Five Solas: Solus Christus (Christus Victor)

// November 22nd, 2007 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Christ on the Cross:

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Jesus Died to Crush Our Enemies (Christus Victor)

“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Slavery to our Enemy

Scripture attributes many names to Satan including the Dragon, Serpent, Enemy, Devil, Tempter, Murderer, Father of Lies, Adversary, Accuser, Destroyer, and the Evil One. His knowledge, presence, and power are limited because he is an angelic being created by God for the purpose of glorifying and serving God (Ezekiel 28:14). Motivated by pride, Satan declared war on God and was kicked out of heaven along with a third of the angels who joined his rebellion and became demons (Isaiah 14:11-23; Ezekiel 28:1-19; Revelation 12:3-4, 7-9).

Beginning with our first parents, Adam and Eve, Satan continued his war on God. Fortunately, he need not defeat us if we are aware of his schemes (2 Corinthians 2:11).

Some of Satan’s common tactics include:

• sexual sin (1 Corinthians 7:5)
• sex and marriage between Christians and non-Christians (2 Cor. 6:15)
• false religion, false teaching, false Jesus (1 Cor. 10:14-22; 2 Cor. 11:1-4; 1 Tim. 4:1-2)
• bitterness (Eph. 4:17-32)
• foolishness and drunkenness (Ephesians 5:8-21)
• idle, gossiping busybodies (1 Timothy 5:11-15)
• lying (John 8:44)

Some of his more extreme schemes include:

• torment (Acts 5:16)
• physical injury (Acts 8:4-8 )
• false miracles (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10)
• accusation (Revelation 12:10)
• murder, including suicide (John 8:44)

Freedom to our Jesus

Tragically, by sinning everyone who has ever lived has chosen to align with Satan in his war against God. Additionally, our sin is the result of having something or someone other than God as our highest value and worth. These seemingly good things (from relationships to success) invariably enslave us and become demonic false gods that we worship by putting our life toward them instead of God.

The only exception is Jesus Christ who resisted every temptation (Luke 4:1-13) and remained continually sinless (Hebrews 4:15). Graciously, Jesus alone can and will defeat Satan, liberate us from slavery to the worship of false gods, and usher us into a freedom that continues forever with Him. This was made possible by Jesus dying in our place for our sins to defeat our Enemy and liberate us into new life.

Hebrews 2:14-15 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil- and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Colossians 1:13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.

Colossians 2:13-15 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Five Solas: Solus Christus (Substitutionary Atonement & Double Imputation)

// November 22nd, 2007 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Christ on the Cross:

Jesus Died in Our Place (Substitutionary Atonement)

“…Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.”   1 Corinthians 15:3

Nearly 2,000 years ago a poor, homeless, single man in his early 30′s was executed by crucifixion like many other common criminals. He never wrote a book, never traveled more than 200 miles from his home, never held a political office, never married or had children, and never ran a company. His name is Jesus Christ and history is divided into the periods before and after his life, Time magazine named him “Man of the Millennium,” and more songs have been sung to, books written about, and artwork painted of him than anyone who has ever lived. Moreover, a few billion people alive today worship Him as their only God and deeply love Him unlike anyone who has ever lived.

Why?

Because Jesus has done what no one else could do: taking away their sin by dying on a cross as a substitute in their place. It is the cross of Jesus that is the symbol of the Christian faith and the crux of human history. In explaining Jesus’ death for sin on the cross, theologians use the word atonement. The word literally means “at-one-ment” and explains how Jesus as God and man can alone reconcile sinners to a holy God. Jesus dying in the place of sinners (also known as Penal Substitution and Substitutionary Atonement) is a frequent theme of Scripture, including the following verses:

• Isaiah 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him [Jesus] the iniquity of us all.

• John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

• Romans 3:25 God presented Him [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood.

• Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

• 1 Corinthians 15:3 …Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.

• 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made Him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

• Hebrews 2:17 For this reason He [Jesus] had to be made like His brothers in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people.

• Hebrews 9:28 Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.

• 1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.

• 1 John 2:1-2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

• 1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Double Imputation (Our Sin, Christ’s Righteousness)

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”   2 Corinthians 5:21

Job asks one of the great questions of the Bible in chapter 9, verse 2 of the book bearing his name: “But how can a mortal be righteous before God?” Indeed, the Bible repeatedly teaches that God is righteous (Ezra 9:15; Psalm 4:1; 7:9; 11:7; Isaiah 5:16; 45:21; Daniel 9:14). By righteous, Scripture means straight, right, sinless, just, and lawful.

Scripture also teaches that God made humanity in a state of sinless righteousness (Genesis 1:31; Ecclesiastes 7:29). However, humanity fell into a continual state of unrighteousness beginning with our father Adam in Genesis 3. Since Adam was our representative head and physical father, his sin has been imputed to us all (Romans 5:12-21). By imputation it is meant that his sin has been reckoned, transferred, or charged to everyone. In a sense, when Adam chose rebellion and war against God, we all did; in much the same way, when our president takes our nation to war, in a sense we are all at war, as he chooses as our representative head for us all. Consequently, everyone is conceived with an unrighteous sin nature (Psalm 51:5; 58:3) and subsequently lives a life marked by personal sin (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:10). This state of unrighteousness is the opposite of God’s nature and is marked by crookedness, wrongness, sin, injustice, and rebellion.

Human unrighteousness includes the frequent attempts to be righteous apart from God, which is the sin of self-righteousness (Romans 10:3, illustrated in Luke 18:9-14). Rather than being impressed at human attempts at righteousness, God harshly declares that our righteousness is as grotesque to Him as a bloody tampon given to us as a precious gift (Isaiah 64:6a).

Perhaps the people most devoted to pursuing self-righteousness were the Pharisees. Despite their great self-discipline and moral life, Jesus declared that unless our righteousness superseded theirs we would end up in hell along with them (Matthew 5:20). Therefore, no one can make themselves righteous before the Righteous God (Romans 3:10, 20).

Compassionate toward us, our eternal God, Jesus Christ, became a man. Because Jesus did not have an earthly father descended from Adam, He did not inherit an unrighteous sin nature and was the beginning of a new humanity as the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45). Unlike the first Adam who sinned, Jesus lived a life of righteous perfection (Romans 5:12-21), resisting all temptations to sin (Hebrews 4:15), fulfilling all of God’s laws (Matthew 5:17), fulfilling all righteousness (Matthew 3:15), and dying as the only righteous man who has ever lived (Luke 23:47).

In His death, the righteous Jesus stood in place of sinners, paying the price for their sin, which is death (Isaiah 53:5-6, 12; Romans 8:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18). Subsequently, the only person who is righteous in God’s sight is Jesus Christ. But our sin was imputed to Jesus, he became sin for us. But in addition, Jesus graciously imputes His righteousness like Adam imputed his unrighteousness to us (Romans 3:21-22; 4:4-6; 5:12-21; 10:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:8-9; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18). Therefore, the answer to Job’s question is that an unrighteous person can stand righteous before the Holy, Righteous God not by their own works, but solely by trusting in the person and work of Jesus by faith (Genesis 15:6; Romans 3:21-22; 4:3, 5, 24; 10:4; Galatians 3:6, 11; Philippians 3:8-9; Hebrews 1:4). Jesus alone is our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30), makes us new righteous people (Ephesians 4:24), and enables us to pursue righteousness (1 Timothy 6:11) and obey Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16), by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:3-4).

Five Solas: Solus Christus (Intro)

// November 14th, 2007 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

-The Five Solas of the Reformation-

Solus Christus

From Wikipedia:

Solus Christus is one of the five solas propounded to summarise the Reformers’ basic beliefs during the Protestant Reformation; it is a Latin term referring to salvation through Christ alone. The emphasis was in contradistinction to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church of the day.

