This is the picture painted by the New Testament. God stepped down into human history, in the person of Jesus Christ, died on the cross instead of us, for us. Jesus is not a third-party whipping boy, taking our sins, but rather he is God himself. Put more bluntly, God had two choices: to judge sin in us or to assume the punishment himself. In Christ, he chose the latter.
In other words, God’s perfect justice is completely satisfied by the death of his Son, Jesus Christ. All our sins—no matter how bad they are or have been—are completely paid for by the blood of Christ. As the apostle Paul explains to the Romans, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Many wonder, why is Jesus alone able to save us from our sins? Aren’t there others qualified to save us? Although there have been many people and prophets who have lived comparatively good lives. The New Testament tells us, “Jesus is the only One who can save people. No one else in the world is qualified to save us” (John 14:6; Acts 4:12 NCV).
A Gift Undeserved
The biblical term to describe God’s free forgiveness through Christ’s sacrificial death is grace. Whereas mercy saves us from what we deserve, the grace of God also gives us what we don’t deserve. Let’s review for a minute how Christ has done for us what we could not do for ourselves:
- God loves us and created us for a relationship with himself.3
- We have the freedom to accept or reject that relationship.4
- Our sin and rebellion against God have created a wall of separation between us and him.5
- God has paid our debt in full by Jesus’ death in our place, making eternal life with him possible.6
We now have the picture of God’s plan of the ages coming together, and the reason we were created. But there still is one missing ingredient. According to Jesus and the authors of the New Testament, each of us must respond to Jesus’ offer of forgiveness for our sins. It’s a free gift—he won’t force us to take it.
Click here to read page 8 of 10 about “Is Jesus Relevant Today?”