Cross – HeartQuest 101

How to Bear Your Cross

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Scott Chafee

The passage for today is Mark 8:31–38. This lesson contrasts two orientations to life. One approach to life involves ignoring the cross and living for yourself. This is the self willed person that isn’t concerned with submitting to God’s will. The other approach involves denying self and becoming consumed with what interests God. Jesus is personally challenging his disciples to build the character quality of submissiveness toward God and his will for their lives. Luke 14:27 says, “whoever will not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Jesus is saying you have to carry your cross to become a disciple but that you cannot presently be one of my disciples if your life is marked by submission to the Lordship of Christ. Jesus isn’t describing the perfection of our lives but it’s primary direction.

Historical Background: coming immediately after Peter’s confession, Matthew 16:16, Mark 8:29, Luke 9:20, this prophecy was apparently triggered by the confession. If it had come earlier, the 12 would’ve been unable to receive it without being shaken in their conviction about him. This is Jesus first open prediction of the events which were now about one year away, earlier he had referred to them as they are in the old terminology, John 2:19. Peter was unwilling to except such a revelation because he was now certain about Jesus’ messiahship, Matthew 16:22, Mark 8:32. Peter was interested in the establishment of Christ’s earthly theocratic kingdom. Jesus understood this was the time to to be the slaughtered lamb rather than the reigning lion. Later in Peter’s letter he would put the pieces of the eschatological puzzle together when he wrote, “as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.” Peters misguided seal drew the Lord’s rebuke and created an occasion for Jesus to address the issue of true followership.

The Command: Matthew 11:29 (take, learn), Matthew 16:24 (deny, take up, follow), Mark 8:34 (deny, take up, follow), Luke 9:23 (deny, take up, follow), John 12:26 (let him follow), John 21:22 (follow). 1 Corinthians 15:31.

1. According to Mark 8:31, was Jesus and unsuspecting victim at his trial and execution? Jesus was not an unsuspecting victim at his trial and crucifixion, he knew all the details well ahead of time.

2. How does Peter respond to this short lesson of Christ upcoming passion? (Mark 8:32). Peter rebukes Jesus. Peter was unable to reconcile such information with his newly affirmed belief in Christ’s messianic identity. He basically tries to straighten Jesus out, which if he did, would’ve accomplished Satan’s goals. The verb, “took him aside,” pictures Peter confidently drawing Jesus aside in order to rebuke him for his own good. Peter acted with an air of conscious superiority. The word translated “rebuke” is the same one used for silencing of the demons, Mark 1:25, 3:12.

3. What emphatic words did Peter used to rebuke Jesus? (Matthew 16:22). Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him saying, God forbid it Lord! This will never happen to you. God forbid translates a Hebrew colloquialism as literally meant “gracious to you, or merciful to you,” and was understood to mean something such as “God be gracious to you or may God in his mercy spare you this.” The word “never” in the phrase, “this shall never happen to you,” is a double negative in the Greek. It is an emphatic denial or prohibition. It could literally be translated, “this shall never, no never happen to you.”

4. Why did Jesus rebuked Peter in the presence of the other disciples? (Mark 8:33). Although Peter formulated the statement, it probably represented the view of the other disciples who needed to be reviewed also.

5. What did Jesus command Peter to do? (Mark 8:33). “Get behind me, Satan.” This command is similar to that given Satan in the wilderness temptation, Matthew 4:10, “begone, Satan,” but here Peter isn’t commanded to leave but rank himself behind Jesus. Peter acted with such an air of superiority, Jesus had to remind Peter who was to follow. The best teachers are students and the best leaders are followers. Jesus recognized the satanic opposition in Peter. Peter was opposing divine will. Peter is repute for being an agent of Satan.

6. What had Peter become with this mindset? (Matthew 16:23). According to this verse “you are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on God’s interest, but man’s.” Peter was a stumbling block because his thought life was dominated by self-centered interests rather than God’s interests. “Stumbling block” is from the word originally used of an animal trap, in particular the part for the bait was placed. The term eventually became to be used of luring a person into captivity or destruction. Satan was using Peter to set a trap for Jesus.

7. Why does Jesus call Peter Satan? (Mark 8:33). In Peter’s effort to dissuade Jesus from the cross, he recognized a repetition of the wilderness temptation, Peter had made himself an unwilling agent of Satan. Jesus does not identify Peter with the devil but names him as a real adversary to God’s purpose and plan.

8. Why does Jesus teach the crowd about cross bearing after rebuking Peter? (Mark 8:34). Peter had just been reminded that Jesus must always submit to the Father’s will, now through the picture of cross bearing Jesus stresses that this must also be true of those who follow after him. So the issue of submission to God or obedience was the occasion for the teaching on cross bearing.

9. What three things are required of those who have become disciples of Jesus? (Mark 8:34). Jesus gives three commands, he must deny himself (aorist imperative), and take up his cross (aorist imperative), and follow me (present imperative).

10. What does the phrase “deny himself” mean? (Mark 8:34). It does not refer to some monastic vow or forgoing certain foods during Lent. It refers to the duty of every disciple, to turn away from the idolatry of self-centeredness and to deal with one’s inherent sin nature. The opposite of denying self is living for self. The disciple of Christ must no longer make his own interests and desires the supreme concern of his life. Obedience to the aorist imperative involves a fundamental reorientation of one’s life; It is urgent and we must do it now. It involves saying “yes” to God and “no” to self. Our culture tells us to except ourselves, to be ourselves, to be good to ourselves. Self is what caused Peter to set his mind on man’s interests rather than God’s interests. One cannot follow Jesus if he’s going the opposite way. To deny oneself is incomplete. At best it leave one in a neutral state, whereas following is an active and positive state. This calls for a second requirement. Take up on the cross is the positive action needed after one has denied himself.

11. What does it mean to take up your cross? (Mark 8:34). It does not prefer to putting up with some disappointment, sickness, or tragic situation in our lives. “Well I guess that’s just across I’ll have to bear in this life.” Taking up one’s cross involves a willingness to suffer and die for Christ, but it is much more than that. It is a willingness to live daily for him. Taking up one’s cross is the positive action needed after one has denied himself.

12. How was Jesus carrying the cross beams to Calvary associated with submission? (Matthew 26:39, 42, Mark 14:36, Luke 22:42, John 19:17, Romans 5:19, Philippians 2:8, Hebrews 5:8, 12:4). Jesus’ struggle in Gethsemane was whether to place his own interests before the plan and program of God. Self-interest said, “avoid the pain of the cross at all cost.” But Jesus fervently agonized in prayer and resisted temptation to point that his sweat became like drops of blood, Luke 22:44. Jesus yielded to the Father’s will when he said, “not my will but yours be done,” Luke 22:42. Philippians 2:8 summarizes the entire process well, “being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.”

13. How often should we take up his cross? (Luke 9:23). The word in this verse is “daily.” Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:31 that he “dies daily.” Every day Paul died to his own selfish desires and interests in order to advance the cause of Christ. What motivated him to die daily was the reality of the resurrection. There is life after death and one day all believers will stand at the judgment seat of Christ to give an account for whether they lived their lives for themselves or for Christ.

14. What does Jesus say is true of those who don’t take up his cross? (Matthew 10:38). The verse says that if we don’t take up the cross and follow him, we are not worthy of him. The adjective “not worthy” describes the believer who doesn’t live a life of submission. This kind a believer is not fit to be Jesus’ disciple and is not due a reward. The adjective is a word that expresses “weight, value, and worth.”

