The Testimony of Menno Simons

Menno Simons was an Anabaptist leader in the 16th century. He lived in a time of severe persecution. So severe that some believers thought they should take up the sword and fight back. Menno became known as a leader who stood for turning the other cheek. He and his followers suffered much for their beliefs and for their meek, non-resistant ways. Here are some quotes from Menno on the teaching of the Son of God. He is contrasting his views with the prevailing teachings of his day.

The Testimony of Menno Simons

Reader, consider the Word of your Lord. Christ says that His flesh came from heaven, and the learned ones say that it came from Adam’s flesh. Here are flatly opposite positions. What must the God-fearing conscience do now? If it clings to Christ’s Word and testimony, then it will pass the learned ones for a deceiver and a heretic. But if it adheres to the testimony of the learned ones, then it makes Christ a liar. And seeing that we discover the learned ones and Christ so completely at variance with each other, and since we know Christ to be the guileless truth and all men to be liars, we cannot forsake the truth for falsehood, can we? No, we must turn from falsehood to truth. Let men think of us as they please. God’s Word abides forever. Isa. 40:8; I Peter 1:24.

Quite probably our opponents will attempt an evasion at this point and say, Christ speaks of the most worthy element in Him, for His deity is from heaven and it assumed Adam’s flesh, etc. I reply: Let them believe Christ’s own Word and testimony, then they will realize how they interpret it according to their own desires and not according to the intention and truth of the Christ. For this is what He says, I am that living bread come down from heaven [notice how He says, come down from heaven] and that bread that I will give is my flesh. Notice He does not say, is my deity, but my flesh which I give for the life of the world. It seems to me that Christ has explained His own words quite sufficiently, and the explanations and glosses of the learned ones are unnecessary. But both Christ and John could not speak more plainly of the origin of His holy flesh than they have done in the above passages.

Therefore let everybody be careful how he glosses, for he who falsifies this clear and solid testimony falsifies not a man’s word, but his Lord’s. Neither does he reject us, but the Son of God and His Holy Spirit, and the exalted apostle John, who testified with such plain and clear words, preserved for us in such clarity.

P. 796, Simons, M. The Complete Writings of Menno Simons, 5th edition. (Translated by Verduin, L., Edited by Wenger, J.C., 1986) Scottdale, Pennsylvania: Mennonite Publishing House. (Original works published early to mid 1500s)

The Transfiguration – the Virgin Birth in Reverse

In the resurrection followers of Christ receive a new body.  Why?  Why not just resurrect the old clay body and keep it for eternity?  The reason is that flesh and blood – that is earthly flesh and blood – cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.

 

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

1Co 15:51  Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

 

So in a moment all of Christ’s followers will be changed.  We’ll put on a body that according to Philippians 3:21 is fashioned like unto Jesus’ glorious body.   This is part of the working to subdue the rebellious creation.  God shucks the skin off the Seed He has planted through the New Birth and clothes that New Creature in a body that no longer struggles against this born-from-above inward man (1 Peter 1:23, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 7:21-25).

 

Php 3:20  For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ:

Php 3:21  Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

 

So what has all of that got to do with the title of this post – “The Transfiguration – the Virgin Birth in Reverse?”   At the Transfiguration (Mark 9:1-10), Christ reassumed the glory that He had with the Father before the world was.  It’s the exact reverse of the Virgin Birth, where He set aside His glory and came as a servant in the likeness of sinful flesh (Philippians 2:6-8, Romans 8:3).  What we learn from the Transfiguration is that in a moment, the Son of God can manifest His glory and the next moment hide it. 

 

Did Jesus get a new body when He was resurrected? No. Jesus was resurrected in the same body in which He died. We know this because for one, that is what He said would happen (John 2:19-22). We can also look at the physical evidence. The tomb was empty and the body He walked the earth in after the resurrection bore the physical scars of the crucifixion (John 20:27). Jesus did not need a new body when He was resurrected. His flesh and blood can inherit the Kingdom of God just as it was when it was slain (Revelation 5). Why? Because the body in which He came was not corrupt like our old clay bodies of death as Paul called them. He came in the body that He had before the foundation of world. He came in the likeness of sinful flesh, not in sinful flesh. At the virgin birth He simply divested Himself of His glory, just like He did when the Transfiguration was over.

What the Schoolmaster Said…

Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

 

Col 2:16  Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

Col 2:17  Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

 

Heb 8:4  For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:

Heb 8:5  Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.

