Admittedly, I only skimmed this because of its length.
Considering his background and worldview, the author did some decent research to know that Jesus is the new Adam and has only one Father... God. However, the basic thrust of the article is an incomplete understanding of Christ’s sacrifice.
Yes, He died for us. He died to redeem us. However, God is not put into a box. The Old Testament expectations of the Christ were of one who would provide temporal relief for Israel. But God did something new and entirely unexpected with Jesus...
The story begins with an understanding of the meaning of “covenant.” Many see Jesus on the Cross and think in juridical terms (condemned by our sins) or even contractual terms (He paid the price), and these are true... but insufficient. He is the sacrificial offering of the New Covenant. Covenant differs from contract as much as marriage differs from prostitution. One is family-making, the other is a business arrangement.
Since our fall in the Garden of Eden, God has been rebuilding His Family... following the same model as our Creation. In the Creation account, He worked by days fixing the conditions of this new reality (it was taho wabahu— without form and void). He started by providing first the form and second the inhabitants. In the first three days, He separated light from dark (day one), separated the waters above and below (day two) and gave us dry land with vegetation (day three). He then filled these realms; sun and moon (day four), birds and fish (day five), and animals and man (day six). He rested on the seventh day not out of fatigue but to mark his creation with a covenant... the number seven is a covenantal number. We broke this covenant through disobedience. While some see Original Sin as a stain passed down, it may be better understood as something we lost and could not regain ourselves. We lost our covenantal relationship with God... our kinship. So God set out to start again...
After the flood, the Earth had form and it wasn’t void. God was rebuilding our covenantal relationship this time. God made His first starting-over covenant with Noah and his family with the seven colors of the rainbow. God then made His family-rebuilding covenant with Abraham in the form of a three-fold promise... the land, a nation and all men blessed through him. God affirmed His covenant with Isaac (because Abraham had another son, Ishmael). God confirmed His covenant again with Jacob (because Isaac thought to pass his blessing through Esau). In these promises, the unbroken bloodline matters in fulfilling God’s promise, but it is God, not the Earthly succession Who confirmed the line His promise would follow. God then began to fulfill these promises... the land through Moses on Sinai, the royal dynasty of David, and all people through Christ on the Cross. Seven covenants just like the seven days of creation.
In each successive covenant, God is growing his family... from the family of Noah to the tribe of Jacob to the Nation under Moses to the Kingdom of David and then all nations under Christ. What was Christ doing on the Cross? He was the sacrificial offering of the New Covenant where man could be rejoined to God’s family. Just as the neighbor kids can’t become part of my family on their own—I have to adopt them—so we couldn’t make ourselves part of God’s family. The New Covenant is a return to our participation in the family life of God! We are given many examples in the Old Testament of family covenants through marriages, adoptions and others. In each, there is a sacrificial offering and sign of the covenant.
Just as we don’t delight in the accomplishments of the neighbor kids, so God did not delight in our vain offerings before our redemption. Now, through Christ, God does delight and reward our efforts. In so many places in the New Testament we find that God will reward us for our deeds. That is because Christ has merited for us the ability to merit from God.
Christ on the Cross was at once Priest offering a sacrifice, the sacrificial Lamb of the New Covenant, and the Bridegroom to His Church. Now, in order to be part of His Family, we are commanded to ‘believe.’ However, ‘believe’ is an action word. It doesn’t mean that we have an intellectual understanding or a feeling... just as my kids believe that school is important for them but it doesn’t do them any good until they actually go to school and participate. If we BELIEVE that Jesus is Christ, then we are to DO the Will of His Father... which begins our life in God’s Family through baptism in His Holy Name.
Christ on the Cross isn’t the end from which there is no more to be done, it is the beginning from which all else is possible. It is more than paying the price for sinners, it is restoring lost family members to the Holy Family of God.
I really enjoyed reading that. I hope that others take the time to read all of it. Thank you for posting.
I know, but I thought it was well written and presented the Truth in opposition to the deception of islam in a easy to understand manner.
Since our fall in the Garden of Eden, God has been rebuilding His Family..
Great point. I think we can point to God killing the animals to give Adam and Eve clothes as the first sacrifice.
In so many places in the New Testament we find that God will reward us for our deeds. That is because Christ has merited for us the ability to merit from God.
One of the fundamental differences with islam is they believe their works will buy them salvation.
Christ on the Cross isn’t the end from which there is no more to be done, it is the beginning from which all else is possible. It is more than paying the price for sinners, it is restoring lost family members to the Holy Family of God.
Amen
Powerful post. Thank you!
Very well stated and a delight to read...thank you.... It’s always refreshing to read something as this which pulls together the truth in such a way as to be easily understood, and clarifies things so well.
I agree with this as well.