The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

Part II-Comprehensive Witness of the New Testament-Consummating Testimony of Christ and the Apostles on the Origin, Nature, and Destiny of Man

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Christ’s Infallible Testimony on Life Versus Death

I. Definitive Testimony of Jesus, Supreme Witness of All Time

1. JESUS CHRIST—STAR WITNESS OF ALL TIME

The apostle John presents the Lord Jesus Christ pre-eminently as “God.” That is the characteristic difference between John’s Gospel and that of the Synoptists, who largely emphasize His human side. Together they make up the perfect portrayal. So John presents the God-man. Jesus’ utterances consequently have an authority unapproachable by any other witness or spokesman. Beyond challenge, He is the supreme authority, the Star Witness, than whom there is none greater and from whom there is no higher court of appeal. His declarations are consequently the ultimate in this area of inquiry. Jesus is the One for whom the worthies of old had waited all through Old Testament times. Now He speaks. CFF1 183.1

As might be expected, His witness is primarily affirmative rather than negative. He emphasizes life rather than death, though He deals definitively with both. But He is definitely affirmative and positive, and is never evasive. He gave no answers with dual intent, as was the custom of the Delphic oracles. Further, His teachings are changeless and abiding, not transitory or ephemeral. And He is inerrant, not faulty and fallible. There are no revisions or reversals of His positions. And Christ is unequivocal in His utterances. His declarations cannot be classed as “doubtful disputations” (Romans 14:1), though they were the subject of acrimonious debate. His responses are frank and firm, never elusive or ambiguous. And He spoke with authority (Matthew 7:29). CFF1 183.2

Picture 1: Christ as Baby:
The Birth of the Christ Child United God With Man and Made It Possible for Him to Live and Die on Earth, and Rise as Conqueror of Death Forevermore.
Page 184

2. FATAL CLASH COMES OVER MAN’S DESTINY

From Him, then, we shall get the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth on the nature and destiny of man. And that is just what we need, and precisely what we want. As noted, Christ’s presentations were always straightforward, explicit, and faithful. But because of His fidelity to truth concerning life and death, His utterances of necessity ran counter to tragic Jewish departures that had become entrenched in this area of vital teaching. CFF1 184.1

Christ came to earth. He came to die that others might have life—more abundant life, eternal life, and immortality, for through sin man had forfeited that imperative. He came to dispel error and confute falsehood, that truth might be exalted and right might prevail. He came to seal the doom of error and to crush its author. And He was ever faithful to His Heavenborn mission. But first let us go back to the beginnings, and to the foundations of the plan of redemption manifested in the incarnation, as disclosed in the opening chapters of John’s Gospel. CFF1 185.1