Thursday, 8 March 2018
…but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 2 Timothy 1:10
Paul’s previous words spoke of the “grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” Paul now shows that despite that grace having always existed in His eternal counsel, there was a particular point in time in which He chose to reveal it. An so he says, “but has now been revealed.” The grace was always there, but when the fullness of time had come, God entered into the stream of humanity, uniting with human flesh, in the Person of Jesus Christ. This is the revelation of that eternal grace, and it was done “by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ.”
A Savior implies the need to be saved. Man intuitively understands this, and he goes about life doing things to ease his nagging conscience, and to justify his good standing among others, and in order to appease the God he knows he must face someday. However, if God sent Jesus Christ as Savior, it means that man still needed to be saved. It is not of works, but of grace, by which salvation of the human comes. Christ came to make this grace known. The wages of sin is death. This is why men die; but it is through the grace “of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death” that sin is dealt with.
If God has abolished death through Christ Jesus, then that means that sin has no power over the one who is saved. It takes us back to Paul’s words of 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19 –
“Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”
Jesus Christ is the Savior. In order to save, He must eradicate sin (through which is earned the wages of death). In His atoning, substitutionary death, Christ Jesus has dealt with the sin problem – once and for all for those who believe – so that God, who is in Christ, can fellowship with man once again. And for those in Christ, He is “not imputing their trespasses to them.” If no sin is imputed for those in Christ, then death can no longer be imputed as well. That is why Paul can say that Christ Jesus “has abolished death.” But more, He has “brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
It is the gospel – this marvelous grace of God which is revealed in Christ Jesus – which brings to light the “life and immortality” which had been lost since the fall of man. The word translated as “immortality” literally means, “no corruption.” Man disobeyed God, and he fell from grace. He was exiled from the Garden of Eden and his body began the process of corruption; eventually he died and returned to the earth from which he was created. This has continued on for all men since then.
The sin is inherited, and thus all men follow this same pattern. But Jesus came without sin, died in fulfillment of the law, and – as man’s Substitute – took away our sin. As Paul says, in Colossians 2:14, “having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
The law, through which sin is made known, is taken out of the way. And because Christ Jesus had no sin of His own, He was resurrected to eternal life. Sin is dealt with, and life and immortality are revealed – all in one fell swoop. Christ has completed the task and shown the grace of God to man. For those who accept this, only life and immorality are left! This is why sin is no longer imputed to those in Christ as seen above. We are “in” Christ, and thus shall live forever.
Can there be found a better verse for eternal salvation? No, probably not. Paul says in Romans 8:38, 39 –
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
If we are a part of creation, and nothing in creation can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, then salvation, by default, must be eternal. Sin is not imputed, the law is annulled and so sin cannot even be charged, and we are “in Christ.” Deal done; Christ has won! Glorious victory has been realized upon Calvary’s tree.
Life application: That you could ever lose your salvation is a concept so foreign to the writings of the Bible, that it is beyond comprehension that this (false) doctrine is taught. Beware of anyone who would so tarnish the glorious message of Christ that they would dare presume to say that those who are “in Christ” could ever be separated from Christ! Jesus Christ did not come to give His people eternal insecurity. Be of good cheer, you are saved despite yourself.
Lord God, how often we slip and fall short of Your marvelous standard of holiness. And how painful it is to consider having done so. But for those who have received the gift of Your Son, we have no worry that we have forever distanced ourselves from You. Rather, You have already dealt with the sin-problem once and for all. We are redeemed and forever on the path to glory. Thank You for this wonderful reassurance when we fall short. Amen.