Christian Author and Pastor Ron Craig
I am not going to get into a theological discussion, using deep theological terms, as most theologians and many church pastors often do. I am not out to impress you with how smart I am (ha, ha). One of the great needs of the modern church is to be honest with God’s Word. Stop trying to interpret it (2 Peter 1:20-21), and start believing it! In 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul said that God MADE Jesus to BE SIN. That was the price He paid to deliver us from sin. Although Jesus never committed sin (Hebrews 4:15), Paul said that He was MADE TO BE SIN. Upon the cross, Jesus not only took upon Himself some of our yucky stuff, He actually BECAME US! How do you think we were crucified with Christ? Our Lord was not our substitute—which is standard theological doctrine. The Bible never calls Jesus Christ our substitute. What good would that do us? We were the bad guys. How would the Good Guy (Jesus) being crucified for us change us? We died to sin when Christ died to sin. Jesus having no sin of His own, how did He die to sin, unless He was made to be sin with our sin? Any light bulbs coming on yet? You see, our problem was not just a sin problem, but a SINNER problem. The only solution to that problem was to change us from sinners to saints. Our very nature was changed by our being crucified with Christ. With Him, we died to sin and our old sinner nature. “Our old man [our former sinful self] was crucified with Christ, so that the [very] body of sin [who we used to be] might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves of sin (Romans 6:6).” Therefore, we believers have a lot more going for us than the mere forgiveness of sins. We are now “NEW CREATURES IN CHRIST. OLD THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY. ALL THINGS HAVE BECOME NEW. AND, ALL OF THOSE NEW THINGS ARE OF GOD (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).” Your past has passed. So let it go!
Jesus Christ came into the world as the seed of Abraham (Hebrews 2:16). However, in order to represent the whole human race, and to die for the population of the entire world, Christ would need to go back to the first sinner and take on that human being. That would be Adam, the first sinner, who had the entire human race in his own body. Hebrews 7:9 tells us that when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, Levi, Abraham’s great-grand-son, also paid tithes through Abraham, because Levi was yet in the loins of Abraham. In other words. Abraham had Levi in his reproductive organs. Which tells us that Adam had the whole human race residing in his reproductive organs. Thus, in order for Jesus Christ to be the whole human race, He had to become Adam. Have you never heard that Bible truth preached? It is in your Bible. First Corinthians 15:45 calls Jesus the “Last Adam.” Not Second Adam, as many call Him. Jesus Christ became the very last Adam on the cross. In His resurrection, Christ became a life-giving spirit. We will discuss this most enlightening Bible Truth in more detail next time. Be willing to learn something you did not know before. Be honest with Holy Scripture. All of it!
(If you are not a committed member of some other Christian fellowship, you are invited to visit Living Way Fellowship at 2041 County Road 73, in Killen area. From Killen, going north on US 43, turn right on County Road 73 and go 2 and 1/2 miles. We are on the right. You can’t miss the sign out front—Living Way Fellowship. Sunday 10:00 A.M., Wednesday 7:00 P.M. Ron Craig is the pastor, teacher and Christian book author. Contact us at ronwritercraig@gmail.com, or log onto our church website at www.livingwayfellowshiponline.org. While logged on our website, check out my books and audio podcasts. Wouldn’t hurt!)
