In the Declaration and Address, Thomas Campbell defined the nature of the unity proposed by The Christian Association of Washington, PA in 1809 and later promoted by the Campbell/Stone movement. The movement created excitement in the religious climate of nineteenth century America by challenging all Christians, regardless of party affiliation to unite by restoring the church ideal presented in the New Testament.
The culture and religious climate of the early twenty first century combine to create the most receptive audience for this plea than has existed at any time during its inception. The Restoration Movement is recognized as the first fastest growing Christian movement in the United States. It is second, if one counts Mormonism as Christian.
It was Campbell’s contention, stated in the first proposition of his Declaration and Address, that “The church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally and constitutionally one: consisting of all those in every place that profess faith in Christ and obedience to Him in all things according to the scriptures, and that manifest the same by their tempers and conduct, and that none else can truly and properly by called Christians” (Emphasis added).
In the first of this three part series, we discussed the practical significance of the term “essentially,” as used in this first proposition. We urged that the unity which constitutes Christian fellowship is the very essence of the church. In this second part of the study, we shall propose that the unity which is the essence of the church is intended by God to be so; that it is the inevitable consequence of God’s reconciling purpose in Christ.
The unity of the church ideal presented in the New Testament is no accident. Mankind is dead, separated from God by sin (Ephesians 2:1-3). People are at war with people because they are at war with God. The Pharisee who thanked God every day that he not been created as a Gentile, a slave or a woman was giving voice to the ubiquitous bigotry of the human race. We align ourselves against one another on the basis of ethnic origin, cultural preferences, language groups, national boundaries, economic and social class distinctions and even gender.
The ludicrous treatment of women by the Afghan Taliban is an exaggerated example of the gender discrimination that creates the glass ceiling in business and deprives half the members of some congregations of service to the Lord because they are female. It was the apostle Paul’s contention that, in Christ, these distinctions imposed on people by those who are dead in sin have been done away in Christ (Galatians 3:27-28).
Paul had not always held this view. It was the assertion by Stephen, that God had always been concerned for all people, which propelled Saul of Tarsus into leadership of a jihad, a holy war, against the church. Saul was completely repelled by the church’s claim that the Messiah of the Jews was equally concerned for the salvation of Gentiles and that He had actually been executed by the despicable exhibition of crucifixion. It was blasphemy of the lowest order.
After having nearly stamped out the believing community in Jerusalem, Saul got himself appointed as an apostle of the High Priest for the purpose of finishing what he had started. He would travel to Damascus and continue his rampage. He had not counted on being knocked to his knees and blinded by this same crucified Christ!
Face to face with the risen Lord, Saul did what any other honest man would do. He completely reevaluated his thinking about the death of Jesus. In II Corinthians 5:14-21, Paul elaborates on that reevaluation; Verses 14-15 “…the love of Christ is controlling us having concluded this, that one died on behalf of all; therefore all had died, and He died on behalf of all in order that the ones living
may no longer live to themselves but on behalf of the one having died and been raised” (All scripture references are the author’s translation unless otherwise indicated). This truth drove Paul to the obvious practical application of itself: “So from now on we are knowing no one according to flesh… so that if anyone is in Christ [there is] a new creation; the old things have passed away, look, they have become new in kind.” In Ephesians 2:14-15, the apostle spelled out in bold relief what he meant by becoming “new in kind.” “For He is our peace, the One having made both [Jew and Gentile] one… in order that He might in Himself create the two into one new humanity making peace.” Those who have been reconciled to God in Christ cannot but be reconciled to one another. There is “one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:6 NASV).
Far from seeing the church as a religious institution, Paul understood it as the creation of a new kind of human race! Since this new race is created from the dead material of the old, there is a real sense in which the church is all that’s left of the human race!
The “new kind” of people in Christ do not evaluate people according to the fleshly distinctions practiced by the old race who died in sin. (II Corinthians. 5:16). “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus; because as many of you as were baptized into Christ put on Christ. There cannot be Jew nor Greek, there cannot be slave nor freeman, there cannot be male and female; because you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:27-28).
In Antioch, as a result of a year of such teaching by Paul and Barnabas, “…the disciples called themselves Christians...” Acts 11:225-26 Some have said the name, Christian, was given in derision by enemies of the church. In the context in which the name was coined, there is no mention of opposition. The name was coined by the disciples as a result of apostolic teaching. The new kind of person required a new name. If I am not a Jew or a Gentile, slave or free, male or female, what am I? The disciples called themselves [Greek middle form of chrematisai] Christians, belonging to Christ in whom all such distinctions are broken down.
As a teacher in New York Christian Institute, it was my privilege to engage regularly in conversation with the late Dr. Dean Walker, who was one of our Directors. When we were preparing the curricula, our conversation turned to what we would teach concerning the Restoration Movement. Dr. Walker sorted through his voluminous vocabulary for a few minutes and then said, “Everything God has done in human history since the garden of Eden has been for the sole purpose of reconciliation.” In this statement, he expressed the conviction of both Thomas Campbell and the apostle Paul. “The church is intentionally one.” “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting against them their trespasses and placing in us the word of reconciliation” (II Corinthians 5:19).
Understood as the restoration pioneers understood it, the Restoration Plea is essentially a plea for reconciliation. Such unity as we have just visited in the writings of the New Testament cannot be expressed by institutional division any more than it can be expressed by distinctions of culture, economic status or
gender (Galatians 3:28). Paul recognized as much in I Corinthians 1:11-13 when he chastised his readers for lining up behind certain Christian leaders rather than behind Christ. His question, “Were you baptized into the name of Paul?” sounds the death knell of denominationalism.
Some have suggested that the Restoration Movement is passé, that the Plea is irrelevant in today’s world. However, it seems to me that so long as Sunday morning is “the most segregated time in America,” something needs to be said about being one new humanity in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:15). So long as our congregations are economically stratified we need the New Testament admonition, “Let the brother of humble circumstances glory in his high position; and let the rich man glory in his humiliation…” (James 1:9-10 NASV). So long as there are congregations in which more than half of the members are deprived of the privilege of participation in the “service of reconciliation” (II Corinthians 5:18) because they are female, something needs to be said about restoring the new kind of humanity that made up the New Testament church. [No, I’m not advocating women elders and/or preachers!]
There is still a need to follow the example of Brush Run and Cane Ridge. There is no place in such a plea as that made by the Campbells and Barton Stone for fundamentalist legalism whose chief stock in trade is condemning and shutting out anyone who does not agree with their interpretation of proof texts. Stone and the Campbells began by subjecting their own presuppositions to the probing light of God’s word. Their plea, expressed so eloquently in the Last Will And Testament Of The Springfield Presbytery, was that all professing Christians should “go and do likewise!” Only when we capture a fresh dedication to self examination in terms of God’s reconciling purpose in Christ can we claim our churches are intentionally one.”
Monday, December 29, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
BIBLICAL ILLITERACY
“The Christian body in America is immersed is a crisis of biblical illiteracy.” George Barna. “George Barna is the founder of The Barna Group, a market research firm specializing in studying the religious beliefs and behavior of Americans, and the intersection of faith and culture. He also serves as the chair of Good News Holidays, a media distribution outlet.”
Wickipedia encyclopedia.
As evidence, Barna notes; “How else can you describe matters when churchgoing adults reject the accuracy of the Bible, reject the existence of Satan, claim that Jesus sinned, see no need to evangelize, believe that good works are one of the keys to persuading God to forgive our sins, and describe their commitment to Christianity as moderate or even less firm.” [Barna Research On Line, “Religious Beliefs Vary Widely by Denomination.” June 25, 2001
I would insert that another indication of biblical illiteracy is inherent in the concern for “commitment to Christianity” rather than commitment to Christ on the part of Christian leaders such as George Barna.
Dr. Michael J. Vlach lists, as evidence of this problem, the following, in his Special Report for Theological Studies.org; 1) “The most widely known Bible verse among adult and teen believers is “God helps those who help themselves,” 2)When given thirteen basic teachings from the Bible, only 1% of adult believers firmly embraced all thirteen as being biblical perspectives.
In the same report, Vlach notes that Gary Burge, professor of New Testament in Wheaton College has pointed out that biblical illiteracy is at a crisis level not just in our culture in general but in American churches. Burge is quoted as saying, “If it is true that biblical illiteracy is commonplace in secular culture at large, here is ample evidence that points to similar trends in our churches.” Burge points to research at Wheaton College in which biblical and theological illiteracy of incoming freshmen have been monitored. These students, who represent every Protestant denomination in the United States from every state in the country, have returned some surprising results. One-third could not put the following in order: Abraham, the Old Testament prophets, the death of Christ, and Pentecost. Half could not sequence the following: Moses in Egypt, Isaac’s birth, Saul’s death, and Judah’s exile. One-third could not identify Matthew as one of the apostles from a list of New Testament names. When asked to locate the biblical book supplying a given story, one-third could not find Paul’s travels in Acts, half did not know that the Christmas story was in Matthew [which it isn’t since the Christmas celebration itself is of pagan origin and not mentioned in the Bible.], half did not know that the Passover story was in Exodus.
Dr. Vlach quotes George Linbeck, the famous Yale theologian’s comments on the decreasing knowledge of Scripture from a professor’s perspective; “When I first arrived at Yale, even those who came from nonreligious backgrounds knew the Bible better than most of those now who come from churchgoing families.”
Author and theologian, David Wells is quoted, from his book, No Place or Truth, by Vlach as saying, {“I have watched with growing disbelief as the evangelical church has cheerfully plunged into astounding theological illiteracy.
Volker Gaeckle, Dean of Studies at Albrecht Bengel Center in Tuebugin, referring to a scientific study called PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) has written, “Churches should heed the PISA warning that text comprehension is a major problem. PISA’s assessment showed that people in thirty-two industrialized countries show an “insidious biblical illiteracy” even in Christian circles.
George Barna reports that examination of the heart of the matter shows shocking results indicating a “profound lack of belief in essential Christian doctrines. In his study of the beliefs of mainline Protestants (including Methodists, Lutherans, and Episcopalians) Barna documents a rejection of key Christian doctrines. Only 35% believe Christ was sinless, 34% believe the bible is totally accurate, 27% agree that works don’t earn heaven; and 20% believe that Satan is real.
Of Baptists (any type) in America, only 34% believe that Satan is real. Only 43% believe that works don’t earn heaven. Although most Baptists affirm that Christ was sinless and that the Bible is totally accurate, the majority is not strong. Only 55% affirm that Christ was sinless, and 66% hold that the Bible is totally accurate.
Of nondenominational Christian church, Barna reports that 48% believe that Satan is real, 60% say that works don’t earn heaven; 70% believe the Bible is totally accurate.
According to Barna’s report, the denomination with the highest commitment to essential Christian doctrine is the Assembly of God [AOG]. 77% believe the Bible is totally accurate, 70% believe Christ was sinless. Only 64% affirm that works don’t earn heaven. Only 56% believe that Satan is real. Even in this most theologically committed denomination, large percentages of people still deny essential Christian doctrines.
Concerning Theology, Barna returns to Gary Burge. Burge has explained that here is a general failing of the church to transmit our religious culture to the next generation. This includes an overemphasis on personal experience to the exclusion of serious Christian education. Burge is quoted as saying, “In short, the spiritual life has become less a matter of learning than a matter of experiencing. ..This has resulted in Christian ministries that put less premium on education that they do on personal development and therapeutic wholeness.”
Burge notes that this emphasis on personal development at the expense of learning has produced the following: “Thus sermons become more therapeutic and less instructional; and the validity of what we do on Sunday morning is grounded in what we feel, not what we think.”
Simultaneously with this trend from substance to feeling, many Christian churches have abandoned serious Bible exposition and theological teaching “Historical exegesis,” according to Burge, “is becoming a “lost art” in the pulpit.”
“Texts become springboards for devotional reflection…Biblical passages are taken out of context as the preacher searches for those stories that evoke the response and attitudes desired.” As a result, “The heart of a ‘good sermon’ is fast becoming the ‘emotional work’ that can be done in 20 minutes preaching time.”
Further, Burge also found that church leaders often find it difficult to find time for serious discussion of theology and the Bible. When asking several youth leaders about whether the addressed solid theological categories or Bible stories, the typical response was, “It is hard to find time. But I can say that these kids are truly learning to love God.”
Burge sees this attitude as part of the problem of Biblical illiteracy. “That is it in a nutshell…Christian faith is not being built on a firm foundation of hard-won thoughts, ideas, history, or theology. Spirituality is being built on private emotional attachments.”
According to Barna, Burge believes there is a third reason (in addition to the failure to transmit Christian culture and the abandonment of serious Bible exposition and theological content in preaching) for biblical and theological illiteracy. “It is the influence of unbiblical philosophy and worldviews being accepted by churchgoers. These continually assail the traditional Christian views of the inerrancy of the Bible, deity of Christ, reality of Satan, substitutionary atonement, and other key doctrines of the Christian faith. Existentialism and its emphasis on human experience has people looking to themselves, not to God or Scripture, for truth. Postmodernism has convinced many that there are no universal truths. According to Barna, “A minority of adult and teen believers contends that absolute moral truth exists.” Only 32% of born-again Christians still believe in the existence of absolute moral truth.
Barna and Mark Hatch have noted that “we cannot really cal the faith of American Christians a Bible-based faith. It is a synthetic, syncretistic faith…Christians today have accepted and combined so many ideas from other worldviews and religions that they have created their own faith system. The average born-again, baptized, churchgoing person has embraced elements of Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, Scientology, Unitarianism and Christian Science – without any idea they have created their own faith.”
Barna’s investigation of the problem of Biblical illiteracy at is sources and practices have led him to some viable conclusions concerning the solution to the problem. He says “In many ways, we are living in an age of theological anarchy. The
church is rotting from the inside out, crippled by abiblical theology…but what can church leaders do about the crisis?” He lists five solutions suggested by some he calls “experts.”
[It may be a good idea here to remember that “an expert is a little “spert” away from home with a briefcase!]
First, church leaders need to be aware of the crisis. “Let’s acknowledge that we are in a state of spiritual anarchy.” Only by being aware of the problem can church leaders seriously address the problem. Barna has reported a less than positive response by church leaders with whom he has discussed this information.
He says, “When I first conveyed this message, most church leaders smiled and shook their heads, rejecting the possibility that such silliness would occur on their watch.”
Second, pastors and church leaders need to evaluate what their [own] people know and believe. “Whether through personal interaction with the flock or through more formal means of evaluation such as doctrinal questionnaires, church leaders need to find out what their people know and believe. A questionnaire about the basics of Bible theology given to people would reveal important information. Churches need to ask questions such as ‘Do you believe that Jesus lived a sinless life?’ of ‘Do you believe that Satan is a real person?’ It can no longer be assumed that the people in the pews ‘know the basics.’ Many do not.”
The results of such questionnaires and personal contacts will reveal to church leaders where their weaknesses exist. These findings may also help identify people who reject or cannot comprehend enough essential Christian doctrine in order to be Christians. Fruitful evangelism may result from such evaluations.
Burge believes that such a method will give “unparalleled insight” to church leaders and will be helpful to the people. “It is like taking a treadmill test and then talking about a fitness plan,” he says.
Third, church leaders must use powerful ways to instruct their people in the truth. “It may be well, too, that to usher in an era of theological sanity we will have to adopt new approaches to educating people about God’s Word and new tools to facilitate growth. This includes a well-planned systematic approach to Biblical truth. Rather than giving people disjointed morsels of spiritual truth each week, we must have a systematic method of enabling people to buy into a biblical worldview that transforms their life.”
This systematic approach must start in the pulpit. Millard Erickson, in his book, Where Is Theology Going, points out that decreasing literacy among the people probably influenced many preachers in the direction of less biblical content in their messages.[This is a vicious circle with each of two sources of influence feeding on one another].
Fourth, church leaders, including preachers, must alert their members to the unbiblical world views that have crept into the church.
Finally, we must encourage diligent and gifted teachers in the church. Burge states, “We need to identify young men and women in the church who have gifts of teaching and intellect and encourage them to pursue their gifts.”
**************************************************
In addition to the opinions and advice of the above sited experts, I would include a statement made a few years ago by Dr. Henry Webb, professor of History in Milligan College and Emmanuel: “The root of the problem is that no theology is being taught in our Bible Colleges!” No one, preacher, teacher or leader, can teach what (s)he does not know!
Wickipedia encyclopedia.
As evidence, Barna notes; “How else can you describe matters when churchgoing adults reject the accuracy of the Bible, reject the existence of Satan, claim that Jesus sinned, see no need to evangelize, believe that good works are one of the keys to persuading God to forgive our sins, and describe their commitment to Christianity as moderate or even less firm.” [Barna Research On Line, “Religious Beliefs Vary Widely by Denomination.” June 25, 2001
I would insert that another indication of biblical illiteracy is inherent in the concern for “commitment to Christianity” rather than commitment to Christ on the part of Christian leaders such as George Barna.
Dr. Michael J. Vlach lists, as evidence of this problem, the following, in his Special Report for Theological Studies.org; 1) “The most widely known Bible verse among adult and teen believers is “God helps those who help themselves,” 2)When given thirteen basic teachings from the Bible, only 1% of adult believers firmly embraced all thirteen as being biblical perspectives.
In the same report, Vlach notes that Gary Burge, professor of New Testament in Wheaton College has pointed out that biblical illiteracy is at a crisis level not just in our culture in general but in American churches. Burge is quoted as saying, “If it is true that biblical illiteracy is commonplace in secular culture at large, here is ample evidence that points to similar trends in our churches.” Burge points to research at Wheaton College in which biblical and theological illiteracy of incoming freshmen have been monitored. These students, who represent every Protestant denomination in the United States from every state in the country, have returned some surprising results. One-third could not put the following in order: Abraham, the Old Testament prophets, the death of Christ, and Pentecost. Half could not sequence the following: Moses in Egypt, Isaac’s birth, Saul’s death, and Judah’s exile. One-third could not identify Matthew as one of the apostles from a list of New Testament names. When asked to locate the biblical book supplying a given story, one-third could not find Paul’s travels in Acts, half did not know that the Christmas story was in Matthew [which it isn’t since the Christmas celebration itself is of pagan origin and not mentioned in the Bible.], half did not know that the Passover story was in Exodus.
Dr. Vlach quotes George Linbeck, the famous Yale theologian’s comments on the decreasing knowledge of Scripture from a professor’s perspective; “When I first arrived at Yale, even those who came from nonreligious backgrounds knew the Bible better than most of those now who come from churchgoing families.”
Author and theologian, David Wells is quoted, from his book, No Place or Truth, by Vlach as saying, {“I have watched with growing disbelief as the evangelical church has cheerfully plunged into astounding theological illiteracy.
Volker Gaeckle, Dean of Studies at Albrecht Bengel Center in Tuebugin, referring to a scientific study called PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) has written, “Churches should heed the PISA warning that text comprehension is a major problem. PISA’s assessment showed that people in thirty-two industrialized countries show an “insidious biblical illiteracy” even in Christian circles.
George Barna reports that examination of the heart of the matter shows shocking results indicating a “profound lack of belief in essential Christian doctrines. In his study of the beliefs of mainline Protestants (including Methodists, Lutherans, and Episcopalians) Barna documents a rejection of key Christian doctrines. Only 35% believe Christ was sinless, 34% believe the bible is totally accurate, 27% agree that works don’t earn heaven; and 20% believe that Satan is real.
Of Baptists (any type) in America, only 34% believe that Satan is real. Only 43% believe that works don’t earn heaven. Although most Baptists affirm that Christ was sinless and that the Bible is totally accurate, the majority is not strong. Only 55% affirm that Christ was sinless, and 66% hold that the Bible is totally accurate.
Of nondenominational Christian church, Barna reports that 48% believe that Satan is real, 60% say that works don’t earn heaven; 70% believe the Bible is totally accurate.
According to Barna’s report, the denomination with the highest commitment to essential Christian doctrine is the Assembly of God [AOG]. 77% believe the Bible is totally accurate, 70% believe Christ was sinless. Only 64% affirm that works don’t earn heaven. Only 56% believe that Satan is real. Even in this most theologically committed denomination, large percentages of people still deny essential Christian doctrines.
Concerning Theology, Barna returns to Gary Burge. Burge has explained that here is a general failing of the church to transmit our religious culture to the next generation. This includes an overemphasis on personal experience to the exclusion of serious Christian education. Burge is quoted as saying, “In short, the spiritual life has become less a matter of learning than a matter of experiencing. ..This has resulted in Christian ministries that put less premium on education that they do on personal development and therapeutic wholeness.”
Burge notes that this emphasis on personal development at the expense of learning has produced the following: “Thus sermons become more therapeutic and less instructional; and the validity of what we do on Sunday morning is grounded in what we feel, not what we think.”
Simultaneously with this trend from substance to feeling, many Christian churches have abandoned serious Bible exposition and theological teaching “Historical exegesis,” according to Burge, “is becoming a “lost art” in the pulpit.”
