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The Consecrated Way
by A.T. Jones
Made of a Woman
By what means was Christ made flesh? Through what means was He
partaker of human nature?--Exactly the same means as are all of us
partakers: all of the children of men. For it is written: "As the
children [of the man] are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself
likewise took part of the same."
Likewise signifies "in the like way," "thus," "in the same way." So
He partook of "the same" flesh and blood that men have in the same way
that men partake of it. Men partake of it by birth. So "likewise" did
He. Accordingly, it is written, "Unto us a Child is born."
Accordingly, it is further written: "God sent forth His Son, made of
a woman." Gal. 4:4. He, being made of a woman in this world, in the
nature of things He was made of the only kind of woman that this world
knows.
But why must He be made of a woman? why not of a man?--For the simple
reason that to be made of a man would not bring Him close enough to
mankind as mankind is, under sin. He was made of a woman in order that
He might come, in the very uttermost, to where human nature is in its
sinning.
In order to do this, He must be made of a woman, because the woman,
not the man, was first and originally in the transgression. For "Adam
was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the
transgression." 1 Tim. 2:14.
To have been made only of the descent of man would have been to come
short of the full breadth of the field of sin, because the woman had
sinned and sin was thus in the world before the man sinned.
Christ was thus made of a woman in order that He might meet the great
world of sin at its very fountain head of entrance into this world. To
have been made otherwise than of a woman would have been to come short
of this and so would have been only to miss completely the redemption of
men from sin.
It was "the Seed of the woman" that was to bruise the serpent's head;
and it was only as "the seed of the woman" and "made of a woman" that He
could meet the serpent on his own ground, at the very point of the
entrance of sin into this world.
It was the woman who, in this world, was originally in the
transgression. It was the woman by whom sin originally entered.
Therefore, in the redemption of the children of men from sin, He who
would be the Redeemer must go back of the man to meet the sin that was
in the world before the man sinned.
This is why He who came to redeem was "made of a woman." By being
made of a woman He could trace sin to the very fountain head of its
original entry into the world by the woman. And thus, in finding sin in
the world and uprooting it from the world from its original entrance
into the world till the last vestige of it shall be swept from the
world, in the very nature of things He must partake of human nature as
it is since sin entered.
Otherwise, there was no kind of need whatever that He should be "made
of a woman." If He were not to come into closest contact with sin as it
is in the world, as it is in human nature; if He were to be removed one
single degree from it as it is in human nature, then He need not have
been "made of a woman."
But as He was made of a woman--not of a man; as He was made of the
one by whom sin entered in its very origin into the world--and not made
of the man, who entered into the sin after the sin had entered into the
world; this demonstrates beyond all possibility of fair question that
between Christ and sin in this world and between Christ and human nature
as it is under sin in the world there is no kind of separation, even to
the shadow of a single degree. He was made flesh; he was made to be sin.
He was made flesh as flesh is and only as flesh is in this world and was
made to be sin only as sin is.
And this must He do to redeem lost mankind. For Him to be separated a
single degree or a shadow of a single degree in any sense from the
nature of those whom He came to redeem would be only to miss everything.
Therefore, as He was made "under the law," because they are under the
law whom He would redeem, and as He was made a curse, because they are
under the curse whom He would redeem, and as He was made sin, because
they are sinners--"sold under sin"--whom He would redeem, precisely so
He must be made flesh and "the same" flesh and blood, because they are
flesh and blood whom He would redeem and must be made "of a woman,"
because sin was in the world first by and in the woman.
It is thoroughly understood that in His birth Christ did partake of
the nature of Mary--the "woman" of whom He was "made." But the carnal
mind is not willing to allow that God in His perfection of holiness
could endure to come to men where they are in their sinfulness.
Therefore endeavor has been made to escape the consequences of this
glorious truth, which is the emptying of self, by inventing a theory
that the nature of the virgin Mary was different from the nature of the
rest of mankind; that her flesh was not exactly such flesh as is that of
all mankind. This invention sets up that by some special means Mary was
made different from the rest of human beings, especially in order that
Christ might be becomingly born of her.
If He were not of the same flesh as are those whom He came to redeem,
then there is no sort of use of His being made flesh at all. More than
this: Since the only flesh that there is in this wide world which He
came to redeem is just the poor, sinful, lost, human flesh that all
mankind have; if this is not the flesh that he was made, then He never
really came to the world which needs to be redeemed. For if he came in a
human nature different from that which human nature in this world
actually is, then, even though He were in the world, yet for any
practical purposes in reaching man and helping him, he was as far from
him as if He had never come, for, in that case, in His human nature He
was just as far from man and just as much of another world as if He had
never come into this world at all.
This invention has culminated in what is known as the Roman Catholic
dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Many Protestants, if not the vast
majority of them as well as other non-Catholics, think that the
Immaculate Conception refers to the conception of Jesus by the virgin
Mary. But this is altogether a mistake. It refers not at all to the
conception of Christ by Mary but to the conception of Mary herself by
her mother.
