For your sins

Christ suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust in order to lead men to God (1Pe 3:18). He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2: 2), breaking down the barrier of enmity that existed between God and men. Once freed from Adam’s condemnation, man is able to do good works, for they are done only when one is in God (Is 26:12; John 3:21).

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For your sins

I read an excerpt from Sermon No. 350, by Dr. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, under the title “A well-aimed shot at self-righteousness”, and I could not help commenting on a statement in the sermon.

The last sentence of the sermon caught my attention, which says: “Christ was punished for your sins before they were committed” Charles Haddon Spurgeon, excerpt from sermon No. 350 “A sure shot in self-righteousness”, taken from the web

Now, if Dr. Spurgeon considered the biblical text that says that Jesus is ‘the lamb that was slain since the foundation of the world’, in fact he should emphasize that Christ died before sin was introduced into the world (Rev 13: 8 ; Rom 5:12). However, as he claims that Jesus was punished before every Christian’s sin was committed individually, I understand that Dr. Spurgeon did not refer to verse 8, chapter 13 of the Book of Revelation.

Christ was punishing for the sin of all humankind, but who committed the offense that led all humankind to be under sin? Now, by the Scriptures we understand that sin comes from the offense (disobedience) of Adam, and not from the errors of conduct that men commit.

The punishment that brought peace was not due to errors of conduct made individually ’, since all men are generated in the condition of being alienated from God (sinners). Christ is the Lamb of God who died before the foundation of the world, that is, the lamb was offered before Adam’s offense took place.

The punishment that fell on Christ is not due to the conduct of men (sins committed), but to Adam’s offense. In Adam, men were made sinners, since by an offense came judgment and condemnation on all men, without exception (Rom. 5:18).

If sin (the condition of man without God) arises from the conduct of men, for justice to be established, necessarily salvation would only be possible through the conduct of men. It would be required that men do something good to ease their bad conduct; however, it would never be ‘justified’.

But the gospel message shows that by the offense of one man (Adam) all were condemned to death, and only by one man (Christ, the last Adam) did the gift of God’s grace abound over many (Rom. 5:15). When Jesus died for our sins, an act substitution took place: as Adam disobeyed, the last Adam was obedient until the ordeal.

The last sentence of the excerpt from Dr. Spurgeon’s sermon demonstrates that it was not considered that:

• all men are sinners because the first father of mankind (Adam) sinned (Is 43:27);
• that all men are formed in iniquity and conceived in sin (Ps 51: 5);
• that all mankind has turned away from God since mother (Ps 58: 3);
• that all men have been wrong since they were born (Ps 58: 3), because they entered through a wide door that gives access to a wide path that leads to perdition (Mt 7:13 -14);
• that because they were sold as a slave to sin, no one transgressed according to Adam’s transgression (Rom. 5:14);
• that the best of men is comparable to a thorn, and the upright is worse than a hedge of thorns (Mk 7: 4);
• that all men have sinned and fall short of the glory of God because of the condemnation established in Adam;
• That there is no righteous one, none at all, among the descendants of Adam (Rom. 3:10), etc.

What good or bad does a child do in his mother’s womb to be has conceived in sin? What sin does a child commit to walking ‘wrong’ since he was born? When and where did all men go astray and become filthy together? (Rom. 3:12) Wasn’t the loss of humanity through Adam’s offense?

In Adam, all men were made filthy together (Ps 53: 3), because Adam is the wide door through which all men enter at birth. Birth according to the flesh, blood and the will of the man is the wide door through which all men enter, turn aside and become unclean together (John 1:13).

What event made all men ‘together’ become unclean? Only Adam’s offense explains the fact that all men, in the same event, become unclean (together), since it is impossible for all men of countless ages to perform the same act together. Considering: Did Christ die because Cain killed Abel, or did Christ die because of Adam’s offense? Which of the events compromised the nature of all humanity? Cain’s act or Adam’s offense?

Note that Cain’s condemnation does not come from his criminal act, it stems from the condemnation in Adam. Jesus demonstrated that he did not come to condemn the world, but to save it, as it would be counterproductive to judge what is already condemned (John 3:18).

Christ was punishing because of the sin of humankind, however, sin does not refer to what men commit, rather it says of the offense that brought judgment and condemnation on all men, without distinction.

The actions of men under the yoke of sin is also called sin, since anyone who sins, because he is a slave to sin. The barrier of separation between God and men came about through Adam’s offense, and because of the offense in Eden, there is no one among the sons of men to do good. Why is there no one who does well? Because they have all gone astray and together they have become unclean. Therefore, because of Adam’s offense, everything that a man without Christ does is unclean.

