Paul's Teaching on the Cross

When reading the gospel narratives of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection from the dead, you could be forgiven for not really understanding what was going on. The gospel writers are focusing upon the historical events; they certainly want to show that Jesus' death was the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy and was inaugurating a new covenant and means of access to God, but they don't give a lengthy explanation of what, spiritually, was happening as Jesus hung there on the cross. Paul wonderfully complements the gospel narratives by giving us lengthy analysis and exposition about what God was accomplishing in Christ's death on the cross throughout his letters. Like the other apostles, he shows that the cross is absolutely fundamental to what Christianity is all about.

Perhaps the most complex yet vital teaching which Paul emphasises repeatedly is that through the cross, our sin can be atoned for. In the letter Romans, Paul explains that

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. Rom 3:25

The Old Testament system of offering sacrifices, culminating with the annual Day of Atonement, was just a shadow of this greater reality, that God was going to deal with sin once for all. Christians have the incredible assurance that their sins are completely dealt with, because when He died on the cross, Jesus took all of God's wrath upon Himself and was a substitute for us.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus- Rom 8:1

The cross was necessary because of God's holiness. He cannot just overlook our sin, and sweep it under the carpet. But in punishing Christ in our place on the cross, God demonstrated His righteousness (that sin must be punished) as well as His mercy, because through this, sinners could be forgiven. (See Rom 3:25)

Perhaps proof that the gospel is 100% true is the fact that no one could have made it up! It is just mind-blowing that the God of the universe would find a way to deal with sin justly, yet make a way for sinners to be redeeemed. The cross is a totally unexpected way of dealing with the problem of sin- and on the outside, it looks totally powerless, a sign of utter humiliation. Paul states to the Corinthians:

'we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles' -1 Cor 1:23

And yet, the cross was there in God's plan for salvation from the very beginning. Paul emphasises that 'Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.' (1 Cor 15:3) He shows that in the cross, the trinitarian God was working to bring about the salvation of His people, chosen before the foundation of the world. (Eph 1:4). The cross enabled God to fulfil His covenant promises to Adam and Eve (Gen 3:15)and Abraham (Gen 12), and the covenant He made with Moses and Israel at Sinai was always intended to be temporary until Christ came.

Paul takes great pains to demonstrate that the law could never justify sinners. It highlights sin in our lives, but offers no power to keep us from sinning. The sacrificial system was imperfect and repetitive, without really achieving full access for all to God. In Galatians 3:13 Paul asserts that:

'Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” ' [Dt 21:23]

In the act of hanging on the cross, Jesus was under the full curse of sinners who cannot keep God's law. He was perfectly obedient, but took on Himself the weight of the disobedience of men. This means that the charge against us of sin, which condemned us, has been totally cancelled and removed:

'he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.' Col 2:14

As Paul expands in Romans:

'For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.' (Rom 8:3-4)

These verses clearly teach the law's limitations, and the way that God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement so that those who believe in Him can have His perfect righteousness credited to their account. Those who believe in Christ are filled with the Spirit and thus empowered to live in holiness, because they are slaves to sin no longer.

An important aspect of Paul's teaching on the cross is that believers share in the cross in identification and union with Christ and thus share in all its benefits. In some mysterious way, those who trust in Christ were 'in' Him in His death, and are 'in' Him now. Listen to Paul's statement:

'I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.' Gal 2:20

Similarly, in Colossians he asserts that 'you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.' (Col 3:3) Believers can say that their sin was dealt with in Christ's body when He died on the cross, and through His resurrection they too have the certain hope of being raised up at the last day.

Paul is keen to stress the total assurance that Christians have that their sins are forgiven. The redemptive power of the cross is such that even the worst of sinners can receive full atonement there. 'In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins' states Paul in Eph 1:7, and there are no qualifications or restrictions to those who can receive this full redemption. Those who trust in the cross for their forgiveness can stand before God 'without blemish and free from accusation' (Col 1:22).

Even more wonderful than this, is Paul's teaching that Christians are adopted into God's family through the reconciliation the cross achieved. He writes that those who are redeemed receive 'adoption to sonship' (Gal 4:5), a position of great privilege, and therefore the creation closeness between God and man can be restored, even bettered. But the cross reconciled more than just individuals to God; it reconciled the whole of creation to God. Paul writes that it was God's full intention that, through Christ's death, He could 'reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.' (Col 1:20) Paul also specifically addresses the fact that both Jews and Gentiles have been reconciled to God through the cross, and the cross destroys any hostility between them (Eph 2:16).

But moving beyond the impact of the cross on us, one of the main emphases Paul continually stresses is the way that the cross leads to Christ's exaltation:

'And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.' Phil 2:8-11

Christ's willingness to become a man and suffer such a humiliating death proved His divinity and led to God exalting Him as Lord over creation. Although it did not seem glorious at the time, the cross brought and still brings glory to God. It shows His wonderful victory over all the powers of evil: 'And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.' Col 2:15

The cross should lead us to love and worship God more and more, the more we understand it. We can never lose the wonder that God has made it possible for us to have eternal salvation through the shedding of Jesus' blood. And aside from inspiring our love and worship, the cross also gives us three things:

1. A hatred of sin

'Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.' Gal 5:24

If we've really understood the cross, and seen how serious sin is that God had to punish His only beloved Son in order to decisively deal with it, then we can't be happy to continue living a life that is sinful and against God. Our sins sent Jesus to the cross; we should now live with an absolute hatred of our own rebellion and strive, through the Spirit's power, to live differently as 'new selves' in Christ.

