Systematic Theology (Volume 3 of 3)Strong, Augustus Hopkins
Religion
Systematic Theology (Volume 3 of 3)
Strong, Augustus Hopkins
Baptists -- Doctrines; Theology, Doctrinal
A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, 175—“If it is consistent with
evolution that the physical and natural life of the race should be
derived from a single source, then it is equally consistent with
evolution that the moral and spiritual life of the race should be
derived from a single source. Scripture is stating only scientific
fact when it sets the second Adam, the head of redeemed humanity,
over against the first Adam, the head of fallen humanity. We are
told that evolution should give us many Christs. We reply that
evolution has not given us many Adams. Evolution, as it assigns to
the natural head of the race a supreme and unique position, must
be consistent with itself, and must assign a supreme and unique
position to Jesus Christ, the spiritual head of the race. As there
was but one Adam from whom all the natural life of the race was
derived, so that there can be but one Christ from whom all the
spiritual life of the race is derived.”
The consequences of union with Christ may be summarily stated as follows:
(_a_) Union with Christ involves a change in the dominant affection of the
soul. Christ’s entrance into the soul makes it a new creature, in the
sense that the ruling disposition, which before was sinful, now becomes
holy. This change we call _Regeneration_.
_Rom. 8:2_—“_For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
made me free from the law of sin and of death_”; _2 Cor.
5:17_—“_if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature_”
(marg.—“_there is a new creation_”); _Gal. 1:15, 16_—“_it was the
good pleasure of God ... to reveal his Son in me_”; _Eph.
2:10_—“_For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works._” As we derive our old nature from the first man Adam,
by birth, so we derive a new nature from the second man Christ, by
the new birth. Union with Christ is the true “transfusion of
blood.” “The death‐struck sinner, like the wan, anæmic, dying
invalid, is saved by having poured into his veins the healthier
blood of Christ” (Drummond, Nat. Law in the Spir. World). God
regenerates the soul by uniting it to Jesus Christ.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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