Pastor-teacher Don Hargrove

Faith Bible Church

Wed., July 1, 2009       

http://fbcweb.org/Audio.html   

 

2 Pet 3:18.   

 

GOD’S PROBLEM SOLVING DEVICE #10:

OCCUPATION WITH JESUS CHRIST

Part 49:  THE HYPOSTATIC UNION & 

SUFFERING IN THE PLAN OF GOD

 (Messiah & A.C. #230)

 

A.   The Hypostatic Union:  understanding our Lord as the Unique Person of the Universe.

 

            1.   The Chalcedon formula on the two separate natures in Jesus Christ provides us with the most Scriptural and most profound theological statement ever made and as such must be the starting point from which to delve deeper into the Person of JC.

 

            2.   In order to move into a deeper understanding and appreciation of the God-man than what Chalcedon provided we have to deal with the issue of the Person of Christ as represented by two different schools of thought: the Alexandria Logos school and the Antiochene Jesus school 

 

                        a.   Alexandrian logos theology: tended to diminish the humanity of JC by making the eternal Logos the mind and rational soul of Christ, error of Monophysitism

 

                        b.   Antiochene Jesus theology:  tended to diminish the deity of Christ by emphasizing Christ’s separate human soul, i.e. error of Nestorianism.

 

            3.  Scripture explicitly teaches that the self-conscious soul of Jesus of Nazareth was none other than the same eternal self-conscious soul of the Second Member of the Trinity, Jn 1:1-3; 1:14-18; 17:5, 17:17-18; Philip 2:5-8; Col 2:9; Heb 1:1-4; 10:5-8.   

 

                        a.  Apollonarius was correct in that the rational soul of JC was the Logos

 

                        b.  The two objections to Apollonarianism:  1)   It undercut the true humanity of JC;   2)  It undercut the His work as Redeemer.

 

                        c.   The solution is found in understanding that the eternal Logos was the archetypal man in that He eternally possessed every property sufficient to make up a human soul (SC, freewill, mentality, etc)

 

                        d.   The only thing that the eternal Logos lacked in being a complete human nature was a human body which He assumed in the incarnation and thus by the virtue of adding flesh he took on everything necessary to have a completed humanity.                                   

                        e.   During the incarnation the Logos allowed only those aspects of His Person to be part of the waking consciousness of Christ which were compatible with a typical human experience.

 

                        f.    The divine aspects of Jesus’ omniscience person/mind were largely subliminal during the incarnation.   

 

                        g.    The Bible clearly presents Christ as possessing only one volition thus monotheletism is the correct view – notwithstanding the fact that monotheletism was rejected by the Church in the 7th century.

 

                        h.  God, the Eternal Second Member of the Trinity, the Logos, suffered as He lived through the human nature of Jesus Christ, Philip 2:5-8; Heb 5:8; Gal 2:20. 

 

                        i.   The power and blessedness of OWC require understanding of Christ on a functional as well as ontological level. 

 

                        j.   It is the hypostatic union that makes our so great salvation and life with Him possible. 

 

                        k.   All false views of Christ are a result of rejection of BD and the acceptance of some form of HV thinking. 

 

B.  Suffering and the plan of God, Phillip 2:5-8; Heb 2:10; 5:8

 

            1.   Only in the infallible Word of God can we discover the cause, purpose, and meaning of all human suffering. 

 

            2.   There are only five categories of suffering:

 

                        a.  #1 VR: Consequential suffering from motives and decisions for  sin, evil, and human good.

 

                        b.  #2 Divine discipline:  punitive suffering to get us back in fellowship, Rev 3; 1 Cor 11:28-30.

 

                        c.  #3  Suffering in immaturity designed to advance us into the blessings spiritual maturity,

 

                        d.  #4  Suffering in maturity designed to further advance us into greater maturity for even greater power and blessings.

 

                        e.  #5 Special glorious suffering:  suffering for special eternal glory and honor  for evidence of personal love for God in the angelic conflict, Job; Heb 11.

 

            3.   Only in God’s marvelous plan can all suffering be the source of the most fantastic blessings.

 

            4.   The greatest blessings in the history of mankind were all gained through the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, Philip 2:5-8; Heb 2:10-18; 4:16

 

            5.   Suffering as a growing believer is actually a tremendous asset –never a liability.

 

            6.   Suffering warns, trains, teaches and motivates us to live and grow in the WOG and reflect the glory of God.

 

            7.   All suffering in life must be related to the Plan of God – no exceptions.

 

            8.   All suffering is designed to remove arrogance from our lives.

 

            9.   All suffering is designed to get our focus back on the grace of God.

 

            10.   God is far more interested in us handling the sufferings through His Word and His grace than in us simply praying away our problems or simply praying for more strength. 

 

C.    Suffering is designed to so orient you to the grace of God that you gain complete victory over the 5 major tests of life, 2 Cor 12:7-10.

 

            1.   #1:   Victory over helpless situations, “weaknesses.”  

 

            2.   #2:   Victory over all people testing. 

 

            3.    #3:  Victory over thought testing (i.e. stress).

 

            4.    #4:  Victory over unfair treatment (system testing)

 

            5.    #5:  Victory over disaster testing (difficulties).