The official and "infallible" doctrine of the Immaculate Conception,
as solemnly defined as an article of faith, by Pope Pius IX, speaking ex
cathedra on the 8th of December 1854 is as follows:--
By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ of the blessed apostles
Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we declare, pronounce, and
define that the doctrine which holds that the most blessed Virgin Mary,
in the first instant of her conception, by a special grace and privilege
of Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of
mankind, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, has been
revealed by God, and therefore is to be firmly and steadfastly believed
by all the faithful.
Wherefore, if any shall presume, which may God avert, to think in
their heart otherwise then has been defined by us, let them know, and
moreover understand, that they are condemned by their own judgment, that
they have made shipwreck as regards the faith, and have fallen away from
the unity of the Church.--Catholic Belief, page 214.
This conception is defined by Catholic writers thus:--
The ancient writing, "De Nativitate Christi," found in St. Cyprian's
works says: Because (Mary) being "very different from the rest of
mankind, human nature, but not sin, communicated itself to her."
Theodore, patriarch of Jerusalem, said in the second council of Nice,
that Mary "is truly the mother of God, and virgin before and after
childbirth; and she was created in a condition more sublime and glorious
than that of all natures, whether intellectual or corporeal."--Id.,
pages 216, 217.
This plainly puts the nature of Mary entirely beyond any real
likeness or relationship to mankind or human nature as it is. Having
this clearly in mind, let us follow this invention in its next step.
Thus it is, as given in the words of Cardinal Gibbons:--
We affirm that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word of
God, who in His divine nature is, from all eternity, begotten of the
Father, consubstantial with Him, was in the fulness of time again
begotten, by being born of the virgin, thus taking to himself from her
maternal womb a human nature of the same substance with hers.
As far as the sublime mystery of the incarnation can be reflected in
the natural order, the blessed Virgin, under the overshadowing of the
Holy Ghost, by communicating to the Second Person of the adorable
Trinity, as mothers do, a true human nature of the same substance with
her own, is thereby really and truly His mother.--Faith of Our Fathers,
pages 198, 199.
Now put these two things together. First, we have the nature of Mary
defined as being not only "very different from the rest of mankind," but
"more sublime and glorious than all natures:" thus putting her
infinitely beyond any real likeness or relationship to mankind as we
really are.
Next, we have Jesus described as taking from her a human nature of
the same substance as hers.
From this theory it therefore follows as certainly as that two and
two make four, that in His human nature the Lord Jesus is "very
different" from the rest of mankind; indeed, His nature is not human
nature at all.
Such is the Roman Catholic doctrine concerning the human nature of
Christ. The Catholic doctrine of the human nature of Christ is simply
that that nature is not human nature at all, but divine: "more sublime
and glorious than all natures." It is that in His human nature Christ
was so far separated from mankind as to be utterly unlike that of
mankind, that His was a nature in which He could have no sort of
fellow-feeling with mankind.
But such is not the faith of Jesus. The faith of Jesus is that "as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise
took part of the same."
The faith of Jesus is that God sent "His own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh."
The faith of Jesus is that "in all things it behooved Him to be made
like unto His brethren.
The faith of Jesus is that He "Himself took our infirmities" and was
touched "with the feeling of our infirmities," being tempted in all
points like as we are. If He was not as we are, He could not possibly be
tempted "like as we are." But He was "in all points tempted like as we
are." Therefore He was "in all points" "like as we are."
In the quotations of Catholic faith which in this chapter we have
cited, we have presented the faith of Rome as to the human nature of
Christ and of Mary. In the second chapter of Hebrews and kindred texts
of Scripture there is presented--and in these studies we have endeavored
to reproduce as there presented--the faith of Jesus as to the human
nature of Christ.
The faith of Rome as to the human nature of Christ and Mary and of
ourselves springs from that idea of the natural mind that God is too
pure and too holy to dwell with us and in us in our sinful human nature;
that sinful as we are, we are too far off for Him in His purity and
holiness to come to us just as we are.
The true faith--the faith of Jesus--is that, far off from God as we
are in our sinfulness, in our human nature which He took, He has come to
us just where we are; that, infinitely pure and holy as He is, and
sinful, degraded, and lost as we are, He in Christ by His Holy Spirit
will willingly dwell with us and in us to save us, to purify us, and to
make us holy.
The faith of Rome is that we must be pure and holy in order that God
shall dwell with us at all.
The faith of Jesus is that God must dwell with us and in us in order
that we shall be holy or pure at all.
The Law of Heredity
"The Word was made flesh."
"When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman." Gal. 4:4.
"And the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Isa. 53:6.
We have seen that in His being made of a woman, Christ reached sin at
the very fountain head of its entrance into this world and that He must
be made of a woman to do this. Also there was laid upon Him the
iniquity, in the actual sins, of us all.
Thus all the sin of this world, from its origin in the world to the
end of it in the world, was laid upon Him--both sin as it is in itself
and sin as it is when committed by us; sin in its tendency and sin in
the act: sin as it is hereditary in us, uncommitted by us; and sin as it
is committed by us.
