In this chapter, we shall examine the Biblical doctrine of salvation. The Gospel of the grace of God will be examined first. We will show that the gospel of God is the gospel of our salvation; it is the good news of what God has done for the salvation of man through Jesus Christ, His Son. We will also show that this gospel is the gospel of the grace of God; that is, this salvation is by the grace of God. Then we will show that this salvation is from death, sin and wrath to life, righteousness and peace with God. In particular, we will show how God has delivered man from death, sin and wrath by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We will show that this salvation is basically from death to life and secondarily from sin to righteousness and then from wrath to peace with God. Finally, we will examine the Biblical doctrine of the righteousness of God and justification by faith.
The Gospel of God is the good news of what God has done for man through Jesus Christ, His Son. The English word gospel (from the Anglo-Saxon, god-spell, "God-story") is used in the English New Testament to translate the Greek word euangelion, "good news, good tidings." The Gospel is good news. But in the New Testament, the gospel is not just any item of good news but is always the good news of what God has done for man through Jesus Christ, His Son (Mark 1:1; Rom. 1:1). It is the Gospel of God.
These acts of God are historical events and the Gospel is a recital of these historical events. The Gospel is not an abstract and general theological argument, nor is it a system of morals. It is history; that is, a record of certain historical events in which God has acted. Of course, it involves and requires theology to understand it and to state its meaning; it also makes a radical moral demand and implies a system of morals. But the Gospel of God is first of all the story of God's acts in history.
The historical events in which God has acted are those in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospel is therefore a recital of the events in the life of Jesus. He is the content of the Gospel and it is about Him, what He did and who He is. The Gospel of God is therefore concerning God's Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord ( Rom. 1:1, 3). The crucial events in the life of Jesus are His death (with his burial) and his resurrection (with his appearances). These are the most important elements in the message of the Gospel.
"3For I delivered to you as of first importanceThe resurrection of Jesus is the decisive and key event in his life for the explanation and interpretation of the other events in his life. The meaning of his ministry is found in the resurrection; it is its goal and climax. The true significance of the crucifixion is also to be seen in the light of the resurrection; it shows that the cross was a necessary step in God's plan of salvation.
what I also received, that Christ died for our sins
in accordance with the scriptures,
4that he was buried,
that he was raised on the third day
in accordance with the scriptures,
5and that he appeared to Cephas,
then to the twelve." (I Cor. 15:3-5).
The Gospel is not only about what Jesus did -- His work, but it is also about who He is -- His person.
"1Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ,Paul in this passage says that the Gospel of God is about Jesus and who He is; that is, it is about His person and that there are two sides to the person of Jesus: the human and the spiritual side. The human side is given in Romans 1:3. "According to the flesh", that is, as a man, Jesus was made or born of the seed of David. He was a descendant (seed) of David, the king; He was in the royal family of David. This means two things:
called to be an apostle,
separated unto the gospel of God,
2which he promised beforehand
through his prophets in the holy scriptures,
3the gospel concerning his Son,
who came from the seed of David according to the flesh,
4who was designated the Son of God in power
according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection of the dead;
Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom. 1:1-4 ERS).
The spiritual side of Jesus is given in Romans 1:4. As a spiritual being ("according to the spirit of holiness"), Jesus was declared (designated) to be the Son of God in power by the resurrection of the dead. Jesus as a holy spiritual being is intimately and uniquely related to God the Father (Matt. 11:27; John 5:19-23). He is the Son of God (Mark 1:11; from Psa. 2:7 and also Isa. 42:1; Mark 9:7; 14:36; 61-62; John 1:18). Before His resurrection, He was the Son of God in weakness and lowliness (Phil. 2:2-8). Now since His resurrection, He is the Son of God in a new sense: He is the Son of God "in power" (see II Cor. 13:4; Phil. 2:9-11; Eph. 1:19-21). The source (Gr. ek, from) of the designation of Christ as the Son of God in power is the resurrection of the dead. This is not just Christ's resurrection from among those who are dead, but the resurrection of those who are dead (Note that nekron of Rom. 1:4 is in the genitive case. Compare with I Cor. 15:12, 20-21.). The resurrection of Jesus shows who He is. But that is not what Paul is talking about in Romans 1:4; he is here talking about that which now shows Jesus to be the Son of God in power and that is the resurrection of those who are dead. And this resurrection is not just physical resurrection of the dead but is a spiritual resurrection of the dead ( John 5:24-25; Rom. 6:5, 8; Eph. 2:4-6; Col. 3:1). That Jesus is the Son of God in power is shown in the resurrection of the dead, both spiritual and physical, both now and in the future.
What did God accomplish through these events in the life of Jesus? What did God do for man through him? The answer in one word is salvation. In these events, God accomplished the salvation of man. The Gospel as the record and proclamation of what God has done for man is the good news of salvation (Eph. 1:13). But the Gospel is not only about salvation but it is the power of God unto salvation.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel:The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation because it is about Jesus Christ, who is the power of God (I Cor. 1:24) and the Son of God in power ( Rom. 1:4). The Gospel receives its power from Christ and God who acted in power through Christ. The Gospel is not only about the power of God, but it is the power of God. Whenever the Gospel is preached, God exerts His power. The Gospel is not only the presentation of facts or ideas, but it is the operation of God's power. When the Gospel is preached, something happens (I Thess. 1:5; I Cor. 2:4-5; 4:19-20). The purpose and result of the operation of this power of God is salvation ( Rom. 1:16). Whenever the Gospel is proclaimed, God exerts His power for the salvation of men.
for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Rom. 1:16 NAS).
The gospel of our salvation is the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24).
The grace of God is God's love in action.
God's grace is more than His favor;
it is His love acting to do something good for us.
"2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy,According to these verses, the salvation is by the grace of God and
out of the great love with which He loved us,
2:5 even when we were dead in offenses,
made us alive together with Christ,
(by grace you have been saved)" (Eph. 2:4-5 ERS).
"God is love" ( I John 4:8, 16). Love is not just an attribute of God but is the very being of God; it is what God is in Himself. Before God ever created anything outside of Himself and thus created beings for Him to love outside of Himself, love existed in God. Since love is the choice of a person to do for another person that which is good for him, a person cannot love without another person to love. So love involves a relationship to another person. And since God has made Himself known as three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, there are other persons in God for Them to love. These three persons of the Godhead love each other (John 3:35; 5:20; 15:9-10; 17:23-26; 14:31). And God is love in Himself because these three persons love each other. God created beings outside of Himself to love not because He needed objects for His love (these persons already existed within Himself) but because of the abundance of His love that existed within Himself. Love is creative and this is true in the supreme sense of God Himself. Creation and salvation are the overflow of the love of this triune personal God of love.
God did not have to love; there was no nature or inner necessity that caused God to love. God has freely and sovereignly chosen to be love. His choice determined the good. The good is what God wills. And it is not whimsical or arbitrary because it is God who has willed it. "Thy will be done on earth as in heaven" (Matt. 6:10, etc.) God's will is not determined by His nature; His nature is His will; He is what He chooses to be (Deut. 32:39; Isa. 45:7; 46:8-11). And God has chosen to be love and He has revealed that choice in the history of children of Israel and supremely in Jesus Christ, His Son (John 3:16; I John 4:9-10). The true God is a God of sovereign love, not of sovereign justice. God does not have to fulfill any condition before He can act in His love to save us; God's love is truly free and does not have to satisfy a supposed divine justice before He can act in love. God can freely forgive man's sin because He is not bound by any prior conditions in His nature. And according to the Scriptures He will forgive when a man will repent and turn from his sin (Ezek. 18:21-23,32; see also Ezek. 33:11).
This personal God of love is the source of salvation. "Salvation is of the Lord" (Jonah 2:9 KJV; See also Genesis 49:18; Exodus 14:13; I Sam. 2:1; I Chron. 16:23; II Chron. 20:17; Psa. 3:8; 9:14; 13:5; etc.). And this is so because God is a God of love (Psa. 13:5; 85:7; 86:13; 98:3; 119:41). God provided salvation because He is love.
9In this the love of God was made manifest among us,The love of God, then, is the source of our salvation. Because God loves us, He has acted to save us. And since the grace of God is God's love in action, salvation is by grace. The grace of God brings salvation (Titus 2:11 KJV). "By grace are you saved" ( Eph. 2:5).
that God sent His only Son into the world,
so that we might live through Him.
