Growing in the Spirit. I recently had a fellow Christian argue with me that Jesus never "became sin." He was concerned to say that Jesus was not flawed, and never knew sin.
However, in explaining to him the necessity that Jesus did in effect "become sin" by being willing to suffer punishment that we deserve, I said the following...
"Growing in the knowledge of the Lord is not necessarily Salvation. Yes, atonement is being reconciled to God--not merely by asking forgiveness, and not merely by growing in the knowledge of God, but more, by repenting in the name of Jesus, through whom we receive eternal life.
"If only Jesus' works were qualified to atone for our sins and to give us eternal life, then nothing we do apart from him obtains for us salvation. All that we do, including repentance and spiritual growth, must begin with our embrace of Jesus as our spiritual life, because he alone is the source of eternal atonement for sin.
"What I'm saying is that in choosing Jesus as our atonement this is synonymous with embracing his spiritual life alone as our source of living, and rejecting all of our own carnal works and independence of mind. All our spiritual growth, and all of our repentance from here on out, comes through our abiding in his spiritual life. Only in this way do we benefit from his atonement and receive eternal life.
"When you say Jesus did not become "sin" for us, you are in effect denying that he became the source of our atonement. He went through suffering and death to make himself available to sinners who repent *in his name.* To repent apart from his name is to deny the necessity of his atonement."
Let me encourage you today to "walk in the Spirit," which doesn't mean that you have to receive mental impressions of what course to take each day, but rather, that we receive in our conscience a sense of how to behave in our decision-making in the spirit of God's love. Do this, and you will be blessed. Suffer for it, and you will be blessed even more!
However, in explaining to him the necessity that Jesus did in effect "become sin" by being willing to suffer punishment that we deserve, I said the following...
"Growing in the knowledge of the Lord is not necessarily Salvation. Yes, atonement is being reconciled to God--not merely by asking forgiveness, and not merely by growing in the knowledge of God, but more, by repenting in the name of Jesus, through whom we receive eternal life.
"If only Jesus' works were qualified to atone for our sins and to give us eternal life, then nothing we do apart from him obtains for us salvation. All that we do, including repentance and spiritual growth, must begin with our embrace of Jesus as our spiritual life, because he alone is the source of eternal atonement for sin.
"What I'm saying is that in choosing Jesus as our atonement this is synonymous with embracing his spiritual life alone as our source of living, and rejecting all of our own carnal works and independence of mind. All our spiritual growth, and all of our repentance from here on out, comes through our abiding in his spiritual life. Only in this way do we benefit from his atonement and receive eternal life.
"When you say Jesus did not become "sin" for us, you are in effect denying that he became the source of our atonement. He went through suffering and death to make himself available to sinners who repent *in his name.* To repent apart from his name is to deny the necessity of his atonement."
Let me encourage you today to "walk in the Spirit," which doesn't mean that you have to receive mental impressions of what course to take each day, but rather, that we receive in our conscience a sense of how to behave in our decision-making in the spirit of God's love. Do this, and you will be blessed. Suffer for it, and you will be blessed even more!
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