Monday 12 April 2010

HOW? How the Saviour Saves

The How on God’s Part

John Calvin says that God in his generous mercy dealt with our sin in Christ so that “there might be no obstruction to his love.” What a thought, God wants no obstruction to his love - Hallelujah!!

1. The Plan
"Purpose," Eph. 1:3-14 To “redeem ... a ... people,” Titus 2:14, “bringing many sons to glory,” Hebrews 2:10; John 17.

2. The Incarnation
Illustration: drowning person. A drowning person needs someone stronger than themselves to save them.
As Gregory said,the “unassumed is the unredeemed.” So God must come and take on human flesh, flesh just like our own – Jesus is both very God, and very man. Romans 1:3,4; 8:1-4.

3. The Life he Lived
He lived in flesh just like our own. In order to save us every facet of our existence (mind, will, emotions) had to be united with God so that God can overcome the sin that permeates our entire existence. So we read that Jesus Christ was born of a woman, made under the law, in the likeness of sinful flesh.

And in that flesh he was tempted in all points as we are.

Every temptation Jesus experienced was for real, but throughout his life he said ‘yes’ to God, and through dependency on his Father beat back the forces of darkness, and overcame every temptation so that he never ever once sinned. As such he was now able to offer himself on our behalf – to bear our sin and its consequences.

4. The Death he Died
John Owen, “the prince of Puritan divines,” described the death of Christ as “the Death of death in the death of Christ” – in other words this was the death that we all deserved, but through his death our death as those who believe in him would now be completely different!

Owen lists four essential elements in any propitiation – all of which we can find in Romans:

1. An offence to be taken away. Romans 1:18.
2. A person offended who needs to be pacified. Romans 1:18.
3. An offending person; one guilty of the offence. Romans 1:18; 3:1-18, 23.
4. A sacrifice or some other means of making atonement for the offence. Romans 3:21-26.

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.” Romans 3:27. Note 1:18.

It is righteousness that comes through faith, 3:22.

The practical outworking? A sacrifice of atonement 3:25.

Different translations use different words here, sacrifice of atonement, expiation, propitiation.

• Expiation – has to do with humanity. Deals with the problem. E.g. removing the stain from a shirt by bleaching it. Cleansing which removes the problem sin/stain. BUT It’s only half the job done. It just deals with us and we could get dirty again. Doesn’t deal with the relationship.

• Propitiation – has to do with God. Deals with the persons/relationship. E.g. you do something which you know will stain your shirt and your wife is rightly extremely angry with you for doing so, so you go and buy her some flowers to make up for it and she forgives you. Wrath averted. The relationship is restored. Both parties reconciled.
In expiation we have the removal of guilt through a payment of the penalty, while propitiation emphasizes the appeasement or averting of God's wrath and justice. The result is at-one-ment.

Isaiah 53:10, 11 or as the hymn writer put it, “His soul was once an offering made for every soul of man.” Charles Wesley

• Justification – the result. Romans 3:24, 26. He was “delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” 4:25.

Not just cleansed and forgiven but acquitted! Declared righteous!

Some think that the cross, the necessity of such a bloody sacrifice, is nothing but gratuitous violence, not so, this is warranted violence, a violence that prevents God’s love from sinking into mere sentimentality and romanticism. As Niebuhr puts it, “Only a tragic and suffering love can be an adequate symbol of what we believe to be at the heart of reality itself.”

In the words of the songwriter, "What kind of love is this ...." Now with no obstruction!

No comments:

Post a Comment