15. What four consequences do people experience when they choose not to follow Jesus? (Mark 8:35–38). These verses contrast the personal consequences of the individual who decides to obey these three commands and he who does not. The word “for” introduces four different personal consequences that people experience when they try to save their lives, or preserve their personal interests. There is a strong paradox here. Those who lose their soul, (psyche), weather in actual martyrdom or disciplined self-denial and submission, will find it in the age to come. Those who find it now by living for themselves and refusing to submit to the commands of Christ lose it in the age to come, Matthew 16:26, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, 17:33.

The historical meaning of cross bearing: The disciples in this passage are commanded to take up their cross. This is not a reference to cross dying but to cross bearing or carrying. We know it is not connected with dying or martyrdom because Luke 9:23 requires that we take up our cross daily. The phrase “take up his cross” is a figure of speech derived from the Roman custom that required a man convicted of rebellion against Rome’s sovereignty to carry the cross beam to his place of execution. As he was paraded through the streets, he was made to wear a sign which said that he had been a rebel. This practice was not designed to cause a more horrible death but the whole proceeding was designed above all as a deterrent. Requiring the condemned man to carry his cross displayed publicly his submission to the authority against which he previously had rebelled. Now, as all could see, he was submissive. To take up his cross was a figure of speech easily understood by anyone in the Roman empire to mean, “to submit to the authority against which one had previously rebelled.”

Questions:

1. What are some of the things that you have exchanged in the past?
2. Have you ever been involved in a relationship that became a hindrance or a stumbling block to your spiritual progress?
3. What is the one thing in your life that you have a tough time Buellton to God and his will? Prayerfully surrender it. Confess this to your small group accountability partner and ask him or her to hold you accountable and you’ll bring it to Christ Lordship.
4. As the condemned criminal would carry his cross through the Roman city, in what ways do you display that you are in submission to God rule in your life before an unbelieving world?

Additional Commentary: 1

Mark 8:31 / After three days: This is the literal meaning of the Greek phrase which can mean simply “after a short time.” The parallels in Matthew 16:21 and Luke 9:22 use the phrase “on the third day,” reflecting the Christian tradition that Jesus’ resurrection took place on the third day after his crucifixion (e.g., 1 Corinthians 15:4).

Mark 8:31 / Rise again: What is meant is that God will raise Jesus from death, and the parallels in Matt. 16:21; Luke 9:22 use a Greek word that makes this more obvious.

Mark 8:33 / Get behind me, Satan: strong language that reflects the way Jesus takes Peter’s rebuke of him. It is possible that Jesus’ words indicate that Peter’s attempt to persuade him not to follow a path of humiliation was a genuine temptation that had to be rejected forcefully.

Mark 8:34 / Deny himself: This means that the disciple must be willing to lose all for the sake of following Jesus. “Take up his cross” refers to the practice of making the condemned person carry the crossbeam upon which he was to be tied or nailed at the place of his execution. Death by crucifixion was a Roman execution by state authorities, familiar in ancient Jewish life on account of the Jewish rebels caught and executed.

Mark 8:35 / For me and for the gospel: What is implied here is a trial before religious or state authorities in which one’s profession of Christ is the issue. “To lose one’s life for me” (Christ) would mean to refuse to renounce Christ in such a situation, even if the punishment were death. “And for the gospel” implies that the person charged has come to the attention of authorities on account of preaching the Christian message. The gospel in this absolute sense is with one exception used only in Mark and in Paul (see Mark 1:15; 10:29; 13:10; Acts 15:7; Romans 10:16; 11:28; 1 Corinthians 4:15; 9:14, 18, 23; 2 Corinthians 8:18). The term means not only the message but also the activity of circulating it, and this little phrase (unique in Mark, cf. Matthew 16:25; Luke 9:24) must indicate that Mark wished his readers to know of the importance of the mission of the church.

Mark 8:38 / “When he comes” probably refers to the appearance of Christ in glory that was expected by early Christians and continues to be the hope of all traditional believers. Angels were expected to accompany him. (See 1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11; 2 Thessalonians 1:6–10.

Believers Bible Commentary: 2

Jesus lived a life of incessant service for others. We have seen Him hated by His enemies and misunderstood by His friends. We have seen a life of dynamic power, of moral perfection, of utter love and humility.

Mark 8:31 But the path of service to God leads on to suffering and death. So the Savior now told the disciples plainly that He must (1) suffer; (2) be rejected; (3) be killed; (4) rise again. For Him the path to glory would lead first to the cross and the grave. “The heart of service would be revealed in sacrifice,” as F. W. Grant put it.

Mark 8:32, 33 Peter could not accept the idea that Jesus would have to suffer and die; that was contrary to his image of the Messiah. Neither did he want to think that his Lord and Master would be slain by His foes. He rebuked the Savior for suggesting such a thing. It was then that Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Not that Jesus was accusing Peter of being Satan, or of being indwelt by Satan. He meant, “You are talking like Satan would. He always tries to discourage us from wholly obeying God. He tempts us to take an easy path to the Throne.” Peter’s words were Satanic in origin and content, and this caused the Lord’s indignation. Note that Jesus first looked at His disciples, then rebuked Peter, as if to say, “If I do not go to the cross, how can these, My disciples, be saved?”

Mark 8:34 Then Jesus said to them in effect, “I am going to suffer and die so that men might be saved. If you desire to come after Me, you must deny every selfish impulse, deliberately choose a pathway of reproach, suffering and death, and follow Me. You may have to forsake personal comforts, social enjoyments, earthly ties, grand ambitions, material riches, and even life itself.” Words like these make us wonder how we can really believe that it is all right for us to live in luxury and ease. How can we justify the materialism, selfishness, and coldness of our hearts? His words call us to lives of self-denial, surrender, suffering, and sacrifice.

Mark 8:35 There is always the temptation to save our life—to live comfortably, to provide for the future, to make one’s own choices, with self as the center of everything. There is no surer way of losing one’s life. Christ calls us to pour out our lives for His sake and the gospel’s, dedicating ourselves to Him spirit, soul, and body. He asks us to spend and be spent in His holy service, laying down our lives, if necessary, for the evangelization of the world. That is what is meant by losing our lives. There is no surer way of saving them.

Mark 8:36, 37 Even if a believer could gain all the world’s wealth during his lifetime, what good would it do him? He would have missed the opportunity of using his life for the glory of God and the salvation of the lost. It would be a bad bargain. Our lives are worth more than all the world has to offer. Shall we use them for Christ or for self?

Mark 8:38 Our Lord realized that some of His young disciples might be stumbled in the path of discipleship by the fear of shame. So He reminded them that those who seek to avoid reproach because of Him will suffer a greater shame when He returns to earth in power. May His words “ashamed of Me … in this adulterous and sinful generation” speak to our hearts.