10In this is love,
not that we loved God but that he loved us
and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
(I John 4:9-10 ERS)
What is salvation? Salvation is deliverance,
deliverance from something bad to something good.
Salvation is first of all deliverance
from death to life.
And then it is deliverance
from sin to righteousness
and then
from wrath to peace with God.
These
three aspects of salvation
are accomplished through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In Eph. 2:4-5, salvation is presented as deliverance from death to life.
"2:4But God, who is rich in mercy,When we were dead in trespasses and sins,
out of the great love with which He loved us,
2:5even when we were dead in our trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved),
2:6and raised us up with him,
and made us sit with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,..."
(Eph. 2:4-6)
If there is any one word that can characterize or describe our world it is the word "death." Death casts a pall of gloom over all of our lives. It is the end of all plans, the frustration of all hopes. Death has a finality about it that no human power can overcome. Man by his science and medicine tries to prevent it. But against its inevitable arrival no human power can prevail. It is appointed unto man once to die (Heb. 9:27). Death has power, and through the fear of death man is subject to lifelong bondage (Heb. 2:14-15). Death is not just an event which comes upon us and puts an end to life. Death is a power, a ruler. Death is a tyrant who does not ask man whether he will serve him, but claims everyone with absolute authority. We may choose to be or not be the slaves of sin; but there is no choice as to the reign of death. From birth we are subjects of King Death. Ever since Adam's horrible choice in the garden, death has reigned over man. The Apostle Paul says,
"because of one man's trespass,Death is a sovereign who rules over all men. Such is the common lot of all men since Adam.
death reigned through that one man" (Rom. 5:17)."... sin came into the world through one man
and death through sin, and so death spread to all men ..." (Rom. 5:12).
Death is more than just the end of life, the dissolution of the body, the cessation of physiological functions of this organism. Physical death is the separation of man's spirit from his body. And in this state of physical death, after he dies physically, he awaits the judgment (Heb. 9:27). But death is more than the physical separation of man's spirit from his body. It is also the separation and alienation of man's spirit from God; this is spiritual death. It is the opposite of spiritual life which is fellowship and communion with God. Spiritual life is a personal relationship to God in which one personally knows God as a living reality. Jesus said in His intercessory prayer:
"And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God,Spiritual death is the absence of this life; it is not to know personnally the true God and His Son whom He sent. In this state, man thinks that God doesn't exist, that God is dead. But it is not God that is dead; it is man himself that is dead.
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3)
Spiritual death not only affects the relationship of man to God, but also the relationship of man to his fellow man. Man is separated and alienated from his fellow man.
"14bHe who does not love remains in death.Spiritual death is spiritual isolation from man as well as from God.
15Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer,
and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."
(I John 3:14b-15)
"8He who does not love does not know God;
for God is love." (I John 4:8)
"16So we know and believe the love God has for us.
God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God,
and God abides in him." (I John 4:16)
Spiritual death is the present reign of death over man. King Death separates man from God. The reign of King Death is not only exercised in the inevitable physical death of man; King Death rules every moment of man's existence before the event of physical death. Spiritual death is the present reign of death which separates, alienates and isolates man from God. Man is born into this world already spiritually dead. He is automatically under the reign of death. He has no choice about it. According to Romans 5:17, death reigns over all men because of the one man's trespass. We are spiritually dead, not because of our sins, but because of Adam's sin. Being under the reign of death, we have received spiritual death as well as physical death from our first parents, Adam and Eve. And unless we are delivered from this spiritual death, then after physical death and the judgment, we will be eternally separated from God. This separation is eternal death, the second death (Rev. 20:14; 21:6-8; Matt. 7:21-23).
But God has done something about this reign of death over the human race. In His love for us, God sent His Son to enter into our death so that He might deliver us from the reign of death. On the cross, Jesus died not only physically but spiritually.
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46)He was forsaken for us; He died for us.
"24Truly, Truly, I say to you, he who hears my wordWe have been raised from the dead spiritually ( Eph. 2:5). God has done for us what we could not do for ourselves; He has made us who were dead spiritually alive.
and believes him who sent me has eternal life;
he does not come into judgment,
but is passed from death to life.
25Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is,
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who hear will live." (John 5:24-25)
Jesus Christ acted as our representative, on our behalf and for our sakes.
"For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this,that is, in Christ, who represents all. Adam acting as a representative brought the old creation under the reign of death. But Christ acting as our representative brought a new creation in which those "who have received the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life" (Rom. 5:17).
that one died for [huper, on the behalf of] all,
therefore all died" (II Cor. 5:14 NAS);
"21For since by man came death,Acting through our representative, God has reconciled us to Himself in and through Christ; that is, God has brought us into fellowship with Himself.
by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
(I Cor. 15:21-22 KJV)"Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature:
the old things are passed away;
behold, they are become new." (II Cor. 5:17)Jesus said, "Because I live ye shall live also." (John 14:19)
"18Now all these things are from God,Reconciliation is salvation from death to life.
who reconciled us to Himself through Christ...
19namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself...."
(II Cor. 5:18-19 NAS;
see also Rom. 5:10-11; I Cor. 1:9; I John 1:2-3).
This salvation may be viewed in three different ways.
"Jesus said unto to him [Thomas],And to know Him personally is to have eternal life. Jesus said as He prayed,
'I am the way, and the truth, and the life;
no one comes to the Father, but by me.'" (John 14:6).
"This is eternal life, that they may know thee the only true God,To know Him personally is to have Him.
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3).
"11And this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life,If you have God's Son, you are alive to God;
and this life is in His Son.
12He who has the Son has life;
he who has not the Son has not life." (I John 5:11-12)
Salvation is basically from death to life. And being made alive with Christ, we are new creatures in Christ and have been born again into God's family.
But salvation is not only deliverance from death to life but also from sin to righteousness. God not only acted in Jesus Christ to reconcile us to Himself, that is, to deliver us from death to life, but also to redeem us from sin.
"18Knowing that you were redeemed from your empty way of lifeThe redemption that is in Christ (Rom. 3:24) is the deliverance from sin by the payment of a price, a ransom, which is the blood of Christ, that is, His sacrificial death. The price is not the payment of a penalty but is the means by which the redemption from sin is accomplished. It is the death of Christ ("his blood") that sets free from the slavery of sin.
handed down from your forefathers,
not with perishable things, like silver or gold,
19but with the precious blood of Christ,
as of a lamb unblemished and spotless."
(I Pet. 1:18-19 ERS; see also Heb. 9:14-15).
"In Whom [in Christ] we have our redemption through His blood,According to the English translations of Eph. 1:7 and Col. 1:14, redemption is equivalent to forgiveness of sins. But the basic meaning of the Greek word here in these verses which are translated "to forgive" is "to send off or away." Hence to redeem from sins is to send them away. That is, redemption is the deliverance from sins. This was accomplished by the death of Christ, "through His blood." He sent away sins by bearing them in His body on the cross.
the deliverance from our offenses,
according to the riches of His grace."
(Eph. 1:7 ERS; see also Col. 1:14)
"who Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree,He bore our sins to carry and take them away.
that we, being dead to sins, might live to righteousness;
by His wounds you were healed."
(I Pet. 2:24 ERS; see Isa. 53:5, 11-12)
Salvation is not just forgiveness. It is more than forgiveness of sins; it also deliverance from death; it is the resurrection of the dead. Forgiveness of sins is not enough; man needs to be made alive to God because he is spiritually dead. And he is dead, not because of his own sins, but the sin of another, Adam. So the forgiveness of a man's sins does not take away spiritual death because the spiritual death was not caused by that man's sins. Thus forgiveness of sins does not remove spiritual death. But the removing of spiritual death does remove sins. Salvation as resurrection from the dead is also salvation from sin and thus is also the forgiveness of sins. Thus to be made alive to God means that sins are forgiven, sent away.
And this salvation from sin to righteousness is because it is salvation from death to life. All men have sinned because they are spiritually dead. This is what the Apostle Paul says in the last clause of Romans 5:12, which clause is incorrectly translated in our English translations as "because all sin". In the Greek, there is a relative pronoun which has not been translated. If it were translated, the whole clause in English would read, "because of which all sinned." In the Greek, it is clear that the antecedent of the relative pronoun "which" is the word "death" in the preceding clause. (The antecedent of a relative pronoun is the word to which the pronoun refers.) The last clause would then be equivalent to "because of death all sinned" and would mean that all men sinned because of death.
"Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world,
and death through sin, and so death passed unto all men,
because of which all sinned:--" (Rom. 5:12 ERS)
But how is this possible? How can men sin because of death? Let me explain how this is possible by referring to another passage in the writings of the Apostle Paul, Galatians 4:8. In this passage, Paul is reminding the Galatian Christians of their condition before they became Christians.
"Formerly, when you did not know God,Not to "know God" personally as a living reality is to be spiritually dead. And a man is "in bondage to beings that are no gods" when he chooses them as his gods. He is in bondage to them because he does not personally know the only true God, that is, because he is spiritually dead.
you were in bondage to beings that by nature are no gods."
Let me put it another way. Every man must have a god. Man, by the very structure of his freedom, must choose something to be the ultimate criterion of all his decisions. This is because every choice a man makes is made with reference to some criterion. That is, behind every decision as to what a man will do or think there is a reason, a criterion of decision. And the ultimate reason for any decision -- practical or theoretical -- must be given in terms of some particular criterion, an ultimate reference or orientation point in or beyond the self or person making the decision. This ultimate criterion is that person's god. In this sense, every man must have a god. Every man, if he hasn't already, must choose something as his god. Now if he doesn't know the true God personally as a living reality, that is, if he is spiritually dead, and since he must have a god, he will choose a false god. He will choose some part or aspect of reality as his god, deifying it.
"They exchanged the truth about God for a lie
and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator" (Rom. 1:25).
The choice of a false god and consequent personal allegiance and devotion to it is what the Bible calls idolatry. An idol does not have to be an image of wood, stone or metal. It may be money, wealth, power, pleasure, education, the family, the state, democracy, reason, experience, science, the moral law, etc. It may be anything that is good in its proper place, but has been exalted into the place of God, the utlimate Good. An idol is a false god, and a false god may be anything that takes the place of the true God; anything a man chooses as his ultimate criterion of decision, exalting it as God in the place of the true God. It is any substitute or replacement for the true God in a man's life. Since a false god usurps the place of the true God in a man's life, idolatry is the basic sin. This sin is directly against God; it is a direct insult to the true God and an affront to His divine majesty. No more serious sin could be imagined than this one. Since it is the most serious sin, it is therefore the most basic. This is the main reason that idolatry is the first sin prohibited by the Ten Commandments.
"Thou shalt have no other gods besides me" (Exodus 20:3).Idolatry is also the basic sin because this sin leads to other sins. It leads to other sins since a person's god, being his ultimate criterion of decision, ultimately controls the direction and character of a man's decisions. The wrong choice of a false god will lead to other wrong choices; the basic sin produces other sins. That is, the idol that a man sets up in his heart (Ezek. 14:3-5) will affect the character and quality of his whole life. In other words, if in his heart a man clings to a false god, his actions and speech will show it. In this way also, idolatry is the basic sin.
Now we can understand how death leads to sin. If a man is spiritually dead, separated from God, and since he must choose a god, he will usually choose a false god. If a man does not know the true God, the true God will not be a living reality to him. And lacking this personal knowledge of the true God as a living reality, man does not have the adequate reason for choosing the true God as his ultimate criterion of decision. God Himself is the only adequate reason for choosing Him. He cannot be chosen for any other reason than Himself. For then He would not be God but rather that reason for which He is chosen would be god. Only a living encounter with the true and living God can produce the situation in which God Himself may be chosen. If God Himself is the only adequate condition for the choice of Himself, then apart from a personal revelation of God Himself, man will usually choose as his god that which seems like god to him from among the creation around him or from the creations of his own hands or mind. Man does not necessarily have to sin, but he usually will. Spiritual death is not the necessary cause but the basis or condition for his choice of a false god. (The Greek word translated "because" in the last clause of Romans 5:12 means "on the basis of" or "on the condition of".)
Man is not responsible for becoming spiritually dead because he did not choose this state. He inherited spiritual death from Adam just as he inherited physical death. But he is responsible for the god he chooses. The true God has not left man without a knowledge about himself (Rom. 1:19-20). This knowledge about God leaves man without excuse for his idolatry. But it does not save him because it is knowledge about the true God and not a personal knowledge of the true God. But even though a man is not responsible for becoming spiritually dead, he is responsible for remaining in the state of spiritual death when deliverance is offered to him in the person of Jesus Christ. If he refuses the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus, he must reap the harvest and receive the wages of his decision, eternal death.
