Study of First Peter Chapter 2 Lesson 36
Review:
Now with vs:22-24 Peter gives us
some documentation of Christ's suffering and how He handled it, His response to
UNDSF.
- no sin says that
never once did He fail to execute the will of God
- this is another reference to
the impeccability of Christ
- Heb
nor was any deceit found in His mouth quote from Isa 53:9
- word doloj speaks of the deceptiveness, deceit in the sense of a con
man which would be a sin of the tongue
- documentation
John 18:12 - 19:16
This context is still a part of the paragraph
dealing with authority orientation on the job with the special focus on
handling UNDSF suffering.
So what is Peter's point here?
Observations:
1. Maltreated servants
(employees) would be tempted to sin in the face of the UNDSF, attempt to get even or to get
back at the one pressuring them, to retaliate.
2. Or they might attempt to
practice deceit in order to avoid suffering.
3. Christ had committed no
sin, had broke no laws either Jewish or Roman so did not deserve the physical
and mental abuse He received.
4. Neither did He resort to
evasion, or trickery or deceit to frustrate or avoid the abuse, the UNDSF He
faced.
5. The point Peter is making
is that He set the perfect example for us to follow in time in our lives as
believers as we face the various tests in life.
How did Christ accomplish this meaningful example
that we can and should follow.
C. H.
Mackintosh has written the following about the manner in which Christ overcame
temptations: [from notes on Deuteronomy chapter 8]
"Yes, blessed be His name,
and there for man,— there to show man how to meet the
enemy in all his varied temptations, there to show man how to live. We must not
suppose for a moment that our adorable Lord met the adversary as God over all.
True, He was God, but if it were only as such that He stood in the conflict, it
could not afford any example for us.
Besides, it would be needless to
tell us that God was able to vanquish and put to flight a creature which His
own hand had formed. But to see One who was, in every
respect, a man, and in all the circumstances of humanity, sin excepted,—to see
Him there in weakness, in hunger, standing amid the consequences of man's fall,
and to find Him triumphing completely over the terrible foe, it is this which
is so full of comfort, consolation, strength, and encouragement for us.
And how did He triumph? This is the grand and all-important question for us,—a
question demanding the most profound attention of every member of the
He overcame not as the almighty
God, but as the humble, dependent, self-emptied, and obedient
And let us carefully note that our blessed Lord does not reason with Satan. He
does not appeal to any facts connected with Himself—facts with which the enemy
was well acquainted. He does not say, I know I am the
Son of God; the opened heavens, the descending Spirit, the Father's voice, have
all borne witness to the fact of My being the Son of God. No; this would not
do; it would not and could not be an example for us. The one special point for
us to seize and learn from is, that our great
Exemplar, when meeting all the temptations of the enemy, used only the weapon
which we have in our possession, namely, the simple, precious, written, Word of
God."
Since
the Lord Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8),
whatever attributes were true of Him during His earthly existence also must be
true in His preincarnate state, as well as in His present state of glory.
Therefore any possibility that He could sin has ramifications for the eternal
character of God.
The answer or proof of
what C.H. Mackintosh wrote lies in understanding these important doctrines:
Hypostatic Union;
Kenosis; Impeccability.
Hypostatic
Basic meaning: “Undiminished Deity
united with true humanity without confusion in one person forever.”
What it says is that: In
the person of Jesus Christ are two natures, inseparably united without mixture
or loss of separate identity, without loss or transfer of properties or
attributes, the union being personal and everlasting.
Kenosis Phil
2:5-8
The
word basically means to deprive oneself of a proper function.
Its
use with reference to Christ says that He set aside the independent use of His
attributes of Deity during the incarnation.
Christ’s kenosis, therefore, is a result of His
submission to the Father’s will. He subordinated Himself to the Father by
giving up the independent use of His divine nature. In His humanity then He
humbled Himself completely to the will of the Father.
This is the key to understanding the importance
of the example for the believer that we have in our context.
1. This humbling does not relate to the emptying of
Himself in Phil 2:7 at all.
2. Here the humbling is the action of our Lord as the Son
of Man, as humanity, being totally obedient to the Plan of God.
Christ was totally obedient to the Plan of God, the will
of God by His own choice and this reflects the means of humbling that Paul is
emphasizing.
If Christ’s hypostatic union means He had true
humanity, and if His kenosis means that this true humanity met every trial
without reliance upon His divine nature, then what was the situation whenever
Christ was tempted? Was He always successful? If so, how?
Observations:
1. As a Man, Christ was always filled
with the Spirit (see Luke 4:1). He always walked in complete dependence upon
His heavenly Father.
2. The Bible teaches that when a man
walks by the Spirit he will never [Greek double negative] fulfill the lusts of the flesh
(Galatians
3. As a Man, Christ always stood
firmly upon the Word of God. "IT IS WRITTEN" was His constant plea!
The devil must flee from those who stand firmly on the Word.
4. If the "last Adam" had
been in the place of "the first Adam," we can almost predict how He
would have responded when Eve offered Him the fruit: "Get thee behind me
Satan! It is written..." Those who constantly and rightly apply the Word
of God to each trying situation are invincible!
5. As a Man, Christ always had His
full armor on! He was fully prepared there was no way the enemy could get to
Him! This same armor is available to us!
(see Ephesians
6. As a Man, Christ always was alert
to temptations. He always put Mark
7. Satan desired to have Him, but the
Lord never gave him any occasion or opportunity. It is our
joyous privilege to submit and resist in the same way not giving the devil an
opportunity in our life. (Eph 4:27)
8. If