In our last study we looked at the cross in the light of the supreme
sacrifice Christ made in behalf of the fallen human race. In this study
we are going to consider how and why it was necessary for the human race
to be included in the death of Christ on His cross.
As sinners everyone of us is under the curse and condemnation of the
law (Romans 3:19; Galatians 3:10). And the wages of sin is death (Romans
6:23). According to the Bible, Jesus bore this curse of the law for us when
He died on the cross. This is what we studied in our last lesson.
However, the fact is that no law, God’s or man’s, will allow
an innocent person to die in the place of a guilty one. According to the
Bible, the father is not to be punished for the sins of the son and neither
is the son to be punished for the sins of the father (see Deuteronomy 24:16;
Ezekiel 18:20). How then could Christ, who committed no sin, legally die
for the sins of the world when the law of God does not allow the innocent
to be punished for the guilty?
This is the great ethical issue that surrounds the cross of Christ.
And unless we clearly understand how God solved this problem, we will never
be able to fully appreciate the good news of the gospel or experience its
full power to save us from the sin problem. That is why this is a most important
study.
1. How many have to die because of Adam’s one sin?
1 Corinthians 15:22 (first part) ______________________________________________________
Note: As we saw in study #3, the reason all die because of Adam’s
one sin is not because God holds us guilty for Adam’s sin, that would
be unethical. All die because the human race is the multiplication of Adam’s
life (see Acts 17:26) and therefore inherit from him a life that has already
sinned and stands condemned to death.
2. When was this condemned life of the human race executed and in
whom?
John 12:31-33 ______________________________________________________
Note: At the cross the world (human race) was executed or judged
in Christ. God could do this because Christ was the second Adam or mankind.
Just as God created all humanity in Adam so that by his representative sin
he ruined all his posterity, so also God united all humanity to Christ at
the incarnation so that He could be the Saviour of the world.
3. How many were implicated in the death of Christ?
2 Corinthians 5:14 ______________________________________________________
4. What did God make Christ to be in order to make us sinners righteous?
2 Corinthians 5:21 ______________________________________________________
Note: When Christ assumed our corporate sinful humanity at His
incarnation He became the second Adam (mankind) and qualified to be man’s
representative and substitute. This gave Him the legal right to live and
die on man’s behalf. It is in this sense that Christ was made to be
sin for us that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him. This constitutes
the “in Christ” truth that we studied in lesson #3.
5. Who died when Jesus bore our sins in His body on the tree (cross)?
1 Peter 2:24 ______________________________________________________
Note: According to the Greek text, the language in which the New
Testament was written, we actually died when Christ bore our sins
on the cross in His body. This is because Christ could not bear our sins
without bearing us. As a result, by dying in Christ, the very root of our
sin problem, our sinful nature, was dealt with. This is the healing power
of the cross which makes holy living possible in the life of the believer.
6. What does the apostle Paul say about himself regarding the law
of God?
Galatians 2:19 ______________________________________________________
Note: Because we are all sinners, we must all die. Jesus did not
come to do away with the death sentence that hangs over our heads but to
fulfill it (see Matthew 5:17). Since “all died” in the death of
Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14), Paul acknowledges that he died to the law in
Christ so that now he may live for God.
7. When did Paul die to the law?
Galatians 2:20 ______________________________________________________
Note: It is through the cross of Christ that we sinful humans
were executed and have been set free from our sin problem. As a result we
may experience justification as well as live a life pleasing to God. The
cross of Christ is what sets us free from both the guilt and punishment
of sin as well as from the power and slavery of sin.
8. How long does the law of God have dominion over us?
Romans 7:4 ______________________________________________________
Note: All humanity is born under the law and because everyone
of us has failed to perfectly obey it, the whole human race stands guilty
and condemned under the law (see Romans 3:19). This condemnation hangs over
us as long as we are living. Since the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23),
it is only when we die that we are set free from the condemnation of the
law.
9. How did God set us free from under the law?
Romans 7:4 ______________________________________________________
Note: God set us free from under the law by our death in the body
of Christ. As we saw earlier, the death of Christ was a corporate death
so that all humanity died in Christ on His cross. When we by faith accept
Christ’s death as our death, we experience justification from the condemnation
of the law and are set free. By His resurrection we were also raised in
Christ with His life, married so to speak to Him, and this makes it possible
for us to bear fruit pleasing to God (see John 15:5-8).
10. How should one who has been delivered from the condemnation of
the law serve God?
Romans 7:6 ______________________________________________________
Note: The unbeliever who is still under the law tries to obey
God’s rules out of fear. This is what it means to serve in the letter.
The believer however, who has accepted Christ and has been delivered from
the law, serves God out of love. This is serving in the spirit, since the
spirit of the law is love (see Matthew 22:35-40; Romans 13:10).
11. What truth does Paul bring out regarding those who believe in
Christ?
