Who is the Devil?

Hebrews 2:14  Therefore, since the “young children” are sharers of blood and flesh, he also similarly shared in the same things, so that through his death he might bring to nothing the one having the means to cause death,+ that is, the Devil,

Romans 6:9 For we know that Christ, now that he has been raised up from the dead, dies no more; death is master over him no more. 10 For the death that he died, he died with reference to sin once for all time; but the life that he lives, he lives with reference to God. 11 Likewise also YOU: reckon yourselves to be dead indeed with reference to sin but living with reference to God by Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:3 For, there being an incapability on the part of the Law, while it was weak through the flesh, God, by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh,

Romans 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were constituted sinners, likewise also through the obedience of the one man many will be constituted righteous. 20 Now the Law came in beside in order that trespassing might abound.

From the Christadelphian Statement of Faith and Doctrines to be rejected:

5. That Adam broke this law, and was adjudged unworthy of immortality, and sentenced to return to the ground from whence he was taken-a sentence which defiled and became a physical law of his being, and was transmitted to all his posterity.
Gen. 3:15-19, 22-23; 2 Cor. 1:9; Rom. 7:24; 2 Cor. 5:2-4; Rom. 7:18-23; Gal. 5:16-17; Rom. 6:12; 7:21; John 3:6; Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:22; Psa. 51:5; Job 14:4.

6. That God, in His kindness, conceived a plan of restoration which, without setting aside His just and necessary law of sin and death, should ultimately rescue the race from destruction, and people the earth with sinless immortals.
Rev. 21:4; John 3:16; 2 Tim. 1:10; 1 John 2:25; 2 Tim. 1:1; Titus 1:2; Rom. 3:26; John 1:29.

7. That He inaugurated this plan by making promises to Adam, Abraham and David, and afterwards elaborated it in greater detail through the prophets.
Gen. 3:15; 22:18; Psa. 89:34-37; 33:5; Hos. 13:14; Isa. 25:7-9; 51:1-8; Jer. 23:5.

8. That these promises had reference to Jesus Christ, who was to be raised up in the condemned line of Abraham and David, and who, though wearing their condemned nature, was to obtain a title to resurrection by perfect obedience, and, by dying, abrogate the law of condemnation for himself, and all who should believe and obey him.
1 Cor. 15:45; Heb. 2:14-16; Rom. 1:3; Heb. 5:8-9; 1:9; Rom. 5:19-21; Gal. 4:4-5; Rom. 8:3-4; Heb. 2:15; 9:26; Gal. 1:4; Heb. 7:27; 5:3-7; 2:17; Rom. 6:10; 6:9; Acts 13:34-37; Rev. 1:18; John 5:21-22, 26-27; 14:3; Rev. 2:7; 3:21; Matt. 25:21;Heb. 5:9; Mark 16:16; Acts 13:38-39; Rom. 3:22; (Psa. 2:6-9; Dan. 7:13-14; Rev. 11:15; Jer. 23:5; Zech. 14:9; Eph. 1:9-10) -- [Publisher's Note: These passages in parathensis must be considered together.]

9. That it was this mission that necessitated the miraculous begettal of Christ of a human mother, enabling him to bear our condemnation, and, at the same time, to be a sinless bearer thereof, and, therefore, one who could rise after suffering the death required by the righteousness of God.
Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-35; Isa. 7:14; Rom. 1:3-4; 8:3; Gal. 4:4; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 2:14-17; 4:15.

10. That being so begotten of God, and inhabited and used by God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was Emmanuel, God with us, God manifested in the flesh-yet was, during his natural life, of like nature with mortal man, being made of a woman of the house and lineage of David, and therefore a sufferer, in the days of his flesh, from all the effects that came by Adam's transgression including the death that passed upon all men, which he shared by partaking of their physical nature.
Matt. 1:23; 1 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 2:14; Gal. 4:4; Heb. 2:17.