1 Hurtado, L. W. (2011). Mark (p. 142). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
2 MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments. (A. Farstad, Ed.) (pp. 1341–1342). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[Based on my classes with Richard D. Leineweber, Jr. c. 2000]

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The Thief on the Cross

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Scott Chafee

Passion week is almost upon us. Luke 23:39-43 records the familiar death-bed conversion of the thief on the cross. I recently studied on this topic and discovered seven truths that the repentant thief understood. These truths must be embraced in order to gain peace with God. Here’s the passage:

One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? “And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

So, here are the seven observations:

The repentant thief recognized the brevity of this life: He understood the temporary nature of life because he knew he was dying. There is biblical support for this knowledge (Psalm 103:15-16; James 4:14). We also should be concerned about what happens to us when this life ends.
The repentant thief understood the reality of the afterlife: He understood that life after death was just as real as this present earthly life. This explains why he spoke with such confidence about Christ’s coming kingdom (Luke 23:42). Scripture teaches the reality of the afterlife, because God has designed part of man to live forever (Ecclesiastes 3:11). All people will exist forever, either with God in his kingdom or forever separated from him in a place of conscious torment (Daniel 12:2; Matthew 25:46).
The repentant thief understood his guilt before God: He understood this fact when he said, “And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds” (Luke 23:41). While he was a criminal being punished for his crimes, the Bible is clear that we all are sinners, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
The repentant thief understood the uniqueness of Jesus Christ: He understood Jesus to be God, according to Luke 23:40, “But the other answered, and rebuking him said, ‘Do you not even fear God?'” He further understands Jesus by saying, “but this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:41). Christ was sinless perfection and was different than any man he had ever encountered. Jesus is not one among equals, but the unique God-Man (John 8:58-59; 20:30-31; Revelation 19:16).
The repentant thief understood that Christ had the power to save him: He understood his own guilt, but he also understood that this extraordinary man, Jesus, could do something to save him. “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” (Luke 23:42). Jesus had the ability to help people with their primary problem: their guilt and sin before a Holy God. The solution to this sin problem is found in Christ alone (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5).
The repentant thief understood that he could not be saved through his own good works or any act of self-righteousness: Since this thief was nailed to a cross, he understood there were no acts of self-righteousness he could perform. He could not join a church, do good deeds, or even be baptized. He was in a helpless position; just like us. We cannot do anything to merit God’s favor. God sees our acts of self-righteousness as filthy rags, if we are using them to gain favor from Him (Isaiah 64:6).
The repentant thief understood that it is never too late to ask God for salvation: He knew his death was imminent, yet he still believed it was not too late to cry out for mercy and receive the divine grace the Jesus offers. Jesus gave him immediate assurance of salvation, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

No matter what you have done, or how long you have lived, or how close you are to death, it is never too late to ask God for salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2b). However, once you die and you pass into the eternal realm, then it is too late (Luke 16:19-31; Hebrews 9:27).

Here is the challenge for all of us today:

Do you know these spiritual realities?
Do you understand the brevity of this life?
Do you understand the reality of the afterlife?
Do you understand your personal guilt before God?
Do you understand Christ’s uniqueness and power to save you?
Do you understand the ineffectiveness of self-righteousness?
Do you understand that it is not too late to trust Christ for salvation?

If so, do what the repentant thief did and trust in Christ alone for your salvation.

[print_link] [email_link] [adapted from Dr. Andy Woods]

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Suffering and Glory

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Scott Chafee

These are notes from my reading John R. W. Stott’s classic book, The Cross of Christ.

According to the Bible, suffering is an alien intrusion into God’s good world, and it will have no part in his new universe.

Suffering is often caused due to sin, or the sin of others: children suffer with unloving or irresponsible parents, poor and hungry people suffer from economic injustice, refugees suffer from cruelties of war, people suffer in road casualties cause by alcohol.
Suffering can be a reckless use of our freedom. There is cause and effect but it is much different than Hindu karma. Think about how unreliable the universe would be receiving pain for every wrong step and pleasure for every good step.
Suffering is due to the human sensitivity to pain: but pain is a valuable warning sign that something is wrong (Dr. Paul Brand, leprosy, and feeling pain).
Suffering is due to the kind of environment God has placed us: laws of nature are in effect when the hurricane devastates a coastal town.

Stoics believed that suffering is meaningless, but Jesus spoke of it as revealing God’s glory. What then is the relationship between Christ’s suffering and ours? How does the cross speak to our pain?

Patient Endurance: while suffering is to be recognized as evil therefore resisted, there comes a time when it must be realistically accepted. It is no credit to us if we are beaten for doing wrong, but if we suffer for doing good and endure it, this would be pleasing to God (1 Peter 2:18-23, Hebrews 12:1-3).

Mature Holiness (Hebrews 2:10, 5:8-9, 7:28, James 1:2-4): Jesus was made perfect through suffering, and he was never disobedient. Here are biblical images of suffering and discipline:

A father disciplines his children: this is an expression of love. No discipline means no love.
God as a refiner of gold: heat to purify and remove the dross.
Jesus mentions his allegory of the vine: pruning to bear fruit.

God intends suffering to be a means of grace; it develops humility and deepens insight.

Suffering Service (John 12:23-26, 32-33): death is more than the way to life; it is the secret of fruitfulness. Unless it falls into the ground and dies, it remains a single seed. Paul found meaning in his suffering; the greatest secret of evangelism or missionary effectiveness is the willingness to suffer and die for the sake of others:

For the sake of the Gentiles (Ephesians 3:1, 13)
For the sake of the body (Colossians 1:24)
For the sake of the elect (2 Timothy 2:8-10)

The Hope of Glory (Hebrews 12:2): suffering should be expected; don’t be surprised by it (Matthew 5:10-12, John 15:18-21, Philippians 1:30, 1 Thessalonians 3:3, 1 Peter 2:21, 4:12, 2 Timothy 3:12). It is the hope of glory than makes suffering bearable. What happens to us down here cannot compare to the next life. Suffering is God’s appointed path toward sanctification (mature holiness), multiplication (fruitful service), and glorification (our final destiny).

The Ground of a Reasonable Faith: Job had the attitude of self-pity and self-assertion, while his friends’ attitude may be described as self-accusation. The goal is self-surrender, which Job realizes at the end of the book.

The Pain of God: the cross of Christ is proof of God’s love, that it is personal, loving solidarity with us in our pain. Philip Yancey wrote a book called, “Where is God When it Hurts?” and asked an interesting question, “If God is truly in charge, somehow connected to all the world’s suffering, why is he so capricious, unfair?” Similar to Job 9:23, like God mocking the despair of the innocent. But God is not on a deck chair watching us, he was on the cross, and continues to suffer with us today.

Outside of Lazarus’ tomb, Jesus wept with those who grieved and snorted with indignation. He wept over Jerusalem, lamenting over their blindness and obstinacy.

Nobel Peace Prize winner (1986) Elie Wiesel wrote about his time in the death camps of Auschwitz, Buna and Buchenwald and came to this conclusion: he heard over and over the question about “Where is God? Where is he?” and as they were force to watch hangings at the gallows, he heard it again, “Where is God now?” He heard a voice within him answer, “Here he is…he is hanging here on this gallows.” God in Christ suffers with his people still.