“Texts become springboards for devotional reflection…Biblical passages are taken out of context as the preacher searches for those stories that evoke the response and attitudes desired.” As a result, “The heart of a ‘good sermon’ is fast becoming the ‘emotional work’ that can be done in 20 minutes preaching time.”
Further, Burge also found that church leaders often find it difficult to find time for serious discussion of theology and the Bible. When asking several youth leaders about whether the addressed solid theological categories or Bible stories, the typical response was, “It is hard to find time. But I can say that these kids are truly learning to love God.”
Burge sees this attitude as part of the problem of Biblical illiteracy. “That is it in a nutshell…Christian faith is not being built on a firm foundation of hard-won thoughts, ideas, history, or theology. Spirituality is being built on private emotional attachments.”
According to Barna, Burge believes there is a third reason (in addition to the failure to transmit Christian culture and the abandonment of serious Bible exposition and theological content in preaching) for biblical and theological illiteracy. “It is the influence of unbiblical philosophy and worldviews being accepted by churchgoers. These continually assail the traditional Christian views of the inerrancy of the Bible, deity of Christ, reality of Satan, substitutionary atonement, and other key doctrines of the Christian faith. Existentialism and its emphasis on human experience has people looking to themselves, not to God or Scripture, for truth. Postmodernism has convinced many that there are no universal truths. According to Barna, “A minority of adult and teen believers contends that absolute moral truth exists.” Only 32% of born-again Christians still believe in the existence of absolute moral truth.
Barna and Mark Hatch have noted that “we cannot really cal the faith of American Christians a Bible-based faith. It is a synthetic, syncretistic faith…Christians today have accepted and combined so many ideas from other worldviews and religions that they have created their own faith system. The average born-again, baptized, churchgoing person has embraced elements of Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, Scientology, Unitarianism and Christian Science – without any idea they have created their own faith.”
Barna’s investigation of the problem of Biblical illiteracy at is sources and practices have led him to some viable conclusions concerning the solution to the problem. He says “In many ways, we are living in an age of theological anarchy. The
church is rotting from the inside out, crippled by abiblical theology…but what can church leaders do about the crisis?” He lists five solutions suggested by some he calls “experts.”
[It may be a good idea here to remember that “an expert is a little “spert” away from home with a briefcase!]
First, church leaders need to be aware of the crisis. “Let’s acknowledge that we are in a state of spiritual anarchy.” Only by being aware of the problem can church leaders seriously address the problem. Barna has reported a less than positive response by church leaders with whom he has discussed this information.
He says, “When I first conveyed this message, most church leaders smiled and shook their heads, rejecting the possibility that such silliness would occur on their watch.”
Second, pastors and church leaders need to evaluate what their [own] people know and believe. “Whether through personal interaction with the flock or through more formal means of evaluation such as doctrinal questionnaires, church leaders need to find out what their people know and believe. A questionnaire about the basics of Bible theology given to people would reveal important information. Churches need to ask questions such as ‘Do you believe that Jesus lived a sinless life?’ of ‘Do you believe that Satan is a real person?’ It can no longer be assumed that the people in the pews ‘know the basics.’ Many do not.”
The results of such questionnaires and personal contacts will reveal to church leaders where their weaknesses exist. These findings may also help identify people who reject or cannot comprehend enough essential Christian doctrine in order to be Christians. Fruitful evangelism may result from such evaluations.
Burge believes that such a method will give “unparalleled insight” to church leaders and will be helpful to the people. “It is like taking a treadmill test and then talking about a fitness plan,” he says.
Third, church leaders must use powerful ways to instruct their people in the truth. “It may be well, too, that to usher in an era of theological sanity we will have to adopt new approaches to educating people about God’s Word and new tools to facilitate growth. This includes a well-planned systematic approach to Biblical truth. Rather than giving people disjointed morsels of spiritual truth each week, we must have a systematic method of enabling people to buy into a biblical worldview that transforms their life.”
This systematic approach must start in the pulpit. Millard Erickson, in his book, Where Is Theology Going, points out that decreasing literacy among the people probably influenced many preachers in the direction of less biblical content in their messages.[This is a vicious circle with each of two sources of influence feeding on one another].
Fourth, church leaders, including preachers, must alert their members to the unbiblical world views that have crept into the church.
Finally, we must encourage diligent and gifted teachers in the church. Burge states, “We need to identify young men and women in the church who have gifts of teaching and intellect and encourage them to pursue their gifts.”
**************************************************
In addition to the opinions and advice of the above sited experts, I would include a statement made a few years ago by Dr. Henry Webb, professor of History in Milligan College and Emmanuel: “The root of the problem is that no theology is being taught in our Bible Colleges!” No one, preacher, teacher or leader, can teach what (s)he does not know!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
The Way of Salvation (Part 5)
SALVATION IS A MEANS TO AN END
Salvation, as vitally urgent as it is, is not an end in itself. It is a means to a greater end. Paul says as much in Ephesians 2:10. After reminding his readers that we are saved by grace through faith and in Christ, he tells us the purpose of our salvation. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
When we accept Christ as our Savior, we also surrender to Him as our Lord (Acts 2:36). A Lord is to be served! In I Corinthians 15:58, we are admonished to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”
II Corinthians 9:8 assures us, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything; you may have an abundance for every good deed.”
If you are considering becoming a Christian, make no mistake about it, it is not an easy way to live. Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). The cross, in Jesus’ day on earth, was not a beautiful piece of jewelry or a religious symbol. It was a means of putting people to a painful and shameful death. To take up one’s own cross is to surrender one’s desires and ambitions to Him.
During most of the history of Western Civilization, especially in the United States, it has been too easy to be a nominal Christian. September 11, 2001 informed us dramatically that this is no longer true. If you become a Christian, over half the world’s population will automatically hate you. Every year, recently, over 100,000 people, worldwide, have been killed, some by torture, for no other crime than being a Christian. Even in the formerly Christian United States, being public and vocal about being a Christian has become the most politically incorrect thing one can do.”
Should you decide to follow through on your present interest and take the steps that lead to salvation in Christ, you may very well join the blood stained ranks of those who have “been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake...” (Philippians 1:29). Jesus, Himself sounded this warning: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:18-20).
Weigh your choice very carefully. If the Christian gospel is not true, it doesn’t matter. If the Christian gospel is true, nothing else matters! Jesus promise, “I will come again, ands receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also (John 14: 3)” is as valid today as it was the day He spoke it. The earliest Christians, who followed Christ at their own peril in a world whose attitude toward Jesus Christ and His people was very much like that of our world, looked forward eagerly to a day when, “...the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord” (I Thessalonians 4:16-17).
Jesus' last words to His people included this promise recorded in Revelation 22:12; “Behold I am coming quickly, and my reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.” TO BE PREPARED FOR HIS COMING IS TO BE SAVED TO THE UTTERMOST!
Salvation, as vitally urgent as it is, is not an end in itself. It is a means to a greater end. Paul says as much in Ephesians 2:10. After reminding his readers that we are saved by grace through faith and in Christ, he tells us the purpose of our salvation. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
When we accept Christ as our Savior, we also surrender to Him as our Lord (Acts 2:36). A Lord is to be served! In I Corinthians 15:58, we are admonished to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”
II Corinthians 9:8 assures us, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything; you may have an abundance for every good deed.”
If you are considering becoming a Christian, make no mistake about it, it is not an easy way to live. Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). The cross, in Jesus’ day on earth, was not a beautiful piece of jewelry or a religious symbol. It was a means of putting people to a painful and shameful death. To take up one’s own cross is to surrender one’s desires and ambitions to Him.
During most of the history of Western Civilization, especially in the United States, it has been too easy to be a nominal Christian. September 11, 2001 informed us dramatically that this is no longer true. If you become a Christian, over half the world’s population will automatically hate you. Every year, recently, over 100,000 people, worldwide, have been killed, some by torture, for no other crime than being a Christian. Even in the formerly Christian United States, being public and vocal about being a Christian has become the most politically incorrect thing one can do.”
Should you decide to follow through on your present interest and take the steps that lead to salvation in Christ, you may very well join the blood stained ranks of those who have “been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake...” (Philippians 1:29). Jesus, Himself sounded this warning: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:18-20).
Weigh your choice very carefully. If the Christian gospel is not true, it doesn’t matter. If the Christian gospel is true, nothing else matters! Jesus promise, “I will come again, ands receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also (John 14: 3)” is as valid today as it was the day He spoke it. The earliest Christians, who followed Christ at their own peril in a world whose attitude toward Jesus Christ and His people was very much like that of our world, looked forward eagerly to a day when, “...the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord” (I Thessalonians 4:16-17).
Jesus' last words to His people included this promise recorded in Revelation 22:12; “Behold I am coming quickly, and my reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.” TO BE PREPARED FOR HIS COMING IS TO BE SAVED TO THE UTTERMOST!
Friday, December 12, 2008
The Way of Salvation (part 4)
WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?
Until this eternally vital question is answered, the death of Jesus accomplishes nothing! The Biblical answer depends upon where one is in relationship to God at the time the question is asked. We may think of it like this: Suppose I were to call you and ask directions to your house. The first thing you’d need to know in order to help me would be my present location. It is impossible to give anyone directions from one location to another without first knowing where they are. That’s the way it is when someone wants to know what they must do to be saved.
What would you tell such a person if (s)he has never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ? John 3:14-17 indicates that salvation is given by God at the cost of His only begotten Son. John 14:6 tells us in Jesus’ own words that there is no alternative. According to Peter, Acts 4:12, there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Paul underscores the absolute necessity of salvation when he says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Ephesians 2:5,8 leaves no room for discussion as to the source of salvation. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ for good works. We are not saved by good works
All this is doubly emphasized in I Corinthians 1:18, 21 where the same inspired writer says; “For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
Romans 10:13-14 states the logic behind God’s means of saving the lost; “for whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. How then shall they call upon him in Whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
So, in the unlikely event that one who has never heard the gospel were to ask what to do to be saved, the answer is, “To be saved you must hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). This is why Paul considered the delivery of the gospel as of first importance (I Corinthians 15:3a). He left not doubt as to what he meant by “the gospel” when he wrote, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all He appeared to me also” (I Corinthians 15:3b-8). Jesus, Himself, said that those things which He accomplished were written about Him in the same Scriptures to which Paul refers (Luke 24:44-47).
Without the awareness of this message, there is no salvation. If someone who has only heard should ask, “What must I do to be saved?” the answer is found in the case of the Philippian Jailor written in Acts 16:22-34. The street preaching of Paul and Silas in the Roman colony of Philippi resulted in a riot. The chief magistrates ordered them beaten with rods, locked in stocks and chained to the walls of the local prison behind locked doors. (The Romans took such violations of Pax Romana, the peace of Rome, seriously. Without it, the far flung empire would soon come unglued. Any disturbance of the peace was dealt with swiftly and severely.)
