Scarcely does the saying, "Christ died for our sins and rose again" come under scrutiny by anyone who names the name of Christ. It is common knowledge to seemingly everyone. "Good Friday" finds churches everywhere solemn and dark, as the religious world seeks to somehow bring to remembrance the death of Christ. The resurrection of Christ is celebrated every Easter across the globe. But, before long, "Christ died for our sins and rose again" becomes dull in the ears of the religious, as it did in mine when I was growing up in the church I was born into without choice, ignorant of the truth. This is because false teachers tell you what Christ did, but they do not tell you what it accomplished. One says, "Christ died for me", but expresses the necessity of baptism for the remission of sins. Another says, "Christ died for me", but declares that partaking of the Lord's supper is necessary to be forgiven before God. Where is forgiveness truly found?
It is a clever device of Satan that has made it so that the churches of today accept that Christ made a sacrifice, which they preach regularly; but in addition, they declare that there is a particular way in which one must attain to the accomplishment of the sacrifice. In other words, they explain to their congregations what the means of obtaining God's grace is, as they see it.
But in all of this false teaching, this question, the only question which can be asked is ignored: "What saith the scripture?"
What does it mean to be saved? What does God require of a person so as to be right before him? Romans 4:25 identifies the two things that need to happen for a man in order for him to have eternal life, saying Christ "was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." Here we have identified the forgiveness of sins, and justification, or, being rendered righteous as God considers righteousness. This is the grace of God; not the works of man, but the works God did already on the behalf of man (cf. Romans 11:6). Thus we have this explained in great detail for us in the latter parts of Second Corinthians chapter five, defined as "the ministry of reconciliation".
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21
First we note that God already has reconciled us to himself. He has brought us near to himself by Jesus Christ. But to whom does this apply? Is he speaking only of the believers here, or of all men? This is answered almost immediately in that he says, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." Clearly the reconciliation in mind here is that which applies to every single human on the planet. But what does it mean to be reconciled? Straightway again, we have the answer: "Not imputing their trespasses unto them." Considering it thus far then, we have the understanding that God reconciled the world to himself, defined in his not counting mankind's sins against them. Further along we have a puzzling statement, however. For after establishing the condition of the world before God at this very moment, saying that he has no faults with them as far as their trespasses (sins) are concerned, he suddenly interjects the words, "We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Why should someone who is reconciled need to be commanded to be reconciled? The answer is given in the last verse.
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The reconciliation that has been accomplished for the whole world is the delivering of Christ Jesus for our sins.
Christ was "made sin" at the cross. God accounted our sins, all sins, to Christ at the cross and Christ suffered the death due them. He paid for them fully when he died. That is the ignored truth found in the simple statement, "Jesus died for our sins." If Jesus died FOR our sins, how can anyone die for their sins? Was his payment not for all sins? If so, that means that the entire world, with all the sins it has committed, is committing, and will commit, has been cleared of that record because of Christ. Yet so few understand this! The basis for which God can refuse to count sins against the world is found in the death of Christ for the sins of the world. For those of us alive today, we may say that Jesus paid our sin debt before we were even born, and when we were born, though we have a body of flesh where sins dwells, God counts none of it against us. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). This is not a statement for the individual but for the world! If it was for the individual, it would mean that every time a sinner was born, Christ would have to die, because, for example, "while Tyler Wentzel was a sinner, Christ died for him." But then another sinner is born, and Christ must die for him! Such is not the case at all. The point Paul is making is that while the world was in its sins, Christ died for it. The payment was once, and it will not be made again. And it is the payment only that is necessary for the accomplishment to be applied. Nothing else is needed. Nothing imputes that payment to the world but the payment itself. Therefore, whether the world realizes this or not, Christ died for its sins, and as a result God will never count those sins against it. This is just as it is written, "but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself (Hebrews 9:26). If anyone is forgiven it has to be by the merits of that sacrifice, for God will provide no other. And since it was meant to "put away sin", dealing with it completely, once and for all, we know that sin is not the issue today.
Sin is not the thing on God's mind today; righteousness is.