11. That the message he delivered from God to his kinsmen, the Jews, was a call to repentance from every evil work, the assertion of his divine sonship and Jewish kingship; and the proclamation of the glad tidings that God would restore their kingdom through him, and accomplish all things written in the prophets.
Mark l:l5; Matt. 4:17; 5:20-48; John 10:36; 9:35; 11:27; 19:21; 1:49; Matt. 27:11-43; John 10:24-25; Matt. 19:28; 21:42-43; 23:38-39; 25:14-46; Luke 4:43; 13:27-30; 19:11-27; 22:28-30; Matt. 5:17; Luke 24:44.

12. That for delivering this message, he was put to death by the Jews and Romans who were, however, but instruments in the hands of God, for the doing of that which He had determined before to be done-namely, the condemnation of sin in the flesh, through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all, as a propitiation to declare the righteousness of God, as a basis for the remission of sins. All who approach God through this crucified, but risen, representative of Adam's disobedient race, are forgiven. Therefore, by a figure, his blood cleanseth from sin.
Luke 19:47; 20:1-26; John 11:45-53; Acts 10:38-39; 13:26-29; 4:27-28; Rom. 8:3; Heb. 10:10; Rom. 3:25; Acts 13:38; 1 John 1:7; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Pet. 3:18; 2:24; Heb. 9:14; 7:27; 9:26-28; Gal. 1:4; Rom. 3:25; 15:8; Gal. 3:21-22; Gal. 2:21; 4:4-5; Heb. 9:15; Luke 22:20; 24:26, 46-47; Matt. 26:28.

http://www.logos.org.au/pages/BASF.html

 4. We reject that Christ was born with a “free life”. [A “free life” signifies that Christ’s nature was not under Adamic condemnation as is that of all other members of the human race, and that therefore his sacrifice was a substitute for the “lives” of others. However, he needed to obtain redemption himself in order to redeem his “brethren” — Gal 4:4; 1Tim. 2:6; Heb. 9:12.]

 5.  We reject that Christ’s nature was immaculate, or that he was of a different nature from other men. [Through his birth he inherited a nature sin-affected, and destined to death, being mortal, as all others — Heb. 2:14.]

11.  We reject that the devil is a supernatural personal being. [The devil is variously manifested as that which falsely “accuses.” It is the manifestation of the ungodly characteristics of sin’s flesh, and will cease to exist when sin is ultimately destroyed — 1Pet. 5:8; Rev. 20:10.]

27. We reject that there is no sin in the flesh. [The flesh is hereditarily related to sin, caused by the transgression of Adam, the effects of which have passed upon all men, including the Lord Jesus Christ — 2Cor. 5:21.]

37. We reject that the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ was not required for the cleansing of his sin nature. [The Lord's sacrifice was necessary for his own redemption. His sacrifice was a public demonstration that his flesh was rightly related to death and a declaration of the righteousness of God that required the offering of his life in devotion to Him. By his sacrifice the ungodly propensities (diabolos) of his nature was destroyed (Heb. 2:14; 9:12; 7:27), thus providing for the granting of immortality.

http://www.logos.org.au/pages/Errors.html

Christ Destroys The Devil Through Death

We make the acquaintance of the abstract phase of the subject (in which all other forms of Bible diabolism have their root) in the contemplation of a statement we had occasion to quote earlier viz., that Jesus partook of the flesh and blood of his brethren "that through death, he might destroy him that had the power of death, THAT IS, THE DEVIL -- Heb. 2:14). The Revised Version alters this wording a little, but not the meaning. "Destroy him that had the power of death" is changed to "Bring to nought him that had (or "hath", see margin) the power..." If possible, this is stronger, for to bring to nothing is to annihilate. The statement before us is that the annihilation of the devil was achieved by the death of Christ. This was what he died for: "that through death he might bring to nothing him that had the power of death, that is, the devil". If the devil of this statement is the popular devil, how are we to understand it ? Did the death of Christ accomplish the annihilation of the devil? If so, how? How could being killed by the devil kill the devil? And how if he killed the devil, can the devil in that case be still alive; and how are we to understand the devil having the power of death in view of the fact that the power of death rests with God, and with God only, who inflicts it at His pleasure? (Deut. 32:39).

