We have seen that one cannot separate Christ from truth or from the doctrines. Nor can He be isolated from the Christian faith. What then is the relationship Christ has with us human beings?
Before we come to look at the relationship Christ has with man, we have to investigate the law of heredity a little. A life which bears a particular trait or feature in its nature may transmit that same feature to the next generation. Looking at it another way, we can find the temperament and idiosyncrasies of the father in a child. But whatever is acquired by learning is not hereditary. For example, a blacksmith may acquire strong and husky arms through his training, but his children's arms may remain small and thin. Whatever is acquired after birth cannot be transmitted to the next generation. This is a fact and phenomenon recognized by biological science.
There is a very important concept in the Bible known as the unity of men. According to the Bible, apart from our individual existence, the whole world, regardless of how many millions of people there are, can be considered as being composed of two men. These two men are corporate, embracing millions of people. The whole of humanity is included in these two men. They are two juristic persons. Due to this reckoning in the Bible, the man Jesus could die for all of us and bear all of our sins. Now all of us can receive life through Him.
A student in biology can tell us that there is an amazing concept in biology which is quite contrary to ours: a son's life is considered to be older than that of the father, and a grandson's life is much older than that of his grandfather. This is perfectly true. The son inherits the father's life and continues it. Hence, the son's life is older than that of his father. Your life and mine are naturally older than that of Adam, for his ended at the age of a little over nine hundred years. But you and I are still living and will go on living.
These are three important concepts we have to consider when we look at the relationship between Christ and man: the heredity of human life, the unity of men, and the continuation of human life.
Man is not only an individual, existing by himself, responsible only for his own conduct and behavior. He also belongs to a corporate man. Every person is a part of a huge life. He is a continuation, and he is continuing this huge life. The first man in this corporate man had a life that embraced all other human life; his conduct became that of everyone that follows, and his traits are transmitted to all successive generations; they all bear the same features as he did.
This is a vast subject to be covered. But we have to understand these concepts before we can see the salvation of God and the relationship of Christ with man.