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S.D.A. Bible Commentary Vol. 7A
No one, looking upon the childlike countenance, shining with
animation, could say that Christ was just like other children. He was
God in human flesh. When urged by His companions to do wrong,
divinity flashed through humanity, and He refused decidedly. In a
moment He distinguished between right and wrong, and placed sin in
the light of God’s commands, holding up the law as a mirror which
reflected light upon wrong.—
The Youth’s Instructor, September 8,
1898
.
As a member of the human family He was mortal, but as a God He
was the fountain of life to the world. He could, in His divine person,
ever have withstood the advances of death, and refused to come under
its dominion; but He voluntarily laid down His life, that in so doing
He might give life and bring immortality to light.... What humility
[446]
was this! It amazed angels. The tongue can never describe it; the
imagination cannot take it in. The eternal Word consented to be made
flesh! God became man! —
The Review and Herald, July 5, 1887
.
The apostle would call our attention from ourselves to the Author
of our salvation. He presents before us His two natures, divine and
human.... He voluntarily assumed human nature. It was His own act,
and by His own consent. He clothed His divinity with humanity. He
was all the while as God, but He did not appear as God. He veiled
the demonstrations of Deity which had commanded the homage, and
called forth the admiration of the universe of God. He was God while
upon earth, but He divested Himself of the form of God, and in its stead
took the form and fashion of a man. He walked the earth as a man.
For our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be
made rich. He laid aside His glory and His majesty. He was God,
but the glories of the form of God He for awhile relinquished.... He
bore the sins of the world, and endured the penalty which rolled like a
mountain upon His divine soul. He yielded up His life a sacrifice, that
man should not eternally die. He died, not through being compelled to
die, but by His own free will.—
Ibid
.
Was the human nature of the Son of Mary changed into the divine
nature of the Son of God? No; the two natures were mysteriously
blended in one person—the man Christ Jesus. In Him dwelt all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. When Christ was crucified, it was His
human nature that died. Deity did not sink and die; that would have
been impossible.—
The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 5:1113
.