Whichever way the statement is considered, it cannot be made to yield an intelligible idea if we attach the popular meaning to the word "devil". There must be another meaning. There is another meaning.

Sin and Death

We begin to find it in the consideration of other statements as to what was accomplished by the sacrifice of Christ. We cannot do better than calmly look at a number of these statements:

"He put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Heb. 9:26).

"Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3).

"He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities" (Isa. 53:5).

"His own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24).

"He was manifested to take away our sins" (1 John 3:5).

"Our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all

iniquity" (Titus 2:13, 14).

"Our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this

present evil world" (Gal. 1:3, 4).

"This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins"

(Matt. 26:28).

"Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood" (Rev. 5:9).

These are divinely inspired definitions of the result achieved by the death of Christ. Who can read them without perceiving that the work accomplished was a work in relation to men themselves, and that the thing destroyed in the death of Christ was sin? It is of the highest importance that we should here seek to realize how this result was accomplished. We cannot become enlightened in this matter except by considering the history of sin. This is a very important history in relation to our race, though made light of by most men. It is told very briefly by Paul, whose words are the utterance of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:12). He says, "By one

man sin entered into the world, and death by sin". He is referring to Adam's disobedience at the beginning. How death came "by" this disobedience is very plain in the reading of the divine narrative in Genesis. Adam having been created in a good and happy state, it was said to him that he should abstain from eating of a certain tree, with this intimation: "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17). In the course of time he broke the command; he did what he was told not to do; he disobeyed, and this was sin; for sin and disobedience (in their primary sense) are interchangeable terms. It is the consequence we have to consider: sentence of death was passed: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Gen. 3:19). This sentence took effect upon Adam's nature, and became a law or quality of it, which was henceforth "corruptible" and "mortal". His nature became physically a dying nature, and therefore a death-nature, because of sin. Afterwards, children were born to Adam with the result of multiplying men who, having his nature, had also the "sentence of death in themselves" ( 1 Cor. 1: 9), which came originally by Adam's sin, and who in their moral manifestations revealed the effects of their inheritance.

Now God purposed in Himself to bring good out of this sore evil. He purposed to bring the human race back into harmony with Himself (not every individual of it—comparatively few individuals of it—but ultimately the entire race as a race). He purposed to abolish death and to bring life and immortality to light (2 Tim. 1:10). But how was this to be done? Sin had brought death and sin reigned. It was to be done by putting away sin—by not imputing sin—by forgiving sin. But was this to be done in an arbitrary manner without ceremony or condition ? Was it to be forgiven in the way a man might suddenly forgive a debt owing by a friend? The death of Christ (prefigured by a long established ritual of sacrifice is the answer. Forgiveness was to be offered in a way that secured the recognition of justice—the humiliation of man and the exaltation of God. It was to be made conditional upon a recognition and submission to what was

accomplished in Christ. "Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins" (Acts 13:38).

But let us pause for a moment to consider what was accomplished in him. The orthodox doctrine of the death of Christ creates great difficulty and confusion here. It proclaims the death of Christ as a payment of debts due by others—a suffering of punishment that ought to have been inflicted on others. If this be the case, there is an obliteration of the doctrine of forgiveness; for debts cannot be said to be forgiven that have been satisfied. And there is no explanation of the fact that believers die. If Christ died instead of them, believers ought not to die. And there is then confusion caused in our conceptions of the moral government of God by the idea that the innocent should be punished instead of the guilty, as was certainly the case if Christ suffered a punishment which was due to us and not due to him.

The difficulty is removed if we contemplate Christ as a partaker of the death-stricken flesh and blood of Adam's race which died in him. That he is so to be contemplated is evident from the apostolic declaration that he was made in all things like unto his brethren, and that he partook of their precise nature that he might destroy death in it conformably with the moral requirements involved (Heb. 2:14-17). When we look at Christ thus as partaking of our death stricken-nature, we are able to comprehend in what way his death was fitted "to declare the righteousness of God" (Rom. 3:25). In the days of his flesh (Heb. 5:7) which were days of "weakness" (2 Cor. 13:4) he was a man suffering with all his brethren the effects that came by Adam's sin. It was on our account still, as a matter of fact, that "he was made sin" (2 Cor. 5:21); made of a woman (Gal. 4:4); "sent in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Rom. 8:3); "made of the seed of David according to the flesh" (Rom. 1:3). Consequently, when he died, "he died unto sin"(Rom. 6:10): sin was condemned in the flesh (Rom. 8:3). The righteousness of God was declared (Rom. 3:23).

