The Problem of Sin and Death

• Sin is disobedience to God and encompasses anything that is not according to his will. It may include acts of sin or failing to do what is right. It is fulfilling self-will as opposed to God’s will.

  1 John 3:4, Romans 3:23, James 4:17

• God created Adam and Eve “very good”. They were neither mortal nor immortal which is evidenced by the fact that they were later condemned to mortality and denied access to immortality by eating of the Tree of Life. They were capable of death but not subject to it. They were innocent and had a natural disposition to obey, but were capable of sin by temptation from an external source.

  Genesis 1:31, 3:19, 22-24

• God created mankind to be like him and placed him on probation in the garden of Eden with a simple law to not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The consequence of disobedience would be death by mortality. The consequence of sin is death because sin is not fulfilling the purpose for which God created mankind and gave them life.

  Genesis 1:26-27, 2:16-17, 3:2-3, 1 John 1:5-7, 3:3, 16, John 13:34, 1 Peter 1:15-16, Luke 6:36, Ephesians 4:32, Romans 6:23

• There is no commandment concerning the Tree of Life, but they clearly did not eat of it as they would have become immortal as soon as they ate of it.

  Genesis 3:22-24

• Sin and death entered the world by Adam’s disobedience. God is not the author of sin and did not create Adam and Eve with sinful lusts within or impulses to sin. This is a characteristic of mortality that resulted from the first sin.

  Romans 5:12-15, 19, 6:23, 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 1 John 2:15, Ecclesiastes 7:29

• Death in the form of mortality came by God’s sentence which caused a physiological change to mortality in the bodies of Adam and Eve. They were not mortal or subject to death before God’s decree.

  Genesis 3:17-19

• Since that time mortality with its impulses and tendency to sin have been inherited by all humans. Humankind does not inherit any guilt for Adam and Eve’s sin.

  Romans 5:12-14, 7:23-24, 8:10, 2 Corinthians 1:9, James 1:14-15, 4:7, Ephesians 2:2, 1 John 2:15

• The mortal human body is a body of death requiring deliverance from mortality. Mortal humans cannot see God or inherit the kingdom of God.

  Romans 7:24, 8:23, Philippians 3:21, Exodus 33:20, 1 Corinthians 15:50-57

• Our sins separate and alienate us from God and he is reconciling us to him through Christ.

  Isaiah 59:2, 2 Corinthians 5:19, Ephesians 4:18, Colossians 1:21

• Death, which was brought into the world by sin, can only be overcome by the conquest of sin itself. Sin is an enemy of God but he will gain victory over sin and death in his son Jesus Christ.

  Genesis 3:15, Romans 8:5-7, James 4:4, 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 50-57, 1 John 5:4

• Mortal human nature, resulting from its condemnation to mortality because of sin, has no good in itself and is corrupt. This is different to the “very good” state in which God created Adam and Eve. Mankind is defiled by what comes from within out of the heart. Mortal human nature cannot be described as clean or undefiled physically or morally.

  Romans 7:18, Luke 18:19, Galatians 6:8, Ephesians 4:22, Genesis 1:31, 6:5, Ecclesiastes 7:29, 1 John 2:15, Job 14:1-4, 15:14, 25:4, Matthew 15:10-20, Mark 7:14-23

God’s Plan of Salvation

• God devised a plan of restoration for mankind to fulfil the purpose he created them for, to be like him, which includes being righteous. This purpose of God with mankind is the basis upon which God provides salvation in his great love for mankind.

  God’s plan of salvation from sin and death involves recreating mankind mentally and morally and then physically, to be like him, through a new creation in Christ. His plan is to save mankind from sin and death by his grace through faith, without compromising his just law of death as the consequence of sin. His plan involves making sinful mankind righteous like him as a gift through faith by his grace. On the basis of our faith in the principles of God’s righteousness, God will forgive our sins and deliver us from mortality.

  Genesis 1:26-27, 2 Corinthians 5:14-19, Galatians 6:15, Ephesians 1:2-11, 2:10, 4:20-24, Colossians 3:9-10, James 1:18, John 3:14-18

• God first loved us by sending his only son as a sacrifice for us when we were unworthy sinners and enemies.

  1 John 4:19, Romans 5:6-11, 1 Timothy 1:15, John 3:14-18

• God’s will is that salvation from sin and death for mortal mankind is only available on the basis of faith in and identification with the principles of God’s righteousness and the condemnation of sin as demonstrated in Jesus’ sacrifice.

  God’s plan of salvation involved sending his son Jesus to be our representative as a mortal man with the same condemned and sinful nature as us, but who overcame sin and was perfectly righteous. The purpose of this was to provide a way out of this mortal death state, both for himself and for his brethren, through death and subsequent resurrection. God was therefore righteous in requiring his death and righteous in raising him from the dead.

  This was to demonstrate and uphold the righteousness of God as the first condition of restoration, that God might be just while justifying the unjust, who should approach him in faith, repentance, and a commitment to transform themselves to be like him.

  Romans 3:24-25, 8:3, Hebrews 2:14-15, 9:26, 1 Peter 2:24, John 16:33, Isaiah 53

  Romans 6:6 - the body of sin is a figure of speech by metonymy referring to Christ’s mortal human nature with its impulses and tendencies to sin. We need to mortify the “deeds of the body” which is sinful acts caused by the impulses and tendencies to sin in our mortal human nature, Romans 8:13.

  1 Peter 2:24 - The way Jesus bore our sins in his body was that Jesus bore the same human mortal nature as us with its impulses and tendencies to sin. It does not mean that our sins were transferred or imputed to him.

• The shedding of Christ’s blood was essential for salvation. Blood symbolises life and the shedding of his blood demonstrates that death is the just penalty of sin.

  Hebrews 9:22, Leviticus 17:11, 14, Romans 5:9, Colossians 1:14, Matthew 26:28, John 1:29, Revelation 1:5, 17:14

• The sacrifice of Christ is an essential element in the process of God restoring mankind to himself.

  Colossians 1:21, Romans 5:10, Isaiah 53:5, Hebrews 10:20

• God has provided no other way of salvation for mankind other than through Jesus Christ.

  Acts 4:12, John 14:6, 6:53, 8:24, 15:5, Ephesians 2:12

• The sacrifice of Christ demonstrates the righteousness of God, the love of God, the wisdom of God and the power of God. It is God who achieves the victory over sin and death in His Son Jesus Christ.

  Romans 3:24-26, 1 John 4:10, 5:4, 1 Corinthians 1:23-24, 15:50-57, 2 Corinthians 5:19

God Sent Jesus as a Man and His Son to Save Sinners

• God sent Jesus as a mortal man and as his Son specifically to be a sacrifice for the purpose of saving sinners and restoring them to him. To understand the sacrifice of Christ correctly, especially his own relationship to it, we cannot consider Jesus in isolation from this work he was sent to do for us. He was there to be our Saviour, and but for our needs, we may reverently say he would not have been there.

  The purpose of God in Christ’s sacrifice required Jesus to be a mortal man under the dominion of death, with all the impulses and temptation to sin like other men so he could be our representative, but overcoming and being sinless, Hebrews 4:15, 10:5. Jesus inherited mortal human nature from his mother Mary.

  Galatians 4:4, Romans 6:9, Hebrews 2:6-18, 4:15, 10:5

  Romans 8:2-3 - the term “sinful flesh” or “flesh of sin” refers to mortal human nature with its impulses and tendencies to sin that Jesus shared with us. The “likeness of” means the “same as”, the Greek is likeness in the sense of identity not resemblance. The extent of this likeness is explained in Hebrews 2:14.

  2 Corinthians 5:21 - in the expression “made him to be sin,” the word sin is used as a figure of speech by metonymy to refer to the cause of sin from mortal human nature with its impulses and tendencies to sin that Jesus shared in common with us. The impulses and tendencies to sin in the flesh of mortal human nature are real but, the description of them as “sin” is by the figure of speech of metonymy. Jesus “knew no sin” because he did not commit any sin but was perfectly righteous and obedient to God.

• The purpose of God also required that Jesus be the Son of God with a mental capacity to be able to overcome sin. He was strengthened by God for this purpose because mortal flesh is too weak to overcome sin by its own strength. God was working in Christ to gain the victory over sin. This could not be achieved by Christ without God working in him because no mortal person can overcome sin of themselves.

