It is difficult for us who have been born and raised in a Christian culture to understand just how revolutionary was Jesus. We take for granted the promises of grace and adoption into God’s family. We grow up calling God, “Our Father.” Early on we learn to “come boldly” before His throne with our requests. We never had to depend on a human priesthood to make intercession for us because we have Jesus who opened the way into the throne. Because Paul wrote in Romans 10:4, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth” we did not think we could by our own works obtain righteousness. We knew from Ephesians 2 that we are saved by grace.
Jesus changed everything. Solomon once wrote there was nothing new under the sun. Obviously he didn’t know the Good News that was coming. Over and over in Galatians Paul speaks of the bondage of law keeping and the wonders of freedom in Christ. Because of Jesus the keeping of the law became a joyful process of wanting to be like our Savior by being as much like Him as possible. The law was not a list of don’ts but a model of love for God and love for each other.
Paul couldn’t have said it more clearly than he does in II Corinthians 5:17. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” It’s a new day. It’s a new message. It’s a new way of life. It is why the first four books of the New Testament are called Gospels. It is why the early church referred to itself as “The Way.”
Written by Roger Bothwell on September 6, 2010
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org