The book of Romans, written by Paul—the greatest theologian of the apostles—is the most systematic and complete explanation of how a person is saved. In it, Paul begins building a case for the salvation of man in the very first chapter, point by point, each chapter tightly connected to the chapter before it.
Romans 6 is about the beginning of the Christian life, when a person is baptized, laying the foundation for Romans 7, which lays the foundation for Romans 8. It is essential, when studying Romans, to study chapters 6, 7, and 8 together as they are very tightly connected. Do not let chapter or verse divisions rob you of the flow of the text as the author meant for it to be studied.
Romans 8:3 is a pivotal text, connecting everything before and after it. “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh.” If a person takes a surface reading of this verse, it is actually possible to use the text to commit a fatal error regarding the righteousness of Christ that robs Him of His glory and His divinity and, I believe, unintentionally, ascribing to His humanity a carnal nature. Friends, Jesus did not have a carnal nature.
As we have studied previously in Scripture, the term sinful flesh refers to the sinful or carnal nature. You will recall that Paul says in verse 7 that this sinful flesh, the one that Adam entailed upon all of his posterity when he sinned in the garden of Eden, cannot keep God’s law.
“Because the carnal mind [flesh] is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.”
The word likeness can mean more than one thing. For example, you can be referring to a physical, mental, or spiritual likeness, or a likeness of disposition. Those are very different things. There are many Adventists who think that the word likeness in this verse means sameness because of the root word Homos. They say that Jesus came in sinful flesh, but the scripture does not say that; it says that He came in the likeness of sinful flesh. They teach that likeness means sameness quoting all kinds of statements. Searching for over 40 years, I have not found a single Spirit of Prophecy reference in which Mrs. White says that Jesus came in sinful flesh.
We must understand the root word. The Greek Lexicon gives us the meaning of the Greek words that are a takeoff or modification of the root word Homos. They are: homou, homoios, homoioo, and homoioma.
Homou means “in the same place, or together,” as in people living in the same house. “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” 2 Corinthians 5:1. The following statement will help to explain when Paul writes about this earthly house, this tent. “There is not one in a thousand, married or unmarried, who realizes the importance of purity of habits, in preserving cleanliness of the body and purity of thought. Sickness and disease is the sure consequence of disobedience to nature’s laws, and neglect of the laws of life and health. It is the house in which we live that we need to preserve, that it may do honor to God, who has redeemed us. We need to know how to preserve the living machinery, that our soul, body, and spirit may be consecrated to His service.” The Kress Collection, 45. Notice, Mrs. White is talking about maintaining cleanliness of body and then about the house in which we live, our physical body.
“Every mother should see that her children understand their own bodies, and how to care for them. … We are God’s workmanship, and His word declares that we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made.’ He has prepared this living habitation for the mind; it is ‘curiously wrought,’ a temple which the Lord Himself has fitted up for the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 425, 426. Inspiration uses several different phrases—tabernacle, temple, house, living machinery, and living habitation—to represent the body.
If the body represents the house in which we live, then the mind represents the man, the person, the character, the mind that lives in the house. The root word for likeness means the same in the sense of the same place, living together in one house; the man and his mind living together in his body.
Homoios is the first modification of the root word Homos. It means “similar in appearance, resembling, having a like form or appearance.” The word similar in English means “two things that resemble each other but are not exactly alike or identical.” Things perfectly similar in their nature must be of the same essence, or homogeneous, but generally we understand the word similar to denote a likeness that is not perfect. The word similar does not generally mean exactly the same. For example, we say a person looks like his brother or his father. They have a similar physical nature, such as in features or form, but they are not perfectly identical.
“Had Christ come in His divine form, humanity could not have endured the sight. The contrast would have been too painful, the glory too overwhelming. Humanity could not have endured the presence of one of the pure, bright angels from glory; therefore Christ took not on Him the nature of angels; He came in the likeness of men.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, 1131
Likeness can also refer to a similarity in character. For example, “Your imagination was not given you to be allowed to run riot and have its own way without any effort at restraint or discipline. If the thoughts are wrong the feelings will be wrong, and the thoughts and feelings combined make up the moral character.” Testimonies, Vol. 5, 310
Moral character is the combination of thoughts and feelings, but notice, Mrs. White links the word imagination with the thoughts as playing a key role in the moral character. When the Scriptures talk about character, very often they use the word imagination. “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5. This describes man’s character. The imagination produces thoughts and thoughts combined with feelings produce character. “And the Lord said, ‘Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, but they have walked according to the dictates [imagination] of their own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them,’ therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.’ ” Jeremiah 9:13–15
“The natural, selfish mind, as it exists in its carnal state, acts without reference to God, and is evil, and only evil, continually.” The Signs of the Times, June 22, 1888. The natural, selfish mind is evil, and only evil. The imagination of the heart is only evil because when man sinned, he forsook God’s law of love, and became carnal, embracing Satan’s law of selfishness.
A dictionary definition of the English word character, not the Greek word kharaktēr which is very similar in meaning, is “the peculiar qualities impressed by nature or habit on a person which distinguish him from others.” These constitute real character, and the qualities which he is supposed to possess constitute his estimated character or reputation. Hence, we say, a character is not formed when the person has not acquired stable and distinctive qualities. There is probably not a single Adventist who would knowingly say that Jesus possessed the same character as fallen humanity possesses. But there are many who are deceived regarding the qualities impressed on His human nature, and unwittingly or unknowingly say that He did have the same character. If that were true, then He would have a carnal mind.
The Greek word homoioo is a second modification of the root word Homos which means “to assimilate or compare” or “to set or bring things together in fact or in contemplation and to examine the relations they bear to each other with a view to ascertain their agreement or disagreement.” For example, to compare two pieces of cloth or two tables or two coins, to compare reasons and arguments, to compare pleasure with pain. In the definition of the word used as a verb to compare there are two parts. In the first part, things are brought together in fact or in mind. In the second part, the purpose is to determine their agreement or their disagreement. To assimilate means to “bring to a likeness, that is, to cause to resemble or to convert into a like substance.”
Something that is assimilated is made to resemble something else. To resemble means “to have the likeness, to bear the similitude of something, either in form, figure, or qualities.” One man may resemble another in features and he may resemble a third person in temperament or deportment. Can you see that these are two completely different things? If you resemble someone else in features, the resemblance is of a physical nature, the definition of nature when it refers to the human race in general, a physical manifestation of God’s creation. But if you resemble someone in temper, you resemble that person in disposition of mind, especially regarding passions or affections, which means to resemble that person in character.
The third modification of Homos is the Greek word homoioma meaning “likeness.” The word likeness can mean the following:
- Resemblance in form or similitude. These two look alike. Or the reproduction of a painting that looks like the original.
- Resemblance in form or external appearance such as the expression “guard against an enemy in the likeness of a friend,” or “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
- Resemblance of another as a copy or a counterpart.
- Resemblance in an image, picture, or statue, a person or a thing.
Paul uses the word homoioma in Romans 8:3 and in Philippians 2:5–8, which is one of the most sublime and profound scriptures in all the New Testament. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Paul uses several words that help us to clarify and pinpoint exactly what he is meaning when he uses the word likeness—for example, the word form.
Figuratively using the word form, Paul is speaking in relation to human nature. Paul said that Jesus took the form, the shape, the physical nature of a servant and was made in the likeness, or in the form, of men. Then he says that He took the fashion of a man. The Greek word translated fashion can mean to “make into a particular or the required form.” Mrs. White, referencing Philippians 2:6, 7, last part, and most of verse 8, explains what they mean. “He clothed His divinity with humanity. He was all the while as God.” The Review and Herald, September 4, 1900
When Jesus appeared in human flesh, He was God. The gospels record in several places that people fell down and worshiped Him and He accepted that worship. It would be blasphemy for any human being to accept worship, but though He was a human being, Jesus was also God. Therefore it was right that He accepted their worship. “He was all the while as God, but He did not appear as God. He veiled the demonstrations of Deity, which had commanded the homage, and called forth the admiration of the universe of God. 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.” Ibid. He divested Himself of the form of God and took the physical form and external condition of man.
