If there's anything that's been lost from our culture, It is the idea that human beings are privately, personally, and individually Ultimately. inexorably accountable. To God, for their lives. Growing up in a non-Christian family in a largely secular country, Australia. I had no cultural or shared societal knowledge that I was accountable to my Creator, that I was estranged from Him.
And that delusion that we're all okay, and if there is a heaven, we'll all go there when we die, is even more prevalent today. This is Renewing Your Mind, and it's good to have you with us for a week of messages on the cross of Christ. It's especially important in light of the widespread biblical illiteracy but our gospel presentations explain the need for an atonement and what Christ has marvelously and graciously accomplished on the cross. This week's series, along with R. C.
Sproll's book, The Truth of the Cross, will help you understand and defend the riches of the cross. You can learn how you can access both resources, plus a copy of his book, Holy Week, at renewingyourmind.org.
So why was the atonement necessary? Why was Christ's death more than a good example of self-sacrifice? Here's Duck to Sprol to explain. We're going to be focusing our attention. on the atonement of Christ.
In the field of systematic theology, we divide that discipline into various subheadings such as theology proper and pneumatology, which is the study of the person and work of the Holy Spirit and so on. And one of the most important subdivisions of theology is what we call Christology. which is a study of the person of Christ. and the work of Christ. And when we consider the work of Christ, and we get to that aspect which is most crucial.
which we may call safely the crux of the matter of the person of Christ, we Go immediately to what, obviously? To the cross. You notice how these words, the word crucial, The word crux, the word excruciating. all have their roots in the Latin word For cross. Because the concept of the cross Is it the very center and the core?
of Biblical Christianity. The cross In a sense. crystallizes The essence of the ministry. of Jesus. At least I think it's safe to say that In the viewpoint, for example, of someone like the Apostle Paul, who said, engaging in a bit of hyperbole, of course.
that he was determined to preach nothing, But Christ and him. crucified. Again, it's perhaps a tad of hyperbole, but not far from the truth to say that there's a sense in which all of Paul's writings. We're merely a concluding unscientific postscript, an attempt to write some kind of exposition of the meaning and the significance of that central moment in the ministry of Christ. That ministry in which Jesus met him.
His hour. The ministry for which he was born. for which he was baptized. That he was preordained to carry out that moment of passion that theology calls the grand passion of Christ, before which, of course, he sweat. Drops of blood.
Everything, as it were, in the life of Jesus converges in that. Point. of climax in his death. And so if we were able to read the New Testament. with virgin eyes.
As if we were the first generation of people. To hear the message. I think that it would be Crystal clear. that that event Is at the very core. of the preaching and of the teaching and of the catechizing of the New Testament community.
Of course. With its attending capstone, the resurrection, and subsequently the ascension as part of that. complex that focuses on the cross.
So if it is true. That the cross is of central, not peripheral, but central importance to Biblical Christianity. It is essential, it would seem to me. That Christians have some Understanding of its meaning. in biblical terms.
Now, I think that would be true in any generation. But I think it's particularly necessary in this generation. I doubt if there has ever been a period. In two thousand years of Christian history, where the significance of the cross And the centrality of the cross. And indeed the very question of the necessity of the cross has been such a controversial matter.
as it is today.
Now I'm speaking. within the church. I have to point out, of course, from a historical perspective that there have been other periods in church history where theologies emerged that regarded the cross of Christ as an unnecessary event. It had value, to be sure, but it was not something that men needed in any ultimate or significant way. It's an interesting thing to me to find so many people.
who say to me in my own experience that they are not Christians. Not so much because they have never been persuaded of the truth claims of Christianity. That's not so much the issue with them. as it is that they have never been persuaded of the need. For what the Bible is teaching.
How many times have you run into people who said Well that may be true, maybe it isn't true. But I personally don't feel the need. For Jesus. Or I don't need the church. or I don't need Christianity.
Whenever people say that to me, I like to try to steer the conversation. to the other question, and that is the truth of it. Because I feel like if we could persuade people of the truth of the identity of Christ. and the truth of the work of Christ that it would become instantly apparent. that people need it.
I was in a shopping mall not too long ago. And Vesta was uh shopping in one store and I went out in the hall and was waiting for her and I came on a bookstore and I can't walk past a bookstore without going in it and then I happened to go into it. It was one of these secular bookstores. And there were just rack after rack after rack and shelf after shelf and counter after counter of books in the bookstore. And they had the various uh divisions of the bookstore marked prominently in fiction and nonfiction and business and sports and self-improvement and sex and marriage and children's stories.
