Sin
Sin is anything not conforming to the will of God. Sin is the problem. The consequences of sin are blunt: death. God warned Adam that this was the penalty for eating the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden:
for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die
(Gen 2:1).
Like the laws of the Medes and Persians, such a decree by God cannot be repealed (Dan 6:8,15).
Adam ate, and being the representative and father of all, brought death to everyone. Sin and death became universal. Adam died, and men have died ever since, each man dying for his own sin:
Death came to all men, because all have sinned
(Rom 5:12,Jer 31:30).
There is no solution to this, unless God himself can provide one. Can God forgive? And can he do so without contravening his own words of warning to Adam, and thereby compromising his own standard of justice and righteousness?
Forgiveness
Yes, God has a way to forgive. In Solomon's temple, and in the tabernacle before it, the blood of sacrifices were taken by the high priest once a year into the Most Holy Place and sprinkled on the atonement cover [mercy seat]. This brought forgiveness and atonement, such that the people would be clean from all their sins (Lev 16:30). According to Hebrews, this procedure was symbolic only of Christ ascending into heaven after shedding his own blood (Heb 9:11-12). The ascension of Christ in effect registers his sacrifice in heaven before God, opening the way for believers to be forgiven and accepted into heaven itself.
The Most Holy Place in the temple is therefore a symbol of heaven. So the blood taken there by the high priest symbolically registers the sacrifices in heaven. When Solomon commissioned the temple he had built, he prayed to God about it (1 Kings 8:22-53). He asked that those in need who prayed towards the temple would be forgiven and ministered to according to their needs. So, forgiveness would flow from an acknowledgement of the temple, the place where the blood of sacrifices had been registered. About 370 years later, Ezekiel had a vision of another temple, with a river flowing out of it, bringing life and healing where it flowed (Ez 47). We can therefore understand that this river was one of forgiveness and blessing.
So, there was provision for forgiveness under the Old Covenant, which was a copy only of the reality of forgiveness available under the New. At his final Passover, Jesus said of the cup
This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins
(Matt 26:28).
Peter said
everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name
(Acts 10:43).
Paul said of Jesus that
in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace
(Eph 1:7).
So there is now a new pathway to forgiveness, with the blood of Jesus replacing the blood of goats and bulls
(Heb 9:13-14).
This change is at the heart of the difference between the covenants.
The Gospel
The awesome pathway to this forgiveness is called
The Gospel
.
Paul declared that he received this gospel directly from the Lord:
I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. (Gal 1:11,12)
He unlocks this gospel in different ways in his epistles, but he gives a succinct description in his letter to the Romans:
But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus (Rom 3:21-26).
That this is referring to the New Covenant is clear from the expression
apart from the law
,
since the essence of the Old Covenant is adherence to the Law. The essence of the New Covenant is this Gospel. We learn several things about it here:
The just basis is redemption and atonement.
The price paid by God is the sacrifice of his Son.
There is a benefit, namely righteousness.
The recipients of this benefit are believers.
The price paid by the recipient is nothing.
The Just Basis
God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement, bringing redemption to those who have faith in his blood. The passage quoted not only explains how God justifies believers, but goes on to say in the last sentence that God was demonstrating his justice when he did so. Without atonement, God would have been unjust to forgive sinners. Because of this perfect atonement, God shows himself to be just in redeeming and justifying all believers.
But how does atonement work? How is it that one man can take someone else's punishment? It is a mystery. Normally when the wrong person is sent to prison we call it a miscarriage of justice. The innocent one should be freed as soon as possible, and compensated. The guilty one should be found and punished. God agrees:
Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent - the Lord detests them both
(Prov 17:15).
So there must be some other factor involved here that makes atonement to be just in God's eyes. We can find an answer to this in another mystery: according to Paul, we have been united with Christ in his death (Rom 6:5).
Christ died, and took us and our sin with him into his death. This means therefore that
we
have died (see v8),
and that this is how our sin was punished on the cross. Because we have died, we have suffered the penalty for our own sin. This means that, after all, the guilty one has been punished - if we accept that it happened because of our being united with Christ in his death.
But how can we be joined in this way? Here I just say that God has declared it to be so. He has united us with Christ. How did he do this? I don't know. But equally, the same thing happens in marriage!
The two shall become one
(Gen 2:24).
And, according to Jesus
What God has joined together, let man not separate
(Mark 10:9).
So in the case of marriage, it is God who has joined them together. Likewise, our being united with Christ must be because God has joined us together. Paul does confirm that the joining by God which occurs in marriage, is equivalent to Christ and the church being united:
for we are members of his body.
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh
.
This is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church
(Eph 5:30-32).