“Jesus was the commander of heaven, one equal with God, and yet He condescended to lay aside His kingly crown, his royal robe, and clothed His divinity with humanity. The incarnation of Christ in human flesh is a mystery. He could have come to earth as One with a remarkable appearance, unlike the sons of men. His countenance could have shone with glory, and His form could have been of remarkable grace. He could have presented such an appearance as to charm the beholder; but this was not according to the plan devised in the courts of God.” The Signs of the Times, July 30, 1896
“He was to bear the characteristics of the human family, and the Jewish race.” Ibid. The woman at the well recognized Him immediately as a Jew. “In all respects the Son of God was to wear the same features as did other human beings. He was not to have such beauty of person as would make Him singular among men.” Ibid.
People were not going to be attracted to Christ because of some physical superiority or beauty that He had more than other people. “He was to manifest no wonderful charms by which to attract attention to Himself.” Ibid. So Inspiration clearly teaches that the word likeness in relation to the humanity of Christ is referring to His physical nature.
“It would have been an almost infinite humiliation for the Son of God to take man’s nature, even when Adam stood in his innocence in Eden. But Jesus accepted humanity when the race had been weakened by four thousand years of sin.” The Desire of Ages, 49. This statement is, of all in the Spirit of Prophecy, used by Adventist ministers to prove that the likeness of sinful flesh means the same sinful flesh.
Mrs. White describes Adam as being twice as tall as men now living upon the earth and Eve as coming up to just above Adam’s shoulder in height. Looking at a man proportionate to his height, in this case 12 feet, scientists have estimated that Adam likely weighed about 2,500 pounds, and Eve weighed about 1,700 pounds. The fastest man alive today can only run approximately 28 miles per hour over 100 meters. But given the volume of his lungs and the capacity of his heart, it is believed that Adam could run 70 miles per hour. Adam was innocent and his complexion was “ruddy, glowing with the rich tint of health. Eve was … very beautiful.” Last Day Events, 292
It would have been an almost infinite humiliation if Christ had taken Adam’s human nature when fresh from His creative hand. But no, He took instead man’s nature after 4,000 years of degradation and sin. As a man, Jesus couldn’t run 70 miles per hour and as a Jew, He was not even six feet tall. Instead, “Like every child of Adam He accepted the results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these results were is shown in the history of His earthly ancestors. He came with such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us the example of a sinless life.” The Desire of Ages, 49
I cannot comprehend or imagine why the King of glory, the One who not only created the universe and upheld it by the word of His power, who determines the eternal destiny of every creature of the universe, chose to come to this world and accept human nature, and chose to become a human being weakened by 4,000 years of sin. It is the second most incomprehensible mystery, after the cross. He came with such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations. Don’t ever feel that Jesus cannot understand exactly what your sorrow or temptation is.
Friends, Mrs. White is clear that the Son of God took man’s nature. In relation to humanity, there are two different meanings of the word nature—one referring to the race in general and the other to an individual of the race. Nature in reference to the race in general is referring to the physical aspect of man’s being. Nature in reference to an individual is referring to the disposition or condition of his mind and therefore his character.
When God’s prophet said Jesus took man’s nature, his humanity, she is speaking of the race in general. Therefore, we have been discussing His physical nature and not the disposition of His mind or His character.
There is, however, much more evidence that we need to examine from the Spirit of Prophecy, comparing each inspired statement with another to be sure that we do not twist the scriptures or Inspiration regarding Christ’s coming to be in the likeness of sinful flesh.
Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.