Monday, February 28, 2022

Ron Kidd (Christadelphian) on Jesus Benefitting (Salvifically) from His Own Sacrifice

  

Jesus benefitted from his own sacrifice

 

Though Jesus was the Son of God, he was a man subject to the conditions of his mortality; he was a partaker of flesh and blood and, as such was subject to death. In recognition of this, the apostle reminds us that “in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared” (Hebrews 5:7). Being the Son of God did not guarantee Jesus everlasting life; he overcame, not because he was born the Son of God, but because he committed himself to his Father’s Will; “though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:7-8; 10:7-9), and, because of his obedience, God “highly exalted him” (Philippians 2:8-9).

 

Time and again the Scriptures highlight Jesus’ own need for salvation. The Psalmist writes: “He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also, I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth>” (psalm 89:26, 27). It is impossible to escape the fact that, when Jesus died for us, as a son of Adam, he also benefitted; he was “brought again from the dead . . . through the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Hebrews 13:20); he was the “firstfruits of the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23). The apostle says: “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once unto the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:12). The words “for us”, in the King James Version, are in italics, signifying that they are not found in the original Greek, thus placing the emphasis upon Jesus and not those he came to save. Brother John Carter remarks in his study of Hebrews:

 

“It has been many times pointed out (Blood of Christ, page 9; Law of Moses, pages 91 and 172) that the italicized words “for us” in the A.V. are an unwarranted addition. They are omitted by the R.V. If any words are added they should be “for himself”—but the fact that he obtained eternal redemption involves this. And there it may be remarked that he needed redemption, otherwise how could it be said that he obtained it? And it was by his own blood that he obtained it. He was himself sharer in the effects of his own sacrifice, because he was a member of the fact that is mortal because of sin” (Ron Kidd, Principles of the Atonement, 36-37)

 


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