IT IS A LIFE CONFORMED TO GOD’S PERFECT PATTERN

The purpose of the wondrous plan of salvation wrought out in the eternal counsels of the triune God before the world or man was made was the complete conformity of the penitent, believing sinner to the image of his perfect Savior.

God laid the foundation for such an achievement in the creation of the first man in His own image. In His second Man, God gave mankind the perfect pattern to which He would conform every believer in Christ Jesus. May we see, then, what were the constituent elements in the life of this perfect pattern that we may fully understand and quickly respond to the operation of the Holy Spirit as He works to fashion us according to it.

In our study of the incarnation, we have seen that the life of the God-man was truly human in every sense in which our life is human, except in its sinfulness. He lived in the same kind of world and was involved in the same kind of relationships. So, the constituent elements in His moral and spiritual character that enable Him to be a perfect pattern to all mankind must be in us if we are fully conformed to His image.

The God-man’s surpassing perfection is seen most clearly in His relationship with His Father, which was one of unimpaired obedience and unintermittent dependence. The will of God was the center and the circumference of His life, and all that took place from His birth in the manger to His death on the cross was the execution of His Father’s will. He came, He lived, He died, that His Father’s will might be done on earth as in heaven. Obedience was the invariable, unalterable rule in the life of Christ on earth. He always said yes to God. Self-will had no place in His life.

Hebrews 10:9

“Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, 0 God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.”

John 6:38

“For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.”

John 4:34

“Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.”

Christ, the perfect pattern, was also absolutely dependent. Self-trust had no place in the life of the God-man. The last Adam lived a life of dependence, which the first Adam refused to live. Never was a life lived on earth so dependent upon God as was His. His thoughts, words, and works were those of His Father. He was a Sent One and did only what He had been sent to do. He never initiated or executed anything that had its spring in Himself, for His was a life “insulated in God’s will.” The last Adam was the perfect pattern in His utter dependence upon God.

John 5:30

“I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”

John 14:10

“Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”

The God-man’s surpassing perfection is seen again most transparently in His glorious victory and His spotless holiness. Tempted in all points as we are, having no companionship but that of sinful men and women in a world of sin, tested by His Father and tempted by the devil, yet He came forth so victorious that both friend and foe acknowledged no fault in Him.

Luke 23:22

“And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go.”

1 Peter 2:22

“Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.”

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

Gracious God, we praise You for the daily process of our being conformed to the perfect image of Your dear Son.