I Think I Look Good - If I Don't Look To Christ

From the Institutes of the Christian Religion, by John Calvin:

If, at mid-day, we either look down to the ground, or on the surrounding objects which lie open to our view, we think ourselves endued with a very strong and piercing eyesight; but when we look up to the sun, and gaze at it unveiled, the sight which did excellently well for the the earth is instantly so dazzled and confounded by the refulgence, as to oblige us to confess that our acuteness in discerning terrestrial objects is mere dimness when applied to the sun. Thus, too, it happens in estimating our spiritual qualities. So long as we do not look beyond the earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than demigods. But should we once begin to raise our thoughts to God, and reflect what kind of being he is, and how absolute the perfection of that righteousness, and wisdom, and virtue, to which, as a standard, we are bound to be conformed, what formerly delighted us by its false show of righteousness will become polluted with the greatest iniquity; what strangely imposed upon us under the name of wisdom will disgust by its extreme folly; and what presented the appearance of virtuous energy will be condemned as the most miserable impotence. So far are those qualities in us, which seem most perfect, from corresponding to the divine purity. (1.1.2)

The Father Made the Son to be Sin

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

"But, unlike Adam, when he is tempted he (Jesus) does not sin. He is the only human being who perfectly obeys God, his Father. He is, therefore, the one person to have lived who does not deserve to be banished from God's presence. But on the cross he willingly faces the punishment that we all deserve, as sinners who are bound up with the first Adam. As a result, if we trust in him, we enter into a new humanity, headed not by Adam, the sinner, but by Jesus, the righteous new Adam. Paul writes, '. . . just as through the disobedience of one man [Adam] the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man [Christ] the many will be made righteous' (Romans 5:19)."

I thought of the verse at the top of the post after I had read the previous paragraph in Vaughn Roberts' book 'God's Big Picture.' I was then inspired to check the ESV Study Bible for some commentary on the verse. The 'big idea' in the verse is captured better in the study Bible's notes than I could express, so I copied them below. It is long, but it's good.

2 Cor. 5:21 This verse is one of the most important in all of Scripture for understanding the meaning of the atonement and justification. Here we see that the one who knew no sin is Jesus Christ and that he (God) made him (Christ) to be sin (Gk. hamartia, "sin"). This means that God the Father made Christ to be regarded and treated as "sin" even though Christ himself never sinned (Heb. 4:15; cf. Gal 3:13). Further, we see that God did this for our sake that is, God regarded and treated "our" sin (the sin of all who would believe in Christ) as if our sin belonged not to us but to Christ himself. Thus Christ "died for all" (2 Cor. 5:14) and, as Peter wrote, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree" (1Pet. 2:24). In becoming sin "for our sake," Christ became our substitute - that is, Christ took our sin upon himself and, as our substitute, thereby bore the wrath of God (the punishment that we deserve) in our place ("for our sake"). Thus the technical term for this foundational doctrine of the Christian faith is the substitutionary atonement - that Christ has provided the atoning sacrifice as "our" substitute, for the sins of all who believe (cf. Rom 3:23-25). The background for this is Isaiah 53 from the Greek (Septuagint) translation of the Hebrew OT, which included the most lengthy and detailed OT prophecy of Christ's death and which contains numerous parallels to 2 Cor 5:21. Isaiah's prophecy specifically used the Greek word for "sin" (Gk. hamartia) five times (as indicated below in italics) with reference to the coming Savior (the Suffering Servant) in just a few verses - e.g., "surely he has borne our griefs" (Isa. 53:4); "He was crushed for our iniquities" (Isa. 53:5); "the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa 53:6); "he shall bear the iniquities" (Isa. 53:11); "he bore the sin of many" (Isa. 53:12). In a precise fulfillment of the is prophecy, Christ became "sin" for these who believe in him, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. This means that just as God imputed our sin and guilt to Christ ("he made him to be sin") so God also imputes the righteousness of Christ - a righteousness that is not our own - to all who believe in Christ. Because Christ bore the sins of those who believe, God regards and treats believers as having the legal status of "righteousness" (Gk. dikaiosyne). This righteousness belongs to believers because they are "in him," that is, "in Christ" (e.g., Rom. 3:22; 5:18; 1Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:17, 19; Phil. 3:9). Therefore "the righteousness of God" (which is imputed to believers) is also the righteousness of Christ - that is, the righteousness and the legal status that belongs to Christ as a result of Christ having lived as one who "knew no sin." This then is the heart of the doctrine of justification; God regards (or counts) believers as forgiven and God declares and treats them as forgiven, because God the Father has imputed the believer's sin to Christ and because God the Father likewise imputes Christ's righteousness to the believer.

