The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-04-28

SEAsIaS EsNELLg before-uade par,
taker of the divine
nature. His text was. He was put to
death in flesh. but quickened in spirit"
q Peter iii. 49, The speaker said:
In the past those of us who contin.
ued to believe in the resurrection of the
dead. held some inconsistent theories
respecting the matter which served to
make the resurrection doctrine the
more absurd in the minds Of those op-
posed. For instance we claimed that
the Logos. the Son of God. left the
heavenly or spirit nature and. accord.
ing to the Scriptures. was made flesh.
and that He was resurrected from the
dead human or feshly being and as
cended TO heaven with a body Of flesh.
In the same breath we acknowledged
that human nature is a little lower
than the angelic: and thus. while still
wishing 10 honor the Redeemer and to
see wisdom and lore in the Heavenly
Fathers Plan. we assumed that the
Savior. since His ascension. has had
n body inferior to that Of the angels
and out of harmony with His surround
ings: and that this is to be- to all eter-
nifty part of the cost of human re-
demption
How absurd! Do not the Scriptures
particularly tell us that in His resur-
rectiou the Son was highly exalted by
the Father. far above angels. princi
palities and powers and every name
that is named? Do they not tell us
that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the Kingdom of God?' Do they not
tell us that the elect Church. in order
TO be the Bride of Messiah and His as
sociate in the heavenly Kingdom. must
be changed. in a moment. in the twin
king Of an eye" in order that she MAY
be made ike Him, and because flesh
and blood cannot inherit the King
dom? We hare been too careless In
our study Of the Divine Word On this
subject. as upon others. we have as
sumed that our forefatbers of the
Dark Ages, understood the matter
thoroughly. We forgot that those who
lost so much Of the Holy Spirit that
they could burn fellow Christians at
or less confused on all questions But
1.-The path of the Just IS as shining
light. shining more and more unto the
perfect day" and 1t is now our priv
ilege to learn the way of the Lord more
perfectly. in the light now shining upon
the Bible through the aid of our won.
derfnl concordances and other Bible
study helps
eesottsn Of the spirit-Then Born.
Our difficulty on this subject arose
from our failure TO understand that
human and spirit natures are distinct
and that God has provided two dis.
tinctly different saivatious for man
kind the salvation of this Age being
exclusively spiritual. while that Of the
next Age will be exclusively human.
We are not TO think of these natures
as blending. but. according 10 the
Lords Word. we are to view them as
distinctly separate. Whoever is of the
human nature is earthly. aeshly,
whether perfect or degraded Whoever
is of the spirit nature Is heavenly
whether perfect or degraded Thus.
when 1.-The Logos was made flesh and
dwelt among u.s." He was human.
though unbiemished And the fallen
angels are still spirit beings. although
cut off from Divine favor and fellow,
ship. In other words, human nature
is not an imperfect form Of spirit ma.
ture but a totally separate and distinct
nature.
The Logos. the Only Begotten Of the
Father. was made flesh" uohn /. IA
He was not spirit being incareerated
in a body of flesh and wearing it as a
garment. or living In it as house. He
became like others of the race. except
that He was holy, harmless. separate
from sinners" while all others are sin
pers. imperfect. Like other men. the
man Jesus was not dual being-a
spirit being living in human frame
He was merely human.
But the Redeemer became dual being
when He received the begetting Of the
Holy Spirit at the time OF His bap
tism. Thenceforth. for three and q
half years. until His crucifxion. He
was dual. The flesh was the same
but the spirit. begetting received from
the Father constituted Him nc,c Ego
new person He not only thereaf ter
had new hopes. based upon Divine
promises. but He had new mind or
new will specially illuminated. quick
ened. enlightened by the Holy Spirit
From the time or His baptism His
flesh (all that belonged to His human
nature, was given up to die in the
carrying out Of the Heavenly Fathers
purposes. Thencefortb the Spirit-be
gotten One waited merely for the &C
complisbment of His sacrifice accord
ing til the Fathers will. and for A new