“The narration of the facts is history; the narration of the facts with the meaning of the facts is doctrine. ‘Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried’ that is history.’ He loved me and gave Himself for me’ that was the Christianity of the primitive Church.”
- J. Gresham Machen
Christianity & Liberalism, p. 25📙
“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
1 John 4:9-10📕
Friends, we all need good news.
When we look at history, examine our treatment of others, as well as peruse our media feeds, we should all agree that we are broken…and need saved from ourselves.
And while God doesn’t need us (God is perfect, sufficient, and lacks nothing), He demonstrated His love for us by coming down and living the life we are unable to live, and paid the debt we should each have to pay. God did this…on our behalf.
God came down!
God sat with us, sinners!
And, He did not encourage sinners to continue sinning!
You see, God is not only perfectly loving, and He is also perfectly just. On page 162 of his book The Story of Reality, Christian Apologist Greg Koukl puts it this way:
“His (God’s) love is demonstrated by his free offer of pardon from hell, which many decline. But they will never be able to decline his justice.”
Jesus’s mission was to die for our sins (John 3)…not to leave us in them. His sacrifice on our behalf is the goodness we all need!
We can’t earn it (Eph 2).
Nor do we deserve it (Ro 3).
But God paid the price for us (1 Co 15; 1 Jn 4).
Christianity is the only worldview which offers Salvation by grace alone (Grace is God’s unmerited favor). With this in mind, the doctrine behind Christianity is not legalistic. Be careful not to conflate “Biblical” with “legalistic.” Those terms are not synonymous.
Jesus’s crucifixion upon a Roman cross in AD 30 or 33, combined with the empty tomb he left behind, is not “wishful thinking.” Nor is it mythology. Instead, these were real, historical events which provide evidence of the best news ever!
Friends, let’s look to Him…not in (Col 3)!
Hold Fast Apologetics 