Colossians 3:3 ______________________________________________________
Note: As we shall see in our next study, a Christian is one who
has died to the old life of sin and has risen in Christ to serve Him in
newness of life which the believer has received through the new birth experience.
12. In order for us to live with Christ what must first happen to
us?
2 Timothy 2:11 ______________________________________________________
Note: There are too many Christians who want to live with Christ
without first dying with Him. This is called cheap grace. This is not the
teaching of Scripture. In this sinful world, we begin with life and end
up with death. In God’s kingdom it is the very opposite. We begin by
dying to the old condemned life and end up with the immortal life of Christ
(see Romans 6:8-11). This is what conversion is all about.
13. What must take place before we can experience freedom from sin?
Romans 6:7 ______________________________________________________
Note: A condemned criminal can only be justified from his crime
after he has paid the penalty for that crime. In the same way we cannot
experience justification in Christ unless we first identify ourselves by
faith with the death of Christ on His cross. The word “freed”
in this text in the original is the word “justified” or “acquitted.”
Hence, the cross of Christ is the power of God unto salvation from the condemnation
of the law (see 1 Corinthians 1:17,18).
14. Besides acquitting us from the condemnation of the law, what else
does the cross of Christ free us from?
Romans 8:2 ______________________________________________________
Note: Sin is a dual problem. It is the transgression of the law
which condemns the sinner to death. Sin is also a law or a principle that
resides in our sinful natures and which makes it impossible for us to live
the holy life (Romans 7:14-25). Through the cross of Christ we are delivered
from both of these problems. Our death in Christ does not only justify us
but it also strikes at the very root of our sin problem.
15. Because the cross of Christ frees us from sin itself, what kind
of life should a believer live?
Romans 6:22 ______________________________________________________
Note: While the cross of Christ liberates us from the condemnation
of sin it does not give us the liberty to live as we please. When we accept
Christ and Him crucified as our Saviour, we are accepting both salvation
from the guilt and punishment of sin as well as salvation from the power
and slavery to sin.
16. What did Jesus say to those who refuse to take up the cross and
follow Him?
Matthew 10:38 ______________________________________________________
Note: Since the death of Christ on His cross was a corporate death
in which all humanity died in Him, to accept or follow Christ is to accept
His cross as your cross.
17. How often must the believer take up the cross to follow Christ?
Luke 9:23 ______________________________________________________
Note: Many Christians make the mistake of separating the cross
they have to bear from the cross of Christ. This mistake leads to another
error; equating the cross with the hardships of life. In Scripture there
is only one cross that saves. It is the cross of Christ. When we are baptized
into Christ, the cross of Christ becomes the believers’ cross. It symbolizes
self-denial and not the hardships of life, which all people, believers and
unbelievers have to put up with.
18. What example did Jesus give from nature that explains the principle
of the cross?
John 12:24 ______________________________________________________
19. How did Jesus apply this truth to the believer?
John 12:25 ______________________________________________________
Note: The principle of the seed is the principle of the cross.
Just like the seed must die in order for it to spring up to life and bear
fruit, so also we must die to the old life of sin in order for us to experience
the new birth which brings forth fruit unto God. This is the principle of
the cross of Christ.
20. What did Paul say about the same principle of the seed?
1 Corinthians 15:36 ______________________________________________________
Note: Christianity is not an improvement or a modification of
the old life of sin we were born with, but the exchange of our old life
that died on the cross of Christ for the eternal life of Christ which God
gave us in His Son (see 1 John 5:11,12).
21. What attitude must a Christian have towards the flesh or the sinful
nature which has been surrendered to the cross of Christ?
Galatians 5:24 ______________________________________________________
Note: It was a French preacher of the 19th Century who said that
all Christians are “born crucified.” By this he was referring
to the true meaning and significance of Baptism, which will be study #7.
Before you accept Christ, it is important that you know the cost of discipleship.
As the German martyr Dietric Bonhoffer once said, “when Christ calls
you to follow Him, He calls you to die.”
Conclusion: This study brings us to the conclusion of the objective
facts of the gospel. Everything necessary for our salvation from the sin
problem has been taken care of by the birth, life, death, and resurrection
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This is the good news of the gospel.
In this gospel God has redeemed, reconciled, and justified unconditionally
all humanity in His Son Jesus Christ (see Romans 5:10, 18). But because
God created us with a free will, He does not force this salvation on us.
Therefore, to experience the good news of the gospel there needs to be a
human response. That human response is faith. Hence, salvation as a subjective
experience is conditional.
This is what this Bible course is all about. God so loved the world
(the human race) that He gave us His only Son, at infinite cost to Him but
as a free gift to us. In this gift we have salvation full and complete.
However, only those who believe will not perish but have eternal life. As
you enter the next phase of our studies dealing with our human response
to the gospel, may you be willing to meet the conditions for accepting the
gift of salvation.