Despite they extreme discomfort caused by their official abuse, Paul and Silas spent the sleepless night praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake. The prison was almost destroyed, everyone’s chains were broken and the doors swung open. The jailor, assuming that his prisoners had escaped, was about to fall on his sword and commit suicide, considering such a death preferable to what the Roman authorities would do to him for allowing the escape. He may have been in jeopardy of crucifixion.
Seeing that the man was about to do himself in, Paul called out for him not to harm himself because no prisoners had fled. The jailor called for lights, rushed in terrified, fell down before Paul and Silas and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved” (Acts 16:30)? Some have suggested that he was asking how to save himself from Roman punishment. If he was, Paul’s answer gave him more than he bargained for! It seems more likely that, earlier in the evening, he had heard what Paul and Silas had said and sung to the other prisoners. Paul’s answer was “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household” ( Acts 16:31).
Without waiting for first aid to their torn and bleeding backs, Paul and Silas “spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house” (Acts 16:32). The jailor took Paul and Silas, treated their wounds, and “immediately he was baptized, he and his household” (Acts 16:33). Luke’s last word on the subject is “he¼rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household” (Acts 16:34c).
America’s favorite Scripture verse, John 3:16 limits God’s gift of eternal life to those who
“Believe on The Only Begotten Son of God.” Mark 16:16 states plainly the fate of those who hear and do not believe; “he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” Jude 1:5 tells us that this has always been true; “Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.” Hebrews 11:6 shows that salvation apart from faith is impossible; “And without faith it is impossible to please Him [God], for he who comes to Him must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
If someone who has heard and believed the gospel should ask, “What shall I do to be saved?” the answer is “confess.” This is not a confession of guilt. It is a spoken agreement with God concerning His Son. The Greek, homolego, confess, literally means “speak the same thing.” In Matthew 10:32-33, Jesus indicates the necessity of confessing Him before witnesses’ “Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess Him before My Father Who is in heaven. But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in heaven.”
The content of this confession was first voiced by the apostle Peter on the mountain side overlooking Caesarea Philippi; “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16).” Paul reminded Timothy that Timothy had “made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses” and that Jesus Christ had Himself “testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate”( I Timothy 6:12-13). According to Romans 10:9-10; “¼if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
When someone who has heard, believed and confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of The Living God asks, “What must I do to be saved?” the answer is “repent.” Acts 2:37-38 records such an incident. Three thousand Jews had just heard Peter prove by their own Scriptures and the testimony of twelve eyewitnesses that God had raised Jesus from the dead and that He, therefore, had been made Lord and Christ. Luke says that they “were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brethren, what shall we do?’” Their question constituted a confession of faith. In response, Peter answered; “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
The word, Metanoia, translated repentance, literally means to change one’s mind or purpose. It is a change of the mind involving a resolve of the will. A native Greek girl, just recently arrived from Greece, once translated repentance from Acts 2:38 for me from my Greek New Testament; “Change your mind because you’re sorry and decide not to do it any more and be submerged so that your sins will be forgiven.” To repent is to exchange “Thy will be done” for “I want” as the controlling principle of one’s life.
II Peter 3:9 shows that repentance is essential to those who choose not to go on perishing; “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish but for all to come to repentance.” In Luke 13:3 Jesus makes the same equation; “ . . . unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” In Luke 24:47, He sums up the entire gospel as follows: “repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His [Christ’s] name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Acts 17:30c-31 tells us that “all men everywhere should repent because He has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through the Man Whom He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through the Man Whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead.”
When someone who has heard the gospel, believed, confessed their faith and repented asks, “What must I do to be saved?” the answer is “be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38) Paul wrote, in Ephesians 2:5-6, “even when we were dead in our transgressions, [He] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and He raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” In Romans 6:4-5 the same apostle tells us how He raised us up with Him: “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him that the body of our sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.”
Peter wrote that, just as God saved Noah and his family through Noah’s construction of the ark, “...corresponding to that, baptism now saves you - not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” ( I Peter 3:21).
In the first Christian century, when a non-Jew became a believer in Jehovah, God, and wanted to become one of God’s covenant people, one of the acts by which his conversion was accomplished was immersion in water. The Jews believed that all non-Jews were “unclean” and the purpose of this proselyte immersion was to remove that uncleanness. Peter says that Christian immersion is more than that. It is not for the cleansing of the flesh but of the conscience before God. As he had said on Pentecost, in Acts 2:38, Christian immersion if for the removal of sin.
Paul’s favorite term for a saving relationship to Christ is “in Christ.” In Galatians 3:27, he tells us how this relationship is established; “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
When someone who has heard the gospel, believed, confessed, repented and been immersed into Christ asks, “What must I do to be saved?” the answer is, “be faithful to death” (Revelation 2:10). Hebrews 2:1 tells us; “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels [The Law of Moses] proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation¼?” Chapter six of this same New Testament epistle describes the guilt of those who fail to remain faithful to the Christ Who saved them: “For in the case of those who have been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame” (Hebrews 6:4-6).
The danger of such unfaithfulness is spelled out in Hebrews 10:19-31: “Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking the assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near. For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, the fury of a fire which shall consume the adversaries. Anyone who set aside the Law of Moses dies without compassion on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him Who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.’ And again, “The ‘Lord will judge His people.’ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Such stern warnings against unfaithfulness sound as though remaining saved is virtually impossible. Martin Luther sang of the solution in his signature hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. “Did we in our own strength confide, Our striving would be losing.” John 14:18 record’s Jesus’ own answer to our dilemma; “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” In Matthew 28:20b is His promise, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Romans 8:9b- assures us of His constant presence, “But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet he spirit is alive because of righteousness.” The first promise to those who are baptized for the forgiveness of sin is, “you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself. (Acts 2:39).”
When a faithful Christian yields to temptation, (s)he has God’s promise of forgiveness: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9).” The key to the successful living of the new life we have in Christ was written by Paul to the church at Philippi: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both the will and to work for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13).”
Until this eternally vital question is answered, the death of Jesus accomplishes nothing! The Biblical answer depends upon where one is in relationship to God at the time the question is asked. We may think of it like this: Suppose I were to call you and ask directions to your house. The first thing you’d need to know in order to help me would be my present location. It is impossible to give anyone directions from one location to another without first knowing where they are. That’s the way it is when someone wants to know what they must do to be saved.
What would you tell such a person if (s)he has never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ? John 3:14-17 indicates that salvation is given by God at the cost of His only begotten Son. John 14:6 tells us in Jesus’ own words that there is no alternative. According to Peter, Acts 4:12, there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Paul underscores the absolute necessity of salvation when he says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Ephesians 2:5,8 leaves no room for discussion as to the source of salvation. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ for good works. We are not saved by good works
All this is doubly emphasized in I Corinthians 1:18, 21 where the same inspired writer says; “For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
Romans 10:13-14 states the logic behind God’s means of saving the lost; “for whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. How then shall they call upon him in Whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
So, in the unlikely event that one who has never heard the gospel were to ask what to do to be saved, the answer is, “To be saved you must hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). This is why Paul considered the delivery of the gospel as of first importance (I Corinthians 15:3a). He left not doubt as to what he meant by “the gospel” when he wrote, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all He appeared to me also” (I Corinthians 15:3b-8). Jesus, Himself, said that those things which He accomplished were written about Him in the same Scriptures to which Paul refers (Luke 24:44-47).
Without the awareness of this message, there is no salvation. If someone who has only heard should ask, “What must I do to be saved?” the answer is found in the case of the Philippian Jailor written in Acts 16:22-34. The street preaching of Paul and Silas in the Roman colony of Philippi resulted in a riot. The chief magistrates ordered them beaten with rods, locked in stocks and chained to the walls of the local prison behind locked doors. (The Romans took such violations of Pax Romana, the peace of Rome, seriously. Without it, the far flung empire would soon come unglued. Any disturbance of the peace was dealt with swiftly and severely.)
Despite they extreme discomfort caused by their official abuse, Paul and Silas spent the sleepless night praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake. The prison was almost destroyed, everyone’s chains were broken and the doors swung open. The jailor, assuming that his prisoners had escaped, was about to fall on his sword and commit suicide, considering such a death preferable to what the Roman authorities would do to him for allowing the escape. He may have been in jeopardy of crucifixion.
Seeing that the man was about to do himself in, Paul called out for him not to harm himself because no prisoners had fled. The jailor called for lights, rushed in terrified, fell down before Paul and Silas and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved” (Acts 16:30)? Some have suggested that he was asking how to save himself from Roman punishment. If he was, Paul’s answer gave him more than he bargained for! It seems more likely that, earlier in the evening, he had heard what Paul and Silas had said and sung to the other prisoners. Paul’s answer was “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household” ( Acts 16:31).
Without waiting for first aid to their torn and bleeding backs, Paul and Silas “spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house” (Acts 16:32). The jailor took Paul and Silas, treated their wounds, and “immediately he was baptized, he and his household” (Acts 16:33). Luke’s last word on the subject is “he¼rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household” (Acts 16:34c).
America’s favorite Scripture verse, John 3:16 limits God’s gift of eternal life to those who
“Believe on The Only Begotten Son of God.” Mark 16:16 states plainly the fate of those who hear and do not believe; “he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” Jude 1:5 tells us that this has always been true; “Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.” Hebrews 11:6 shows that salvation apart from faith is impossible; “And without faith it is impossible to please Him [God], for he who comes to Him must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
If someone who has heard and believed the gospel should ask, “What shall I do to be saved?” the answer is “confess.” This is not a confession of guilt. It is a spoken agreement with God concerning His Son. The Greek, homolego, confess, literally means “speak the same thing.” In Matthew 10:32-33, Jesus indicates the necessity of confessing Him before witnesses’ “Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess Him before My Father Who is in heaven. But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in heaven.”
The content of this confession was first voiced by the apostle Peter on the mountain side overlooking Caesarea Philippi; “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16).” Paul reminded Timothy that Timothy had “made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses” and that Jesus Christ had Himself “testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate”( I Timothy 6:12-13). According to Romans 10:9-10; “¼if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
When someone who has heard, believed and confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of The Living God asks, “What must I do to be saved?” the answer is “repent.” Acts 2:37-38 records such an incident. Three thousand Jews had just heard Peter prove by their own Scriptures and the testimony of twelve eyewitnesses that God had raised Jesus from the dead and that He, therefore, had been made Lord and Christ. Luke says that they “were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brethren, what shall we do?’” Their question constituted a confession of faith. In response, Peter answered; “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
The word, Metanoia, translated repentance, literally means to change one’s mind or purpose. It is a change of the mind involving a resolve of the will. A native Greek girl, just recently arrived from Greece, once translated repentance from Acts 2:38 for me from my Greek New Testament; “Change your mind because you’re sorry and decide not to do it any more and be submerged so that your sins will be forgiven.” To repent is to exchange “Thy will be done” for “I want” as the controlling principle of one’s life.
