Eph 393-8 10/19/86, 660, 787, 878 8/14/88 DOCTRINE OF THE SUBSTITUTIONARY

SPIRITUAL DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST

A. Categories of Spiritual Death.

1. There are two categories of spiritual death.

a. Real spiritual death, which is separation from God in a state of sin. This applies to man.

b. Substitutionary spiritual death, which is separation from God in a state of perfection and impeccability. This applies to Jesus Christ.

2. Real spiritual death applies to Adam’s original sin and the status quo of the human race at the point of physical birth. Substitutionary spiritual death applies to the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

3. At the time when man sinned in the garden of Eden, mankind entered into real spiritual death. Rom 5:12, “For by one man sin entered the world and death by sin, so death passed upon all men for all have sinned.”

4. There are seven results of Adam’s original sin in the garden.

a. At the point of the original sin, Adam lost his rulership of planet earth to Satan.

b. When Adam died spiritually, he entered into a state of total separation from God. He was separated from God in a state of total helplessness; there was nothing he could do to regain his relationship with God. God did all the work: He came to Adam in the garden, He did the judging and then provided the solution for our spiritual death. Adam’s spiritual death was demonstrated by the fact that when Jesus Christ came in the garden, Adam hid himself from God. c. In spiritual death, Adam became dichotomous, having only a body and soul. Real spiritual death means loss of the human spirit, by which we have fellowship with God. 1 Cor 2:14 calls unbelieving dichotomous man the PSUCHIKOS, or soulish man; cf. Jude 19.

d. Adam’s original sin invented the old sin nature, which is genetically perpetuated to the entire human race. From the old sin nature comes our total depravity, which includes moral and immoral degeneration.

e. The beginning of personal sins in the human race, perpetuated from generation to generation by the billions. Spiritual death was perpetuated in the human race, Rom 5:12-21. This is why the unbeliever is dichotomous (1 Cor 2:14; Jude 19) and why the believer is trichotomous (1 Thes 5:23; Job 32:8; Phil 25; 2 Cor 7:13; Heb 4:12).

f. The status of total helplessness to enter into a relationship with God on the basis of any human good, any human merit, or anything we can do, all of which is classified as dead works.

g. The incarnation and Hypostatic Union is a direct result of Adam’s original sin, whereby our Lord Jesus Christ entered the world at the First Advent to provide the solution to spiritual death through His efficacious substitutionary spiritual death, His saving work on the cross.

5. So real spiritual death is perpetuated in the human race at the point of physical birth because in every case Adam’s original sin is imputed to the genetically-formed old sin nature. 6. There are two categories of spiritual death in human history.

a. The real spiritual death of Adam and the human race, a dichotomous separation from God in time. This means total depravity, total separation from God, and total helplessness to attain a relationship with God on the basis of any human function.

b. The substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross is separation from God in a state of total perfection and impeccability. Only the perfect, impeccable humanity of Christ became our substitute when He received the imputation and judgment for all sins in the history of the human race down to the last sin of the Millennium.

7. In rightly dividing the Word of Truth, we must distinguish between the spiritual death of Adam in the garden of Eden and the spiritual death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, who is called the Last Adam.

8. Adam’s original sin brought real spiritual death to the human race. Our Lord’s sacrificial or substitutionary spiritual death on the cross brings eternal life to everyone in the human race who will believe in Him.

9. The real spiritual death of Adam made the human race dichotomous, having only body and soul. The substitutionary spiritual death of Jesus Christ on the cross makes mankind trichotomous, having body, soul, and spirit. We acquire a human spirit at the point of faith in Christ.

10. Again, there are two categories of spiritual death.

a. The real spiritual death of Adam and the human race is described in Rom 5:12-21.

b. The substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross is described in Rom 5:8.

11. The only thing Adam’s spiritual death in the garden and our Lord’s spiritual death on the cross have in common is separation from God the Father in a state of judgment.

12. Adam’s spiritual death was real and perpetuated to the entire human race through physical birth. Our Lord’s spiritual death was substitutionary and provides eternal salvation at the point of regeneration.

13. The spiritual death of our Lord Jesus Christ was unique, because all the time that He was bearing our sins, He remained perfect, impeccable, and trichotomous. While Adam went from perfection to imperfection, Jesus Christ was perfect before the cross, during the cross, and after the cross. Therefore, His was the only spiritual death in all of history in which the person remained perfect, impeccable, and trichotomous.

14. You cannot relate the real spiritual death of Adam in the garden to the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross except through cause and effect.

a. The real spiritual death of Adam in the garden resulted in the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross.

b. The substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross resulted in potential salvation for the entire human race through personal faith in Jesus Christ. B. Definition of the Substitutionary Spiritual Death of Jesus Christ (based on the preposition HUPER plus the genitive of advantage).

1. There are two categories of unique death by our Lord on the cross.

a. Our Lord’s unique spiritual death associated with our salvation.

b. Our Lord’s unique physical death associated with the finished work of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union.

2. There are three Greek prepositions that portray the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross: PERI, PROS, and HUPER. They all take the genitive of advantage to express substitution.

3. Three illustrative passages with one of these prepositions plus the genitive of advantage describe our Lord’s substitutionary spiritual death on the cross: Rom 5:8, 1 Pet 3:18, and Gal 3:13.

4. The genitive of advantage in the Greek indicates the person for whom, of whom, or on behalf of whom something is done.

a. The preposition HUPER is used with the genitive of advantage to express substitution. It can be translated in four different ways: instead of, in place of, on behalf of, or as a substitution for.

b. Some grammarians simply describe HUPER plus the genitive as used with words that denote concern or care for someone, or used after expressions having to do with sacrifice, or used after expressions of dying for someone else. Hence, the connotation is substitutionary.

c. While HUPER was very common in the Attic and Hellenistic Greek, it was rarely used in the Koine Greek.

d. The apostle Paul, in his great genius, brought this word from Athens in the fifth century B.C. and Ionia in the tenth century B.C. all the way to Rome in the first century A.D. So it was the genius of the apostle Paul under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit that brought this phrase into view so we can understand the substitutionary aspect of our Lord’s spiritual death.

e. Since the general connotation of HUPER plus the genitive is one of substitution, the genitive case is classified as a genitive of advantage.

f. PERI plus the genitive is used extensively in the Attic Greek at the beginning of a sentence, meaning “concerning” or “with reference to.”

g. PERI plus the genitive is also used in the Attic Greek after such verbs as to speak, to know, to care for someone.

h. But in the Koine, PERI plus the genitive of advantage is occasionally used interchangeably as a preposition of substitution.

i. However, our study is limited to HUPER plus the genitive of advantage. 5. Rom 5:8, “But God demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died as a substitute for [in place of, instead of, on behalf of] us.”

a. The last phrase of Rom 5:8, CHRISTOS HUPER HEMON APETHANEN, is translated “Christ died for us.”

b. The aorist active indicative of APOTHENESKO is especially used for the saving work of our Lord on the cross.

