How Far the Fall?

I was listening to a radio broadcast on the way home today. It was narrated by a Dr. R.C. Sproles. It had to do with the scene in the manger, and the image of Christ Jesus as a newborn babe. He went on to describe, in detail, the meaning of "Fully God, and fully man."

In summation Jesus' perfect human nature was perfectly connected with His perfect Diety nature. Furthermore, Jesus was not 100% Man, nor 100% God. The manifest of His human nature, supports this (i.e. hunger, weeping). Respectively, the manifest of his Godly nature, supports this (i.e. walking on water, reading peoples minds, predicting the future).

Make no mistake, Dr. Sproles supports the Trinity, and completely believes that Jesus was God in the flesh. What he is saying, however, is that there is a distinction between God and man, in Christ Jesus. They are not seperate-but unified, perfectly.

If I were to look at you and say, "You have a body and a soul." I am making a distinction, and an obvious one. But if I were to then seperate your body and your soul, I would've killed you. So it is with the mystery of the Son of God. Where the Trinity is One Essence, with three persons; Christ is One person with two essences, or characters.

But in now God the Father, gives us His Son, Jesus, the very manifestion of God Himself; in the form of a man. So that in that form, he has both a physical body, and the very Essence of God.

So I say, who can fathom this?

There is one thing, though. That makes Jesus' human nature different from all our human nature. It was not His bones or His heart. It was not His brain nor His lungs. It was His complete lack of sin. He was sinless.

We so often forget just how detrimental sin is to our lives. Yes it is the cause of death, but it is also the cause of regression and failure. It is struggle and toil, it is pain, confusion, and imperfection. Jesus' had no sin. His mind, unlike ours, was not darkened from sin. Likewise, His body was not affected by the weakness that sin brings about.

Let's look at the mind of Albert Einstein. Surely, we all say, "wow what brilliance!" Now imagine what he would've been like had his mind never been darkened with sin. What kind of clearity of thought and discernment might he have had?

How far have we truly fallen!? What has sin really done to us!? How ruined are we by sin!? If sin seperates us from God infinitly so, then how amazing is the grace of God and the glory of His name that His Son Jesus has reconciled us with Himself!? Praise God through Jesus Christ our Lord, to Him be the Glory and Power for ever, and ever.