Christ Alone

The whole doctrine of salvation by grace rests on the principle. that the law of God has been fulfilled. By Christ. and by Christ alone. That, what the first atom failed to accomplish and plunged us into misery, the new atom or the second atom.

took upon himself the burden to obey all of the commandments of God. and to fulfill the covenant of works. And what is so gracious about the covenant of grace is that the covenant of grace does not destroy the covenant of works. but rather says the covenant of works can be fulfilled For you. By a mediator.

that God appoints. If all that was needed to be saved was Jesus' death on the cross, Why was he born as a baby instead of simply appearing as a man and dying the next day? Hello and welcome to this Saturday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm glad you're with us. We're currently working our way through a series by R.

C. Sproll titled God Alone. In it, RC unpacks each of the five solas of the Protestant Reformation. and today he considers solus Christus. Christ alone.

We're going to continue our study of the solas of the Reformation. And today we're going to look at solace. Christus, S-O-L-U-S. which means by Christ. Alone, or more particularly, because of Christ alone.

The threefold recitation of the solas and the Reformation went like this: that justification. is by grace alone through faith alone Because of Christ. Alone. And what we want to do now is to explore in what sense our justification is rooted and grounded in the person and work. of Christ.

Okay. I think to get a handle on this and the way the Reformed churches were thinking throughout the ages, we need to look briefly. At the seventeenth century Reformed confession, the Westminster Confession of Faith. In the seventh chapter, because the seventh chapter of that confession explores the whole concept of the covenant. That God makes with His people that issues in the final analysis in our salvation because the basic structure of biblical history and the basic structure of the relationship between God and His people is the structure of the covenant.

We frequently distinguish between the old covenant and the new covenant. We remember that in the upper room when Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples, that there He instituted the New Covenant when He said, This is the covenant shed in my blood, and so on. And so we're familiar, at least basically, with these concepts of covenants. But a distinction is made in Reformed theology historically that's very important to our understanding of justification. And that is the distinction between what we call The covenant of works.

And the covenant. of grace. And to indicate that distinction, let me read briefly from some passages found in the 17th century document of the Westminster Confession of Faith. It begins in the first section with this statement. The distance between God and the creature is so great That although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their creator.

Yet they could never have any fruition of Him as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God's part, which he has been pleased to express by way of covenant.

Now what what are they saying here with this somewhat archaic language? What they're saying is The very fact that God makes a creature. places that creature in debt to the Creator. And the thing made. owes inherently and intrinsically obedience to the one who has made him.

And so God in creating us has no obligation whatsoever To enter into any promissory agreement with us. He owes us no blessings. He owes us no benefits. And we owe him our very lives. And so even if it were conceivable that man in creation obeyed God perfectly, that would be his necessary duty.

And if we lived lives of perfection, as Jesus indicated in the New Testament, we would still only be unprofitable servants because we would have simply done our duty. And we would have no right to expect any kind of reward or blessing from God. But God. In his kindness and in his grace, as the confession says, condescended. Two's a creature.

and voluntarily entered into a covenant relationship. with the people. that he created. We saw in the old covenant that God said to Israel, I will be your God. and you will be my people.

He didn't have to do that.

So, that when we make this distinction between a covenant of works and a covenant of grace, we have to understand that in the broader sense, every covenant that God enters into with us is a gracious covenant. The fact that there even was a covenant of works that promised blessing on the basis of obedience was gracious. And so. Even then, the covenant of grace was being administered through the law, but even at that point, we know that the law was not given as a way of salvation. But rather to direct the people to their dependence upon God's grace.

Now, when we talk about solus Christus. We talk about the ministry of Jesus. in bringing redemption to pass for us. We see that critical to our justification. The work of Christ.

Now, I'm going to go into this in more detail later, but now, just to give you a foretaste of it, I want to make a statement that may sound a little strange to you. I've been saying all along that the biblical view of salvation is justification by faith alone.

Now I'm going to say something different.

So you have to listen carefully. In the final analysis. Justification is by the way. It works alone. The only way anybody can ever stand before God on the day of judgment.

is to stand Justified Bye. Works. Wait a minute. We've already labored the point that the New Testament says By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. And I'm not taking that back.

But what I want us to understand is that when the reformers say that justification is solus Christus. because of Christ alone. The whole doctrine of justification by faith, the whole doctrine of salvation by grace, rests on the principle. that the law of God has been fulfilled. By Christ.

and by Christ alone. That, what the first atom failed to accomplish and plunged us into misery, the new atom or the second atom. took upon himself the burden to obey all of the commandments of God. and to fulfill the covenant of works. And what is so gracious about the covenant of grace?

is that the covenant of grace does not destroy the covenant of works. but rather says the covenant of works can be fulfilled For you. BY A MEDIATOR that God appoints. See, that's the basic distinction. The covenant of works is still there.

but it is obeyed, not by us. But by our mediator, Our champion. who fulfills all of the terms of that covenant in our behalf. Let me turn your attention to Paul's first letter to Timothy. to the second chapter.

where he begins with these words in the first verse, Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, Intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men. For kings. and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Here it is in verse 5.

For there is one God. This reaffirms. The monotheism of the Old Testament, and one mediator. Between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, For which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle, I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying. a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and in truth.

Here we see the bold proclamation of the New Testament of the exclusivity of Christ. There is probably no article to the Christian faith more offensive the pluralistic culture in which we live today, then the claim that there is only one way to God, and that is through Christ. And that claim, of course, is based on this assertion. that there exists one mediator. And a mediator is somebody who stands between two parties.

that are in dispute or Who are estranged, and the task of the mediator is to bring agreement. or to bring reconciliation. And one of the principal themes of the New Testament Is this theme of reconciliation? And the reconciliation means the restoring of a relationship that is estranged. And that estranged relationship is the relationship between God and us.

And that estranged relationship is reconciled through mediation, through a mediator. And again, the apostle says there is Only Mediator now. In one sense, This is hyperbole. Because Moses is called the mediator of the old covenant. The prophets were mediators.

They were go-betweens, agents who delivered the word of God to people. The priests were mediators in that they took the prayers of the people before God, and so they were go-betweens, as it were. But again, what Paul is speaking about here is the mediatorial office of Christ in its ultimate sense. In the sense of somebody who has the actual power. to bring reconciliation to pass, that only one mediator with that kind of prowess is made available to us by God the Father.

That is an arena, that is a task that Muhammad could never accomplish, that Confucius could not accomplish, that Moses could not accomplish, that Buddha could not accomplish. This is where we find the uniqueness of Christianity in that God has sent His only begotten Son and has assigned him the task of being the mediator through whom we are reconciled to the Father.

Now. When we talk about how this mediation takes place, usually we discuss it in terms of the obedience. Of Christ.

Now again, notice that what Paul says is that the mediator There is one God, one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus.

Now Paul is not denying The deity of Christ. He's not denying that Christ is the God-man. but he performs this function in our behalf. Essentially, in his humanity. And that's something we need to understand.

Because again, he fulfills the role of the new or the second Adam. who in his human nature, which the Divine Logos, assumes a human nature, so that that human nature is now set beneath the law of God. And he sets out to accomplish what Adam failed to accomplish. And so, I mean, there's no great virtue in the divine nature being obedient to the Father. It's the human nature of Christ.

who takes our place. And is placed under the law, and who secures our redemption through his obedience.

Now, when we talk about the obedience of Christ, we qualify that obedience historically in Reformed theology. Again, in ways that tend to be somewhat controversial, we make a distinction between the passive. Obedience. And the actives. Obedience.

Now you've all been to school and you all know the difference between the active voice and the passive voice. If I do an action, that's the active If I receive an action from something or from someone else. then the passive voice is used. Passive indicates something that happens to me that I don't initiate or I don't do on my own. And so here's what this distinction is getting at.

that in the cross Christ receives in his person a punishment That in and of himself He does not deserve. He's the victim. of our actions. and the actions of the father. It is the father that punishes the sun.

It was God. Who puts the curse upon Christ on Calvary? It is to the Father that Christ cries, Why hast thou forsaken me? Because he receives the curse of the men. Of forsakenness.

Passively. On the tree. That we understand that this is something that Christ bears in our behalf. in terms of the travail of his soul, the anguish that is so poignantly described for us in his experience in the Garden of Gethsemane. Where he cries out to the Father, In horror.

Let this cup. pass from me. And the answer of the father. is no. Christ has to drink the cup.

He has to receive passively. The Judgment of the father.

Now on the cross, we see When we study the atonement. that several things take place. First of all, satisfaction. God requires that His righteousness, that His justice, in terms of his judgment over sin, be satisfied. God doesn't just grant amnesty.

And overlook his law. Remember that when Paul expounds on the doctrine of justification, he says: in this drama of redemption, God is both just. and the justifier. God will not negotiate his righteousness. He doesn't set aside his justice, but he requires that that justice be satisfied.

and it is satisfied. Christ. in terms of his Passive Obedience. And it is that justice that Christ willingly submits to, In satisfying the justice of God by receiving passively in his own person God's just wrath. Upon Sin.

We also refer to this as the propitiation. where God again is satisfied or propitiated. It's propitious for him to redeem us after his justice has been satisfied by Christ. on the cross. And so in all of our study of the atonement, We see in the many aspects of the atonement that in this work of Christ, we're referring to his passive obedience.