But in his own character, he was absolutely sinless, due to the fact, that though the Son of David through Mary, he was the Son of God by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). In this, his perfect obedience (Rom. 5:19; Phil. 2:8), he was the spotless Lamb of God.Without this, his offering for sin would have been of no avail, for dying, he would have remained dead. It was in his resurrection to life immortal, after the suffering of death, that lay the great victory of the scheme in him. Without his resurrection, his death would have been in vain (1 Cor. 15:17), and without sinlessness, his resurrection would have been impossible.

Without sinlessness he would have been in the position of Adam's race whom he came to redeem with himself, for he also participated in the redemption wrought out in himself (Heb. 9:12, R.V. ; 5 :9).

When we look at the Son of God after his resurrection, free from all further dominion of death (Rom. 6:9), we look at a Son of Abraham in whom the power of sin has been destroyed—its moral power overcome, for he was tempted as we all are (Heb. 4:15), but overcame (John 16:33; Rev. 3:21); its hereditary claims extinguished in death ("body of sin destroyed", Rom. 6:6); and its physical hold on human nature obliterated and destroyed by a resurrection to eternal life and glory. We look at a representative of the race—God's own work—God's own Son—in whom the relation between God and man has been rectified; in whom the calamity of Eden has been repaired. But as we look, we see that so far this result is limited to himself. He only is delivered: he only has obtained eternal redemption. But is it the purpose of God to extend the

glorious result to many others? It was with this purpose He raised up such a saviour. It but remains to glance for a moment at the principle on which the result is extended. It is all "through this man" (Acts 13:38). "There is non other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). God offers to all who believe and obey him (putting on his name in baptism, and observing all things that he has commanded—Acts 2:38; Matt. 28:20) the forgiveness of their sins for his sake (Eph. 4:32) and eternal life by his hand at his coming manifestation in the earth in power and great glory.

The Meaning Of The Word "Devil"

In all this we may seem to have wandered far from the subject of the evil one, but it is not so.

We cannot speak of the result of the sacrificial work of Christ, without speaking of the devil, though we may not mention his name, because the object of that work, in scriptural language, was, as we have seen, to destroy the devil and his works. What is manifest is that sin and the devil are in their radical relations equivalent terms. What we have to consider is, how it comes that sin in the abstract should be spoken of and personified as the "devil". The answer is to be apprehended in view of the meaning of the word. It is a common noun, such as enemy, liar, thief, etc. This would be seen if the word were translated. Strictly speaking, it is not translated, but lifted out nearly unchanged from the Greek and set down into English. In one or two cases it is translated, such as in 1 Tim. 3:11, where the wives of the deacons are forbidden to be

slanderers (the word in the original is the word elsewhere rendered Devil). Here we get a peep at the real meaning of the word as given to us by Parkhurst in his Lexicon, where he tells us that diabolos (the word translated devil) is a compound of dia through, and ballo to cast, and means to dart or strike through; hence, to slander, to utter falsehood maliciously, to speak lies. "The Devil" therefore, for purposes of understanding, is best to be read in English as The Liar, The Slanderer, or The Accuser; and then the way lies open to ask, Why sin should be personified as a liar, a slanderer? The answer to this will be seen in the nature of sin. It is the doing of that which God has forbidden, not because God has forbidden it, but because gratification or advantage will come of it. When Adam disobeyed in the garden of Eden, it was not from a bad motive, as mentalk; it was from a conviction that the forbidden tree was good, and would open his eyes and make him wise. So the narrative informed us in Eve's case (Gen. 3:6). A man may not commit sin from sheer wickedness, but to get some good for himself. The good he seeks cannot come of it. Hence, sin universally is a lie, and, when personified, is a liar. It is also a slanderer, and a slanderer of God. It so to speak presents itself to its victim, and says, "Listen to me; do as I tell you and you shall have great enjoyment and benefit. God is unkind in putting restrictions upon you: He keeps you from much happiness. Life and joy are in my ways and not in His". Thus it slanders God and utters falsehood to the ruin of those who listen; for destruction and misery are in the ways of sin; and the highest joy and purest well-being are connected with that loving submission to God in which we are exercised in the keeping of His commandments.

