THE Bible picture concerning God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit is reasonable, beautiful, and meaningful, unlike the man-invented Trinity. God—the one, true God—is the eternal First Cause and Source of all. He is One alone, and there is none like Him.

The Holy Spirit is His universe-filling power, by which He is everywhere present, out of which the universe was and is made, and by which it is sustained.

In its surface-scratchings of knowledge, ^‘science^’ has recently finally discovered that all matter is simply a concentration of power; that the long-thought distinction between matter and power does not exist—a remarkable confirmation of the 4000-year-old scriptural truth that the universe was created by and out of the Spirit or Power of God. About 100 years ago, ^‘science^’—which knew even less then than the little it knows today—thought it was on the verge of having discovered all material knowledge possible.

Jesus Christ is very simply and clearly presented to us in his birth, growth and life as a man of the seed of David, who—by his special begettal by the Spirit of God—is the Son of God in a special and unique sense. He is presented as born a helpless babe like all other men, growing both physically and mentally. Then in his mature manhood endowed by God with the Holy Spirit without measure; and directly used by God for His (God^'s) Own manifestation, speaking directly through him, as He did in the past through angels.

This is the literal, detailed, scriptural description and explanation of how, as he (Jesus) said, he ^"came down from heaven" (Jn.6:38). God, by His overshadowing Spirit (2 Cr.5:19)—

Jesus was born a helpless babe at the breast: was this an almighty co-eternal god? God never asks us to believe this!

Jesus ^"increased in wisdom, and in favor with God^" (Lk.2:52). How could an almighty, all-knowing god do either?

Jesus ^"learned obedience" (Heb. 5:8); he was "tempted in all points^" (Heb.4:15)—impossible for an all-wise, untemptable god (James1^:13).

Jesus constantly offered prayer TO God for help and strength: an absurdity if he was himself an almighty god. Lk. 6:12 records—

How clearly the whole record of his life shows that he recognized his weakness, his need, his dependence—like all his brethren—on the One true, eternal, only GOD!

Can God be separated from His power and wisdom? Unlimited power and unlimited wisdom and knowledge are inseparable, integral, eternal, unchanging aspects of God. For Trinitarians to speak in riddles of what they call Christ^'s ‘divinity’ knowing all things and being all-powerful, while at the same time what they call his ‘humanity’ did not know some things, and was weak, is to invent meaningless phrases to justify invented theories. Either he knew, or did not know; learned, or did not need to learn; ^‘grew’ in wisdom, or had all wisdom eternally; could be tempted, or couldn^'t; could die, or couldn^'t.

The picture we are given of Christ in the Bible is the extreme opposite of the invented Trinity picture of an almighty, co-equal, all-knowing god. The contrast could not be sharper or stronger. All the emphasis is on his utter dependence on the One True God for everything, even his every breath.

He is presented in all his thoughts, words and actions as a perfect manifestation of God to man. But he is always at the same time represented as completely distinct from, and dependent upon, the ONE GOD: obeying God, worshiping God, submitting to God in everything, being taught by God, praying to God, being strengthened by God, crying to God for help, and at last repudiating his own will and dying in obedience to God^'s command. And then being raised from the dead and glorified by God because of his obedience and sacrifice, and set at God^'s right hand to await until God^'s Own appointed time (which he did not know – Mk.13:32) for God to give him his kingdom on earth (Lk.2:32). And finally, after he has brought all things into perfect harmony with God, we are specifically told, as the last revealed scene, he is to deliver the kingdom to God, and himself be ^‘subject’ to God so that God may thereafter be ‘all in all^’ (1Cr.15:24^-28)_.

A more different picture from the flat, co-eternal, co-equal, ‘none greater, none less; none before, none after^’ Trinity theory could hardly be imagined. If the Church Fathers of the exceedingly corrupt and superstitious 4th Century had held to the Scriptures and left pagan Platonic philosophy alone, they never would have come up with the Trinity theory which orthodoxy has been saddled with ever since.

To anyone brought up to thoughtlessly accept the Platonic Greek Trinity theory, much of what we say may seem irreverent. We regret this. We do not intentionally offend.

Of the Trinity theory, the Encyclopedia Britannica says, 9th edition, article ^‘Theism^’ (by a devout Trinitarian)—

These, of course, are well-known and obvious historical facts, but this is an important admission by a Trinitarian: it is not a New Testament doctrine, it is post-apostolic, it evolved through speculation, it is Greek and Roman philosophy and metaphysics.

