condensed theology lecture 26

8/6/2019 Condensed Theology Lecture 26

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Condensed Theology

A Primer in Systematic Theology



Christology:

The Doctrine of Christ

What does the Bible teach about

Jesus Christ?



The Extent of the Atonement

For whom did Christ die?



An Actual Atonement

Christ‘s death is the efficient

cause of redemption



An Actual Atonement

• Christ‘s death actually obtains redemption andthe forgiveness of sins

– Rom 5:10: For if while we were enemies we were

reconciled to God through the death of His Son, muchmore, having been reconciled, we shall be saved byHis life.

– Rom 7:4: Therefore, my brethren, you also were

made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, sothat you might be joined to another, to Him who wasraised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruitfor God.



An Actual Atonement

• Christ‘s death actually obtains redemptionand the forgiveness of sins – Eph 2:16: …and might reconcile them both in

one body to God through the cross, by ithaving put to death the enmity.

– Heb 9:26: Otherwise, He would have neededto suffer often since the foundation of the

world; but now once at the consummation ofthe ages He has been manifested to put awaysin by the sacrifice of Himself.



Some, but Not All People Are

Saved



Some, but Not All

• Some, but not all people are saved. – Matt 7:22-23: Many will say to Me on that day, ―Lord,

Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Yourname cast out demons, and in Your name perform

many miracles?‖ And then I will declare to them, ―Inever knew you; depart from me, you who practicelawlessness.‖

– John 5:28-29: Do not marvel at this; for an hour iscoming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear Hisvoice, and will come forth; those who did the gooddeeds to a resurrection of life, those who committedthe evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.



The Inescapable Conclusion



The Inescapable Conclusion

• Christ‘s death actually saves people.

• Only some people are saved.

• Therefore Christ died only to save somepeople.



The Atonement Is Limited



Limited Atonement

• This teaching is sometimes called ―limited

atonement‖ because it posits that

atonement was made for a definite

number of particular people.

• Negatively, it teaches that atonement wasnot made for all people without exception.



The Atonement and Election



Limited to the Elect

• The doctrine of election, implies that Jesuscame to earth to fulfill his work for thosewhom the Father had chosen to grant

eternal life

• The implications of election for theatonement are unpacked throughout the

New Testament




• John 6:35-40: Jesus said to them, "I am the bread oflife; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he whobelieves in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that youhave seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father

gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to MeI will certainly not cast out. For I have come down fromheaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him whosent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of allthat He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on

the last day. For this is the will of My Father, thateveryone who beholds the Son and believes in Him willhave eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on thelast day.‖




• John 10:11-16: "I am the good shepherd; the goodshepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is ahired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner ofthe sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep

and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scattersthem. He flees because he is a hired hand and is notconcerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd,and I know My own and My own know Me, even as theFather knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down

My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are notof this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear Myvoice; and they will become one flock with oneshepherd.‖




• John 10:24-29: The Jews then gathered around Him,and were saying to Him, "How long will You keep us insuspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesusanswered them, "I told you, and you do not believe; the

works that I do in My Father's name, these testify of Me.But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and theyfollow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they willnever perish; and no one will snatch them out of My

hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greaterthan all; and no one is able to snatch them out of theFather's hand.‖




• John 11:50-52: ―…nor do you take intoaccount that it is expedient for you thatone man die for the people, and that the

whole nation not perish.‖ Now he did notsay this on his own initiative, but beinghigh priest that year, he prophesied thatJesus was going to die for the nation, and

not for the nation only, but in order that Hemight also gather together into one thechildren of God who are scattered abroad.




• John 17:2-3: …even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, thatto all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This iseternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and JesusChrist whom You have sent.

• John 17:6: I have manifested Your name to the men whom Yougave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to

Me, and they have kept Your word.• John 17:9: I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world,

but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours.• John 17:20: I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also

who believe in Me through their word.• John 17:24: Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given

Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory whichYou have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of theworld.




• Titus 1:1-3: Paul, a bond-servant of God and anapostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of thosechosen of God and the knowledge of the truth

which is according to godliness, in the hope ofeternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promisedlong ages ago, but at the proper timemanifested, even His word, in the proclamation

with which I was entrusted according to thecommandment of God our Savior.



Problem Passages

―All‖ and ―World,‖ etc.



Problem Passages: Preliminaries

• We are not advocating exegeticalgymnastics

• We are not saying, ―‗All‘ doesn‘t mean ‗all‘‖

(this is absurd).

• Neither are we saying, ― ‗All‘ means ‗all‘‖

(this is equally absurd—words are not self-defining).

• Rather…



Problem Passages: Preliminaries

• We must do interpretation in terms of theanalogy of Scripture

• We must do interpretation in terms of thelaws of language



The ―All‖ Passages



What Does ―All‖ Mean?

• Matt 10:22: You will be hated by all because ofMy name, but it is the one who has endured tothe end who will be saved.

• Acts 26:4: So then, all Jews know my manner oflife from my youth up, which from the beginningwas spent among my own nation and atJerusalem.

• Matt 3:5: Then Jerusalem was going out to him,and all Judea and all the district around theJordan.




• John 12:32: ―And I, if I am lifted up from

the earth, will draw all men to Myself.‖




• Rom 5:18: So then as through onetransgression there resulted condemnationto all men, even so through one act of

righteousness there resulted justification oflife to all men.

• 1 Cor 15:22: For as in Adam all die, so

also in Christ all will be made alive.




• Rom 8:32: He who did not spare His ownSon, but delivered Him over for us all, howwill He not also with Him freely give us all

things?




• Rom 11:32: For God has shut up all indisobedience so that He may show mercyto all.




