This essay continues a sequence. Read the previous one here.
A man’s got to know his limitations.
Click here to receive new essays from The Word, (Re)Discovered every week
In the series of essays on the temptations, a question that was not addressed is the feasibility of Christ actually doing what Lucifer had suggested.
Is Everything Really Possible?
“Everything is possible with God” is a popular statement, but it makes no sense. Injustice, imperfection, evil, etc. are not possible with God.
Nonetheless, it may seem strange to ask the question “are there things that Christ could not do?“
It may not be so strange in light of our earlier discussions in “Imperfect Miracles” and “Perfect Miracles“, or if we reconnect our thinking with (i) the Laws of God as the manifestation of God’s Will (ref. “The Nature of God’s Laws“), and (ii) the unity of God’s Will and His Love (ref. “Will vs Love: A Divine Quantum Entanglement“).
God In Man
Christ, the embodiment of Divine Love, made the unquantifiable sacrifice to live as a man on Earth in order to communicate The Word (ref. “What The Word Is“).
Living as a man means experiencing all the limitations of men. This is the only way Christ could understand us well enough to be able to transmit The Word in language understandable to us.
Every reader of the Bible knows that Christ experienced tiredness, hunger, pain, etc. This indicates that, as part of His sacrifice, He bore a “normal” human body.
The human body is subject to the physical laws of nature. These are the material manifestations of the Divine Laws (ref. “Creating Is Perpetual“).
The Laws Are Not Limitations
We could say that “the human being is limited by gravity“, but it would be better to say that “through gravity the human being experiences an aspect of God’s Will“.
We are to study, appreciate, and adjust to it as part of our own spiritual and material development.
Click here to receive new essays from The Word, (Re)Discovered every week
That a normal human body cannot jump from a significant height to the ground and escape unharmed is an outcome of the material law of gravity. A similar logic applies to a normal body that is crucified on a cross: in the normal course of events it must experience pain and death.
We could also say Christ would not, instead of Christ can not. If we accept the sanctity of Divine Law, and its unity with Divine Love, then the “would not” is obvious. Then we may gradually see the Divine Love contained in the “can not”.
Don’t Diminish His Sacrifice
If we reject the fact that Christ took on a normal human body, we diminish the unquantifiable sacrifice of Love that He made.
If we reject the fact of Christ’s obedience to the “limitations” of the physical laws of nature, we underestimate the value of the material manifestations of God’s Laws.
If we believe that Christ used His free will in ways outside of those defined by Divine Law, we are falling back into the error of anthropomorphic thinking (ref. “God Is Neither Superman Nor Santa“). It is because we are used to doing “what we want to do” that our definition of “free will” has become something random and disconnected from God’s Laws.
We do not yet sufficiently appreciate the beauty and perfection of God’s Laws in their material manifestations (ref. “The Nature of God’s Laws“), and thus we struggle to situate Christ’s life on Earth within Them.
The thought that Christ in a human body “would not” (“can not”) go indefinitely without food, or go unharmed if He leaps from a great height, or suffer if He is nailed to a cross, is not an improper thought.
These are not “limitations” of Christ but natural characteristics of the normal human body that Christ wore, whose limitations he accepted only out of love for mankind.
Neither does this cast any doubt on the miraculous Divine abilities that Christ exhibited while in a human body. These too can be understood within the context of the eternal and unlimited Laws of God, as discussed in “Perfect Miracles“.
Today’s Resolution:
- Through our thoughts, words, and actions we shall express our gratitude to God for sending His Son, and to Christ for His unspeakable sacrifice on our behalf.
Click here to receive new essays from The Word, (Re)Discovered every week
Leave a Reply