Seven Affirmations in the Letter to the Galatians:

The Cross and Salvation (Galatians 1:3-5): an introductory statement that is theologically balance and indicates what the letter is going to be about.
1. The death of Jesus was voluntary and determined.
2. The death of Jesus was for our sins.
3. The purpose of Jesus’ death was to rescue us.
4. The present result of Jesus’ death is grace and peace.
5. The eternal result of Jesus’ death is that God will be glorified forever.
The Cross and Experience (Galatians 2:19-21): in context Paul writes about justification, how a righteous God can declare sinful humans as righteous. Several times he repeats it is not by the law. The death of Jesus on the cross satisfied the demands of the law.
The Cross and Preaching (Galatians 3:1-3): once you have begun in faith in Christ, why continue in their own achievement?
1. Gospel-preaching proclaims the cross visually (prographo).
2. Gospel-preaching proclaims the cross visually as a present reality (to accept or reject).
3. Gospel-preaching proclaims the cross as a visual, present and permanent reality (perfect tense indicates a permanent benefit of the historical action).
4. Gospel-preaching proclaims the cross also as an object of personal faith (we continue in faith and grace, not personal efforts).
The Cross and Substitution (Galatians 3:10-14): here is the meaning and consequence of the faith. Here is Paul’s logic:
1. All who rely upon the law are under a curse (Galatians 2:16, 3:10, 11, 12, Deuteronomy 27:26, Habakkuk 2:4).
2. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (plain statement of substitution, Galatians 3:13).
3. Christ did this in order that in him the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, by faith (Galatians 3:14).
The Cross and Persecution (Galatians 5:11, 6:12)
1. Preaching circumcision is to preach salvation by the law.
2. Preaching the cross is to preach salvation by God’s grace alone.
The Cross and Holiness (Galatians 5:24): there are acts of the flesh and acts/fruit of the Spirit).
The Cross and Boasting (Galatians 6:14): false teachers where obsessed with the numbers of their converts.
1. To glory or boast in the cross is to see it as the way of acceptance with God.
2. To glory or boast in the cross is to see it as the pattern of our self-denial.

The Cross in Galatians:

The grounds for our justification (Galatians 1:4, 3:13)
The means of our sanctification (Galatians 2:20, 5:24, 6:14)
The subject of our witness (Galatians 3:1, 5:11, 6:12)
The object of our boasting (Galatians 6:14, 17, Philippians 3:18)

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Loving Your Enemies

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Scott Chafee

These are notes from my reading John R. W. Stott’s classic book, The Cross of Christ.

To live under the cross means that every aspect of our lives is shaped and colored by it. We are to be imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1-2) and exercise relationships as Jesus did.

Conciliation and Discipline: we are called to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9) and to seek peace and pursue it (1 Peter 3:11). Peacemaking can never be a unilateral activity; live at peace with everyone is qualified by two conditions, “if it is possible” and “as far as it depends upon you” (Romans 12:18).

Jesus was determined to make peace with us, his enemies who had rebelled against him, he made peace through the blood of the cross (Colossians 1:20). If we are the offender, there is:

Humiliation in apologizing.
Deeper humiliation in making restitution where possible.
Deepest humiliation in confessing the deep wounds we have caused will take time to heal and cannot be lightly forgotten.

The incentive in peacemaking is love, but it denigrates into appeasement whenever justice is ignored. The two powerful cries of a child are “nobody loves me” and “it’s not fair” since their sense of love and justice come from God. Here are the stages of reconciliation:

Private: one-to-one confrontation with the offender, and if he listens, he will be won over.
Take several others in a rebuke: if not the actual offense, perhaps the confrontation in stage one.
To the church: if he will not listen, it goes to the community of faith; a third chance to repent.
It is only here, if he does not repent, that excommunication is allowed.

Christian Attitudes Toward Evil: does the cross commit us to a non-violent acceptance of all violence? Does it invalidate the process of justice and the so-called “just war?” Does it prohibit the use of any kind of force so that it would be incompatible for a Christian to be a policeman, soldier or prison guard? How did we respond to divine mercy? (Note the resemblance to our September r12 emphasis).

We are to present our bodies as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2).
We are to think of ourselves with sober judgment (Romans 12:3).
We are to love each other by employing gifts (Romans 12:4-13, 15-16).
We are to bless our persecutors and do good to our enemies (Romans 12:14, 17-21).

How do we react to persecutors and enemies? The Romans 12-13 has several directions:

Evil is to be hated: hate what is evil, cling to what is good (Romans 12:9).
Evil is not to be repaid: don’t repay evil with evil, do what is right in the eyes of everyone (Romans 12:17, 19). Revenge and retaliation are forbidden. The sermon on the mount is pretty clear (don’t resist and evil person). Peter on Jesus (1 Peter 2:23), he did not retaliate while suffering.
Evil is to be overcome: don’t be overcome by evil, overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). Heaping burning coals is not retaliation, but a figure of speech to cause him shame. When we retaliate with evil, evil increases in the world; our desire is to decrease the amount of evil in the world.
Evil is to be punished: he (the government) is God’s servant to do good, an agent of wrath to punish evil doers (Romans 12:17, 19, 13:4). It is God prerogative to punish, not ours. Law enforcement is God’s servant to carry out justice.

Retaliation is not wrong, since evil deserves to be punished, should be punished, and in fact will be punished. Jesus said each person will be judged according to his deeds (Matthew 16:27). Peter tells us that Jesus entrusted himself to the one who will judge (1 Peter 2:23).

Authority of the State: the Christian attitude should be one of balance, avoiding extremes, embracing critical respect. In each stated point, the state is limited in its authority.

The origin of its authority is God (Romans 13:1, 4, 6): three times Paul asserts the state’s authority. Despite the defects of the Roman government, Paul declares its authority and ministry of be God’s. The state must be respected as a divine institution, but to give it blind allegiance would be idolatry. The early believers would not say that “Caesar is lord.”
The purpose God gives authority is to reward good and punish evil (Ephesians 1:21-22, Romans 13:3-4): Most governments tend to be better at the latter than the former; law enforcement is stronger than positive encouragement.
The means by which the state’s authority is exercised must be as controlled as its purposes are discriminate (Romans 13:4): to protect the innocent and punish the guilty, coercion is often used. Authority implies power and we have to distinguish between violence and force. The state can exercise capital punishment and make war. The state has the power to stop evil-doers; punishing aggressors who threaten it from outside, and punish criminals who threaten it from the inside.
The due recognition of the state’s authority is laid down (Romans 12:1, 2, 5, 6, 1 Peter 2:13, 1 Timothy 2:1-2). There are limits to our submission to the state (Revelation 12).
1. Suppose the state misuses its God-given authority and promotes evil and suppresses good?
2. Suppose the state ceases to protect people and begins to oppress them?

The apostle gives no room for totalitarian rule. Even Daniel practiced civil disobedience, as well as Peter and John. If the state commands what God forbids, or forbids what God commands, we disobey the state in order to obey God. We respect the state but we do not worship it.

Overcoming Evil with Good: evil is to be repaid but not repaid (depending on the agent). How can evil be overcome (Romans 12:21) and also punished (Romans 13:4)? The difference is between pacifists and war theorists.

Just war theorists tend to concentrate on the need to resist and punish evil.
Pacifists tend to concentrate on overcoming evil with good, and forget that evil must be punished.

Christians need to look beyond defeat and surrender of the national enemy to its repentance and rehabilitation; a politics of redemption and forgiveness.

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Self-Understanding & Self-Giving

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Scott Chafee

These are notes from my reading John R. W. Stott’s classic book, The Cross of Christ.

What is the attitude we should adopt for ourselves? In society today, secular humanism teaches that we basically worship ourselves, literal self-deification. Jesus said to love God, then others as we love ourselves. Some counselors emphasize loving ourselves before we are able to love others. A song on K-love by Natalie Grant has a line very similar, “you can’t love, when you don’t love yourself.”

