Christ and Him Crucified

From Gospel Translations

To attempt to summarize the apostle Paul’s doctrine of salvation in the compass of a short essay might seem an act of folly. Yet try we must.

Paul’s preaching of the Gospel proceeds from the conviction that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised “Messiah” and Son of God, whom God sent into the world in “the fullness of time” to fulfill His promises to His people, Israel (2 Cor. 1:18–22; 6:2; Gal. 4:4). The great message of Paul’s preaching is the “mystery” of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Col. 1:26; Rom. 16:26; 2 Tim. 1:10). Though previously hidden, this mystery was now entrusted to him and the other apostles as “stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor. 4:1; Eph. 3:2ff.).

This Pauline conviction helps to clarify the relation between his teaching regarding salvation and the teaching of Jesus Christ in the Gospels. Just as Christ emphasized the coming of the kingdom of God, which introduces the blessings of the “age to come” into “this age,” so Paul emphasizes the coming of Jesus Christ as the One through whom the saving blessings of God are now being granted to His people. The teaching of Jesus in the Gospels is similar to a musical overture that announces the theme of the whole New Testament: the kingdom of God is “at hand.” Paul’s preaching develops this theme by offering a comprehensive explanation of the saving blessings of the kingdom.

But how does the apostle explain the salvation that Christ brings? What has Christ accomplished by His death and resurrection that provides redemption for those who belong to Him?

Paul summarizes his answer to this question in 1 Corinthians 15:3–4: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” This summary is similar to others in Paul’s epistles (see 1 Cor. 2:2; Gal. 6:14). In these passages, Paul declares that the Gospel he preaches focuses upon the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In Paul’s epistles, several biblical themes are used to designate distinct aspects of the salvation Christ has procured for believers. The principal themes that Paul uses to describe Christ’s work of atonement include: First, “sacrifice” for or “expiation” of the guilt of human sin; Second, “propitiation” of God’s holy wrath against his sinful creatures; Third, “reconciliation” or peace with God; Fourth, “redemption” from the curse and condemnation of the Law; and Fifth, “victory” over sin, death, and all powers that oppose God’s kingdom.

That Paul understands Christ’s death as a sacrifice for sin is indisputable. In 1 Corinthians 15:3, Paul declares that Christ died “for our sins.” In another passage, he says that God sent His own Son “in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin” (Rom. 8:3). Paul also teaches that Christ’s death was a propitiation of the wrath of God. In His holiness, God can only abhor sin. However, the marvel of the Gospel is that God has lovingly propitiated His wrath through the death of His own Son (Rom. 3:25; 5:9−10; 2 Cor. 5:21). Christ’s atoning work is also a work of reconciliation. By His death, Christ has removed every obstacle to the sinner’s peace with God.

This work of reconciliation includes a God-ward and a human-ward aspect. It not only removes the obstacle of God’s wrath (Rom. 5:9–10), but it also summons the sinner to “be reconciled” to God (2 Cor. 5:20). The theme of redemption also figures prominently in Paul’s understanding of Christ’s atonement. The biblical idea of redemption emphasizes the payment of a price that secures the deliverance of the sinner from bondage (1 Tim. 2:5–6). In one of the clearest statements of Christ’s atonement as a work of redemption, the apostle Paul declares that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). Finally, an overlooked feature of Christ’s work of atonement is the victory that it achieves over the power of sin, death, and indeed every form of opposition to God’s kingly rule (1 Cor. 15:54–57). By His death and resurrection, Christ disarmed the powers that oppose God’s kingdom (Col. 2:13–15).