(1) The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It takes the three hours of our Lord’s substitutionary spiritual death on the cross and gathers it up into one entirety.

(2) As a culminative aorist, this contemplates our Lord’s substitutionary spiritual death on the cross in its entirety, but regards it from the viewpoint of existing results; i.e., that man is reconciled to God.

(3) As a dramatic aorist, this states our Lord’s substitutionary spiritual death on the cross as a present reality with the certainty of a past event.

(4) During the last three hours on the cross, billions and billions of sins were imputed to Christ on the cross by God the Father, and every one of those sins were judged by God the Father.

(5) The humanity of Christ in Hypostatic Union produced the action of the verb in his substitutionary spiritual death, resulting in unlimited atonement.

(6) The indicative mood is declarative for a dogmatic statement of doctrine regarding our Lord’s spiritual death on the cross.

c. HUPER plus the genitive plural of advantage from EGO can be translated “on behalf of us,” “instead of us,” “in place of us,” or “as a substitute for us.” The genitive of advantage from the first person plural personal pronoun EGO refers to the entire human race; no exceptions! Jesus Christ was your substitute on the cross, and He received the imputation and judgment of all of your sins.

d. The great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union demonstrates divine impersonal love for the entire human race as sinners. Jn 3:16, “For God loved the world so much that He gave His Son, the unique One, that whoever believes in Him shall never perish but have eternal life.”

e. One definition of experiment is that it is a demonstration of known truth put into action. Bible doctrine (as known truth) relates to the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, for it sustained our Lord while He died spiritually as our substitute.

f. The focus of the Hypostatic Union is the cross, when the omnipotence of God the Father imputed all the sins in the history of the human race to Christ on the cross. Then the justice of God the Father judged every one of them. This resulted in our so-great salvation, which is open to the entire human race, not just to the “elect."

g. The central purpose of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union is stated briefly in 1 Jn 3:5, “Indeed, He [Jesus Christ] was revealed in order that He might carry our sins.”

h. The fulfillment of that purpose is mentioned in 1 Pet 2:24, “He Himself carried our sins in His own body on the cross.”

6. 1 Pet 3:18, “Because Christ also died once for our sins, the righteous one as a substitute for the unrighteous ones, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh but made alive by means of the Spirit.”

a. The appositional nominative singular of DIKAIOS is translated “righteous." It refers to perfect righteousness, and describes our Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect “lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus Christ was perfect in His humanity because He remained inside the prototype divine dynasphere while being judged for our sins. As our substitute, Jesus Christ had to be perfect to be qualified to be judged for the sins of the world.

b. Therefore, the trichotomous, perfect humanity of Christ remained impeccable during the entire time He was being judged for our sins. As the “lamb without spot and without blemish,” our Lord’s humanity continued inside the prototype divine dynasphere, even though He was greatly tempted to sin as never before as He bore our sins.

c. There are two reasons why our Lord remained perfect as “the righteous one.”

(1) He was sustained by the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit in the prototype divine dynasphere, Heb 9:16.

(2) He utilized the problem solving device of +H, Heb 12:3. Anyone who resides in the divine dynasphere can endure anything in life.

d. The preposition HUPER plus the genitive of advantage from ADIKOS is strictly substitutionary, translated “on behalf of (as a substitute for, instead of, in place of) the unrighteous ones.

e. ADIKOS describes the human race as sinners, in terms of being unrighteous. Although we consider ourselves in terms of relative righteousness, as being better or worse than others, in reality we are completely unrighteous. Isa 64:6, “Our righteousness is as filthy rags in His sight.”

f. So the phrase is translated, “the righteous One instead of [in place of, on behalf of, as a substitute for] the unrighteous ones.” Jesus Christ as our substitute took our place.

g. All the time that Jesus Christ was being judged for our sins on the cross, He personally remained righteous or impeccable. Therefore, the righteous One, our Lord Jesus Christ, died as a substitute for us.

(1) The fact that Christ remained righteous while bearing our sins is what made the suffering so intense. He is the only person in history who remained absolutely perfect in spiritual death. Therefore His spiritual death was unique.

(2) Just as the lamb being slaughtered was without spot and without blemish, even while bleeding to death, so the humanity of Christ remained impeccable and trichotomous in His unique spiritual death.

(3) Our Lord remained impeccable in His humanity and never sinned, but He was made sin through the imputation and judgment of our sins.

h. Jesus Christ “brought us to God” through His saving work on the cross, by becoming a substitute for us, by taking our place in suffering substitutionary spiritual death.

i. Jesus Christ died physically after He died spiritually as a substitute for us. Then the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit restored our Lord’s human soul from Hades to His body in the grave, thus becoming an agent in our Lord’s resurrection, according to Rom 1:4, 8:11; 1 Pet 3:18.

j. The omnipotence of God in the resurrection of Christ is seen in 1 Cor 15:20-22, “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep [body in grave]. For since by man came death [real spiritual death from Adam], by man came also the resurrection from the dead [of Christ]; for as in Adam all die [perpetuation of real spiritual death to human race], so also in Christ shall all be made alive [resurrection of believers].”

k. The power that sustained Jesus Christ on the cross and the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is now available to each one of us as believers in the execution of the protocol plan.

l. However, our Lord did use His omnipotence to hold the universe together while He was being judged for our sins.

m. Under the doctrine of kenosis, our Lord surrendered the independent use of His divine attributes in compliance with the Father’s plan for the incarnation. Therefore, the humanity of our Lord relied upon the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit inside the prototype divine dynasphere. He also used all the problem solving devices (except for occupation with Christ).

n. This means that the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit, functioning inside the prototype divine dynasphere under the principle of the filling of the Spirit, sustained the impeccable humanity of Jesus Christ on the cross just as He had sustained Him for thirty-three years. He provided our Lord with the enabling power to endure the terrible ordeal of becoming our substitute and being judged for our sins on the cross.

o. While the omnipotence and justice of God the Father was involved in judging our sins, the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit sustained the humanity of Christ on the cross.

p. The same omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit that sustained the humanity of Christ on the cross inside the prototype divine dynasphere now sustains the Church Age believer when he is residing in his own palace, the operational-type divine dynasphere.

q. The perpetuation of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union into the Church Age, Eph 4:13, means the availability of divine omnipotence to sustain and enable the royal family of God to execute the protocol plan of God.

