Jesus We Talk About Who Are You?
Dear Thomas,
In your second question, you state, “It doesn’t make any sense to me that Jesus’ dying on the cross could pay for my sins. no judicial system allows a man to pay for the capital crimes committed by another.
So what makes it right for Christians to assume that Jesus paid the price for mankind’s deliberate wrongdoings? is this some mental gymnastics to allow them to feel free from guilt?
How does Jesus’ dying on the cross in ancient times affect the choices a modern person made in the past, makes currently, or will make in the future?”
I suppose another way you could ask the question is this: How can a perfect, holy, and just god excuse believing sinners and at the same time maintain his integrity to the divine law that justly condemns us? Scripture does say that death is the ultimate consequence of our sins.
you are quite right in your assessment about the ethics of someone saying, “I’ll go to the electric chair for my friend. Let him go free, even though he did commit the murder.” as you said, no judicial system would allow that. each of us must suffer the consequences of our own actions. The social order of societies demands this kind of justice.
Wrongs must ultimately have just or deserved consequences. wrongs must be avenged. however, avenge is not revenge. revenge implies vindictive punishment, retaliation, and malice. avenge, on the other hand, means the infliction of a deserved or just consequence for wrongs, absent of malice.
Too often avenge and revenge have been mixed up when it comes to god’s reaction to sin, lawlessness, and the rebellion of man. unfortunately, much rhetoric has been spoken about god’s anger and wrath toward the sinner and what this angry god wishes and plans to do to those who violate his precepts.
In this view, revenge is the operative concept. it comes from a law-based view of the relationship between God and humankind. you violate God’s law; it makes God angry, and you must be punished. if Jesus were to take our place, take the consequence for our sins, and our law-breaking, then Jesus had to be punished, executed, and suffer the disapproval of an angry God.
No! That is not what’s going on here at all. the issue is that sinful man cannot live in the presence of a holy, just, and all-powerful God It is true that all humanity stands legally condemned because every one of us has sinned all the way back to Adam.
All humanity has committed unloving and immoral thoughts and acts as a result of the broken relationship between God and humanity. when man sinned, he lost the right to eternal life. sin was man’s attempt to be something he was not created to be.
It was man’s decision to step outside his status as a created being living in an appropriate relationship with his creator. It was the choice Adam and Eve made to cast aside trust in their creator after they listened to false accusations as told to them by the deceiver.
Those accusations were that their creator did not have their best interests in mind and was holding them back from a potential they perceived as good and possible for themselves.
Let me add here that I believe in the existence of the devil, also known as satan and formerly called Lucifer in heaven. prior to his fall, lucifer was the highest-ranking created being in heaven and possibly bore a likeness to Jesus. yet Jesus was god, and Lucifer was not. apparently Lucifer was not satisfied with his creaturely status and rebelled against god, as explained in.
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the most high.”
Lucifer’s rebellion led him to become the full personification of evil. He is cunning and powerful and seeks to destroy God’s relationship with His creation and His creatures. H wants to be like God and wages a battle for the allegiance, worship, and souls (mind, emotions, and will) of human beings.
Thus, full of hatred for god and his creation, satan, when he accomplishes it, seeks to destroy or at least damage every human life. it was this satanic being who caused the fall of the human race through Adam.
Adam, however, did possess free will, and he had to choose what to do with satan’s accusations against God. Adam chose to listen to the evil one, as did Eve. That deliberate and willful breaking of our relationship with god brought forth its consequence, which was our natural death and the ultimate second death.
Life comes from god, the creator and giver of life. separated from god, we have no permanent life. we were meant to be in a relationship with the life-giving god. without him, we starve to death, so to speak.
A reasonable case can be made that through self-help and effort, humans can live pretty good lives, as some reflect on it. but all of us will have to admit that we have made mistakes and have consciously and willfully committed violations in relationships.
All of us have directly rebelled, broken relationships, and acted unlovingly out of self-centered interests. if we are guilty, then we are stuck with the consequences.