So what does Paul mean when he says, "be ye reconciled to God"? I have said how sin has been dealt with already. So what then do men lack in order to be saved? "For [in the gospel] is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith" (Romans 1:17). Men have already been brought near with regard to their sins, insomuch as God is not counting those trespasses against them. But what men lack is the righteousness of God. Whose righteousness is he speaking of? God's. So if something is "of God", how can it belong to men, except God give it to them? You see, God's standard of judgment is his own righteousness. Even though a man's sins are forgiven, he still lacks the righteousness of God until God gives it to him. Forgiving a man does not make him righteous with the righteousness of God. It cleanses his wrongs so that they are not seen, but it does not render him as God is. The only righteousness God accepts is his own. It is written, "by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous" (Romans 5:19). God only accepts the specific obedience Christ had toward his Father. It is impossible for any man to walk the same steps of perfection that Christ walked. But it is also pointless to try based upon the fact that he obeyed for us! Why work for the perfection that he specifically intended to give to you?
For by grace are ye saved, through faith... Ephesians 2:8
I have discussed what God's grace is. It is the work of God for us, manifested as a gift. And gifts cannot be earned. They simply have to be received. The whole world has received the death of Christ. God is the "Savour of all men, specially of those that believe" (1 Timothy 4:10). But the righteousness of God, what we need to be saved, must be received by faith. Faith in what? We need to believe in the finished work of Christ to be saved. Paul said that righteousness "shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:24, 25). And again, he says, "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Romans 4:4, 5). We simply need to take God at his word when he tells us of the provision he gave us when he worked in Christ. We are made the righteousness of God in Christ when we believe that Jesus satisfied God's judgment concerning our sins. God made Christ sin for the express purpose that we would be made righteous. He accounted our sins to Christ so that he could account his righteousness to us. Once a man's sin is dealt with, he can receive the righteousness of God. If both forgiveness and righteousness are necessary for acceptance with God, and we have received forgiveness by the death of Christ, we need only--as forgiven men and women--trust in that death, and we shall be made righteous, which is life.
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Romans 5:10
I would hope this would dispel a great many false notions concerning the gospel. For example, God has appointed no other means of grace other than faith, for the reception of salvation. This destroys the concept of "Sacraments", such as water baptism and the Lord's supper, as being means of grace chiefly since they are not of faith. Paul said that the gospel he preached to the Corinthians, and to all of us, concerning Christ's death for our sins, was what they received to be saved (1 Corinthians 15:1, 2). How did they receive it? By faith alone, just as the Scripture says, "if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:2).
The only thing that keeps a person from being saved is not retaining Christ's finished work in their understanding; that is, rejecting it (the resurrection in particular, as was the case with some among the Corinthians)--not accounting that what God said was true.
He said he paid for your sins; do you think you need to receive remission some other way? By baptism, by the Lord's table? By commandments and doctrines of men, who tell you that you can succeed by self-mutilation or some other method of punishing yourself for your sins? If so, you may have believed in vain--to no profit! Trusting in the death of Christ is a throwing of all hope upon the word of God when he said, "It is finished." If God poured out all his wrath for sin there, then what's left for you? And if he punished Christ on your behalf, how then shall he find occasion to punish you? Likewise, with the resurrection life of Christ. If his resurrection was not for your justification, how will you be saved? The Scripture says we are saved by his life! If he was never raised, how can we be saved? Faith imputes justification of life, but if that life is not there for us to partake of and be placed into, how can we have life? And how shall the payment for sin have been completed if Christ was not raised? For if Christ did not rise, then death still has dominion over him and he's still paying for our sins; the debt is not canceled!
These things all considered, the necessity of asking for forgiveness before becoming saved is also abolished. So is the need for turning from the sins that God cannot see. Anything other than simply accepting by faith what Christ did for you is not counted. It is the addition of works that makes the world blind to how we truly are saved, even as Paul said, "If I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased" (Galatians 5:11). If Paul preached the works of the Law, obedience to God, or any other thing as necessity, he would not have suffered the persecution he did--the world is itching to hear of a way it can save itself by its own merit. Instead, he preached the "offence of the cross", the truth of the grace of God--all his works, none of ours--to be receive only by faith.
There are ever-so-subtle ways that a preacher of the word of God can cleverly cover up a salvation based upon man's works; he may even declare "By grace through faith", while speaking works out of the other side of his mouth. He may say, "Sure, you're justified by faith, but now you must prove it by what you do!" or, "Unless you endure to the end you cannot be saved!" or perhaps even, "You are saved by faith, but you can depart from that salvation and fall away forever!" But I implore the reader: you are safe with grace! Because of the death of Christ, God will never fault you for your sins. When you trust that, you are placed into Jesus Christ with all his righteousness and sealed for eternity by the Holy Spirit. God does not require you to hold onto salvation, either--He holds onto it for you. Grace forbids you to fall away, even if you "feel" like you may have. "Trust" and "feel" are two entirely different things. Either you consider what God said to be true, or you do not; but feelings are not of faith and will accomplish nothing on your behalf.