II Peter 3:9 shows that repentance is essential to those who choose not to go on perishing; “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish but for all to come to repentance.” In Luke 13:3 Jesus makes the same equation; “ . . . unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” In Luke 24:47, He sums up the entire gospel as follows: “repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His [Christ’s] name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Acts 17:30c-31 tells us that “all men everywhere should repent because He has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through the Man Whom He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through the Man Whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead.”
When someone who has heard the gospel, believed, confessed their faith and repented asks, “What must I do to be saved?” the answer is “be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38) Paul wrote, in Ephesians 2:5-6, “even when we were dead in our transgressions, [He] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and He raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” In Romans 6:4-5 the same apostle tells us how He raised us up with Him: “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him that the body of our sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.”
Peter wrote that, just as God saved Noah and his family through Noah’s construction of the ark, “...corresponding to that, baptism now saves you - not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” ( I Peter 3:21).
In the first Christian century, when a non-Jew became a believer in Jehovah, God, and wanted to become one of God’s covenant people, one of the acts by which his conversion was accomplished was immersion in water. The Jews believed that all non-Jews were “unclean” and the purpose of this proselyte immersion was to remove that uncleanness. Peter says that Christian immersion is more than that. It is not for the cleansing of the flesh but of the conscience before God. As he had said on Pentecost, in Acts 2:38, Christian immersion if for the removal of sin.
Paul’s favorite term for a saving relationship to Christ is “in Christ.” In Galatians 3:27, he tells us how this relationship is established; “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
When someone who has heard the gospel, believed, confessed, repented and been immersed into Christ asks, “What must I do to be saved?” the answer is, “be faithful to death” (Revelation 2:10). Hebrews 2:1 tells us; “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels [The Law of Moses] proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation¼?” Chapter six of this same New Testament epistle describes the guilt of those who fail to remain faithful to the Christ Who saved them: “For in the case of those who have been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame” (Hebrews 6:4-6).
The danger of such unfaithfulness is spelled out in Hebrews 10:19-31: “Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking the assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near. For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, the fury of a fire which shall consume the adversaries. Anyone who set aside the Law of Moses dies without compassion on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him Who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.’ And again, “The ‘Lord will judge His people.’ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Such stern warnings against unfaithfulness sound as though remaining saved is virtually impossible. Martin Luther sang of the solution in his signature hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. “Did we in our own strength confide, Our striving would be losing.” John 14:18 record’s Jesus’ own answer to our dilemma; “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” In Matthew 28:20b is His promise, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Romans 8:9b- assures us of His constant presence, “But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet he spirit is alive because of righteousness.” The first promise to those who are baptized for the forgiveness of sin is, “you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself. (Acts 2:39).”
When a faithful Christian yields to temptation, (s)he has God’s promise of forgiveness: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9).” The key to the successful living of the new life we have in Christ was written by Paul to the church at Philippi: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both the will and to work for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13).”
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The Way of Salvation (Part 3)
The Resurrection of Jesus
A dead Savior can’t save anyone! The Christian Gospel is a beautiful story. Paul summed it up in I Corinthians 15:1-11 in the earliest known written record of the message that is the essence of the Christian faith. “Now I made known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which you also are saved, if you hold fast to word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised to the third day, according to Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at once, most of whom remain until now [55 AD, some 25 years after His crucifixion and resurrection], but some have fallen asleep.; then He appeared to me also.”
Rome crucified thousands but only one is remember because it is said of Him that He has risen from the dead. Why would anyone believe such a story? For the same reason we accept the genuineness of any event we did not ourselves see! What are the tests of historicity? How do historians decide between fact and fable? There are five fundamental tests. 1) There must be a plurality of witnesses {normally two or three}. 2) The witnesses must have opportunity to know; to examine the evidence. 3) The witnesses must be in substantial agreement (If they agree in every detail, there is reason to suspect a conspiracy.) 4) The witnesses must be reliable. 5) The more unusual the event, the greater the number of witnesses required.
Any honest person, who examines the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth by these same tests, will conclude that, no matter what it may mean, this two-sided event actually took place. There is a plurality of witnesses (Luke 1:2; 24:46-48; Acts 1:8; I Corinthians 15:5-8; II Peter 1:16). In fact there is more eyewitness documentation for this than for any other single event in history prior to the invention of the printing press. For example, only two primary historical sources mention the Carthaginian General Hannibal’s elephants, yet historians accept his invasion of Italy accompanied by these beasts.
Jesus’ witnesses had an opportunity to know. Twelve of the thirteen witnesses had walked and talked and eaten and slept and laughed and cried with Jesus for three and a half years immediately before His death. After the resurrection, when He appeared to them, He challenged them to inspect His wounds so there would be no doubt that it was He ( Luke 24:9-40; John 20:20,25,27).
He did not appear to them just once. He was with them intermittently for forty days after He was raised from the dead (Acts 1:1-3). On the day He rose, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene and some other women, Peter, two men on the road from Jerusalem to Amaias and then to ten apostles in the upper room. The following Monday, He appeared to eleven apostles. Later, in Galilee, He appeared to seven apostles who were fishing. This was followed by a private interview with Peter, the eleven apostles and “five hundred brethren at once.” He also showed Himself in an individual interview with His half brother, James, who had previously rejected His claims to be the Christ. A few years later; Jesus appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road and later, when Saul had become the apostle Paul, Jesus stood by him on board a ship bound for Rome.
The witnesses are in substantial agreement. Identical agreement raises questions about testimony. It is true that the gospel records of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance are not identical. It is not true that there are any contradictions in their stories.
There were certainly a sufficient number of witnesses to support this most unusual of events. The usual number of witnesses to establish a fact historically or in a court of law is two or three. Hundreds saw Jesus alive following His death. Not all of them were called to testify but thirteen of them were (Acts 1:8).
Were the witnesses reliable? This is a fair question. For example, prior to his being called by Jesus, Matthew was a dishonest politician and collaborator with Rome. Peter lied repeatedly to save his own skin when Jesus needed him most. Saul of Tarsus had been a bigot and a murderer. So why believe they are reliable when they tell this outlandish story? There are profound reasons.
First, there was the change in their lives resulting from what they had seen. Peter, who lied about knowing Him for fear of being arrested and himself possibly also crucified, a few weeks later defied the same authorities when they demanded that he stop telling people in Jerusalem about Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 4:17-20).
In II Corinthians 5:14-ff., Paul describes the change Jesus’ death-resurrection had made in his life. “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died”
All but one of Christ’s chosen witnesses were executed because they would not recant! It’s harder to believe that twelve men would each die rather than deny a story they all knew to be false than to believe the New Testament records of Jesus resurrection.
The New Testament texts written either by these witnesses directly or with their assistance are reliable. Of all the 26,000 copies we have of the various documents included in the New Testament less than ½ of 1% are flawed by scribal errors. That means they are 99.5% pure. We can count on their reliability. From these documents it becomes very easy to support the death and resurrection as fact. For example, Luke 24:56 says, “and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen.”” John 2:19-21 reports, :“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up’ The Jews therefore said, ‘It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?’ But He was speaking of the temple of His body. When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had spoken.” I Corinthians 15:3-4, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
Did Jesus rise for the dead? Of course He did. And so will you if you accept Him for Who He is in the way He has commanded. You can bet your life on it! Anyone who could endure what Jesus suffered and hang on a Roman cross for three hours, be wrapped in 100 pounds of Jewish embalming wax, placed in a tomb with a stone weighing several tons blocking the entrance, sealed with imperial seal of the Roman empire, guarded by a squad of battle hardened Roman legionnaires and get up and walk out of His own grave is Whoever He says He is! It’s time to listen to Him.
A dead Savior can’t save anyone! The Christian Gospel is a beautiful story. Paul summed it up in I Corinthians 15:1-11 in the earliest known written record of the message that is the essence of the Christian faith. “Now I made known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which you also are saved, if you hold fast to word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised to the third day, according to Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at once, most of whom remain until now [55 AD, some 25 years after His crucifixion and resurrection], but some have fallen asleep.; then He appeared to me also.”
Rome crucified thousands but only one is remember because it is said of Him that He has risen from the dead. Why would anyone believe such a story? For the same reason we accept the genuineness of any event we did not ourselves see! What are the tests of historicity? How do historians decide between fact and fable? There are five fundamental tests. 1) There must be a plurality of witnesses {normally two or three}. 2) The witnesses must have opportunity to know; to examine the evidence. 3) The witnesses must be in substantial agreement (If they agree in every detail, there is reason to suspect a conspiracy.) 4) The witnesses must be reliable. 5) The more unusual the event, the greater the number of witnesses required.
Any honest person, who examines the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth by these same tests, will conclude that, no matter what it may mean, this two-sided event actually took place. There is a plurality of witnesses (Luke 1:2; 24:46-48; Acts 1:8; I Corinthians 15:5-8; II Peter 1:16). In fact there is more eyewitness documentation for this than for any other single event in history prior to the invention of the printing press. For example, only two primary historical sources mention the Carthaginian General Hannibal’s elephants, yet historians accept his invasion of Italy accompanied by these beasts.
Jesus’ witnesses had an opportunity to know. Twelve of the thirteen witnesses had walked and talked and eaten and slept and laughed and cried with Jesus for three and a half years immediately before His death. After the resurrection, when He appeared to them, He challenged them to inspect His wounds so there would be no doubt that it was He ( Luke 24:9-40; John 20:20,25,27).
He did not appear to them just once. He was with them intermittently for forty days after He was raised from the dead (Acts 1:1-3). On the day He rose, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene and some other women, Peter, two men on the road from Jerusalem to Amaias and then to ten apostles in the upper room. The following Monday, He appeared to eleven apostles. Later, in Galilee, He appeared to seven apostles who were fishing. This was followed by a private interview with Peter, the eleven apostles and “five hundred brethren at once.” He also showed Himself in an individual interview with His half brother, James, who had previously rejected His claims to be the Christ. A few years later; Jesus appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road and later, when Saul had become the apostle Paul, Jesus stood by him on board a ship bound for Rome.
The witnesses are in substantial agreement. Identical agreement raises questions about testimony. It is true that the gospel records of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance are not identical. It is not true that there are any contradictions in their stories.