7. Gal 3:13, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by means of becoming a curse as a substitute for us; for it stands written, `Cursed is everyone who hangs on a cross.’”

a. We cannot keep the Law or any system of morality because we have a sin nature and are sinners. Therefore, we were under the curse of the Law, but Christ redeemed us from that curse by becoming a curse.

b. HUPER plus the genitive plural of advantage from EGO means “becoming a curse instead of (in place of, on behalf of, as a substitute for) us.”

c. The genitive of advantage refers to the entire human race, for whom salvation was provided on the cross.

(1) Salvation was provided through the substitutionary spiritual death which removed the barrier between man and God.

(2) Salvation was provided through unlimited atonement which removed the barrier of personal sin.

(3) Salvation was provided through redemption which removed the barrier of the curse of the Law.

(4) Salvation was provided through regeneration which removes the barrier of physical birth.

d. Jesus Christ was not a curse, but He became a curse. Only one person hung on a cross and provided our salvation. Therefore, all believers in the royal family have only “one Lord,” Eph 4:5.

8. As eternal God, Jesus Christ can have nothing to do with sin. He cannot sponsor sin or tempt to sin; He can have nothing to do with human good or evil except to reject and condemn it. Therefore, it was the body of the humanity of Jesus Christ that actually carried our sins on the cross.

9. God the Father, in judging our sins, abandoned or forsook the humanity of Christ on the cross. This constitutes substitutionary spiritual death and efficacious unlimited atonement. The cross is the only time in history when spiritual death occurred and perfection continued.

10. God the Father abandoned Christ on the cross because He was imputing the sins of the world to perfect, impeccable humanity (which qualified Him to be our substitute), and judging those sins as Christ received them.

11. While being judged for our sins, the humanity of Christ in substitutionary spiritual death remained perfect. His impeccability had to be perpetuated during those three hours while He was being judged for sin.

12. Adam perpetuated spiritual death to the entire human race. But our Lord does not perpetuate spiritual death to the human race; instead, He breaks the power of spiritual death to all who believe, and provides eternal life.

C. The Difference between Real and Substitutionary Spiritual Death.

1. You cannot relate the real spiritual death of Adam to the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross except through cause and effect. That’s the subject of Rom 5:12-21. Adam was the cause of spiritual death to the human race; Christ being judged for our sins was the solution to spiritual death in the human race. The Solution could not be spiritually dead the way Adam was; the Solution had to remain perfect.

2. The substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross resulted in the potential of salvation for the human race through personal faith in Christ. Faith is the only thing we have that is non-meritorious. That’s why faith in Christ is the only way to be saved.

3. In substitutionary spiritual death Christ had to be forsaken by God the Father, but He also had to remain perfect. Hence His was a substitutionary spiritual death.

a. Rom 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man [Adam] sin entered into the world [Adam’s original sin] and [real spiritual] death through that sin, so [real spiritual] death spread to all mankind, because all [mankind] sinned when Adam sinned.” Adam’s spiritual death was real and passed down genetically to every member of the human race except Jesus Christ. Our Lord’s spiritual death resulted in making eternal life available to all, and was a substitutionary atonement.

b. Rom 5:13, “For until the Law, [personal] sin was in the world, but [personal] sin was not imputed where there is no law.”

(1) In other words, our sins were not imputed to Christ on the cross until 1500 years after the Law came. Even though real spiritual death existed from Adam to Moses, and from Moses to Christ, our Lord did not come to die for the sins of the world until the Mosaic Law had been in effect for 1500 years.

(2) No one was saved by the Law; it was designed to condemn only. In fact, the Mosaic Law was one of the teachers of real spiritual death.

(3) Rom 3:20, “Because by the works of the Law no flesh shall be justified in His sight, for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”

(4) Rom 3:28, “We conclude that mankind is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.”

(5) Gal 2:16, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by faith in Jesus Christ; even we have believed in Christ that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law.”

c. Rom 5:14, “Nevertheless, [real] spiritual death ruled from Adam to Moses [when no Mosaic Law], even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam’s offense [Adam’s original sin resulting in real spiritual death] who was a type of Him [Jesus Christ] who was destined to come.” Adam was a type because he is the father of real spiritual death, whereas Christ is the author of substitutionary spiritual death.

d. Rom 5:15a, “But not as that transgression, so also is the gracious gift.” A better translation in English would be, “But the grace gift [Jesus Christ as a substitutionary atonement for sin] is not like the transgression.” In other words, Adam’s spiritual death and our Lord’s spiritual death are not the same. Rom 5:15b, “For if by the transgression of that one [Adam’s original sin resulting in real spiritual death for mankind] the many died [real spiritual death of the human race] [and they did], much more did the grace of God, and the gift with grace abounded to the many by that one, Jesus Christ.”

e. Rom 5:16, “And the gift [Jesus Christ offered as substitutionary atonement] is not like that [real spiritual death] which came through the one [Adam] who sinned [or better, “Again, the gift of grace is not like the result of one man’s sin]: for on the one hand, the judgment came from one transgression, resulting in condemnation; but on the other hand, the Gift [Jesus Christ] came from many transgressions resulting in justification.”

(1) There is a vast difference between the real spiritual death of Adam and his progeny and the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross. In both cases, spiritual death involved being forsaken by God; this is the only thing the two spiritual deaths have in common.

(2) With one sin, the entire human race is born in spiritual death. But with one substitutionary efficacious sacrifice for the many sins, the entire human race is offered the gift of salvation. The Lord received the results of Adam’s spiritual death, receiving all the sins of the world and their judgment.

(3) All the sins of the world imputed to Christ did not make Christ a sinner, only the offering for sin. Christ was not a sinner by choice, but a sin offering by the omnipotence and justice of God the Father. Justification is the result of the imputation of divine righteousness to us at salvation.

f. Rom 5:17, “For if by the transgression of that one [Adam], [real] spiritual death ruled through that one [and it did], much more those who receive the abundance of grace [portfolio of invisible assets] and the gift of righteousness [imputation of divine righteousness]; much more they will rule in life through that one, Jesus Christ.”

(1) Ours is a real spiritual death at birth because of a real imputation: Adam’s original sin is imputed to the old sin nature with which we are born. Adam’s original sin has affinity with the old sin nature, because the old sin nature originated from Adam’s original sin. From birth on, we commit personal sins because we have an old sin nature.

(2) But Our Lord did not have an old sin nature at birth; and He never sinned for thirty-three years because He remained inside the prototype divine dynasphere, sustained and supported by the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when our Lord went to the cross, He received the imputation of our sins as a perfect person; He never sinned. Therefore, since all the sins of the world imputed to Him had no affinity with anything in our Lord, His was a substitutionary spiritual death, not a real spiritual death.

(3) In our real spiritual death, we are separated from God; there is a barrier between man and God. We are also dichotomous, having only a body and soul. But in a substitutionary spiritual death, Jesus Christ is separated from God the Father as a trichotomous person, having body, soul, and human spirit.