The celebrated and respected Church historian Mosheim, a devout Trinitarian, says of the 4th Century that developed this doctrine—

Of conditions in the Church at that time, Mosheim says—

Similar references to this century could be multiplied 100-fold. Such was the Trinity^'s origin and background. If we examine—from standard, traditional, orthodox Church history, as Mosheim and Milman—the dreadfully corrupt conditions in ‘Christendom^’ in the 4th century when this doctrine was being imposed by force on the Roman Empire, we shall surely be convinced that no sound scriptural teaching could possibly come from such a background. God would never permit the type of people these Church leaders were—with the principles they worked on and the methods they used—to possess His holy Truth.

The introduction of the Trinity theory was the cause of the greatest and bitterest controversy that ever occurred in what is called the ^‘Christian^’ Church. It raged throughout the whole 4th century, and Trinitarianism was finally established—not by reason and Scripture—but by the suppression of all opposition by the Imperial power.

A plurality of gods has marked practically every manmade religion, past and present. And as Christendom became apostate (as foretold), the same powerful trend of the fleshly mind was bound to follow this same course, as it clearly has.

The Church of England^'s Speakers^' Commentary, discussing the ^‘Ancient of Days^’ of Dan. 7, refers with obvious approval to the Babylonian Trinity theory, from which it believes Daniel derived some of his language and ideas about God. It says—

"In the ancient Babylonian system, the god Ilou .. was infinite, without body, parts or passions. But in process of time a triad was formed, composed of three personal and visible emanations of Ilou, equal in power and consubstantial, yet issuing the one from the other…"

It is to be noted that, according to this, the Babylonians went from one god to three. We do not believe the inspired Daniel derived any ideas from this heathen rubbish; but surely it^'s quite obvious where Athanasius, the chief champion of the Trinity, got his ideas.

The Trinity theory is wholly unsupported by Scripture. It is, on its face, utterly self-contradictory. It was adopted from paganism, and imposed by force during an age of admitted theological corruption. All three gods in it are almighty, without any distinction of rank or power. All are absolutely co-equal: ^‘none before or after, none greater or less.’ They are a confused, identical blur: there is no orderliness or beauty of distinction or pattern. This theory is a supreme example of jumbled theological word-spinning and taking all meaning and clarity out of words. Everything in it is, and is not; and is two opposites—all at the same time.

If there is one truth the Scriptures are more emphatic about than any other, it is that there is ONE God, and ONLY One God. Natural man has always multiplied his gods, and the Scriptures make every effort to preserve us from this error. Jesus himself said that the first and greatest command is—"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is ONE."

The Trinity professes to admit there is only one God, but it directly nullifies that plain scriptural statement by saying there are three in the one. By this method, any scriptural statement could be made meaningless.

But scripture guards us against this, if we will accept it. Consider the passages that very specifically distinguish Jesus Christ from the One True God of which it speaks. Jesus himself said, in submissive, worshipful prayer to that One supreme God (Jn.17:3)—

The man Jesus prays to the One God, and clearly distinguishes himself from that One True God. Again (1 Cr. 8:6)—

Again, even plainer, if possible (1 Tm. 2:5)—

It will be noted that this was written after he had been raised, glorified, and taken up to heaven, and therefore applies to his present position and condition. Paul makes the same clear distinction between the One True God and the glorified man Jesus when speaking at Athens—

All this is fatal to the Trinity theory, which represents Christ as an almighty, co-equal part of the one-god-three-god Trinity all the time, just pretending to be a man for a brief period 2000 years ago.

Paul, throughout Heb. 2, strongly and repeatedly emphasizes Jesus^' oneness and identity with his brethren of the human race. Consider the significance of how, for this purpose, he applies Psa. 8 to Christ at the present time and even far into the future (Heb. 2:6-7)—

To a mind uncluttered by tradition and ecclesiastical jargon, the very words ‘Father’ and ^‘Son^’—so consistently used of their relationship from beginning to end, sweep away all the confusion and contradiction of the Trinity. It is admittedly a deep subject, but whatever the solution is, the Trinity theory is certainly not it—

There is no room for the co-equal, co-eternal Trinity here. It is always God first and supreme: Christ created, and subject to God.

