When Jesus died on the cross, did He make a mere provision whereby something could be done for us if we first do our part? Or did He actually do something for "all men"? We must now look again at that "wondrous cross" and see something that the enemy of our souls wants us to overlook.
Yes, He most certainly did do something for every human soul, more than a mere provision. The Bible often assures us that He "is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world" (1 John 2:2). As "all have sinned," so all are "being justified freely by His grace" (Romans 3:23,24). "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them" (2 Corinthians 5:19). Jesus came that He "might taste death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9). Through His "righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life." (Romans 5:18)
The common idea is that the sacrifice of Christ is only provisional, that is, it does nothing for anyone unless he first does something and "accepts Christ." According to this popular idea, Jesus stands back with His divine arms folded, waiting for the sinner to decide to "accept." In other words, salvation is a heavenly process that remains void until we take the initiative. Like a washing machine in a laundromat, it has been provided, but it is only provisional. It does nothing for us until we first put in the coins.
This sounds reasonable for it superficially explains why many are lost.
In contrast, the gospel which Paul proclaimed shines forth in our texts quoted above: (a) Christ did not limit His sacrifice, for in tasting "death for every man" He died "every man's" second death, (b) As "all have sinned,” so "all" are "being justified freely by His grace." This is a legal justification, as we shall soon see. (c) By virtue of Christ's sacrifice, God is not "imputing their trespasses" unto the world. He imputed them to Christ instead. This is why no lost person can suffer the second death until after the final judgment, which can come only after the second resurrection (See Revelation 2:10; 20:6-14). And this is why we all can live even now. Our very life is purchased by Him. (d) "The whole world" has been redeemed, if only they knew it and believed it and stopped resisting the grace of God.
Every person owes his or her physical life, even this earthly life and all he has or is to the One who "died for all." Whether one is a saint or a sinner, if he eats his daily food, he is nourished by the body and the blood of Christ. That means that the cross of Calvary is stamped on every loaf of bread. It is reflected in every water-spring.
When the sinner sees this truth and his heart appreciates its reality, he experiences justification by faith. This is therefore far more than a legal declaration of acquittal, for that was made at the cross for "all men." justification by faith includes a change of heart. It is the same as forgiveness. And New Testament forgiveness is more than a mere pardon. The Greek word for forgiveness means a taking away of the sin from the heart, reclaiming from it.
How Justification by Faith Works
This is how the believer who exercises true faith becomes inwardly and outwardly obedient to all the commandments of God. Christ alone has saved him and justified him, but his faith responds and "works by love." It is a new principle that permeates every nook and cranny of the human heart, "bringing every thought into captivity to Christ... [so that] obedience is fulfilled." (2 Corinthians 10:5,6)
Such faith, if it is not hindered and adulterated with error, will begin the moment the sinner chooses to respond and will then grow to be so mature and powerful that it will prepare a people for the return of Christ. This is that "everlasting gospel" that we find in Revelation 14:6-14 which is proclaimed to all the world just before the return of Jesus.
Does this mean that all will be saved? No, not all will be saved. But the reason is deeper than that the lost were not clever or prompt enough to seize the initiative. They will have actually resisted and rejected the salvation already "freely" given them in Christ. God has taken the initiative to save "all men," but humans have the power, the freedom of will, to thwart and veto what Christ has already accomplished for them and to throw away what was actually placed in their hands.
Nevertheless, there will be some, a "remnant," who do respond wholeheartedly. Christ "shall see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many." (Revelation 12:17; Isaiah 53:11)
We can cherish our alienation from Him and our hatred of His righteousness until we close the gate of heaven against ourselves. That is sad. But it is not necessary. According to the gospel concept, those who are saved at last are saved due to God's initiative; those who are lost are lost because of their own initiative.
Even the gift of faith is dealt to every man, even as Christ gave himself to every man (Romans 12:3). What then can prevent every man from being saved? The answer is, Nothing, except the fact that all men will not keep the faith that God gave them. If all would keep it, all would be saved.
It follows that there is not the slightest reason why all who have ever lived should not be saved unto eternal life, except that they would not have it. Christ died for all. So many spurn the gift given so freely.