2. A pattern of suffering

'In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus' Phil 2:5

If Jesus had to suffer, then it shouldn't be a surprise to us when we go through difficult times on this ungodly earth. The cross shows us a pattern of suffering for righteousness, then being exalted. We may suffer now, but ultimately we will one day be raised up and share in glory for ever.

3. Hope

'For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.' 1 Thess 4:14

The historic events of Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection give us a certain hope that God is going to fulfil every one of His promises towards us. He will not let us eternally die, but He will raise us to eternal life and bring us to an eternity of glory that He has prepared and planned since the beginning of creation.

Sex before marriage: what does the Bible say?

Some people think that the Bible doesn't say much about sex. Other people think the Bible is really negative about sex. I was asked by a Christian friend recently how I would go about explaining what the Bible says about sex before marriage to someone who is a Christian and sleeping with their boyfriend or girlfriend. This post is really my response to that question.

Summary:
God has such a high value on sex that He designed it to be just for marriage.

The argument starts in Genesis. God makes Adam and Eve, marries them, and they enjoy sex as an expression of their unity: 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.' Gen 2:24 The implication is that you can't become one flesh physically (ie in sexual intercourse) without first being joined before God in marriage. This makes sense in that sex is a picture of giving yourselves completely to one another- this just isn't appropriate outside the safety net of marriage, where you have made a lifelong commitment to each other.

The high value God places on sex within marriage is emphasised throughout the Old Testament- most notably in the command against adultery (Ex 20:14). If you engage in pre-marital sex, you are in one sense being unfaithful to your future spouse. If the person ends up being someone you marry, you have still spoilt something special and unique meant for marriage only.

There are people in the Old Testament who disregard God's design for sex and marriage, and the result is always spiritual disaster. Look at Solomon: he had a ridiculous number of concubines (300!), and they had a terrible influence on him. He also married 700 women, and they 'turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God' (1 Kings 11:4). Solomon had built the temple and was gifted with wisdom from God, and yet in this matter he was blind to the warnings he was given, and so his kingdom was torn away from him (1 Kings 11:11). This ties into the idea that Christians going out with/marrying non Christians is spiritually damaging, because you are essentially uniting yourself with someone who is spiritually dead (see Ephesians 2 for the strong contrast between Christians and non-Christians, and 2 Cor 6 for instruction on not being 'yoked' with unbelievers).

The New Testament letters speak a lot about sexual purity. There are several key passages where 'fornication' (ie sex before marriage) is condemned (1 Cor 6:12- 7:40; Eph 5:1-7; 1 Thess 4:1-8), and in Hebrews 13:4 it says that the marriage bed should be kept pure, for God will judge the sexually immoral. The key emphasis in all these passages is that we've been saved by God's grace and set free from the crippling, disabling power of sin over our lives. Therefore our whole lives as Christians are about using that power to resist sin and live 100% for Jesus instead of being ruled by passion just like non-believers are.

When people have problems with what the Bible teaches on sex, it actually points to a bigger problem: their attitude towards God. Too often we are driven by our own desires for a relationship or physical intimacy, instead of putting God's agenda at the top of our priorities. If you're a Christian and you know another Christian who is struggling in this area, encourage them to draw closer to God. If you can, suggest meeting up together to read the Bible. Working through a short letter like 1 Thessalonians would only take a few sessions, and all you'd have to do is read it and discuss it. If they're really serious about being a Christian, they have to accept that it intrinsically means giving up what you want, and going God's way instead. And the joy of being a Christian is that God's way is so much better!!! As Paul writes, those things (sexual immorality included) lead to death. Why would we want to go back to them? (Romans 6:21)

Ultimately, we need to realise that God loves us far more than we comprehend. He loved us enough to send Jesus to die for us. Won't He give us anything that's good for us? Would He with hold the best from us? Of course not. (see Romans 8).

Therefore the Bible's teaching on sex and marriage is there to help us. God is FOR sex (he invented it!!!) and He has such a high value on it that he reserves it for those who are married. People who sleep with others before marriage are de-valuing sex. God's way is best because it preserves society and the family unit- look at the result of people sleeping together outside marriage: STDs, AIDS, broken homes, kids without fathers... And I hate to say it, but usually the girl in the relationship is the one with everything to lose and nothing to gain. A guy can sleep with someone and walk away; the girl ends up way more emotionally scarred and potentially with a baby to look after.

I think if a guy really loves you, he'd be willing to wait : Christian OR non Christian. But the real sticking point about Christians going out with non Christians is that they can't be a gospel team, working together to serve Jesus. One serves Jesus; the other belongs basically to the devil and is spiritually dead. I think one of the greatest blessings of Christian marriage is that you keep each other going with Jesus, pick each other up when you're down, lead each other back to the cross. However attracted you are to each other, it's the spiritual bond you share that will keep you going in the tough times.