Sin, as the great deceiver of mankind, is there well spoken of as the Liar, the Accuser, the Slanderer of God—alias the Devil. In its literal aspect, it is, of course, an impersonal thing, tempting without being a conscious tempter, as expressed by James. "Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed; then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death" (James 1:14)

An Evil Heart

There is another case where the sinful action of the human heart is described as the inspiration of "Satan" (Acts 5:3). Ananias and Sapphira went into the presence of the apostles with a lie on their lips; Peter said, "Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?" The meaning of Satan filling the heart crops out in the next sentence but one; "Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart?" (verse 4); also in Peter's address to Sapphira who came in three hours after Ananias. Peter saidunto her, "How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the spirit of the Lord?" (verse 9). But supposing we had not been thus informed that the lie of Ananias was due to a compact with his wife, from selfish motives, to misrepresent the extent of their property, we should have had no difficulty in understanding that Satan filling the heart was the impulse of the flesh, which is the great Satan or Adversary, moving him to the particular line of action which evoked Peter's rebuke.

As we have seen, James defines sin as the outcome of a man's own lust. Hence, the action of lust in the mind is the action of the New Testament Satan, or Adversary. All sin proceeds from the desires of the flesh. This is declared in various forms of speech in the Scriptures, and agrees with the experience of every man.

Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies . . . (Matt. 15 :19).

The carnal mind is enmity against God: it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be (Rom. 8:7).

Now the works of flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like (Gal. 5:19, 21).

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life . . . is of the world (1 John 2 :16).

Sin Personified

Christ, through death, destroyed the Bible devil. He certainly did not destroy the popular devil in his death, for that devil is supposed to be still at large; but in his own person, as a representative man, he extinguished the power of sin by surrendering to its full consequences, and then escaping by resurrection, through the power of his holiness, to live for evermore. This is described as "God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3). Sin in the flesh, then, is the devil destroyed by Jesus in his death.

This is the devil having the power of death, as the following testimonies show:

By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin (Rom. 5:12).

By man came death (1 Cor. 15:21).

The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23).

Sin hath reigned unto death (Rom. 5:21). Sin bringeth forth death (Jas. 1:15).

The sting of death is sin (1 Cor. 15:56).

Having regard to the fact that death was divinely decreed in the garden of Eden, in consequence of Adam's transgression, it is easy to understand the language which recognizes and personifies transgression, or sin, as the power or cause of death. The foregoing statements express the literal truth metonymically. Actually, death, as the consequence of sin, is produced, caused, or inflicted by God, but since sin or transgression is the fact or principle that moves God to inflict it, sin is put forward as the first cause in the matter. This is intelligible: but what has a personal devil to do with it? He is excluded. There is no place for him. And if he is forced into the arrangement, the result is to change the moral situation, alter the scheme of salvation, andproduce confusion: for if the power of death lies with a personal power of evil, separate from, and independent of man, and not in man's own sinfulness, then the operations of Christ are transferred from the arena of moral conflict to that of physical strife, and the whole scheme of divine interposition through him is degraded to a level with the Pagan mythologies, in which gods, good and bad, are represented to be in murderous physical hostility for the accomplishment of their several ends. God is thus brought down from His position of supremacy, and placed on a footing with the forces of His own creation.

