For the longest time I did not understand Christianity. How could someone who died two thousand years ago pay the price for my sins? Why did my sins even need to be paid for in the first place, and who was being paid? Couldn’t an all loving, all powerful God just get rid of my sins? Why bother with the whole sending-the-Son bit at all?
Even after I became a Christian, these questions still bothered me. I accepted that Jesus was God’s son that he had been sent to die on the cross to pay for my sins, and that on the third day he had been resurrected. However, the only basis I had for this belief was faith. No one could adequately answer my questions.
The biggest question I had was “Who is being paid”?, and why do they need to be paid? The answer I got from Christians was that “God was being paid for his own glory”. That seemed like a nonsensical response if I ever heard one. I mine as well have been told “Because I said so”. In my mind I imagined this picture of a guy holding a dollar bill. I imagined him picking up that dollar from one hand, punching three holes in it, giving it to his other hand, and jumping up and down with excitement. Originally he had a dollar, now he had a dollar with holes in it, and he was suppose to be glorified? Come on! Our God is an awesome God, not a crazy God.
It took me awhile but I eventually got my answer. The answer lies in covenant. While sacrificing something to make things right might be a foreign concept to us, it was the basis of Hebrew law. For every transgression against God, a man had to sacrifice something to make things right. The more perfect the sacrifice the more it could atone. However, there was nothing perfect enough to cover all sin. As a result with each transgression, a man had to make a new sacrifice. He was always in a state of moving in and out of grace.
Enter the new covenant. The Old Testament states that there would be a savior who would come to establish a new covenant. This savior will fulfill the old law and establish a new law that is written on a man’s heart. As Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them”. For God to abolish the law would be impossible, and would deny his very nature. One can not be perfect and deny promises that you made. This answers the question, “Why can’t God just get rid of my sin if He’s all loving and all powerful?” To do so would go against his promise. Because God is all knowing, all powerful, and perfect He himself is holding Himself to that promise.
Then comes in the questions, since so many are falling short, how can God replace His old promise with a new one? The only way to replace the old promise is to fulfill it. It is only through completing the old covenant that a new one can be established.
The old covenant was made between God and Abraham. In exchange for a son, Abraham swore his family and his descendents to the law of God, through the act of circumcision. In order to fulfill this agreement there had to be a sacrifice that was perfect enough to pay for all the sins of all the people for the rest of time. Since the agreement was made over the promise of a son, it seems fitting that the only thing perfect enough would be God’s only begotten son. Living perfect and blameless, Jesus was God’s firstborn and only heir. Through his death he paid the price to God to fulfill His covenant with Abraham, to allow us to escape from the old law so we man not perish.
How do we get under the new law? We must proclaim that Christ was a perfect sacrifice (The son of God, perfect and blameless), and sacrificed on our behalf. This frees us from the old law, and we are able to enter into a new law through Christ. Through his sacrifice we are released of the old law, through his resurrection the new covenant is established. As heir to all that God has, a new covenant with Jesus allows us all things that were granted to his son.
I agree with you, that for everyone the only basis for his belief is faith.
but can we change our faith?
Stu, I suppose one COULD change their faith. I see it happen all the time. People change from having faith in THEMSELVES, to having faith in Jesus. The question is, “whom do YOU have faith in?”
Meg
I disagree, Alice. Faith is not the only basis for our beliefs. God is a God of order and He made His ways make sense. While certainly as mortal men we cannot think like God, and all His dealings do not make sense to us (Isaiah 55:8-9), He did not make it so we may only know His existence by faith. If we were meant to find Christ by faith alone, why have the Bible at all?
Too many Christians down-play the power and importance of rationally explaining their beliefs. For years I was searching for a reason God would only accept me through a savior. I longed for the answer so I could believe, but no one had it for me. There are millions of other out there in the same place, and too many Christians with little or no theology to fill the gap.
Instead the “Church” has chosen to stay ignorant of the fullness of His word. Rational explanations have been replaced by fluffy terms and explanations. “Why do you believe that?”, “Because the bible says so”. Why do I need a savior? “Because you’re a sinner”. Why doesn’t an all loving God just forgive me? “For His Glory, you must come through the Son”. How am I supposed to believe? “Just have faith!”
Faith has become a term to cover the real answer “I don’t know”. Yet, God has not left these things hidden from us. Christians are not meant to be irrational or strange. You don’t need to turn your brain off to experience God. Yet the “church” has tried to suggest this. My God is perfect not only in spirit, but in all areas of His existence. It can be proven by science, by His word, by His life… by all things of His existence. My beliefs stand on faith, but also on all proof of His perfect existence.