There were certainly a sufficient number of witnesses to support this most unusual of events. The usual number of witnesses to establish a fact historically or in a court of law is two or three. Hundreds saw Jesus alive following His death. Not all of them were called to testify but thirteen of them were (Acts 1:8).
Were the witnesses reliable? This is a fair question. For example, prior to his being called by Jesus, Matthew was a dishonest politician and collaborator with Rome. Peter lied repeatedly to save his own skin when Jesus needed him most. Saul of Tarsus had been a bigot and a murderer. So why believe they are reliable when they tell this outlandish story? There are profound reasons.
First, there was the change in their lives resulting from what they had seen. Peter, who lied about knowing Him for fear of being arrested and himself possibly also crucified, a few weeks later defied the same authorities when they demanded that he stop telling people in Jerusalem about Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 4:17-20).
In II Corinthians 5:14-ff., Paul describes the change Jesus’ death-resurrection had made in his life. “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died”
All but one of Christ’s chosen witnesses were executed because they would not recant! It’s harder to believe that twelve men would each die rather than deny a story they all knew to be false than to believe the New Testament records of Jesus resurrection.
The New Testament texts written either by these witnesses directly or with their assistance are reliable. Of all the 26,000 copies we have of the various documents included in the New Testament less than ½ of 1% are flawed by scribal errors. That means they are 99.5% pure. We can count on their reliability. From these documents it becomes very easy to support the death and resurrection as fact. For example, Luke 24:56 says, “and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen.”” John 2:19-21 reports, :“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up’ The Jews therefore said, ‘It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?’ But He was speaking of the temple of His body. When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had spoken.” I Corinthians 15:3-4, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
Did Jesus rise for the dead? Of course He did. And so will you if you accept Him for Who He is in the way He has commanded. You can bet your life on it! Anyone who could endure what Jesus suffered and hang on a Roman cross for three hours, be wrapped in 100 pounds of Jewish embalming wax, placed in a tomb with a stone weighing several tons blocking the entrance, sealed with imperial seal of the Roman empire, guarded by a squad of battle hardened Roman legionnaires and get up and walk out of His own grave is Whoever He says He is! It’s time to listen to Him.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Way of Salvation (part 2)
God’s Response to Our Lost Condition
The good news is, “. . . God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation (II Corinthians 5:19).” “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not go on perishing (Greek present tense), but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him” (John 3:16-17). In His priestly prayer, the night before He died for us, Jesus said to His Father, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent ( John 17:3).” “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all (I Timothy 1:15).”
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When His mother had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit . . . an angel of the Lord appeared to Him [Joseph] in a dream, saying, Joseph, Son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He Who will save His people from their sins. Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet [Isaiah] might be fulfilled . . . ‘The virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which translated means, God with us’” (Matthew 1:18, 200-23).
The Death of Jesus in Our Place
“The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). Every one of us is guilty of capital crimes against God. We have violated His law and we have violated His person. What He has told us not to do, we have done. What He has told us to do, we have left undone. “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us . . . If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” ( I John 1:8,10).
During His brief public ministry (about three and a half years), Jesus promised to die in our place. He said, “I am to good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His lie for His sheep. For this reason My father loves Me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away form Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father” (John 10:17-18). Since a dead savior can’t save anyone, Jesus also promised to rise from death; “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill Him; and when he has been killed, He will rise three days later (Mark 9:31).” Jesus proved to be “as good as His word.”
“The common people heard Him gladly,” but the rulers of the Jewish people, afraid that the Romans who occupied their homeland would remove them from office if they allowed Jesus to cause a disturbance, decided to eliminate Him. They said, “If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation (John 11:48).” Early in His ministry, they began to plot ways to get rid of Him. Finally, with the help of one of His followers named Judas, they managed one night to arrest Jesus while He was praying in an olive grove called Gethsemane just east of Jerusalem. “And when it was day, the Council of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and they led Him to their council chamber, saying, ‘If you are the Christ, tell us.’ . . . and they all said, ‘Are you the Son of God, then?’ And He said to them, ‘Yes, I am.’ And they said, ‘What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves form His own mouth.’”
The council, who convicted Jesus of blasphemy, had no authority under the Roman governor to execute Him, so they took Jesus to the Governor himself and pressured him into sentencing Him to death. “And Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, but they kept on calling out, ‘Crucify, crucify Him!’ And he said to them the third time, ‘Why, what evil has this man done? I found in Him no guilt demanding death; I will therefore punish Him and release Him.’ But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that he should be crucified. And their voices began to prevail. And Pilate passed sentence that their demand should be granted (Luke 23:22-24).”
Crucifixion is one of most inhumane means of torture ever to demonstrate man’s inhumanity to man. It was invented by the Persians. The Greeks under Alexander made little use of it but the Romans developed it to a fine art and used it to make a public example of the consequences of resisting the absolute power of the empire. When the Jewish high priests said to Pilate, “ ‘If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar,’ he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement he then delivered Him to them to be crucified’ ( John 19:12b-16).”
The history of Roman crucifixion gives the impression of gradual evolution as a form of
legal execution. There are records of crucifixion being used by the Romans as a common
punishment. Other accounts say that it was used for slaves, as in the case of the slave uprising
led by Spartacus in 73 BC. 6,000 of the leaders of the rebellion were hanged on crosses that lined Capua-Rome Highway like telephone poles. Those accused of sedition, such as the Galilean Zealots led by Judas of Galilee just prior to the Christian era, were the most likely candidates for crucifixion. It may have been later extended to thieves and rioters in the conquered territories. Nero may have even used it to execute Roman citizens, although, prior to Nero, crucifixion was forbidden to citizens.
By far the most common usage of this form of execution was for those accused of violating Pax Romana, the peace of Rome, by resisting or advocating the overthrow of Imperial rule.
Forms of crosses varied from the “tau cross,” erected in the form of a “T,” to the “X”
shaped crux cominissa, cross of St. Andrew. .” The simplest implement of crucifixion was not a
cross at all but crux simplex, or simple stake. The crux imissa is perhaps the best known, with the upright extending beyond the cross bar. This was likely the type of cross upon which Jesus of Nazareth died, inasmuch as the Gospel writers record that His title, as a charge against Him, “Jesus the Nazarene, The King of The Jews” was inscribed “above His head.” Contrary to most modern portrayals, Romans crosses were comparatively short. The top of the upright was probably between seven and nine feet above ground level. This may have been a deliberate device to facilitate access to the dead body by feral dogs or other wild animals.
Whatever the form of the instrument used, death by crucifixion was one of the most, if not
the very most, exquisite forms of torturous execution ever devised . It consisted not only of the
infliction of excruciating physical pain but also the most intense form of psychological torture
known prior to the twentieth century. In addition to being pinned to the cross in such a way as to elicit the greatest possible bodily agony, the victim was presented publicly naked in such a way as to cause the maximum of shame and disgrace; this in a culture in which public nakedness was the epitome of shame. Because it was originally used to execute slaves, crucifixion never lost its symbolic implication that the crucified person was of the lowest of social classes.
The administration of torture by the Romans in connection with crucifixion was classic in
proportion. It was always preceded by scourging so severe that the lucky ones died under it and
were thus spared the agony and shame of actual crucifixion. Historians estimate that about forty percent of those subjected to Roman scourging didn’t live to be crucified. The scourge consisted of a flagellate composed of multiple rawhide thongs. (It was probably the precursor of the British cat-of-nine-tails). Pieces of metal or bone were tied into the end of each thong to increase its cutting capacity when laid across the victim’s back. In preparation for scourging, the prisoner was stripped naked and his back was stretched taught, either by tying his hands high enough above his head to cause extension or by bending him over a log in such a way as to accomplish the same effect. By Romans law, the scourge fell “forty times save one.” The legal limit was forty stripes but, being sticklers for the letter of the law, the authorities allowed him to be struck only thirty nine times, just to be sure. Following scourging, the prisoner was forced to carry the rough cross beam of his cross on his lacerated back along the most indirect route to the crucifixion site. The site was located prominently in a public square or beside a heavily traveled street of roadway to assure maximum public exposure.
Commonly, there were two methods of attaching a man to the cross. He might be nailed
to the crossbeam which was then forced into a prepared notch cut into the upright or he might be stretched out on his back to be nailed and the entire cross, bearing his weight, dropped into a
previously dug hole. Jesus was nailed to the cross (John 20:25). The nails used were crude
spikes some seven to nine inches in length. These were driven into a point in the wrist known to
modern medicine as the narvicular snuff box to prevent their tearing out through the soft tissue of the hands when the victim’s weight was suspended on them. The knees of the victim were then bent at a slight angle, both legs twisted to the same side and a single nail driven through the largest ankle bones. The design of this hanging position was to make breathing as difficult as
possible. The worst physical pain probably came from the nerves of the wrists and ankles
damaged by the nails.
Between shoulder level and the feet, at a point where it would catch a man’s anus when
he lowered his weight, was a peg fixed into the upright beam of the cross. The pain caused by this peg could be as excruciating as any experienced in the gruesome process.
Forms of crosses varied from the “tau cross,” erected in the form of a “T,” to the “X”
shaped crux cominissa, cross of St. Andrew. .” The simplest implement of crucifixion was not a
cross at all but crux simplex, or simple stake. The crux imissa is perhaps the best known, with the upright extending beyond the cross bar. This was likely the type of cross upon which Jesus of Nazareth died, inasmuch as the Gospel writers record that His title, as a charge against Him, “Jesus the Nazarene, The King of The Jews” was inscribed “above His head.” Contrary to most modern portrayals, Romans crosses were comparatively short. The top of the upright was probably between seven and nine feet above ground level. This may have been a deliberate device to facilitate access to the dead body by feral dogs or other wild animals.
Whatever the form of the instrument used, death by crucifixion was one of the most, if not
the very most, exquisite forms of torturous execution ever devised . It consisted not only of the
infliction of excruciating physical pain but also the most intense form of psychological torture
known prior to the twentieth century. In addition to being pinned to the cross in such a way as to elicit the greatest possible bodily agony, the victim was presented publicly naked in such a way as to cause the maximum of shame and disgrace; this in a culture in which public nakedness was the epitome of shame. Because it was originally used to execute slaves, crucifixion never lost its symbolic implication that the crucified person was of the lowest of social classes.