So, yes, it is a profound mystery, even to Paul. I'll leave it there.
This concept of atonement was not new in Israel. God had been preparing this nation in advance to be one that would understand. One of its most significant holy days is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. We can see now that all the animal sacrifices offered by Israel beforehand were just a picture of the supreme sacrifice by the Son of God. They were the means by which God impressed upon Israel the fact that redemption comes only by means of sacrifice. And it is because of the history and teaching about sacrifice prior to the Cross that the sacrifice on the Cross can be understood for what it is. Indeed, this history predates the nation of Israel. It goes back at least to Abel (Gen 4:4). This fact explains why sacrifice became a practice among many peoples throughout the world, yet without the clear understanding that was taught to Israel and became fully clear after Jesus died on the Cross. The principle was that the innocent, and only the innocent, would be able to take on himself the sins of the guilty, dying in their place. The animals sacrificed beforehand had to be clean (Gen 8:20) and without defect (Lev 1:3). So such sacrifices instilled in Israel the truth that only the death of a perfect, innocent creature could be offered to God to validate their worship and make it acceptable. Through the gospel we understand these to be pictures only of the true and effective sacrifice of Jesus.
The Price to God
God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement, as prophesied:
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities
(Isa 53:5).
To understand the enormity of this we have an illustration in the occasion when God told Abraham to make a similar sacrifice:
Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about (Gen 22:2).
It was a test, and the angel of the Lord stopped him from doing it, but God shows us in this incident what the cost to a father would be to give up the son he loves. Twice God attested concerning Jesus
This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased
(Matt 3:17,17:5).
Jesus was God's son, and God loved him, but on the Cross no angel came to the rescue. Jesus could have called on the Father for more than twelve legions of angels, but he chose not to, so that the scriptures would be fulfilled
(Matt 26:53-54).
The sacrifice was made, and the Gospel made possible.
The Benefit
Note that the benefit under this covenant is righteousness or justification. Both words are used in the quotation above. They refer to the same idea, and have the same root word in Greek. The word justification just means to be declared righteous. According to Jeremiah there will be a king coming in David's line whose name will be
The Lord our Righteousness
(Jer 23:6).
Paul agrees with this when he declares that Christ is our righteousness (1 Cor 1:30).
The whole purpose of the Cross is to give believers righteousness that is from God.
Paul doesn't use the word
forgiveness
in this passage. He much prefers here and elsewhere to discuss the gift of righteousness, which goes beyond what we normally understand the concept of forgiveness to be. To be forgiven means we do not have to pay the penalty for our sin, which is marvellous in itself. And yes, believers are forgiven as discussed above, which is marvellous indeed. But what is meant by the term? Human forgiveness can be experienced at various levels, and this can affect how we interpret divine forgiveness. What some actually understand by the term
forgiven
,
without saying so, is
tolerated
.
It's as if we have entered the Kingdom on a technicality, something to do with the blood of Jesus, but maybe it would be a good idea to keep a low profile, lest we lose the tenuous foothold we have found for ourselves in God's house. This was the thinking of the Prodigal Son.
Make me like one of your hired men
(Luke 15:19),
was what he planned to tell his father. He was expecting to be tolerated, at best, so he decided to throw himself on the mercy of his father. He had 'servant quarters' faith. When his father met him he confessed his sin, but didn't get the chance to finish his speech. The reply of the father?
Bring the best robe and put it on him
(v22).
The father didn't just tolerate him, but treated him as a son and celebrated his full and complete return into the family. This is God's style of forgiveness.
If we only have an understanding of forgiveness on a human level, then in our own eyes the stain of sins we have committed, words said or deeds done etc., is still there. We did it, and there's nothing we can do about it now, like an ink stain that won't come out in the wash. If only the stain could be removed! But this is what the Lord does! His style of forgiveness goes beyond what we often experience from other people. He says
Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow
(Isa 1:18).
Such a transformation requires the perfect washing agent. That agent we now know is the blood of Jesus which he shed when he was crucified. It cleanses us from all sin
(1 John 1:7 NKJV).
Jesus
washed us from our sins in His own blood
(Rev 1:5 NKJV).
This fulfils the prophesy in Malachi:
For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap
(Mal 3:2).
This washing in the blood leaves no stain. The sin has been wiped out altogether. Expunged. Gone, because it has been replaced by righteousness, and we are now
blameless in his sight
(Eph 1:4).
So not only is the negative aspect of sin removed, but the positive characteristic of righteousness is put in its place. This is why the term
justified
is used. It says so much more than
forgiven
or
pardoned
.
Paul emphasizes the precious truth of justification and righteousness again and again:
a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last
(Rom 1:17).
