A Gospel Letter in view of Man’s Salvation — by K. Petersen

                                                                                                            July 30, 2022

Dear Friends and Neighbors, 

The world in which we live contains many God-given joys; but, as well, is woven through with pressures, concerns and sufferings—and there is always, as a backdrop, the overarching reality of death. 

This letter is written in the way of encouragement in such circumstances. 

It should be of great moment to recognize that God has not only taken full account of all our issues and sorrows; but, has provided an infinite and perfect solution through the Cross of His Son Jesus Christ. 

The Bible shows throughout that God desires a rich, blessed and eternal relationship with Himself.  There is, however, a substantial problem—Man is fallen and, thus, morally flawed (Romans 3:10).  However, even though fallen, we are also “made in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27) and we have a moral responsibility to Divine Persons in Whom there is neither fault nor sin.  No honest person could attempt to say that they are entirely righteous and without moral faults.  The Bible says “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5)—we cannot possibly say the same about ourselves.     

This is a moral conundrum as to which we ourselves cannot effectuate a full and necessary change.  In Romans 7 the apostle Paul said “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, good does not dwell: for to will is there with me, but to do right [I find] not.”  This did not mean that Paul, ourselves or others are entirely incapable of right or charitable thoughts or actions—it simply means that, constitutionally, Paul, as with us all, found it an impossibility to be free from his inherent, sinful nature.  His final statements in Romans 7 show this fact, and he recognized himself to be in “captivity to the law of sin which exists in my members.”  In confirmation he said, “O wretched man that I [am]! who shall deliver me out of this body of death?” 

What exactly is sin?  The definition of sin in the Bible is simply this:  “sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4).  The translator’s note is helpful:  `that is, the absence of the principle of law, or, in other words, of the control of God over the soul …. I ought to be in obedience [i.e., to God].’ 

And, yet, in the midst of a world filled with the ongoing, sinful thoughts, motives and actions of mankind, “[The] Lord …. is longsuffering towards you, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). 

This raises a lateral query—“Why, exactly, do we die?  Why does God not just keep us alive—why does He not just fix everything?’  There are two immediate answers to this and they are both contained in Romans 6:23:  (1) “For the wages of sin [is] death” and (2) “but the act of favor of God, eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

God has righteously imposed the penalty of death for sin.  Imagine a world continuing in sin in which all the evil of mankind over the millennia is infinitely compounded by the absence of death.  Imagine the most heinous atrocities of man continuing unabated—this is appalling!  We should be able to acknowledge that the imposition of death is a righteous step to halt the activity of sin. 

How does the 2nd half of the verse just quoted from Romans 6:23 feed into this?  The Scriptures are imbued from the beginning to the end with the glorious assurance that God is freely providing eternal life for all who come to Him through faith.  God has secured a perfect salvation through the accomplished work of Christ on the Cross—we have but to believe in what He has done.  When the apostle Paul raised the heartfelt question as to whom would deliver him from his body of death—he, in the next sentence, answered his own query by saying, “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  He couldn’t accomplish his salvation himself—he had no viable, inherent merit by which God would accept him—he couldn’t work his way into Heaven by various righteous deeds—he was, as are all of us, sinful and lost due to his fallen nature.  He was saved by faith in seeing the perfection of Christ and His work on the Cross.  We cannot add to this work.  Ephesians 2:8-9 establishes that “ye are saved by grace, through faith; and this not of yourselves; it is God's gift:  not on the principle of works, that no one might boast”, and this is retroactive to Old Testament times as well as to the present and to the future. 

Here is the looming and necessary question:  `Do we, do you, believe what God has done to provide redemption and eternal life?’  What, exactly, did the Cross accomplish—which is to say, how did God work out, reverently speaking, what manifestly appears to be a moral impossibility?  How has God satisfied His own righteous and necessary requirements as to sin, death, redemption and eternal life in the Cross of His Son? 

The answer begins in the fact that a Person of the Godhead became incarnate—"God has been manifested in flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16)—and, at the culmination of a life here in full, perfect and sinless obedience to God, the Man Christ Jesus willingly offered Himself on the Cross to atone for our sins!  2 Corinthians 5:21 says this:  “Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us.”  In this Cross several necessary results were effectuated:  (1) God’s stated penalty of death for sin was met (2) the Victim was shown to be obedient and, as to Himself, blameless—in which case (3) God could righteously provide a basis to forgive all who, through faith, accept the propitiatory work of the Cross (4) the power of death was broken (1 Corinthians 15:55) and (5) the love of God was infinitely displayed (John 15:13). 

Full and genuine faith in Christ’s work results in a change of nature which includes, through the power of the Holy Spirit, both new birth (see John 3) and the advent of God’s Spirit indwelling the believer (“the Spirit of truth …. for he abides with you, and shall be in you”—John 14:17), as well as the blessed consequence in which “Whoever has been begotten of God does not practise sin, because his seed abides in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God” (1 John 3:9).  The Bible tells us “That which is crooked cannot be made straight” (Ecclesiastes 1:15); but, nothing is impossible when we take full account of both the love and the power of God.  He has, through redemption, brought the believing soul in the unhindered liberty of sonship (Galatians 4:6) into His presence for eternity. 

Is this all too much to believe?  For faith it is entirely believable—and, countless numbers over many centuries (see Hebrews 11:12) can attest to the life-changing power of the Gospel (the word Gospel means Glad Tidings).  Do you lack faith?  Ask God for help—"And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matthew 21:22). 

May this all be, if not already so, a reality for yourself.  Don’t delay—our time here is short—“thou knowest not what a day will bring forth” (Proverbs 27:1), and, solemnly, "For what does a man profit, if he should gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).  Amen.