Jesus Christ, God’s Only Begotten Son From Eternity in the Days of His Flesh

Jesus Christ, God’s Only Begotten Son From Eternity in the Days of His Flesh

Even though He was the Son of God with power, He nevertheless had to offer up prayers and supplications in the days of His flesh with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His godly fear, and thus He learned obedience by the things which He suffered and was perfected in the end.

“Of this we have much to say; which is also difficult to interpret . . . .” Heb. 5:11.

Who can possibly interpret this??? Who understands it? What kind of a will did Jesus have that was opposed to God’s will and which was not to be done—the will that He denied so that it was not done? From where had He received it??? Matt. 26:39; John 5:30, 6:38. Now you can sigh, “If only there was someone who had wisdom!”

However, if someone by God’s grace should understand it and interpret it in some measure—who is there who is capable of receiving it, believing it, and comprehending it???

It is not enough that people are incapable of comprehending it; they also think they are doing both God and man a great favor by considering all those who have, to some extent, been able to look into this marvelous work that occurred in Christ Jesus in the days of His flesh as wayward stars for whom the darkness of night and of the pit are waiting.

If this were the case, the kingdom would be divided against itself—the kingdom of light as well as the kingdom of darkness! Then the good God would have to reject souls to whom He Himself has given a rich portion of His goodness, righteousness, truth, mercy, wisdom, patience, longsuffering, and meekness. Likewise that evil Satan would have to receive into his kingdom those who by God’s power have put off all remnants of malice?

How is this possible? Wherever such souls are, there is the kingdom of light! If they came to hell, all darkness and all evil would have to vanish, thus causing hell itself to vanish!

If God’s people understood nothing else, they should nevertheless understand the simplest of all truths: namely, that figs do not grow on a thorn bush!

They attempt to prove that we teach that Christ was impure and thereby have us branded as impure. However, the more they strive to do it, the worse it gets for them, and the more their own error and shame becomes obvious—and it will become more and more obvious in the future that we, with all clarity and in proper Norwegian, with all openness and boldness testify and confess and believe with all of our hearts—of course—that Jesus Christ was God’s only begotten Son from eternity and that He was perfectly pure in thought and word and deed from crib to the grave.

They want to prove that we degrade Him. Yet it is not only the case that we do not do it, but He becomes greater and greater in our eyes, far beyond what any language can describe, so that the greatness and love and wisdom that we could see in Him previously is nothing compared to the vision that we now have of Him!!!

The fact that Norbeck1 can crush a moth is not a master stroke, is it? (If anyone is in doubt, he can ask him.) That God can do it in the majesty of His power is even less great, isn’t it? Or what do you think??? Has God’s wisdom which you presume to possess taught you something else? But when little David overcame great Goliath, that was something great, isn’t that true?

The fact that when Christ was in the form of God (Phil. 2:6-8), He overcame all evil—that wasn’t as great as when He overcame it after He had not considered it robbery to be equal with God, after He was born of a woman? Or how else did He overcome?

If He had put on a special kind of flesh and blood, unlike ours, and had thus overcome—that would have been nothing compared to the magnificent masterpiece that He accomplished in reality. Imagine—He put on flesh and blood like ours and became like His brethren in all things! Heb. 2. Just imagine—we actually permit ourselves to believe what is written. Isn’t that terrible? He came in flesh, in “the flesh”—not in some kind of special flesh. And in this difficult state according to the flesh He called out with vehement cries—He fought and suffered—and learned obedience until the very last moment when all sin was overcome and condemned, when all temptations and trials had been experienced point after point! Then He was perfected! Then the work was finished! Has He not shown and demonstrated a far greater love for us precisely for the above reason than if He had overcome in an easier and more superior way??? Every ten-year-old child can recognize this, whereas it is a hard nut to crack for men who have preached for a generation!