  2 Corinthians 5:19, Acts 2:22, 10:38, Luke 1:36, 4:18, Galatians 4:4, Isaiah 7:14, 59:16, 2 Samuel 7:14, Matthew 3:16-17, 17:5, John 1:14, 3:34-35, 4:34, 5:19,30, 7:16, 12:49-50, 14:9-10, Psalm 80:17, Romans 8:3-4

  Genesis 3:15 - the “seed of the woman” implies that God was Jesus’ Father because he was not born of an earthly father. Only God could achieve victory over sin and death by working in Christ because Christ on his own could not achieve it, John 5:30, 19, 8:28.

Christ’s Sacrifice is Efficacious To Save Through Faith

• We are brought into connection with the work of salvation accomplished in Christ by our faith in it. Christ’s sacrifice is efficacious to save us from sin and death by our faith in the principles of God’s righteousness and the condemnation of sin that it demonstrates. It is not the sacrifice itself that saves us but God, who forgives our sins and will make us immortal through our faith in the principles that Christ’s sacrifice demonstrates.

  He does this by his forbearance and grace which is an undeserved gift. Our faith is counted to us for righteousness even though we sin and need God’s forgiveness. God gives us his righteousness as a gift by grace.

  Romans 3:22 (WEY) - a righteousness coming from God, which depends on faith in Jesus Christ and extends to all who believe. No distinction is made;

  Romans 3:25 (WEY) - He it is whom God put forward as a Mercy-Seat, rendered efficacious through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness - because of the passing over, in God’s forbearance, of the sins previously committed.

• The sacrifice of Christ is not efficacious to save of itself, but by the believers faith in the principles of God’s righteousness and the condemnation of sin that it demonstrates. Christ’s sacrifice simply demonstrates principles only and does not meet any legal requirement or perform any transaction as it is God who forgives sins and saves from death. The shedding of Christ’s blood, his death and the offering of his body does not literally atone, purify, cleanse, wash, cover, or redeem from anything of itself. This is figurative and metaphorical language to describe what God does literally on the basis of a believer’s faith in the principles demonstrated in the sacrifice of Christ, which is to forgive our sins and deliver us from mortal human nature.

  • Literally, it is God who forgives our sins through his forbearance and grace after we confess and repent of our sins and identify in faith with Christ’s sacrifice by being baptised, Romans 4:1-8, 6:3-14.

  • Literally, it is God who will deliver us from mortal human nature with its impulses to sin, by giving us immortality at the judgment seat, if we have been found to have lived a life by faith “in Christ” living the principles of his sacrifice in following his example, John 6:39-40, Romans 8:9-11, 12:1-2, Galatians 2:20, 2 Timothy 1:8-10, 2:11-13, 1 Peter 1:9.

  Romans 4:3-5, 24, 5:1, 6:23, 8:1-14, 12:1-2, Galatians 2:20, 1 John 1:7-10, Ephesians 2:8, John 3:14-17, Acts 10:43, Hebrews 9:14, 10:19-25, 1 Peter 1:3-9

• The principles of God’s righteousness and the condemnation of sin are demonstrated in the shedding of Christ’s blood, the offering of his body and his death. The efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ is by our faith in these principles it demonstrates as specifically stated in Romans 3:22, 25, but this efficacy is not only by “faith in his blood” but faith in the same principles also demonstrated in the offering of his body and his death.

  • The shedding of Christ’s blood - Romans 3:25, Matthew 26:28, Hebrews 10:19, Ephesians 2:13, 1 Peter 1:2, 1 John 1:7, Hebrews 9:12, Revelation 1:5, 5:9, 7:14.

  • The offering of the body of Christ - Hebrews 10:10, Colossians 1:21, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Corinthians 10:16, 11:29

  • The death of Christ - Hebrews 9:15, 2:9, 14, Romans 5:10, 1 Corinthians 11:26

• The principles of God’s righteousness and the condemnation of sin demonstrated in the sacrifice of Christ are doctrinal facts with moral principles that we need to have faith in. Essentially we must be dead to sins should live unto righteousness, 1 Peter 2:24, Romans 6:2-14.

