Section 5
need to be partners with Christ in His pattern and standard. This is the first aspect of the divine and rich provision for our constant salvation.
THE OPERATING GOD
When I was young, I learned that in 2:5-11 there are seven steps in the Lord's humiliation: emptying Himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in the likeness of men, humbling Him self, becoming obedient, being obedient unto death, and being obedient unto the death of the cross. I was also taught that, as Christians, we should follow the Lord Jesus in these steps. How ever, the more I tried to follow Him and imitate Him, the more my fallen nature was exposed. I realized from my experience that the traditional teaching of imitating Christ does not work, for I simply did not have a nature that could follow the Lord in this way. The Lord Jesus was God incarnate, a God-man, a man with the divine ele ment. How could I, a fallen human being, one who lacked even the proper human element and entirely lacked the divine element, follow this God-man? The Lord Jesus has both the divine ele ment and the proper human element. Although He put aside the form of God, He never laid aside the nature of God. The reality, essence, substance,