What Would Have Happened If Christ Had Sinned?

[John317]

In the Review of December 2007, Roy Adams wrote an editorial called ‘A Cosmic “Gamble”’. In it he had quoted Ellen White as saying that God had permitted His Son to come into this world “to meet life’s peril in common with every human soul, to fight the battle as every child of humanity must fight it, at the risk of failure and eternal loss” (The Desire of Ages, p. 49)”.

“To the honor and glory of God, His beloved Son -- the Surety, the Substitute -- was delivered up and descended into the prisonhouse of the grave. The new tomb enclosed Him in its rocky chambers. If one single sin had tainted His character the stone would never have been rolled away from the door of His rocky chamber, and the world with its burden of guilt would have perished.” (Ellen G. White, Ms. 81, 1893, p. 11, Diary entry for Sunday, July 2, 1893, Wellington, New Zealand)

“When Christ was crucified, it was His human nature that died. Deity did not sink and die; that would have been impossible. Christ, the sinless One, will save every son and daughter of Adam who accepts the salvation proffered them, consenting to become the children of God. The Saviour has purchased the fallen race with His own blood.” (Ibid)

“Jesus Christ laid off His royal robe, His kingly crown, and clothed His divinity with humanity, in order to become a substitute and surety for humanity, that dying in humanity He might by His death destroy him who had the power of death.” (Ellen G. White, Letter 97, page 5, To "My Brethren in North Fitzroy," November 18th 1898)

“I will try to answer this important question [could Christ have sinned?]: As God He could not be tempted: but as a man He could be tempted, and that strongly, and could yield to the temptations. His human nature must pass through the same test and trial Adam and Eve passed through.” (Ibid)

“Was the human nature of the Son of Mary changed into the divine nature of the Son of God? No; the two natures were mysteriously blended in one person -- the Man Christ Jesus. In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Ellen G. White, September 3rd 1904, Letter 280a to ‘Ministers, Physicians, and Teachers’)

If the man Christ Jesus had sinned, would the divine Son of God have ceased to be? Would Christ have forfeited His eternal existence? This was the risk taken by Christ in becoming incarnate.

Some claim that this risk is lost to the trinity doctrine and that the Trinity denies and obscures the extent that God was willing to go to in saving mankind from sin. These claim that the Trinity obscures the love that God has shown in the giving of His Son.

Is this true?

What would have been the consequences for the Godhead if Jesus of Nazareth had sinned? Would the Godhead have continued on in the same way as it was before the pre-existent Christ had become human? The only possible answer is no.

However, we simply don't know all the ways in which such an outcome would have affected the Godhead, although we do know that it would have meant the utter loss of all humanity as well as an eternal rupture within the Godhead itself. It would have had calamitous consequences not only for the universe but for each member of the Godhead.

When Jesus was a baby in the manger, God was in the manger, but there was always a distinction between God and the man. In Christ were two natures: the human and the divine. The human was subject to death; the divine was immortal. The man Jesus was tempted to sin, and He was hungry and thirsty, but Deity never was.

“Was the human nature of the Son of Mary changed into the divine nature of the Son of God? No; the two natures were mysteriously blended in one person -- the Man Christ Jesus. In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Ellen G. White, September 3rd 1904, Letter 280a to ‘Ministers, Physicians, and Teachers’)

“Jesus Christ laid off His royal robe, His kingly crown, and clothed His divinity with humanity, in order to become a substitute and surety for humanity, that dying in humanity He might by His death destroy him who had the power of death.” (Ellen G. White, Letter 97, 1898, p. 5. To "My Brethren in North Fitzroy," November 18, 189

She also said

“He could not have done this as God, but by coming as man, Christ could die.” (Ibid)

It's true that Jesus of Nazareth wouldn't have come out of the tomb if He had sinned or rebelled against the Father. However, the divine nature-- Deity, which is immortal-- would certainly have continued to exist, since Deity is not subject to death. When Jesus was a baby in the manger, God was in the manger, but there was always a distinction between God and the man. In Christ were two natures: the human and the divine. The human was subject to death; the divine was immortal. The man Jesus was tempted to sin, and He was hungry and thirsty, but Deity never was.

