“Have You Been Healed Spiritually by the Blood of the Lamb?”
“Have You Been Healed Spiritually by the Blood of the Lamb?”
Please enjoy The Gospel as found in “The Leather Journal” of Pastor Phil Newton of the South Woods Baptist Church. Other church ministries can be found at https://www.southwoodsbc.org/ This is a service of the https://www.invertedchristian.com/ A ministry of The Duke Consulting Group drrogerdduke.com (Used by permission.)
"By His Wounds You Were Healed"
“And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).
Peter exhorts Christians to live in every sphere of life as those belonging to Jesus Christ. Whether in the realm of submitting to governing authorities or relationships in the community or servants with masters or husbands and wives, being named as a follower of Jesus Christ calls for the unique kind of life that can only happen through the work of Jesus Christ. He goes further in explaining what this kind of life looks like: “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously” (vv. 21–23). Christians are called to live the Christ-life, even if that involves (and likely will) suffering. It’s the call to the humble, selfless, God-dependent, faithful life of Jesus Christ lived through His people. But to get there, it can’t happen without His life in us.
From the exhortation to live the Christ-life, Peter turns to the foundation. “And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross.” The redemptive death of Jesus is the groundwork for living as His followers. In other words, there’s a difference in just seeing how Jesus acted (e.g., What Would Jesus Do?) and then trying to imitate Him. Many have tried this approach to life. But they face the frustration of attempting to live a holy life oftentimes without the holy life of Jesus Christ dwelling in them through His redemptive work. When Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross, He became our substitute before the wrath of God; He took on our sin and gave us His righteousness for our standing with God; He put His life in us so that we, little by little, begin to mirror His life. His saving work is the foundation upon which we build our obedience and walks. But more, His life within us works out of us in faithfulness to the Father in every sphere of life.
This transformation and redirecting of life are found in the purpose clause: “so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” Jesus saves us toward a particular end. Any thought that salvation means we just have a better life to be lived the way we want to live it has no connection with the work of Christ. Jesus died and rose from the dead—the act of redemption—so that there might be an ongoing life of holiness or sanctification taking place. We “die to sin,” so we apply the killing power of the cross to our sinful practices and patterns. We bring our lives regularly before the Lord, asking by faith that He might crush the sinful tendencies in our lives. We choose, as His followers, to turn from our sin, with repentance as a regular practice of the Christian life. Then we “live to righteousness.” There is what we might call positional righteousness by which we’re counted righteous before God due to the righteousness of Christ credited to us. That’s called the imputation of the righteousness of Christ. This phrase, though, carries the idea of what the Puritans called the imparted righteousness of Christ. That’s His life in us being lived out of us. Here, the deep well spring of Christ dwelling in the Christian works out into the multifaceted realities of life. Here, we learn to live consciously as His followers. “For by His wounds you were healed.” The death of Christ changes all who trust in Him. No doubt, the work of Christ ultimately heals every vestige of the fall, but here, Peter speaks of the immediacy of a new life now lived out in dying to sin and living to righteousness. Jesus’ death and resurrection make it so. That’s the reality of being a new creation in Christ Jesus.
Your Blog Poster’s Bio:
Roger D. Duke retired early from Baptist College of Health Sciences after eighteen years of classroom teaching ministry. He is now a free-lance writer. Duke received his doctorate from The University of the South at Sewanee. Subsequently he has also taught at various colleges and graduate schools. He has authored or contributed to volumes on John Albert Broadus, John Bunyan, William Carey, Basil Manley, Jr., and John Paul II. He blogs at https://www.invertedchristian.com/