The Heart of the Gospel - Pt 13

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26 ESV).

Today we begin the third principle at the heart of the Gospel: Limited Atonement. It is both essential and extremely difficult. It has been the root of an intense wrestling with the Scripture for me through the years. However, once I came to both understand it better and accept it as the truth of Scripture I found an incredible source of strength and peace. Let’s start with a definition. The “atonement” is the work of God in Christ on the cross in which he completed the work of his perfectly righteous life, canceled the debt of our sin, appeased his holy wrath against us, and won for us all the benefits of salvation. The death of Christ was necessary because God would not show a just regard for his glory if he swept sins under the rug with no recompense. That’s the point of our reading today. Read it again: God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (vv. 25-26). You can see from the emphasized words that the death of Christ was necessary to vindicate the righteousness of God in justifying the ungodly by faith. This had to be the case since it would be unrighteous to acquit sinners as though their sin was insignificant, when in fact sin is an insult against the value of God’s glory. And since the value of God’s glory is infinite, the offense is infinitely outrageous. Therefore Jesus bears the curse, which was due to our sin, so that we can be justified and the righteousness of God can be vindicated. I know this principle cuts across the grain of our natural logic; however, by denying limited atonement, Christ does not actually save us. He only makes salvation possible. I have come to understand and believe that I need Christ as my actual Savior, not as my potential Savior! My hope of eternal life depends completely on Him. Apart from Christ, I have no hope of salvation. Now I can rejoice and be at peace about my eternal destiny! We’ll see more evidence from the scripture in the coming days. Today, rejoice in His work of grace!