“Was the human nature of the Son of Mary changed into the divine nature of the Son of God? No; the two natures were mysteriously blended in one person -- the Man Christ Jesus. In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Ellen G. White, September 3rd 1904, Letter 280a to ‘Ministers, Physicians, and Teachers’)

Notice she said “the two natures were mysteriously blended in one person”.

This ONE PERSON was the incarnate divine Son of God (Jesus). He and Jesus were not two separate persons but one and the same person.

Jesus Christ was one person, & not two people. But he had two natures: the human and the divine. This one person was/is truly divine, truly human. Yet he was one person. He was God and He was a man at the same time. He didn't cease to be God when He became human. Ellen White says clearly, "He was God while upon earth, but He divested Himself of the form of God, and in its stead took the form and fashion of a man." 5 BC 1126.

"He [Christ] has a two-fold nature, at once human and divine. He is both God and man" (Ms 76, 1903; 5 BC 917). "The human did not take the place of the divine, nor the divine of the human" (ST May 10, 1899; 5 BC 917). "Divinity was not degraded to humanity; divinity held its place" (5 BC 917, 91.

"The two natures were mysteriously blended in one person-- the Man Christ Jesus," but she also says, "He exhibited a perfect humanity combinded with deity;... preserving each nature distinct." 5 BC 918.

Notice each nature-- the human and divine-- were always distinct.

Ellen White also makes it clear that Christ not only had two natures but two characters: "In His human nature He maintained the purity of His divine character" (ML 323; 5 BC 91. Yet "the humanity of Christ could not be separated from His divinity" (Ms 106, 1897; 5 BC 91.

Thus Jesus Christ had two wills and two centers of consciousness, a human and a divine one. He could learn things, yet He knew all things. His humanity was tempted, but obviously His divine nature was never tempted, since God cannot possibly be tempted. (Compare Heb. 4: 15; James 1: 13.)

Ever since Chalcedon (451), the Christian church has maintained the unity of the person as well as the duality of the natures of Christ. On the other hand, the early Adventists' understanding of the Incarnation led them to "a one-nature Christology in which the preexistent divine Word, derived from the Father but not coeternal with Him, was transformed into human existence to die a divine and perfect atonement." They dismissed Christ as being both human and divine during His incarnation because they said this would set forth His death as a mere human sacrifice rather than a divine atonement. See Handbook of SDA Theology, p. 199.

The decision at Chalcedon was in response to three inadequate view of the person of Christ:

1) Apollinarianism, which was that Christ had a human body but not a human mind or spirit, and that the mind and spirit of Christ were from the divine nature of the Son of God.

2) Nestorianism, the doctrine that there were two separate persons in Christ, a human person and a divine person.

3) Monophysitism, or Eutychianism, the view that Christ had one nature only. It is the opposite error from Nestorianism. Eutyches denied that the human nature and divine nature in Christ remained fully human and fully divine. He held rather that the human naure of Christ was taken up and absorbed into the divine nature, so that both natures were changed somewhat and a third kind of nature resulted.

Chalcedon was an attempt to solve the problems raised by these controversies.

[John317]

Continued

The following verses show Jesus' divine consciousness:

John 3:13

No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

John 8:23

He said to them, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world."

John 16:28

"I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father."

John 6:62

"Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?"

John 17:5

"And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed."

NOTE: Had the man Jesus of Nazareth ever been in heaven before? No. Yet He was conscious of having been in heaven prior to the Incarnation. Therefore He was speaking here as God, not as a man. This proves that Jesus had two conciousnesses.

Matt. 26: 39 proves that Christ also had two wills, both a human will and a divine will:

Matthew 26:39

And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."

It is impossible that the divine will of Christ was in opposition to the will of the Father, but it is totally understandable that the human will of Christ did not want to die and therefore that it was naturally resistent to the will of God that Christ be nailed to the cross.

Further evidence of Christ's divine consciousness:

John 6:35

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life..."

John 8:12

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world."

John 10:7

So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep."

John 10:11

"I am the good shepherd."