And way back, all the way back in the back of the store, There was this section on religion. And it had about four shelves. And I saw that this was the smallest segment in the store, number one. And number two. That the Material that was for sale.
on those racks. was uh somewhat uh How should I say it? It certainly wasn't what you would call mainstream orthodox classical Christianity that was being sold there. And I said to myself, well. What's wrong?
With this store, That all I sell Is fiction and self-improvement, and they don't seem to place any premium of value on the content of biblical truth. as part of their program. And I said, well, wait a minute. These store owners are not here as a ministry, they're here. For business.
They're here. For a profit. And I guess the reason why they don't have many books for sale here. Is because there's not a whole lot of folks coming in here saying, where can I find a book that will teach me about? the depths and the riches of the atonement of Christ.
And I thought, well, maybe if we go to the Christian bookstore. Then we'll find but then I go to the Christian bookstore. And I don't find there that people are seeking in-depth understanding. of something as central as the atonement of Christ. And so as I thought about that, sitting in the mall and watched people walk up and down.
In front of me I got this impression. It was a very scary impression. That these people These masses of people are walking up and down here. Not concerned. about an atonement.
Not interested in an atonement. Because they are basically convinced They have no need. For an atonement. This isn't what you call a felt need for people today. People aren't running around asking the question: How can I be reconciled to God?
How can I escape? The judgment of God. If there's anything that's been lost from our culture, It is the idea that human beings are privately, personally, and individually. Ultimately. inexorably accountable.
to God for their lives. Let's think what would happen. If suddenly the lights came on, And everybody in the world said Hey. Sunday I have to stand before my Maker. And I have to give An account.
For every word that I have ever spoken, for every deed that I have ever done, for every thought that I have ever thought. For every task. I have failed to do. I am accountable.
Now, if everybody woke up to that fact. Instantly, couple of things could happen. One would could be they could say, well Yes, I'm accountable. But isn't it great? That the one to whom and before whom I'm accountable isn't really concerned.
about what kind of a life I lead. Because he understands. that boys will be boys and that girls will be girls.
So maybe nothing would change. But if people understood two things. If they understood. That there is A holy god And that since is an offence Against a holy God. If they understood those two things.
They would be breaking the doors down of your churches. Saying What must I do? To be saved. I was in the hospital a couple of years ago. With a kidney stone not a life-threatening thing, it just seems like it.
Get a kidney stone. I'm one of those kinds of folks that if I have pain, I will do everything in my power to deny that it's there so that I don't have to go to the doctor and have him probe around and tell me all the bad news. You get a kidney stone. At least when I got a kidney stone. within five minutes of the time I got the kidney stone attack.
I was on the telephone calling the doctor. This kind of thing that gets your attention. you know real quick right Went in there, they don't know what's going on, they can't find it, they're having all kinds of problems, and I'm waiting for the tests to come back. It's right around Christmas time. I'm flat on my back in a hospital room.
And there was a television program where these Sunday preachers Get on there and all he did was he read The Christmas Story And the Annunciation. For unto you is born this day In the city of David. A Saviour. Which is Christ. Don't move.
How many thousands of times have I either read that? or heard that phrase. But when I was in that hospital bed. with my future uncertain. That thing hit me like a sledgehammer, and I said to myself, that's exactly.
What I need. is a Saviour. I have to have a saviour. Oh To save me from what? Again.
I felt a need for a savior because I was hurting. I was fearful. In matters of life and death were central in my attention. But that's not the way it is. Under normal circumstances, in the normal flow of our lives.
Then we like to think that we don't need A Saviour. But the atonement and the cross And Christianity. operates on that primary assumption that man is in need of salvation. Like I say, in our culture today, That's not paramount. As an assumed item.
I've said many times that the prevailing doctrine of justification in the United States of America today is not justification by faith alone. And it's not even justification by good works. Or by a combination of justification by faith and works. The prevailing notion of justification in our culture today is justification by Death. That all one has to do.
To be received into the everlasting arms of God. is to die. That's all that's required. Because An atonement is not necessary.
Now, I have a theologian friend who frequently makes this statement. He said, There are basically in church history only three basic types of theology. There's been a jillion schools with a jillion names and a jillion subtle nuances, but generically, there are only three kinds of theology historically. What we call Pelagianism. Semi-Pelagianism.
And Augustinianism. Virtually every church. In Western history, an Eastern church as well, has fallen into one of those three categories.
Now, semi-Pelagianism and Augustinianism, in my opinion, Represent significant debates. Within The Christian Family. Differences of opinion, of biblical interpretation, and of theology among Christians. In my opinion. Pelagianism in its various forms is not An intramural issue.