http://www.wrestedscriptures.com/b07satan/the_evil_one.pdf

This enemy within the human nature is the mind of the flesh, which is enmity against God; it is not subject to His law, neither indeed can be (Rom. 8:7). The commandment of God, which is "holy, just and good", being so restrictive of the propensities, which in purely animal men display themselves with uncontrolled violence, makes them appear in their true colours. These turbulent propensities the apostle styles "sin in the flesh", of which it is full; hence, he also terms it "sinful flesh". This is human nature; and the evil in it, made so apparent by the law of God, he personifies as "pre-eminently A SINNER" (Rom.7:12,13,17,18). This is the accuser, adversary, and calumniator of God, whose stronghold is the flesh. It is the devil and satan within the human nature; so that "when a man is tempted, he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed". If a man examine himself, he will perceive within him something at work, craving after things which the law of God forbids. The best of men are conscious of this enemy within them. It troubled the apostle so much, that he exclaimed, "0, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death" (Rom. 7:24), or, this mortal body? He thanked God that the Lord Jesus Christ would do it; that is, as he had himself been delivered from it, by God raising him from the dead by His Spirit (Rom. 8:11).

Human nature, or "sinful flesh", has three principal channels through which it displays its waywardness against the law of God. These are expressed by "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life". All that is in the world stands related to these points of our nature; and there is no temptation that can be devised, but what assails it in one, or more, of these three particulars. The world without is the seducer, which finds in all animal men, unsubdued by the law and testimony of God, a sympathizing and friendly principle, ready at all times to eat of its forbidden fruit. This sinful nature we inherit. It is our misfortune, not our crime, that we possess it. We are only blameworthy when, being supplied with the power of subduing it, we permit it to reign over us. This power resides in "the testimony of God" believed; so that we "are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation" (1 Pet. 1:5). This testimony ought to dwell in us as it dwelt in the Lord Jesus; so that, as with the shield of faith, the fiery assaults of the world may be quenched (Eph. 6:16) by a "thus it is written", and a "thus saith the Lord".

The kingdom of Satan is manifested under various phases. When the Word was embodied in sinful flesh, and dwelt among the Jews, the Kosmos was constituted of the Roman world, which was then based upon the institutions of paganism. After these were suppressed, the kingdom of the adversary assumed the Constantinian form, which was subsequently changed in the west to the Papal and Protestant order of things; and in the east to the Mohammedan. These phases, however, no more affect the nature of the kingdom than the changes of the moon alter her substance. The lord that dominates over them all from the days of Jesus to the present time is SIN, the incarnate accuser and adversary of the law of God, and therefore styled "the Devil and Satan".

http://www.christadelphia.org/books/elpis03.htm

The word sin is used in two principal acceptations in the scripture. It signifies in the first place, "the transgression of the law"; and in the next, it represents that physical principle of the animal nature, which is the cause of all its diseases, death, and resolution into dust. It is that in the flesh "which has the power of death" and it is called sin, because the development, or fixation, of this evil in the flesh, was the result of transgression. Inasmuch as this evil principle pervades every part of the flesh, the animal nature is styled "sinful flesh," that is, "flesh full of sin"; so that sin, in the sacred style, came to stand for the substance called man. In human flesh "dwells no good thing" (Rom. 7:17,18); and all the evil a man does is the result of this principle dwelling in him. Operating upon the brain, it excites the "propensities", and these set the "intellect" and "sentiments" to work. The propensities are blind, and so are the intellect and sentiments in a purely natural state; when therefore, the latter operate under the sole impulse of the propensities, "the understanding is darkened through ignorance, because of the blindness of the heart" (Eph. 4:18). The nature of the lower animals is as full of this physical evil principle as the nature of man; though it cannot be styled sin with the same expressiveness; because it does not possess them as the result of their own transgression; the name, however, does not alter the nature of the thing.

