Recently, I went to the grocery store to do some shopping. When I got in line I saw a National Geographic that had a stereotypical picture of Jesus on the cover of the magazine and it said something to the effect of “Jesus: Who Was He Really?” It struck me that within our culture the symbolic person of Jesus has permeated our culture. I see people of various beliefs and moral codes wearing crosses and during the Covid pandemic I heard people say such things as, “Jesus would wear a mask.” I have realized that what many people know as “Jesus” is a character that is peaceful, cares for others, and does good to the lowly. If you were to ask most Americans what the Gospel is, they would probably say something like, “Jesus died on the cross” or “Jesus died for our sins.” This is not a wrong answer, but do people actually know what this statement means?
What the Bible Says
We do not have to wonder what the Gospel is, the Scriptures tell us explicitly.
“Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’” (Galatians 3:7–8 ESV)
The Gospel message states that every nation of the world would be blessed by Abraham’s seed. How is this possible? Because the seed that would come from Abraham was in fact Jesus. God would take human form and come in the likeness of a servant (Phil. 2:5ff). It is God who would pay the price for our sins. This comes back to the garden of Edan.
The man was in covenant relationship with God but chose to sin, breaking that covenant relationship. The payment for sin is death (Rom. 6:23) but this seed that would come from Abraham would take that penalty for us.
Why Jesus?
When I first came to Christ, my wife asked me a very good question, “can anyone die for my sins or can it only be Jesus.” This was a question I had never thought of before. The answer to this question is that only Jesus can pay for sins, but at the time, I didn’t know why. The answer goes back to the nature of God. God is infinitely holy (Is. 6:3) and when He created us we were good. There was no sin in us and so we were able to commune with the infinitely holy God. But when we sinned it actually changed us. We were no longer sinless beings but had become creatures that are unholiness. It is impossible for God to commune with an unholy being (Ps. 5:4) because this would diminish His holiness.
How much would one single sin diminish the holiness of God? If a single transgression were to diminish something infinite, then that sin in and of itself is an infinite transgression. For us to give our own life for even a single sin would not be sufficient because we as created creatures had a beginning. We are not infinite in both directions. Thus, our life is unable to pay for a single sin. But Christ, being God, is infinite in both directions, which means His death can atone for infinite transgressions. Jesus’ death on the cross is sufficient to, not only, pay for a single sin, but for all of our sins.
All the Nations
It is for this reason that through Abraham’s seed all the nations would be blessed. Christ’s payment on the cross was sufficient to pay for the sins of those who would turn to Him in repentance. Through Jesus every nation is blessed because people from every tongue and tribe are given the opportunity to have their debt paid.
This payment is a free gift from God (Rom. 6:23, 8:32; Eph. 2:8) it is not based on anything we have done. A person cannot gain their salvation through works. This is a point that must be stressed when coming to the Scriptures from a Pronomian perspective. We do not gain our salvation. Repentance is given as a gift from the Holy Spirit. When we repent and turn to Christ we become slaves to God (Rom. 6:15-23). Obedience as a Christian is not the way to salvation, it is the result of faith. True faith means total allegiance to our King, but it is not what makes us citizens of the Kingdom.
If you want to know more about the Gospel message or want to give your life to Christ, you can reach out to us through email and we would be happy to discuss these issues more with you.
chegg@torahresource.com