The Protestants characterize the dogma concerning the Pope as Christ’s representative head of the Church on earth, the concept of meritorious works, and the Catholic idea of a treasury of the merits of saints, as a denial that Christ is the only mediator between God and man.

• Sola Scriptura
• Sola Gratia
• Sola Fide
• Solus Christus
• Soli Deo Gloria

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,  in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

-Colossians 1:13-18, ESV

A Biblical Defense of Solus Christus:

• The Sacramental Reformation

Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

-Hebrews 9:23-28, ESV

At the time of the Reformation, the Catholic church had formally established that there were seven sacraments-baptism, the eucharist, penance, confirmation, marriage, ordination and extreme unction. The Reformers not only brought the number of sacraments into dispute but also (and primarily) brought the theology of each. The Mass was the center of the liturgical service of the Catholic church and it was originally spoken only in Latin. Although most of the laity could not speak Latin, this was not the most important of the things needed to be reformed.

The two primary points under dispute were the elements of the Mass (communion) and the crucifixion of Christ. The Reformers argued against the Catholic position that the bread and the wine, although they retained the outward appearance, actually became in substance the flesh and blood of Christ. Even though some of the Reformers disagreed on the details of this issue, it was clear that the idolatry of showing reverence toward the wine and bread was refuted.

Another aspect of the Mass that came under reform was the belief that the Priests were actually breaking the body of Christ each time they administered the Lord’s Table. This of course was an extreme heresy to the Reformers because of the theological implications and the clear contradictions of the Scriptures. The Reformers taught that Christ died for the Elect, once for all and after His death ascended to the right hand of the Father where He sits until His return apart from sin for salvation.

• Christ as Mediator

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,  who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.  For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

-1 Timothy 2:5-7, ESV

Mariology is the body of doctrine surrounding the Catholic position on the deification of Mary the mother of Jesus. Perhaps the first hint of emphasizing Mary came from Irenaeus, who during the second century, contrasted Eve’s disobedience with Mary’s obedience. The contrast came from Paul’s contrast of Adam’s disobedience with that of Jesus’ obedience. This evaluation although accurate does not justify the correlation between Mary and Eve. It was further believed that this correlation meant that Mary was central to the salvation of the world through the new creation and thus making here co-redemptrix with her Son and mother of the Church. Later in 431 at the Council of Ephesus the term Mother of God (theotokos) was adopted as an official title for Mary. It was later believed by the Church that the extrabiblical writings which describe the Assumption of Mary were authoritative and this doctrine and related doctrine became formal positions of the Church. Even today pressure is being put upon the Pope to formally recognize Mary as co-mediatrix with Christ as the two of them (along with the recognized Saints) are interceding on behalf of the Church with prayers to the Father.

However, we can see why the Reformers objected so strongly to this teaching. Such doctrines, whether or not they are supported by the extra-biblical writings, are in clear contradiction with the writing of the New Testament where Jesus is described as the only Mediator between man and God. Peter himself declares that there is no other name by which a man can be saved other than the name Jesus. (Acts 4:11)  The scriptures also declare that it is Jesus who intercedes on our behalf (Hebrews 7:23-28) and His sacrifice is sufficient to atone or propitiate for the sins of the Church. There is no biblical basis for ascribing such attributes to any other than Christ.

• Christ as Priest

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent ( not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

-Hebrews 9:11-15, ESV

The Catholic church believed that the church was the dispensary of grace. It was through the church that grace which emanated from Christ was dispensed to the individual. Whether it be saving grace or grace which grants repentance, the church was the mechanism through which such grace was received. It followed then that such grace should be dispensed by no ordinary individual within the church and the priestly order developed into an additional layer of intercession.  The priesthood of the individual believer (1 Peter 2:4-10) was a key doctrine which disputed this intercessory role of the priest. It was taught that every truly regenerate was able to approach the throne of God to declare praises, confess sins, and offer supplications.