 

Heb 10:1  For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

 

The law was a schoolmaster. It helps prepare us for faith in Christ. Just as a schoolteacher prepares a child for life using illustrations and examples, so the law prepares us for faith.  The sacrifices in the law could not take away sin, but they could illustrate the true sacrifice of Christ so that we would recognize its significance and the teachings surrounding it when they are explained to us.

 

One thing the law should do is to sharpen our sensitivity between clean and unclean, holy and unholy, acceptable and unacceptable. In the law there were men who could serve as priests and there were men who could not serve as priests. There were sacrifices that were acceptable, and there were sacrifices that were unacceptable.  These things were foreshadowing truths about Christ the True High Priest and Christ the True Sacrifice. 

High Priests which have infirmity…Hebrews 7:28

 

Lev 21:17  Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.

Lev 21:18  For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,

Lev 21:19  Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,

Lev 21:20  Or crookbacked, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;

Lev 21:21  No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.

 

In the law, in order to serve as a priest a man had to be physically whole.  He couldn’t be blind, or lame, or have crooked back. Why?  Is a man who is physically whole somehow more righteous than a man with limp?  No, of course not.  The answer to this lies in what the law was foreshadowing about the Son of God.

 

Heb 7:28  For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.

 

Christ is the true High Priest. The High Priests in the law foreshadowed Him.  Hebrews 7:28 teaches us that the key difference in the shadow and real thing is that the earthly priests who foreshadowed Christ had infirmity. 

 

Infirmity means weakness, sickness of the body.  The infirmity spoken of in this verse isn’t referring to sickness like the flu or palsy; it is speaking of the corruption of sin and death that is in Adam’s race[1]. We inherit the corruption of sin and death from our father Adam[2].  The True High Priest was not born into this infirmity; rather He came in the likeness of sinful flesh in an incorruptible body of power[3].  

 

The law foreshadowed the marvelous body of the True High Priest by prohibiting those with physical deformities from performing the office of priest. This was not to exalt being physically whole or to say physical deformity lowered you in the eyes of God.  This was portraying the truth of the God’s Son, our True High Priest.  The lesson was the True High Priest would not bear the infirmity of sin in His body.

 

There is also a lesson about the resurrection in this picture.  A goal of the overall work of Christ is to create a nation of priests that serves God forever[4].  Through the resurrection, we put off our sinful flesh and are raised in a body like Christ’s[5].   Relieved of the infirmity that causes us to sin, we will rule and reign in righteousness forever.

A lamb without blemish and without spot…1 Peter 1:19

 

1 Pet 1:18  Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

1 Pet 1:19  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

 

Lev 22:18  Speak unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them, Whatsoever he be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, that will offer his oblation for all his vows, and for all his freewill offerings, which they will offer unto the LORD for a burnt offering;

Lev 22:19  Ye shall offer at your own will a male without blemish, of the beeves, of the sheep, or of the goats.

Lev 22:20  But whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer: for it shall not be acceptable for you.

Lev 22:21  And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD to accomplish his vow, or a freewill offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein.

Lev 22:22  Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer these unto the LORD, nor make an offering by fire of them upon the altar unto the LORD.

Lev 22:23  Either a bullock or a lamb that hath any thing superfluous or lacking in his parts, that mayest thou offer for a freewill offering; but for a vow it shall not be accepted.

Lev 22:24  Ye shall not offer unto the LORD that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut; neither shall ye make any offering thereof in your land.

Lev 22:25  Neither from a stranger’s hand shall ye offer the bread of your God of any of these; because their corruption is in them, and blemishes be in them: they shall not be accepted for you.

 

Just as men who served in the office of priest had to be physically whole, so the animals used in sacrifice had to be without blemish.  These unblemished animals portrayed the Lamb of God who would offer His body as an unblemished sacrifice.  It is in this unblemished sacrifice that we have hope. 

 

Some do violence to this truth by attempting to separate the blood of Christ from the body of Christ.  Saying in effect it is only the blood that matters.  The scriptures make no such distinction.  It is the offering of the whole Christ – His flesh and His blood – that sanctifies us.

 

Heb 10:5  Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

Heb 10:6  In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.

Heb 10:7  Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

Heb 10:8  Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;

Heb 10:9  Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

Heb 10:10  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

 

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The law is a schoolmaster to bring us to faith in Christ. If the distinction between infirm and whole, blemished and unblemished, corruptible and incorruptible had not been important or had not had any significant fulfillment in Christ, God would not have gone to so much trouble to portray this in the law.  The law warns us that sacrifices in which there is corruption and blemishes will not be accepted.  If in our hearts we place Christ in a corruptible body of Mary’s flesh do we offer an unacceptable sacrifice? O Lord deliver us, keep our hearts pure in thy sight!

