DOCTRINE OF KENOSIS PART 3
TITLE: The Celebrityship of the Lord Jesus Christ and
The Doctrine of Kenosis; Part 3.
There is one fact that characterizes the believer who has the capacity to appreciate the Celebrityship of Christ is that is:
To Him, the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is more important than anything else in the world.
We have been noting how our Lord did not think that His deity was a treasure or a prize to be retained.
The treasure is Christ's deity which reveals His equality with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
There is nothing greater or more valuable than the essence of deity.
Yet He did not consider His deity more important than our souls.
The very nature of deity precluded the fact that any Member of the Trinity could ever be judged for sin.
Why?
Because God is eternal life
Eternal life can neither be born nor die
Therefore, God could not die for your sins.
And Jesus Christ is God, so He had to take on another nature, which He did.
God is also Holy.
Holiness cannot have anything to do with sin.
God is also Omnipresent
Omni means all or everywhere.
Present refers to His existence as God.
This is how our Lord could say what He did beginning in MAT 28:16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated.
MAT 28:17 And when they saw Him, they worshiped {Him}; but some were doubtful.
MAT 28:18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
MAT 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
MAT 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
How could He be with them always?
Because He is omnipresent.
Omnipresence cannot be reduced to one point - the Cross.
Therefore, our Lord could not die on the cross as God, He had to become a man.
God is also immutable.
Immutability cannot change.
He is God yesterday, today and forever, so He cannot change.
Therefore, to die in place of us, He had to become like us, so He chose to become a human being.
God is omniscient.
Omni = all
Science = knowledge or knowing.
The Bible says that we must have faith and without faith we cannot please God.
So, being omniscient:
Omniscience cannot live by faith -- God cannot live by faith since He knows all things.
God is also veracity which means truth.
Veracity cannot associate with lies.
Therefore,
Since nothing can be subtracted from deity, something must be added, not to deity but, to the person of Christ which is to become 100 % true humanity.
To be able to go to the Cross and pay the penalty for sin, deity must also become true humanity.
Jesus Christ was so occupied with us in eternity past that He did not consider His equality with the other Members of the Trinity a treasure to be retained.
And so there never was a time when our Lord was not occupied with you.
You and I were "the joy," (HEB 12:2), that occasioned His Incarnation and His substitutionary death on the Cross with all its shame and pain.
You and I were in His thoughts when all the grace blessings were provided in eternity past.
It is important for you to realize that you now have the privilege of occupation with Him, Col 3:10-11.
When you reach this stage, the Celebrityship of Jesus Christ will be a reality in your life.
And…..
Although you will have tremendous capacity to enjoy all the blessings that God will pour into your "cup," they will seem insignificant compared to the One who gave them.
So, let's get some principles down that my daughter gave you concerning this verse which I have added some more information.
1. Being God and living in Heaven, Christ did not have the arrogant attitude of Satan.
Our Lord was willing to move out of heaven and become true humanity.
2CO 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
This all began at His birth when He came into the world as a child and He had nowhere to stay; LUK 2:7.
LUK 2:7 And she gave birth to her first born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
We are also told what He appeared like in ISA 53:2.
ISA 53:2 He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
Matthew tells us where our Lord lived.
MAT 8:20 Jesus said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."
So again:
1. Being God and living in Heaven, Christ did not have the arrogant attitude of Satan.
He was willing to move out of heaven and became true humanity.
This means that:
2. His deity was not a gain to be seized and held in such a way as to hinder the plan of God the Father.
There is no plan of grace without the incarnation.
There is no salvation without the incarnation.
There is no eternal life for us, no hope, without the incarnation.
And….
The plan of God for the incarnation was that Jesus Christ did not think that He had to hang on to His deity and ever say “no” to the plan of God the Father back in eternity past.
He said “yes” to becoming true humanity in eternity past even before the creation of the angels.
For in JOB 38:4 notice what our Lord said to Job, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding,
JOB 38:5 Who set its measurements, since you know? Or who stretched the line on it?
JOB 38:6 "On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone,
Then notice who was there then and what they saw
JOB 38:7 When the morning stars [another reference to angels] sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
This is why Jesus Christ is called the lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world, REV 13:8.
REV 13:8 And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.
In fact, it was God who planned for our Lord to suffer on the cross.
How do we know that?
ACT 2:22 "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know
ACT 2:23 this {Man}, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put {Him} to death.
Go forward to ACT 4.
ACT 4:27 "For truly in this city there were gathered together against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
ACT 4:28 to do whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to occur.