(4) In our real spiritual death, we commit personal sins. In our Lord’s substitutionary spiritual death, no sins were ever committed.

(5) In our spiritual death, we are in total depravity. In our Lord’s substitutionary spiritual death, He was in total impeccability.

(6) The last phrase of verse 17 says that Jesus Christ makes it possible for us to rule in life and be on top of life because of His efficacious substitutionary atonement on the cross.

g. Rom 5:18, “So therefore, as through one transgression [Adam’s original sin] resulting in the condemnation of all mankind [real spiritual death], even so through one judicial sentence resulting in justification of life to all mankind.”

(1) “One judicial sentence” is the Greek DIKAIOMA which actually means a judicial sentence, especially a punishment. A judicial sentence is based upon a judicial imputation.

(2) When Jesus Christ received our sins, it was a judicial imputation, not a real imputation. There was no affinity between our sins and the impeccable humanity of Christ at all. So this phrase refers to the judicial act of the justice of God in judging the sins of the world on the cross after His omnipotence had imputed them.

(3) With the imputation of our sins to Christ, God the Father had to abandon the Son. There had to be a substitutionary spiritual death, which our Lord made clear in His rhetorical question, “My God, My God, for what reason have you abandoned Me?” The answer is because God’s justice was judging our sins in Christ as a substitutionary punishment.

h. Rom 5:19, “For as through one man’s disobedience [Adam’s original sin] the many [human race] were made sinners, so also through the obedience of that One [humanity of Jesus Christ] the many [believers] will be made righteous [imputation of divine righteousness].”

i. Rom 5:20, “Now the Law came in as a side issue, in order that the transgression of Adam might increase [multiply], but where [personal] sins increased, the grace of God increased in greater abundance.”

(1) PAREISERCHOMAI came from the drama vocabulary of fifth century B.C. Athens, and is used in only one way: for a minor actor coming on stage to play a minor role in a drama. The Law is a minor actor coming on the stage of history to play a minor role. The Law never saved anyone.

(2) “In order that transgression of Adam might increase” means that Adam’s original sin is multiplied by all the personal sins of human history.

(3) How did the “grace of God increase in greater abundance?” The grace of God was manifest by God the Father saving in one prom chip all the sins of the world, and His omnipotence imputing all those sins to Christ on the cross in three hours. The grace of God is far greater than our sins, for His omnipotence was able to impute all our sins, not to us for judgment, but to our Substitute for judgment. Plus, the justice of the Father judged each one of them in Christ. If Christ had once reacted to our sins being imputed to Him or sinned even once, He would have entered into real spiritual death and there would be no salvation.

j. Rom 5:21, “that, just as the sin nature ruled in the sphere of spiritual death [real spiritual death], so also the grace of God might rule through [imputed] righteousness because of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Eternal life is given to us when we believe in Jesus Christ because He is our substitute. He is the only way of eternal life because He is the only substitute. “Neither is there salvation in any other; there’s none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”

k. 1 Pet 3:18, “For once and for all Christ died for sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh [substitutionary spiritual death] but made alive by means of the Spirit.”

(1) He died as the righteous one; He was forsaken as the Righteous One. He was forsaken as a perfect, trichotomous man.

(2) Substitutionary atonement demands the perfection of the humanity of Christ during the time He was judged for the sins of the world on the cross.

D. The Mechanics of the Substitutionary Spiritual Death.

1. The omnipotence of God the Father judicially imputed all the sins in human history to the impeccable humanity of Christ. This was a judicial imputation, which means the sins were not antecedently His own (Christ’s).

2. The holiness of the Father, that is His justice, both judged our sins and simultaneously abandoned the humanity of Christ on the cross. Perfect, righteous God was judging perfect, righteous humanity. This was the apex of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. 3. The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit sustained the impeccable humanity of Christ through His enabling power in the prototype divine dynasphere. The enabling power of the Holy Spirit provided endurance to remain on the cross and receive the imputation of all the sins of the human race.

4. Since our Lord’s humanity remained inside the prototype divine dynasphere and endured the imputation and judgment of our sins, it follows that this was not an ordinary real spiritual death, but a substitutionary spiritual death.

5. Under the doctrine of kenosis, our Lord did not use His own divine omnipotence to benefit Himself, to sustain Himself, to provide for Himself, or to glorify Himself (functioning independently of the Father’s plan), but instead our Lord’s humanity relied upon the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit inside the prototype divine dynasphere. He voluntarily restricted the independent use of His divine attributes in compliance with the Father’s plan for the incarnation.

6. The deity of our Lord, throughout the incarnation and on the cross, used His omnipotence to hold the universe together, Col 1:17; Heb 1:3.

7. Our Lord’s humanity remained trichotomous during His substitutionary spiritual death. We know our Lord remained trichotomous, for in His unique physical death His spirit went into the presence of the Father, His soul to Hades with the Holy Spirit, and His body into the grave. 8. While God the Father used both His omnipotence to impute our sins to Christ and then His justice to judge our sins, it was the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit that sustained our Lord on the cross and provided Him the enabling power to endure His substitutionary spiritual death, those three hours of being judged for our sins, so He might remain the perfect sin offering. He had to be a “lamb, without spot and without blemish.” The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit sustaining Christ was a far greater task than is required to sustain us. The greatest work of the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit occurred at the cross.

E. The Old Testament Analogy to the Efficacious Substitutionary Spiritual Death of Christ on the Cross.

1. John the Baptist recognized both the Hypostatic Union and the incarnation of Jesus Christ. He also recognized the importance of His impeccability both before and during the cross when He said in Jn 1:29, “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John the Baptist understood the issue of the Hypostatic Union, and understood Christ would remain perfect and that His spiritual death would be substitutionary.

2. The humanity of Christ was the lamb of God taking away the sins of the world. According to Ex 12:5; Lev 9:3, 14:10, 23:12; Num 6:14, the sin offering had to be a male lamb without spot and without blemish. Ex 12:5, “Your lamb shall be a male without spot and without blemish.” The sin offering always had to be without defect, Lev 1:3, 10, 4:23, 22:19. Many passages in the Pentateuch remind us of this point, representing impeccability in the animal sacrifice.

3. Since the animal sacrifices represented Jesus Christ in impeccability on the cross, they had to be without blemish. Num 29:2, “And you shall offer a burnt offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord [propitiation]. It can be a bull, a ram, or seven male lambs one year old without blemish [defect].” This indicates that Jesus Christ had to remain absolutely perfect during His entire time on the cross. Our Lord’s spiritual death was substitutionary; He never had a spiritual death of His own. Even when He was made sin for us, He still did not sin! His was the greatest testing and suffering ever endured!

4. In 1 Cor 5:7, the analogy is completed by Paul when he said, “For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed as a substitute for us.”