And this is truly the definition of the "gospel": good news. God wants you to be saved. And he does not want you to act for your salvation; he wants you to believe in the acts of another.
It is a clever device of Satan that has made it so that the churches of today accept that Christ made a sacrifice, which they preach regularly; but in addition, they declare that there is a particular way in which one must attain to the accomplishment of the sacrifice. In other words, they explain to their congregations what the means of obtaining God's grace is, as they see it.
But in all of this false teaching, this question, the only question which can be asked is ignored: "What saith the scripture?"
What does it mean to be saved? What does God require of a person so as to be right before him? Romans 4:25 identifies the two things that need to happen for a man in order for him to have eternal life, saying Christ "was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." Here we have identified the forgiveness of sins, and justification, or, being rendered righteous as God considers righteousness. This is the grace of God; not the works of man, but the works God did already on the behalf of man (cf. Romans 11:6). Thus we have this explained in great detail for us in the latter parts of Second Corinthians chapter five, defined as "the ministry of reconciliation".
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21
First we note that God already has reconciled us to himself. He has brought us near to himself by Jesus Christ. But to whom does this apply? Is he speaking only of the believers here, or of all men? This is answered almost immediately in that he says, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." Clearly the reconciliation in mind here is that which applies to every single human on the planet. But what does it mean to be reconciled? Straightway again, we have the answer: "Not imputing their trespasses unto them." Considering it thus far then, we have the understanding that God reconciled the world to himself, defined in his not counting mankind's sins against them. Further along we have a puzzling statement, however. For after establishing the condition of the world before God at this very moment, saying that he has no faults with them as far as their trespasses (sins) are concerned, he suddenly interjects the words, "We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Why should someone who is reconciled need to be commanded to be reconciled? The answer is given in the last verse.
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The reconciliation that has been accomplished for the whole world is the delivering of Christ Jesus for our sins.
Christ was "made sin" at the cross. God accounted our sins, all sins, to Christ at the cross and Christ suffered the death due them. He paid for them fully when he died. That is the ignored truth found in the simple statement, "Jesus died for our sins." If Jesus died FOR our sins, how can anyone die for their sins? Was his payment not for all sins? If so, that means that the entire world, with all the sins it has committed, is committing, and will commit, has been cleared of that record because of Christ. Yet so few understand this! The basis for which God can refuse to count sins against the world is found in the death of Christ for the sins of the world. For those of us alive today, we may say that Jesus paid our sin debt before we were even born, and when we were born, though we have a body of flesh where sins dwells, God counts none of it against us. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). This is not a statement for the individual but for the world! If it was for the individual, it would mean that every time a sinner was born, Christ would have to die, because, for example, "while Tyler Wentzel was a sinner, Christ died for him." But then another sinner is born, and Christ must die for him! Such is not the case at all. The point Paul is making is that while the world was in its sins, Christ died for it. The payment was once, and it will not be made again. And it is the payment only that is necessary for the accomplishment to be applied. Nothing else is needed. Nothing imputes that payment to the world but the payment itself. Therefore, whether the world realizes this or not, Christ died for its sins, and as a result God will never count those sins against it. This is just as it is written, "but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself (Hebrews 9:26). If anyone is forgiven it has to be by the merits of that sacrifice, for God will provide no other. And since it was meant to "put away sin", dealing with it completely, once and for all, we know that sin is not the issue today.
Sin is not the thing on God's mind today; righteousness is.
So what does Paul mean when he says, "be ye reconciled to God"? I have said how sin has been dealt with already. So what then do men lack in order to be saved? "For [in the gospel] is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith" (Romans 1:17). Men have already been brought near with regard to their sins, insomuch as God is not counting those trespasses against them. But what men lack is the righteousness of God. Whose righteousness is he speaking of? God's. So if something is "of God", how can it belong to men, except God give it to them? You see, God's standard of judgment is his own righteousness. Even though a man's sins are forgiven, he still lacks the righteousness of God until God gives it to him. Forgiving a man does not make him righteous with the righteousness of God. It cleanses his wrongs so that they are not seen, but it does not render him as God is. The only righteousness God accepts is his own. It is written, "by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous" (Romans 5:19). God only accepts the specific obedience Christ had toward his Father. It is impossible for any man to walk the same steps of perfection that Christ walked. But it is also pointless to try based upon the fact that he obeyed for us! Why work for the perfection that he specifically intended to give to you?
