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The Golden Chain - Robert J. Wieland

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2. If Christ took the sinful nature of man<br />

after the Fall, would He be "a man with the<br />

propensities of sin" that the Baker letter says we<br />

must not present Him as having (5BC 1128)?<br />

In Ellen White's own context, her use of the<br />

term "propensities of sin" means a yielding to<br />

temptation, a harboring of an evil purpose, that<br />

would be the compulsive result of a previous<br />

involvement in an act, word, or thought of sin. She<br />

did not teach that we incur guilt genetically.<br />

Jones and Waggoner never implied that Christ<br />

had "evil propensities." Ellen White defines her<br />

own terms. We cannot inject into her use of these<br />

words our own misconceptions. She said unot for<br />

one moment was there in Him an evil propensity."<br />

This language is meaningless unless the phrase<br />

"not for one moment" is understood as implying<br />

the exercise of personal choice from moment to<br />

moment. Such an expression doesn't make sense if<br />

it refers to genetic inheritance. Thus an "evil<br />

propensity" is understood as sinful character<br />

involving personal choice. In the same letter, her<br />

113

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