 

Christ was the neighborly close brother who redeemed us from sin.  He walked the path we walk and suffered as we suffer, but He was separate from sinners[6].  He wasn’t born into the sin sick corruptible bodies of death that we are born into[7]; rather He came in an incorruptible, unblemished body that could be offered as an acceptable sacrifice.  This truth about Christ is what the law portrayed with its unblemished sacrifices and its demand for physically whole priests.

 

Heb 7:26  For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

 

Let the scriptures speak.

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[1] Sickness and other physical infirmities are consistently used in the scriptures to portray sin.  See for example, Isaiah 1:5-6 and Matthew 9:10-13. 

[2] 1 Corinthians 15:22, 1 Corinthians 15:42-45, Psalm 51:5, Romans 7:23-25

[3] See Romans 8:3, 1 Corinthians 15.  This is actually the significance of the virgin birth.  Christ was not born into the corruption of Adam’s flesh like we all are.

[4] Revelation 1:4-6

[5] Philippians 3:21

[6] Heb 7:26  For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

[7] Rom 7:23-24  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Is Christ David’s Son?

How say they that Christ is David’s son?…Luke 20:39-44

 

In the Gospels, Jesus often asks questions like, “What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?” or “Whom do men say that I am?”   He asked the question several times, but only one person got it right. What was He getting at?  Isn’t Jesus David’s son?

 

Luke 20:39  Then certain of the scribes answering said, Master, thou hast well said.

Luke 20:40  And after that they durst not ask him any question at all.

Luke 20:41  And he said unto them, How say they that Christ is David’s son?

Luke 20:42  And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,

Luke 20:43  Till I make thine enemies thy footstool.

Luke 20:44  David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son?

 

Mat 22:41  While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,

Mat 22:42  Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David.

Mat 22:43  He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,

Mat 22:44  The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?

Mat 22:45  If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?

 

Mark 12:35  And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David?

Mark 12:36  For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.

Mark 12:37  David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly.

 

In these verses Jesus is testing the spirits of the scribes and Pharisees.  He wasn’t asking them if they believed that He, Jesus of Nazareth, was the Christ.  He was asking them what their belief about the Messiah (Christ) was. 

 

He asks them why they believe the Messiah would be an earthly descendent of David.  He points out to them that this is impossible because David called Christ Lord.  In the mind of Jesus, it was simply not valid to think that an earthly son of David could be the Lord, the Messiah, the Son of God[1].  The scribes and Pharisees failed the “flesh” test because they believed that the Messiah would be an earthly descendent of David. It had been lost from their teachings that the Messiah would be a gift that came down to them from heaven[2].

 

But whom say ye that I am?…Matthew 16:13-20

 

In Matthew 16[3], Jesus tries the spirits of His own disciples, and gets a very different response from that of the scribes and Pharisees.  He first asks them who other men said He was, then He asks them, “But whom say ye that I am.”  Peter replies that He is the Christ the Son of the Living God.  Notice the difference in Peter’s response and the response the scribes and Pharisees gave.  Peter didn’t mix in any notion of Christ as an earthly descendent of David, he stated the simple truth of who the Messiah is, saying He is the Christ the Son of the Living God.

 

It is very significant what Jesus says next.  He tells him that flesh and blood hasn’t revealed this to him, but rather His Father in heaven.  Flesh and blood can’t reveal this because only the Father can teach us in our hearts who the Messiah is in truth[4].  Jesus goes on to say that it is upon this rock, the rock of the Son of the Living God taught in truth, that He will build His church.

 

Mat 16:13  When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?

Mat 16:14  And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.

Mat 16:15  He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

Mat 16:16  And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Mat 16:17  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Mat 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Mat 16:20  Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.

 

Satan had worked to remove the teaching of the Messiah as the Lord from heaven from the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees[5].  This foundation had to be re-established in order for the keys to the kingdom of heaven to be delivered over to believers like Peter.  What does that say about the many denominations and churches today that reject the true teaching of Christ as the bread from heaven?  Has the kingdom of heaven become leavened with the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees? 

 

2 Tim 3:13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

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Jesus said, “I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. John 17:8”  When God teaches us who Jesus is we will know surely that He came out from God[6].  This means He came out wholly from God. He wasn’t partially of God and partially of Mary.  He wasn’t fully of God and fully of Mary.  He came out from God.  This is the rock upon which Jesus builds His church.  It is the Father that teaches this to us in the depths of our heart.  Jesus used this teaching to try the spirits when He walked the earth.  John told believers to try the spirits using this teaching.  We are leaning on our own understanding if we do not.

 

Let the scriptures speak.

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[1] Numbers 23:19, Hosea 11:9

[2] See John 6.  Similarly, it had been lost from their teachings that salvation was by the new birth – John 3:1-10.

[3] See also Mark 8:27-31 and Luke 9:18-21. 

[4] John 6:29

[5] Luke 11:52

[6] It is not that you must have a very refined understanding of the Son of God to be saved.  But when you have begun down the road of following Christ and you are presented with the truth of how He came in the flesh you will receive it if you have been taught of God.  We see this in John 6.  The disciples of Christ who had not been taught of God went away when Jesus claimed to be from heaven.  Note John 6:66.

 

Look No Hands!

 

In the scriptures the phrase made with hands refers to the things of the creation, the phrase made without hands refers to things that are of God.

 

As we’ll see in the scriptures below this distinction is always maintained. Things that are of this present creation, such as our earthly bodies, are referred to as being made with hands.  Things that are of God, such as our resurrection bodies, Holy Places in heaven[1], and the tabernacle (body) that Christ came in, are not made with hands.

Our earthly flesh is made by hands…Ephesians 2:10-11

 

Adam’s race was formed from the dust of the ground by the hands of the Potter[2].  In the verses below Paul refers to the earthly children of Israel as the Circumcision that is in the flesh made by hands. 

 

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Eph 2:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;

 

The circumcision that is made with hands has no eternal value, what mankind needs is a circumcision that is made without hands.

 

The true circumcision is made without hands…Colossians 2:11

 

Col 2:11  In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

 

One way of thinking about the new birth is to see it as the first step in a process that separates us from the current creation.  God’s Spirit draws us away from loving this world to where we set our love on Christ.  A new man is born within us and a struggle begins between this new man and our old Adamic flesh.  But this is not where the redemption process ends.  In the resurrection we will put off this earthly tabernacle and be clothed with flesh from heaven[3].  This is the redemption of our bodies[4].  There will no longer be an internal struggle between the new man and the tabernacle.  Death will have been swallowed up in victory[5].  We will have been fully redeemed.

 

The redemption of our bodies is portrayed in the act of circumcision. Flesh is removed to symbolize the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh.  This true circumcision is done without hands.  It is the circumcision of Christ where our vile bodies are stripped away from the new man and we are clothed upon with a glorious body like His[6].

Our resurrection body is not made with hands…2 Corinthians 5:1

 

Our eternal body is made without hands.  It is not of this world.

 

2 Cor 5:1  For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens

Christ came by a tabernacle not made with hands…Hebrews 9:9-14

 

The Son’s tabernacle (body) was not of this building, not of earthly clay; rather, He came by a greater and more perfect tabernacle.  The tabernacle in which Jesus dwelt is the same as what we hope to dwell in in the resurrection[7]. 

 

Heb 9:9  Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;

Heb 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

Heb 9:11  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

Heb 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Heb 9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:

Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

False witnesses said Christ’s body was made with hands…Mark 14:58

 

Some believe and teach that Jesus was raised in a different body than that in which He died.  Look at what He says though in John 2:19, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it [the same one] up.”  He doesn’t say, “Destroy this temple and in three days I’ll be raised in another one.”  Jesus plainly teaches us here that the body He dies in will be the same one that is raised. 

 

John 2:18  Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?

John 2:19  Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

John 2:20  Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?

John 2:21  But he spake of the temple of his body.

John 2:22  When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

 

At His trial false witnesses took the statement Jesus made in John 2:19 and added a very significant phrase, made with hands.  They also added the idea that He would be resurrected in another body made without hands.  See Mark 14:58 below. Consistent with what we’ve seen in other sections, those who are against Christ resist and distort the teaching of Christ’s body.

 

Mark 14:55  And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none.

Mark 14:56  For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together.

Mark 14:57  And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying,

Mark 14:58  We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.

Mark 14:59  But neither so did their witness agree together.

Mark 14:60  And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?

The Stone that Is Cut Out Without Hands…Daniel 2:31

 

In the end times the Son, referred to here as a stone cut out without hands, destroys the kingdom of the Antichrist.