The fact is that we are all guilty, and we are all stuck with the consequences. the fact is that we are all guilty, and we are all stuck with the consequences.
You and I may not like the consequences, but the good news is God doesn’t like the consequences either. you and I can’t do anything about it. we are guilty. we can’t undo the crime.
we can’t unring the bell once it has been rung. but god can do something about it, and he has! That is what salvation or rescue is all about.
God wants to heal us from our natural and chosen condition. he wants us to have a new beginning, a new birth, adopted into a new family, a new life with a new inheritance.
And it is all available through the living and dying of Jesus Christ, God incarnate. It is god becoming human, being a living example of life in relation to god, yet suffering the ultimate consequence of our sins for us.
Jesus’ death on the cross was the real and ultimate consequence of God’s dealing with human sin. It was God letting his son go, giving him up, and withdrawing His spirit, as a result of Jesus taking upon himself the human sin problem of the world. As excruciating as the death on the cross was for Jesus, It was equally excruciating for god the father and the holy spirit.
Let me put it this way. it is much like a father who is hanging onto his son’s hand as the son holds onto the leash of their beloved family dog. The dog decides to chase a squirrel, and the squirrel leads both the dog and son over a cliff.
The father desperately hangs onto his son with his one hand. both hither and son are horrified to think of what will happen if the father cannot maintain his grip.
Finally, because of the weight of the dog and son coupled with the forces of gravity, the father loses his grip, and the ultimate consequence is realized. It is equally horrifying to both the son, who plunges to his death for the love of the family dog, and to the father, who suffers the anguish of separation from his son. no, man is not in the hands of an angry god.
The good news is that neither god nor Jesus is mad at us! god is like the father in the prodigal son story of Luke 15:11-32. As Jesus said,
Accepting God’s offer of salvation is not just a way out of consequential guilt for our sin but a fantastic way of eliminating our guilt at a tremendous cost the death of his son on the cross! it required the perfect life and then the death of Jesus Christ to accomplish for us the elimination of our guilt.
Let’s get back to the question. what makes it right for the Christian to assume that Jesus paid the price or consequence of mankind’s deliberate wrongdoings? was Jesus’ death on the cross punishment, or was it something else?
The issue of Jesus paying the price for my failings or yours, suffering the consequences of sin for all of us, is based on the understanding of the collective, common, and shared oneness of all humankind.
Jesus Christ is god incarnate, the creator of all humanity beginning with the spiritually alive Adam—Jesus could legally represent all humanity.
Jesus Christ, the one who obeyed the law completely by doing the will of his father, willingly laid down his life on behalf of his creation. As the creator of man becoming human, he bore the consequences of that creation gone wrong.
Jesus singularly and alone made the ultimate sacrifice, making possible our salvation, our redemption, our being set right with god. on the cross he willingly gave up life forever, dying the second death for us.
This is the death sentence that Adam received and that we received. humanity died in Jesus because of our sinful choices. Jesus took our sins upon himself. keep in mind that this wasn’t just a “Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday morning” goodbye to life. Jesus was willing to give up life forever, but because he had a faith relationship with the Father, he believed he would rise on the third day.
Expressing his total trust in the Father, Jesus said just seconds before he died, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). Jesus’ resurrection was based on pure faith and trust in his Father.
All humanity that was lost in Adam died with Jesus Christ. Jesus suffered and died for all humanity in his death on the cross. As the bible says in
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man, the many will be made righteous.
Because of Jesus’ coming to earth as a man, doing the will of his heavenly father, taking on the sins of the world, paying the price for our sins by dying on the cross yes, because of who Jesus is, namely our creator, redeemer, and god incarnate God in Jesus christ can and has legally and ethically exonerated sinners.
All humanity died collectively with and in Christ. all humanity obeyed the law collectively in Jesus christ. Jesus is the representative of all humanity, whom the apostle Paul calls the second Adam.
