All mankind are in need of a justification that will come totally apart from anything that they do. To be justified is to be recognized as being right; it is a judicial decree of rightness. Paul wants us to know at one point in time something was true, but now something else is true.
The fact that Christ did die for all, proves without a doubt that all were indeed dead in trespasses and sins. All mankind are wrath-worthy; there is none good, not even one. The entire human race is guilty when it comes to human merit, performance, and production and all fall short, continually coming short of the righteousness of God himself.
Does God really hate man because of the actions of man? The fact is that God loves man so much that the magnitude of his love is almost incomprehensible to imagine. In the past, God stood far off from the sinner, but God’s love is so paramount that he says he loves humans who are actively his enemies.
Certainly, the bible shows that God does not like the actions of man, but God reconciled himself to his enemies while they are still in hostility, although this statement may appear to be strange and impossible, but it is not. These are important words; God’s reconciliation to mankind took place when man was actively his enemy, not after man repented.
An enemy is one that is on the other side of the fence, he is in absolute opposition and his actions are hateful, and it was while mankind was in this state of utter hostility and in direct opposition to God, that they were reconciled to God by what the death of his son accomplished.
God’s reconciliation to man is from God’s side only. God alone decided to make peace with man, while man is still very much ungodly, a sinner, and while man is an active enemy to God. This one-sided reconciliation on God’s part is self-evident proof of God’s superabundant love to man.
As far as God is concerned, he loved man so much that he was willing to let his own son die for sinful man, and have his son pay all the penalties of their sins, forget their rebelliousness and overlook their hostility, while they were still sinners, still rebellious, and still hostile.
God made up his mind to become completely reconciled to mankind before man made any signs of making peace with God. God has told the world through Paul’s teaching’s, that he has reconciled himself to them because of his love for them, and it was God alone who did this harmonious act; they have had nothing to do with it, all they have had to do is to receive the reconciliation that God has made with mankind.
God has one-sidedly reconciled himself to mankind through what the death of his son accomplished; all sins and hostility are paid for as far as God is concerned. No longer does man have to strive to attain and maintain God’s acceptance on the basis of who they are and what they can do.
No longer are their sins held against them, no longer does the death penalty for sin hang over them. It is simply been given to man to either accept or reject what Christ has already accomplished in this age of grace. Sin causes a debt to God so large that man can never pay it.
Reconciliation simply means a change in status and it is a major issue recognizing reconciliation. Reconciliation from God’s advantage point is a done deal, and God is reconciled where the totality of the sin debt of all man is concerned. The issue of sin was settled, it is a son issue today, not a sin issue.
Will people accept what Jesus Christ accomplished or will they reject it, the son is the issue with God today. God’s attitude of love forces no one to take him at his word. God gives all the choice to accept what Christ accomplished on their behalf today, or to reject it. God purchased man out of sins dominion never to be returned to the market place of sin again.
By removing the sin issue from the table of God’s justice, God effectively canceled Satan’s ownership of all mankind. Reconciliation has to do with God’s justice being satisfied for sins, reconciliation is a sin issue. The just do, in fact, live by faith, but it is not their sinless lives that allow them to be called just; they do not live sinless lives.
True faith is believing that God raised Christ from among the dead, thus, because of the resurrection of Christ, those who believe in what Jesus accomplished are secure in their redemption.
No comments:
Post a Comment