EUSEBEIA BIBLE CHURCH PREP SCHOOL LESSON
CORE DOCTRINES
Salvation Part 4
Let’s get out our Bibles and read a few verses. As you know, we have been studying salvation in our past three lessons. We continue this subject in 2 Corinthians 5:14-21. Let’s read, shall we?
2 Corinthians 5:14 ”For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;”
What does the word ‘control’ mean?
The Greek word is sunecho [sun = with; echo = to have], to have with.
This word means to have with a principle, a mental attitude. Here we see that when we learn about the love of Christ and how He offered US the free gift of Salvation, we want to tell others about it. This all starts with a mental attitude of appreciation for what The Lord Jesus Christ (TLJC) has done for YOU!
In other words, the love of Christ motivates us in our minds. The verse shows us that there must be the same attitude of grace towards both unbelievers and believers alike. You see, Christ died for ALL! This means that TLJC died a spiritual death as a substitute for all mankind. His physical death did not serve as a substitute for all so no one would have to die physically. It is His spiritual death that is done FOR US so that we never have to face spiritual death. Spiritual death is separation from God. We cannot understand what being separated from God is like. Even as unbelievers we were still able to participate in the blessings of God. Oxygen, light, gravity, trees, etc. etc, are all blessings from God. We live in the devil’s world but we still get to live in the presence of God, as He is the creator of all things. To be totally apart from God is what is described as hell. Hell will be the opposite of all the qualities of God. God is light, hell is darkness. God is eternal life, hell is constant dying. In God’s presence there will be no more sorrows and no more pain. In hell there will be constant sorrow and regret and pain. So, when we truly come to know the love and grace of God we want to share it with everyone! We should not want even our enemies to be live forever in Hell, without God.
Ask yourself, “Why did Christ die for all?” Now, think about it for a minute. If you remember, in our first three lessons we revealed a very large problem called SIN! We are all born in sin, spiritually dead at birth. Jesus died for all to solve this very large problem.
The phrase ‘all were dead,’ apothnesko in the Greek, means dead at a point of time. That point of time is when we were born. So, what this really means is that He came to die for all because all were dead.
2 Corinthians 5:15 “.. and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”
This verse explains that once we, as believers, truly understand God’s grace plan we start thinking differently towards others. We start living more like Jesus, in an unselfish manner. TLJC was the ultimate demonstration of this lifestyle and He is our leader. He is the one that lived this Spiritual Life, as a human to show us that it REALLY works. We are to follow His example by learning the Word of God. So, we are to no longer live for ourselves but truly live for others just like Jesus did!
2 Corinthians 5:16 “Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.”
We are told to live for others but we are not to “know them” after their sinful nature. We are to know them as being the object of God’s love! We cannot do this in OUR flesh or sin nature, we have to do this through God’s power inside of us and through our new nature. So, in learning to living for others with an attitude of love, we stop focusing on others’ flesh and sinfulness. Just as Christ Himself, though quite aware of our flesh and sinfulness, loved us impersonally to the point of death on the cross. [READ THAT ONE AGAIN, PLEASE :o) ]
Impersonal love is just that – NOT personal. It is not based on anything in the object or person that you love, but comes from within the one doing the loving. So, it is possible to love someone who is mean to you because of God’s love that is within YOU! You don’t have to “like” them, but Jesus tells us we do have to love them. We love that mean person because we know that Jesus loves us even though we are MEAN sometimes, too. (Oh yes we are!)
Before salvation we understood Christ the only way we knew how, with fleshly eyes, through a fallen, spiritually dead lens. But now that we are new creatures, we can see Him through our NEW SET OF spiritual eyes!
1 Corinthians 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”
So, even before the gospel made its way into our souls and we accepted His gift, we were unable to understand something as incredible as grace. It was beyond our human understanding. But, that has changed because we have changed, drastically!!! God, the Holy Spirit, stepped in and made the Gospel understandable to us and then WE chose to believe it! WOW!
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Whenever you see the term “in Christ” in the Bible, it is a reference to those of us in the Church-Age period of time (from the resurrection to the rapture of the church) that are believers. It is a unique condition that only Church-Age believers possess. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were NOT “in Christ”. They were faithful individuals who believed in the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, yes. Still, you and I have a more amazing relationship with Christ than even they could have. We are in UNION with Him, we have an eternal relationship with Him. We are actually indwelt by God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This means that they are present inside of us and we have become the physical temple for them to dwell in. The Old Testament believers had to go to a physical temple to fellowship and communicate with God, but the Holy Spirit makes us, church age believers, ONE with Jesus.
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
Prior to receiving our new nature (being “born again” as described in John 3:3), our bodies were unable to be used as a temple, a place for Him to reside. This is why at salvation something incredible and supernatural happens inside of you and me. “he is a new creature”. The Greek here is kinos ktisis, which is kinos = new (meaning new in species); ktisis = created thing, creation, creature, institution.