Who from the unclean will take away what is pure? Nobody! (Job 14: 4) In other words, there is no one who does good because everyone is a slave to sin.

Now the slave of sin commits sin, since everything he does belongs to his master by right. The actions of the servants of sin are sinful because slaves to sin do them. That is why God has freed those who believe to be servants of righteousness (Rom. 6:18).

God’s children, on the other hand, cannot sin because they are born of God and the seed of God remains in them (1 John 3: 6 and 1 John 3: 9). Anyone who commits sin is of the devil, but those who believe in Christ belong to God (1Co 1:30; 1Jo 3:24; 1Jo 4:13), since they are the temple and abode of the Spirit (1Jo 3: 8).

Christ was manifested to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3: 5 and 1 John 3: 8), and all who are begotten of God abide in Him (1 John 3:24) and in God there is no sin (1 John 3: 5) . Now if there is no sin in God, it follows that all who are in God do not sin, since they were begotten from God and the seed of God remains in them.

A tree cannot bear two types of fruit. Thus, those who are born of the seed of God cannot produce fruit for God and the devil, just as it is impossible for a servant to serve two masters (Luke 16:13). Every plant planted by the Father bears much fruit, but it bears fruit only for God (Isaiah 61: 3; John 15: 5).

After dying to sin, the old master, it is up to the resurrected man to present himself to God as alive from the dead, and the members of his body as an instrument of justice (Rom. 6:13). The ‘living’ condition of the dead is acquired by faith in Christ, through regeneration (new birth). Through the new birth, man becomes alive from the dead, and it remains, therefore, to voluntarily present to God the members of his body as an instrument of justice.

Sin no longer reigns, for it no longer has dominion over those who believe (Rom. 6:14). The Christian must offer his members to serve righteousness, that is, to serve the One who sanctified them, since Christ is the justification and sanctification of Christians (Rom. 6:19; 1Co 1:30).

Christ suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust in order to lead men to God (1Pe 3:18). He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2: 2), breaking down the barrier of enmity that existed between God and men. Once freed from Adam’s condemnation, man is able to do good works, for they are done only when one is in God (Is 26:12; John 3:21).

Men without God, on the other hand, exist without hope in this world, because they are like the unclean and everything they produce is unclean. There is no way for man without God to do well, because evil nature only produces badly.

“But we are all like the filthy, and all our righteousness’s like the filthy rag; and we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities like a wind take us away ”(Isa 64: 6).

The prophet Isaias in describing the condition of his people compared them too:

• The unclean – When did the people of Israel become unclean? When all went astray and together became unclean, that is, in Adam, the first Father of mankind (Ps 14: 3; Isa 43:27);
• Justice as filthy rags – All works of justice of the filthy are comparable to filthy rags, which are not suitable for clothing. Although they were religious, the works of the people of Israel were works of iniquity, works of violence (Is 59: 6);
• Wither like the leaf – There was no hope for the people of Israel, as the leaf was dead (Is 59:10);
• Iniquities are like wind – Nothing Israel did could free them from this horrendous condition, since iniquity is comparable to the wind that snatches the leaf, that is, man cannot get rid of the lord of sin.

Christ, in his time, died for the wicked.

Sinners have sacrificed the Lamb of God since the foundation of the world.

“Because Christ, while we were still weak, died in due time for the wicked” (Rom. 5: 6);

“But God proves his love for us, in that Christ died for us, while we are still sinners” (Rom. 5: 8).

Now, Christ died for the slaves of sin and not for the ‘sins’ that the slaves of sin practice, as Dr. Spurgeon understood.

Christ died for sinners, therefore those who believe die together with Him. Christ died for all so that those who are quickened may no longer live for themselves, but live for the One who died and rose again (2Co 5:14).

Those who have risen with Christ are safe, since:

• they are in Christ;
• they are new Creatures;
• the old things are gone;
• everything has become new (2Co 5:17).

God reconciled with Himself those who believe through Christ and gave the living from the dead the ministry of reconciliation (2Co 15:18).

The living among the dead are lifting with the exhortation: do not receive the grace of God in vain (2 Cor. 6: 1). God heard you in an acceptable time, therefore, as an instrument of justice Christians has recommended too:

• Do not give scandal at all – Why shouldn’t Christians give scandal? To be saved? No! Lest the ministry of reconciliation be censored;
• Being recommendable in everything – In a lot of patience, in afflictions, in needs, in anguish, in whips, in riots, in riots, in work, in vigils, in fasts, in purity, in science, in long-suffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in unfeigned love, etc. (2Co 6: 3-6).

Christ was killed since the foundation of the world, even before all mankind became a slave to injustice due to the disobedience of one man who sinned: Adam.