5. Lev 1:3, “If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without spot and without blemish.” Lev 22:19, “For you to be accepted, it must be a male without defect from the cattle, the sheep, or the goats.”

6. Num 6:14, “And he shall present his offering to the Lord, one male lamb, a year old, without spot or blemish [defect], for a burnt offering.” In other words, the impeccability of the humanity of Christ is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

7. The Old Testament sacrifices under the ritual plan of God were designed to teach both Christology and soteriology regarding the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. The impeccability of Christ was taught by every animal sacrifice, which had to be “without spot and without blemish.” The salvation work of Christ was depicted in the offering of these animal sacrifices. The physical death of the animal represented the spiritual death of our Lord on the cross.

8. Always in the Old Testament is the phrase “without spot or blemish or defect.” If a defective or blemished animal was offered, that was blasphemy by analogy, for it did not represent the impeccability and perfection of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. For the humanity of Christ did not sin at any time during the crucifixion, just as He did not sin at any time before the crucifixion. His humanity remained in the prototype divine dynasphere in the status of impeccability.

9. Therefore, while God the Father had to forsake the humanity of Christ because His omnipotence was imputing our sins to His perfect humanity and His justice was judging those sins as they were imputed, God the Holy Spirit in His omnipotence was sustaining our Lord. The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit sustained the humanity of Christ in the greatest suffering the world has ever known.

10. It was just as important for our Lord to stay inside the prototype divine dynasphere on the cross as before the cross. He could not leave because He had to be under the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit during that entire time. Never was there a greater demonstration of the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit than during those three hours when the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit sustained our Lord in His status of impeccability.

11. If the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit inside the prototype divine dynasphere could sustain our Lord in this unique suffering, it follows, a fortiori, that the same omnipotence of the Holy Spirit inside your divine dynasphere can sustain you through any suffering in life! But don’t count on being sustained in suffering unless you are inside your very own divine dynasphere. 12. Heb 9:12-14, “And not through the blood of goats and young bulls but by means of His own blood, He entered into the Holy of Holies once and for all. For if the blood of goats and of bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who had been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh [and it did], how much more will the blood of Christ [saving work on cross], who through the eternal Spirit [omnipotence of the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere sustaining our Lord’s humanity while being judged for all our sins] offered Himself without blemish to God to cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

a. The blood of the bull was used when the high priest went into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement once a year. He sprinkled this blood over the top of the mercy seat. That blood represented his own sins, Lev 16:13.

b. Next the priest brought into the Holy of Holies the blood of a goat and sprinkled it on top of the mercy seat, which represented the sins of the people, Lev 16:15.

c. Two cherubs flank the mercy seat, representing the righteousness and justice of God. So the righteousness of God looks down and is satisfied because that blood represented the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross. So also, the justice of God looks down and is satisfied. This is the doctrine of propitiation.

d. However, animal sacrifices are not efficacious; they were merely shadows pointing to the cross, to our Lord’s salvation work.

e. The humanity of Christ was offered without blemish, and He remained perfect even when He came in contact with all our sins.

f. Dead works are anything you do for salvation, and anything you do after salvation to try to impress God.

g. Our conscience must be cleansed from dead works, for after salvation we still try to impress God somehow by our works. Yet it is still a matter of grace. Our works are dead works. The only work that is efficacious is the work of our Lord Jesus Christ being judged for our sins on the cross, suffering a substitutionary spiritual death followed by His physical death.

h. Verse 12, “He entered into the Holy of Holies once and for all” describes the strategic victory of great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. Jesus Christ entered the Holy of Holies, the third heaven, as a result of His victory in the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. His victory is His saving work on the cross. Entrance into the Holy of Holies is tantamount to His physical death, burial, resurrection, ascension, session, and the award of His third royal patent.

i. The award of our Lord’s third royal patent minus a royal family necessitated the extension of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union into the Church Age. The great power experiment of the Church Age is designed for the calling out, the election of a royal family to complement our Lord’s third royal title.

j. The Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle was a type of the third heaven where the humanity of Christ in Hypostatic Union is seated at the right hand of the Father.

k. The red heifer offering was the rebound offering. The ashes are mentioned specifically in Num 19:9.

l. There are two categories of cleansing: of sin at salvation, and of sin at the point of the use of the rebound technique. The protasis of verse 13 is a first class condition, and it depicts purification or ceremonial cleansing as practiced in the dispensation of Israel.

13. Rev 5:12, “And they [angels] sang fortissimo, `The lamb who has been sacrificed is worthy to receive power and riches [prosperity] and wisdom and might [rulership of the world] and honor and glory and blessing.’” All these belong to Christ because of what He did on the cross.

a. Wisdom belonged to the humanity of Christ which attained spiritual maturity inside the prototype divine dynasphere. He was the first to utilize the divine dynasphere to advance to spiritual maturity.

b. Might refers to Jesus Christ who will rule the world at the Second Advent.

c. Honor refers to the award of our Lord’s third royal patent after His ascension.

d. Glory refers to the fact that Jesus Christ is the ruler of all Church Age believers as the body of Christ and royal family of God.

e. Blessing refers to the election of the royal family to accompany His third royal patent.

F. The Two Judicial Imputations of the Great Power Experiment.

1. 2 Cor 5:21, “He [omnipotence of God the Father] made Him [Christ on the cross] who knew no sin, sin on behalf of us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Again, HUPER plus genitive of advantage indicates that our Lord’s spiritual death was substitutionary. Our spiritual death was genetical.

a. The first judicial imputation was that of the sins of the world being imputed to perfect, impeccable Christ on the cross.

b. The second judicial imputation is that of the perfect righteousness of God, imputed to the believer at the point of his salvation.

2. In a judicial imputation, something is imputed to someone which is not antecedently their own. The sins of the human race were not antecedently Christ’s own. The perfect righteousness of God is not antecedently our own.

G. The Function of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit during the Substitutionary Spiritual Death.

1. Our Lord’s sacrificial suffering and judgment for our sins is dramatized in a phrase which occurs in all three languages of original Scripture. The phrase originates in Psalm 22:1, where it was spoken prophetically of the efficacious sacrifice for sin. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

a. The doubling of the vocative, “My God, My God,” (ELI, ELI) is a Hebrew idiom for intensity. It expresses the highest quality under two categories: of the person being addressed, and of the attributes used by that person. Both vocatives refer only to God the Father.

b. The repetition of the vocative refers to the two attributes of the Father involved in our salvation: omnipotence, by which all our sins were imputed to Christ on the cross, and justice which judged our sins while the still perfect Christ was bearing them.

c. The interrogative Hebrew adverb LAMAH is translated “why." It literally means “for what reason.” It indicates a rhetorical question. Our Lord understood why He was being abandoned or forsaken; we did not. For that reason, He uttered this phrase on the cross to tell us what occurred.

d. The answer to the first half of our Lord’s rhetorical question, “why have You forsaken Me?” is found in Psalm 22:3. The Hebrew phrase “WA ATAH QADOSH is translated “because You are holy.”

