Since we are in the Easter Season that started with the vernal equinox, last time we started a discussion on the Jewish Calendar and Holy Days that are Regulated by the Moon and Stars that are used to determine the time of our Lord's crucifixion, burial, and resurrection that we celebrate on Easter that is more accurately known as Resurrection Sunday.
We have seen that the Spring Feasts that relate to the First Advent of TLJC are:
Passover (Pesach): Nisan 14, This year is on Wednesday (April 8, 2009) (the crucifixion of TLJC)
Unleavened Bread: Nisan 15. This year is on Thursday (April 9, 2009)
First Fruits: Nisan 18. This year is on Sunday (April 12, 2009) (the celebration of the resurrection of TLJC)
Pentecost (Shabuoth): Sivan 6, This year on Sunday (May 31, 2009) (The Holy Spirit was sent, beginning the Church age)
Picking up where we left off last time where we were discussing the types represented by the Jewish feast of Unleavened Bread that immediately followed the Passover that was the day that our Lord was crucified on the cross.
In fact it was the Sabbath associated with the observance of first day of unleavened bread that caused the Jews to hurry to get his body off the cross before sundown. John 19:31; Net note 91 Exod 12:15-16;
The leaven in the bread is a picture of the impurity of sin in the body of the believer. Leaven causes disintegration of the dough while sin causes corruption in the human body.
The leaven in the dough and sin in the body the result in ongoing entropy.
The dough is irreversibly contaminated while the human body is permanently corrupted.
For the dough to avoid corruption it must avoid leaven. For the human body to avoid corruption it must avoid sin.
In the analogy, sin is the leaven of the body and once introduced it cannot be eliminated it can only be abandoned.
1Cor 15:50; Now this I confirm, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God nor does corruption (the biological body) inherit incorruption.
The resurrection body is compatible with eternal life. Biological life can't go to Heaven. "Corruption" means disintegration, or entropy, and a return to dust.
v. 51 Behold, I communicate to you a mystery (Church Age doctrine). We shall not all sleep (experience physical death) but we shall all be changed,
v. 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible (a resurrection body), and we shall be changed
There is a generation of Church Age believers who will go from a body of corruption to one of incorruption without an interim body. Only the sovereignty of God decides the generation when this will occur and the time it will occur.
v. 53 For this corruptible (human bodies of deceased believers) must put on incorruption (a body of immortality) and this mortal (human bodies of living believers) shall put on immortality.
1Cor 15:54; Now when this corruption has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality, then the doctrine that stands written will occur: (Isaiah 25:8) "He will swallow up death as a result of victory for all time."
v. 55 O, death, where is your sting (the sinful nature)? O, death, where is your victory (the grave)?
v. 56 The sting of death is the sinful nature and the power of sin is the law (the OSN that came from Adam's original sin an passed to all mankind makes it impossible for us to keep the law perfectly.)
v. 57 But thanks be to God, Who gives to us the victory (physical death separates our soul and spirit from the body of corruption and eternal life becomes an instant functional reality) through our Lord Jesus Christ.
How is this victory appropriated through our Lord Jesus Christ? By virtue of the fact that the physical body of our Lord had no sin or using the type that is portrayed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread no leaven.
Because of the virgin pregnancy the zygote that developed into the biological life of His true humanity was not corrupted by a sinful nature.
At the Virgin Birth, our Lord was not imputed Adam's original sin and because throughout his experiences during the Incarnation he never violated the Law or committed any personal sin.
His human body was therefore unleavened throughout the Incarnation and because of this was qualified to receive the imputation of the personal sins of the entire human race on the cross.
The judicial imputation of our sins to Christ found their target in His incorruptible human body.
But because His volition had no complicity in the commission of any of them His impeccability was not compromised. This is explained by the principle of judicial imputation.
The source of a judicial imputation is the justice of God but in the case of TLJC its recipient does not have any antecedence, affinity, or harmony with that which is imputed.
There are two judicial imputations: (1) our sins to Jesus Christ on the cross and (2) God's righteousness to the believer at salvation by grace through faith alone in TLJC alone.
In the case of the first imputation our Lord's volition was never the antecedent of any human sin.
"Antecedent" is defined by Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, as:
A preceding event, condition, or cause; a stimulus for later developments; applies to that which has preceded and may therefore be in some degree responsible for what follows.
Further there is no affinity between the impeccability of Christ and our personal sins.
"Affinity" is defined by: Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, as:
Likeness based on relationship or causal connection. Implies a predisposition on the part of the one drawn. syn Attraction: implies the possession of a quality that pulls another to it.
The perfection of our Lord has no harmony with our personal sins.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines "harmony as": Adaptation of related things so as to form a consistent and orderly whole. A combination of parts in accord with each other.
Therefore the sins of the human race were not antecedently His own. This means that there was neither affinity nor harmony between our sins and His perfection.
A principle of doctrine emerges from this that states that even though our sins were imputed to Christ on the cross. He remained impeccable throughout the three hour process and because of His impeccability, Christ was qualified to become our substitute to whom God could transfer our sins.
Because the Lord was qualified and willing to be our substitute, God the Father judicially imputed our sins to Christ and then judged them.
A judicial imputation occurs when the justice of God assigns to someone a thing where antecedence and affinity do not exist.
The recipient of the imputation becomes the possessor of that which is not his own but is assigned to him by judicial decree. This means that when God transferred our sins to Christ by judicial imputation it was a demonstration of His undiminished and unconditional love for the entire human race.