For by grace are ye saved, through faith... Ephesians 2:8
I have discussed what God's grace is. It is the work of God for us, manifested as a gift. And gifts cannot be earned. They simply have to be received. The whole world has received the death of Christ. God is the "Savour of all men, specially of those that believe" (1 Timothy 4:10). But the righteousness of God, what we need to be saved, must be received by faith. Faith in what? We need to believe in the finished work of Christ to be saved. Paul said that righteousness "shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:24, 25). And again, he says, "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Romans 4:4, 5). We simply need to take God at his word when he tells us of the provision he gave us when he worked in Christ. We are made the righteousness of God in Christ when we believe that Jesus satisfied God's judgment concerning our sins. God made Christ sin for the express purpose that we would be made righteous. He accounted our sins to Christ so that he could account his righteousness to us. Once a man's sin is dealt with, he can receive the righteousness of God. If both forgiveness and righteousness are necessary for acceptance with God, and we have received forgiveness by the death of Christ, we need only--as forgiven men and women--trust in that death, and we shall be made righteous, which is life.
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Romans 5:10
I would hope this would dispel a great many false notions concerning the gospel. For example, God has appointed no other means of grace other than faith, for the reception of salvation. This destroys the concept of "Sacraments", such as water baptism and the Lord's supper, as being means of grace chiefly since they are not of faith. Paul said that the gospel he preached to the Corinthians, and to all of us, concerning Christ's death for our sins, was what they received to be saved (1 Corinthians 15:1, 2). How did they receive it? By faith alone, just as the Scripture says, "if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:2).
The only thing that keeps a person from being saved is not retaining Christ's finished work in their understanding; that is, rejecting it (the resurrection in particular, as was the case with some among the Corinthians)--not accounting that what God said was true.
He said he paid for your sins; do you think you need to receive remission some other way? By baptism, by the Lord's table? By commandments and doctrines of men, who tell you that you can succeed by self-mutilation or some other method of punishing yourself for your sins? If so, you may have believed in vain--to no profit! Trusting in the death of Christ is a throwing of all hope upon the word of God when he said, "It is finished." If God poured out all his wrath for sin there, then what's left for you? And if he punished Christ on your behalf, how then shall he find occasion to punish you? Likewise, with the resurrection life of Christ. If his resurrection was not for your justification, how will you be saved? The Scripture says we are saved by his life! If he was never raised, how can we be saved? Faith imputes justification of life, but if that life is not there for us to partake of and be placed into, how can we have life? And how shall the payment for sin have been completed if Christ was not raised? For if Christ did not rise, then death still has dominion over him and he's still paying for our sins; the debt is not canceled!
These things all considered, the necessity of asking for forgiveness before becoming saved is also abolished. So is the need for turning from the sins that God cannot see. Anything other than simply accepting by faith what Christ did for you is not counted. It is the addition of works that makes the world blind to how we truly are saved, even as Paul said, "If I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased" (Galatians 5:11). If Paul preached the works of the Law, obedience to God, or any other thing as necessity, he would not have suffered the persecution he did--the world is itching to hear of a way it can save itself by its own merit. Instead, he preached the "offence of the cross", the truth of the grace of God--all his works, none of ours--to be receive only by faith.
There are ever-so-subtle ways that a preacher of the word of God can cleverly cover up a salvation based upon man's works; he may even declare "By grace through faith", while speaking works out of the other side of his mouth. He may say, "Sure, you're justified by faith, but now you must prove it by what you do!" or, "Unless you endure to the end you cannot be saved!" or perhaps even, "You are saved by faith, but you can depart from that salvation and fall away forever!" But I implore the reader: you are safe with grace! Because of the death of Christ, God will never fault you for your sins. When you trust that, you are placed into Jesus Christ with all his righteousness and sealed for eternity by the Holy Spirit. God does not require you to hold onto salvation, either--He holds onto it for you. Grace forbids you to fall away, even if you "feel" like you may have. "Trust" and "feel" are two entirely different things. Either you consider what God said to be true, or you do not; but feelings are not of faith and will accomplish nothing on your behalf.
And this is truly the definition of the "gospel": good news. God wants you to be saved. And he does not want you to act for your salvation; he wants you to believe in the acts of another.
Thank you Tyler, I really enjoyed reading this.
ReplyDeleteAmen.
Good stuff, my friend!
ReplyDelete