THE BARRIER BETWEEN GOD AND MAN
(Eph. 2:12-16)
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Because of Adam’s original sin, there is a barrier between God and every person at the moment we are born. This barrier consists of a number of “bricks” (problems) that no human being has the power to remove on their own. For salvation to occur (for any person to be reconciled to God), all of the “bricks” in this barrier have to be removed. Any one of them keeps the barrier in place. The “bricks” in the barrier are:
SIN:
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (NIV)
PENALTY OF SIN:
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NIV)
PHYSICAL BIRTH:
Eph 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, (NIV)
CHARACTER OF GOD:
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (NIV)
RELATIVE RIGHTEOUSNESS:
Isa 64:6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. (NIV)
POSITION IN ADAM:
1 Cor 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (NIV)
REMOVAL OF THE BARRIER - All accomplished by Jesus Christ on the cross:
1. BARRIER OF SIN IS REMOVED BY:
a) REDEMPTION: The word "redeem" means "to buy, to purchase." In the case of a slave, it means "to purchase his freedom from a slave market." Because of Adam’s original sin in the Garden of Eden, he became a sinner and the entire human race inherits his sin nature (Rom. 5:12). We are born sinners and will remain in the "slave market of sin" as long as we live unless we choose God’s solution, redemption. Jesus Christ’s spiritual death on the cross redeemed us, purchased our freedom from the "slave market of sin." Redemption includes forgiveness of all sin (Heb. 9:22), is available to the entire human race, but is only obtained by those who believe in Jesus Christ. We have been freed from the oppressive bondage of slavery to sin (John 8:34; Rom. 6:18), the law (Gal. 4:3-5; 5:1), and the fear of death (Heb. 2:14-15)? "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).
John 8:31-36
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
33 They answered him, "We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"
34 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (NIV)
Psa 34:22 The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him. (NIV)
Gal 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." (NIV)
Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace (NIV)
1 Pet 1:18-19
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (NIV)
b) UNLIMITED ATONEMENT: Christ was judged on the cross for every sin that everyone in the world ever had committed or ever would commit. This is why sin is not the real issue in presenting the gospel to unbelievers. While it is true that "all have sinned" and that "the wages of sin are death", the word "gospel" means "good news". The good news is that the spiritual death of Christ on the cross atoned for all sins of all people, and so the only real issue in salvation becomes what a person believes about Jesus Christ. The only sin for which a person can go to hell is the unpardonable sin, the rejection of Christ as savior. This is because rejecting Christ is the only sin for which Christ’s death could not atone.
2 Cor 5:14-15
14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
2 Cor 5:19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (NIV)
1 Tim 2:6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men-- the testimony given in its proper time. (NIV)
1 Tim 4:10 (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.
Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. (NIV)
Heb 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (NIV)
2 Pet 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them-- bringing swift destruction on themselves. (NIV)
1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (NIV)
2. BARRIER OF THE PENALTY OF SIN IS REMOVED BY -
EXPIATION: To "expiate" means to make amends for a wrong that you have done. For example, a criminal must serve a prescribed sentence to make amends for his crime. After doing so, he is then considered to have paid his debt to society. God’s justice demands a penalty or payment for our sins, and this is spiritual death (Rom. 6:23), which occurred to Adam after he first sinned (Gen. 2:17). The penalty for our sins places us hopelessly in debt to God, but God provides the solution in grace. Acting as our substitute, Jesus Christ took the punishment for our sins. God the Father judged them in Christ’s body on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24). The penalty of sin is spiritual death, and the payment of sin was spiritual death. The spiritual death of Christ occurred when the Father and the Holy Spirit forsook the Son while He was bearing the sins of the world ("My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me?"). When at last Jesus cried "it is finished," He had paid our debt in full. Expiation was an accomplished fact.
Ps 22:1-6
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.
3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.
4 In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.
5 They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. (NIV)
Eph 2:15-16
15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,
16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (NIV)
Col 2:14 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. (NIV)
3. BARRIER OF PHYSICAL BIRTH REMOVED BY -
REGENERATION: The literal meaning of regeneration is "born again." There is a first birth and a second birth. The first, as Jesus said to Nicodemus (John 3:1-12) is "of the flesh"; the second birth is "of the Spirit." Being born of the Spirit is essential before a person can enter the kingdom of God. Adam had been created a trichotomous being, meaning he had three basic parts: a body, a soul, and a spirit. When he sinned, he became dichotomous, having only two parts: a body and a soul, but no spirit because it died. He also acquired a sin nature as part of his body. Without a spirit, Adam could no longer fellowship with God, because God is a spirit. Since that time, all of humanity is born in the same condition, physically alive (body and soul) but spiritually dead (no human spirit). To have fellowship with god, to be made alive again spiritually, we must be "born again". God has made provision for this through regeneration, which is a supernatural work of God whereby eternal life is imparted by God the Father to the believer through the agency of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:1).
John 3:1-18
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council.
2 He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
4 "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!"
5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
7 You should not be surprised at my saying, `You must be born again.’
8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
9 "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.
10 "You are Israel’s teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things?
11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.
