Jesus and Salvation Series (Part 16B)

Welcome to the Summer 2006 study for the Koinonia Class of Calvary Baptist Church, Denver, Colorado.  We’re looking at the issue of Jesus and Salvation, using the book “Is Jesus The Only Savior”  [James R. Edwards, Is Jesus The Only Savior? (Grand Rapids/Cambridge: 2005)].  We encourage each person to buy a copy and follow along.

AMAZING GRACE

One of our most famous and popular hymns is “Amazing Grace”, written by John Newton.  It is often played at funerals, although it is not primarily a funeral song. It is a song about the wonder of God’s grace in saving a sinner from his deserved fate and delivering him from the debilitating effects of sin.  It’s first verse is:

     Amazing grace!  How sweet the sound
     That saved a wretch like me!
     I once was lost, but now am found;
     Was blind, but now I see.

John Newton, a former slave trader, probably wrote the hymn sometime between 1760 & 1770 AD, 15 years or so after he left his career as captain of a slave ship, and some 20 years after his conversion to Christianity.  In calling himself a “wretch”, Newton was well aware of his own sin and his need to be saved from it.  He knew he needed a savior, for being lost, he could not find his own way out of the mess of his life.

Grace is undeserved favor, a gift.  One of the best descriptions I’ve heard of grace is the acrostic:

     God’s
     Riches
     At
     Christ’s
     Expense

I like this acrostic for its clarity: anything I receive from God is not because of my having earned it, it is a gift from God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  It is not a “cheap” gift.  It cost Jesus his life.  Jesus died for my sins.  His death paid the penalty for sin which had separated me from God.

When I worked with college students from other countries who were studying here, this was the major barrier that kept them from understanding, much less accepting, the gospel.  They considered it unjust that one person could pay for another person’s sins.  It is each person’s responsibility to pay his or her own debts.  Justice demands that; and they would not be convinced that God would require any less.  If anyone is to be “saved”, they must do it themselves.

I don’t think they had a problem with the idea of sin—they saw it in themselves and in others.  They had a problem with the Christian remedy for sin.  For them, they only way to deal with sin was to do something to offset it.  The remedy for them is on works, not grace.

The latter part of Edwards’ 8th chapter concerns the concept of grace, which is provided by the sacrifice of Jesus.  Edwards says that if Jesus ”were only the revealer (of God) he would be a source of knowledge and enlightenment about God, but not necessarily a source of power from God.” … “Jesus brings what we cannot find within creation, what we cannot offer ourselves. He brings grace—grace that accepts, forgives, and transforms.”

Referring to a number of New Testament passages, Edwards makes the point that Jesus died “on behalf of others”, “for us”, as our “paschal lamb” and “sacrifice”.  In summary, Edwards says, “The idea that Jesus’ life, ministry, and death provided a vicarious covering ‘on behalf of others’ is the dominant template for the New Testament understanding of Jesus.”

In this, Edwards presents the classic, orthodox Christian understanding of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  Jesus is not just our model, teacher, mentor, or example.  Jesus is our Savior.

In the next post we’ll look at the final section of chapter 8 where Edwards talks about “three effects of God’s grace in Christ.”