All these passages illustrate why our Lord did not use His deity as a gain to be seized and held in such a way as to hinder the plan of God the Father.
Therefore, the third principle:
3. Our Lord chose to become true humanity when the Word became flesh.
JOH 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
JOH 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
4. Our Lord Jesus Christ was positive toward the plan of God the Father even though it involved the humiliation of being made lower than angels.
For deity to become an angel is a step down from the reality of who our Lord is.
HEB 2:7 "Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels; Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, And hast appointed him over the works of Thy hands;
5. Even though it involved the humiliation of death on the cross, the mental attitude of Christ in submission to the Father's plan must become the mental attitude of the mature believer.
Let this mind me in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
For in……1CO 2:16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
This is the importance of what the believer does in his mind or mental attitude.
For in MAT 16:23, Satan is rebuked because he does not set his mind on God's interests, but man's."
In MAT 22:37, the mind is the place where we love our Lord.
In LUK 24:45, the mind is the first place the believer hears the word of God.
In ROM 1:28, the mind is the first place where depravity enters into.
Look at ROM 8:5 which is a great passage on the importance of the mind,
ROM 8:5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
ROM 8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
ROM 8:7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able {to do so};
ROM 8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
The mind is the first place where you are transformed; ROM 12:2.
ROM 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
The mind is the place where the believer gets hardened; 2CO 3:14.
2CO 3:14 But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.
The mind is the place of unbelief; 2CO 4:3-4.
2CO 4:3-4 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving,
It is also the place where Satan deceives the believer and the unbeliever.
The mind is the place where vanity of life begins; EPH 4:17.
EPH 4:17 This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility [vainity] of their mind,
The mind is the first place where vanity develops.
The mind is the first place where the believer is also renewed; EPH 4:23.
EPH 4:23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
The mind is the place of unity; PHI 2:2.
PHI 2:2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind,
Ultimately:
COL 3:2 is a command when it says:
COL 3:2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
The reason why it says to set your “mind” on things above and not your heart is that God cannot violate our free will and commands us to believe what is being said.
All of this is to reveal our fifth point:
5. Even though it involved the humiliation of death on the cross, the mental attitude of Christ must become the mental attitude of the mature believer.
6. The mature believer must not regard rest and relaxation as a gain to be seized and held on to, but he must be willing to go back to the fight he has been called to.
Then we will be able to say with the apostle Paul:
2TI 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;
Again, you have heard this principle over and over again throughout our studies.
Jesus Christ was so occupied with us in eternity past that He did not consider His equality with the other members of the Trinity a treasure to be retained.
Your soul was so valuable that He did not consider His deity a treasure to be retained.
And…..
He can't change His deity, so something had to be added to it which was humiliation known to our Lord as becoming true humanity.
Jesus Christ was so occupied with you that He didn't think His equality with the Father and the Spirit more important than your soul.
And If you are going to have the same mental attitude that Christ had you must come to a point where you're occupied with Him.
Billions of years ago He was occupied with you.
Now it's your turn to be occupied with Him.
Over and over again, throughout our study on the Celebrityship of our Lord Jesus Christ we need to note the fact that:
He refused to function in His deity and chose to rely on His true humanity so He could die as a substitute in place of us.
1PE 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, {the} just for {the} unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
All of these principles now will lead us back to our study on the Doctrine of Kenosis.
And the main reason why I decided to go back to PHI 2:3-11, was simply to increase out love for our Lord Jesus Christ.
This should make our study on the Doctrine of Kenosis a lot more meaningful.
So, back to our doctrine and I have switched some things around for those of you who may notice.
Turn to 1JO 3.
The Doctrine of Kenosis.
Point 1. The introduction
The introduction of the Doctrine is derived from the Greek word kenoo which means to deprive oneself of a proper function, Phi 2:7a.
PHI 2:7a "but He deprived Himself of the proper function of deity
Point 2. Definition = Kenosis is based on the fact that the union of the deity of Christ to unglorified humanity is a necessary factor in His humiliation.
This is why He taught us that in:
JOH 15:20 "A slave is not greater than his master."
Or in…..
JOH 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends."
He says this should be the attitude we all should have as the apostle John says in 1JO 3:11-20.
1JO 3:11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;
1JO 3:12 not as Cain, {who} was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous.
1JO 3:13 Do not marvel, brethren, if the world hates you.
1JO 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.
1JO 3:15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
1JO 3:16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1JO 3:17 But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
1JO 3:18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
1JO 3:19 We shall know by this that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before Him,
1JO 3:20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
1JO 3:21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
1JO 3:22 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
1JO 3:23 And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.