Jesus emphasized only one commandment, to love God, and the second is like it. It is a practical guide to loving others since no one ever hated his own body (Ephesians 5:29). This is similar to the golden rule (Matthew 7:12) but we cannot always know how others would like to be treated themselves, so perhaps I would not want to be treated that same way. The love mentioned is the agape love, unconditional, meaning sacrificial love. The problem is elevated by Paul that in the last days, men will become lovers of self (2 Timothy 3:1-5) instead of lovers of God.

Paul also challenges us to view ourselves in sober judgment (Romans 12:3). The cross supplies the answer because it calls us both to self-denial and self-affirmation.

Stott mentions that the cross must be called representative as well as substitutionary.

A substitute is one who acts in place of another in a way as to render the other’s action unnecessary: a football player off the bench, a soldier in place of a civilian, one is now inactive, and replaced.
A representative is one who acts on behalf of another, in a way as to involve the other in his action: an agent represents a player and can act on his behalf; he does not speak instead of the player, but for him.
Jesus was our substitute because we could never do what he did for us. As our representative, he has done what we have also done, by being united with him, have died and risen with him.

Paul writes about the conflict in Romans 6, that we are dead to sin and can therefore no longer live in sin (Romans 6:2). Baptism dramatically expresses our participation in going from death into life. When we speak of Jesus dying to sin, we understand that he died and bore its penalty, since the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). It is a fact that we must constantly remember each day.

Self-denial (Mark 8:34): We each must be both Barabbas (he escaped the cross) and Simon of Cyrene (he carried the cross). To carry the cross is to be in a position of a condemned man, on his way to execution. To carry a cross is for no other purpose. A hard life or a handicap is never “a cross to bear.” Self-denial is never depriving ourselves of something we enjoy, but rather disowning ourselves, and renouncing our right to go our own way.

Three deaths and resurrections in Scripture:

Death to sin and subsequent life to God: this is inherent in our conversion and baptism. This death is basically legal, death to sin by union with Christ in his death to sin.
Death to self: called taking up our cross, or denying or crucifying ourselves: it is done daily and willfully. This death is moral, a death that puts down the old sinful nature and its desires, and the resurrection which follows leading us into a new life of righteousness.
Carrying the dying of Jesus in our mortal bodies, so the life of Jesus may be displayed in our bodies (1 Corinthians 15:30-31, Romans 8:36, 2 Corinthians 4:16). This death is physical, death to safety, being given over to death for Jesus’ sake.

This teaching is that we are wholly bad and we need to be totally repudiated and crucified with Christ.

Self-affirmation: Alongside Jesus’ explicit call to self-denial is his implicit call to self-affirmation (which is not the same as self-love).

Jesus’ teaching about people: he drew attention to the ugly things and evil inside of people (Matthew 7:21-23) but he spoke about the value of human beings in God’s side. Mankind is the crown of God’s creating activity and is made in God’s image. God don’t make no junk.
Jesus’ attitude to people: he went out of his way to honor those who were dishonored by society; embraced little children, approached Samaritans and Gentiles.
Jesus mission and death for people: he came to serve and give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). “My worth is what I’m worth to God.”

Is it possible to value ourselves and deny ourselves at the same time? True self-denial is not the road to self-destruction but the road to self-discovery.

The self we are to deny, disown and crucify is the fallen self (everything that is incompatible with Jesus Christ).
The self we are to affirm and value is our created self (the teaching on losing self in order to find self).

We must affirm: our rationality, sense of moral obligation, our sexuality, family life, gifts and creativity, stewardship of the earth, hunger for love, experience of community, awareness of God’s majesty, the inbuilt urge to worship.

We must deny: our irrationality, moral perversion, blurring sexual distinctiveness, lack of sexual control, selfishness which spoils family life, fascination with the ugly, lazy refusal to develop God’s gifts, anti-social tendencies, proud autonomy, and idolatrous refusal to worship the living God.

The next level: we are not just created and then fallen, but rather created, fallen and redeemed: regeneration, resurrection, redemption and re-creation.

Self-sacrificial love: self-understanding should lead to self-giving. The community of the cross is a community of self-giving love, expressed in the worship of God (Mark 10:35-45):

The choice between selfish ambition and sacrifice: the brothers express selfishness at its worst, which is incompatible with the way of the cross.
The choice between power and service: asking to sit on either side of Jesus, essentially have their place on throne to rule over others. Zebedee has servants and the boys likely missed having them around. They would follow Jesus for a while as long as there was just compensation at the end of it all. Lust for power is incompatible with the way of the cross.
The choice between comfort and suffering: they would become vagrants and vagabonds, missing the comforts of home. Insistence on security is incompatible with the way of the cross.

Spheres of service: home, church and the world. There is a paradox that suffering is the path to glory, death is the way to life, and weakness is the secret of power.

The cross lies at the heart of mission. The cross-cultural missionary pays costly family and individual sacrifices, renounces economic security, professional promotion, replaced with solidarity with the poor and needy, repenting of pride and prejudice, and modesty of living and serving under national leadership.

Only the incarnation can span these divides, because it means entering into the worlds of other people, their alienation, loneliness and pain. Incarnation led to the cross, where Jesus took our flesh and then bore our sin.

Love is self-giving (1 John 3:16-18): our most valuable possession is laid down for others. The essence of love is self-sacrifice. Murder is taking another’s life; self-sacrifice is laying down your own life.

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The Celebration of Community

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Scott Chafee

These are notes from my reading John R. W. Stott’s classic book, The Cross of Christ.

Perhaps this presentation of Christ’s cross is too individualistic. If so, this section should restore the balance. The purpose of Christ’s self-sacrifice on the cross was not just to save isolated individuals but to create a new community, whose members would belong to him, love one another and eagerly serve the world. The community of Christ will be nothing less than a renewed and reunited humanity, which Christ, as the second Adam, will head (1 Corinthians 15:45).

From the Day of Pentecost onward (Acts 2), it has been clear that conversion to Christ means also conversion to the community of Christ. These two transfers—of personal allegiance and social membership—cannot be separated. Read 1 Peter 2:4-10, written by the apostle who preached powerfully on that Day of Pentecost.

First Peter 2:4-10 is the basis of the Community study:
Peter describes what is true about Christian believers. He does NOT necessarily describe how we feel all the time. We are living stones in a spiritual house, a holy and royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.

One note specifically about the people of God as “a holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5) and “a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9): This is the famous priesthood of all believers on which the Reformers laid great emphasis. In consequence of this universal priesthood, the word “priest” (Greek hiereus) is never in the New Testament applied to the ordained minister. The minister shares in offering what the people offer but has no distinctive offering to make that differs from theirs.

The uniqueness of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross does not mean that we have no sacrifices to offer, but only that their nature and purpose are different. They are not material but spiritual, and their object is not propitiatory (turning away God’s wrath) but eucharistic (thanksgiving), the expression of a responsive gratitude. What would be some examples of “spiritual sacrifices” (1 Peter 2:5)?