Only thus could it be that there should be laid upon Him the iniquity
of us all. Only by His subjecting Himself to the law of heredity could
He reach sin in full and true measure as sin truly is. Without this
there could be laid upon Him our sins which have been actually
committed, with the guilt and condemnation that belong to them. But
beyond this there is in each person, in many ways, the liability to sin
inherited from generations back which has not yet culminated in the act
of sinning but which is ever ready, when occasion offers, to blaze forth
in the actual committing of sins. David's great sin is an illustration
of this. Ps. 51:5; 2 Sam. 11:2.
In delivering us from sin, it is not enough that we shall be saved
from the sins that we have actually committed; we must be saved from
committing other sins. And that this may be so, there must be met and
subdued this hereditary liability to sin; we must become possessed of
power to keep us from sinning--a power to conquer this liability, this
hereditary tendency that is in us to sin.
All our sins which we have actually committed were laid upon Him,
were imputed to Him, so that His righteousness may be laid upon us, may
be imputed to us. Also our liability to sin was laid upon Him, in His
being made flesh, in His being born of a woman, of the same flesh and
blood as we are, so that His righteousness might be actually manifested
in us as our daily life.
Thus He met sin in the flesh which He took and triumphed over it, as
it is written: "God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." And again: "He is our
peace,...having abolished in His flesh the enmity."
And thus, just as our sins actually committed were imputed to Him
that His righteousness might be imputed to us, so His meeting and
conquering in the flesh the liability to sin and in that same flesh
manifesting righteousness, enables us in Him, and Him in us, to meet and
conquer in the flesh this same liability to sin and to manifest
righteousness in the same flesh.
And thus it is that for the sins which we have actually committed,
for the sins that are past, His righteousness is imputed to us, as our
sins were imputed to Him. And to keep us from sinning His righteousness
is imparted to us in our flesh as our flesh, with its liability to sin,
was imparted to Him. Thus He is the complete Saviour. He saves from all
the sins that we have actually committed and saves equally from all the
sins that we might commit dwelling apart from Him.
If He took not the same flesh and blood that the children of men have
with its liability to sin, then where could there be any philosophy or
reason of any kind whatever in His genealogy as given in the Scriptures?
He was descended from David; He was descended from Abraham; He was
descended from Adam and, by being made of a woman, He reached even back
of Adam to the beginning of sin in the world.
In that genealogy there are Jehoiakim, who for his wickedness was
"buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates
of Jerusalem" (Jer. 22:19); Manasseh, who caused Judah to do "worse than
the heathen;" Ahaz, who "made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against
the Lord;" Rehoboam, who was born of Solomon after Solomon turned from
the Lord; Solomon himself, who was born of David and Bathsheba; there
are also Ruth the Moabitess and Rahab; as well as Abraham, Isaac, Jesse,
Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah: the worst equally with the best.
And the evil deeds of even the best are recorded equally with the good.
And in this whole genealogy there is hardly one whose life is written
upon at all of whom there is not some wrong act recorded.
Now it was at the end of such a genealogy as that that "the Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us." It was at the end of such a genealogy
as that that He was made of a woman." It was in such a line of descent
as that that God sent "His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh." And
such a descent, such a genealogy, meant something to Him, as it does to
every other man, under the great law that the iniquities of the fathers
are visited upon the children to the third and fourth generations. It
meant everything to Him in the terrible temptations in the wilderness of
temptation, as well as all the way through His life in the flesh.
Thus, both by heredity and by imputation, He was "laden with the sins
of the world." And, thus laden, at this immense disadvantage He passed
triumphantly over the ground where at no shadow of any disadvantage
whatever, the first pair failed.
By His death He paid the penalty of all sins actually committed, and
thus can justly bestow His righteousness upon all who choose to receive
it. And by condemning sin in the flesh, by abolishing in His flesh the
enmity, He delivers from the power of the law of heredity and so can, in
righteousness, impart His divine nature and power to lift above that
law, and hold above it, every soul that receives Him.
And so it is written: "When the fulness of the time was come, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."
Gal. 4:4. And "God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for [on account of] sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. 8:3,4. And "He is our
peace,...having abolished in His flesh the enmity,...for to make in
Himself of twain [God and man] one new man, so making peace." Eph. 2:14,
15.
Thus, "in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His
brethren....For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is
able to succor them that are tempted."
Whether temptation be from within or from without, He is the perfect
shield against it all; and so saves to the uttermost all who come unto
God by Him.
God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, Christ
taking our nature as our nature is in its sinfulness and degeneracy, and
God dwelling constantly with Him and in Him in that nature--in this God
has demonstrated to all people forever that there is no soul in this
world so laden with sins or so lost that God will not gladly dwell with
him and in him to save him from it all and to lead him in the way of the
righteousness of God.
And so certainly is his name Emmanuel, which is, "God with us."
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