This is indeed good news. Jesus did for us and all humanity that which we could not do for ourselves. but this new life becomes applicable and operative to the sinner—you and me—only if we accept Jesus christ as lord, savior, and redeemer. the good news is that even our acceptance is the work of god’s spirit wooing us to it, as the familiar verses of.
It is by choice that we are saved from the consequences of sin. God first chose us, and now all we have to do is choose to respond to Him. A person would be correct to question the ethics of Jesus Christ taking on and paying for the sins of the world if He had been just another human being.
But as our creator and as a god, He joined His life with fallen human life, becoming a man. thus, he and he alone—justifiably, legally, and ethically—became our savior. that is the good news! he loves us; god loves us.
And he refused to let us go. As scripture says in Romans “who will rescue me from this body of death? thanks be to God through Jesus christ our lord!”
The sin problem was fixed at the cross. the apostle Paul said in Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” the in here means believing that Jesus was who he said he was.
It implies a relational faith in his personhood as creator, savior, and the ever-present lord of our life. Paul went on to say in Romans 8:35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” the answer is an unequivocal “No one.”
Jesus Christ, as our redeemer, experienced that ultimate separation from the Father, that second death once and for all at the cross of Calvary outside the walls of Jerusalem. god promises, “never again!”
Once we choose a relationship with Christ as our creator, redeemer, and lord, we gain a new life, a new beginning, a new birth, a new inheritance, a new history, and a new family tree. Jesus becomes the original and new head of the family as we are
Adopted, grafted into this new family, and given a new identity. we are credited with Christ’s nature. we are no longer “in Adam” but made anew “in Christ.”
we become spiritually alive, whereas before we were spiritually dead. all this happens because god is love and first loved us.
In Christ, our past is forgiven, canceled, and made of no account in our present and future lives. In Him, our present life is changed as well. the old self of sin, death, and self-centeredness no longer has to dominate our lives.
We can begin living with a new and different operative as well as new understandings, intentions, and motives from his indwelling spirit, which heals the past and redirects the old way to a new way of other-centered love.
In Christ, our future is also made different, as we, through Christ’s spirit, continue to heal from the damages of sin in our past and the brokenness we may feel in the present.
To know that we can stand before a holy, righteous, and loving god without fear because we are hidden, adopted, and grafted into Jesus Christ is freedom indeed.
Being in a carrier changes the focus from our performance for acceptance to performance as appreciation for being accepted. think about it.
Being in Christ allows us the opportunity to become all that god desires us to be now and in the future, all as a free gift!
Now comes the apparent rub. there seems to be a big performance gap. we don’t seem to be very successful at living or loving as god originally intended.
We can understand the apostle Paul’s struggle as expressed in Romans in which he lamented his inability to do the things that he wanted to do in a consistent manner. Like Paul, we neither live nor love as God intended.
So what is god-like, as it relates to this performance gap? the good news is that he is like a loving father who is more concerned that we mature in love than about our failures to love.
He continually gives us new beginnings, as many times as we need. and as our loving father, he is the source of our new identity and the source of support, help, and solace in this broken world. he is the source of this new growing up all over again.
God is gracious—I mean, truly gracious! that is another way of describing the good news about God. but in order for the grace of God to be effective in our lives, we must understand that this is His nature.
No matter what we may have done in the past, what we just did in the present, or what we might do in the future, god is still gracious, and we can fully trust him.
Out of this trust comes a change within our hearts and minds. that change causes a transformation. this transformation is his doing, not ours.
He is the redeemer; we do not redeem ourselves. our part, as stated before, is our continued willing acceptance of his acceptance and staying in relationship with Him.
This is not cheap grace that i am talking about here but a life that recognizes God’s love, a life that recognizes an inability to love back adequately. It is a life that recognizes that God through Jesus Christ has taken care of our failures—past, present, and future.
As Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
With the above as my understanding of who we are, complete and perfect in Christ yet incomplete as far as obtaining any sense of that perfection, I can confidently say we have a justified faith that declares it so.