The Truth Is, It Remains

Gordon Lightfoot wrote, "Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours." Tonight, about 10 minutes ago, the city of Joplin, Mo. was put under a tornado warning. An angry line of storms is advancing on southwest Missouri out of Oklahoma. Of course, the Joplin Tornado of 2011 was just 48 hours ago and now this storm-ravaged and shocked town will hunker down, hoping for the best and bracing for the worst, which they are all too well acquainted with.

When I heard the announcement of tonight's storm warning, Lightfoot's words came immediately to mind. For us in the Midwest, substitute the word 'winds' for 'waves' and line would be appropriate for Tornado Alley.

There's a sense of "Oh no, not again!" when you hear that Joplin is under the gun again. It seems unfair. And you may wonder if God knows what He's doing. It's an absurd thought, of course, but still the man-centered 'fair' trigger gets tripped.

The grass withers and the flowers fade. Storms that are coming imply that soon they will be going. Our lives are like the morning dew, all glisteny one minute and gone the next.

But God.

God is immutable, as the old theologians are wont to proclaim. That's changeless for you and me. What God has always been, He will always be. Lightfoot (and we!) are wrong to suggest that somehow the love of God has gone somewhere when the going gets rough. It cannot go anywhere, for God cannot cease to exist.

Spurgeon On Redemption, Part 3

Here is Part 3 of Charles Spurgeon's thoughts on Redemption from God's view. Spurgeon conjures here what God the Spirit might have covenanted regarding mankind's salvation in this imaginary, though Bible-saturated, statement,

"I hereby covenant that all whom the Father giveth to the Son, I will in due time quicken. I will show them their need of redemption; I will cut off from them all groundless hope, and destroy their refuges of lies. I will bring them to the blood of sprinkling; I will give them faith whereby this blood can be applied to them; I will work in them every grace; I will keep their faith alive; I will cleanse them and drive out all depravity from them, and they shall be presented at last spotless and faultless."

Previous posts, Part 1 and Part 2.

Spurgeon On Redemption, Part 2

Here's the part 2 of Charles Spurgeon's thoughts on Redemption from God's view. Spurgeon conjures what God the Son might have covenanted regarding mankind's salvation in this imaginary, though Bible-saturated, statement,

"My Father, on my part I covenant that in the fullness of time I will become man. I will take upon myself the form and nature of the fallen race. I will live in their wretched world, and for my people I will keep the law perfectly. I will work out a spotless righteousness, which shall be acceptable to the demands of Thy just and holy law. In due time I will bear the sins of all my people. Thou shalt exact their debts on me; the chastisement of their peace will I endure, and by my stripes they shall be healed. My Father, I covenant and promise that I will be obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. I will magnify Thy law, and make it honorable. I will suffer all they ought to have suffered. I will endure the curse of Thy law, and all the vials of Thy wrath shall be emptied and spent upon my head. I will then rise again; I will ascend into heaven; I will intercede for them at Thy right hand; I will make myself responsible for every one of them, that not one of those whom Thou hast given me shall ever be lost, and I will bring all my sheep of whom, by Thy blood, Thou hast constituted me the Shepherd -- I will bring every one safe to Thee at last."

Part 1 is here.

Spurgeon On Redemption, Part 1

The other day in a meeting a devotion was led by a friend of mine named Tom. Having just passed the Easter season, the devotion was a reflection on the meaning of that event. Part of Tom's devotion was reading words written by Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers of the 19th, or any other century.

What Spurgeon wrote was imaginary covenants that each member of the Trinity might have taken before effecting the Redemption of God's people. Each statement is so thoroughly Bible-saturated and compelling that I wanted to post them. Please remember these are Spurgeon's words and, though obviously drawing on Biblical truth, we can't assign them the same authority.

Spurgeon first imagined the Father saying,

"I, the Most High Jehovah, do hereby give unto my only begotten and well-beloved Son, a people countless beyond the number of the stars who shall be by Him washed from sin, by Him preserved, and kept, and led, and by Him, at last, presented before my throne, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. I covenant by oath and sware by myself, because I can sware by no greater, that those whom I now give to Christ shall be forever the objects of my eternal love. Them will I forgive through the merit of the blood, to these will I give a perfect righteousness; these will I adopt and make my sons and daughters, and these shall reign with me through Christ eternally!"