1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
It’s impossible for us to even consider that we, somehow, took part in this miracle. This is why we can see that the Holy Spirit picked us up and put us in union with Christ. As always, it is a grace gift from God. This is a power that flows uniquely from Him, we stake no claim to it.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
Note that “old things” here is actually one word in the Greek, archaios in the plural, and means ‘that which existed in the beginning.’ It is always used for something that is very old (eg: few thousand years). Here, it refers to what happened in the Garden with Adam and Eve when they entered into a condition called spiritual death and picked up a sin nature in the process. The old things, a reference to spiritual death + “passed away” is the Greek parerchomai, which means to go, to pass, to come to an end. It means here that spiritual death has come to an end. At the moment you accept Christ as your Savior, spiritual death comes to an abrupt end. Never again do you have spiritual death. It is impossible because you are “in Christ”.
Correctly translated, we read, “the ancient things [pertaining to spiritual death] have vanished [disappeared]. In other words, spiritual death is gone without the possibility of return.
Finally, in this verse, we have “behold, new things have come”. “Become” is ginomai in the perfect tense, which means that they have become new in the past and will always be new. The word ‘new’ is again kainos, new in species. Correctly translated, we have, ‘behold they have become new.’
I hope you see by now that the outpouring of God’s grace is truly beyond our puny little minds. Though this is the most amazing event that will ever happen in our life, we never experience anything at salvation, as far as our five senses are concerned. We don’t feel, see, taste, hear, or smell a thing. It’s a quiet miracle!
The Truth that sets us free is Bible Doctrine. Bible Doctrine is the mind of Christ. The more we learn Bible Doctrine His thoughts become our thoughts, which in turn, changes our lives! How we think is truly WHO we are!
When you believe in TLJC, you have become a new creature, “in Christ”, this you KNOW but you do not feel it. Living the spiritual life is a result of proper thinking, not emotions. Never forget that. Let’s finish our passage in 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 5:18 “Now all these things are from God [all things of doctrine in view so far], who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation”.
“..who reconciled..” the Greek word means = to change, to alter, to transform. The word reconcile here is used in light of the HUGE barrier between God and man. This barrier is made up of sin, where the penalty of sin/spiritual death is on one side and God’s absolute righteousness is on the other side. This barrier cannot be passed through, around or over. However, the work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, on the cross is able to remove this barrier once and for all. When sin is removed, we receive redemption. He paid the price and now we are His. When the barrier was removed by the cross man was reconciled to God. We have the phrase, “who reconciled us to himself” written in a special way in the Greek. The Greek language has many ways to express one word! The special way that this word is written means a specific point in time that is not limited to time and goes on forever! Isn’t that cool? This means that at the moment a person believes in Jesus Christ as Savior he is reconciled to God forever.
2 Corinthians 5:19 “, that God was in Christ [reference to God the Father being with Christ in eternity past as the master planner] reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation”
2 Corinthians 5:20 “ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
This verse clearly shows us that you became an ambassador the moment you accepted Jesus Christ as Savior. You became a personal representative of the Lord Jesus on the earth. You are part of a royal family, THE royal family of God. Don’t ever forget that. And as such, you are to be like royalty.
Remember that TLJC is no longer here on earth physically so it’s up to us, His Bride, to be the light of the earth and the communicators of the gospel. That’s what is meant by “as though God were making and appeal through us.” Our job is to request. The Greek word Deomai recognizes that each person has a choice to say yes or no! So, it means that since TLJC is not here we are requested to do this in place of Christ. Deomai recognizes the free will, the privacy and the rights of the individual unbeliever. So when you come to the unbeliever with deomai your primary objective is to present the gospel as clearly as possible, but you have no right to pressure that person. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict the unbeliever and make the Gospel understandable.
Finally, in verse 20, we read “be reconciled to God”. Again, this Greek word is in a special tense. IT means that at the specific point in time when you hear the Gospel message it is up to YOU to either accept it or reject it. It is in the imperative mood which means it must be done God’s way. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” Acts 16:31
2 Corinthians 5:21” He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
This final verse explains how salvation is accomplished. Jesus Christ was without an old sin nature, without personal sin, without Adam’s sin. He was born PERFECT and stayed PERFECT. Because He was without all of these things He could go to the cross and be made sin for us, a perfect sacrifice.
We see here the greatest act of transformation (change) in all of history. We go from being utterly disqualified to fully qualified, as a result of the work completed on the cross by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When you believe in TLJC, you have His perfect righteousness deposited to your account. You don’t earn or deserve it but, because He loves you so much, He’s willing to do whatever it takes to make it possible for you to be with Him for all of eternity.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
I’d like to dedicate the closing paragraph of this lesson to those of you that are without Christ and, therefore, without eternal life. I want to tell you that God loves you with a special love that motivated Him to send His son, Jesus Christ, who was spotless and blameless, to the cross to die for the sins of the whole world. I want to tell you that the ONLY thing you need to do is accept His invitation to believe on this truth, the gospel. Believe that you need a savior and that He is that savior. Believe in Him and you will have eternal life. Believe now, with a one-shot decision, in TLJC and you shall be saved.
__________________________________________________________________________________Pastor Ed Collins /www.pastoredcollins.org © 2009 Eusebeia Bible Church