  • God is righteous and just in sentencing mankind to mortality as a consequence of sin. No one has a right to life and all humanity is rightly related to death.

  • God’s ways are righteous and just but mankind’s ways are sinful and unjust.

  • The flesh is weak and profits nothing. It has no good in itself. Mankind is naturally given to sin because of the natural impulses and tendencies to sin in mortal human nature. No one can ever be righteous of themselves but will inevitably sin.

  • Humanity is totally dependent on God’s grace and mercy to be delivered from sin and death on the basis of faith in the principles of God’s righteousness and the condemnation of sin demonstrated in the sacrifice of Christ. No one can save themselves.

  • Sin must be repudiated in confession and repentance and cannot be excused or justified. We have no righteousness of our own. God gives us his righteousness as a free gift by his grace through our faith.

  • We need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds to be like God in righteousness and holiness and to live by faith in Jesus Christ, living the principles of his sacrifice.

• God forgives us for Christ’s sake by his grace, and by the power of his teaching he turns people away from their sins and leads them to righteousness. It is through faith that Christ’s blood is able to purify our conscience from dead works of sin to serve the living God in righteousness. All of the doctrinal aspects of the sacrifice of Christ teach moral principles on how we should live our lives in faith, following the pattern of his sacrifice to be dead to sin and alive to God in righteousness.

  Romans 1:1-11, 2:4, 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 1:14, Acts 3:26, 13:38, 1 John 2:12, Hebrews 10:14-18, Isaiah 53:12

Christ’s Sacrifice Demonstrates God’s Righteousness

• Christ’s sacrifice served as an open and public demonstration of God’s righteousness that sinful mankind can look to and have faith in. All who believe and have faith in the principles demonstrated in Christ’s sacrifice will not perish but have eternal life.

  Jesus was lifted up in crucifixion as a sacrifice for all to see as a public demonstration of God’s righteousness to show what was due to sin from God. In this way, God’s righteousness is upheld and sin was condemned at its very source, in the flesh of mortal human nature where the impulses and tendencies to sin reside and operate, John 3:14-17, Romans 3:25, 8:3, Galatians 3:1, Colossians 2:11-15. The righteousness of God in Jesus’ crucifixion is openly revealed through the gospel for us to have faith in, Romans 1:16-17.

John 3:14-17, 10:18, 12:32-33, Philippians 2:8, Romans 8:32 Acts 2:23, 4:27-28, Isaiah 53

• Christ’s sacrifice was the means through which God exercises his grace to save sinful mankind from sin and death by making them righteous through faith, without compromising his justice or righteousness. He can therefore be just in showing grace to the unjust who have faith in him, while at the same time upholding his justice in imposing death as the consequence for sin, Romans 4:3-8.

  Romans 3:21-26 is a key Bible passage explaining this and is well translated in The New Testament in Modern Speech by Weymouth.

  21 But now a righteousness coming from God has been brought to light apart from any Law, both Law and Prophets bearing witness to it—

  22 a righteousness coming from God, which depends on faith in Jesus Christ and extends to all who believe. No distinction is made;

  23 for all alike have sinned, and all consciously come short of the glory of God,

  24 gaining acquittal from guilt by His free unpurchased grace through the deliverance which is found in Christ Jesus.

  25 He it is whom God put forward as a Mercy-Seat, rendered efficacious through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness—because of the passing over, in God’s forbearance, of the sins previously committed—

  26 with a view to demonstrating, at the present time, His righteousness, that He may be shown to be righteous Himself, and the giver of righteousness to those who believe in Jesus.

  Romans 3:21-26

  • Romans 3:21 - righteousness can only come from God.

  • Romans 3:22 - God’s purpose is to bring his righteousness upon all who believe by their faith in Jesus Christ

  • Romans 3:23 - all have sinned and no man has any righteousness of his own Romans 3:10, therefore no one is able to save themself from death.

  • Romans 3:24 - even though we sin and are unrighteous, God is able to justify us (or make us righteous) by his grace and mercy through the redemption (release from sin and death) in Christ’s sacrifice.

  • Romans 3:25 - God has set Jesus as a propitiation or mercy seat, which is the meeting place between God and man in the law of Moses. This redemption is efficacious to save through faith in his blood, because his sacrifice was a demonstration to publicly show God’s righteousness and justice in upholding death as the penalty for sin. Redemption means to pay a price to free someone from captivity, and is used figuratively to describe God saving us from sin and death through our faith in the principles that the sacrifice of Christ demonstrates.

  • Romans 3:26 - If we have faith in the principles of God’s righteousness shown in the sacrifice of Christ, then God can be just and right in showing grace to justify (or make righteous) the unjust who have no righteousness of their own, Romans 4:3-8. God can be just in showing grace and mercy by forgiving sins, without compromising his righteousness or justice. When we confess our sins and repent of them we are acknowledging that God is righteous and we are wrong to sin.

• God forgives us for Christ’s sake by his grace.

  Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 1:14, Acts 3:26, 13:38, 1 John 2:12, Isaiah 53:12

• For Jesus to show God’s righteousness in his sacrificial death, he also had to have shown it in his life. This is why Christ’s sacrifice is able to save from sin and death.

  Hebrews 4:15, Luke 4:1-13, Matthew 3:13-17, Acts 2:24

Christ’s Sacrifice Condemned Sin

• God sent Christ in sinful flesh nature to condemn sin in the flesh, ie at the very source of sin, Romans 8:3. The term “sinful flesh” or “flesh of sin” refers to mortal human nature with its impulses and tendencies to sin that Jesus shared with us. In his life, Christ overcame temptation and sin, and in his sacrificial death, Christ condemned sin at its source, in the very flesh of mortal human nature where the impulses and tendencies to sin reside and operate.

  The condemnation of sin in the flesh by Jesus in his sacrifice is described in more literal detail in Galatians 5:24 as “crucifying the flesh with its passions and desires”, which illustrates a moral principle for us to live by. It is only because Jesus had overcome sin in his life that his sacrificial death was able to be a condemnation of the impulses and tendencies to sin in the flesh of mortal human nature.

  Romans 8:2-4 - the term “sinful flesh” or “flesh of sin”, Romans 8:3 refers to mortal human nature with its impulses and tendencies to sin that Jesus shared with us. The “likeness of” means the “same as”, the Greek means “likeness” in the sense of identity not resemblance. Compare the use of “likeness” in Philippians 2:7 and the extent of Jesus’ likeness to sinful flesh in Hebrews 2:14.

• Christ destroyed the “devil” within himself that has the power of death. The “devil” is the personification of the sinful impulses and tendencies that are a part of mortal human nature which Jesus shared with us.

  Hebrews 2:14-15 - the devil, (Greek - diabolos), is the Bible term for sin personified. Sin is the death-power. Diabolos, as sin personified, is an active spirit of disobedience hostile to God’s law that resides and operates in the mortal “flesh and blood” human nature that Jesus partook of. Christ took away sin at its source by the sacrifice of himself. There is no such being as the personal immortal devil of Christianity. The belief in such a being is due to the misunderstanding of certain figures and symbols in the Bible.

  Romans 6:6 - the body of sin means a mortal body in which the impulses and tendencies to sin reside and operate.

The Resurrection is the Saving Power of Christ’s Sacrifice

• The purpose of Christ's death was to demonstrate God's love through a sacrifice for sin. This was necessary to annul the law of sin and death which originated with Adam's sin. Jesus accomplished this by completely meeting its requirements through a temporary submission to its power of death in his sacrifice. Because he was sinless, his immortality through resurrection became possible in accordance with the law of obedience. In this way, sin is taken away, and righteousness is established. Without Christ’s resurrection, there could be no forgiveness of sins or deliverance from mortality.

  1 Corinthians 15:17-23, Romans 4:24-25, 5:10, John 3:14-17, 1:29, 6:63, Acts 10:43, 13:32-38, Titus 2:14

• Jesus differed from other people in the sinlessness of his personal character, in which God was well-pleased. It was this that opened the way for his resurrection, for had he been a sinner as other people, death would have had the same power over him that it has over everyone else.

  God raised Jesus from the dead and exalted him to a glorified, immortal state of existence, in which he at the present time acts as a priestly mediator between the Father and those who come unto God in faith by him.

