, without a taint of sin upon him; he was in the image of God. He could fall, and he did fall through transgressing. Because of sin his posterity was born with inherent propensities of disobedience. But Jesus Christ was the only begotten Son of God. He took upon Himself human nature, and was tempted in all points as human nature is tempted. He could have sinned; He could have fallen, but not for one moment was there in Him an evil propensity. He was assailed with temptations in the wilderness, as Adam was assailed with temptations in Eden." - 5BC p. 1128.

 

 

 

 

 

A man will likely "fall in love" with the one who makes HIM feel good about HIMSELF, the pride of a beautiful wife, the pleasure, the nurturing she offers HIM. A woman will likely fall in love with the man who makes HER feel good about HERSELF, the security of a good provider for HER, someone to listen to HER FEELINGS, and to comfort HER fears away. What people often call love is nothing more than feelings of inner desires being satisfied by another. Never forget that God is love. Any true love has God for its orgins. Everything else is a masked package handed off as love, but underneath it all is still selfish to the core.

Christ did NOTHING from selfish desire. Christ had no selfish desire. Christ did not have any inclinations or propensities towards sin.

A black hole is a light taker. The human heart is like a black hole that acts like a vacuum sucking into it all that its desires crave for and is destined for self destruction.

Christ on the other hand is the opposite of a black hole. Christ is the light giver. The only way for us to experience a change is to become mirrors reflecting Christ and His love and goodness to others. The only way for this change to occur inside our hearts is for Christ to abide in the heart. His goodness causes deep heart repentance inside us.

Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

What is needed is a new heart.

Heb 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
Heb 10:17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Please notice the law of God must be written in both places the heart and the mind. The problem many of my dear brethren are experiencing is that they attended a seminar that convicted their minds of truth, but sadly their hearts have never been born again. Many spend years educating their minds with knowledge of truth, and lack the law of God in their hearts. The heart is still married to sin. So like Paul said, with the mind they serve God and with the heart they serve sin.


He was born without a taint of sin, but came into the world in like manner as the human family. He did not have a mere semblance of a body, but He took human nature, participating in the life of humanity. - 7BC p. 925.

On the other hand many of my charismatic brethren work to convert the heart while neglecting educating the mind with present truth. Both errors are a ditch most professed Christians fall into. Strong passionate good feelings is not true heart conversion. True heart conversion is made when a man or woman loves God with all their HEART and MIND and STRENGTH and their neighbors as themselves. So it is not good enough to convert people’s minds to truth so that they agree with it and make some outward changes. Neither is it enough to work up a powerful exciting church service with all the hype and emotion that comes with it. The law of God must be in both the HEART and MIND.

If the mind is convicted with a knowledge of truth and the heart is still unconverted then that person is what the bible calls double minded or lukewarm. If you take a gallon of boiling hot water and add a gallon of cold ice water, all you have is luke-warm water. Imagine the hot water being obedience and the cold water disobedience. There are some areas of your life you are completely dedicated to obeying God. You go to church, and tithe, and for the most part lead a good life. Yet in other areas of your life you are completely dedicated to compromise. You are settled into accepting certain "little sins" as a normal experience that "all" Christians experience. If you have given up the battle in some areas of your life, believe it or not you are closer to victory than you think. Admitting the impossibility of changing the heart is a necessary step to victory.

 

 

Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil. Jeremiah 13:23

 

  

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. John 15:5

 

 

And this brings us to the next important promise in our study of the nature of Christ.

Gen 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

Paul mentions this promise to the church in Galatia.

Gal 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Christ was to be born of the seed of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and even King David according to various promises in the Bible.

  "Concerning his Son Jesus

 Christ our Lord, which was

 made of the seed of

 David according to the

 flesh;" Romans 1:3

 

Heb 2:14 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 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.


Heb 2:16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.


Heb 2:17 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.


Heb 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.

Heb 4:15 For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

What kind of flesh is that according to the Bible?

Rom 8:3 (King James Version) 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:

Let's see how other translations render this verse.

Rom 8:3 (Good News Bible) What the Law could not do, because human nature was weak, God did. He condemned sin in human nature by sending his own Son, who came with a nature like our sinful nature, to do away with sin.

Rom 8:3 (God's Word) It is impossible to do what God's standards demand because of the weakness our human nature has. But God sent his Son to have a human nature as sinners have and to pay for sin. That way God condemned sin in our corrupt nature.

Rom 8:3 (Weymouth New Translation) For what was impossible to the Law--powerless as it was because it acted through frail humanity--God effected. Sending His own Son in a body like that of sinful human nature and as a sacrifice for sin, He pronounced sentence upon sin in human nature;

 

"Satan claimed that it was impossible for human beings to keep God's law. In order to prove the falsity of this claim, Christ left His high command, took upon Himself the nature of man, and came to the earth to stand at the head of the fallen race, in order to show that humanity could withstand the temptations of Satan. On this earth He worked out the problem how to live in accordance with God's standard of right. Bearing our nature, He was true to God's standard of righteousness, gaining the victory over Satan. He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet He was without sin." E. G. White - Peter's Council to Parents. p.24.

 

 

 

 

 

Let's look at the Catholic’s view of Mary's immaculate conception. This teaching comes from Augustine who taught that Mary was born sinless through an immaculate conception and in turn gave birth to Christ who was totally sinless in every way. The Bible warns that if anyone denies that Christ came in the flesh... flesh just like you have I have, then that message is inspired by the spirit of antichrist.

1Jn 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
1Jn 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
1Jn 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

 
"In taking upon Himself man's nature in its fallen condition, Christ did not in the least participate in its sin." - Selected Messages vol. 1 page 256.
 

Here is the good news about the nature of Christ. He came in the same flesh as you have I have. He had the genetic makeup handed down from Adam's fall through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and King David. So He was made in all points just like we are. He had flesh and blood. Their was nothing super natural about the flesh and blood he had anymore than the kind you and I have. However Christ had something you have I do not have, something we both need. He had the law of God in His heart and mind. We must have complete faith in all of this to be saved. That is why to teach anything else is the spirit of antichrist. Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh and died for our sins, after being all his lifetime tempted in all points just like you and I are. He had no propensities towards sin. His heart had NO DESIRES for sin. His appetites and passions were in harmony with God's law. His reason and consciense were in harmony with God's law. Because of this He has the right to render our sins dead in Him, and grant us a new heart, a heart just like His.

So what nature did Christ take?

 

Christ came in SINFUL FLESH, BUT HE HAD AN UNFALLEN SINLESS HEART.

Both sides are right! So lets stop the debate and start spreading the good news!

 

                               

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