(1) God’s holiness is made up of His perfect justice and perfect righteousness.

(2) God the Father abandoned Christ during those three hours because Jesus Christ was receiving the imputation and judgment of our sins.

(3) Because He became sin for us, and God the Father is holy, He not only forsook Christ, but He judged Christ in His justice.

(4) The righteousness of God the Father rejected the sins of the human race. The justice of God the Father judged all the personal sins of the human race as they were imputed to God the Son.

(5) The Father in His righteousness condemns all our personal sins. The Father in His justice judges our personal sins.

e. The answer to the second half of our Lord’s question, “why have You forsaken Me?” is found in one Hebrew word TOLAH in Ps 22:6.

(1) TOLAH refers to the coccus iliacus, a very unusual worm which was harvested, crushed, put into a very large vat. In this manner, its blood was used for the purpose of making a crimson dye used to color king’s robes in the ancient world.

(2) On the cross, the perfect and impeccable humanity of Christ was crushed with the judgment of our sins. Therefore, He calls Himself TOLAH, for the weight of those sins crushed Him as He was being judged for them.

(3) So the imputation and judgment of our sins in Christ on the cross by God the Father is analogous to the worm being crushed in a vat, so that its blood can be used for the manufacture of royal robes.

(4) Because our Lord was judged for our sins on the cross, we now wear the royal robes of His imputed righteousness. We were imputed with the righteousness of God the Father, and we share the righteousness of Christ through the baptism of the Spirit.

f. The qal perfect second masculine singular of the Hebrew verb AZAB means to abandon or to forsake. The subject is found in the suffix, a second masculine singular. Only one person abandoned our Lord at the cross, and that was God the Father. The reason is because the Father’s omnipotence, which had provided everything for Christ in the incarnation plan, now had to call for the printout of all the sins of the world and impute them all to Christ.

g. It is important to understand that God the Holy Spirit was not addressed in this cry on the cross. God the Holy Spirit did not abandon or forsake our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. The Aramaic and Greek translations of this phrase are found in Matthew 27:46, “And about the ninth hour [3 p.m.], Jesus shouted [screamed out] with a loud voice saying [in Aramaic], `ELI ELI LAMA SABACHTHANI?’ [that is] translated [in Greek], `THEE MOU THEE MOU HINANTI ME EGLATELIPES?’”

a. The same Semitic syntax grammatical principles for the Hebrew regarding the repetition of the vocative apply in the Greek here, referring to the high quality of the omnipotence and justice of God the Father.

(1) This dialect is not Hebrew, although it uses Hebrew letters, nor is it Phoenician which also uses Hebrew consonants. Aramaic originated in Aram or Mesopotamia, and spread to the northwest. The eastern form of this dialect is called Syriac or Syrian. This was the language spoken in part of the book of Daniel.

(2) Aramaic was mistakenly called Chaldean because it was spoken by the Chaldeans in the book of Daniel, from Dan 2:4-7:28. Because the Greeks called Aram by the name of Syria, consequently the language is called Syriac in Dan 2:4. But it should be called Aramaic.

(3) Our Lord spoke Galilean Aramaic, which is a close cognitive but not a derivative from the Hebrew.

(4) In the Old Testament, Aramaic is found in a few passages, like Ezra 4:8-6:18, 7:12-26, and Dan 2:4 - 7:28.

(5) Aramaic was both a diplomatic language as well as the official language of the Persian Empire from 550 to 450 B.C., a period of 100 years.

b. The Greek interrogative adverb HINANTI has the same idea as the Hebrew LAMAH, and is translated “why” or “for what purpose.” This introduces the rhetorical question; for our Lord understood, but we did not. He shouted this question, not because He needed an answer. It was a question to which we need the answer! A rhetorical question is not designed to provoke questions but to communicate, to answer why something is happening.

c. God the Father had to abandon the Son as He imputed to Him the sins of the world and judged every one of them. The imputation of our sins to Christ was a judicial imputation, because there was no real affinity between our sins and the impeccable humanity of Christ inside the prototype divine dynasphere. The omnipotence of God the Father imputed to the impeccable humanity of Christ what was not antecedently His own.

d. Jn 3:16, “For God [Father] so loved that world that He gave His uniquely born Son . . .” He gave His Son, knowing that in thirty-three years He would have to forsake Him completely. This is the expression of the Father’s impersonal love for the entire human race.

e. The second person singular aorist active indicative of EGKATALEIPO is the exact equivalent of the Hebrew AZAB, meaning to abandon or forsake.

(1) The aorist gathers together the entire three hours of our Lord’s spiritual death, during which time God the Father both imputed and judged all the sins of the world. The culminative aorist regards this three-hour action from the viewpoint of existing results:

(a) The provision of eternal salvation for the entire human race under substitutionary, efficacious, unlimited atonement.

(b) The guarantee of our eternal security because the power of God is greater than human power. We do not have the power to lose our salvation.

© The strategic victory of Jesus Christ in the historical extension of the angelic conflict.

(d) His resurrection, ascension, and session, at which point He received His third royal patent, though He was without a royal family.

(e) The interruption of the dispensation of Israel and the substitution of the Church Age for the calling out of the election of the royal family of God to accompany His third royal warrant.

(f) The perpetuation of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union into the dispensation of the Church, causing the Church Age to become the unique dispensation of all human history, having

g) The greatest distribution of divine power to every believer in all of human history, causing the Church Age to become the crossroads of human history as an extension of the angelic conflict.

(2) The active voice in the second person masculine singular refers to only God the Father who produced the action. Perfect God forsook perfect humanity. The deity of the Father could not forsake the deity of the Son. So it was the human body of our Lord that carried our sins.

(3) The interrogative indicative assumes there is an actual fact which can be stated in answer to the question. The question is rhetorical for our benefit. The actual facts which explain LAMAH include substitutionary spiritual death, redemption, reconciliation, propitiation, unlimited atonement, imputation, and justification - the facts of soteriology; i.e., the efficacious, substitutionary, unlimited atonement of the perfect humanity of Christ during those three hours on the cross when He was made sin for us.

f. Therefore, salvation is completely the work of God.

(1) God the Father imputed our sins and judged them.

(2) God the Son bore their judgment and became our Savior.

(3) God the Holy Spirit reveals this Gospel message. He also sustained the humanity of Christ on the cross.

g. The accusative singular object EGO, “Me,” refers to one person, our Lord Jesus Christ. “Neither is there salvation in any other; there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”

3. In His unique spiritual death, Jesus Christ received in three hours the judgment for billions and billions of sins. This was why He screamed the question in the Aramaic. Throughout all the beatings and excruciating pain, “as a lamb before His shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.” But in bearing sin as the only impeccable human being, He screamed.

