Grace Bible Church
Basic Training in Doctrine
November 27, 2007
Hypostatic Union part 3
The doctrine of the Hypostatic Union is documented in many passages, including JOH 1:1‑14; ROM 1:2-5;ROM 9:5; 1TI 3:16; HEB 2:14; PHI 2:5‑11; 1JO 1:1-3.
PHI 2:3 Do nothing motivated by contentiousness or ambitious pride, but with humility of mind [by means of grace orientation] let each of you keep on considering one another as more important than himself;
Grace-thinking is accomplished by being so occupied with the Person of Jesus Christ that in your relationship with other people you do not judge, malign, criticize, ridicule or intrude on their privacy.
PHI 2:4 do not merely be regarding your own personal interests, but also for the personal interests of others.
MAT 25:40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, {even} the least {of them,} you did it to Me.’
PHI 2:5 Keep on thinking this [doctrine] within yourselves which was also resident in Christ Jesus,
When our mental attitude meets the standards of the word of God, we have arrived at the highest and noblest point in the Christian life.
PHI 2:6 who, although He preexisted in the essence of God, did not regard equality with God a treasure to be retained.
PHI 2:6 who, although He preexisted in the essence of God, did not think equality with God a gain to be seized,
Because Jesus Christ valued your soul more than He valued remaining deity alone and for 33 years He laid aside the independent use of that deity and became submissive to the Father’s plan.
The meaning of a word is determined by its first use in its context. “Thinking” was used in verse 3 for “grace-thinking.”
Not only are His thoughts infinite, but He thinks about you and me in terms of grace.
His grace-thinking toward us indicates that He is the only source of blessing.
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!
The very nature of deity precluded the fact that ANY Member of the Trinity could be judged for sin.
God is eternal life but eternal life can neither be born nor die!
God is omnipresent, omnipresence cannot be reduced to one point, the Cross.
Jesus Christ was so occupied with us in eternity past that He did not consider His equality with the other Members of the Trinity a treasure to be retained so He took upon Himself a human nature.
ACT 2:23
“delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God”
REV 13:8, He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
You were “the joy”, HEB 12:2, that occasioned His Incarnation and His substitutionary death on the Cross with all its shame and pain.
The plural of “equality” means that our celebrity is equal not with just one but two members of the Godhead, the Father and the Holy Spirit.
1. The basis for occupation with Christ is the consistent or daily intake of Bible doctrine through the function of perception, metabolization and application of that doctrine.
2. With doctrine, the believer has maximum category one love toward God and he is designated philos theou—”friend of God,” or literally, “lover of God.”
3. Occupation with Christ also includes total dependence on the grace provisions of God.
PSA 37:4
Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.
4. Stability, confidence, inner happiness and capacity for life are related to occupation with Christ.
PHI 2:7 But he deprived himself of the proper function of deity, having assumed the form or essence of a slave, having become in likeness of mankind. [without the old sin nature but with the human spirit]
The word for emptied or deprived is the aor-act-ind of the verb
kenoo from which we get the Doctrine of Kenosis which means “to deprive oneself of a proper or normal function,” or “to debase or lower oneself.”
HEB 10:5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “Sacrifice and offering Thou hast not desired, But a body Thou hast prepared for Me;
Christ was cognizant of our problems billions of years ago.
ISA 65:24 “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer;”
“form” is the word morphen which indicates His inner essence.
TLJC is said to be “non posse peccare,” meaning not able to sin.
Jesus Christ is also said to be “posse non peccare,” meaning able not to sin.
The humanity of Christ was both temptable and peccable; i.e., He had the ability to sin because His humanity had volition.
The deity of Christ was neither temptable nor peccable; therefore, He was impeccable.
Impeccability qualified our Lord to become a lamb without spot and without blemish.
Point 2. The Importance Of Understanding KENOSIS.
KENOSIS is derived from the Greek verb KENOO, meaning “to deprive oneself of proper function”, in this case, the function of deity.
PHI 2:7
but He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond‑servant, {and} being made in the likeness of men. (NAS)
PHI 2:7
but He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (RSV)
PHI 2:7
but He laid aside his mighty power and glory, taking the disguise of a slave and becoming like men. (TLB)
PHI 2:7
But He made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (KJV)
PHI 2:7
but He made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (NIV)
He voluntarily restricted the independent use or expression of His divine attributes in order to comply with the Father’s Plan for the Incarnation.
Although in His deity, Christ is coequal with the Father, in His humanity he was submissive to the Father.
To accomplish His mission, He had to have free will, as in MAT 26:39, like all members of the human race.
MAT 26:39
“My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”
The only way He could do this was to refuse to use His omnipotence, omniscience, etc., for His own benefit or His own glory.
Because He arrived at spiritual maturity, He was qualified for evidence testing which is Satan’s cross‑examination of every witness presented by God in the historical trial of all fallen angels.