This is the Most Important Subject in Book 1
The Gospel has been misunderstood. Reasons include:
- Life atones, as in Leviticus 17:11: the life of the flesh is in the blood.
… but we have thought that God wanted the sinner’s death.
- The blood shed and sprinkled upon God’s altar - not simply any blood shed anywhere.
- God never asked for death.
- No sacrifice ”paid” any penalty or restitution. The offerer still had to make that right.
- Every God-directed sacrifice died, but the offerer was never under the death penalty.
- No blood and no sacrifice was provided for any sin having the death penalty - the sinner had to pay with his/her own blood.
- Likewise Jesus, the Lamb of God satisfies God with his precious life’s blood given for redemption - not his death.
- Jesus, our high priest, sprinkled his own blood on heaven's altar. Jesus’ life’s blood is effective for all sins forever.
- We have misinterpreted the context of Romans 6:23:
- The context is the life of the Baptized believer.
The sin corrupting us is dealt with in Romans 3 - 5.
- The context of Romans 6 answers the question: “What will you serve? Sin or Righteousness?”
- “The wages of sin is death” states the consequence of a life serving sin as in Deuteronomy 30:19, with 11:26ff
The sinner pays those wages, not Jesus.
The Gospel has been misunderstood, possibly for many centuries.
Specifying Distinctions in Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified.
The distinct solutions are described in Book 1: Part 3: Chapters 14-17.
Some questions dealt with are:
- What are our two distinct sin problems?
- What are God’s two distinct solutions to them?
- Why did God wait 2500 years to offer the second solution in the Old Testament?
- How could God’s “one” work at Christ’s cross actually be “two” distinct solutions?