The following article by M. C. Wilcox, published in Signs of the Times (January 3, 1900), was written during the period of the Holy Flesh controversy within the Seventh-day Adventist Church. At that time, certain teachers were advancing the idea that believers could attain a state of “holy flesh,” and in connection with this, some were diminishing the reality of Christ’s participation in fallen human heredity. The error tended to distance Christ from the very condition He came to redeem.
Wilcox’s article stands as a corrective. He affirms Christ’s full pre-existence and divine origin, yet just as clearly insists that the body prepared for Him was truly “sinful flesh.” Christ did not merely resemble fallen humanity outwardly; He bore the same flesh, the same hereditary weaknesses, and the same inherited propensities common to the sons of Adam. From the lineage of David and Abraham, He received real human heredity.
Yet though possessing fallen flesh, He never sinned. The sinful inheritance did not produce sinful action. Through living faith and constant submission to the Spirit of God, He conquered every tendency.
Thus, written in the context of controversy, this article upholds a vital truth: Christ’s victory was won in the very nature humanity possesses — making His triumph both real and hopeful for all.
The original Sign of the Times issue can be found HERE
The Saviour of All
M. C. Wilcox
ST, January 3, 1900
IN the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him [the Word]; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” John 1:1-3. So the beloved apostle bears witness to the pre-existence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul bears similar and equally positive testimony: “Who [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the first of every creature, for by [“in,” R.V.] Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him; and He is before all things. and by [“in,” R.V.] Him all things consist.” Col. 1:15-17.
Among other testimonies the prophet Micah presents the following prophecy, relative to the incarnation of the Son of God: “But thou Bethlehem Ephratah, tho thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity. ’ ’ Chapter 5: 2, margin. Such was the Son of God before He emptied Himself.
But when He saw how His own creatures with the Father had sold themselves to sin, His infinite love would not permit Him to remain in His infinite glory. Tho in God’s image, tho the only one in the universe who had inherently the right, He did not aspire to be like God, but “ emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant.” See Phil. 2:5-8, R.V. He was first a heavenly messenger, the chief of all the shining host, because the chief servant.
This was not all. The next step was “becoming in the likeness of men.” Man had failed to do God’s will, and was in himself hopelessly lost. Then man’s Creator, the Son of God, said: “Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me. . . . Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me), to do Thy will, O God.” Heb. 10:5-7.
That body was His body of sinful flesh, taken in the womb of His virgin mother, and having within itself all the propensities to sin that the flesh of all the sons of Adam have. He was not only made “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Rom. 8:3), but He bore the sinful flesh. The likeness was not merely outward. His flesh was the same as that of all humanity; for He “was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.” Rom. 1:3. We know what the seed of David was. Every crime in the catalog was manifest among those through whom Jesus received His heritage of the flesh. God prepared Him that body in which He would “in all things” be “like unto His brethren,” of “the seed of Abraham,” partaker “of flesh and blood.” Heb. 2:14-17. Have others inherited corrupt tendencies in the flesh?—So did He. Were the ancestors of others covetous, grasping, adulterous, given to pleasure?—So were His. He was made like us, that He might make us like Himself.
But, tho having the flesh, with all its sinful tendencies, He did not sin. Living faith made dominant the Spirit of God over all fleshly tendencies. He fought the battle for every man, and conquered; for “He did no sin.”
But not alone for man—man grown—did He conquer; not alone with the adult does He sympathize. He had the “body” in His birth; He had the same flesh and the same tendencies as the little boy, the youth, the young man. Every human soul—great or small, young or old—may find in Jesus a Friend and Sympathizer, a Saviour and Helper. He felt what other children feel. He was tempted as other children are tempted. And all the children—and this includes the aged—may come to Him as a companion-helper all the way.
This is the lesson illustrated in our picture this week. It is the Boy Jesus among the doctors. Last week the scripture was given in Luke 2:40-52. It tells us how Jesus grew as a child. He “grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.” Verse 40. His mother taught Him all this from the Holy Scriptures. It was God’s Word implanted in His own life which made Him strong in spirit, enabling Him to resist temptation, to mold others rather than be molded by them. It was from God’s Word that He became filled with that wisdom that the learned scribes and doctors of the law did not possess. His heart was opened toward God, and God filled Him.
He was humble. Altho wiser than the doctors, knowing more of God even than His parents, He was not lifted up. Of course He was tempted to show His superiority. We know He was tempted to be impertinent, to do “smart” things (for He was tempted in all points as we are); but He resisted. He treated the ignorant considerately, the evil-disposed kindly, the poor charitably. He set an example to all children who should come after. When talking with the doctors, He did not assume to teach dictatorially. He listened, and asked questions. His questions were so remarkable that they then questioned Him. And He replied in the wisdom given of God.
But this does not exalt Him in His own mind. He returns with His parents to Nazareth, and “was subject unto them.” In other words, He minded them, obeyed them, a dutiful son. And He “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” So He desires every boy to grow; so He will enable them to grow if they will follow Him.
O children, youth, young people, in Jesus Christ you have a Redeemer, Saviour, Companion, Example. Take Him now. Parents, you have in Jesus Christ the example of what
God wants to make of your children. Will you not follow His instruction, as given in Deut. 6: 5-9, and elsewhere in His Word? Such instruction is worth all the worldly lore and erudition of the ages. It will give wisdom which “the weary schoolmen never knew.” Lacking this knowledge of God, is eternal loss; knowing it will make men of your sons, women of your daughters. There1 are infinite possibilities in such a work. Do not limit God. Could parents or children begin a new year better than to take God’s Word and the life and example of Jesus for their guide?