12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven-- the Son of Man.
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
4. BARRIER OF THE CHARACTER OF GOD REMOVED BY -
PROPITIATION: The word "propitiation" comes from an old English word, propitiate, which means "to appease" or "to satisfy." Propitiation is the same Greek word used for "mercy seat" in Hebrews 9:5, hilasterion, and means "a lid" or "a place of covering.” The mercy seat was the lid situated on the ark of the covenant. The ark, a box made of wood and overlaid with gold, symbolized the unique person of Christ. The wood depicted Christ’s humanity, and the gold His deity. The box contained the ten commandments, Aaron’s rod, and a pot of manna, all symbolizing various aspects of Israel’s sin in rejecting God’s gracious provision. The mercy seat of pure gold covered the emblems of sin. Facing each other on either side of the mercy seat were the cherubim, one angel representing God’s Righteousness, and the other angel His Justice. As they looked down on the mercy seat, they did not see the sinfulness of man represented by the contents of the box, but instead saw the blood which was sprinkled on the mercy seat by the high priest on the Day of Atonement. In other words, both Righteousness and Justice looked down and saw the blood of the innocent sacrificial animal that had been slain for the sins of the people. This ritual foreshadowed and represented Christ’s work on the cross, where historically, God’s righteousness and justice were satisfied. The work of Christ on the cross satisfied the character of God, His perfect Justice and Righteousness (Holiness). God’s essence of Perfect Righteousness is satisfied because Jesus himself had no sin, but had perfect righteousness. God’s essence of Justice was satisfied because Jesus Christ paid the penalty that sin demands from a perfectly just God. Christ’s work totally satisfied the Father, so salvation is complete and there is nothing more that man can add to it. As 1 John 2:2 declares, "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world".
Rom 3:22-26
22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished--
26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (NIV)
1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (NIV)
5. BARRIER OF MAN’S RELATIVE RIGHTEOUSNESS REMOVED BY -
a) IMPUTATION: an ancient accounting term which means "to put on the credit side of the ledger." A good example of the idea of imputation occurs in (Philemon 18), where Paul says that any wrong or debt caused by the runaway slave, Onesimus, should be "put on my account." Our sins were paid for by Jesus Christ, but until salvation, we have only relative righteousness or -R. This human good comes from our sin nature, and is viewed by God as "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). In order to receive the perfect righteousness of Christ, +R, we simply exercise our free will in a non-meritorious and positive way by believing in Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:22). At that moment of salvation, the perfect righteousness of Christ is credited to our account. In other words, EXPIATION takes us "out of the red" by providing the payment for our sins, while imputation puts us "in the black" by crediting Christ’s righteousness to each of us.
Rom 3:22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, (NIV)
1 Cor 1:30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-- that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. (NIV)
2 Cor 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (NIV)
Phil 3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (NIV)
b) JUSTIFICATION: Christianity is unique because of its teaching of justification by grace (Rom. 3:24). On the basis of the righteousness of Christ imputed to the one who believes, God declares that person justified, that is, vindicated and acceptable to Him. God is free to declare that person free from guilt because the believer now possesses the righteousness of God. To be justified means to be the possessor of +R, God’s perfect righteousness (Rom. 4:5). God is "just" because His holy standard of perfect righteousness has been fulfilled in Christ, and He is the "justifier," because this righteousness is freely given to the believer (Rom. 3:26; 5:16). Justification does not mean "just as if I had never sinned."
Rom 4:1-5
1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter?
2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about-- but not before God.
3 What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.
5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. (NIV)
Rom 4:25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (NIV)
Rom 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (NIV)
Rom 5:9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! (NIV)
Rom 8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (NIV)
Gal 2:16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. (NIV)
Gal 3:11 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith." (NIV)
Tit 3:7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. (NIV)
6. BARRIER OF MAN’S POSITION IN ADAM REMOVED BY -
POSITIONAL TRUTH: The moment we believe in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit places us into "union with Christ" through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:13). From that day forward, we are one in Him. Our physical birth, which is our position in Adam, ceases to be a problem, because the life of Christ now becomes our life. Christianity is not a religion, but rather, is this relationship we now have with Christ. Our new position guarantees us an eternal relationship with Jesus Christ (1 John 5:11-12). Our relationship with Jesus Christ depends on who and what God is, not on who and what we are. Because of our new position in Christ, we share His election, sonship, heirship, and many other things.
1 Cor 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (NIV)
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Eph 1:3-6
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (NIV)
7. TOTAL REMOVAL OF THE BARRIER -
RECONCILIATION: This is the sum total of all Jesus Christ did on the cross in removing the barrier between God and man (Eph. 2:12-16). Christ came into the world to bring peace between God and us who were His enemies (Rom. 5:10). This means that all of the world CAN be saved. Sin is no longer the issue, but Christ is. Where once stood the barrier, now stands Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5). God the Father planned reconciliation; God the Son accomplished it; God the Holy Spirit reveals it. God gives us the privilege through witnessing of being part of His plan of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:19).
Copyright (c) 2000, Frank J. Gallagher
Abiding In The Word
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