Romans 3:22, 3:30, 4:5, 4:13, 4:24, 5:1, 9:30, Gal 2:16, 3:8, 3:24, Phil 3:9 all give the same message. It is the essence of the gospel.
It is this complete cleansing that is encapsulated in the term
justified
,
and this is the gift that God gives freely to those who believe.
The Recipients
Who are the recipients of the blessing? Believers! To receive this blessing we need to believe! The promise is to all who believe, and is received
by faith.
to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is counted as righteousness
(Rom 4:5).
And so say the other verses just quoted above. This is amazing. God justifies the wicked! The wicked! And faith is counted as righteousness! Or to put it mathematically:
Faith = Righteousness
What is it that we have to believe? Just this, that we trust a God who justifies the wicked. Our faith is in the atoning work of Jesus, and that by it we are justified and now blameless in his sight.
The Price to the Recipients
Under the Old Covenant, righteousness had to be earned by obedience to the Law:
And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness (Deut 6:25).
Surely then, there is something that the believer should
do
to pay for this righteousness? No! Under the New Covenant, we are justified
freely
by his grace (Rom 3:24).
There is no price to pay. This righteousness as a gift was prophesied by Isaiah:
(Isa 54:17 NKJV).
It is
their righteousness is from Me,
says the Lordwithout money and without cost
(as in Isa 55:1, the next verse).
The last chapter of the Bible echoes this also:
Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life
(Rev 22:17).
Simon, an ex-sorcerer turned believer, learnt this lesson:
When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money and said,
Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.
Peter answered:
may your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy
the gift of God
with money!
(Acts 8:18,19).
Simon sought to buy the ability to do what the apostles were doing. Peter rebuked him, but his rebuke is wider than his particular request. It covers the attempt to buy anything that God has determined to be a gift. The righteousness of God is just such a gift. We cannot buy it, with money, good works, or anything of ours. Peter's rebuke was strong, reflecting God's attitude on the subject. His gifts are not for sale. It is God who paid the price, giving up his Son. The good news is that this righteousness is from God, that it comes through faith in Jesus Christ, and that it is available freely by grace, meaning without being earned or paid for in any way by the recipient.
Paul uses the term
grace
in the above extract and throughout his epistles.
By grace
means simply
out of kindness
.
It is used when something good is being granted, in this case righteousness, and without seeking recompense or demanding any pre-conditions.
Unmerited favour
is therefore a succinct and useful definition of grace. Here are a few more verses about grace which clarify its meaning:
much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. (Rom 5:17 ESV)
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph 2:8,9 ESV)
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. (Rom 11:6 ESV)
Grace is free. Grace is a gift. Grace is not based on works, meaning our own good deeds. If it were, it would no longer be grace, according to Paul. Righteousness is a gift!
Adam broke the command that he was given. The Israelites broke the Old Covenant that they were party to (Jer 31:32). If God laid conditions on us, then we too would fail. And failure is fatal. Covenants are meant to be kept, as the treaty with Gibeon demonstrates. They are not to be treated casually, or half-heartedly. This is why grace is so important. If there were any conditions, if it depended on us at all, we would fail. That is why God has granted salvation wholly by grace. It is only God who cannot fail. He keeps his promises. Despite the evil nature of man, God has not and will not break the covenant he made with Noah [and with us] not to send a second global flood. He never broke his covenant with Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. And he will not break his covenant to be Saviour to one who believes in Jesus. These covenants are based on a promise, and are by grace with no conditions, and no price that we have to pay. That is why we have a firm and secure anchor for our hope (Heb 6:19). It doesn't depend on us! We only need to believe.
Paul admonished the churches in Galatia for veering away from the grace of Christ to
a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all
(Gal 1:6,7).
So the true gospel is the
grace of Christ
.
We cannot compromise on this. To add works to any degree is to belittle what Christ has done for us.
So it's all by grace with no price to pay. Can it be true? Before we sign an agreement, it is advisable to check the terms and conditions. This is the small print in a written document; the speeded-up conclusion to a radio advert; or a separate page in a website. Many are inclined to check the
I agree
button without looking any further. A few read nearly every line of the T&Cs. Others will be somewhere in-between these two positions. Gospel means
Good News
.
But is it too-good-to-be-true news? Our joy as believers can be tempered when reading the Bible and noticing, after signing up, that there seems to be a whole host of conditions in the agreement. We didn't notice them before! Are we saved by grace through faith, or is there a lot more we have to comply with? I want to look at some of these potential conditions next. Should, at the very least, a deep sense of contrition be displayed before being forgiven? Must sins be confessed before they can be forgiven? And how should we look at commandments now?