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Update:
Here's part 1:
This includes an outline that will be handy for following along, I suggest opening it in a separate tab to follow along.
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We need to understand what exactly salvation means. Then we can determine what it means to be saved. When we examine what it means to be saved, two things become apparent about how it relates to sin in our own lives. Furthermore, we can look at how sin affects the world.
A. Salvation is the Forgiveness of Sin
Let’s begin by making sure we understand Sin the same way. For being such a short word, it is the source of never-ending debate and consternation. In talking about the righteous lives Christians begin to live when they follow Jesus, John the Apostle defines sin:
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.
(1Jn 3:2-7)
Sin is lawlessness. To understand sin means you need some sort of understanding of lawlessness. One of the things that the Greek/Roman culture share with Judeo/Christian culture is the idea that Law comes from something beyond the common man, and that all people who are citizens of the group to which the law applies are held under it. For the Jews of Jesus time, the law came from Moses on the mountain. To violate the law, was to go against what God had determined to be acceptable or not acceptable, it was to live as though God had not made known what He desired. This is foolishness.
To see how foolish it is, consider Adam and Eve. First, I need you to understand that we don’t want to get lost in the discussion of the historical accuracy of this account. I unapologetically offer to you that this is the facts of what happened, and I ask you to at least pretend with me that this is an accurate record of the first instance of Sin, and that through studying it we can understand what John means when he says “Sin is lawlessness.” If you wish to know why I think it’s important to consider this as fact, and some of the basic reasons I have for accepting it as such, I will be happy to discuss this with you, either in a group or individually. After we consider the law that’s given to men, let’s consider the persons involved in this act. Before man fell, he had but one law, recorded in Genesis 2:16-17: “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” A simple rule, open buffet on any fruit except what’s on this one tree! How man fell is recorded in the 3rd chapter of Genesis, it would be good to read the whole chapter from start to finish, I won’t be quoting it verbatim, but I will occasionally reference a specific verse. The first person mentioned in Genesis 3 in NOT Adam or Eve, but is identified only as “the Serpent”. The Bible defines this “serpent” as the Devil. Read the last book of scripture about what the Devil does, and how he’s presented. He’s even called “that ancient serpent” (Revelation 12:9 and 20:2) He offers a question to Eve, and this question introduces lawlessness to mankind. The question does not attack the source of the law directly. It does not cause Eve to question God’s authority, but rather, what is attacked is the Word of God itself, especially the law that God had given Adam. The man and the woman disobeyed God’s law, became sinners, and began dabbling in lawlessness.
We see this in their actions immediately following their disobedience. They tried their best to give themselves clothes. They knew they needed to hide their shame. When God speaks again to Adam and Eve, he identifies the source of their shame, and He gives them a new law visible through the administration of divine punishment. God’s new law is this: “I will take care of your sin, I will make you a way”. He shows them this by providing them garments that will cover them completely and that will last. He says this in the nature of the curse He gives “the serpent”: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15) This is the First Gospel Message. God identifies a continuing problem for the serpent. He will always be at odds with God’s people, to the point where a man identified as the woman’s offspring will crush him even while the serpent attempts to injure him. This comes true in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus:
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
(Rom 5:6-11)
We were God’s enemies until Jesus died, and we are saved by His Life! The serpent bruised His heel, but Jesus has crushed the serpent’s head. Now we are no longer thrashing about in lawlessness, but rather, we have the law of love. Our new law says to practice righteousness in love because God is Love.
B. Salvation is the Deliverance from depravity
Depravity is a big word for a very simple idea: When you start to do wrong, you’re only going to get worse, not better. God saves us not only from our past sins, but from the desire to walk in sin itself. An old hymn says it like this:
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save me from its guilt and power.
The “double cure” is what we’re after. It’s one thing to be forgiven of your sins, it’s another thing to be given power to resist the temptations of this world. That is exactly what happens when we are saved though. We acquire, in salvation through Jesus, a God Given ability to conquer sin in our lives. Despite Satan’s best efforts, we can now say no to him! Even when we do fall to temptation, we are not left without a deliverer. Because as we walk in the light of God’s word, and continue to confess our sins, we are washed of them continually. We are continually being made new (1 John 1:5-2:2)! There is so much more to be said about sanctification, but it goes beyond what I can post here. I know that there are many people who want to follow Jesus out there who are either keeping rules or living without them. Sanctification makes neither position tenable, nor does it allow for a middle ground. It is nothing less that the full abandonment of our person to the God who has made us to do good things. I want talk to you about what God is going to do with you, but we need to meet, with God’s word between us, so we can get the facts straight from the source.
C. Salvation is renewal for the fallen world
God is revealed in creation (Romans 1:20) and people refuse to come to the knowledge of God through it. Often, this rejection is because of something called “natural evil”. Natural evil describes the phenomenon that people seem to suffer unjustly from things that happen in this world over which we have no control. Freak storms, floods, hurricanes, snow, ice, deserts, disease all seem to work together to undo the good things in our lives. This is a fair concern. There’s a whole branch of theology devoted to this question. It would be foolish to attempt an answer in this essay, but I do want to make two points that I hope can serve as a springboard into bigger questions and study.
First, I would like to acknowledge that the Bible does talk about creation in a manner that personifies it to illustrate what seems readily apparent to people who see this natural evil in the world: Something is wrong. Consider the following passage from Romans:
Rom 8:19-22 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. (20) For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope (21) that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (22) For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
In this passage, “creation” waits to be made new because it “hopes” that it too will be set free. This is an important acknowledgement because God wants us to know that He made this world “very good” (Genesis 1:31) and He knows that this doesn’t seem to be the case now. The thing that always troubles me about natural evil is that while it seems to come from an impersonal source, it seems so personally directed. It takes time to process this, and I understand. I want to help you process the longing for something more and different than the evil you may be experiencing. Let’s sit down together with the Word of God between us to lament, question, poke and hopefully change this problem.
Second, one aspect of God’s redemptive actions for mankind that has always been interesting to me is that God’s plan for creation doesn’t just involve the recreation of our individual person, but also that of all of creation.
2Pe 3:10-13 …the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. (11) Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, (12) waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! (13) But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
This passage paints a concerning picture, but it is good news indeed that this world is temporary! I hope and work for the day righteousness dwells where I am. I eagerly anticipate it. I hope to see this world burned away to reveal the next, because with this world will go natural evil, to the point that this is how life is described there:
Rev 21:3-5 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (4) He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (5) And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
When God made this world, and visited it, it was always in a temporary fashion. This world cannot contain Him, but the new one will, and we will see Him there because He will dwell with us. If you already believe in God, would you want to meet Him? This post is about what it takes to build a house on God’s street in the new creation coming.
I hope you see the need for salvation, both as individuals and as a part of this created universe. I hope you’re beginning to see the depth of the love the Creator has for each of us in the provision for salvation not just to us, but of the rest of creation. Mainly I hope that you’re beginning to see how the Bible describes this salvation, we are saved from our sins, we are saved from our depravity, and creation is saved as well. In the next section, we will see why salvation is necessary, and later we will look at how God accomplishes His work in salvation.
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On to Part 3:
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