GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
PSALM 79:9
9 Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name;
deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake.
There are so many Old Testament passages that talk about the forgiveness of sins, and there is so very little in Judaism that talks about it. Mostly Jews just talk about how we forgive one another—and the sad, sad truth is that many Jews have become atheists. Is this, perhaps, because talking about forgiveness and atonement is so central to Christianity that it makes Jews uncomfortable?
When we talk about Jesus paying for our sins, whom did he pay? And for whom was the payment made?
Jesus Christ paid God for our sins. Since the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is complicated to the mind of fallen man, we must take things slowly. Jesus did not need to pay three times—once to the Father, once to the Spirit, and once to himself. Here is where the Athanasian Creed is of help to us, since it lays out Deuteronomy 6:4 and other passages by explaining: “So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God; yet they are not three Gods, but one God.” One of our pastors explained: “Inasmuch as Christ rendered the satisfaction, he is the mediator. Inasmuch as he also himself demanded the satisfaction, he is to be regarded as God, as the giver and avenger of the Law.” So Jesus, who is God and man, died as a man, and with that death paid God. Yet he remains both God and man in heaven and in eternity.
One ancient Church Father (Origen) thought that Christ paid the ransom to Satan, but this isn’t a Christian teaching. It’s nowhere to be found in the Bible. The Bible can hardly be clearer than Paul’s simple statement: “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:18).
For whom has this payment been made? This is shown in the Gospels. John the Baptist said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). John the Apostle said, “Jesus Christ, the Righteous One…is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Is it true that Christ’s atonement paid the price for unbelievers as well as believers? Yes: “God justifies the wicked” (Romans 4:5). When this message is preached to the unbeliever, the Holy Spirit creates the spark of faith in the unbeliever’s heart, and he is covered by that atonement on his behalf.
This is deliverance he offers to each of us in the Gospel—each of us who was born sinful, born an unbeliever, born into the kingdom of the wicked. The blood of Christ has covered us all, and the message of Gospel brings us, one by one, into the kingdom of the righteous.
For the sake of the name of Jesus, let it be so for you!
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota