The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Two Stages of Man, #2

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)

If the weak, humbled little god, understanding that his nature has been corrupted by the fall of Adam, willingly chooses to take his place on the cross with Christ, then God will send much tribulation on him for the purpose of crucifying his old nature. But God also will nourish his new Divine nature and strengthen it with the resurrection Life of Christ.

Having done this, the Father and the Son are able to settle down to rest in the new creation. The Presence of the one God, the one lawful will, has now been enlarged in the universe.

God has another chariot!

The Implication of the Two-Staged Man for Our Orientation to the Christian Salvation.

The Lord Jesus began as God. Then He became Man. The Lord Jesus is a Man-God or God-Man, however you wish to view Him. The Lord Jesus is altogether Man and altogether God.

Therefore each person in Christ's image must have two aspects of his or her personality. He must have a refined humanity and also a Divine nature. The two natures, the human and the Divine, must be perfectly integrated in one whole. The whole personality must be at rest in untroubled union in the Father through Christ. This is God's chariot and His eternal purpose concerning man.

In order for such a new creation to come forth the animal creation must be crucified. In no manner can the adamic personality, the animal, inherit the Kingdom of God or become the chariot of God.

Throughout Church history a perennial error has occurred. The Apostle Paul has taught us clearly concerning the crucifixion of the adamic nature and the ascension of the new born-again nature to the right hand of God in Christ, there to await the Day of the Lord. But the teachers and leaders proceed with the concept that Christianity is the saving and reforming of the first personality.

No doubt there are marvelous exceptions to this statement. It appears there have been a few teachers of the "deeper life" (which ought to be the ordinary Christian life) who emphasize the crucifixion of the first personality. The believers who read the writings of the deeper-life teachers acknowledge they are revealing the truth of God. However it seems that all we hear about are efforts to forgive the first man and bring him to Heaven and meanwhile hope he behaves somewhat like the Lord Jesus.

What should we do about this stubborn adherence to folly? Should we climb up on top of a tall building and scream, "God is not saving the old personality"? Is there anything that can be done about this misunderstanding?

One example of the perennial error is the doctrine of the pre-tribulation "rapture" of Christian believers. The false vision of the escape to Paradise insists that God will catch up the adamic creation to Heaven so it will not be obliged to suffer—this in spite of the long history of suffering of Christian believers.

Another current example (and this is enough to cause the Apostle Paul to turn over in His grave) is the recent return of Messianic congregations to parts or all of the Law of Moses.

To be continued.