II. The Saving Work of Jesus Christ
1. Our Need for a Savior: As delineated in part 3B of this series, Hamartiology: the Biblical Study of Sin, section I. 1.1.1, “Spiritual Death”, scripture is crystal clear about the fact that each and every human being since the fall of Adam and Eve has been born into sin with the result that they commit sin, a circumstance which, from the standpoint of eternity, places us all in an absolutely hopeless situation of impending judgment and condemnation apart from God’s help.
Now the Lord saw that Man’s evil had spread abundantly on the earth – indeed, the underlying intent of all his innermost thoughts was invariably evil. Genesis 6:5.
What is Man that he could be pure (i. e., innocent), or that one born of woman could be righteous? Job 15:14.
If You, O Lord, kept a close watch on [our] iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand? Psalms 130:3. For there is no man on earth who is [so] righteous that he [always] does what is good and [never] sins. Ecclesiastes 7:20.
[Jesus] went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’ “ Mark 7:20-23 NIV
God’s wrath is being revealed (i. e., dispensed) from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness – on men who suppress the truth in their unrighteousness. Romans 1:18. For all sin and fall short of God’s glory. Romans 3:23. So just as through one man (i. e., Adam) sin came into the world and, through sin, death, and thus (i. e., Adam physically passing on his sin nature) death spread to all mankind – for [obviously] everyone sins (i. e., universal sinning proves universal spiritual death), . . .Romans 5:12. But now it is no longer I [who] does it (i. e., commits sin), but the sin dwelling in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me – that is, in my flesh. For to will what is good lies in my power, but to carry it out does not. For I do not do the good I want to, but the evil I do not want to do, this is what I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who am doing it but the sin dwelling in me. So in respect to the Law I find that, even as I wish to do good, evil has me in its power. For I delight in the Law of God in my inner person. But I perceive a different law [at work] in my bodily members, waging war against the Law in my mind and taking me prisoner – [a prisoner to] this law of sin that dwells in my body. Wretched man that I am! Who will save me from this body of death? Romans 7:17-24. And you [too were once spiritually] dead in the transgressions and sins in which you then lived your life, after the fashion of this temporal world, after the pattern of the ruler who holds sway in the air [around us (i. e., the devil)], that spirit who is now at work in those who have chosen disobedience. In company with these we too all conducted our lives in the lusts of our flesh (i. e., sin nature), carrying out the will of our flesh and its desires. For we were [all thus] children of wrath by nature just like the rest [of the human race]. Ephesians 2:1-3. So put to death your [bodily] members which are of the earth, [for it is they that produce] sexual sinning, impurity, passion, evil lusting, and greed, which is [effectively the same thing as] idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon those who are [wilfully] disobedient. You too once walked in these ways when your life was defined by them [as unbelievers]. Colossians 3:5-7. And inasmuch as it is ordained for mankind to die once (i. e., the first, “physical” death), and after this [face] judgment (i. e., “the second death”; cf. Revelation 2:11; Revelation 20:6, Revelation 20:14-15) . . .Hebrews 9:27. In short, we are spiritually dead at birth, being “children of wrath” with only the expectation of divine judgment and the execution of condemnation absent some miraculous intervention far beyond our power and ability to effect for ourselves. And that is precisely what God has done for us in Jesus Christ!
Because God has not appointed us for wrath, but for [taking] possession of [our] salvation (i. e., for resurrection) through our Lord Jesus Christ, the One who died on our behalf, that, whether we stay awake or sleep (i. e., pass on to heaven), we shall live together with Him. 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10.
Salvation, that is, deliverance from eternal condemnation on the one hand and the provision of eternal life instead on the other, has been effected for us in our hopelessness through the most astounding event in world history, so monumental in fact that it is world history from the proper, divine point of view, namely, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ unto death in our place and on our behalf.