"For the wages of sin is death,If a man refuses the gift of spiritual and eternal life in Christ Jesus and continues to put his trust in a false god, remaining in spiritual death, then after he dies physically, at the last judgment he will receive the result of his decision, eternal death, separation from God for eternity.
but the gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 6:23).
Now we can understand why man needs to be saved. As we have seen, man is not responsible for the spiritual death nor for the physical death that he has received from Adam; they are not the result of a man's own personal sins. On the contrary, a man's personal sins are a result of spiritual death. That is why he needs to be saved. Man is dead spiritually and dying physically. He needs life; he needs to be made alive -- he needs to be raised from the dead. And if he receives life, if he is made alive to God, death which leads to sin will be removed. And if he receives life which leads to righteousness, man can be saved from sin to righteousness. Thus salvation must be understood to be primarily from death to life and secondarily from sin to righteousness.
Now this salvation (primarily from death to life and secondarily from sin to righteousness) is exactly what God accomplished through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His Son. Jesus entered into our spiritual death in order that as He was raised from the dead, we might be made alive with and in Him ( Eph. 2:5). And by saving us from spiritual death, Christ saves us from sin. It is by taking away the spiritual death which leads to our sin that God takes away our sin. Jesus died for our sins -- literally -- to take them away (John 1:29). What the Old Testament sacrifices could not do (Heb. 10:1-4), the death of Christ has done. The blood of Jesus (His death) cleanses us from our sins (I John 1:7). We are delivered from sin itself, not just from its consequences. We were saved from our trust in false gods when we put our trust in Jesus Christ and the true God who sent him. Did we not "turn from idols to serve the living and true God" (I Thess. 1:9)? When we were spiritually dead we trusted in and served those things that were not God -- money, power, sex, education, popularity, pleasure, etc. But when we turned to the risen Christ, we entered into life, leaving behind those false gods. The risen Jesus Christ is now our Lord and our God (John 20:28).
The death and resurrection of Jesus was the means by which God removed death -- the barrier to knowing the true God personally and knowing His love. Now God can reveal Himself to us in the preaching of the gospel, making us spiritually alive to Himself when we receive Jesus Christ who is life ( John 14:6; I John 5:12). To be spiritually alive is to know God, and to know God personally is to trust Him. For "God is love" ( I John 4:8, 16) and love begets trust. The trust in God that God's love invokes in us is righteousness (Rom. 4:5, 22); it relates us rightly to God. Just as trust in a false god is sin, so trust in the true God is righteousness.
"3For what does the scripture say?Righteousness is not a quality that we possess, neither merit that we have earned or have imputed to our account, but it is a right relationship to God; faith in the true God relates us rightly to Him. And just as sin flows from death, so righteousness flows from life.
'Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.'
4Now to one who works,
his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due.
5And to the one who does not work
but trusts him who justifies the ungodly,
his faith is reckoned as righteousness....
13The promise to Abraham and his descendants,
that they should inherit the world,
did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith....
22That is why his [Abraham's] faith was
'reckoned to him as righteousness.'"
(Rom. 4:3-5, 13, 22)
"Is the law then against the promise of God?Thus by taking away death, God takes away sin. By making us alive to Himself, God sets us right with Himself through faith. Life produces righteousness just as death produced sin.
Certainly not;
for if a law had been given which could make alive,
then righteousness would indeed be by the law."
