The Apostles preached a resurrection Gospel, urging lost men to trust in the Lord Jesus because He had been raised from the dead, just like had been foretold by the prophets, and because Jesus promised to forgive the sins of all who trust in Him.
But the Scriptures go much further in explaining just how Jesus saves sinful men - by dying in their place, and satisfying God's just wrath and punishment for their crimes. Jesus died in our place, and rose again, because by His death, we are justified!
So what believers have is far better than mere everlasting life and forgiveness of sin - God has reconciled us to Himself!
In all four places where Paul preaches reconciliation to God by Christ, he declares that it is by the death of Christ's body that we are reconciled to God.
Not only so, but in declaring this marvelous truth, Paul sketches out for us what it means to be reconciled to God by the death of Jesus in our place.
In Romans 5, Paul explains that we were enemies of God, but now we are reconciled to God. We are justified - declared righteous - on account of Christ's blood shedding for us on the cross. We are saved from wrath through Jesus. Furthermore, Paul intimates (and explains explicitly in Romans 6) that by Jesus' resurrection, we are saved, that is, raised up in new life unto righteousness!
In Ephesians 2, a double reconciliation takes place through the dying body of Jesus. First, Gentiles and Jews are reconciled together in Christ, because He tore down the middle wall of the law that separated us by paying all its penalties for us all. Second, we are all reconciled to God by the same death of Jesus.
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John Pittman Hey was born in 1961 in Jackson, Mississippi, to Godly parents who from the beginning raised him in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. With child-like faith he came to Christ on his fourth birthday at his mother's knee. He received his education at church...