Under Point 2, our definition:
The plan for the incarnation not only called for the judgment of our sins, but simultaneously it also called for the strategic victory of the angelic conflict.
The Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily took on Himself true humanity in order to redeem mankind from sin, in order to propitiate God, the Father and to reconcile mankind to God.
Propitiate means to satisfy, and our Lord satisfied the demands of God the Father for the judgment of the sins of the whole world.
Therefore, during the incarnation, Jesus Christ did not even once exercise the independent use of His own divine attributes to provide for Himself or to glorify Himself.
Point 3. The True Humiliation of the Incarnation.
This is one of the most powerful points in the doctrine.
During the dispensation of the hypostatic union:
Our Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily restricted the independent use of His divine attributes in compliance with the Father's plan for the incarnation, the birth of Christ.
This means that:
Jesus Christ did not use the attributes of His divine nature to glorify Himself or to act independently of the plan of God for the entire human race.
All have been selected but not all have been elected.
One compromise of the human nature of Jesus Christ to the spiritual life and there would not be any spiritual life in the Church-age.
The objectives of the dispensation of the hypostatic union were related to the human nature of Jesus Christ.
To resist this temptation, the human nature of Jesus Christ must not call on the divine nature for help.
He had to use the three spiritual skills and the four mechanics of the spiritual life to maintain His human perfection and to be qualified to go to the Cross and be judged for the sins of the world.
The three spiritual skills are:
1. The filling of the Holy Spirit and the use of divine power.
2. The understanding of Bible doctrine and the use of divine power.
3. The execution of the PPOG and therefore, the use of divine power.
Our Lord used these three spiritual skills during the dispensation of the hypostatic union,
Our Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily restricted the independent use of His divine attributes and chose rather to live among men with their limitations.
By so doing, He established in His humanity a spiritual life which is precedent for the Church-age.
Christ voluntarily restricted the independent use of His divine attributes, but certain functions of deity continued to function, such as holding the universe together.
Jesus Christ gave up the independent exercise of His divine attributes only during the dispensation of the hypostatic union.
He did not give up His divine attributes--that is a heresy.
During the dispensation of the hypostatic union:
Our Lord veiled the preincarnate glory of His deity by giving up the outward appearance of God and voluntarily taking on Himself the form of man.
This means that the glory of Christ was veiled, but never surrendered.
In fact:
This glory was temporarily revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration, and at Gethsemane there was just a flash of that glory.
MAT 17:1 And six days later Jesus *took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and *brought them up to a high mountain by themselves.
MAT 17:2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.
MAT 17:3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.
MAT 17:4 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
MAT 17:5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him!"
Even though the humanity of Christ in the hypostatic union was perfect and impeccable, nevertheless, the deity of Christ was united with unglorified humanity.
Our Lord Jesus Christ chose not to surrender any of His attributes of His deity - called The doctrine of the Humility of Christ.
The union of Christ to unglorified humanity is a necessary factor of humiliation.
While the deity of Christ was united to a perfect true humanity, He was still subject to temptation, distress, weakness, pain, sorrow, limitation, and to more temptations than we will ever face, Heb 4:15.
HEB 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as {we are, yet} without sin.
And therein lies the truth of the humiliation of the First Advent.
He solved these problems from the spiritual life of His humanity by the use of the problem-solving devices.
The glorification of the humanity of Christ was not completed until He was resurrected, ascended, and was seated at the right hand of the Father.
In the hypostatic union, the divine and human natures are united without transfer of attributes.
No divine attributes were transferred to His humanity and no attributes of humanity were transferred to His deity.
The attributes of deity cannot bleed over into humanity and the attributes of humanity cannot bleed over into deity.
To rob God of a single attribute of His deity would pervert His divine nature.
Moses perverted the divine nature when he struck the rock twice when God just said to speak it once; NUM 20:11-13.
NUM 20:11 Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.
NUM 20:12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them."
NUM 20:13 Those were the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel contended with the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them.
Moses was usurping God's place.
He said to the people, "Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?"
Why was God so upset with Moses for striking the rock?
What happened when Moses smote the rock twice?
At once, water gushed from the rock, and the people and their livestock had water to drink.
Moses lifted up his hand, and smote the rock with his rod twice: and water came forth abundantly and provided the congregation and their cattle all the water they needed.
Why did God gush out the water for the people when Moses disobeyed Him and struck the rock twice?