(Gal. 3:21)
This redemption from sin was accomplished by the death of Jesus Christ because His death is also the means by which we were delivered from death, the cause of sin. Since spiritual death leads to sin ( Rom. 5:12d ERS), sin reigns within the sphere of death's reign (Rom. 5:21). And since Christ's death is the end of the reign of death for those who died with Christ, it is also the end of the reign of sin over them. They are no longer slaves of sin, serving false gods. Sin is a slave master (Rom. 6:16-18) and this slave master is the false god in which the sinner trusts. We were all slaves of sin once, serving our false gods when we were spiritually dead, alienated and separated from the true God, not knowing Him personally. But we were set free from this slavery to sin through the death of Christ. For when Christ died for us, He died to sin (Rom. 6:10a) as a slave master. Sin no longer has dominion or lordship over Him. For he who has died is freed from sin (Rom. 6:7). That is, when a slaves dies, he is no longer in slavery, death frees him from slavery. Since Christ died for all, then all have died (II Cor. 5:14). His death is our death. Since we have died with Him and He has died to sin, then we have died to sin. We are freed from the slavery of sin and are no longer enslaved to it (Rom. 6:6-7). But now Christ is alive, having been raised from the dead, and we are alive to God in Him. His resurrection is our resurrection. "But the life He lives He lives to God" (Rom. 6:10b). This is the life of righteousness. And so we who are now alive to God in Him are to live to righteousness. For just as death leads to sin, so life leads to righteousness.
"And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross,Having been redeemed from the slavery of sin through the death of Christ, we who are now alive in Him have become slaves of righteousness (Rom. 6:17-18). Redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness.
that we, being dead to sins, might live to righteousness;
for by His wounds you were healed." (I Pet. 2:24 ERS)
Now that God has redeemed us from sin, we are also delivered from the wrath of God. Salvation is not only deliverance from sin but also deliverance from the wrath of God (Rom. 5:9). God put forth Jesus Christ as a propitiation through faith in His blood (Rom. 3:25). The death of Jesus Christ is a propitiation because it is the means that God has appointed for turning away His wrath from man. While God in His love could have mercy on man and turn away His wrath from man (Psa. 78:38; Exodus 34:6; Numbers 14:19-20), He has appointed means whereby His wrath will be turned away. In the Old Testament, God's appointed means for turning away His wrath were the sacrifices and offerings. When these sacrifices were offered in true repentance and faith, they were an atonement or propitiation. But these sacrifices could never take away sin (Heb. 10:4, 11); that is, they could not bring about repentance and faith because they could not make alive ( Gal. 3:21). On the contrary, there is in those sacrifices a continual remembrance of sin year by year (Heb. 10:3). That is, the worshippers, not having been cleansed of their sins, still have a consciousness of sin (Heb. 10:2). Therefore, those that draw near could never be made perfect by those sacrifices (Heb. 10:1). But Christ has put away sin once for all by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb. 9:26; 10:12), and has made perfect them that are being sanctified or set apart to God (Heb. 10:14). Now there is no more remembrance of sins (Heb. 10:17) since those drawing near, having been cleansed from their sins, have no more consciousness of sins (Heb.10:22). It was to accomplish our cleansing from sin that Christ "gave Himself for our sins" (Gal. 1:4) and "died for our sins" (I Cor. 15:3). God has acted in Jesus Christ to redeem us from sin.
Neither could the Old Testament sacrifices reconcile man to God; they could not make man alive to God ( Gal. 3:21). But through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, man can be made alive and reconciled to God and his sins are taken away. And since then there are no sins to cause wrath, the wrath of God is turned away. No sin, no wrath. Thus Christ's death is the perfect sacrifice for turning away God's wrath because by it man is redeemed from sin. Christ's death is a propitiation because it is a redemption; it is both a propitiation and a redemption. Propitiation is the sacrificial aspect of Christ's work of salvation. Redemption is the liberation aspect of Christ's work of salvation. And salvation is a propitiation and a redemption because it is a reconciliation to God. Being made alive to God, death, the cause of sin, is removed, and sin, the cause of wrath, can be removed.
Because God loves us, He has acted in the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of man from
death, sin and wrath. Since wrath is caused by sin
(Rom. 1:18) and sin by death (
Rom. 5:12d ERS),
salvation is basically from death to life
and then from sin to righteousness
and then from wrath to peace with God.
Reconciliation is salvation from death to life;
redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness; and
propitiation is salvation from wrath to peace with God.
These three aspects of salvation are accomplished
through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Propitiation is the sacrificial aspect,
redemption is the liberation aspect, and
reconciliation is the representative aspect of His work
of salvation.
The Gospel tells us about this act of God in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And in the preaching of the Gospel God exerts His power for the salvation of men by bringing them to faith in Jesus Christ ( Rom. 1:16).