He became obedient even unto death. He became obedient to receive everything that the Father wanted to give him, including the cup of his wrath. But in addition to the passive obedience of Christ, is what we call the active obedience. And that is to say this: that Christ not only died for our justification. He lived for our justification.

And that means that he had to achieve. Perfect righteousness. In his own life. And we are told that he was like us at every point, except what? He was without sin.

I don't think we hear enough about that. I don't think that we contemplate that enough to think. People say, oh, I can't believe that somebody was raised from the dead. That's too much for me to believe.

Well, I think it's more astonishing. To believe that somebody in all of human history could live a life. of perfection. never committing the slightest sin, obeying every precept of God to the letter. That to me is inconceivable.

And in fact, when the New Testament speaks about the possibility of resurrection. Rather than looking at it from our perspective and saying, oh, no, no, no, when somebody dies, they stay dead, there can't be resurrections, and so on. The Bible says it was impossible for him not to be raised from the dead. because it was impossible for death to hold him And the reason it's impossible for death to hold him is because in and of himself, There was no sin. And death is a punishment for sin.

The only reason he died was to fill out the punishment that he was bearing vicariously for our sins. But in and of himself, Death had no claim on him. Because of his life. Of perfect Obedience.

Now. Let's take a moment and look at the third chapter of Matthew to get a little insight. into this act of obedience of Christ. It's the record, it's Matthew's record, of Jesus' baptism. by John the Baptist.

Chapter three, verse thirteen. We read this account. Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent him. Saying, I need to be baptized by you.

And you're coming to me? But Jesus answered and said to him, Permit it to be so now. For thus it is fitting for us that to fulfil all righteousness. And then he allowed him.

Now The problem that John struggled with. Was that the baptism that he was performing was a preparatory baptism for the coming of the Messiah, and it was a cleansing rite in which he is saying, God is now finally sending your Messiah to you, people of Israel, but you're not ready for him. You're unclean. You're just like the Gentiles. You need to take a bath.

And that bath symbolized the cleansing of them from their sins because John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. Remember, his message: repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. And now he had already identified Jesus as the Lamb. of God. The Lamb without blemish.

Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

So now the Lamb of God comes to John and says, Baptize me. Joseph, what? I can't do that. That would be hypocritical. That would be convicting you of sin.

That would disqualify you for being the Lamb of God. you should be baptizing me. Jesus doesn't have time to go into a lengthy theological instructional class for John. He just says, John, suffer it now, will you? Just do it.

It's like he said, trust me. Do what I tell you to do. There's a reason for it. Because it is necessary. For me.

To fulfill All righteousness. What does he mean? He says, God has his law. That he's given to the human race. He has his law that he's given to the Jewish nation.

And now God has added a new requirement to Israel, and that new requirement is to be baptized. And what Jesus is saying is. If I'm going to mediate this situation, I have to stand under Every law that God commands from his people. And even though I haven't sinned, I must obey the law. Because it is necessary to fulfill all righteousness.

That was the original task of Adam. It is now the task of the second Adam to obey every single precept that comes forth from the lips of God. Remember, it is tempted in the wilderness. You know, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God. And Jesus' meat and drink was to do the will of the Father.

And he asked rhetorically what Which of you? convicts me of sin. And so actively, from the time of his birth to the time of his death, Jesus submits to the law, the whole law, every part of the law, and obeys it perfectly and receives all of the blessings That God promises to Israel if they obey the covenant, all the blessings of life that He promises Adam and Eve if they obey their probation, all of those things. Or Earned or merited by Christ, Through his perfect obedience.

So that the basis for our justification, we're saying, is the transfer or the imputation. of the righteousness of Christ.

Now finally, it's a double imputation. On the one hand my guilt, my sin, is transferred to Christ. On the other, His righteousness, His obedience, His merit. is transferred to me. It's a double transfer.

That's the gospel. And that's why we say, that our salvation is soulless Christus. because of Christ. Hello.

Now that is good news, that Christ does for us what we could never do for ourselves. This is the Saturday edition of Renewing Your Mind, and you just heard a message from RC Sprawl's series, God Alone. If you'd like to work your way through all 10 messages in this series, You can request the series on DVD when you give a donation in support of Renewing Your Mind at renewingyourmind.org, and we will send you the DVD along with a Renewing Your Mind notebook for all of your notes. You may wish to donate the DVD set to your church library because you'll also have streaming access to the messages and digital access to the study guide in the free Ligonier app.

So respond today at renewingyourmind.org or by using the link in the podcast show notes. Thank you. Many people in the church today, when they want to know what God says, listen for a still small voice. Is that a good practice? Where should we turn to know what God says?

Don't miss next Saturday's episode here. On Renewing Your Mind.