13 Why Jesus Came to Die. To Abolish Circumcision and All Rituals as the Basis of Salvation
But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision . . . the offense of the cross has been removed. Galatians 5:11 It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. Galatians 6:12
The place of circumcision was a huge controversy in the early church. It had a long, respected, biblical place ever since God commanded it in Genesis 17:10. Christ was a Jew. All his twelve apostles were Jews. Almost all the first converts to Christianity were Jews. The Jewish Scriptures were (and are) part of the Bible of the Christian church. It is not surprising that Jewish rituals would come over into the Christian church. They came. And with them came controversy. The message of Christ was spreading to non-Jewish cities like Antioch of Syria. Gentiles were believing on Christ. The question became urgent: How did the central truth of the gospel relate to rituals like circumcision? How did rituals relate to the gospel of Christ-the news that, if you believe on him your sins are forgiven, and you are justified before God? God is for you. You have eternal life. Throughout the Gentile world the apostles were preaching forgiveness and justification by faith alone. Peter preached: "To [Christ] all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name" (Acts 10:43). Paul preached: "Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that . . . by him everyone who believes is justified from everything from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:38-39, author's translation). But what about circumcision? Some in Jerusalem thought it was essential. Antioch became the flash point for the controversy. "Men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, 'Unless you are circumcised . . . you cannot be saved'" (Acts 15:1). A council was called, and the matter was debated. Some . . . rose up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses." . . . Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that . . . God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe . . . why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will." And all the assembly fell silent. (Acts 15:5-12) Nobody saw to the bottom of the issue more clearly than the apostle Paul. The very meaning of the suffering and death of Christ was at stake. Was faith in Christ enough to put us right with God? Or was circumcision necessary too? The answer was clear. If Paul preached circumcision, "the offense of the cross has been removed" (Galatians 5:11). The cross means freedom from the enslavement of ritual. "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1).14 Why Jesus Came to Die. To Bring Us to Faith and Keep Us Faithful
This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Mark 14:24. I will make with them an everlasting covenant. . . . And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. Jeremiah 32:40
The Bible speaks of an "old covenant" and a "new covenant." The term covenant refers to a solemn, binding agreement between two parties carrying obligations for both sides and enforced by an oath. In the Bible the covenants God makes with man are initiated by himself. He sets the terms. His obligations are determined by his own purposes. The "old covenant" refers to the arrangement God established with Israel in the law of Moses. Its weakness was that it was not accompanied by spiritual transformation. Therefore it was not obeyed and did not bring life. It was written with letters on stone, not with the Spirit on the heart. The prophets promised a "new covenant" that would be different. It would be "not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:6). The new covenant is radically more effective than the old. It is enacted on the foundation of Jesus' suffering and death. "He is the mediator of a new covenant" (Hebrews 9:15). Jesus said that his blood was the "blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many" (Mark 14:24). This means that the blood of Jesus purchased the power and the promises of the new covenant. It is supremely effective because Christ died to make it so. What then are the terms of the covenant that he infallibly secured by his blood? The prophet Jeremiah describes some of them: "I will make a new covenant . . . this is the covenant that I will make . . . I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. . . . For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34). The suffering and death of Christ guarantees the inner change of his people (the law written on their hearts) and the forgiveness of their sins. To guarantee that this covenant will not fail, Christ takes the initiative to create the faith and secure the faithfulness of his people. He brings a new-covenant people into being by writing the law not just on stone, but on the heart. In contrast with the "letter" on stone, he says "the Spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:6). "When we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ" (Ephesians 2:5). This is the spiritual life that enables us to see and believe in the glory of Christ. This miracle creates the new-covenant people. It is sure and certain because Christ bought it with his own blood. And the miracle is not only the creation of our faith, but the securing of our faithfulness. "I will make with them an everlasting covenant. . . . I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me" (Jeremiah 32:40). When Christ died, he secured for his people not only new hearts but new security. He will not let them turn from him. He will keep them. They will persevere. The blood of the covenant guarantees it.15 Why Jesus Came to Die: To Make Us Holy, Blameless, and Perfect