I personally believe that He did that openly so that the people would recognize that:
Moses was their leader so God honored His Word in front of the people, but He will deal with him privately, behind closed doors, as it were, because it is a family affair.
And if you are involved in legalism, you may not like this but learn the lesson now which is:
Do not touch God’s anointed.
As David said in 1SA 26:9 "Do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be without guilt?"
What does the Bible say about Touch Not my anointed
ones?
PSA 105:15 "Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm."
The point is:
To rob the humanity of Christ of a single attribute of humanity would destroy His humanity in the hypostatic union.
Point 4. The Manifestation of Kenosis in our Lord's Evidence Testing.
The true doctrine of Kenosis is illustrated by the humanity of Christ in facing evidence testing, MAT 4:1-11.
Let’s begin with the passage.
MAT 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
MAT 4:2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.
MAT 4:3 And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."
MAT 4:4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'"
MAT 4:5 Then the devil *took Him into the holy city; and he had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,
MAT 4:6 and *said to Him, "If You are the Son of God throw Yourself down; for it is written, #'He will give His angels charge concerning You'; and ' On {their} hands they will bear You up, Lest You strike Your foot against a stone.'"
MAT 4:7 Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
MAT 4:8 Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain, and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory;
MAT 4:9 and he said to Him, "All these things will I give You, if You fall down and worship me."
MAT 4:10 Then Jesus *said to him, "Begone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.'"
MAT 4:11 Then the devil *left Him; and behold, angels came and {began} to minister to Him.
In all three tests, He utilized the power of the Word provided by the omnipotence of the Father and the power of the Spirit provided in the PPOG for His life.
The first test illustrates the principle.
In the first test, MAT 4:3-4, Jesus had gone forty days without food and was extremely hungry.
MAT 4:3 And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."
MAT 4:4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'"
The humanity of Christ was tempted in relationship to the delegated power of omnipotence of the Holy Spirit.
Our Lord used doctrine learned in the PPOG to solve the problems that He had.
He did not use His omnipotence to turn the stones into bread.
In His state of extreme hunger, Satan said to Him, MAT 4:3 "If you are the Son of God [and you are], command these stones to be turned into bread."
Jesus Christ as God is infinite, eternal, immutable omnipotence and the Creator of the universe, which Satan recognized.
And when Satan said “Since you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread,” Satan should be more careful because our Lord had the power to turn the entire universe into bread.
In fact, our Lord could turn Satan into a “Pillsbury doughboy.”
Or into a “devil dog.”
ButUnder the doctrine of kenosis, He did not use His omnipotence independently of the Father’s will.
He refused to function independently of the Father's plan.
He refused to rely upon His own omnipotence at any time during the incarnation.
The false doctrine says He surrendered His omnipotence; not at all.
He had it all the time; He simply did not use it.
He used only the omnipotence of the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Our Lord continued to be hungry, and met Satan's temptation with the quotation from DEU 8:3 "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."
By this, our Lord established the fact that Bible doctrine had #1 priority in His life, and He used the power of Bible doctrine.
The temptation of Satan was designed to lure the humanity of Christ away from reliance upon the OP of the Father for His logistical grace, and upon the OP of the Holy Spirit inside the PPOG.
Under the doctrine of Kenosis:
Had our Lord used His own omnipotence to turn the stones into food, He would have operated independently of the Father's plan.
His humanity would have received food, but He would never go to the cross.
Our Lord used Bible doctrine to meet the test, the doctrine He had learned inside the PPOG.
For according to LUK 2:40 And the Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.
LUK 2:52, our Lord "grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man."
That is a reference to His humanity inside the PPOG for His life.
Notice:
He had to grow in wisdom even though He has omniscience and all-knowledge.
Why?
Because our Lord's humanity depended upon two categories of divine omnipotence, which had never before been available on such a grand scale:
The omnipotence of the Father in logistical grace support, and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit only inside the PPOG.
This is why our Lord did not use His own omnipotence to turn stones into bread, but instead used Bible doctrine metabolized under the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Point 5. The False Doctrine of Kenosis.
The traditional view says that the relative divine attributes of Christ were surrendered during the First Advent.
The gnostic view denies that Christ had a real body or that His body was made of some heavenly substance instead of human flesh.
The Lutheran view denies that the incarnation involved any humiliation.
All of them are absolutely unequivocally wrong!
When it comes to the doctrine of Kenosis, there are many well-known theologians who do not rightly divide the Word of God.
There are many pastors that don’t even know the doctrine but refuse what they do not know or what they do not understand.
Point 6. Objections to the False Doctrines of Kenosis.