Beginning with a short series on God’s grace, I hope to launch out into a deeper study of the Cross. In its simplicity, this singular message was Paul’s trumpet call consuming all his interest and to which he attributed his calling and whatever God accomplished through him [Romans 1:14-16].
The message was, indeed, simple, being understood only by the heart of anyone upon which it had been written in indelible faith.
Christ died ‘for’ our sins
so that we might not die ‘in’ them.
“To explain: The Mosaic Law was powerless in this regard, it was ineffective [in dealing with our sins] because we are human [with selfish desires that lead us astray]. God sent His Son, Jesus, with a human nature [He was both God and man, a sinless man] to pronounce sentence on the sin in us [by His crucifixion] in order that the Law would be obeyed in us [not ‘by’ but ‘in’ – written on the heart, Jeremiah 31:33], who are led by the Spirit and [by this grace are] no longer following our own selfish passions” [Romans 8:3-4 – John King interpretation].
The complexity of our Christian faith comes in our heads [not hearts], that searched for answers beyond the boundary of the knowledge God has given us [Deuteronomy 29:29]. It is in this area of the mystery of Godliness [1 Timothy 3:16] on the periphery of Truth that our theologies branch out into differing interpretations and divide us. This ought not to be—and wouldn’t be—if we kept our focus on the Gospel message [1 Corinthians 2:2; Galatians 6:14].
In Hebrews 11:26 NIV it was said of Moses that “he was looking ahead to his reward” but this is incorrect. The word for “looking ahead” means “to turn the eyes away from other things …to look with steadfast gaze.” It doesn’t only reference where Moses’ thoughts were but where they were not. And He did this because His faith was in Yahwah, our Lord. There is a lesson in this.
Philip Melanchthon, the 16th Century reformer, was reported to have said, “We do better to adore the mysteries of deity than to investigate them.”
