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The first of these three passages is based upon the fact which is revealed throughout the Old Testament
Scriptures, namely, that the Redeemer must be Next of Kin. And just as the next of kin combined in himself the
twofold office of redeemer and avenger of blood, so Christ, in Hebrews 2:14,15, has a twofold office: "to destroy"
and "to deliver", by reason of His death.
The second passage reveals the utter inability of any man to keep the law of God, and thereby provide for
himself a righteousness, and shows that Christ came as man simply because neither the law nor its sacrifices were of
any avail for the putting away of sin. In this passage there is an important statement. Christ came "in the likeness of
sinful flesh", for He knew no sin and did no sin: otherwise He would have needed a Saviour Himself.
The third passage, if studied in its context, reveals Christ as the "last Adam" and the "second man". And here
we must add one further statement of the Scriptures, lest any should think that the Son of God, because He partook
of flesh and blood, was a mere man. He is contrasted with Adam in 1 Corinthians 15:47 thus:
"The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven".
John, in the opening chapter of his Gospel, tells us that He Who was God, Who made all things, Whose name is
the Word, "was made flesh" that He might become the "Lamb of God" to bear away the sin of the world.
While this first aspect of the work of Christ is so important, there is another, without which all is in vain:
"If Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain; ye are yet in your sins" (1 Cor. 15:17).
We return therefore to Romans 1:3,4 to note that in the gospel of God, Christ, as the Son of God, is set forth (1)
according to the flesh, and (2) according to the Spirit. It is in the second aspect that He is "declared the Son of God
with power", and associated with "the resurrection of the dead".
Seeing that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was raised again the third day according to
the Scriptures, His death on the cross, which had every appearance of weakness and defeat, becomes the "power of
God":
"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of
God" (1 Cor. 1:18).
The same mighty power that saves from sin, keeps every believer afterwards:
"Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation" (1 Pet. 1:5).
It is in virtue of His risen power that:
"He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him" (Heb. 7:25).
And not only so, but after they are saved:
"He is able to succour (or help) them that are tempted" (Heb. 2:18).
and moreover is:
"Able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy"
(Jude 24).
No wonder the apostle Paul exclaimed:
"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth"
(Rom. 1:16).
We have already seen the association of the Scriptures with the gospel of God; we now see the finished work of
Christ and the gospel of God, and so can bring together two passages that will reveal how fully the Lord has
provided for poor sinful men:
HIS WORD.õ"From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are
to make thee wise
ABLE
UNTO
SALVATION through faith which (that) is in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 3:15).