4. The three hours of darkness that covered Golgotha were the most intensive moments in all of history. For every sin in the history of the human race were all imputed to Christ, down to the last sin of the Millennium. The perfect humanity of Christ received the imputation and judgment for every one of these sins.

5. Jesus Christ, as an efficacious sin offering, had to be perfect and remain perfect during the entire time He was bearing our sins. This was the time, above all, when He could not afford to sin. His humanity could not leave the prototype divine dynasphere at any point during the bearing of our sins. Yet, if ever there was a challenge to bitterness, implacability, hatred, self-pity, etc., it was during that time when He was being judged for our sins. But He didn’t get out of the prototype divine dynasphere; He didn’t sin; He didn’t react. Not only did He remain impeccable, but He endured the suffering.

6. The scream of our Lord on the cross, “My God, My God, for what reason have You abandoned Me?” was addressed to God the Father only.

7. The repetition of the vocative, in all three languages, come from a Semitic syntax indicating the highest quality. In the Greek, this Hebraism indicates perfection of the Judge in the use of His omnipotence and His justice in judging our sins.

8. The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit sustained Jesus Christ for every moment when He was on the cross. That same power that sustained our Lord both before, during, and after the cross in the prototype divine dynasphere, the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, is now available to every Church Age believer in the operational-type divine dynasphere to sustain us during our earthly walk as members of the royal family of God.

H. A Fortiori and Omnipotence.

1. A fortiori is a Latin prepositional phrase meaning “with stronger reason.” It has become a system of logic related to comparison, then inference. A fortiori says that by comparison comes inference. A fortiori compares a first conclusion with a second conclusion, inferring that the first conclusion is more difficult and that the second conclusion is easier, therefore inescapable and even more certain. An a fortiori in Scripture can generally be recognized by the phrase “much more then” or “much more therefore”.

2. In the a fortiori of omnipotence, the premise and conclusion are as follows: if the omnipotence of God the Father has accomplished the most difficult thing in imputing our sins to the humanity of Christ and judging them, it follows, a fortiori, that the omnipotence of God can accomplish the least difficult, which is what the omnipotence of God the Father and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit are doing for you.

3. For example, if the omnipotence and justice of God the Father did the most difficult thing in all of history in imputing our sins to Christ and judging them on the cross, it follows, a fortiori, that He can do the least difficult thing, which is to deliver the believer from the Last Judgment. This is taught in Rom 5:8-9.

a. Rom 5:8-9, “But God demonstrates His love to us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died on behalf of us. Much more therefore, having been justified by His blood [efficacious sacrifice on the cross], we shall be delivered from the wrath of God through Him.”

(1) Once you believe in Christ, there’s no way you can be involved in the Last Judgment, the judgment which condemns unbelievers to the Lake of Fire.

(2) The a fortiori here says that it is easier for the omnipotence of God the Father to deliver the believer from the Last Judgment than for the omnipotence of God the Father to impute our sins to Christ on the cross and judge them. The most difficult thing the Father ever did was to use His power, His divine omnipotence, and His justice to impute and to judge our sins in Christ.

4. If the omnipotence of the Father did the most difficult thing at the cross in judging our sins, it is concluded, a fortiori, that the omnipotence of the Father can do the least difficult thing in the Church Age: deliver the believer from the Last Judgment, and provide eternal security and your very own portfolio of invisible assets, the easiest thing for Him. This emphasizes the reality of your very own portfolio.

5. If the omnipotence of the Father accomplished the most difficult thing at the cross, it follows, a fortiori, that the omnipotence of God the Father can accomplish the least difficult thing for every Church Age believer. This is stated in Rom 5:10, “For if, while we were His enemies [in real spiritual death] we were reconciled to God by the [substitutionary spiritual] death of His son [most difficult], much more, having been reconciled [most difficult], we shall be delivered by His life [least difficult].”

a. The least difficult thing for the omnipotence of God is to provide the divine power for the execution of the protocol plan of God.

b. It is easier for the omnipotence of God the Father to deliver the believer from the Last Judgment than for the omnipotence of God the Father to reconcile the world to Himself.

c. The most difficult thing was for the omnipotence of God the Father to reconcile the world to Himself. The barrier between man and God was the sins of the world. Since the work of Christ on the cross, the barrier has been removed. Man is reconciled to God because every sin of the world was judged. It was the omnipotence of God the Father which reconciled us by judging our sins on the cross. Christ reconciled us by receiving our sins on the cross. The Holy Spirit was involved in reconciliation because He empowered Christ to endure and to receive the judgment of every sin.

d. Church Age believers are delivered by His life in two ways:

(1) The omnipotence of God the Father in providing us our portfolio of invisible assets.

(2) The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit in providing the divine power for the execution of the protocol plan of God inside the divine dynasphere only.

e. In other words, we are delivered by His life through the perpetuation of the great power experiment into the Church Age.

6. A Fortiori Conclusion.

a. If the omnipotence of God can accomplish the most difficult thing, it follows, a fortiori, that the omnipotence of God can accomplish the least difficult thing.

b. It was much more difficult for the omnipotence of God the Father to impute and judge our sins in the perfect humanity of Christ on the cross than for that same omnipotence of God the Father to provide for every Church Age believer His very own portfolio of invisible assets. Your portfolio was easy to provide, and it is as certain as the fact that Jesus Christ died for your sins.

c. It was much more difficult for the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit to sustain and empower the humanity of Christ inside the prototype divine dynasphere (so that He endured on the cross) than it is for the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit to sustain and empower the Church Age believer inside the operational-type divine dynasphere. The most difficult ministry of the Holy Spirit occurred during the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union in the prototype divine dynasphere.

d. Hence, the inescapable conclusion of a fortiori: If the most difficult function of the omnipotence of God occurred during the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, it follows, a fortiori, that the least difficult function of the omnipotence of God occurs during the great power experiment of the Church Age.

e. This inescapable conclusion explains why God does more for every individual believer in the Church Age than He ever did for the greatest believers in the Old Testament! So wake up! The Church Age is the greatest opportunity for believers in history!

f. It’s called an “experiment” because we don’t know how many believers will actually use the divine power available to them.

g. The same omnipotence that sustained Christ during the First Advent now sustains every believer during this Church Age.

h. It was much easier for the omnipotence of God the Father to provide for every Church Age believer a portfolio of invisible assets than for Him to impute our sins to the perfect humanity of Christ on the cross and judge them.

i. It is much easier for the Holy Spirit to empower and sustain the Church Age believer inside the divine dynasphere than it was to empower and sustain the humanity of Christ inside His divine dynasphere.

