Doctrine of Anti-Christ
The Satan-inspired doctrine that Jesus was not human, that He did not inherit the human nature of Adam, that He did not have all the normal human passions and weaknesses against which all of us have to struggle — in a word, that Jesus did not really come "in the flesh" as a normal human being — this is the doctrine of the Anti-Christ. Notice Romans 8:3: "God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh."
"Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is NOT of God: and this is that spirit of Anti-Christ, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even NOW already is it in the world" (I John 4:3).
Millions are being taught, in one form or another, this deception of Satan the Devil! Some believe that Jesus had a "special" kind of blood in His veins — not containing human nature with all its weaknesses. Then there is the belief that denies the fact that Jesus inherited human nature from His mother, Mary. This theory thwarts the meaning of the many scriptures showing that Christ Jesus came as the son of man — inheriting His human nature from a normal, human mother.
Yes, as the scriptures clearly state, this Satan-inspired doctrine of Anti-Christ is "even NOW" in the world — and some honest and sincere people are being deceived by it.
Doctrine Explained
Now, listen! The underlying PURPOSE of Satan — the Adversary — in formulating the doctrine of Anti-Christ is this: It is an attempt to deny the fact that a normal man — with HUMAN NATURE — could, with the help of God's Holy Spirit which is now accessible to every man (Acts 10:34-45), live in perfect obedience to the LAW OF GOD as Jesus Christ did. Again notice WHY Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh: ". . . and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" WHY — "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).
The idea Satan is trying to put across is that it is impossible for man to keep the spiritual law of God, and so Jesus came as our Savior — not "in the flesh" with normal human nature — but through some "special process" so that He could keep the law of God in our stead! And therefore we don't have to keep the Spiritual Law. What Christ did in our stead was to die for us! But His obedience was our EXAMPLE!
Those who believe this doctrine seem to forget that Jesus obeyed God in every way, "Leaving us an EXAMPLE, that ye should follow his steps" (I Peter 2:21-22), that Jesus taught, "IF thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments" (Mat. 19:17), and that He said of all mankind: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God" (Luke 4:4). We are not only to keep the letter of the law, but to follow it as it is magnified throughout the Bible in "every word of God."
As Jesus explained throughout Matthew 5, we are to DO and TEACH even the least of the commandments (verse 19), and should go far beyond the scribes and Pharisees by obeying even the spirit, and intent, of God's great law of love as summed up in the Ten Commandments.
Satan the Devil, through His false ministers who appear as "ministers of righteousness" (II Cor. 11:13-15), is trying to deceive the world into believing in a FALSE CHRIST — a Christ who did away with the Father's spiritual law and made it possible for us to inherit eternal life without having to build, with the help of God's Spirit, the kind of holy, righteous CHARACTER which would enable us to obey God's eternal, spiritual LAW both now and forever.
Truth Made Clear
Now that we understand the real motive behind the doctrine of Anti-Christ, let us consider a few final scriptures which will clear up the truth of this matter once and for all time.
In James 1:13-14, we read: "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for GOD CANNOT BE TEMPTED WITH EVIL, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed."
How plain! How abundantly clear! Not having human nature with its passions and lusts, God CANNOT be tempted with evil. And on the contrary, every man is tempted by his own lust — because every man does have human nature.
Now turn to Hebrews 2:17-18. Here God shows that Christ is qualified to be a merciful and faithful high priest — "For in that he himself bath suffered being TEMPTED, he is able to succor them that are tempted."
Again, in Hebrews 4:15 we read: "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but WAS IN ALL POINTS TEMPTED like as we are, yet without sin."
Could anything be more CLEAR?
God CANNOT be tempted. Yet Jesus Christ WAS tempted in all points like we are. He was HUMAN. He was tempted through the lusts of His HUMAN NATURE.
He said: "I can of mine own self do NOTHING" (John 5:30). In the days of fleshly weakness, He cried out to God who was able to save Him from death (Heb. 5:7).
In spite of having human nature just as we do, with all of its passions and weaknesses, of being "tempted in all points like as we are," He was "yet WITHOUT SIN."
He willingly suffered every human trial, privation, and persecution, "Leaving us an EXAMPLE, that ye should follow his steps: Who DID NO SIN, neither was guile found in his mouth" (I Pet. 2:21-22).