• 2 Cor 5:14-15: For the love of Christcontrols us, having concluded this, thatone died for all, therefore all died; and He

died for all, so that they who live might nolonger live for themselves, but for Him who

died and rose again on their behalf.




• 1 Tim 2:3-6: This is good and acceptablein the sight of God our Savior, who desiresall men to be saved and to come to the

knowledge of the truth. For there is oneGod, and one mediator also between God

and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave

Himself as a ransom for all, the testimonygiven at the proper time.




• 1 Tim 4:10: For it is for this we labor andstrive, because we have fixed our hope onthe living God, who is the Savior of all

men, especially of believers.




• Titus 2:11 For the grace of God hasappeared, bringing salvation to all men.




• Heb 2:9: But we do see Him who wasmade for a little while lower than theangels, namely, Jesus, because of the

suffering of death crowned with glory andhonor, so that by the grace of God He

might taste death for everyone.




• 2 Pet 3:9 The Lord is not slow about Hispromise, as some count slowness, but ispatient toward you, not wishing for any to

perish but for all to come to repentance.



The ―World‖ Passages



What Does ―World‖ Mean?

• Col 1:6: …which has come to you, just as in allthe world also it is constantly bearing fruit andincreasing, even as it has been doing in you also

since the day you heard of it and understood thegrace of God in truth.

• John 17:9: I ask on their behalf; I do not ask onbehalf of the world, but of those whom You have

given Me; for they are Yours.




• John 3:16: For God so loved the world,that He gave His only begotten Son, thatwhoever believes in Him shall not perish,

but have eternal life.

• 1 John 2:15: Do not love the world nor thethings in the world. If anyone loves the

world, the love of the Father is not in him.




• John 1:29: The next day he saw Jesuscoming to him and said, "Behold, theLamb of God who takes away the sin of

the world!




• John 4:42: …and they were saying to the

woman, ―It is no longer because of what

you said that we believe, for we have

heard for ourselves and know that thisOne is indeed the Savior of the world.‖

• 1 John 4:14: We have seen and testify

that the Father has sent the Son to be theSavior of the world.




• 1 John 2:2: …and He Himself is the propitiationfor our sins; and not for ours only, but also forthose of the whole world.

• 1 John 4:9: By this the love of God wasmanifested in us, that God has sent His onlybegotten Son into the world so that we might livethrough Him. In this is love, not that we loved

God, but that He loved us and sent His Son tobe the propitiation for our sins.




• 2 Cor 5:19: …namely, that God was in

Christ reconciling the world to Himself, notcounting their trespasses against them,

and He has committed to us the word ofreconciliation.



―Buying‖ False Teachers?



―Buying‖ False Teachers?

• 2 Peter 2:1: But false prophets also aroseamong the people, just as there will also be falseteachers among you, who will secretly introducedestructive heresies, even denying the Master

who bought them, bringing swift destructionupon themselves.• Jude 4: For certain persons have crept in

unnoticed, those who were long beforehandmarked out for this condemnation, ungodly

persons who turn the grace of our God intolicentiousness and deny our only Master andLord, Jesus Christ.



The Active Obedience of

Christ



Christ‘s Active Obedience

• Even though the doctrine of the atonementdeals with the nature and implications ofJesus‘ substitutionary death for sinners

• It is typical for systematic theologies tohandle Jesus‘ substitutionary life forsinners in the same category




• Jesus‘ suffering and death is (as we

mentioned in our last lecture) commonlyreferred to as his passive obedience—he

gave himself up to death, submittedhimself to its pain and shame

– Phil 2:8: Being found in appearance as a

man, He humbled Himself by becomingobedient to the point of death, even death ona cross.




• There seems to me to be two problems hereregarding traditional systematic theology:

1) Jesus‘ righteous life is never said to be anatonement for sin

2) Jesus‘ death is not something that involved Christpassively; Christ laid down his own life (John10:17-18: For this reason the Father loves Me,because I lay down My life so that I may take itagain. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay itdown on My own initiative. I have authority to lay itdown, and I have authority to take it up again. Thiscommandment I received from My Father).




• Nevertheless, changing the terminologywill never catch on; the traditionalcategories are too entrenched in the

literature• Therefore we will use it here for the sake

of your further study.




• It is not only that Christ died for us(passive),

• But that he lived for us; he obeyed for us

(active)

– Phil 3:9: …and may be found in Him, not

having a righteousness of my own derived

from the Law, but that which is through faith inChrist, the righteousness which comes fromGod on the basis of faith.






(active)

– 1 Cor 1:30 But by His doing you are in ChristJesus, who became to us wisdom from God,

and righteousness and sanctification, andredemption.






(active)

– Rom 5:19: For as through the one man'sdisobedience the many were made sinners,

even so through the obedience of the One themany will be made righteous.






(active)

– Matt 3:15: But Jesus answering said to him,"Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting

for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then hepermitted Him.

Ch i t‘ A ti Ob di



Christ‘s Active Obedience:

Why This Is Important

• Christ‘s death for our sin, though it effects

expiation, propitiation, reconciliation,redemption, and many other benefits for

us—• Is not sufficient to save us apart from the

sinless life which allowed him to be the

sacrifice he became.

Christ‘s Acti e Obedience



Christ‘s Active Obedience:

Why This Is Important

• It is not enough to stand before God without sin,

• We need to be able to stand before God withpositive righteousness in order to be acceptedbefore him.

• We need not only to be those who have done nowrong, but also those who have done everythingright. – Matt 5:20: For I say to you that unless your

righteousness surpasses that of the scribes andPharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

– See the book of Romans!

condensed theology lecture 26

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