7. Therefore, the a fortiori doctrine of Rom 8:32, “The God [Father], who did not even spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him graciously give to us the all things?”

a. If the omnipotence of God can accomplish the most difficult, it follows, a fortiori, that the omnipotence of God can accomplish the least difficult.

b. “With Him” means with the substitutionary, efficacious atoning work of Christ on the cross.

c. “The all things” includes the omnipotence of God the Father doing the easy thing of providing for every Church Age believer with his very own portfolio of invisible assets. “All things” includes the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit providing the easy thing: the divine power for the execution and fulfillment of the protocol plan of God for the Church Age inside your very own operational-type divine dynasphere.

I. Conclusion.

1. At the point of the original sin in the garden, Adam had a real spiritual death. This included separation from God, total depravity, personal sins in his life, and the perpetuation of that real spiritual death to his progeny thereafter.

2. Real spiritual death is perpetuated at the point of physical birth, when Adam’s original sin is imputed to the genetically formed old sin nature.

3. Our Lord’s spiritual death on the cross was unique and quite different from that of Adam and the human race.

4. Our Lord’s spiritual death on the cross was efficacious, unlimited atonement; therefore, substitutionary spiritual death instead of Adam’s real spiritual death.

5. When Adam sinned in the garden, he became a sinner. But when Christ received the imputation of our sins, He remained perfect. In one case, separation from God meant sin and total depravity. In the other, separation from God meant perfection because of substitution.

6. During the entire time of our Lord’s humanity being judged for our sins, He remained perfect and in status quo impeccability.

7. When the omnipotence of God the Father imputed the sins of the world to the humanity of Christ, He remained inside the prototype divine dynasphere as the lamb of God without spot and without blemish. The fact that the omnipotence of God the Father “made Him sin who knew no sin” is very important. Christ was a substitute; He was not a sinner. Even when He was made sin and judged, He had to remain perfect the whole time. If He had committed one sin during His judgment, there would be no salvation for the human race.

J. Spiritual death means separation from God.

1. Both Adam and Christ were separated from God, but under entirely different circumstances, as noted in Rom 5:12-21.

2. Therefore, we must learn to distinguish between the real spiritual death of Adam and the substitutionary spiritual death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

3. Adam’s real spiritual death was separation from God in total depravity. Our Lord’s substitutionary spiritual death was separation from God in total perfection.

4. Adam was the instigator of spiritual death while Jesus Christ was the substitute for spiritual death through His efficacious, unlimited atoning work on the cross.

5. Therefore, there are two categories of spiritual death in human history.

a. The real spiritual death of the human race; separation from God in a state of total depravity.

b. Substitutionary spiritual death which is separation from God in a state of total perfection, unique to Jesus Christ.

6. The first category belongs to Adam and the entire human race.

7. The second category belongs to the perfect humanity of Christ, receiving the imputation of sins and their judgment.

8. In real spiritual death, mankind becomes dichotomous, body and soul.

9. In substitutionary spiritual death, our Lord’s humanity remained trichotomous, as noted in His unique physical death.

K. Application.

1. Rom 8:31-32, “Therefore, with reference to these things [that relate to the death of Jesus Christ], to what conclusion are we forced? The God, who did not even spare His own Son but delivered Him over to judgment in place of [instead of, on behalf of] all of us, how shall He not also with Him freely [graciously] give us all things?”

a. This is the great a fortiori of grace.

b. God the Father did not even spare His own Son but actually judged our sins as they were imputed to Christ.

c. Again here is the substitutionary prepositional phrase: HUPER plus genitive of advantage of PAS and EGO means “in place of [instead of] all of us.”

d. God has provided more for us in this dispensation than has ever existed for believers before.

e. Therefore, if the greatest benefit was given to us when Jesus Christ was judged for our sins on the cross, then, a fortiori, God can surely provide anything else.

2. Heb 12:1-3, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us [Old Testament believers of Heb 11], let us lay aside every encumbrance [human power] and the sin that so easily wraps itself around us [by rebound]. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Be concentrating on Jesus, the author [pioneer] and perfecter of our doctrine, who because of exhibited happiness [+H], He endured the cross, having disregarded the shame, and He sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you do not become fatigued and faint in your souls.”

a. More than in any other dispensation, we in the Church Age are required to have endurance. Why? Because when the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union reached its peak at the cross, our Lord had endurance. The basis of His endurance was the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit; the same omnipotence of the Holy Spirit we have right now! Endurance comes from the enabling power of the Holy Spirit inside both the prototype divine dynasphere for our Lord and the operational-type divine dynasphere for us.

b. Running with endurance includes the utilization of both categories of divine power: the omnipotence of God the Father related to our portfolio of invisible assets, and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit related to our function inside the divine dynasphere.

c. Verse 2 teaches that our only illustration for this endurance is the humanity of Christ inside the prototype divine dynasphere during the Incarnation. As He was able to endure the judgment of our sins through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, so we have the same power to endure in our advance to maturity.

d. Christ was able to endure the judgment of our sins on the cross through the available omnipotence of the Holy Spirit inside the prototype divine dynasphere and by using the ultimate problem solving device: +H.

e. All precedence for the protocol plan of God in the great power experiment of the Church Age is derived from Jesus Christ in the previous dispensation. Jesus Christ is the “author of our doctrine.” The doctrine of the Church Age is mystery doctrine, totally unknown to Old Testament believers, and not revealed until our Lord came in the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union.

f. +H is the ultimate problem solving device; it turns the world upside down. +H fulfills the mandate to “be content with such things as you have, for He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

g. “Exhibited happiness” means exposed to public view. The entire world could see that Jesus Christ, in His humanity, had the ultimate problem solving device. For no one has ever endured more pain, been more unjustly treated, had so much abuse, and then received the judgment of the sins of the world!

h. The humanity of Christ had advanced in the prototype divine dynasphere to spiritual maturity and had passed evidence testing. Therefore, He had maximum use of this fantastic problem solving device of +H.

i. “Having disregarded the shame” means our Lord did not allow contact with our sins to produce sin in Him. Even while being judged for our sins, our Lord did not have any self-pity, bitterness, vindictiveness, etc. Instead, He was able to remain on the cross and receive the judgment for all sins by the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit and the function of +H.

j. You become fatigued by using human power instead of the indefatigable power of God. Human power is no substitute for divine power in the execution of the protocol plan of God for your life.

3. So our heritage from Jesus Christ on the cross is the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit and the use of the greatest problem solving device, +H. The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit is available to us inside the divine dynasphere, in the fulfillment of the two commands: “Be filled with the Spirit,” Eph 5:18; and “Keep walking by means of the Spirit,” Gal 5:16. Both these are mandates to reside inside the divine dynasphere, under the enabling power of the Spirit and momentum from metabolized doctrine

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