Student Study Guide
Lesson 18
Why Jesus Really Came
Section 1 - Beyond Saving Benefits
Section One
There is a tendency in the church to define the gospel primarily in terms of what it saves us from: sin, hell, spiritual death, eternal separation from God. All of that is real and none of it should be minimized. But reducing the work of Christ to its saving benefits alone is to miss the depth of what God has been working toward since before the foundation of the world.
Jesus did not come merely to get us out of hell. He came for a purpose that is larger, older, and more breathtaking than any of those things - a purpose that those things serve but do not fully contain.
1. Reducing the work of Christ to its saving benefits alone is to miss the depth of what God has been working toward since before the of the world.
2. Jesus did not come merely to get us out of hell. He came for a purpose that is , older, and more breathtaking than any of those things - a purpose those things but do not fully contain.
Your Reflection
Section 2 - The Mystery of His Will
Section Two
3. In Ephesians 1, God discloses the master - the overarching mystery that encompasses everything He has ever done or revealed: the eternal purpose behind creation, behind the cross, behind the resurrection, behind the formation of the church, and behind itself.
4. The mystery: God planned, from before the ages, for the of the times and the climax of the ages to all things in Christ - things in heaven and things on earth.
Your Reflection
Section 3 - Why God Created Man
Section Three
God did not create humanity because He needed servants - He already had angels. He did not create humanity because He needed more creatures to populate His universe - He already had those in abundance. When God created man, He was doing something He had never done before: acting out of a longing that ran deeper than creation itself.
The Longing Behind Creation: God created man to share Himself with another. He acted out of the longing to share Himself with a being made with a totally free moral will - not compelled, not programmed, not constrained by nature to love and worship and be with Him, but freely choosing it.
5. When God said, "It is not good that man should be alone" (Gen. 2:18), He was not merely describing Adam's experience. He was revealing His own . He was saying something profound about .
6. God created for Himself a being with a totally free moral - not compelled, not programmed, not constrained by nature to love and worship, but choosing it. A being He could fully share Himself with for all of eternity.
7. The creation of Eve from Adam's rib was not primarily a domestic arrangement. It was the first of the eternal mystery: one being, taken out of another, back to the one from whom they came, in a union so complete that the two become .
Your Reflection
Section 4 - The Marriage Parable and Its Ultimate Meaning
Section Four
Paul brings the full weight of this truth into the open. Marriage - the leaving of father and mother, the cleaving to a wife, the two becoming one flesh - was never primarily about human domestic life. It was always a parable of something eternal.
The Earthly Parable
Adam → Eve taken from his rib → joined back to him → the two become one flesh
The Eternal Reality
Christ → the church taken from Him → joined back to Him → one new man for eternity
8. Human marriage was created by God as a living for the mystery He had been keeping since before the foundation of the world.
9. Jesus His Father. He was joined to His bride. The intention, stated without ambiguity: the two shall become . We are members of His body, of His flesh, of His bones - the same language used of Eve in relation to Adam.
10. Jesus did not come to establish a . He came to take His . He came so that Christ and His church would become one - not in agreement, not in alignment, but truly .
Your Reflection
Section 5 - One New Man
Section Five
11. Jesus made both one to create in Himself one man. Not one improved man. Not one reformed man. A new of being, created in Christ, that did not previously exist.
12. "If any man is in Christ, he is a new " (2 Cor. 5:17). This is not a poetic way of saying someone has turned over a new leaf. It is a statement about - about what kind of thing a person becomes when genuinely joined to Christ.
13. The whole fullness of the dwells bodily in Christ. The church is His . He is the head. Together they constitute one new man, one new being, in whom the whole fullness of deity finds its complete bodily expression.
Your Reflection
Section 6 - The Mystery: Christ in You
Section Six
14. The mystery of the gospel, the secret God planned for the climax of the ages, is not primarily that Christ for sins (as staggering as that is). It is that is in you.
15. The whole fullness of the Godhead, dwelling bodily in Christ, and Christ dwelling in the . The fullness of deity finding its complete bodily expression not merely in the historical person of Jesus, but in the living, joined, body of Christ that is the church.
16. Sin was the between God and man that prevented the union He had planned from before the foundation of the world. The cross removed the . Forgiveness of sins was not the destination - it was the clearing of the ground so the plan could move forward.
The Plan Behind the Plan:
Sin was the barrier - the cross removed it.
Forgiveness was the means - the union was the end.
What He really wanted was the union. The joining. The one new man. The two becoming one flesh.
The mystery of the gospel is Christ in you - the hope of glory.
Final Reflection
Lesson 18 - Practice Test
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Part A: Multiple Choice (5 questions · 2 pts each)
1. According to the lesson, why did God create humanity (and not for the usual reasons)?
2. What does Paul reveal in Ephesians 5:32 about the institution of marriage?
3. When Ephesians 2:15 describes "one new man," what does the lesson say this actually means?
4. According to the lesson, what was the master secret disclosed in Ephesians 1:9-10?
5. What does the lesson describe as "the plan behind the plan"?
Part B: True or False (6 statements · 1 pt each)
1. God created humanity because He needed servants and stewards for His creation who were superior to angels in their capacity for moral reasoning.
2. The statement "if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17) is a precise ontological statement about a new category of being, not merely a metaphor for moral improvement.
3. When God said "it is not good that man should be alone," He was primarily describing Adam's need for human companionship and social support.
4. The forgiveness of sins through the cross was the ultimate destination of God's eternal plan.
5. The parallels between Adam/Eve and Christ/church are exact because the earthly institution was always intended to illustrate the heavenly reality.
6. The church is not a collection of saved individuals waiting for heaven, but the living, corporate expression of the one new man that Jesus came to create.
Part C: Fill in the Blank (5 items · 1 pt each)
1. God created humanity out of a longing to Himself with another.
2. "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the " (Ephesians 5:32).
3. The mystery of the gospel is in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).
4. God planned at the climax of the ages to all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10).
5. Sin was the between God and man; the cross removed it so the eternal plan of union could move forward.
Part D: Short Answer (completion credit)
1. Explain the lesson's central claim about the purpose of creation: why did God create humanity, and why was free will essential to what He was after?
2. How does the parable of Adam and Eve point to the eternal reality of Christ and the church? What are the specific parallels the lesson identifies?
3. What is the "plan behind the plan"? How does this reframe the cross and the forgiveness of sins?
Part E - Before You Leave
Jesus came to take His bride - not to establish a religion. How does this change the way you understand your relationship with God? Write your honest response.
The church is the ongoing, living, corporate expression of the one new man. What does that mean for how you see your role in the body of Christ?