According to Jesus, the only sin for which anyone can be lost is that of not appreciating and receiving His grace. This is what unbelief is—receiving it in vain. "He who does not believe is condemned .... And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved [chose] darkness rather than light." (John 3:17-19)
How can it be that the cross is stamped on every loaf of bread, and even unbelieving sinners enjoy life because of Christ's sacrifice? As the Lamb "slain from the foundation of the world," He has truly "brought life ... to light through the gospel" (Revelation 13:8; 2 Timothy 1:10). The human race was so degraded in the time of the Roman Empire that mankind would have eventually destroyed themselves if Christ had not come when He did "in the fulness of the time." (Galatians 4:4)
Even the wicked today draw their next breath because of Christ's cross, though they do not know the fact. No one can know a moment's joyous laughter except that a price was paid for it by the One on whom was laid "the chastisement for our peace," and by whose "stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). This is another way of saying that for "all men" He has brought "life," enduring the imputation of their trespasses unto Himself, and for those who believe and appreciate His cross, He has also brought "immortality." (2 Timothy 1:10)
Paul rejoices in the grand work that Christ accomplished on His cross: "As through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life" (Romans 5:18). This is such an astounding statement that people have wrestled with it for centuries. There are four ways that it has been interpreted:
(a) The Calvinist view implies that Paul did not say it quite right—"the free gift... resulting in justification of life" came only on the elect, not on "all men." Or, the non-elect are so unimportant that they aren't included in "all men." But the text itself denies this view.
(b) The Universalist view understands from this that "all men" must be saved at last. But the Bible often says clearly that in the end some will choose to be lost.
(c) The popular Arminian view also implies that Paul did not say it quite right—"the free gift... resulting in justification of life" did not actually come upon "all men." Christ only made a provision so that it might possibly come if but not until they do something right first. Unless they activate the heavenly process, nothing happens. The washing machine in the laundromat is only a provision, for it needs coins. This view is widely believed, for it superficially explains why so many will be lost—they didn't take the initiative to put the coins into the machine. But this view conflicts with what Paul said.
(d) Paul's own view is far better Good News. He said it exactly right: Christ as "the last Adam" has reversed all the evil that the first Adam did. As surely as "all men" were condemned by Adam's sin, so surely "all men" have been legally justified by Christ's sacrifice. He has already tasted death for "every man." He is the propitiation for the sins "of the whole world." No one could draw his next breath unless his sins had already been imputed unto Christ, for no one, saint or sinner, could bear his own full guilt even for a moment and still live. But human unbelief can negate the justification which has already been given us.
Thus Christ did more than make a mere provision for a possible salvation that becomes real only if we succeed in doing everything just right. As the condemnation came upon all, so the justification comes upon all. The New English Bible makes it clear:
The judicial action, following upon the one offence, issued in a verdict of condemnation, but the act of grace, following upon so many misdeeds, issued in a verdict of acquittal.... It follows, then, that as the issue of one misdeed was condemnation for all men, so the issue of one just act is acquittal and life for all men. (Romans 5:16,18, NEB)
The fact that justification is a free gift is evidence that there is no exception. If it came upon only those who have some special qualification, then it would not be a free gift.
In the light of the cross, therefore, even "neglect" of "so great salvation" is rejection of it. This is unbelief. Thus the lost person condemns himself before the universe and unfits himself for eternal life. He shuts himself out of heaven
The true Good News is far better than we have been led to think. Our salvation does not depend on our cleverness in taking the initiative; it depends on our believing that God has taken the initiative in saving us. He elects all to be saved.
The Scandal of God Seeking Man
There is no parable that tells of a lost sheep that must find its way back to the shepherd; but there is one of a Good Shepherd who searches for His lost sheep. The ancient pagans were scandalized by the apostles' teaching that God is not waiting for man to seek Him, but that He is already seeking for man (Luke 15:3-10; 19:10; John 4:23; Romans 10:6-8,10-13). The woman in Christ's parable didn't wait for her lost silver coin to come back; she went looking for it until she found it. The prodigal son came home only because he remembered and was drawn by the father's love. The initiative was always with the father, and the son only responded to it. (See Luke 15:4-32)
The Bible teaches that it is not our job to initiate a "relationship" with Christ, for He has initiated the relationship with us. Our job is to believe it, to cherish it and to appreciate it.
Neither is it strictly true to say that our salvation depends on our maintaining a relationship with the Lord. The Good Shepherd keeps looking for His sheep "until He find it" (Luke 15:4). In other words, He wants you to be saved more than you want to be saved. He does not get tired or discouraged as we do because of our unbelief.
Your salvation depends on your believing that He loves you so much that He will maintain that relationship unless you beat Him off. Stop resisting the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit, who is called "the Comforter." It is He who convicts us of sin and seeks to motivate us to forsake it. He is called to come and sit down beside us and never to leave us (John 14:16-18; 16:7-13). Our devotion is always a response to His aggressive, initiating, and on-going love.
