Grace Bible Church
Basic Training in Doctrine
November 20, 2007
Hypostatic Union part 2
The uniqueness of Jesus Christ in hypostatic union.
There is God.
There are angels.
There are humans.
And there is the God-man.
POINT 1. DEFINITION
In the person of Jesus Christ since His physical birth [incarnation], there are two natures, undiminished deity and true humanity in one person forever.
The word for nature is the noun hupostasis which means “substance, essence, standing under or taking a thing upon oneself.” TLJC took upon Himself true humanity.
Grace-oriented believers, in humility, submit to the divine order and do not exalt themselves…grace-thinking eliminates all human viewpoint from the soul.
PHI 2:4, Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
In PHI 2:5 Paul says, Have this attitude [this mental attitude] in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.
The Greek word for attitude, phroneite, is the present active imperative of phroneo, which means “to think objectively”, “to have a certain frame of mind”.
When the believer’s mental attitude meets the standards of the Word of God, he has arrived at the highest and noblest point in the Christian life.
PHI 2:5-6 Have this attitude [this mental attitude] in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God [or as in the Greek, preexisting in the essence of God], did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped [a treasure to be retained].
John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
2CO 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. [ref. to Kenosis]
Isaiah 9:6, For a child will be born to us, a son will be
given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
He who is called the Son of God was born of a woman and died on a cross.
He whose name is Wonderful, was spit upon by men.
He who is called Counselor is rejected by men.
He who is the Mighty God was crucified on a cross.
He who is the Eternal Father or literally the Father of Eternity is a Son who learned obedience by the things He suffered.
He who is the Prince of Peace must suffer Himself the divine indignation and wrath of God.
He who created all things, COL 1:16, was laid in a manger because there was no room for Him in the inn, Luke 2:7.
He who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners was made to be sin on behalf of others, HEB 7:26, 2CO 5:21.
He who said in JOH 6:35 “I am the bread of life” was Himself hungry, MAT 4:2.
He who was the giver of the supernatural water of life, JOH 4:13, was Himself thirsty, JOH 19:28.
He who was dead is alive forevermore, REV 1:18, “I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.” That is why in HEB 13:8 we read, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.
The Son is dishonored when assigned a lower place than the Father.
Iconoclastic arrogance is defined as subjective preoccupation with other people. This results in creating a role model or an icon out of people.
Iconoclastic arrogance is four-step process:
An excessive admiration or personal love creates an idol out of a person.
2.This is followed by the idol showing their feet of clay (doing something wrong).
4. Iconoclastic arrogance seeks to destroy the image the person has created.
Iconoclastic arrogance is a major cause for apostasy among believers.
The sooner a congregation has attained impersonal love, the sooner it will overlook the idiosyncrasies, mannerisms, habits, and failures of those in spiritual leadership.
Jesus Christ, our true Celebrity, is perfect; He has neither a beginning nor an end as in Revelation 1:8, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Philippians 2:6, who, although He existed in the form of God [preexisting in the essence of God], did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped [or a treasure to be retained].
The word “existed” is the present active participle of huparcho which is from the word huparchon which means He “always existed” in the form of God.
The word translated “form” in the English morphology does not refer to outward shape but to inner character or essence.
He has always known every need, every problem, every heartache, every frustration in the believer’s life. He has gone through the entire angelic conflict without being inconsistent or unstable in any way. That’s our Celebrity!
One of the things you must do through your intake of Bible doctrine is to make Him YOUR Celebrity!
In scripture, the meaning of a word is determined by its first use in its context. “Thinking” [hegéomai] was used in verse 3 of this passage for “grace-thinking.”
The first, in verse 3, to regard others, is an act of humility, while the second, to NOT regard deity, is the greatest act of humility that we are to follow.
His grace-thinking toward us indicates that He is the only source of blessing.
No matter what we receive, He is the source of every blessing which is worthwhile, wonderful, and marvelous, all things come from His grace! This gives Him all the honor and glory.
One fact that characterizes the believer who has the capacity to appreciate the Celebrityship of Christ is that to him the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is more important than anything else in the world.
There is nothing greater or more valuable than the essence of deity; yet He did not consider His deity MORE IMPORTANT than our souls!
He considered our souls to be more important than His deity than to remain deity alone. Therefore, humanity was added to deity!
God is eternal life but eternal life can neither be born nor die!
God is holy and holiness cannot have anything to do with sin.
God is omnipresent; omnipresence cannot be reduced to one point, the Cross.
God is immutable, immutability cannot change. Therefore, since nothing can be subtracted from deity, something must be added.
In Acts 2:23, He was delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. In Revelation 13:8, He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
We were “the joy”, Hebrews 12:2, that occasioned His Incarnation and His substitutionary death on the Cross with all its shame and pain.
Hebrews 12:2 Be concentrating on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our doctrine, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame…