Since 1958 I have put out some writings to declare that our Christ is surely not only the Creator but also a creature because He is both God, as the Creator, and man, as a creature. If you say that Christ is God, surely He is the Creator. If you say that He is a man, surely He is a creature. The strange thing is this: Although a good number of Christian teachers admit that Christ is a man, they do not have the courage to admit that He is a creature. How could it be that there is a man who is not a creature? Such an interpretation is illogical, yet many teachers dare not say that Christ is a creature.
To deny that Christ is a creature is to fall into an error in the line of the heresy of the Docetists (A.D. 70-170). The Docetists followed Gnosticism to say that all matter is evil, that every physical thing, including our flesh, is evil. The Docetists taught that Christ is holy and therefore He could never become matter, He could never become a physical thing, He could never become the flesh. Their heretical teaching was that Christ was not a genuine man, but that as a man He was merely a phantom. The teaching of Docetism was heresy.
Those who deny the truth that Christ as a man is a creature unknowingly make themselves Docetists, which is equal to saying that they do not confess that Christ has come in the flesh. John condemned such ones in chapter four of his first Epistle.
Christ is a man, a typical man with flesh, skin, bone, and blood. If you count these four items, you must admit that skin is something created, and that bone, flesh, and blood are all something of the creatures. It would be ridiculous to say that Christ is a man but that He is not a creature. This is not a matter of doctrinal debate. We need to take care of the truth, and we need to know the facts.
The redemption accomplished by Christ is not only for man but also for all creation. Chapter one of Colossians first tells us that Christ is the Firstborn of all creation (v. 15) and then that through Christ’s redemption all the created things in heaven and on earth are reconciled to God (v. 20). Christ’s redemption is for all things. Hebrews 2:9 says clearly that Christ tasted death not only on behalf of every man but also on behalf of everything.
If Christ were only a man and not the Firstborn of all creation, the first item of all the creatures, how could He accomplish redemption for all the creatures? In the same way that it is necessary for Him to be a man to accomplish redemption for man, it is necessary for Him to be a creature to make a redemption for all the creatures. It is necessary for our Redeemer to be the first item of all creation in order for Him to redeem all creation; therefore, He is in the first place as the Firstborn of all creation. In the same principle, He is the last Adam, the head of all mankind, and as such He is qualified to be the Redeemer of mankind.
As the Firstborn of all creation, Christ is qualified to be the Redeemer of all creation, and as the last Adam of all mankind, He is qualified to be the Redeemer of mankind. However, if He were only the first item of all creatures and the last Adam of mankind, although He is altogether qualified to be the Redeemer, His redemption could not be eternally effective. If He were only one item of the creatures, how could one item die for all the creatures? If He were only a man, how could one man die for all men? In that case, the effectiveness of His redemption could not be eternal and lasting. If Christ’s redemption were only a redemption accomplished by the first item of all the creatures and by the last Adam of mankind, His redemption would not be eternally and everlastingly effective. Such a redemption could never be eternal because neither a creature nor a man is eternal. It is necessary for our Redeemer to have some further qualification. There must be some element that is eternal, and that element must be God Himself. It is necessary for our Redeemer to be the very God.
When our Redeemer died on the cross, He died there as the first item of all the creation, as the last Adam, that is, as the head of all mankind, and as the very God. Because He died there as these three, His redemption is called the eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12). The first two aspects qualified Him to be the Redeemer, and the last aspect insures that His redemption is eternal, that it can cover everything, and also that it would be everlasting. For this reason, Christ is qualified to accomplish a redemption that is adequate and eternal.
When John told us that the blood that cleanses us, or that redeems us, is the blood of Jesus, he added the title, “His Son,” the Son of God (1 John 1:7). The blood shed on the cross is the blood not only of the man Jesus, but also of Jesus the Son of God. The blood of Jesus is the genuine blood of a man. Only man’s blood can redeem man. Of course, God does not have blood to shed, but even if He did have blood that He could shed, that blood would not be qualified to redeem man. Man should be redeemed by man’s blood. Therefore, the blood of Jesus is the genuine blood of a genuine man which is altogether qualified to redeem man.
Nevertheless, if the blood of Jesus is only the blood of a man, it has nothing to insure its eternal effectiveness. Therefore, in 1 John 1:7 the apostle John adds the title, His Son, the Son of God, to indicate His divinity. This Jesus is not only the Son of Man to shed the blood of a genuine man, but He is also the Son of God to insure the effectiveness of His blood for eternity.
The name Jesus denotes the Lord’s humanity, which is needed for the shedding of the redeeming blood, and the title His Son denotes the Lord’s divinity, which is needed for the eternal efficacy of the redeeming blood. Therefore, the blood of Jesus His Son indicates that this blood is the proper blood of a genuine man for redeeming God’s fallen creatures with divine surety for its eternal efficacy, an efficacy which is all-prevailing in space and everlasting in time.
Therefore, our Redeemer was the first item of all the creatures, the last Adam of mankind, and the very God Himself. This truth involves a number of points which cause debate in theology. However, we do not care for debate; we care for the truth.