The Golden Chain - Robert J. Wieland

would have sinned if He had taken Peter's advice
and evaded His cross (Matthew 16:22). Here is the
sublime truth of the incarnation of our Saviour: in
order to "condemn sin in the flesh," He needed the
cross. And so do we! The cross was not His
"saviour," but He needed the cross in order to
become our Saviour, and thus to "be made sin ...
for us."
16. If the 1888 view is correct, would Christ
Himself need a Saviour? Would not His sacrifice
have been imperfect, polluted?
On the contrary, His sacrifice could have been
perfect only if He had identified Himself fully with
us by taking our fallen, sinful nature. A messiah
"exempt" from our inheritance or from the identical
conflict we have with temptation would have been
a useless sacrifice because he could not have made
full satisfaction for our sin. Heaven would never be
secure against a recurrence of sin unless the
Saviour's victory were won by triumphing
completely over our sinful nature with all its
liabilities "in the likeness of sinful flesh." Any
53