  Acts 2:24, 5:30, 10:40, 17:31, John 8:46, Romans 1:3-4, 6:9, 2 Corinthians 13:4, Ephesians 1:20-21, Hebrews 4:14-15, 7:23-28, 8:1, 1 John 3:5

Christ Died as Our Representative

• God’s plan of salvation involved sending his son Jesus to be our representative as a mortal man with the same condemned and sinful nature as us in need of salvation himself from mortality. The purpose of this was to provide a way out of this mortal death state, both for himself and for his brethren, through death and subsequent resurrection.

  Christ’s sacrifice was to demonstrate and uphold the righteousness of God as the first condition of restoration, that God might be just while justifying the unjust, who should approach him in faith and identification with the principles demonstrated in the sacrifice of Christ.

• As our representative, Christ was himself saved from mortality through his sacrifice for us, so that we can be saved from our sins and mortality in and through him by faith.

  Jesus obtained eternal redemption “through his own blood” for himself and us, Hebrews 9:12, 13:20. Redemption is a figure of speech used to describe God’s “deliverance” and salvation from sin and death. In Hebrews 9:12 (KJV), the words “for us” are not in the original Greek text. The Greek verb is in the middle voice, signifying a unique action where one performs something upon oneself, “having obtained in himself eternal redemption.” The purpose of Jesus’ sacrifice was to obtain eternal redemption for us, and he did so by obtaining it in and for himself as our representative.

  The “holy place” in Hebrews 9:12 symbolises God’s salvation of immortality and Jesus is specifically said to have entered the “holy place” “through his own blood”. This signifies that the literal fulfilment of the symbolism is that it was through the blood of his sacrifice that Jesus obtained eternal redemption, (or deliverance from mortality to immortality), for himself in order to obtain it for us, Hebrews 9:24. Jesus’ shed blood was efficacious to redeem or save himself through his “faith in his blood”, Romans 3:25, viz his faith in the principles of God’s righteousness and the condemnation of sin that the sacrificial shedding of his own blood demonstrated.

  Jesus was sinless and needed no reconciliation to God or forgiveness through his sacrifice as we do, but he did need saving from his mortal human nature with its impulses and tendencies to sin. God redeemed and saved Jesus from mortality “through his own blood” (Hebrews 9:12, 13:20) by raising him from the dead and giving him immortality on the basis of his “faith in his blood” (Romans 3:25).

  Jesus’ faith in the principles of God’s righteousness and the condemnation of sin that his sacrifice demonstrated, was evident in his life of perfect righteousness and obedience even unto the death of the cross, when he literally demonstrated the righteousness of God and the condemnation of sin in himself by his sacrificial death. This was why God could righteously raise him from the dead to immortality. His was an obedience of faith, Romans 1:1-6, 5:19, 16:25-27, Acts 2:24, Philippians 2:8.

  His baptism was an act of identification in faith with his sacrifice which was when he would completely “fulfil all righteousness” by demonstrating God’s righteousness to the fullest extent in himself, Matthew 3:15, Luke 12:50, Romans 3:25-26. Jesus exhibited his faith in the principles of God’s righteousness and the condemnation of sin demonstrated in his sacrifice literally in himself, whereas we do so symbolically by identification in faith by baptism.

  Jesus’ obedience of faith unto the death of the cross was his willing submission to his Father’s will that salvation from sin and death for mortal mankind is only available on the basis of faith and identification in the principles of God’s righteousness and the condemnation of sin as demonstrated in his sacrifice. As our representative and forerunner, Jesus went through this process himself literally whereas we go through it symbolically in baptism.

  Christ himself was included in the sacrificial work which he did “for us”. It was for himself that it might be for us, for how otherwise could we obtain redemption in him as our representative if he had not first obtained it for himself, for us to become joint heirs of with him?

  Jesus was not disconnected from the operation of his own sacrifice. His sacrifice was operative on himself first of all. For Jesus to be our representative, it was necessary that he should himself be the first to undergo the process and be the first to benefit from the results.

  As a sufferer from the effects of sin he inherited, Jesus had himself to be delivered from those effects. As the mode of that deliverance was by death on the cross, that death was for himself first that it might be for us, not for sins that he committed, but for deliverance from mortal human nature which he suffered in common with his brethren. Jesus was made in all points like his brethren, partaking of their mortal flesh and blood nature for the express purpose of redeeming it in himself from the dominion of sin and death, and inviting them to build on the new foundation he laid, Heb. 2:11–17.

