Jesus Our Substitute

The Old Testament Sacrificial Service

The Old Testament sacrificial system occupied an important place in the lives of the Israelites. Sacrificial animals had to be without blemish (Lev. 1:3; 3:1; 4:3, 23, 28, 32); they had to be perfect. All Old Testament sacrifices were types of the perfect sacrifice of Christ. Therefore, we are redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19).

A Comparison

When we use Scripture to compare Jesus with human beings, we can see the great gulf that exists between Jesus and us:

1. Jesus was “that holy thing” (Luke 1:35, KJV) / “‘The intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth’” (Gen. 8:21, ESV).

2. He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Heb. 7:26) / We

are sinful from birth (Ps. 51:5).

3. 1 Peter 2:22: He did not sin—for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of

God (Rom 3:23)

4. He “did no sin” (1 John 3:5, KJV) / “Out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts” (Mark 7:21).

5. He was the “lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19) / “sin . . . dwells in me” (Rom. 7:20).

6. He “who knew no sin [was made] sin for us” (2 Cor. 5:21) / We are “by nature children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3).

Jesus was the God-Man, and in both natures He was sinless. He said, “‘Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?’” (John 8:46, NIV), and “‘The ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me’” (John 14:30). He never sinned, and He had no sinful nature.

Ellen White’s Comparison of Jesus and Mankind

Concerning Adam, Ellen G. White wrote, “The first Adam was created a pure, sinless being. . . . Because of sin his posterity was born with inherent propensities of disobedience.”3 She went so far as to say that “When man sinned, all heaven was filled with sorrow; for through yielding to temptation, man became the enemy of God, a partaker of the Satanic nature.”4 This could never be said of Christ.

Concerning Christ, Ellen White wrote, “We should have no misgivings in regard to the perfect sinlessness of the human nature of Christ,”5 and “The human nature of Christ was like unto ours, and suffering was more keenly felt by Him; for His spiritual nature was free from every taint of sin.”6 Here she clearly distinguished between Christ’s physical nature, which was affected by 4,000 years of sin and His spiritual nature, which was free from every effect of sin. “As the sinless One, His nature recoiled from evil.”7

He was the God-Man, the perfect sacrifice. If Christ had the same sinful nature as we have, He would have needed a savior Himself. He could not have been our substitute. Every child born into this world, no matter how young, needs a savior because of the sinful nature with which we are born. Because Christ was sinless in nature and in action, therefore, He can be our Savior (2 Cor. 5:21).

Two Problem Texts

1. Romans 8:3. “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness [homoiomati] of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh.”

What is the text telling us? What was the law powerless to do? It could not liberate us from the power of sin (vs. 2). It could not put us right with God.

Why not? Because of our sinful nature, we are unable to keep the law. The

law cannot make us better; it can only show us our sinfulness (3:20)

     Therefore, God chose another way. He sent His Son to deal with sin in the very same circumstances in which Adam was defeated by Satan. “Christ came to the earth, taking humanity and standing as man’s representative, to show in the controversy with Satan that man, as God created him, connected with the Father and the Son, could obey every divine requirement.”8 “Willingly He passed over the ground where Adam fell, and redeemed Adam's failure.”9

In Jesus, God condemned the power of sin by showing that Adam with Christ’s help could have kept the law—he did not have to sin. And we “in Christ,” filled with the Holy Spirit, can overcome every sin and temptation! On the cross Jesus annulled the power of sin over the saints forever, because he became our substitute.

Why did Paul say: “in the likeness of sin”? If he had said “in the likeness of flesh, this could have been interpreted that Jesus did not really have a physical body, as the Docetists maintained.”10 If he had said, “in sinful flesh,” Christ would have had sinful flesh (a sinful nature), as the Ebionites taught.11 But “in the likeness of sinful flesh” is the gospel, Christ assumed our flesh and blood but not its sinfulness. If Jesus had come in our sinful nature—100 percent like us—then the righteousness of the law (vs. 4) could not have been fulfilled in Him, Christ would have needed a savior just as we do.

2. Hebrews 2:17. “Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (italics supplied).

What then does it mean that He was in all things made like His brethren? First, we look at the word all: “Abraham gave all [kol] that he had to Isaac” (Gen. 25:5). But note verse 6: “Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines.” Thus, Abraham did not literally give “all,” but the inheritance due to Isaac. Genesis 9:3, 4 “‘Every (kol) moving thing that lives shall be food for you’” (Gen. 9:3). Yet, Leviticus 11 indicates that not absolutely everything was good for food, only what God had created to be eaten (1 Tim. 4:3). In 1 Peter 2:13 we read, “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man.” Yet Acts 5:29 tells us, “‘We ought to obey God rather than men.’” Therefore, “in all things” cannot simply mean in every detail the same.

Hebrews 2 teaches that Jesus did not take the form of an angel, but of a real human being. He bore the infirmities and the degeneracy of the human race.

He became flesh—hungry, thirsty, tired. He had calluses on his hands, and He wept; but none of this is an expression of a sinful nature. “All things” includes His physical body, His need for character development,12 His trials and tribulations. He was a real human being except that He had no sin in Him. Sin is an intruder. It is not part of true humanity.

He “was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin [choris hamartias], lit. “apart from sin” (Heb. 4:15), i.e., He was never tempted from within. As with Adam in the Garden of Eden, He was tempted by Satan not by His own sinful nature, because He did not have one.

Ellen G. White on Christ Taking Our “Sinful Nature”

One will search in vain for expressions like “sinful nature of Christ,” “fallen human nature of Christ,” or “fallen nature of Christ” in the writings of Ellen White.

What she does say repeatedly is that Christ took our “fallen” or “sinful” nature upon Himself. For example, “The example He has left must be followed. He took upon His sinless nature our sinful nature, that He might know how to succor those that are tempted,”13 and “In taking upon Himself man’s nature in its fallen condition, Christ did not in the least participate in its sin.”14

Studying all the passages where she refers to Christ taking our fallen or sinful nature, we discover that she used “fallen nature” in two ways:

a. in the sense that our sinful nature was imputed to Christ;

b. that Christ bore all the physical effects of the curse.

Jesus’ human nature was human nature after 4,000 years of sin. “Like every child of Adam He accepted the results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these results were is shown in the history of His earthly ancestors. He came with such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us the example of a sinless life.”15

“When Adam was assailed by the tempter, none of the effects of sin were upon him. He stood in the strength of perfect manhood, possessing the full vigor of mind and body. He was surrounded with the glories of Eden, and was in daily communion with heavenly beings. It was not thus with Jesus when He entered the wilderness to cope with Satan. For four thousand years the race had been decreasing in physical strength, in mental power, and in moral worth; and Christ took upon Him the infirmities of degenerate humanity. Only thus could He rescue man from the lowest depths of his degradation.”16

Conclusion

On the one hand, Jesus’ physical human nature was the nature of humanity after the Fall. This is referred to in Romans 8:3; Hebrews 2:16 and 17, and in Ellen White’s statements about Jesus taking our sinful or fallen nature. Thus, Jesus had a deteriorated human nature, a nature that did not have all the strength, vitality, and capacity that Adam had at his creation.

On the other hand, Jesus’ spiritual nature was the sinless nature of Adam before the fall. “His spiritual nature was free from every taint of sin,”17  i.e., He had no evil propensities (with which we are born), no inclinations to sin (with which we are born) and no tendencies to sin (which we all have). He took our infirmities but not our sinfulness. Ellen G. White, therefore, wrote, “Let every human being be warned from the ground of making Christ altogether human, such an one as ourselves; for it cannot be.”18

Thus, He could be our Savior whom John called the “‘lamb of God’” (John 1:29)

It is a mystery we will never understand on this earth, but we can believe it and be thankful for it—thankful for this amazing grace.

NOTES AND REFERENCES  

1. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references in this column are quoted from the New King James Version of the Bible.

2. Education, 29.

3. F. D. Nichol, ed., Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1956), 5:1128.

4. “The Plan of Salvation,” Signs of the Times (February 13, 1893), italics supplied.

5. Selected Messages, 1:256.

6. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary  (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1956) 5:1104, italics supplied.

7. Testimonies for the Church, 2:202.

8. Selected Messages, 1:253, italics supplied.

9. “The Second Adam,” The Youth’s Instructor 46:22 (June 2, 1898); italics in the original. See Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (2017): 7a:446: https://egwwritings.org/read?panels=p97.82(97.84)&index=0.

10. The Church Father Justin (circa. 100–165), who opposed Docetism, explained, “There are some who declare that Jesus Christ did not come in flesh but only in spirit, and exhibited an appearance of flesh.” De res, 2.

11. Ebionites were a group of early Jewish Christians, who believed Jesus was the Messiah but not divine. They denied the virgin birth—Jesus was the son of Joseph. They emphasized strict adherence to the Jewish law. 

12. Patriarchs and Prophets, 49.

13. Medical Ministry, 181, italics supplied.

14. The Faith I Live By, 49, italics supplied.

15. The Desire of Ages, 49.

16. Ibid., 117.

17. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1956), , 5:1104.

18. Ibid., 5:1129.