Read: Romans 5:6-11
Let's spend a little more time mediating on this truth. Only God can bring us to a place of peace with him, and apart from Jesus mankind is at war with God.
“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God”
There are 2 Greek words that can be used to describe enemies. One word means that both parties are offended with each other. Paul uses a word that means just one party is offended with the other. We are the ones who have offended God by sinning and declaring independence from Him, first in the garden, and ever since in sin. When the 13 Colonies declared independence from Great Britain, they were essentially declaring war. Unlike Britain’s relationship with the colonies, God has NEVER done anything to harm you or mistreat you. Imagine a young boy running away from his parents because he doesn’t like a rule because he just wants to break it! What if the rule he didn’t like was don’t hit your sister! If he ran away from them in the middle of a crowded city or in the woods, Who is at fault? The Boy. However, what are those parents going to do? Find him! God is actively working to save too. Even though we can’t find it in ourselves to stop breaking the rules (this is called sin by the way) God has made a way for us to be found, through the message of the Cross of Christ! Jesus died to “condemn sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3) and exposing just how great our need for forgiveness and redemption (or being bought back from slavery to sin) really is! So great that God the Son would have to become human and die to pay for our sin debt. By doing this we are free to fellowship with God. We are also freed to become alive, that is live in obedience to Jesus but submitting to His Spirit in us and his word. Notice! We don’t become and remain alive by making up for past mistakes, we become alive and stay alive because Jesus makes us alive and keeps us alive by His Spirit. So we must submit and live, no longer as enemies, but rather at peace with our Creator, our Savior, our Master, and our King.
Let's spend a little more time mediating on this truth. Only God can bring us to a place of peace with him, and apart from Jesus mankind is at war with God.
“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God”
There are 2 Greek words that can be used to describe enemies. One word means that both parties are offended with each other. Paul uses a word that means just one party is offended with the other. We are the ones who have offended God by sinning and declaring independence from Him, first in the garden, and ever since in sin. When the 13 Colonies declared independence from Great Britain, they were essentially declaring war. Unlike Britain’s relationship with the colonies, God has NEVER done anything to harm you or mistreat you. Imagine a young boy running away from his parents because he doesn’t like a rule because he just wants to break it! What if the rule he didn’t like was don’t hit your sister! If he ran away from them in the middle of a crowded city or in the woods, Who is at fault? The Boy. However, what are those parents going to do? Find him! God is actively working to save too. Even though we can’t find it in ourselves to stop breaking the rules (this is called sin by the way) God has made a way for us to be found, through the message of the Cross of Christ! Jesus died to “condemn sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3) and exposing just how great our need for forgiveness and redemption (or being bought back from slavery to sin) really is! So great that God the Son would have to become human and die to pay for our sin debt. By doing this we are free to fellowship with God. We are also freed to become alive, that is live in obedience to Jesus but submitting to His Spirit in us and his word. Notice! We don’t become and remain alive by making up for past mistakes, we become alive and stay alive because Jesus makes us alive and keeps us alive by His Spirit. So we must submit and live, no longer as enemies, but rather at peace with our Creator, our Savior, our Master, and our King.
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