The administration of torture by the Romans in connection with crucifixion was classic in
proportion. It was always preceded by scourging so severe that the lucky ones died under it and
were thus spared the agony and shame of actual crucifixion. Historians estimate that about forty percent of those subjected to Roman scourging didn’t live to be crucified. The scourge consisted of a flagellate composed of multiple rawhide thongs. (It was probably the precursor of the British cat-of-nine-tails). Pieces of metal or bone were tied into the end of each thong to increase its cutting capacity when laid across the victim’s back. In preparation for scourging, the prisoner was stripped naked and his back was stretched taught, either by tying his hands high enough above his head to cause extension or by bending him over a log in such a way as to accomplish the same effect. By Romans law, the scourge fell “forty times save one.” The legal limit was forty stripes but, being sticklers for the letter of the law, the authorities allowed him to be struck only thirty nine times, just to be sure. Following scourging, the prisoner was forced to carry the rough cross beam of his cross on his lacerated back along the most indirect route to the crucifixion site. The site was located prominently in a public square or beside a heavily traveled street of roadway to assure maximum public exposure.
Commonly, there were two methods of attaching a man to the cross. He might be nailed
to the crossbeam which was then forced into a prepared notch cut into the upright or he might be stretched out on his back to be nailed and the entire cross, bearing his weight, dropped into a
previously dug hole. Jesus was nailed to the cross (John 20:25). The nails used were crude
spikes some seven to nine inches in length. These were driven into a point in the wrist known to
modern medicine as the narvicular snuff box to prevent their tearing out through the soft tissue of the hands when the victim’s weight was suspended on them. The knees of the victim were then bent at a slight angle, both legs twisted to the same side and a single nail driven through the largest ankle bones. The design of this hanging position was to make breathing as difficult as
possible. The worst physical pain probably came from the nerves of the wrists and ankles
damaged by the nails.
Between shoulder level and the feet, at a point where it would catch a man’s anus when
he lowered his weight, was a peg fixed into the upright beam of the cross. The pain caused by this peg could be as excruciating as any experienced in the gruesome process.
Actual death in a crucifixion was caused by several factors. The scourging caused deep
lacerations in the back. The skin was torn away. Muscles and blood vessels were exposed.
Bleeding was torrential. By the time he was given the cross beam to carry, the victim was in
severe shock. Some died on the way to the site of crucifixion. The irritation of torn flesh by the
cross beam that he carried and the exquisite pain of the driven spikes intensified the shock.
In addition to shock that extended throughout the man’s entire system, the position in
which he hung was designed to constrict the rib cage and cause suffocation. When he pulled
himself up, placing his weight entirely on the nails in his wrists, the pain was unbearable. When he relaxed and sagged against the nails in both wrists and ankles, the chest cavity closed in on his lungs making breathing nearly impossible. The additional pain caused by this activity, as well as the prodding of the peg poking from behind, intensified the shock that was already threatening his life. The blood rushed to his head, triggering a massive headache. Fever and chills intermittently shook his body. The loss of blood and lack of adequate oxygen in his lungs sapped his strength until eventually he could struggle no more. His muscles convulsed, insects swarmed into every orifice of his body.
The Crucifixion of Christ
In the climate in which Jesus died, the heat of the sun added to the torture. It also exacerbated the onset of tetanus as well as infection in the wounds. The physical pain of Jesus was increased by the slaps to His face and the crown of thorns driven into his scalp in connection with the scourging.
The spiritual agony of Jesus must have made the physical torture seem almost enjoyable
by comparison! His mother, His aunt and two other women who had followed and served Him
during His ministry looked through their hot tears at His nakedness. His best friend, John stood
beside them, helpless. One of those He had called to be His witnesses had betrayed Him and on
the way to trial the night before He had heard Peter swear that he didn’t know Him.
God Himself, the Heavenly Father who had loved Him in eternity before the world was,
turned His face from Him. “Him who knew no sin, He made to be sin on our behalf”( II Corinthians 5:21) and He cried out, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (“My God My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?!”)
In the first verse of Psalm 22, these words which picture both His mental and spiritual agony are followed by; “Why are you so far from saving me, and so far from the words of my
groaning? O, my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and I am not silent. Yet
you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in You they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me: they hurl insults, shaking their heads: ‘He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue Him. Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him.’... I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; and has melted away within me. My strength has dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; You lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me; and a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing...”
Six hours after they nailed Jesus to the cross, He cried out between clenched teeth, “It is
finished... Father into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). In the temple, the veil that had for centuries shut people out from the presence of God was split down the middle from top to bottom and He took a repenting criminal to paradise! When the guards came to break His legs so that He would suffocate immediately, they found Him already dead. Just to be sure, they drove a spear into His heart.
A Mayo Clinic report confirms that the drops of sweat-as-blood He shed in Gethsemane
the night before and the blood mingled with water that flowed from the spear wound in His side
combine to indicate that the probable cause of Jesus’ death was a massive heart attack brought
on by shock, suffocation and loss of blood. He literally died of a broken heart!
The Reason for Jesus’ Death
When Adam and Eve fell into the temptation of Satan and committed the first sin on earth,
God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed
and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel” (Genesis
3:15). Most Bible scholars are agreed that this was God’s first promise of the death of Jesus
Christ for our sins. It is God’s means of reconciling the world to Himself.
Sometime prior to His crucifixion, Jesus had said, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men to Myself” (John 12:32). The late Dr. Toyozo Nakarai, a Japanese Old Testament
Professor at Butler University in Indianapolis had been reared as a Buddhist in a Shinto culture.
Concerning his acceptance of Christ as His Lord and Savior he said, “When I realized that Jesus
died for me, I could not resist Him!” Here is the meaning of Jesus’ horrible death.
In Philippians 2:6-11, the apostle Paul wrote, “although He existed in the form of God,
[He] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearances as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death , even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
In II Corinthians 5:21, the same apostle wrote, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin
on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The debate surrounding
Mel Gibson’s depiction of The Passion of Christ as to who is responsible for the death of Christ is
a spurious argument. It was your sin and mine that Jesus became in order to put sin to death and give us life.
“He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and
like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell on Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” (Isaiah 53:3-6).
lacerations in the back. The skin was torn away. Muscles and blood vessels were exposed.
Bleeding was torrential. By the time he was given the cross beam to carry, the victim was in
severe shock. Some died on the way to the site of crucifixion. The irritation of torn flesh by the
cross beam that he carried and the exquisite pain of the driven spikes intensified the shock.
In addition to shock that extended throughout the man’s entire system, the position in
which he hung was designed to constrict the rib cage and cause suffocation. When he pulled
himself up, placing his weight entirely on the nails in his wrists, the pain was unbearable. When he relaxed and sagged against the nails in both wrists and ankles, the chest cavity closed in on his lungs making breathing nearly impossible. The additional pain caused by this activity, as well as the prodding of the peg poking from behind, intensified the shock that was already threatening his life. The blood rushed to his head, triggering a massive headache. Fever and chills intermittently shook his body. The loss of blood and lack of adequate oxygen in his lungs sapped his strength until eventually he could struggle no more. His muscles convulsed, insects swarmed into every orifice of his body.
The Crucifixion of Christ
In the climate in which Jesus died, the heat of the sun added to the torture. It also exacerbated the onset of tetanus as well as infection in the wounds. The physical pain of Jesus was increased by the slaps to His face and the crown of thorns driven into his scalp in connection with the scourging.
The spiritual agony of Jesus must have made the physical torture seem almost enjoyable
by comparison! His mother, His aunt and two other women who had followed and served Him
during His ministry looked through their hot tears at His nakedness. His best friend, John stood
beside them, helpless. One of those He had called to be His witnesses had betrayed Him and on
the way to trial the night before He had heard Peter swear that he didn’t know Him.
God Himself, the Heavenly Father who had loved Him in eternity before the world was,
turned His face from Him. “Him who knew no sin, He made to be sin on our behalf”( II Corinthians 5:21) and He cried out, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (“My God My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?!”)
In the first verse of Psalm 22, these words which picture both His mental and spiritual agony are followed by; “Why are you so far from saving me, and so far from the words of my
groaning? O, my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and I am not silent. Yet
you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in You they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me: they hurl insults, shaking their heads: ‘He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue Him. Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him.’... I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; and has melted away within me. My strength has dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; You lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me; and a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing...”
Six hours after they nailed Jesus to the cross, He cried out between clenched teeth, “It is
finished... Father into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). In the temple, the veil that had for centuries shut people out from the presence of God was split down the middle from top to bottom and He took a repenting criminal to paradise! When the guards came to break His legs so that He would suffocate immediately, they found Him already dead. Just to be sure, they drove a spear into His heart.
A Mayo Clinic report confirms that the drops of sweat-as-blood He shed in Gethsemane
the night before and the blood mingled with water that flowed from the spear wound in His side
combine to indicate that the probable cause of Jesus’ death was a massive heart attack brought
on by shock, suffocation and loss of blood. He literally died of a broken heart!
The Reason for Jesus’ Death
When Adam and Eve fell into the temptation of Satan and committed the first sin on earth,
God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed
and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel” (Genesis
3:15). Most Bible scholars are agreed that this was God’s first promise of the death of Jesus
Christ for our sins. It is God’s means of reconciling the world to Himself.
Sometime prior to His crucifixion, Jesus had said, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men to Myself” (John 12:32). The late Dr. Toyozo Nakarai, a Japanese Old Testament
Professor at Butler University in Indianapolis had been reared as a Buddhist in a Shinto culture.
Concerning his acceptance of Christ as His Lord and Savior he said, “When I realized that Jesus
died for me, I could not resist Him!” Here is the meaning of Jesus’ horrible death.
In Philippians 2:6-11, the apostle Paul wrote, “although He existed in the form of God,
[He] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearances as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death , even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
In II Corinthians 5:21, the same apostle wrote, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin
on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The debate surrounding
Mel Gibson’s depiction of The Passion of Christ as to who is responsible for the death of Christ is
a spurious argument. It was your sin and mine that Jesus became in order to put sin to death and give us life.
“He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and
like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell on Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” (Isaiah 53:3-6).
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
The Way of Salvation
I am new to the bloggery, and am excited to share with my friends and anyone who finds this site the wisdom God has given me over my years of ministry and life. Comments and discussion are welcome.
Today's post is the first in a series of six in which I will focus on Salvation: creation's need for it, God's provision for it, and the ramifications of it. Enjoy!
“This is a statement that can be trusted and deserves complete
acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
and I am the foremost offender.”
I Timothy 1:15 - God’s Word
The Universal Need of Salvation
Salvation is a means to an end. The late Dr. Dean E. Walker was fond of saying, “Everything God has ever done, or ever will do, in human history can be summed up in one word: ‘Reconciliation.’” The apostle Paul implies exactly this in II Corinthians 5:19; "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committee to us the word of reconciliation.” The apostle John wrote; "what we have seen and heard we are proclaiming to you also, that you also may continue having fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” (I John 1:3 my translation).
