CRYSTALLIZATION-STUDY OF THE GOSPEL OF GOD
in the Epistle to the Romans

Message Eighteen

The Designation of Christ’s Humanity

Scripture Reading: Rom. 1:3-4; 8:29, 19; Heb. 2:10-12; 1:6; 1 Pet. 3:18

OUTLINE

1. Christ’s two natures, divine and human:
   1. Christ’s human nature—His humanity:
      1. According to the flesh, Christ is out of the seed of David to be the Son of Man—Rom. 1:3; John 3:14.
      2. Typified by the bronze serpent—Num. 21:4-9.
      3. Bearing the likeness of the serpent (the likeness of the flesh of sin), without the poison of the serpent—Rom. 8:3b.
      4. Related to sin, Satan, and the world—2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 2:14; John 12:31.
   2. Christ’s divine nature—His divinity:
      1. According to the Spirit of holiness, Christ is designated the Son of God—Rom. 1:4.
      2. In power.
      3. Out of resurrection—the Triune God embodied in Christ—John 11:25.
2. Christ’s death—1 Pet. 3:18:
   1. For sins, the Righteous on behalf of the unrighteous, that He might bring His believers to God.
   2. On the one hand, crucified in the flesh.
   3. On the other hand, made alive in the Spirit. In this Spirit, Christ went and proclaimed to the fallen angels in prison (probably the victory of God over Satan their leader through the incarnation of God in Christ and Christ’s death in the flesh)—1 Pet. 3:19.
3. The designation of Christ’s humanity—Rom. 1:4:
   1. Christ’s humanity—the flesh—was not divine but human.
   2. In His resurrection, His humanity was designated (resurrected, uplifted) into His divinity, that is, into His divine glory—John 12:23; Luke 24:25-26:
      1. By the Spirit of holiness.
      2. In the divine power.
      3. Out of resurrection, which is the Triune God embodied in Christ.
      4. To be the Son of God.
      5. This means that He was born of God in His resurrection—Acts 13:33:
         1. To be the firstborn Son of God.
         2. Among His many brothers—the many sons of God—Rom. 8:29.
      6. His redeemed believers were born (regenerated) with Him in the same resurrection— 1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 2:6a.
4. The two statuses of Christ’s sonship:
   1. The only begotten Son of God—John 1:18:
      1. Possessing the divine nature—divinity.
      2. From eternity to eternity—Psa. 90:2; Rom. 9:5.
      3. As the Second in the Divine Trinity—Matt. 28:19.
   2. The firstborn Son of God—Rom. 8:29:
      1. Possessing both the divine nature and the human nature—divinity and humanity.
      2. From His resurrection through His ascension and His second coming to eternity—Acts 13:33; Matt. 26:64; Acts 7:55-56; Rev. 1:13; Heb. 1:6; John 1:51 and note 3.
      3. As the firstborn Son of God among the many sons of God, His many brothers—Rom. 8:29, 19; Heb. 2:10-12.