Although J.P. is a regular reader of Christadelphian literature, he has difficulty grasping some of our teachings. Attempting to clarify the points in his own mind, he has submitted the following query (his full letter appeared last month; this is an excerpt):
There are several teachings presented in your publications that I find confusing. What 1 will try to do is state your teaching as I understand it and you can correct me if I am missing something.
- Christ did not die to pay the penalty for our sins because the penalty is death [and we still die] , but he died without committing sin and was deserving of resurrection [to eternal life]. God then applies this merit to us
and we are also resurrected (to eternal life]. By analogy: we are in prison to be executed. Christ does not take our place; but when he is executed, because he had committed no sins or crimes personally, the governor pardons us, so that his death provides a benefit for us.Christ did not die to pay the penalty for our sins because the penalty is death [and we still die] , but he died without committing sin and was deserving of resurrection [to eternal life]. God then applies this merit to us
Last month we commented on the first part (1. a.) noting God does not apply Christ’s merit to us; rather, God counts our faith in Him as righteousness — “Faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness” (Rom. 4:9).
We now consider the second part of J.P.’s statement (1. b.) dealing with the manner in which we benefit from Christ’s death.
The actual situation
The Bible uses many analogies to describe salvation through Christ but J.P.’s is not close to any of them. The reasons are several: execution is not the fate of all mankind, mortality is: No limit is placed on who receives the pardon suggesting it would apply to every human being, which is not true. The pardoned person does nothing, whereas we are very much involved in our own salvation: Christ was not executed by the offended party (God) as in J.P.’s analogy, but by wicked men.
The most effective analogies are those found in scripture. In this regard, there is an extensively used analogy portraying sin as a ruler of the world (e.g. Rom. 5:21) who holds us captive (Rom. 6:20-22). God frees us from this captor by paying the redemption price which is the blood of the Lord Jesus (I Cor. 6:20; Titus 2:14; I Peter 1:18-19). Reviewing these verses reveals the great exhortational point of this analogy: we now belong to God and should obey our new master.
Christadelphian Literature
As with the Bible so with Christadelphian literature, we sometimes concentrate on only one aspect of the means of salvation. It may help to understand our point of view if we review the total picture of the principles of salvation as we see them.
Christ’s death does not change the fact we are all mortal
Every human being is mortal (Rom. 5:12) whether or not we are related to salvation in Christ. We do not face execution, but we will all surely die.
In this mortal condition, some forms of conduct consistently bring trouble (i.e. punishment) either from the powers that be or from one’s own body, but this is true whether or not a person believes in God. Furthermore, the experiences of life vary greatly from person to person quite unrelated to their moral conduct (Eccl. 8:14). In fact, the true believer is guaranteed difficulties (Heb. 12:6) and may, in some cases, suffer greatly because of his faith (e.g. the apostle Paul, II Cor. 11:23-29). God’s blessings bring assurance our basic needs will be provided (Matt. 6:33) and our life circumstances will be controlled for our eternal well-being, if we respond properly to them (I Cor. 10:13; Heb. 12:11). Otherwise, salvation does not bring a governor’s reprieve, at least from the problems of mortality.
The issue is becoming associated with the promises of God
Speaking of people who knew not God, Paul said, “[God] in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:16,17). Such people were “strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). Yet they were not executed; they lived out their mortal lives in their various circumstances, died and returned to the dust.
By contrast, those in Christ are beneficiaries of great spiritual and eternal blessings promised by God. These blessings include: adoption into God’s family (Eph. 1:5; 2:19), the forgiveness of sins (1:7), understanding of His revelation (1:9), heirship of eternal life on the earth (1:11,18-20; 2:2,19; 3:6), an exalted standing before God (2:6,13), peace with God (2:16-17), access to God in prayer (2:18), help to obey (3:16).
These blessings all come together when we are related to the promises of God through baptism and we ought not to treat them as if one is separate from another. Abraham and David were thus associated with all of these blessings through the promises and even the Lord Jesus was raised to eternal life through his relationship to the promises of God (Acts 13:34; Heb. 13:20).
Being related to the promises
We become beneficiaries of these promises by belief in the gospel of Christ, baptism into him and following a life of faithful obedience to his commands (Gal. 3:26-29; 5:19-21). It is true we are saved by God’s grace. But we only have access to His grace through our faith (Rom. 5:2), and we only continue in His grace if we obey Him (Rom. 11:20-22).
Since our natural inclination is to disobey God, obeying him requires a transformation in our conduct, speech, motives, thinking and emotions (Rom. 12:1-2). The difficulty of making this radical change gives rise to such phrases as, “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (I Cor. 9:26,27). Thus we have a very considerable part to play in our own salvation.
To help us glorify God and successfully wage this battle against sin, virtually every aspect of God’s plan of salvation is strongly exhortational.
Not legalistic or judicial but exhortational and motivational
Consider some of the key aspects of God’s saving actions from this point of view.
God provided His son as the savior. This convinces us to rely on God and not think we can save ourselves; it motivates us to love Him and exhorts us to emulate His love in our own lives: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (I Jn. 4:10).
Christ voluntarily submitted to the unjust brutality of wicked men. This leaves “us an example, that ye should follow his steps” patiently enduring unjust treatment, committing ourselves “to him that judgeth righteously” (I Pet. 2:20-23). Since the Lord, “who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” endured such treatment, we find our own minds greatly encouraged to endure when we are treated unfairly. Peter’s next comment draws powerful exhortation from the physical agony Christ endured “in his own body” on the cross on our behalf. Responding to this scene, we should abhor sin and “live unto righteousness.”
The evident reason baptism was instituted is because of its exhortational value. It speaks to the participant that he is to rise to a new life as Christ did in which we are “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God” (Rom. 6:11).
These are a few examples but enough to illustrate the point that God’s procedures are not legalistic or mechanical but exhortational and motivational.
In summary
Christ’s death is thus one part of the whole plan of atonement, each element of which is designed to glorify God, humble ourselves and motivate us to be “stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” (I Cor. 15:58).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One