  As our representative he is the beginning of the new creation and the first fruits of those who sleep, the forerunner on our behalf, the firstborn among many brothers, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 Corinthians 15:23, Hebrews 6:19-20, Romans 8:29. He was the nucleus of eternal life for all who identify in faith “with him” in baptism and are “in Christ.”

  Jesus' own deliverance was as necessary as that of his brethren. In fact, if Christ had not first been saved from death (Hebrews 5:7) - if he himself had not first obtained eternal redemption through his own blood (Hebrews 9:12) - there would have been no hope for us, for we obtain salvation only through what he has accomplished in himself. He overcame and we share his victory over sin and death by uniting with him in faith. This we do in baptism, in which we are made partakers of his death as well as his resurrection.

  The offerings under the Law of Moses symbolically prefigured the sacrifice of Jesus. In particular, the annual offerings made by the High Priest on the Day of Atonement for himself and the people prefigured the one sacrifice that Jesus, as our High Priest, offered once to save himself and those whom he represented.

  Hebrews 9:12, 24, 13:20, 9:6-15, 1:3, 2:9, 10:1-25, 5:7-9, 4:14-15, 7:23-28, 12:2, Romans 1:1-4, 5:17-19, 6:9, 8:17, 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, Philippians 2:5-9, 1 Peter 2:24.

  Hebrews 9:19-28 - purification is not literal but is used figuratively to describe God’s salvation, Hebrews 9:23 (KJV) “It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens (that is, the symbols used under the law), should be purified with these (Mosaic sacrifices), but the heavenly things themselves (that is, Christ who is prefigured by the symbols in the law), with better sacrifices than these” (that is, the sacrifice of Christ).”

  Zechariah 9:9 - note Zechariah 9:9 (KJV) where the margin has an alternative translation of “saving himself” instead of “having salvation”.

• Baptism is an act of faith and obedience by which a believer of the Gospel puts on Christ to receive the remission of sins.

  Mark 16:16, Galatians 3:27, Acts 2:38, 10:48, 22:16, 1 Peter 3:18-21

• Baptism is our identification in faith with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ “with him” as our representative, to be dead to sin but alive to righteousness. Because Christ’s sacrifice is efficacious to save through our faith in the principles of God’s righteousness and the condemnation of sin, it teaches powerful moral principles for us to live by in faith.

  Romans 6:1-11 - note the ideas of identification “with Christ” in his death and resurrection to be dead to sin and alive to God, viz; baptised into Christ, baptised into his death, buried with him by baptism into death, united with him in a death like his, united with him in a resurrection like his, crucified with him, died with Christ, live with him.

  Romans 8:13-14, Galatians 2:20, 5:24-25, Ephesians 4:22-24, Philippians 3:8-11, Colossians 2:11-13, 3:9-10, 1 Peter 2:21-25.

Christ Did Not Die as a Substitute Instead of Us

• The death of Christ was not as a substitute to appease the wrath of an offended God. He did not pay our debt instead of us. If Jesus paid our debt by dying instead of us then logically we should not die and Jesus should not have risen from the dead. If Jesus died instead of us then our sins are not forgiven by God’s grace because a debt was paid.

• If Jesus paid our debt by dying instead of us then the redeeming power of his sacrifice was in his death, whereas Paul says his resurrection is essential for our forgiveness 1 Corinthians 15:17.

• If Christ died as a substitute instead of us and paid our debt, then there is no moral power in his sacrifice because we do not need to repent because we are already saved no matter what sins we commit.

• Humanity does not inherit any guilt from Adam’s sin that required a debt to be paid or removed by sacrificial purification, as the church doctrine of Original Sin teaches. The sacrifice of Christ does not meet any legal requirement or perform any transaction.

Adapted from extracts from various sources including “A Declaration of the Truth Revealed in the Bible”, “The Christadelphian Instructor”, “The Nature of Man and the Sacrifice of Christ”, “The Blood of Christ”, “The Law of Moses”, “The Christadelphian Magazine” by Robert Roberts