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Hebrews 10:14 He has now reconciled [you] in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. Colossians 1:22 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 1 Corinthians 5:7 ne of the greatest heartaches in the Christian life is the Oslowness of our change. We hear the summons of God to love him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength (Mark 12:30). But do we ever rise to that totality of affection and devotion? We cry out regularly with the apostle Paul, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24). We groan even as we take fresh resolves: "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own" (Philippians 3:12). That very statement is the key to endurance and joy. "Christ Jesus has made me his own." All my reaching and yearning and striving is not to belong to Christ (which has already happened), but to complete what is lacking in my likeness to him. One of the greatest sources of joy and endurance for the Christian is knowing that in the imperfection of our progress we have already been perfected-and that this is owing to the suffering and death of Christ. "For by a single offering [namely, himself!] he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14). This is amazing! In the same sentence he says we are "being sanctified" and we are already "perfected." Being sanctified means that we are imperfect and in process. We are becoming holy-but are not yet fully holy. And it is precisely these-and only these-who are already perfected. The joyful encouragement here is that the evidence of our perfection before God is not our experienced perfection, but our experienced progress. The good news is that being on the way is proof that we have arrived. The Bible pictures this again in the old language of dough and leaven (yeast). In the picture, leaven is evil. We are the lump of dough. It says, "Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed" (1 Corinthians 5:7). Christians are "unleavened." There is no leaven-no evil. We are perfected. For this reason we are to "cleanse out the old leaven." We have been made unleavened in Christ. So we should now become unleavened in practice. In other words, we should become what we are. The basis of all this? "For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." The suffering of Christ secures our perfection so firmly that it is already now a reality. Therefore, we fight against our sin not simply to become perfect, but because we are. The death of Jesus is the key to battling our imperfections on the firm foundation of our perfection.
16 Why Jesus Came to Die. To Give Us a Clear Conscience
How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Hebrews 9:14
Some things never change. The problem of a dirty conscience is as old as Adam and Eve. As soon as they sinned, their conscience was defiled. Their sense of guilt was ruinous. It ruined their relationship with God.they hid from him. It ruined their relation to each other.they blamed. It ruined their peace with themselves.for the first time they saw themselves and felt shame. All through the Old Testament, conscience was an issue. But the animal sacrifices themselves could not cleanse the conscience. "Gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation" (Hebrews 9:9-10). As a foreshadowing of Christ, God counted the blood of the animals as sufficient for cleansing the flesh.the ceremonial uncleanness, but not the conscience. No animal blood could cleanse the conscience. They knew it (see Isaiah 53 and Psalm 51). And we know it. So a new high priest comes.Jesus the Son of God.with a better sacrifice: himself. "How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (Hebrews 9:14). The animal sacrifices foreshadowed the final sacrifice of God's Son, and the death of the Son reaches back to cover all the sins of God's people in the old time period, and forward to cover all the sins of God's people in the new time period. So here we are in the modern age.the age of science, Internet, organ transplants, instant messaging, cell phones.and our problem is fundamentally the same as always: Our conscience condemns us. We don't feel good enough to come to God. And no matter how distorted our consciences are, this much is true: We are not good enough to come to him. We can cut ourselves, or throw our children in the sacred river, or give a million dollars to the United Way, or serve in a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving, or perform a hundred forms of penance and self-injury, and the result will be the same: The stain remains, and death terrifies. We know that our conscience is defiled.not with external things like touching a corpse or eating a piece of pork. Jesus said it is what comes out of a person that defiles, not what goes in (Mark 7:15-23). We are defiled by pride and self-pity and bitterness and lust and envy and jealousy and covetousness and apathy and fear-and the actions they breed. These are all "dead works." They have no spiritual life in them. They don't come from new life; they come from death, and they lead to death. That is why they make us feel hopeless in our consciences. The only answer in these modern times, as in all other times, is the blood of Christ. When our conscience rises up and condemns us, where will we turn? We turn to Christ. We turn to the suffering and death of Christ-the blood of Christ. This is the only cleansing agent in the universe that can give the conscience relief in life and peace in death.