Orthodox historians tell us that the doctrines of the pagan philosopher Plato were in high esteem in the Church of the 4th century, at the time the Trinity theory was developed. Plato taught a Trinity, and this is clearly where the theory came from. If men confined their studies to the Scriptures, and kept away from pagan ideas like Plato^'s, the idea of a Trinity would never enter their minds.

Consider the true, scriptural relationship between God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus. The angel Gabriel told Mary (Lk.1:35) that God, by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, would cause the babe Jesus to be born of her. Peter says (Acts 2:33) that Jesus was given the Holy Spirit by God. And again (Acts10:38) that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit. Scripturally, these statements make complete and beautiful sense. But Trinitarianly, as three indistinguishable, co-equal, co-eternal persons, all of them identical parts of the same thing, these passages cannot be made to make any sense at all.

If the Scriptures prove anything at all, they prove that Christ was not a co-equal, co-eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, untemptable, unsinnable god from all eternity. If, in the face of all the Scriptures say, this can be believed, then anything—however contrary to the Scriptures—can be believed. Many, many passages are impossible to harmonize with the Platonic Trinity theory. Here are a few—

Mk. 13:32—"Of that day knoweth no man…neither the Son…but the Father.^" God knew; Christ didn't.

Lk. 2:52—"Jesus increased in wisdom…and in favor with God." He was not an all-wise god from eternity, but a boy growing in understanding and character.

Jn. 5:19—"The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do…The Father showeth the Son all things He Himself doeth."

Jn.5:26—"The Father hath given to the Son to have life…and hath given him authority." They are clearly not co-equal, co-eternal, co-powerful.

Jn. 5:30—"I (Jesus) can of mine own self do nothing. I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which sent me." Always God supreme; Christ subject.

Jn.14:28—"My Father is greater than I." Trinity says: ‘None before, none after; none greater, none less.’ Jesus says Father is greater: we can't believe both.

These are but samples that could be multiplied many-fold. The entire Gospel record continually testifies Christ^'s complete subjection to, and dependence on, God, the One True and Only God. Let us consider that final revealed scene in the divine purpose (1 Cr.15:24-28)—

Here is God clearly distinguished from Jesus, and Jesus—like all other created things—subject to God as the culmination of the divine purpose. It is impossible to square this with Plato^'s Trinity, and Trinitarians do not even try. They hide behind the old cry of ^‘mystery.’ All that the Speakers^' Commentary can say of this passage is that it is—

"Sublime mysteries which only their own fulfillment in eternity can solve."

The Churches are saddled with this theory, imposed by force in a corrupt age, and deeply ingrained by centuries of indoctrination. And if its adherents now begin to examine and question it, they are overwhelmed by a fearful sense of blasphemy against their 3-fold god.

* * *

We do not for a moment obscure the unique and exalted glory of Jesus Christ, the only begotten and deeply beloved Son of God. Rather we exalt and honor him far more truly than Christendom does, by recognizing the reality of his struggle and his victory over the Great Adversary of mankind: the diabolos, sin in the flesh.

Jesus is the focal center of God^'s purpose with mankind: the divinely-created and divinely-strengthened medium of God^'s manifestation of Himself to man in saving, redeeming, purifying love.

The whole history of mankind, from the creation of Adam to the final glorification of the host of the Redeemed who will dwell with God forever, pivots upon the life and obedience and death and resurrection and present mediatorship of this ONE MAN.

He is, in a very real sense, the only real man. All others are but passing shadows until and unless they become absorbed into, and identified with, this One, Real, Eternal Man. He said to all (Jn.15:5)—

God-Manifestation is the theme of the Bible. And Christ is the central and greatest aspect of it. God manifested in redeemed, purified, glorified human beings who, like Christ, have overcome the flesh, is the eternal divine purpose: the Divine Family—

"Ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord" (2 Cor.6:18).

Christ is the Beginning and Foundation of this. The more we perceive and realize this principle, the more we see that the Trinity is a terrible confusion and perversion and obstruction of the true, beautiful picture of divine revelation.

God, the Father, the Almighty Creator and Sustainer of all, must be kept crystal-clear as the unobscured, original, eternal, underived Source of everything, supreme and alone. Then we can learn about the wonderful man Christ Jesus, the Firstborn of the New Creation.