If this was not so, as we now see and believe that it was, then Jesus would have had to feign His battle, His sufferings, and His difficulties. He must have appeared as a brilliant actor, and all of it would have been a sham, a deception! But I want to say what the martyr Ignatius has written, that Christ’s battle and sufferings were not a sham; it is only with them who think like this that it is a sham.

Just as little David overcame Goliath, so God’s Son came of the seed of David according to the flesh and put on this flesh in order to conquer Satan in this flesh! How great that is?!? The woman’s seed crushed Satan’s head!

In this manner our old man was crucified with Christ, and in this manner we have died through the body of Christ. Rom. 6 and 7. If He had put on the nature of angels, it would have been the old man of the angels that was crucified with Him; then it would have been the angels who became dead through the body of Christ, and who were saved thereby! But would that have helped us? If He was like Adam before the Fall, this would have been for the salvation of all such people, but I have not met anyone like that on my way. And if there had been anyone like that, he would not have needed salvation!

It shouldn’t be asking too much of anyone to understand this; but one doesn’t even understand the first, the most basic elementary principles in God’s Word—how could one then understand the hidden things in Christ Jesus? Heb. 5:12; Col. 2:2-3. However, one has to be content with letting these words stand: “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, justified in spirit . . . .” 1 Tim. 3:16.

Mysteries are something that most people know nothing about. Even fewer people have any knowledge of great mysteries. “But,” you say, “I want to be clearly informed whether you teach that Jesus had sin? Answer me clearly, Yes or No.” Of what help is it for you to receive a clear answer? You cannot get it. You are not able to comprehend it seeing that no one less than God Himself has made it into a great mystery. Are you getting angry because you cannot comprehend it (you who are so smart)? Your anger will not accomplish anything good. It only makes things worse. Then this mystery will become even more hidden.

“Yes, but: did He have sin?” Most certainly Yes; but He was not sinful, He was not impure—not in any way whatsoever! How else could He have become our Savior? If He had been impure, then He would have had to die like one of us and perish together with all of us.

Not only do we believe that He was pure, but we also believe that it is possible for us (in the power of the same Spirit that He possessed) to walk in purity before God’s face so that we never need to commit a single sin. The Lord be highly praised! His holy name be praised!!! You believe that He was pure. We believe it so much more! You believe in victory. We believe it much, much more!!!

Here is our confession of faith expressed by two scriptures.

1. First of all we believe in Hebrews 7:26.

2. Then we also believe in Hebrews 7:25.

Yes, but you have heard that something else was written and spoken, so that you cannot possibly understand this! You are confused. Of course, that is precisely the point because it is a great mystery, a difficult riddle. And you are not in a state to see it as it actually is because there are conditions to be met. What do you need so it becomes possible for you to see it? You need to have a profound fear of God, God’s hidden wisdom, the wisdom that searches even the depths in God.

The fact that you do not understand it says nothing about whether it is correct or incorrect. That weighs nothing in the scales, absolutely nothing! The sons of man are pure vanity. All of the “wise” man’s thoughts are pure vanity. However, if you want to be truly wise, then acknowledge to God and man that after everything is said and done—if you are going to be honest—you have to admit that you are a fool. You do not understand it.

Then your left foot has taken the first step on the way of wisdom.

Do we disagree about the usual understanding of the atonement, about the usual understanding of the purity of the person of Jesus Christ? No, we are in complete agreement! What, then, is the difference between us? That we, by God’s grace, have looked more carefully into this salvation.

Because of this, because one neither can nor will understand it, a hue and cry has been raised: false doctrine, deception, apostasy, on the wrong path, something dangerous, the very power of Satan!

Therefore Satan, according to your understanding, must have become an especially good and faithful fellow worker of God, for the fruit of our blessed understanding of how the work was finished and what it actually was that was finished is an indescribable victory over sin, an unusually glorious brotherly love, and an astonishingly, incomparable unity in the spirit.

When the fruit is so good, mustn’t the tree also be good!!!???