Arizona republican., 1906-10-30
MISSION OF CHRIST
ON REDEMP TON
The Theme of Rev. J. Cronenberger of
the Church of Christ Last Sunday
Morning.

Rev. J. CrOnenberger Of the Church
Of Christ took for the text of his ad-
dress last Sunday morning Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sin
ners." 1 Tim, 1:15. Mr.. Cronenberger
said in part:
Two assertions are made the text
concerning Jesus Christ; the first tells
that He came into the world, the sec
ond why He came
But in the first place we are told
here, that, Christ Jesus came into the
world, then Christ is a historic char
acter; He is not a creature of the i'm
agination. but a real person who ac-
tually lived and suffered and died on
this earth about two thousand years
ago. The historical existence of Christ
is as well founded and supported as is
the historical existance of Alexander
the Great, or Julius Caesar, or Moham-
med or Shakespeare, or any name that
is recorded on the pages of the worlds
history. The gospel narrative is not
fiction but truth, it is not myth, bur
history
When you are pursuing the wonder
ful biography of Christ Jesus as writ
ten by the four Evangelists, you are
not dealing with fable or poetry, but
with facts and realities This is a
y
indubitable evidence-"That Christ Je-
sus came into the world" Here the
question presents itself, viz; whence
came He? When it is averred that
Christ Jesus came into the world, it is
natural to ask where He was before
Was He anywhere? Did He come into
this world from another world, or was
His coming precisely like the coming
of every other man? With all other
men there existance began here, was
it so with Jesus Christ. or did He come
into the world from a previous state
of existance? 1t is implied in the text
that He did. From other places in the
New Testament we learn that it was
the heavenly world, the world which
is the eternal dwelling place of God.
He came from the Father. How long
had he been with the Father in the
heavenly home before he came into
this world, and took up His abode with
men? John answers the question, when
he declared, that lin the beginning was
the world" From the phrase ''in the
beginning we are to understand eter-
nifty. John does not say from the be-
ginning" but lin the beginning"
The word the eternal lOgos, existed
lin eternity" not before eternity"
Jesus Christ then came into the world
from previous state or eXlSJance
which never had a beginning.
Another question presents itself:
Who was Jesus Christ What relation
did He sustain to the Father? Well He
was Gods son. This designation was
given to Him by God Himself; This
is my beloved Son" This is the per-
son who in the fullness of time came
into the world-God's eternal Son. Well
what was it that brought Him into the
world? Surely Gods Son would not
leave His home in Heaven, His Faith
er's throne to come into this wicked
world unless it was on some very i'm
portant mission; why did He come?
He was equal with the Father in pow
| er and majesty and glory, and yet to
accomplish some purpose He laid His
! glory aside, He emptied Himself; He
assumed the nature of man. He came
into the world of men. He suffered
He died. Why did He come?
Men have tried to give their own
/ theories, their own speculations as to
why Christ came into the world, and
| yet their is only one answer; that is
Christ Jesus came into the world to
! save sinners"
/ Some say that He came into the
world to show US the Father; some
| that He came to show Us an example;
/ some that He came to teach men how
/ to live; others to show US how sin is
/ conquered and how self-will might be