John 11:25

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life."

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."

John 15:1

"I am the true vine..."

John 8:58

Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."

NOTE: He who was before Abraham was born in a manger. The Jews "crucified the Lord [Yahweh] of glory" (1 Cor. 2:

The Bible is clear that even while on earth, Christ was God, and as God He continued to uphold the whole universe. Col. 1: 17; Heb. 1: 3. He did not cease to uphold the universe while He was in the grave. "He did not part with His divinity... Christ had not exchanged His divinity for humanity; but He had clothed His divinity in humanity." 5 BC 1128 (1956 edition)

That Christ had both a human consciousness and a divine consciousness is proved by the fact that the dead Jesus raised Himself by means of His divinity.

"When the voice of the mighty angel was heard at Christ's tomb, saying, Thy Father calls Thee, the Savior came forth from the grave by the life that was in Himself... In His divinity, Christ possessed the power to break the bonds of death" (DA 785)

Examples of the difference between the human and the divine natures of Christ:

We can speak of Jesus being 30 years old, but at the same time we can say that He existed eternally if we are speaking of His divine nature.

In His human nature, Christ was sometimes weak and tired but in His divine nature he was omnipotent. (Yet notice that Christ never said, "My human nature thirsts," or "the glory my divine nature had with You.." No, He said "I thirst," and "the glory I had with You.")

Jesus was asleep in the boat, yet at the same time Jesus was "continually carrying along all things by His word of power" (Heb. 1: 3) and even then, all things in the universe were being held together by Christ (Col. 1:17)

Again, Christ's human nature died on the cross, yet His divine nature did not die but was able to raise Himself from the dead (John 2: 19; 10: 17-18; Heb. 7: 17)

Diety was voluntarily dormant, or hidden, in Christ during the Incarnation as He walked the earth.

Had the man Jesus of Nazareth sinned, what would have happened to the Diety-- the "I AM"-- that was Christ? Would God-- the divine nature of Christ-- also have ceased to exist?

The immortal God would have continued to exist but would have experienced an eternal, catastrophic separation within the Godhead. Christ's sin wouldn't have caused the death of Deity, which lives continually within Christ, but it would have resulted in the annihilation of the man Jesus and the permenant disruption of the Godhead. Jesus of Nazareth wouldn't have come out of the tomb if He had sinned or rebelled against the Father. However, the divine nature-- Deity, which is immortal-- would certainly have continued to exist, since Deity is not subject to death.

Everything depended on the successful completion of Christ's mission.

Thus, when God permitted His Son to come into the world to meet life's peril in common with every human soul, and to fight the battle as every child of humanity must fight it, It is no exaggeration to say that it was truly at the risk of failure and eternal loss. (See DA 49)

[Guest]

Quote:

The immortal God would have continued to exist but would have experienced an eternal, catastrophic separation within the Godhead. Christ's sin wouldn't have caused the death of Deity, which lives continually within Christ, but it would have resulted in the annihilation of the man Jesus and the permenant disruption of the Godhead. Jesus of Nazareth wouldn't have come out of the tomb if He had sinned or rebelled against the Father. However, the divine nature-- Deity, which is immortal-- would certainly have continued to exist, since Deity is not subject to death.

I've never thought about it this way before. And I'm not at all sure that this is what would have happened had He failed. This is one giant speculation.

[John317]

If Jesus had sinned, do you believe He would have come out of the tomb?

Had Christ sinned, what do you believe would have happened to Deity-- the deity that Col. 2: 9 says always lives in the body of Christ?

[Guest]

No I don't believe he would have come out of the tomb. But also there would have been no reason for Satan to have him crucified if he had sinned.

I'll have to think about question # 2 a little bit. But whatever I say, it will only be a speculation. Because none of us knows.

[John317]

I take it, then, you believe Jesus Christ would have perished, or died eternally, had He sinned. He would have forever remained in the grave. Would the same have occurred to Deity?

Do you recall any comment by Ellen White as to the effect if Christ had failed in His mission?

[Robert]

Dude...Jesus, as God, took our sinful, fallen life. Having a sinful life in itself is sin. Hence the Bible states that Jesus as the son of man was "made sin". That life never came forward...it was never resurrected. Instead Christ came forward with a spiritual human body...free from mortality...free from iniquity. The old remained in the grave and in it's place Christ as God was raised with a glorified, sinless humanity.

[Robert]

there would have been no reason for Satan to have him crucified if he had sinned.

If Christ, as mankind, would have sinned His Deity would have simply departed just as the Holy Spirit left Adam and Eve when they sinned. Jesus as man would have lived His sinful life and died. And mankind would not have been justified unto life.

[Robert]

Continued

The following verses show Jesus' divine consciousness:

When Christ became a man in the incarnation He had to give up not His divinity, but His divine prerogatives, in other words, the independent use of His divinity. Even His God-consciousness had to be given up. Jesus discovered He was God only by revelation. He was not God-conscious as a baby. He had to grow up in knowledge. He had to grow up in everything because He had given up the independent use of His divinity and was made in all things like unto us (Heb. 2:17).

[John317]

Yes, I agree with you. He depended on the Father for all His knowledge or wisdom.

[John317]

OK, but the question here is, what would have happened if Christ had sinned and failed to fulfill His mission. Would He have come forth from the grave? And if not, what would then have happened to Deity? Would Deity also have remained in the grave?

This gets to the issue of the great risk or sacrifice the Father made in sending Christ into the world to live as a human being.

[John317]

If Christ, as mankind, would have sinned His Deity would have simply departed just as the Holy Spirit left Adam and Eve when they sinned. Jesus as man would have lived His sinful life and died. And mankind would not have been justified unto life.

I agree that mankind would not have been justified unto life, which means that no human beings could have been saved. This includes Enoch, Elijah, and Moses, whose salvation depended on the success of Christ's mission to earth.

But assuming for the moment that Christ had failed: would Deity-- including the pre-incarnate Christ-- then have continued on as it was before the Incarnation? If so, it doesn't sound as if the failure of Christ to fulfill His mission would have caused much sacrifice on the part of the Godhead.

[Robert]

Originally Posted By: Richard Holbrook

there would have been no reason for Satan to have him crucified if he had sinned.

If Christ, as mankind, would have sinned His Deity would have simply departed just as the Holy Spirit left Adam and Eve when they sinned. Jesus as man would have lived His sinful life and died. And mankind would not have been justified unto life.

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<SB 6 (John 1:1-3, 14; Phil. 2:5-8; Col. 2:9; Heb. 1:6, 8; 2:14-17; 4:15). Deity Did Not Die. <EB--Was the human nature of the Son of Mary changed into the divine nature of the Son of God? No; the two natures were mysteriously blended in one person--the man Christ Jesus. In Him dwelt all

the fullness of the Godhead bodily. When Christ was crucified, it was His human nature that died. Deity did not sink and die; that would have been impossible.

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He took upon his sinless nature our sinful nature,....

[Just*]

«Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted [me] with all thy waves. Selah. Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: [i am] shut up, and I cannot come forth. Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise [and] praise thee? Selah. Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? [or] thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.» Ps 88:5-13

[Robert]

But assuming for the moment that Christ had failed: would Deity-- including the pre-incarnate Christ-- then have continued on as it was before the Incarnation?

As the son of man Jesus didn't know of His assumed Deity. The Father revealed this to Him.

If Christ would have failed it would have been his human side. As you say, Christ was God and man. At the point of sin Christ, as God, would have abandoned Christ as man.....

None of this matters because the Trinity knew they would be victorious. They can see the future...which is different from manipulating the future.

[Woody]

Some interesting points ROb. And as you pointed out ... Jesus the son of God .... didn't die. Only Jesus as man did.

[fccool]

If it was possible for Christ to sin, then people should not have been given assurance of salvation in Him prior to his first coming. It would not make any sense to make prophesies about "sinless lamb".

It was not possible for Christ to sin. It was possible for Him to be tempted, but I don't believe that sin could reconcile with his character really well. That's simply not within character of God to do so.

So, the answer to your question would be, if Christ sinned... then He was not really God. It's as simple as that.