Three scriptural facts and principles combined completely and beautifully explain all the passages that are strained by Trinitarians to try to support the Platonic Trinity theory; and explain them in full harmony with the true relationship between the Father and Son—

l. Divine foreknowledge (and predestination through it) from the beginning, not only of Christ, but of the entire Divine family—see Eph. 1:4, 2 Tm. 1:9, Rom. 8:29-30, etc.

2. Christ's present supreme exaltation to the divine nature, and ‘all power in heaven and earth’—Mt. 28:18—given TO him BY God.

3. The glorious doctrine of God-Manifestation in Christ Multitudinous.

In Scripture, angels speak directly in the Name of God, as God Himself, just as if they were God. God speaks through and by them—

And v. 13— "She called the Name of Yahweh that spake unto her, Thou God seest me."

Again, with Abraham— "Yahweh appeared unto him" (Gen. 18:1).

—and all through the chapter, the angel (who is spoken of as a 'man') speaks just as if it were God Himself speaking directly.

Similarly with Moses and the burning bush—

Stephen, referring to this incident (Acts 7:31-35) says it was an angel who said to Moses, ‘I am the God of thy father.’

The angels were direct manifestations of God, but the man Christ Jesus was uniquely and pre-eminently so. The angels spoke directly as if they were God Himself speaking. So did Christ. He said—

John 334—"He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him."

John 7:16—"My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me."

John 8:28—^"As my Father hath taught me, so I speak."

John 12:49—"I have not spoken of myself."

John 14:10—"I speak not of myself: the Father which dwelleth in me, He doeth the works" (including speaking the words).

John 14:24—^"The Word ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.^"

And Peter speaks of him as (Acts 2:22)—

Paul speaks similarly—

2 Cr. 5:19—"God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself."

1 Tm.3:16—"God was manifest in the flesh."

Heb.1:1-2—"God hath in these last days spoken to us by (RV: in) His Son.^"

These passages—showing how God was manifested in Christ (as He was in the angels), and worked and spoke by and through Christ—explain those Scriptures which Trinitarians attempt to use to support the theory that Christ was a pre-existent, co-equal part of a Trinity.

Similarly, when he was accused of blasphemy for saying he was the Son of God, Jesus pointed out that the term ‘god’ was applied in Scripture by God to those in whom He chose to put His Name—

"He (God) called them 'gods' to whom the Word of God came." (Jn.10:34-35).

—referring to such passages as Psa. 82.

Christ was the Divine Word or Purpose of God made flesh (Jn.1:14)—the Divine Word and Will perfectly manifested in man and to man. He embodied the Word: it all centered in him. All the Old Testament Word is promise of him; all the New Testament Word is revelation of him. He is the Word of Promise fulfilled.

The mortal man Jesus, in the days of his flesh, was the instrument and vehicle of the direct inhabiting and manifestation of the Father. The present immortal man Jesus, raised after probation and victory to eternal glory, is now—like the angels (but far higher in station and honor than they)—a partaker of the Divine nature, and a sharer of the Divine glory.

* * *

It is an essential first principle of saving truth, says John, that Christ came in the flesh (1 Jn. 4:2; 2 Jn. 1:7). Not in a flesh, but in the flesh: the same flesh as the rest of the race from which he was developed, as Paul very specifically emphasizes (Heb. 2:14)—

—the same flesh and blood. And the reason, the necessity, is given—

And vs. 17-18: "Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren … He hath suffered, being tempted."

And Heb. 4:15— "He was in all points tempted like as we are."

James (1:13-15) gives us 2 facts very much to the point here—

The Scriptures always speak of human flesh as unclean and defiled in that—from the time of Adam^'s sin and divine sentence—it has been contaminated by the results of sin, and its natural tendencies are sinful and opposed to the holiness of God.

We are told of one occasion of Christ being tempted, and in that temptation he very significantly applied to himself, as a tempted man, these Old Testament commands (Mt.4:4,10)—

It has been the doctrine of the Antichrist from John^'s day to this that Jesus did not have the flesh with its motions and temptations of sin, in common with all his struggling brethren: mortal, dying flesh wherein was the law of sin against which all must strive.

Christ had to be a man, a real fellow-member of the weak and sin-defiled human race that he might fight and win the battle against Sin^'s flesh that the race had always lost.

The Trinity makes him an alien Substitute—an immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, untemptable god, pretending to suffer, struggle, and by mighty effort overcome temptation and trial.