What gives salvation its vital role in God’s reconciliation of the world to Himself is the fact that, prior to salvation, everyone is “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1-3). There are no exceptions, “...for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Technically, to trespass is to “go too far,” while to sin is to not go “far enough,” to fall short of the mark in the attempt function as an “image” of God and represent Him accurately. Since “the wages of sin is death¼” (Romans 6:23a), and all have sinned, we are all, without the saving work of Jesus Christ, in a “bunch of trouble.”
Logically, if the living God is going to reconcile us to Himself and at the same time reconcile us to each other and to ourselves-within-ourselves, the first thing He must do is break the vicious cycle of sin-unto-death. The Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel, wrote; “the person who sins will die” (Ezekiel 18:4: God’s Word). In the New Testament, the apostle, Paul wrote, “There is no difference between people. Because all people have sinned, they have fallen short of God’s glory” (Romans 3:22b: God‘s Word) “The reward for sin is death” (Romans 6:23a: God‘s Word). The process by which He breaks this vicious circle is what the Bible calls “Salvation, (sothria, soteria)” or “to be saved (sosai).” To grasp, and so to benefit from, this process, we will do well to see how it came about that a race of people created by a loving God to be his family have all become so drastically separated from Him as to be called “dead in trespasses and sin.” Reconciliation to God, to His people and to self-within-self begins with salvation.
It all started with Eve! That’s not a chauvinist statement designed to blame all our troubles on a woman. It’s a matter of Biblical history that Eve was the first human being to disobey God. It is also true that “just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all ”(Romans 5:12 Emphasis added).
In the beginning, God created both male and female human beings in His own image (Genesis 1:27-28). Whatever else is involved in being in the image of God, human beings were created with the ability, and thereby the responsibility, to make hard decisions; to choose between alternatives. God put His perfect pair in a perfect environment in a world He had called “very good.” He planned that we would be totally committed (by our own choice) to the doing of His will and that, consequently, we would be morally pure (Ephesians 1:4).
No sooner had Eve joined Adam in the garden than Satan spoke to her through a serpent. There is no point wasting time debating about what the serpent was or how Satan spoke through him. What he said is much more important than what he was. He did for Eve what contemporary philosophy does for us. He denied that God had established moral absolutes! He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”
Eve’s answer wasn’t entirely accurate. God had said, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-16). Eve added to God’s word when she said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.’” God hadn’t forbidden the touching of the tree or its fruit, only the eating of it. Careless handling of His word always invites trouble!
“You will not surely die!” the serpent said to the woman. “Because God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good an evil.” What Satan said was the most clever and deceptive form of lying; a half truth. It was true that they would know good and evil. It was not true that disobeying God would make them “like God.” Quite the contrary. They were already in the image of God! That’s what Satan was trying to change. So, “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that it the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate (Genesis 3:6).”
Satan’s deception of Eve was so effective he has been using it on people ever since. In the New Testament letter called First John, the apostle warns us against yielding to the same temptations; “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world” ( I John 2:15-16). In Eve’s temptation, the desires of the flesh were focused on the forbidden fruit as being “good for food.” The desires of her eyes responded to the esthetic beauty of the tree as a “delight to the eyes.” Her “pride of life” was stimulated when Satan brought her to perceive of the fruit as the means of being “like God.”
You and I face these same temptations every day. It is likely that every sin ever committed falls into one or a combination of the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life. When Jesus was “Tempted in all things as we are yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:17) it was when Satan confronted Him with these same human desires (Matthew 4:1-10).
After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God called them to account. He began by giving them a chance to confess; asking Adam if he had, indeed, eaten from the tree of which He had commanded him not to eat. Adam did not deny eating but, like most of us, he tried to blame someone else for his indiscretion. Since there was only one “somebody else,” “¼the man said ‘the woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree and I ate’ (Genesis 3:12).” Adam blamed Eve, and, by implication, God for his sin. Confronted by God, Eve also tried to pass the buck. Her excuse was, “. . . the serpent deceived me, and I ate” (Genesis 3:13b). “The devil made me do it!”
“Through one man,” wrote the apostle Paul, “sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). Adam opened the gate and we have all walked through it. We are not dead in sin because we have inherited Adam’s guilt, which we have not, but because we have followed his example!
Because this is true, everyone one of us is guilty before God and must answer for it. The Old Testament Prophet, Isaiah, put it like this, “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). Israel’s King David wrote, “The Lord looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none that does good, not even one” (Psalm 14:2-3).
The consequences are disastrous! Isaiah wrote, “ your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God” (Isaiah 59:2). The apostle Paul said to those saved by grace through faith in Christ, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins¼” ( Ephesians 2:1).
Today's post is the first in a series of six in which I will focus on Salvation: creation's need for it, God's provision for it, and the ramifications of it. Enjoy!
“This is a statement that can be trusted and deserves complete
acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
and I am the foremost offender.”
I Timothy 1:15 - God’s Word
The Universal Need of Salvation
Salvation is a means to an end. The late Dr. Dean E. Walker was fond of saying, “Everything God has ever done, or ever will do, in human history can be summed up in one word: ‘Reconciliation.’” The apostle Paul implies exactly this in II Corinthians 5:19; "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committee to us the word of reconciliation.” The apostle John wrote; "what we have seen and heard we are proclaiming to you also, that you also may continue having fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” (I John 1:3 my translation).
What gives salvation its vital role in God’s reconciliation of the world to Himself is the fact that, prior to salvation, everyone is “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1-3). There are no exceptions, “...for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Technically, to trespass is to “go too far,” while to sin is to not go “far enough,” to fall short of the mark in the attempt function as an “image” of God and represent Him accurately. Since “the wages of sin is death¼” (Romans 6:23a), and all have sinned, we are all, without the saving work of Jesus Christ, in a “bunch of trouble.”
“Death,” in the Bible, is frequently not “terminal.” In Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul says that (before God saved us in Christ by His grace) we were all dead and that, being dead, we were walking around in trespasses and sin. More often than not, when “death” appears in the Scriptures, especially in the New Testament, it is describing our state of being alienated from God. Because we are at war with God, we are at war with one another and often at odds with ourselves-within-ourselves.
Logically, if the living God is going to reconcile us to Himself and at the same time reconcile us to each other and to ourselves-within-ourselves, the first thing He must do is break the vicious cycle of sin-unto-death. The Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel, wrote; “the person who sins will die” (Ezekiel 18:4: God’s Word). In the New Testament, the apostle, Paul wrote, “There is no difference between people. Because all people have sinned, they have fallen short of God’s glory” (Romans 3:22b: God‘s Word) “The reward for sin is death” (Romans 6:23a: God‘s Word). The process by which He breaks this vicious circle is what the Bible calls “Salvation, (sothria, soteria)” or “to be saved (sosai).” To grasp, and so to benefit from, this process, we will do well to see how it came about that a race of people created by a loving God to be his family have all become so drastically separated from Him as to be called “dead in trespasses and sin.” Reconciliation to God, to His people and to self-within-self begins with salvation.
It all started with Eve! That’s not a chauvinist statement designed to blame all our troubles on a woman. It’s a matter of Biblical history that Eve was the first human being to disobey God. It is also true that “just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all ”(Romans 5:12 Emphasis added).
In the beginning, God created both male and female human beings in His own image (Genesis 1:27-28). Whatever else is involved in being in the image of God, human beings were created with the ability, and thereby the responsibility, to make hard decisions; to choose between alternatives. God put His perfect pair in a perfect environment in a world He had called “very good.” He planned that we would be totally committed (by our own choice) to the doing of His will and that, consequently, we would be morally pure (Ephesians 1:4).
Because no one is positively good until they have had a chance to be bad, God gave Adam and Eve a simple test. In the center of their garden home, geometrically as far as He could get it from every other place they might be in the garden, God placed a tree. God told Adam that he was free to eat from any tree in the garden; but that he must not eat the fruit of this particular tree because when he did he would “surely die” (Genesis 2:7-9, 15-17).
No sooner had Eve joined Adam in the garden than Satan spoke to her through a serpent. There is no point wasting time debating about what the serpent was or how Satan spoke through him. What he said is much more important than what he was. He did for Eve what contemporary philosophy does for us. He denied that God had established moral absolutes! He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”
Eve’s answer wasn’t entirely accurate. God had said, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-16). Eve added to God’s word when she said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.’” God hadn’t forbidden the touching of the tree or its fruit, only the eating of it. Careless handling of His word always invites trouble!
“You will not surely die!” the serpent said to the woman. “Because God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good an evil.” What Satan said was the most clever and deceptive form of lying; a half truth. It was true that they would know good and evil. It was not true that disobeying God would make them “like God.” Quite the contrary. They were already in the image of God! That’s what Satan was trying to change. So, “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that it the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate (Genesis 3:6).”
Satan’s deception of Eve was so effective he has been using it on people ever since. In the New Testament letter called First John, the apostle warns us against yielding to the same temptations; “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world” ( I John 2:15-16). In Eve’s temptation, the desires of the flesh were focused on the forbidden fruit as being “good for food.” The desires of her eyes responded to the esthetic beauty of the tree as a “delight to the eyes.” Her “pride of life” was stimulated when Satan brought her to perceive of the fruit as the means of being “like God.”
You and I face these same temptations every day. It is likely that every sin ever committed falls into one or a combination of the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life. When Jesus was “Tempted in all things as we are yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:17) it was when Satan confronted Him with these same human desires (Matthew 4:1-10).
After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God called them to account. He began by giving them a chance to confess; asking Adam if he had, indeed, eaten from the tree of which He had commanded him not to eat. Adam did not deny eating but, like most of us, he tried to blame someone else for his indiscretion. Since there was only one “somebody else,” “¼the man said ‘the woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree and I ate’ (Genesis 3:12).” Adam blamed Eve, and, by implication, God for his sin. Confronted by God, Eve also tried to pass the buck. Her excuse was, “. . . the serpent deceived me, and I ate” (Genesis 3:13b). “The devil made me do it!”
“Through one man,” wrote the apostle Paul, “sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). Adam opened the gate and we have all walked through it. We are not dead in sin because we have inherited Adam’s guilt, which we have not, but because we have followed his example!
Because this is true, everyone one of us is guilty before God and must answer for it. The Old Testament Prophet, Isaiah, put it like this, “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). Israel’s King David wrote, “The Lord looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none that does good, not even one” (Psalm 14:2-3).
The consequences are disastrous! Isaiah wrote, “ your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God” (Isaiah 59:2). The apostle Paul said to those saved by grace through faith in Christ, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins¼” ( Ephesians 2:1).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