You may come up with many different examples from your own experience, but I see eight kinds of spiritual sacrifices mentioned in Scripture:

We are to present our bodies to him for his service, as “living sacrifices” (Romans 12:1); that sounds like a material offering, but it is termed “spiritual worship,” presumably because it pleases God only if it expresses the worship of the heart.
We offer God our praise, worship and thanksgiving, “the fruit of lips that confess his name” (Hebrews 13:15).
We offer prayer, which is said to ascend to God like fragrant incense (Revelation 5:8).
We offer “a broken and contrite heart,” which God accepts and never despises (Psalm 51:17).
We offer faith, which is called a “sacrifice and service” (Philippians 2:17).
We offer our gifts and good deeds, “for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Hebrews 13:16).
We offer our life “poured out like a drink offering” in God’s service, even unto death (2 Timothy 4:6).
We may present the special offering of the evangelist, whose preaching of the gospel is called a “priestly duty” because the evangelist’s converts can be presented as “an offering acceptable to God” (Romans 15:16).

First Peter 2:6-8 include three Old Testament quotes that are applied to Christ. Notice how and why the stone affects different people in different ways:

First Peter 2:6 quotes Isaiah 28:16, which is in the context of God’s promise that evil will be found out, judged and swept away. The person who trusts in the Lord will endure and will not be touched by the judgment.
First Peter 2:7 quotes Psalm 118:22; the psalmist’s next words confirm that the Lord is the one who put the stone in place: “The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes” (Ps 118:23).
First Peter 2:8 quotes Isaiah 8:14, which also calls the Lord a sanctuary for those who trust him while promising that unfaithful Israel will “fall and be broken” (Isaiah 8:15).

We have received mercy so that we may “declare the praises of him who called [us] out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). Our new intimate relationship to God, which has replaced the old and painful estrangement, is marked by:

Boldness: we are able to approach God is freedom and confidence; humbly (as sinners) yet boldly (as forgiven sinners) we come into God’s presence.
Love: this love has driven out fear; responding to his loving initiative with an answering love of our own.
Joy: we are no longer alienated and humiliated, we are rescued and restored; worshiping him with musical instruments and expressing our joy in songs of praise.

These are not to be thought of as purely private and interior experiences, they are to distinguish our public worship. Consider your public worship with other believers. What aspects of our worship express boldness, love, and joy?

The brief time we spend together on the Lord’s Day must not be separated from the rest of our lives; it is intended to bring our lives into focus.

Singing is a unique feature of Christian worship: I sent a few Journeyman missionaries to the Far East and they developed friendships with young local Buddhist monks. The Christian young men prepared an American style meal, and the evening led toward sharing music and Christian praise songs. The boys ask the monks to share some of their songs from the Buddhist faith. The monks got together and chanted a little and then shyly confessed, that “we really don’t have any songs in our religion.”

Whenever Christian people come together it is impossible to keep them from singing. The Christian community is a community of celebration. Evaluate the element of joy and thanksgiving in our worship experiences.

The community of Christ is the community of the cross. Having been brought into being by the cross, it continues to live by and under the cross. Our perspective and our behavior are now governed by the cross. All of our relationships have been radically transformed by it.

The cross is not just a badge to identify us
The cross is not just the banner under which we march
The cross is also the compass that gives us our bearings in a disoriented world

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The Conquest of Evil

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Scott Chafee

These are notes from my reading John R. W. Stott’s classic book, The Cross of Christ.

The Bible holds promises like overcoming, victory, conquest, triumph; this was the first century vocabulary of followers of the risen Lord.

The cross disarmed and triumphed over the devil, along with all the powers and principalities at his command. They believed in Satan’s downfall, yet were victims of such violence for little more than having faith in the resurrected Jesus. So how did God triumph and have victory over the enemy? Stott explored six stages:

The Conquest Predicted: it all started in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15) with the promise of the Messiah.

The Conquest Begun: this comes in the ministry of Jesus. As Satan recognized Jesus as the future conqueror, he made every attempt to get rid of Jesus (Herod’s rage, wilderness temptations, the crowds and leaders attempts to kill Jesus, Peter’s contradiction of the way of the cross).

The Conquest Achieved: this is the binding of the strong man, the Savior actually on the cross. Paul addresses two aspects of the saving work of the cross (Colossians 2:13-15):

The forgiveness of sins: there is cancelling debt, the written code or IOU, (Romans 7:12) a broken Law of judgment. It was a signed confession, cancelled, wiped away, nailed to the cross.
The overthrow of powers and authorities: three graphic verbs to explain their defeat.
1. Stripped like foul clothing.
2. Made a public spectacle, exhibiting powerlessness.
3. Triumphed over them by the way of the cross; a captive’s procession through the victor’s city.
What Christ did:
1. Disarming them.
2. Total resistance of the enemy.

The Conquest Confirmed and Announced: we cannot regard the cross as defeat and the resurrection as victory. The cross was where the victory was won, the resurrection was the victory endorsed, proclaimed and demonstrated. It was impossible for death to keep him because death was defeated on the cross, not the resurrection.

The Conquest Extended: the church is now out on its mission to preach the resurrected Lord. People are called to repent and believe in the risen Lord. People move from darkness to light; from death to life, from idols to the living God.

The Conquest Consummated: at the parousia.
The death and resurrection belong together in the New Testament, they go together. Seldom is one mentioned without the other (Mark 8:31, 9:31, 10:34, John 10:17-18, 2:19, Acts 2:23-24, 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, 1 Thessalonians 4:14, 2 Corinthians 5:15, Romans 6:1-4, Luke 24:30-35).

Remember that it is by his death that our sins are dealt with, not the resurrection: the blood brought propitiation, redemption, justification, and reconciliation. Nowhere in the Bible does it mention that Christ rose for our sins. True, had he not been raised, our faith would be in vain and our preaching would be futile. Nothing would be accomplished by his death if he had not been raised from the dead. The gospel emphasizes the cross, since that is the place of victory. The resurrection did not achieve our deliverance from sin and death, but it brought us an assurance of both (1 Peter 1:3, 21).

Entering into Christ’s victory: although the devil has been defeated, he has not yet conceded defeat. He is overthrown but has not been eliminated. Stott mentions a tension between our theology and our experience:

On one hand we are alive, seated and reigning with Christ with powers and principalities under God’s feet.
On the other hand we warned that spiritual forces have set themselves in opposition to us (as in Ephesians) and have no hope of standing against them without the Lord’s strength.

There is an element of “already” and “not yet.” Triumphalists see the victory and command the dark forces, while defeatists see only the malice of the devil and overlook the victory of Christ. Jesus literally came to confront and defeat the devil and undo the damage he has done.

We are no longer under the tyranny of the Law.
We are no longer under the tyranny of the flesh.
We are no longer under the tyranny of the world.
We are no longer under the tyranny of death.

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The Revelation of God

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Scott Chafee

These are notes from my reading John R. W. Stott’s classic book, The Cross of Christ.

Here we are to investigate how the cross was a word and a work. And we ought to listen attentively.

The Glory of God: According to John, Jesus referred to his death as a glorification, and event through which he and the Father would be supremely glorified or manifested. The Bible tells us that heaven and earth are filled with his glory. The flowers in the field had glory exceeding Solomon’s, God showed his glory in delivering the people from Egypt (Ps 19:1, Isaiah 6:3, Matthew 6:29).