Sin, I say, is a synonym for human nature. Hence, the flesh is invariably regarded as unclean. It is therefore written, "How can he be clean who is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4) "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one." (Job 14:4) "What is man that he should be clean? And he which is born of a woman that he should be righteous? Behold, God putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man, who drinketh iniquity like water?" (Job 15:14-16) This view of sin in the flesh is enlightening in the things concerning Jesus. The apostle says, "God made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21); and this he explains in another place by saying, that "He sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3) in the offering of his body once (Heb. 10:10,12,14). Sin could not have been condemned in the body of Jesus, if it had not existed there. His body was as unclean as the bodies of those for whom he died; for he was born of a woman, and "not one" can bring a clean body out of a defiled body; for "that", says Jesus himself, "which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6).
According to this physical law, the Seed of the woman was born into the world. The nature of Mary was as unclean as that of other women; and therefore could give birth only to "a body" like her own, though especially "prepared of God" (Heb. 10:5). Had Mary's nature been immaculate, as her idolatrous worshippers contend, an immaculate body would have been born of her; which, therefore, would not have answered the purpose of God; which was to condemn sin in the flesh; a thing that could not have been accomplished, if there were no sin there.
Speaking of the conception and preparation of the Seed, the prophet as a typical person, says, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psalm 51:5). This is nothing more than affirming that he was born of sinful flesh; and not of the pure and incorruptible angelic nature.
Sinful flesh being the hereditary nature of the Lord Jesus, he was a fit and proper sacrifice for sin; especially as he was himself "innocent of the great transgression", having been obedient in all things. Appearing in the nature of the seed of Abraham (Heb. 2:16-18), he was subject to all the emotions by which we are troubled; so that he was enabled to sympathize with our infirmities (Heb. 4:15), being "made in all things like unto his brethren". But, when he was "born of the Spirit", in the quickening of his mortal body by the spirit (Rom. 8:11), he became a spirit; for "that which is born of the spirit is spirit". Hence, he is "the Lord the Spirit", incorruptible flesh and bones.
Sin in the flesh is hereditary; and entailed upon mankind as the consequence of Adam's violation of the Eden law. The "original sin" was such as I have shown in previous pages. Adam and Eve committed it; and their posterity are suffering the consequence of it. The tribe of Levi paid tithes to Melchisedec many years before Levi was born. The apostle says, "Levi, who receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham". Upon the same federal principle, all mankind ate of the forbidden fruit, being in the loins of Adam when he transgressed. This is the only way men can by any possibility be guilty of the original sin. Because they sinned in Adam, therefore they return to the dust from which Adam came -- says the apostle, "in whom all sinned". [This marginal reading of the A.V. cannot be sustained. The Revised Version has struck it out.] There is much foolishness spoken and written about "original sin". Infants are made the subjects of a religious ceremony to regenerate them because of original sin; on account of which, acoording to Geneva philosophy they are liable to the flames of hell for ever! If original sin, which is in fact sin in the flesh, were neutralized, then all "baptismally regenerated" babes ought to live for ever, as Adam would have done had he eaten of the Tree of Life after he had sinned. But they die; which is a proof that the "regeneration" does not "cure their souls"; and is, therefore, mere theological quackery.
Mankind being born of the flesh, and of the will of man, are born into the world under the constitution of sin. That is, they are the natural born citizens of Satan's kingdom. By their fleshly birth, they are entitled to all that sincan impart to them. What creates the distinction of bodies politic among the sons of Adam? It is constitution, or covenant. By constitution, then, one man is English, and another American. The former is British because he is born of the flesh under the British constitution. In this case, he is worthy of neither praise nor blame. He was made subject to the constitution, not willingly, but by reason of them who chose that he should be born under it. But when he comes of age, the same man may become an American. He may put off the old man of the political flesh, and put on the new man, which is created by the constitution of the United States; so that by constitution, he becomes an American in every particular but the accident of birth. This will be exact enough to illustrate what I am about to say.

http://www.christadelphia.org/books/elpis04.htm

Note: The Stockport Christadelphians have renounced this teaching they mentally abused me and disfellowshipped me for speaking out against their false doctrine which is called the clean flesh teaching. Many other christadelphians also have renounced the truth or they have not been given the chance to hear the truth

For more information see this link The Changing Literature of the Christadelphian Community https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxjbGVhbmZsZXNodGhlcGFydGlhbGF0b25lbWVudHxneDoyYmQ1NjY3MGJhMzgzMw