Interpreting Jesus
As we said before Paul never mentioned Jesus in the flesh. He never mentioned his virgin birth, his miracles, the healings, raising people from the dead, or a sermon Jesus preached, 2 Cor. 5:16,
16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
Paul did not mention Jesus in the flesh because that part of Jesus life has nothing to do with who we are as New Creation believers, 2 Cor. 5:17,
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
What Paul did write about was Jesus death, burial, resurrection, and Ascension.
Paul focused on these events because they are the times you and I are in Christ. We were with him in death, we were with him in burial, we were with him in resurrection, and ascension, Romans 6:3-4,
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Col. 2:12,
12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
We are not followers of Jesus of Nazareth, we are birthed children of God, which is an entirely different understanding. We need to understand how we came into Christ, and this knowledge is what Paul emphasized. It is my belief that when Paul saw that Christ was in him, his entire Ministry and understanding concerning the cross was radically changed. The Apostle Paul realized that if the plan of God was that another was to live in us, then our entire existence depended upon this other one. Paul's message of Grace is that nothing depends upon the human being accept believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Everything God has to do with a person depends upon Christ who lives in that person. Religion depends on you living the Christian Life, you being good, you taking up a certain Doctrine, you receiving someone's baptism, you becoming a member of a church and you doing things according to that Church's rules.
But when God puts Christ in a human being, from that moment on he never depends on that human being again. Why would God put Jesus in me and then turn around and depend upon me. That would be foolish, what in the world could I add to Christ, what can I add to the Cross, what can I add to the work of the Holy Spirit, what can I add to God's stature, nothing.
God had already Illustrated in 4,000 years of the Old Testament that man could never please him. Now God's plan is to birth his own. They will be his children because he puts a part of himself, Christ, in the Believer.
Now he depends on the one Within, and God can now have the children he wanted, 1 Cor. 12:13,
13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
As we said before Paul never mentioned Jesus in the flesh. He never mentioned his virgin birth, his miracles, the healings, raising people from the dead, or a sermon Jesus preached, 2 Cor. 5:16,
16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
Paul did not mention Jesus in the flesh because that part of Jesus life has nothing to do with who we are as New Creation believers, 2 Cor. 5:17,
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
What Paul did write about was Jesus death, burial, resurrection, and Ascension.
Paul focused on these events because they are the times you and I are in Christ. We were with him in death, we were with him in burial, we were with him in resurrection, and ascension, Romans 6:3-4,
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Col. 2:12,
12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
We are not followers of Jesus of Nazareth, we are birthed children of God, which is an entirely different understanding. We need to understand how we came into Christ, and this knowledge is what Paul emphasized. It is my belief that when Paul saw that Christ was in him, his entire Ministry and understanding concerning the cross was radically changed. The Apostle Paul realized that if the plan of God was that another was to live in us, then our entire existence depended upon this other one. Paul's message of Grace is that nothing depends upon the human being accept believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Everything God has to do with a person depends upon Christ who lives in that person. Religion depends on you living the Christian Life, you being good, you taking up a certain Doctrine, you receiving someone's baptism, you becoming a member of a church and you doing things according to that Church's rules.
But when God puts Christ in a human being, from that moment on he never depends on that human being again. Why would God put Jesus in me and then turn around and depend upon me. That would be foolish, what in the world could I add to Christ, what can I add to the Cross, what can I add to the work of the Holy Spirit, what can I add to God's stature, nothing.
God had already Illustrated in 4,000 years of the Old Testament that man could never please him. Now God's plan is to birth his own. They will be his children because he puts a part of himself, Christ, in the Believer.
Now he depends on the one Within, and God can now have the children he wanted, 1 Cor. 12:13,
13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
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