 

Dan 2:31  Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.

Dan 2:32  This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,

Dan 2:33  His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.

Dan 2:34  Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.

Dan 2:35  Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

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Earthly things are made with hands.  Things that are of God, eternal things, are made without hands.  The scriptures always maintain this distinction.  Christ came by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building [not of earthly clay].  We must be careful to honor Christ as that one who’s Tabernacle was made without hands.  We do violence to Christ Himself and we do violence to our hope of a redeemed body if we think of Christ as having a tabernacle made with hands. 

 

Let the scriptures speak.

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[1] Hebrews 9:24

[2] Isaiah 64:8, Genesis 2:7, Colossians 1:13-16, Job 10:5-9

[3] See Because of the Resurrection Bodies We Hope For.

[4] Romans 8:23

[5] 1 Corinthians 15:54

[6] Philippians 3:21

[7] See Because of the Resurrection Bodies We Hope For and Because He Arose in the Same Body He Died In.

Like Begats Like – Why We Must Be Born Again

 

Gen 1:11  And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

Gen 1:12  And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

 

In God’s universe like begets like.  Herbs yield herbs.  Fruit trees yield fruit trees. Horses give birth to other horses.  Sinners begat sinners.  As natural descendents of Adam, we are born into sin and death. 

In Adam all die…1 Cor. 15:21-22

 

1 Cor 15:21  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

1 Cor 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

 

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

 

John 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

 

Adam’s race is born into death.  We sin because that is the nature we inherited from our father Adam. We die and return to the earth because that is the curse we inherit from Adam[1].  We cannot change our spots.  This is why we must be born again.    

 

The scriptures never say Christ was born into death.  They say he was born under the law, and they say he was tempted in all points like as we are, but they never say he was born into death.  The significance of the virgin birth is that Christ was not born into the death of Adam’s race.

Born into a body of this death…Romans 7:14-25

 

Paul traced his sin problem to his flesh, which he called a body of death.  He hoped for the redemption of his body, which he knew would come to him through Christ Jesus.  Christ redeems our bodies by giving us a body fashioned like unto His own in the resurrection[2].

 

Rom 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Rom 7:18  For 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.

Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

In sin did my mother conceive me…Psalm 51:5

 

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

 

This verse is talking about how we are born into sin.  It is just as much a part of the characteristics we inherit from our parents as having arms and legs. 

 

It is common for those who seek to support the belief that Christ is the union of God’s Spirit and Mary’s flesh to try and distinguish between the role of the man and the woman in passing along the sin nature.  In affect they try to say that the sin nature is passed through the man and not the woman.  Not only is their biology unsound, they cannot support this line of reasoning from the scriptures. The sin nature is carried and passed through all members of Adam’s race, male and female alike.  In Psalm 51:5 David makes mention of the mother specifically.

Corruptible flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God…1 Cor. 15:20-54

 

Our earthly bodies cannot inherit the kingdom of God because they are corrupt and corruption cannot inherit incorruption.  If we were allowed to carry these bodies with us to heaven we would forever be in a sinful state.  With the redemption of our body, which is when we receive a body like that of the Son of God, we put on an incorruptible body like that of our Savior[3].

 

1 Cor 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

1 Cor 15:51  Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

1 Cor 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1 Cor 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

1 Cor 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

Born of God’s incorruptible seed…1 Peter 1:22-23

 

1 Pet 1:23  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

 

John 1:14  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.

 

Understanding that in God’s universe like begets like helps us understand why we must be born again.  We are like Adam because we are born of his seed.  We must be born of God’s incorruptible Seed in order to be like Him.  Christ did not have to be born again because He was born of God from the Beginning[4].

 

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Adams race is born into a body of death.  This corruptible flesh is why we sin and in it we will die.  All of Adam’s descendents inherit this curse and pass it to the next generation.  A woman’s flesh is no different than a man’s, we inherit the sin nature and a body of death from our parents when as the Psalmist said, we are conceived in sin.   We can no more change this than a leopard can change his spots. 

 

The scriptures say that the Son of God came by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, not of this building.  They say He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.  That’s what the scriptures say. 

 

If we believe Christ took His flesh from Mary, then it follows that we must believe He inherited the sin nature because in God’s universe, like begets like.

 

Let the scriptures speak.

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[1] Genesis 3:19

[2] Philippians 3:21, see Because of the Resurrection Bodies We Hope For.

[3] Philippians 3:21

[4] See Because He Is the Firstborn of Every Creature.