In other words, to put the gospel message into very simple words—salvation depends on faith. Our job is not to climb up to heaven or descend down to hell looking for Jesus as though He is hiding from us, but to recognize that He has found us by "the word of faith, which we preach" (Cf. Romans 10:6-8). One would have to be very hard-hearted not to say "Thank You" when he realizes how the Good Shepherd has saved him from the horror of a hell here and now and from the second death at last. Let us not resist or reject His election.
When we ask the Bible question, "What must I do to be saved?" we must let the Bible give the answer. The answer is not, Do this, and do that; get up earlier, work harder at studying and praying; do more witnessing; make more sacrifices; achieve more goals; master more techniques; go to more seminars. The true answer is, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, and your household" (Acts 16:30,31). The Bible does not teach a heresy. That "believing" is the kind that works and purifies the soul.
The key to our difficulty is understanding what it means to believe. It is folly to permit Satan to preempt that genuine word "faith" through his counterfeits so that we turn away from genuine righteousness by faith and revert to a subtle works program.
People Still Have Problems With the Good News
Doesn't the Bible tell us that it is our job to "seek the Lord"? Do the Old Testament "seek-ye-the-Lord" texts contradict Jesus' New Testament parable of the Good Shepherd seeking us?
It is a mistake to twist Old Testament texts to make them contradict the clear words of Jesus. Jesus came to reveal a "grace [that] did much more abound" (Exodus 21:24; Matthew 5:38-42; Romans 5:20). We must understand this or we will forever wallow in a subtle form of legalism.
There is nothing in the New Testament that implies that the Saviour waits indifferently until the lost sheep somehow seeks his way back. If that were true, wouldn't the sheep have something to boast of? Even the Old Testament texts that appear to give that impression do not do so in context.
Look at Isaiah 55:6: "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near." That sounds like Isaiah is contradicting Jesus! But take a closer look. The Hebrew word translated "seek" (darash) does not primarily mean seek, but "pay attention to," or "inquire of" (cf. its use in 1 Samuel 28:7). Isaiah says, Pay attention to the Lord "while He is near." The prophet emphasizes His nearness, not His farness.
There is no Bible statement that reveals God as indifferently waiting for us to arouse Him from lethargy. Our "seeking" is always represented as a heart-response to His initiative in seeking us. The true gospel gives a beautiful and powerful reason for serving Christ:
The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. (2 Corinthians 5:14,15, KJV)
The apostles proclaimed a message refreshingly different than much that is usually called "gospel" today. The original language implies that those who sense Christ's agape-love find it impossible "henceforth" to go on living for self. We see the Saviour's matchless love, and the sight of Him attracts and subdues our hearts. Alienation and rebellion are healed.
Getting Down to the Roots
The pure gospel provides a deep peace, and it grows in a heart that has been delivered from that subliminal fear that shadows us from our cradle to our grave.
Sometimes rage or bitterness erupts from the murky depths of our unknown selves like a volcano we thought was extinct. Molten lava pours forth from deep subterranean emotional fires.
Often they have smoldered from our infancy, yes, perhaps even from conception—like the child who realizes that he or she was the product of lust, of an unwanted pregnancy. Can a fetus share somehow the bitterness of its pregnant mother? After birth the unwanted child can wonder, "Where was God when this happened?" Or the child whose parents did not realize how they were destroying his or her sense of healthy self-respect by fault-finding or pressure to earn their love. Many of us carry a crushing load of guilt and alienation which stems from infantile traumas that are in no way our fault. Alcoholism, drug addiction, constitutional depression, sexual degradation, can often find their roots in infancy. Some say that homosexuality is triggered there.
And there are traumas of rejection that can devastate our adult lives, like the death of a spouse, or worse, divorce. Does the gospel have Good News for us?
Yes—justification by faith! It gives you peace with God, as though you had never sinned, and further, as though no one else had ever sinned against you. It solves the problem of that deep, deep bitterness that even psychiatrists can't reach. It enables you to forgive others, because you sense their guilt is yours as well "but for the grace of God."
One can even forgive negligent parents or guardians, those who wronged us in childhood, even alcoholic parents. It is practical healing for wounded emotions, always penetrating deeper, and then blending into sanctification. And it is ministered by a High Priest who is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities," our weaknesses. (Hebrews 4:15, KJV)
The best modern translation of High Priest is Divine Psychiatrist. He is on duty 24 hours a day; He never takes a holiday from duty; and He is so infinite that He gives you His full attention as if you were the only patient that He has.