The Truth of God makes him a glorious Representative—an Elder Brother, a Firstborn Captain of many brethren, a true Victor in a real battle: strengthened of course by God—for no man could achieve perfection and bring salvation unaided—but tested to the utmost limit of human determination and endurance.

The Trinity has him dying as a Substitute, instead of man. The Truth of God has him dying as a Representative, as a man, the typical man, on behalf of man, himself embodying the whole race. The whole human race was crucified in Christ.

There could be no substitution—no god dying instead of man—for the same reason that the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin (Heb. 10:4). Their death could only typify: it could not destroy sin, for they did not have sin^'s flesh. No completely-conquered sin^'s flesh died in their death. Therefore Jesus could not be substitute, as orthodoxy teaches, or he would be just another shadow, and not the reality and substance that was required to fulfill that which was shadowed. He must truly be one of those for whom the sacrifice was required, and whom it redeemed.

He must be the one representative man who comprehended in himself the whole multitude of the Redeemed. None can be saved except by being merged into him, and partaking of the redemption he personally achieved for himself.

The orthodox theory of substitution—that which they call, unscripturally, ‘vicarious sacrifice’—is that the innocent was punished so the guilty may go free.

There would be no manifestation of justice and righteousness in that, but the very reverse. There would be no deep meaning and lesson and teaching and beauty—but just a distressing tragedy of meaningless suffering, reflecting no glory on God Who required it.

There would be no mercy or forgiveness manifested: for with punishment inflicted, vengeance would be satisfied, and our ‘debt’ paid, and we could claim life as a right.

Worst of all, it would directly violate God^'s Own frequently declared principle that the righteous shall not be punished for the guilty.

According to Webster^'s Dictionary, the substitution theory current in the churches began with the Church Father Anselm in the 12th Century. Before that, the generally accepted theory was that Christ paid a ransom to the Devil.

But God is not in wrath demanding vengeance or payment. He Himself is the Redeemer and Reconciler, freely and lovingly forgiving sin. The whole plan of salvation is His, and it is based on love, not substitutionary vengeance, as the churches teach, to go along with their everlasting tortures in a burning hell.

Christ^'s death was in no sense to appease God^'s wrath and bear man^'s punishment instead of him, as orthodoxy teaches. Christ is God^'s Own chosen, specially-created instrument of salvation.

The central, focal point of the entire Mosaic system was the Mercy-Seat, meaning exactly that: Place of Mercy—upon which God's glory dwelt. Here Israel found mercy and forgiveness and covering of sins. Christ is that Mercy-Seat—that pure and holy divinely-ordained Place of Mercy where God dwells and man can approach Him.

Christ^'s death, says Paul (Rm.3:25-26), was to declare (that is, manifest and openly establish) God^'s righteousness, so that God might extend mercy and forgiveness to sinners without compromising His holiness.

Christ^'s work, as defined by Scripture, was not to take someone else^'s punishment, but to DESTROY SIN; to take it out of the way, not just sins as separate acts, but sin in the aggregate, sin at the root, the whole dominion and constitution of sin under which mankind groans.

Sin is little understood, and little cared about at present among men. But it is at the root of all evil, sorrow, disease and death. And sin is simply disobedience to God, disharmony with God, self-destructive disharmony with eternal reality and eternal goodness—both the actual act, and the flesh-ingrained tendency behind the act.

"He PUT AWAY SIN by the sacrifice of himself" (Heb. 9:26).

This is the most succinct statement of the divine purpose centered in Christ anywhere in Scripture. What a glorious, powerful, comforting, stupendous statement! He conquered it, killed it, repudiated it, condemned it, freed himself eternally from its destroying dominion. And not only himself: but all who have the wisdom to make themselves part of him, and to stay within the safety of his covering.

Paul says that Christ, like the Mosaic High Priest, offered—

"First for his own sins, and then for the people's^" (Heb. 7:27).

If we look back to the original ordinance (Lv. 16:16), we shall find this expression ‘sins’ included two things: ‘uncleanness’ and ‘transgression’—

—actually the root and branches of the same sin-tree. The sacrifice of which Paul speaks—the supreme, culminating sacrifice of the Mosaic year—was for both ‘uncleanness’ and ‘transgression.’ Paul in Heb. 7:27 combines both under the general term ‘sin,’ for they are inseparable parts of the whole sin-constitution of mankind.

