Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

When Jesus was crucified and died, he paid the full penalty required by God for the sins of all humanity from eternity past to eternity future. His subsequent resurrection attested that that payment had been sufficient in God's eyes, so that anyone who placed their faith in Jesus' death and resurrection, rather than in their own imperfect righteousness, to make them acceptable to God could be forgiven of their sins and receive eternal life from God.

When Christians place their faith in Christ, they become "dead" to sin in the same way that Jesus did when he died physically. Sin no longer has power over them. The act of a new believer being baptized is symbolic of the manner in which the Christian's former sinful self dies and is buried with Christ, and then the Christian rises again (as Christ did) in a new state that God recognizes as holy and sinless for Christ's sake. God then gives Christians the Holy Spirit to dwell within them as a sign of that salvation, and to give them the power to perform good acts that are acceptable to God, and to tell others about the salvation that God makes possible in Christ, so that those others may also be saved.

As long as Christians are in this world, they will still struggle with their old fallen nature and commit sin, for which they should seek God's forgiveness in Christ. But that old nature no longer has the control over them that it did before their salvation by faith. They can then instead (as Peter said) live for righteousness through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, because Jesus bore the full penalty for their sins in His body on the cross. The "stripes" (flogging) and all the other punishment that Jesus endured do not wound or harm those who put their faith in Him, but instead heal them by making them acceptable to God by that faith, and giving them eternal life.

January 16 2016 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jack Gutknecht ABC/DTS graduate, guitar music ministry Baptist church

Physical healing? No, but it is instead the spiritual healing of the soul (Ps. 103:3). One day, when we have glorified bodies, all sicknesses will be gone, but meanwhile, even some of God’s most select servants may have physical afflictions (see Phil. 2:25-30; 2 Cor. 12:1-10).

One day they led Him Up Calvary's mountain,
One day they nailed Him To die on the tree;
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected:
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He!

Chorus:
Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried my sins far away;
Rising He justified freely forever:
One day He's coming-- O glorious day! 

See the big picture:

Four Blessed Statements

Concerning Jesus

In His Nature—Sinless 1 Pet. 2:22

In His Life—Blameless 1 Pet. 2:23

In His Death—Vicarious 1 Pet. 2:24

In His Resurrection—Victorious 1 Pet. 2:25

November 30 2019 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report