Many scriptures support this conclusion:
Rom 5:8; But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died as a substitute for us the Greek wording is ("huper"plus the genitive of advantage from "ego".
2Cor 5:14; Love for Christ (objective Genitive of "Christos" with the noun of action "agape": reciprocal love motivation) keeps on motivating us and sustaining us because we have reached this conclusion, namely that if He died (spiritually) as a substitute for everyone "pas"), therefore everyone was (spiritually) dead.
v. 15 In fact He died as a substitute for everyone "pas" in order that they who believe should no longer live for the benefit of themselves but for Him who died as a substitute for them "autos"and rose again.
1Tim 2:6; Jesus Christ gave Himself as a Redeemer ( or ransom ), a substitute for all, the testimony ( the Gospel ) to be given at the proper time ( to each person, i.e., unlimited atonement ).
1Tim 4:10; - For it is for this we labor and strive because we have fixed our confidence on the living God, Who is the Savior of all mankind, primarily believers ( unlimited atonement: Christ died for all, but only believers have taken advantage of it ).
Titus 2:11; The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all mankind ( unlimited atonement ).
Heb 2:9; But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered spiritual death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death as a substitute for everyone ( unlimited atonement ).
1John 2:2; He Himself is the propitiation as a substitute for our sins ( the sins of the believer ) and not for our sins only but also as a substitute for the sins of the entire world ( unlimited atonement ).
These passages confirm that every sin in human history, committed by all mankind, both believers and unbelievers, was imputed to Jesus Christ Who was our Substitute. Consequently every sin is said to have been imputed to his perfect human body:
1Cor 11:24; This is My body, a substitute for you.
1Peter 2:24; He himself carried our sins in His body on the Cross.
1 Peter 3:18; Because Christ also died once for 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 the Spirit.
Although Christ was identified with our sins and judged for them because there was no antecedence, he remained impeccable on the cross. The Holy Spirit continued to fill His humanity and His deity remained in union with His humanity while he was bearing our sins.
The unleavened bread provides us with typology for two major doctrines. The first refers to the impeccability of Jesus Chris in hypostatic union and the second has to do with the sanctification of the believer who functions in the righteousness that is produced inside the divine power system.
Let's consider the relationship between unleavened bread and the doctrine of impeccability.
In the feast of Passover the selection of a lamb without spot or blemish is a type for the impeccability of Jesus Christ on the cross.
In the feast of unleavened bread the absence of leaven is a type for the impeccability of Jesus Christ in hypostatic union.
The English word "impeccable" contains the prefix "im" that is a negation translated "not" plus the Latin verb "pecarre" which means "to sin." The literal translation is "not sinful" or "without sin."
We have previously described the doctrine of impeccability using two phrases that use this Latin word:
Non posse peccare: Not able to sin. This refers to the undiminished deity of Jesus Christ in hypostatic union. He was "not able to sin" in His deity.
Posse non peccare: Able not to sin. This refers to the true humanity of our Lord in hypostatic union. He was "able not to sin" in his true humanity.
The humanity of Jesus Christ was temptable but impeccable. The deity of our Lord was neither temptable nor peccable.
Therefore, in hypostatic union, Jesus Christ was temptable but impeccable.
To appreciate the impact of Impeccability regarding the Person of Christ we need to review the definition of hypostatic union:
Christian Integrity by Thieme, R. B., Jr. page 179 defines Hypostatic Union:
The term "hypostatic" is derived from the Greek noun "hupostasis" that means "essence," or "substance." Jesus Christ is the "exact image of (God's) hupostasis or divine essence" Heb. 1:3; He is God. Christ unites in Himself the essence of God and the essence of man, forming a new hupostasis or essence, the hypostatic union, the God-Man.
This information may be combined into a formal definition for "hypostatic union":
In the Person of Jesus Christ are two natures, divine and human, inseparably united without mixture or loss of separate identity, without loss or transfer of properties or attributes. This union of God and Man in the Lord Jesus Christ is personal and eternal. That is, as the God-Man, He is one Person, and He will exist forever as both undiminished deity and true humanity.
With reference to His undiminished deity, Jesus Christ is said to be non posse pecarre, not able to sin. In other words, the essence of His deity cannot sin.
With reference to His true humanity, Christ is said to be posse non pecarre, able not to sin. This means that because of the prototype spiritual life empowered by the indwelling and filling ministry of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ was able not to sin.
The humanity of Christ was temptable but impeccable. This was made possible by His residence, function, and momentum inside the prototype spiritual life.
Empowered by the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, our Lord maintained His impeccability throughout the Incarnation all the way through the judgment of the cross.
Thus, the divine power system was tested and proved effective in the management of all temptations. This unique spiritual life is available to every believer in the Church Age.
It was possible for our Lord not to sin because he utilized eight problem-solving devices. He never had a need to confess sin since He was impeccable and the concept of occupation with Christ did not apply.
We have this same spiritual life that was made available to us at the moment of salvation. When free of unconfessed sin, our status quo inside the spiritual life is the same perfection enjoyed by our Lord in the Incarnation.
The only thing that destroys this perfection is personal sin that is volitional. However, volition can through grace reacquire temporal perfection by confession alone to God alone 1John 1:9.
From this we are able to conclude that Jesus Christ was our prototype and thus we must look to His life in the Incarnation for the principles that are necessary to deal with the temptations we confront on a daily basis.
Our Lord was tempted in far greater intensity than we will ever be yet did not sin:
Heb 4:15;- 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.