RJ
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- Jun 1, 2009
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If you were to ask a group of Christians, “What does it mean to be saved?” many would answer something like this: “Jesus died for the forgiveness of my sins, so there is a place for me in heaven when I die.”
While this answer is not wrong, it is incomplete. Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). What kind of person needs life? Someone who is dead! And that life that Jesus talks about can start now.
Understanding salvation as a life and death issue will help us to see the New Testament in a new light. Our sins did need to be forgiven. Yet, the cross was not an end in itself.
With out the resurrection of Jesus Christ, his effort on the cross was really useless; Paul essentially said that if we do not embrass the resurrection, we are to be pitied among all men.
1 Corinthians 15:19
19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
The cross was God’s means of “clearing the decks” for the resurrection and the divine action of raising men to life spiritually through the indwelling Holy Spirit.
John 3:7
7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[a] must be born again.’
While this answer is not wrong, it is incomplete. Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). What kind of person needs life? Someone who is dead! And that life that Jesus talks about can start now.
Understanding salvation as a life and death issue will help us to see the New Testament in a new light. Our sins did need to be forgiven. Yet, the cross was not an end in itself.
With out the resurrection of Jesus Christ, his effort on the cross was really useless; Paul essentially said that if we do not embrass the resurrection, we are to be pitied among all men.
1 Corinthians 15:19
19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
The cross was God’s means of “clearing the decks” for the resurrection and the divine action of raising men to life spiritually through the indwelling Holy Spirit.
John 3:7
7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[a] must be born again.’
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