We had a glimpse of his glory at the transfiguration, and was manifested in the miracles or signs. John tells us that we have seen his glory. The cross appeared to be shame, but it proved to be glory. The synoptic gospels tell us that suffering is the pathway to glory. His coming death was his hour of glorification:

Some Greeks came to see Jesus, “the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” and then talked about his death (John 12:23).
Judas leaves the upper room, Jesus says, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him.” (John 13:31).
In his high priestly prayer, Jesus says, “Father the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you” (John 17:1).

In the cross there is a clear and public demonstration of God’s justice (Romans 3:25-26) and his love (Romans 5:8).

The Justice of God: There is seeming injustice in God’s providence: Abraham’s plea with God over Sodom and Gomorrah, the entire book of Job, and Psalm 73 where evil people prosper.

Romans 3:21-26 – the reformers interpreted “a righteousness” to mean a righteous status which is of God; it is bestowed by him. We read about the sacrifice of atonement was to demonstrate God’s justice.

The first look is to the past (all sins in the past had beforehand been unpunished, Romans 3:25), and it looks to the present and future (so as to be just and the one who justifies the man who has faith in Jesus, Romans 3:26).
Why had he not judged sinners according to their works? Although self-restraint might postpone justice, he could not allow a backlog of sins to mount up indefinitely.
The cross shows both his justice in judging sin and his mercy in justifying the sinner.

The Love of God: How can the horrors of the world be reconciled with the love of God? Why does he allow them?

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us (1 John 3:16). Apart from Jesus, we know nothing about love.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4:10). The words, “live” and “propitiation” betray our severe need. Because of sin, we deserve to experience death and to die under the righteous anger of God. But Jesus bore the wrath instead of us.

God poured out his love (Romans 5:5) and he demonstrated his love (Romans 5:8).

God gave his Son for us. He did not send another being or creature, but himself.
God gave his Son to die for us. The incarnation was the beginning of his self-giving, having emptied himself, humbled himself and became obedient to death, on a cross.
God gave his Son to die for us. For underserving sinners who have missed the mark.

Three marks of false love:

Mark of limitation (something is withheld)
Mark of control (someone is manipulated)
Mark of detachment (we remain self-sufficient, unimpaired, and unhurt)

Three marks of authentic love:

Characterized by limitless self-giving.
Characterized by risk-taking with no guarantee of success.
Characterized by vulnerability that is easily hurt.

Both the Father and the Son suffer the cost of their surrender, though differently:

The Son suffers dying; the Father suffers the death of the Son.
The grief of the Father is just as important as the death of the Son.
The fatherlessness of the Son is matched by the sonlessness of the Father.

Is there more emphasis on God’s love over the cross? Is there repentance and salvation without the cross? Some stories illustrate God’s forgiving mercy and contain nothing about the need for an atoning sacrifice.

Did Paul corrupt church dogma and make the cross necessary for salvation?
Islam claims that the boy is saved without a Savior. The incarnation, the cross and the resurrection are all unnecessary. If God is truly great, he can forgive without all of these things.
1. Parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector: one was justified (Luke 18:9-14)
2. Parable of the unmerciful servant: the king freely forgave and cancelled the debt (Matthew 18:23-35)
3. Parable of the Prodigal Son: welcomes him back and reinstates him (Luke 15:11-24)

Middle Eastern understanding: the prodigal was returning in disgrace. Punishment was inevitable. The father bears the suffering rather than inflicting it. The father ran (his age ran nowhere under any circumstances), cultural humiliation, taking on the shame. This is the humiliation of the incarnation and the shame of the cross on our behalf.

Wisdom and Foolishness of the Cross: (1 Corinthians 1:17-2:5) – Jews demand miraculous signs and the Greeks demand wisdom. We preach Christ crucified which is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. Paul came without a message of human wisdom, or his own strength. Instead he brought the foolish, revealed message of the cross. He had to overcome his own weakness, fear and trembling and relay on the power of the Holy Spirit.

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The Salvation of Sinners

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Scott Chafee

These are notes from my reading John R. W. Stott’s classic book, The Cross of Christ.

“Images” of salvation (or the atonement) is a better term than “theories.” Theories are usually abstract and speculative concepts, where biblical images are concrete pictures and belong to the data of revelation.

Propitiation introduces us to rituals at a shrine
Redemption, to a transaction in the marketplace
Justification, to proceedings in a courtroom
Reconciliation, to experiences in a home or family
Substitution is not a theory, but the foundation of these all

Propitiation: Romans 3:24-25, 1 John 2:1-4, 4:10 – to propitiate someone is to appease or pacify his anger. Remember God’s holy wrath and his loving self-sacrifice of Christ, which was his own initiative to avert his anger.

This is a critical question: is the object of the atoning action God or man? If the former, then the right word may be propitiation (appeasing God); if the latter, the right word may be expiation (dealing with sin and guilt). Christians are less pacifying the displeasure of God and more as a means of delivering man from sin. At the cross Jesus expiated sin, he did not propitiate God.

Fire and brimstone theology has the idea of appeasing an angry God or that the cross was a legal transaction in which an innocent victim was made to pay the penalty for the crimes of others. This is not Paul’s theology, but came from the minds of medieval churchmen (this is not biblical Christianity).

The reason why a propitiation is necessary is that sin arouses the wrath of God:
1. His anger is poles apart from ours.
2. What provokes our anger (injured vanity) never provokes God; what provokes his anger (evil) seldom provokes ours.
Who makes the propitiation? In pagan cultures it is always the human trying to avert the anger of the deity.
1. The gospel states that nothing we can do or say or even contribute can compensate for our sins or turn away God’s anger. There is no possibility of persuading or bribing God to forgive us.
2. God is so gracious he gives us the sacrificial blood to make atonement (Leviticus 17:11).
3. Remember that God does not love us because Christ died for us; Christ died for us because God loves us.
What is the propitiatory sacrifice? Not an animal, vegetable or mineral, but a person. The one person who could step in was God himself.

In Pauline theology, man is alienated from God by sin and God is alienated from man by wrath. It is the substitutionary death of Christ that sin is overcome and wrath is averted. God can now look at man without displeasure and man can now look at God without fear. Sin is expiated and God is propitiated.

Redemption: we move from an image at the temple to the marketplace, from religious rituals to business transactions, from ceremony to commercialism; to redeem is to buy back by purchase or ransom. There is an emphasis that we are more than redeemed by Christ, we are ransomed by him. This comes only at the payment of a price, which then sets us free. The price paid is not “himself” or his “life” but his “blood” (1 Peter 1:18-19). Christ was the victim as well as the priest, entering the Holy Place by his own blood (Hebrews 9:12, Romans 3:24-25, Ephesians 1:7). In communion, we drink the blood of Christ not to participate in the life of Christ, but in his death, appropriating the benefits of his life laid down.

Justification: this image tasks us into the courtroom. Justification is the opposite of condemnation. Forgiveness remits our debts and cancels our liability to punishment; justification declares us in a right standing before God. There have been various objections to justification:

Strong antipathy or dislike to legal categories in talk about salvation; it presents God as Judge rather than as Father.
It attempts to dismiss the doctrine as a Pauline idiosyncrasy, originating in his legalistic mind.
Catholic objection of the reformers teaching on justification by faith;
1. The Council of Trent (Session 6, January 13, 1547) taught that justification takes place at baptism and includes both forgiveness and renewal.
2. Also, that before baptism, prevenient grace predisposes people to convert themselves to their own justification by freely assenting to and cooperating with that grace.
3. Post-baptismal sins are not included within the scope of justification.

