“What is the significance of the Lord’s voluntarily giving Himself?”

April 2019 – Grace & Truth Magazine

QUESTION: What is the significance of the Lord’s voluntarily giving Himself?

ANSWER:The Lord Jesus is God – God the Son – coequal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He is the One by whom all things were made and by whom all things subsist. He is all powerful and, as God, supreme. When He was here on earth the winds and the waves, the fish of the sea, sicknesses of every sort, and even the demons and death were subject to Him.

His voluntarily giving Himself is associated with His love. In John 10 He spoke of Himself as the Good Shepherd and said He would lay down His life for His sheep. No one could take His life from Him, but He would lay it down of Himself and He would take it up again. He had power to do this and would exercise that power. While He was here on earth as Man, all that He did He did in dependence on the Father’s will. This goes beyond our understanding while drawing worship and adoration from our hearts.

His motivation was love – love to the Father and love to us. Galatians 2:20 is very personal. We may each apply this verse to ourselves with deepest appreciation: “The Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Ephesians 5:2 goes a step further, saying that “Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us,” collectively. Verse 25 of that same chapter is very specific, saying that “Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for her.” His giving Himself was an act of love beyond any other such act that there has ever been. His motivation was holy and pure, and He brought glory to God, pleasing Him fully.

Looking at His voluntarily giving Himself from another aspect, Ecclesiastes 8:8 tells us that we human beings do not have the intrinsic, or inborn, power to dismiss our spirit. In John 19:28-30 we see Jesus, knowing that what Scripture foretold about His crucifixion had been fulfilled, expressing His thirst. Once the vinegar – the sour wine which was the Roman soldiers’ ration – was given Him, He said, “It is finished.” He bowed His head and gave up (literally, “dismissed”) His spirit. Man, while absolutely incapable of killing Him who is the Son of God, is nonetheless guilty of crucifying Jesus and is responsible before God for putting to death that One who freely gave His life for us.

Answered by Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.