“Mercy is not getting what you deserve; Grace is getting what you don’t deserve.” Anonymous

For God So Loved the World, Part II

This Post concludes the discussion of the “Classical” answer to the question, “Why did Jesus have to die for my sins?”  Next week’s Post will deal with what I’ve dubbed the “Alternative” answer.

Last week, we set out a definition of “sin”.  We also explained the Classical Answer’s explanation of the gulf of sin that separates man from God, and that there was no way for man to ‘bridge’ that gulf.  We had come to the point of recognizing that only God could provide an answer to sin, which would again render man capable of being in perfect communion with God; so that God and man could then live in communion and harmony for all time.  And, that the “answer” to the problem was Jesus Christ.  Now, we’ll consider why Jesus was the only sufficient answer to the problem and why He had to die to save mankind from our sins (past, present, and future).  Let’s remember that we’re considering these questions from the Classical viewpoint; the orthodoxy that has been provided by the Church as the correct way to think about this situation for centuries.

Again, as I understand it …

Prior to The Fall, Adam and Eve had no difficulty being in close communion with God and staying in His presence.  According to the Bible, they would frequently visit with Him in the Garden, and there was no issue with their being able to be in His physical or spiritual presence.  They had been made by God to be with God, and since they had not yet sinned, they were perfect in their “likeness” of Him.  Then, Eve took a bite of the apple and man ceased to be perfect … he became “mortal”.

Since then, man has still been able to establish contact with God and to live in at least partial communion/harmony with Him. Through prayer, reflection, study and worship man has always been able to at least glimpse, sense, hear, or perceive God in some, imperfect way.  Through sufficient exercise of his own free will man can live in an imperfect state of communion and harmony with Him at least for a while.  The problem is that sin has become so ingrained or intertwined with our thoughts and will, that we cannot NOT occasionally stray from this harmonious state, and when that happens, we commit “sin”.  And unfortunately, no matter how hard we try, no matter how earnestly we seek to NOT stray, we do.  The Apostle Paul said it best when he said, “The things I would do, I do not, and the things I would not do, I do.” [Romans 7:21] We simply cannot help ourselves.

Under the Classical view of God as “just” [Psalm 25:8], all wrongs must be righted, and all sins must be “paid for” before the scales could be balanced and man could again be allowed to live in perfect harmony with his Father in Heaven.  And because man was/is mortal, he was/is incapable of fulfilling the four stages of Reconcilement on his own (we covered the Four Stages in last week’s Post).  If reconciliation was to occur, God had to figure out a way for man’s sins to be paid for; for some sort of recompense adequate to “cleanse” mankind of the effects of his sins so that harmony and balance could be restored.

Again, in the Classical answer the only thing that could offset man’s sinful nature was Divine nature, and the only sacrifice that would be acceptable to God to offset mortal man’s continual sinning would be a sacrifice of Divine nature. So, God became flesh to inhabit the World as Jesus, and to be sacrificed for our sins.  By Christ’s crucifixion and death, mankind’s sins were “wiped clean.”  The requisite sacrifice had been made.  By His resurrection, death was defeated.  And by all three, mankind’s sins were then and forevermore “paid for”, death was defeated, and mankind and God could again hope to return to the harmonious state of complete communion that had existed when man was first made.

Such a sacrifice was (and is) almost beyond imagining for the people of the time.  Concepts such as “Grace” and “freely given” were alien and not easily understood (and still aren’t).  The point is that by Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, a path had been created for mankind to be able to be reconciled with God.  Mankind now had, again, the ability to exist in perfect harmony with God; forever.

However, man still had to exercise his free will and elect to play his part in his reconciliation and salvation.  Just because Jesus had made His sacrifice and thereby made it possible for sins to be forgiven did not mean that every man would automatically claim his salvation and everlasting life with God.  The Jesus’ sacrifice was not an automatic “Get out of Jail Free” card!  Remember the Four Stages of Reconciliation from our last Post.  Two of them are dependent on the sinner/offender. Two are dependent on the person aggrieved.  The sinner would still have to recognize his sin and sincerely “repent” of it (Stage 1), and he would still have to proactively “ask for forgiveness” and do his best not to repeat the sin (Stage 2) The path to salvation had been cleared, but man still had to actively pursue it for the process of reconciliation and salvation to occur.

So, here we have the Classical answer to the question, “Why did Jesus have to die for my sins?”  Because: (1) all mankind are sinners; (2) God cannot abide sin or sinners; (3) man could never of his own efforts “earn” or “deserve” God’s forgiveness; and God’s simply “overlooking” his sins would not be “just”; (4) only a sacrifice of sufficient magnitude and value would be enough to expiate (i.e. wash clean) mankind’s sins; (5) only God could provide such a sacrifice; (6) it was necessary for God to become man (Jesus) so that such a sacrifice could be made; (7) Jesus had to die an undeserved death to satisfy the requirement for a “pure” sacrifice.  I realize that it took a while for us to get to this point, but it was important that the reader understand the underlying rationale for the answer.

Herein we have also the answer to the following question, “I wasn’t even born when He was crucified, so how could He have died for my sins?”  After Adam and Eve and their Original Sin, god knew that every man born thereafter was going to use his free will and in so doing would inevitably sin.  So, His provision for a “path” back to reconciliation and harmony HAD to be just as effective for all mankind born after Jesus’ sacrifice as it was for those born before.  Otherwise, Jesus would have had to keep coming back to Earth and going through the same process again and again.  In His wisdom, He ordained that Jesus’ sacrifice would be sufficient for all people for all time (or at least until Jesus’ Second Coming).  Again, man still had to do his part.  But at least the opportunity, or the path had been provided.

To this point, the explanations I have given have been referred to as the Classical Answer.  That is the Answer that many churches adopted and have used since their inception.  As we’ve seen, it was the only Answer that would have resonated with or made sense to the people of the time.  However, this isn’t the ONLY Answer to this question.  Other answers have since been proposed and beginning with next week’s Post we’ll examine one of them which we’ll call the “Alternative” answer.

By presenting this Alternative answer, I am NOT implying that the Classical answer is wrong.  Nor, will I be saying that the Alternative answer is the correct one.  Telling you what to think is not my mission or objective.  Presenting you with information you can use to make up your own mind and challenging you to think about your beliefs and faith is.

There is no shortcut!  YOU must be the one to decide what you believe.  No one can do that for you, and whatever decisions you reach regarding your faith will help determine the kind of relationship you will have with God.

Let me know what you think about what I’ve said.  Until next week, I’m praying for God’s Blessings to be on you all.

Richard

July 20, 2018