Justification declares the person right before God, it does not make them right.

If just means forgiven and accepted and right with God, then we immediately become what God declares us to be. There is a difference between declaring and making us just.
If just is used to signify made new or made alive, then again we are what God declares us to be.
If just means having a righteous character or being conformed to the image of Christ, then God’s declaration does not immediately secure it, but only initiates it. Sanctification is another topic, dealing with growing in holiness.

Faith is of no value in itself. Its value lies solely in its object. The justifying work of Son and the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit cannot be separated. Good works follow justification and new birth. Salvation is never by works but unto works.

God never acquits the guilty (Exodus 23:7) and never condemns the innocent (Proverbs 17:15).

Four of Paul’s key phrases summarize his defense of this divine justification of sinners.

The source of our justification is indicated in the expression “justified by his grace,” that is, by his utterly undeserved favor, which occurs in Titus 3:7 and in Romans 3:24. No one can justify himself, no one is righteous (Romans 3:10, 20, 24).
The grounds for our justification are that we are “justified by his blood” (Romans 5:9). There could be no justification without atonement. There is no pardon without principle; there is no forgiveness that simply overlooks sin.
The means of our justification is indicated in Paul’s favorite expression “justified by faith” (Romans 3:28; 5:1 [“justified through faith”]; Galatians 2:16; 3:24). Grace and faith belong indissolubly to one another, since faith’s only function is to receive what grace freely offers.
The effects of our justification can be deduced from Paul’s expression “justified in Christ” (Galatians 2:17), which points to his historical death, and personal relationship with him that, by faith, we now enjoy.

Reconciliation: this image is from the home and family and friends; it is the opposite of alienation. It begins with reconciliation to God and then to the community. It has to do with making peace with God, adoption into his family and having access to his presence. Ephesians 2:11-22 refer to the wall of separation, Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 2:14) but also separated from Christ (Ephesians 2:12).

How does reconciliation take place (2 Corinthians 5:18-21)?

God is the author of reconciliation: it is from his initiative, not ours. We are reconciled to him; he is not reconciled to us. He is always the subject and never the object. Reconciliation presupposes enmity between two parties. The Bible uses words like, enemies with God, enmity, hostility (Romans 11:28, 5:10).
Christ is the agent of reconciliation: 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 make this clear; God reconciled us to himself through Christ (past tense). It was finished at the death of Christ.
We are the ambassadors of reconciliation: (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Summary:

Propitiation underscores the wrath of God upon us.
Redemption, our captivity to sin.
Justification, our guilt.
Reconciliation, our enmity against God and alienation from him.
All of God’s saving work was achieved through blood-shedding, the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ.

Related Images:

Ransomed by God

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Scott Chafee

These are notes from my reading John R. W. Stott’s classic book, The Cross of Christ.

This is about the self-substitution of God. How can the holy love of God come to terms with the unholy lovelessness of sinful man? The problem is not outside of God; it is within his own being. How can he express at the same time his holiness and judgment and his love and pardon? Only by providing a divine substitute for the sinner, so that the substitute would receive the judgment and the sinner would receive the pardon.

Sacrifice in the Old Testament: Paul tells us the Christ gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice (Ephesians 5:2), gave himself (Galatians 1:4), or in Hebrews 9:14, Christ offered himself. Jesus died for sins (Romans 8:3, 1 Peter 3:18). In our passage today, we see that sacrifice in the OT was just a shadow of what was to come.

Sacrifices were offered for several reasons: they were associated with penitence, celebration, national need, covenant renewal, family festivity and personal consecration. Regarding sacrifice we find them to signify belonging to God, and also alienation from God because of sin and guilt.

The notion of substitution means that one person takes the place of another, in order to bear his pain and to save him from it. Moses stepped in to save the Hebrews (Exodus 32:32), Paul would have stepped in for his people (Romans 9:1-4), Abraham was going to sacrifice his son but was provided a substitute (Genesis 22:13).

In a sacrifice the worshipper brought the animal, put hands on it and killed it. The priest applied the blood, burnt some of the flesh, and arranged to have the rest eaten. The point was identification and the hands were a symbolic transference of their sin. The shedding and sprinkling of blood was vital for atonement, and eating of blood was prohibited (Leviticus 17:11).

Blood symbolized life (Genesis 9:4, Deuteronomy 12:23)
Blood makes atonement, the reason is the repetition of the word life (life was given for life, the life of the innocent for the life of the guilt).
Blood was given by God for this atoning purpose: the sacrificial system was God-made, not man-made.

Two verses we need to look at: without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22) and, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (Hebrews 10:4). While Old Testament sacrifices were shadows, the substance was always Christ. For a substitute to be effective, it must prove to be an appropriate equivalent. Animals are not equal with humans, humans are not equal with God (Matthew 12:12, 1 Peter 1:19).

Passover and Sin Bearing: Passover was the beginning of Israel’s national identity, and it was here the New Testament identifies the death of Christ as the fulfillment of the Passover (the new and redeemed community and the new exodus from sin). God provided self-disclosure of himself:

Yahweh revealed himself as the Judge (the background to the final plague).
Yahweh revealed himself as the Redeemer (blood is applied to the door and they must take shelter under it).
Yahweh revealed himself as Israel’s covenant God (he redeemed them to be his own people).

For us, the message is also clear:

The Judge and Savior are the same person (it was God who passed through Egypt to judge the firstborn, who passed over the Israelite homes to protect them).
Salvation was (and is) by substitution (only the firstborn males who were spared were in whose families a firstborn lamb had died instead).
The lamb’s blood had to be sprinkled after it had been shed (there had to be individual appropriation of the divine protection).
Each family rescued by God was thereby purchased for God.

What does it mean to bear sin? Jesus bore our sins (1 Peter 2:4) and was once offered to bear the sins of many (Hebrews 9:28). It means to bear sin’s penalty.

The Scapegoat (Leviticus 16:5-28): One goat gets killed and the blood is sprinkled in the usual way, while the priest lays his hands on the living goat’s head and confesses the sin and rebellion of the people. The living goat is then driven into the desert.

Do not make the mistake of driving a wedge between the two goats because the two together are described as the sin offering (Leviticus 16:5). Each embodied a different aspect of the same sacrifice, one exhibiting the means and the other exhibiting the results of the atonement.

Jesus death and two sin-bearing statements:

He died to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
He died to pour out his blood for many (Mark 14:24, Isaiah 53:12).

Who is the substitute? Yes, it was Jesus, but was he just a man? If so, how could a human being stand in for another human being? Was he then simply God appearing to be a man? If so, how could he represent humankind? How could he (God) have died? Neither God alone nor man alone, but the unique and only God-Man was a suitable substitute, uniquely qualified to mediate between holy God and sinful man.

The possibility of a substitute rests upon the identity of the substitute. The essence, nature and identity of the Christ had been the subject of many heresies and controversies.

God was in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:19): the righteous loving Father humbled himself to become, in and through his holy Son, flesh, sin and curse for us, in order to redeem us without compromising his own character. Make this personal.

The doctrine of substitution not only affirms a fact (that God was in Christ substituting himself for us) but it’s necessary (there is no other way by which God’s holy love could be satisfied and rebellious humans could be saved). Therefore, we all stand before the cross, as Adam, embarrassed at our nakedness attempting self-justification, wearing filthy rags. Jesus wore the rags and clothed us with righteousness.