Jesus Kept Commandments
Though having human nature, Jesus did not sin! And what is the Bible definition — God's definition — of sin? "Sin is the transgression of THE LAW" (I John 3:4).
Then Jesus, though having human nature, obeyed God's LAW. He said, "I have kept my Father's commandments" (John 15:10). He instructed: "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the COMMANDMENTS" (Mat. 19:17).
So it is not only possible — but obligatory — that we obey God's spiritual law, the Ten Commandments, as they are magnified throughout the Bible. Keeping them in the spirit does NOT mean "spiritualizing" them away, but really obeying them as Jesus set us the example, thru the power of God's Holy Spirit, which He gives to them that OBEY Him! (Acts 5:32)
By clearly twisting, distorting, and misapplying scattered scriptures, Satan — operating through his false ministers preaching the doctrine of Anti-Christians been able to deceive nearly all of professing Christianity on this subject.
Peter knew that men would especially try to twist and pervert the writings of Paul in regard to the law of God. He was inspired to write that Paul's epistles contained "some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction" (II Peter 3:16).
God does not contradict himself, and literally hundreds of plain, clear scriptures teach us to OBEY the commandments of God, the holy, spiritual LAW of God. And your Bible clearly reveals that Jesus — born into the human flesh and having human nature even as you and I — kept His Father's commandments and set us a perfect example.
Exercising Character
The only difference between Jesus and any other human is that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Therefore He obeyed God's laws from birth — and never had to go through the process of repenting of going the wrong way, of unlearning wrong ideas and habits, and of gradually learning to exercise His will to do right continually.
He, who had been God, was now changed into human flesh with all its weaknesses and lusts. Nevertheless, He retained in His personality the determination, the WILL to obey God always.
The temptation to do wrong, the idea of sinning entered Jesus' mind. Yes, it DID occur to Him to disobey God. He WAS tempted in all points like we are!
But from birth, Jesus would always reject these wrong ideas, these temptations. He said, "Get behind me, Satan!" He WILLED to do right. He went to God the Father for POWER to do always right. And, praying for the strength He needed through the Holy Spirit, He always did right.
But it WASN'T easy! Jesus had exactly the same day-to-day battle with sin that we do.
Jesus needed outside help sorely. And He knew where to get that help. "And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there PRAYED" (Mark 1:35). When He needed strength to go through the terrible ordeal of the crucifixion, "Being in an agony he prayed more EARNESTLY: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44).
Perhaps now we can better understand Paul's inspired statement in Romans 8:3: "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of SINFUL flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh."
Yes, Jesus had sinful flesh — human nature. But by exercising the WILL to always obey God, and by receiving the extra help He needed to master His fleshly desires, Jesus repudiated the sway of sin in the human flesh and showed that the law of God could be kept.
Right here let us understand the scriptures which show that Jesus was worshipped while He was yet in the human flesh. In Matthew 2:11; 8:2 and seven other places in the gospels, we find accounts of how men worshipped Jesus.
Yet we know that the Bible forbids us to worship another man.
To understand this, we must realize that in Jesus "God was manifested in the flesh" (I Tim. 3:16). Men were permitted to worship Jesus because He was the personality and perfect will of one who was God — and He exercised the character of God. They were not worshipping Jesus as just another man, but as the holy, righteous, perfect character of God manifested in the flesh.
He was God — in the human flesh!
God's Great Purpose
And so by exercising the WILL to obey God, Jesus "condemned sin in the flesh" for what purpose?
Here is the real ANSWER to why God had to come in the human flesh! Here is the real PURPOSE for the great SACRIFICE Christ made in emptying Himself of His divine glory and power, and coming to strive with sin in the flesh and finally DIE the ignominious death of the cross!
The answer is given in the very next verse of Romans 8. Christ came to condemn 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" (verse 4).
Christ came in the flesh to set us a perfect example, then to DIE in payment for our sins and make it possible for us to be reconciled to a holy, righteous God and receive of His Spirit — His very life and character implanted within us.
Then He was raised from the dead and ascended to heaven, having now qualified through human experience to be our merciful and faithful high priest — now to guide us and strengthen us through the Holy Spirit so that we, too, can learn to OBEY God's laws perfectly, can WILL to do right always, can develop the holy, spiritual CHARACTER of God — and finally be found worthy to inherit eternal life as the born sons of Almighty God.
How great is God's love in coming into the human flesh to save us and make us His own!
How wonderful is His plan when we really understand it!