The Lord Jesus Christ is declared to be perfect, yet the rest of us are not perfect, what is the difference? The Lord’s perfection was foreshadowed when God declared that He would set apart a perfect seed in woman (which would be necessary for the Lord’s virgin birth). God referred to this seed when addressing the serpent in Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
The biblical reference to a “seed in woman” may seem crude and unsophisticated, but one can readily make the application to the human science of physiology. The process of meiosis and the destruction of polar bodies results in a woman's seed being uncontaminated prior to the time of fertilization. When it is time for the female ovum or egg cell to be released from the ovary, the ovum goes through a cell division, which reduces the number of chromosomes (the structures that pass on genetic information) to half their original number. This division is known as meiosis and results in the ovum discarding twenty-three contaminated chromosomes in the form of smaller cells known as polar bodies.
Through the disintegration of these non-functional polar bodies, unneeded cell matter is disposed of along with the contamination of the sin nature. This leaves one larger egg cell or ovum with the uncontaminated chromosomes which then grow in the ovary of a woman until the ovum reaches maturation. At maturation, the egg cell is carried to the fallopian tubes where it awaits fertilization by the male sperm cell. (This is the uncontaminated seed of woman that the Lord reserved in anticipation of the virgin birth of our Lord, referred to in Genesis 3:15).
However, since a sum total of forty-six chromosomes are required for conception, no woman is capable of conceiving life without fertilization by the male sperm cell. Twenty-three chromosomes are provided through the female egg cell and twenty-three by the male sperm cell to comprise the total of forty-six that are required for conception. The female ovum with the twenty-three uncontaminated chromosomes of the mother becomes contaminated at the time it is fertilized by the father's sperm cell, which is how the sin nature is passed on.
The result of this process is offspring born with a genetically-formed sin nature. (This trend began after Adam sinned and has caused all to be born in sin from that point onward.) Indeed, Romans 5:12 says that sin entered the world through one man, and that man was named Adam.
But just as God condemned all humanity through one man, He would also save all humanity through one man, the perfect Lord Jesus Christ. By condemning the human race on account of the original sin of Adam, the Lord is now free to save the human race on account of the work of salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ on the cross. This is one of the reasons why the perfect justice of God is now able to automatically save small children (who might perhaps die before reaching the age of accountability), as well as the mentally challenged, due to the work of salvation from the Lord on the cross.
In the case of the birth of the Lord Jesus, God the Holy Spirit provided twenty-three uncontaminated chromosomes in place of the twenty-three contaminated ones that are usually provided by the male sperm cell of the human father. When God the Holy Spirit provided the twenty-three uncontaminated chromosomes required to fertilize the egg cell of the Virgin Mary, this satisfied the total of forty-six chromosomes required for conception of the Lord's perfect humanity. As a result, the Lord was born a perfect human being and without a sin nature. He was fully qualified to be the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. Indeed, the scriptures declare to us that Christ had no sin (2 Cor. 5:21) and that He appeared once and for all to do away with sin by the sacrifice of His own self (Heb. 9:26).
Without a doubt, the head of Satan was crushed in defeat through the work of salvation that the Lord completed on the cross (John 16:11). However, the Lord's saving work certainly didn't come without a price. The Lord was bruised by the suffering He endured. He went through more suffering because of the cross than we will ever comprehend. Isaiah 53:5 declares that He was bruised for our sins so that those who believe might have peace with God. In other words, He was wounded in order to satisfy the holiness of God, thereby liberating us from the condemnation to death we deserve:
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (KJV Isa. 53:5)
It is Adam's original sin that has caused us all to be born spiritually dead with a sin nature. However, as I have already mentioned, through the Lord's saving work on the cross believers are able to regain the human spirit that was lost at the fall. God the Holy Spirit creates a human spirit at the moment we accept the Lord's saving work on the cross. This is what the Bible calls a spiritual birth (John 3:6):
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (KJV John 3:6)
Being born again is a spiritual birth, in which an individual is born not physically, but spiritually. The Lord tried to illuminate this concept to the Jewish teacher Nicodemus when He explained to him that no man would be able to see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again (John 3:3). Nicodemus did not understand that the Lord was referring to a spiritual birth and not a physical one. Being born again is simply the result of our belief in the salvation work of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and faith alone, which is what the Bible teaches (Gal. 2:16; Rom 5:1). As a result of our spiritual birth, we are told that we are now children of God (Galatians 3:26).
In the same manner by which we are born physically from the seed of our human parents, so likewise we are born spiritually from the seed of God into His family. Again, 1 Peter 1:23 confirms to us that believers are born again spiritually after hearing and accepting the gospel of the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Although it is God the Holy Spirit who makes this spiritual birth effective (Titus 3:5), it is the Word of God that presents the good news that Christ is the means to salvation for imperfect and sinful human beings. Thus we have been given the opportunity to accept or reject this message (James 1:18).
The following scriptures confirm that we are born again and justified by faith when we believe and accept the message of salvation through Jesus Christ:
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (KJV John 3:3)
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (KJV Gal. 2:16)
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ… (KJV Rom. 5:1)
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (KJV Gal. 3:26)
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (KJV 1 Pet. 1:23)
Not by worksof righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. (KJV Titus 3:5)
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (KJV James 1:18)
As we can see from the preceding verses highlighting salvation, the Bible emphasizes that we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ's saving work. It is not by the works that we do or don’t do.
The human spirit that we obtain at spiritual birth is the immaterial part of us that is designed by God to convert, store and make use of spiritual phenomenon. God the Holy Spirit takes the doctrinal principles that we learn and store in our human spirit and gives us understanding so that we can believe and apply these principles to our lives (John 16:13). It is through the perception of, belief in (and application of) God's biblical principles stored in our human spirit that we are able to gain the divine wisdom known as God's wisdom.
The unbeliever, on the other hand, does not have a human spirit and is therefore incapable of understanding the things of God (we are told in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that the things of God are foolishness to him because he is unable to understand them). At the time the message of salvation is presented to the unbeliever, God the Holy Spirit acts as a human spirit to permit the unbeliever to understand the basis for salvation. In this way the justice of God provides every unbeliever with an equal opportunity to accept or to reject the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. The justice of God is perfect and will assure that everyone who has reached God-consciousness will have an opportunity to listen to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As a result, each one will choose for or against the Gospel from his or her very own freewill. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior for salvation?
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