What if the Gospel According to Matthew had ended at chapter 17? What if Mark and Luke had ended at chapter 9? What if Jesus had ascended from the mount of transfiguration? He came from heaven and returned. What if he had returned a little early? What if Jesus had skipped the agony of Gethsemane and the shame of the cross?
We would still have the Sermon on the Mount and accounts of various miracles. We would still have the confession of Jesus as the Christ, and his promise to build a church. We would have a lot of interesting teaching, but we would not have the gospel.
The Sermon on the Mount is not gospel; it is law. It shows us what we should be. It reminds us of what we are not.
The miracles are not the gospel. It is good to know that he healed others, but that does not heal us as we need to be healed.
Jesus was the greatest teacher; but it is not as a great teacher that he saves. Jesus was the perfect healer. His cures were instantaneous and complete; but it is not as healer of illnesses that he saves. He came to give his life a ransom for our sins (Matthew 20:28). Without the death, burial and resurrection, we would be dead in our sins (1 Cor 15:17).
It is not Jesus the carpenter that saves. It is not Jesus the teacher that saves. It is Jesus Christ crucified that the apostles proclaimed (1 Cor 2:2), for it is only in the death, burial and resurrection that our ransom is paid. Jesus did not skip the death, the burial, the resurrection. If he had, he would not be the Savior and we would not be saved. Nor can we skip the death to sin and the resurrection to the new life (Rom 6:1-14). If we attempt to do so, we are not Christians and he is not our Savior.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment