For centuries, sincere godly men have debated, “What did Christ accomplish by His sacrifice on the cross?” The true answer is the most glorious knowledge we humans can come to know!
(a) Did He only make a provision whereby it might be possible for “all men” to have salvation and now He offers it to us, but it’s not ours until or unless we accept and believe? This was the essential idea in Arminianism which arose as a protest against Calvinism which was understood to teach that God has elected only some people to be saved, and elected all others to be lost. Arminius insisted that the Lord calls “all men,” and that Christ died for all; very true.
(b) Or did He actually purchase salvation for “all men” and actually give it to them in the gift of Himself, so that the only way they can be lost is to despise and reject it as Esau despised and sold his birthright? (Heb. 12:16, 17).
If (a) is the answer, it follows that ultimately our salvation depends on our own initiative. The key word is “offer,” which some theologians use over and over (although it is not in the Bible teaching of justification by faith; but the idea of “give” is in Romans 5:15-18 some five or six times). The cross of Christ is the grand truth of all the Bible and we want to “comprehend” it—not simply like we accept an insurance policy almost mindlessly so we can hurry away and think of other things (we go to church, sing hymns about the cross, close the hymnbook, and then think of other things for a week).
If (b) is the answer, it engrosses our thinking! It motivates us because we see that our salvation is due entirely to the initiative of Christ. We want to sing His praises for now and for eternity. “The love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead,” meaning, all of us would be dead if He had not died in our place; and now “henceforth” we are constrained to live only “unto Him who died for us” (2 Cor. 5:14, 15). Paul prayed that we might “comprehend ... the breadth, and length, and depth, and height [of] ... the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” (Eph. 3:14-19).
In (b) we see how every blessing of life, even those the wicked freely enjoy, is the purchase of the One who was “bruised for our iniquities,” upon whom fell “the chastisement of our peace” and by whose “stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5; the lost either don’t know or reject this truth that supports all life itself, which is why they don’t say Thank You to Him!).
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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