Among Christians, but Pelagianism. is at best. Sub-Christian. And at worst, anti-Christian. Pelagius in the fourth century, Socinianism in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
And what we would call liberalism as a distinctive theology in contemporary terms. In my opinion, Essentially Non Christian. Because At the heart of it. is a denial Of The Atonement Jesus Christ. A denial of the cross.
which I am saying and which orthodoxy has said for centuries is an essential Of Christianity, essential in this sense that it is a sine qua non, without which nothing, without the cross. Take away the cross as an atoning act, you take away Christianity.
Now, it's not like the Pelagians, the Socinians, had no view of the significance of the cross of Christ. They did have some view. They said, here is where we see Jesus. dying as a moral example. For men.
As an existential hero. As one who brings inspiration to us by his commitment and devotion to self-sacrifice and to his humanistic concerns. But no atonement. I can remember when I was in seminary. One of my classmates, Had to preach in a homiletics class.
And he preached on the cross. And he preached on the cross. where Christ was the Lamb slain for us. And when he was finished, the professor was furious and he attacked the student while he was still standing in the pulpit. And he said to them in anger, How dare you preach?
A substitutionary view of the atonement in this day and age. What he meant by that is, how can you proclaim from the pulpit such an archaic old fashioned out of it notion One dying. To bear the sins For another. As if there were some kind of a matter of the same. Of cosmic transactions taking place here by which I am allowed to be reconciled to God because of something Christ did.
Dear friends, you take away the reconciling action of Christ from the New Testament. And you have Nothing. But moralisms which are anything But unique. and hardly worthy of persuading people to give 10% of their Take home pay too. Because in Pelagianism There is no Salvation In Pelagianism, there is no Saviour.
Because in Pelagianism there is no atonement. And the reason Is because of the conviction in Pelagianism. That No such salvation is necessary.
Now, I've said there are three basic types of theology. There are also three basic views of the atonement with respect to necessity. Historically. There are those, as the Socinians and Pelagians, who have believed. that an atonement is absolutely unnecessary.
Absolutely unnecessary. Then there are those who believe. An atonement is only hypothetically necessary.
Now to understand that we have to stop for a second, go slowly here. What a hypothetically necessary atonement has meant in church history is the idea that God could have redeemed us. by a host of different ways and means. But he chose. to reconcile us, to redeem us.
By the way, The cross. That was the method he chose. That is to do it by atonement. But he could have done it. many different ways.
He could simply have chosen to overlook Human Sen. But he decided to do something dramatic. And he committed himself to a certain course of action.
Now, once he committed himself to it, once he determined to have an atonement. Then it becomes... Necessary. But only necessary Not de juro or de facto, but de pacto. That is, by virtue of a pact or a covenant.
that he has made by way of issuing a promise that he would do something. The promise was gratuitous in the first place. There's no need for it, but he makes the promise. Once he makes the promise, then he's, of course, committed to that course of action. That's what is meant by a hypothetical necessity for an atonement.
The third view. which I am persuaded Is both the biblical view and the classical Orthodox Christian view is that an atonement. Was not merely hypothetically necessary for man's redemption, but was ap so lutely. necessary if a single person was ever going to be reconciled to God and redeemed. in the kingdom of God.
Yeah. That's quite a bold statement to say that the cross or the atonement was an absolute Necessary prerequisite for redemption. And I think that the next item on the agenda has to be to answer the question. Why? is an atonement.
necessary. I want to spend the next lecture developing that question: why an atonement is absolutely necessary. if we're going to have fellowship. was gone. That was R.
C. Sproll beginning a week-long study here on Renewing Your Mind on the Atonement of Christ. This series and Dr. Sproll's book, The Truth of the Cross, were designed to help you grow in your understanding and your appreciation for the work of Christ on the cross and as tools to help you in evangelism. You can receive lifetime digital access to the series The Cross of Christ and its study guide.
Plus, we'll send you a copy of Dr. Sprohl's book, The Truth of the Cross, and Holy Week, the week that changed the world. when you give a donation in support of Renewing Your Mind at renewingyourmind.org, or when you call us at 800-435-4343. Holy Week collects several of Dr. Sproul's reflections on this climactic week in Jesus' redemptive ministry.
So that's two books, a teaching series, and a study guide. When you donate today at renewingyourmind.org or by using the link in the podcast show notes. And for those who live outside of the US and Canada, a digital edition of this offer is waiting for you at renewingyourmind.org slash global. Thank you for fueling the proclamation of what Christ has done for sinners.
Well, R. C. Sproll said today that he believed that an atonement was absolutely necessary. But why? Why was there not another way to save sinners?
Be sure to join us tomorrow to find out here on Renewing Your Mind.