Paul says (Rm.7:17-23), and it is universal experience—

Sin is an ingrained thing in all human flesh, a natural and universal urge to assert the flesh^'s will, and rebel against the wise but flesh-restricting commands of God^'s holy law of life.

The ‘law of sin’ was in Christ^'s flesh, as in all his fellow-members of the human race. It had to be, for his life^'s work was to overcome and destroy it. It was conquered and made powerless by his perfect obedience in all things; and it was condemned and repudiated and put to death by his voluntary submission to the Father^'s will in the crucifixion of that flesh: openly, publicly, for all generations to see.

The overcoming and putting to death of this flesh of sin was the offering that God^'s wisdom and holiness required as a foundation of perfect righteousness. This was the race-cleansing sacrifice foreshadowed from the beginning in Eden^'s slain lamb: a perfect life, even unto a voluntary, sacrificial death.

The whole beauty and righteousness and effectualness of the plan lies in the fact that the one who opened the way and brought the victory was himself an integral part of the condemned and defiled race, in need—like all the rest of the race—of the great, perfect, purifying offering foreshadowed and ordained by God^'s wisdom from the first entrance of sin and death into the world. Paul says—

The italicized ‘for us’ of the AV is spurious, and the RV omits it. The reflexive form of the verb requires that it apply to Christ himself. Again—

Human flesh, with its ingrained ‘law of sin,’ was the serpent biter that must be lifted up in condemnation on the cross, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness (Nm. 21:9_). Jesus directly applies this incident as a type of his crucifixion of the serpent-sin-body (Jn.3:14)_.

Paul says (2 Cr. 5:21), "God made him sin:" not, of course, made him to commit sin (which he never did), but made him to be sin—sinful flesh, human nature—so that he could defeat and destroy it.

The attempted paraphrase ‘Made him a sin-offering’ cannot be supported. ‘Sin’ and ‘sin-offering ‘ are distinct in the Greek, though they are the same word in the Hebrew. Septuagint use cannot be made to support ‘sin-offering’ here. The Septuagint clearly distinguishes ‘sin’ and ‘sin-offering,’ though (the Hebrew being the same) it is sometimes a matter of judgment.

Similarly—"God, sending His Own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for a sin-offering (correct here), condemned sin in the flesh" (Rm.8:3).

‘Condemning,’ or ‘sentencing to death,’ sin in the flesh is the same as ‘destroying the devil’ (Heb.2:14), and ‘crucifying the Old Man’ (Rm. 6:6)_, and ‘destroying the body of sin’ of the same verse.

Jesus perfectly resisted and subdued every temptation of the sin-body, and then condemned—sentenced to death—sin in the flesh, by nailing it to the cross in death to declare God's righteous condemnation of that body and all its natural rebellious tendencies.

It was for no personal sin of his own that he died. And yet his death declared God^'s justice. So the issue is made perfectly clear: the condemnation is on the body of sin, sin in the flesh, the Old Man, the Diabolos, the ‘sinner from the beginning.’

Christ could not righteously die if death had no dominion over him. That would not manifest the justice of God, but the very reverse. And if he did not have sin in the flesh, in common with all the race of which he was a part, then he could not by death destroy in himself that which has the power of death. And if he could not destroy this, then his sacrifice was of no more effect than that of bulls and goats. Like them, it would be just one more symbol or type or shadow, and not the reality and real victory over sin that all the shadows pointed to.

Our sins are not something separate from our nature—they are a development of and from it. In us, sin is too strong for us, and develops into action. In Christ, sin was perfectly and completely controlled, subdued and overcome, and never became manifest in action.

But in both cases there is the same basic problem and condition, the same battle with the same adversary.

It is of remarkable significance that when Jesus was born, his mother was unclean seven days because of childbirth, and a sin-offering had to be made. And on the eighth day he was circumcised, symbolizing the cutting off of sin^'s flesh (Lk. 2:21-24). Thus the very first events concerning him demonstrate his inseparable oneness with Adam^'s sin-cursed race.

What God^'s eternal wisdom and goodness required was a plan that would redeem man from sin and death while manifesting and emphasizing and upholding God^'s glory, holiness, justice, mercy and love—and man^'s sinfulness, helplessness and complete dependence on God' mercy for his salvation: a plan that would require a complete surrender and devotion of man^'s life to God, while at the same time assuring his humility in demonstrating his utter inability to save himself—no matter how great his efforts and complete his service.