What can we say to a God who is so gracious yet painfully aware of our natural inheritance in Adam? what would our prayer look like if we were to open our soul (our mind, emotions, and will) and our very heart to this god?
Each of our prayers would be different, but they would all be a sinner’s prayer. a sinner’s prayer can be as simple and sincere as, “Jesus, forgive me. I want you in my life,” or it can be a full outpouring of a person’s realization of one’s sinful condition and the assurance gained in understanding what happens when one is accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Here is one of my prayers that I find applicable every time I read it. it is as follows:
Dear Lord Jesus,
you know my heart, mind, and body. you know my history, the sum total of all my experiences that make up my view of you, my view of myself, and my view of the world about me.
you know all the unloving acts I have committed, whether in mind or body. you know all the good I have done or tried to do. you know all the evil that was done by my willing hand or mind.
you know my needs and my longings. you know my spiritual understandings and my misunderstandings. you know everything there is to know about me.
Lord, you know that I am caught in the effects of a world that chose to separate from you long ago. it is like an inherited disease passed on to me by those who came before. I am caught in its effect.
I live with the realization that my existence is deficient in the one aspect above all else that represents you. I am deficient in love.
you know that when I speak of love, I don’t really know what I am talking about. The love that I know is continually bombarded by self-love, an egocentric love.
I know that I am undone, incomplete, and fallen from your intent. I confess that I am in need of a savior. if I think that I can lift myself into your acceptance and grace
Through my lofty ideas, my efforts in doing good deeds, or by shunning evil thoughts and deeds, I all too quickly find my attempts futile and delusional.
As You know, it has always been my understanding that I do not possess my existence, my life by right. It is a gift from You, my Creator that allows me to live, move, and have being.
I confess that I have not done all that well with that gift. I’m truly sorry. I apologize for all the unloving ways I think and act toward myself, others, and You. Forgive me, Jesus. I wish it were not this way, but to ask You to help me is the best I can do.
What must change in me so that I come to the full realization that You are a God who truly loves and that it is the nature of that love to descend to me and to all others without qualification?
In effect, You say to me and to all sinners willing to recognize and admit their condition, “I forgive you! I accept you!” Through the sacrificial act of Jesus Christ, You have set me right and put me in the right relationship with You.
You have not told me to go and perform in order to prove my acceptability but rather to come and receive my free gift, which is all Your doing and none of mine, except for my acceptance of your acceptance.
Continue to teach me, Jesus, and affirm in me that life is not about how good I have to be. Teach me that there is nothing I can do to gain the salvation that You have already granted to me. Lead me to a life that shows appreciation for that salvation already granted.
Jesus, it seems to me that I can do no more than to present myself to You just as I am. I can do no more than to look at the evidence of Your love and grace and trust myself into Your keeping. By Your declaration, I must affirm that I belong to You even now in this earthly life. I need You and want You as my Savior and Redeemer, for I can neither save nor redeem myself
My prayer is that You would remold my mind from within. In Your way and in Your good time, heal me from the effects and damages of my natural inheritance in this fallen world.
May I always know that if this life should end by accidental or natural causes before Your work in me is complete, I can rest assured by Your promise and through Your resurrection as the firstfruits of what is to come, that You will recreate me, body and mind, with a new nature that is in complete harmony with the principles of love that govern Your universe?
Thank You, Jesus, for Your love that has been and always will be directed toward me and all others, for there is nothing that can separate me from Your love.
Through faith with ample evidence, I understand that it is You, who is the Creator and Redeemer of the world! You came in the garden of Eden in the cool of the evening.
You came in the experience and words of the patriarchs and prophets of old. You came in the sacrificial, self¬ love expressed in Your earthly birth, life, death, and resurrection.
And You continue to come to us in that same majesty of love through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Best of all, You will come to this earth again, break through our sense world, and ultimately take us to a new earthly home that You intended for us from the beginning. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your love that is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Thank You!
Through Christ’s divine right, I have been declared Your creation and recreation. Amen.
Your friend,
Matt