All this is beautifully accomplished in the plan God^'s wisdom devised. Christ, with God^'s strengthening, achieved salvation. Men receive it through him as a conditional gift. Men devote their lives to God not to earn salvation—which they are taught is impossible—but to manifest their thanksgiving and love for the free gift of salvation given them through Christ, and to retain that gift by their utmost devotion.

Christ is the ONE PERFECT MAN—focalizing the whole human race within himself, completely embracing and absorbing them into his sacrifice and victory and all that flows therefrom in joy and glory.

As separate individuals, we cease to exist. We deny ourselves. We are dead to our old selfish personal selves. We live exclusively to and for Christ. In the thankful, comprehending obedience of baptism, voluntarily, eagerly die to ourselves and into Christ—rising from the water a completely new Christ-man; the old Self-man being dead, submerged, buried, left behind for ever.

When Christ died, he died for us all: he carried us all down to sacrificial death. When he arose, he brought us all up again to beautiful, purified righteous newness of life (2 Cr. 5:14-15)—

And Rm.4:25—"He was delivered for our offences, he was raised again for our justification."

Let us consider what 'sacrifice' is: we must understand this to comprehend the necessity and meaning and purpose and value of Christ^'s sacrifice. Sacrifice is not just an arbitrary form and ritual that God invented meaninglessly. Truly, animal sacrifice was just a typical ritual; but the eternal reality that it typified was a real, meaningful divine necessity. Life HAD to come by OBEDIENCE, just as death had come by disobedience. And this required obedience—a typical, representative, once-for-all obedience—had to be tested and tried and perfected to the uttermost, all throughout life, and to the point of yielding up life itself under the most extreme conditions of testing and trial.

There was nothing unnecessary, nothing arbitrary, nothing meaningless, in the death of Christ. It was ETERNAL NECESSITY—the essential process of his being ‘made perfect.’

Without it, he would not have been made perfect: and therefore he would not have been Christ. Even in the tragedy, we must see the beauty, we must see the necessity, we must see the Divine wisdom.

There had to be ONE PERFECT MAN: a perfected man, a pure, holy foundation and nucleus. Upon that infinitely precious base, the entire New Creation is to be built.

What Christ wrought in himself—his perfecting—was the REALITY behind all the typical sacrifices from the foundation of the world. What we call ^‘sacrifice^’ under the Mosaic Law and throughout the Scriptures is simply the type and shadow of that perfecting of Christ by trial and sorrow and suffering and death. That is what God^'s wisdom required and symbolized from the beginning: not vengeance and punishment, but a holy, beautiful, obedient, perfected man, through whom He could extend mercy and life to all other men.

We are so used to the conception of ‘offering a sacrifice’ that we tend to view it as an end in itself, and to thoughtlessly consider that Christ just offered one more ‘sacrifice,’ whose only real value lay in the fact that God arbitrarily required it.

But he did not give his life just to fulfill a mere required form: he gave his entire life and devotion and dedication to accomplish the perfect beauty of the ages: the eternal, necessary reality of perfected manhood.

He found man, including himself, a prisoner of the sin-constitution. Sin reigned supreme over the human race, with its dark train of endless sorrow, evil and death. He achieved a freedom from it for himself, which he by God^'s merciful arrangement extends to all who properly and thankfully accept it in him.

And every aspect of his terrible, victorious battle with sin, right to the moment of his death, was an essential part of that perfect achievement.

A very striking statement occurs in Gal. 5:24 which throws great light on Christ^'s crucifixion—

"They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."

This reveals to us the meaning and significance of Christ^'s own crucifixion: the putting to death of sin^'s flesh, with all its sin-tending propensities. He is the typical man: he portrays and contains all men. Crucifixion was as necessary to his salvation as it is to ours, though in his case—befitting his far greater and primary place in the Divine Purpose—the required crucifixion was right to the utmost limits of dreadful, literal reality. This was his supreme, culminating act of submission, obedience, denial of self-will, love of God, and final perfecting—

"Our Old Man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed" (Rom. 6:6).

The ‘sacrifice’ of Christ may seem like an arbitrary ritual required by God simply as some kind of a token—

An exaction by God to establish a point;

Truly it partakes somewhat of all of these. We must bear them all in mind to comprehend its fullness. But it is far more. It was in no sense merely arbitrary or meaningless or ritualistic. It was the actual accomplishment of a vital necessity.

The English word ‘sacrifice’ literally means ‘holy act’ or ‘work of holiness’ (from Latin sacra, holy; and facio, to make or do). In the Bible (which is a much better guide to meaning), in both Old and New Testaments, the original word for sacrifice (Heb: zebach; Gr: thusia) means ‘a slaying, a putting to death’: very fittingly, for the whole process involved is a putting to death of that which is the cause of death.

The modern, common meaning—the giving up of something for the sake of a higher purpose—is a secondary and derived meaning, and must be kept secondary (though it is a correct description, as far as it goes, of the ‘holy work^’ that was Christ in his entirety).

What God^'s eternal wisdom required to open the way of life was not shed blood as such—it was the reality that the blood represented: the perfect life poured out wholly unto God.

The essence is in the perfection, rather than in the slaying. The slaying is simply the termination and culmination of the perfection, bringing the perfecting process to a head, and completing it.

The sacrificial death of Christ was the most important event in history: it was the most necessary event: it was the most beautiful event: it was the most meaningful event.

It was not just the arbitrary exaction of purposeless tragedy and suffering. It was not the orthodox Church idea of punishing and torturing the innocent so that the guilty might escape. That idea is a travesty on the justice, righteousness, and love of God.

It was the supreme manifestation of the love of God and the love of Christ: for each other, and for mankind.

It was the glorious culmination and apex of eternal perfection being worked out on a plane and a level far above our normal conceptions. In it we observe with awe the workings of eternity and divinity.

It was the loving, all-wise Father accomplishing the dreadful but necessary and beneficial disciplining and perfecting and glorifying of the loving, submissive, obedient Son.

It was the climax and conclusion of the supreme battle of the ages between the Prince of Light and the Prince of Darkness, between good and evil, between Christ and the Devil, the diabolos, the motions of sin, the destroyer of mankind. And the victory was Christ^'s, strengthened by God.

The conflict had to be right unto death. If the lovingly offered life were just allowed to run its course to natural death, then the element of choosing God^'s will over the ‘my’ will is not carried to its ultimate point. Nor would it involve the ultimate, supreme, beautiful act of perfect self-emptying and self-surrender.

Furthermore, a natural death would not have been a condemnation—a judgment, a sentencing to death—of the sin-body. This too was part of the necessary total picture of the perfection.

Let us not look upon the question of Christ needing or benefiting from his own offering, as of some ritual or act external to, and separable from, himself. The sacrificial death was simply the inseparable completion and perfecting of the total sacrifice that Christ himself was in his entirety. We cannot separate Christ from his sacrifice. Christ as a sacrifice, a whole burnt offering, a sin offering, a joyful, freewill peace offering—from birth to lovingly-yielded-up life—is the essential nucleus of the whole Divine purpose. If we try to take this beautiful picture apart into its component pieces, we completely destroy it.

Paul^'s inspired remarks on his perfecting go to the heart of the subject, and reveal its beauty and its wisdom (Heb. 5:7-9)—

Paul says further (Heb. 2:10)—

"It became Him [that is, it was fitting and appropriate for God], in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation PERFECT THROUGH SUFFERING."

Perfection through suffering is the way to Divine glory: and Jesus was the Head and Forerunnner, in this as in everything. He had first to be made perfect himself: to be cleansed and purified and perfected by his own perfect offering of obedience even unto suffering and death.

Then, having himself obtained redemption and release from the sin-constitution and its condemnation, God in mercy offers salvation to all who repudiate themselves and their own will and desires (as he did), and become and remain part of him in the appointed way—by baptism and lifelong obedience unto death—

When Christ and the Saints are united at last for ever into one glorious Body—the Multitudinous Christ manifesting the glory of God—all will have attained that position in the same way and on the same basis: voluntary, loving obedience and self-surrender, and overcoming the motions of sin in the flesh.

The shallow, popular, surface-religion cry is, ^"Christ did it all! . . . Only believe!^" The scriptural picture is very, very different—

Let us meditate deeply on these passages, and those like them, which clearly show us how holily and diligently we must build on the foundation he has laid by great struggle and suffering—if we desire life.

Paul said, and he bids us follow him (Ph. 3:8-11)—