"Reconciled through the Incarnation" God's pure present to God. Dale Gooding - Colossians 1:21-23 https://youtu.be/MxoQn28cago I) The Cost of Reconciliation (Col 1:20,22) 20 - reconciled "all things"; 22 - reconciled "you" - this is a personal relationship A) Note first - Our Previous relationship: 1) Alienated; they were largely gentiles (21) - Void of a covenant relationship with God = alienated (Rom 9:4) - No hope, promises & relationship with God (Eph 2:11-12) - More so, due to sin - Eph 2:1-3 = This is a Universal truth Hence, we were 2) Enemies ("hateful") (vs 21) - We were hateful toward God 3) Conduct (vs 21) - Evil deeds = acting out of the mind with the body = Gal 5:19-21 - A comprehensive reality = "mind & deed" = Thoughts & actions - Man can do good things but good deeds don't undue our sinful nature Application: Formerly: Note Paul's teaching that this was the case in the past but it is not now; "Formerly" is translated "once" most often and is almost always followed by "but" (Rom 7:9,11:30; Gal 1:23; Col 3:7; Titus 3:3; 1 Pet 2:10) - This was NOT their state and is no longer ours (more on this later on) B) Now see - Our Present Relationship 1) Reconciled (22) - Brought back to a former state (not super-glue) 2) Personally (22), not just collectively (20) - Act of bringing individuals to Himself 3) By Himself = in His body - As noted before = "so" = "in this way" = God gave His Son Jesus (John 3:16) Theology Lesson: Theories on Jesus' Atonement: 1) The Moral Influence Theory - He died in order to bring about positive change to humanity 2) The Ransom Theory - died as a ransom sacrifice, to Satan or the Father 3) Christus Victor - He died in order to defeat the powers of evil 4) The Satisfaction Theory - He died to satisfy the justice of God 5) The Governmental Theory - Like PSA but He doesn't take the exact punishment deserved 6) The Scapegoat Theory - that Jesus is not a sacrifice but a victim 7) Penal Substitutionary Theory PSA = "Penal Substitutionary Atonement" - Penal = Penal (Discipline, punishment / Penitentiary, Penalty, etc) - Jesus wasn't disciplined for any error / sin of His own, but for ours - Substitutionary = In the place of, to be a substitution for = Jesus took on / absorbed the penalty for us (paid the fine, did the time we owed) - Atonement = "the state of being one with or reconciled to another" (At-one-ment) = Jesus; * Did the atoning work demanded to reconcile man to God (Verb) * And thereby became the Atonement or reconciliation (Noun) * 1 Peter 3:18; 2 Cor 5:21 * Jesus Satisfied the righteous demands of the Law and the Justice of God C) Christ's Purpose - A Pure Presentation = A presentation of man before God = The only acceptable presentation is those Reconciled thru Jesus' Body = Scripture tells (and warns) us of a coming presentation before The Lord - A Dividing of Sheep & Goats (Matt 25:31-46) - A Day of Reward (2 Cor 5:10) - A Day of Condemnation Application: Once again, reconsider our intro and that God gave Jesus to us while we were enemies (Rom 5:10) II) The Importance of the Incarnation Early in the 1st Century was the heresy of Docetism, "that Jesus didn't have an actual human body but appeared to" But, Paul knew if Jesus wasn't flesh He could not atone for flesh A) Reasons for the Incarnation (Just a few) 1) To fulfill the Law = Matt 5:17 (Rom 8:3) 2) To endure Temptation = Heb 4:15 3) To fulfill Prophecy = Gen 3:15 4) To Shed His blood (what God demanded) = Heb 9:11-15 5) To give life where Adam brought Death = Rom 5:1 B) The Objective of the Incarnation 1) God's gift to God - Col 1:22 "to present you"; - Holy: Sacred, pure (2 Cor 5:21) - Blameless: w/o blemish (perfect lamb), faultless - Above Reproach: Un-accused, not called to account (for) (Satan has nothing to say) C) The Personableness of Jesus' Sacrifice (Individual yet Plural) - Gal 3:20, 22 Application: Sinners had to be Holy, Blameless & above Reproach to be in God's presence. Hence, their reconciliation had to be able to make them that - the Incarnation of God as The Christ - The believer himself is not that, but Jesus is, making the believer so in Him III) The Reality of Eternal Security A) Is "if" conditional? Col 1:23 starts with the English word "if", which seems to be conditional (If you continue, are steadfast, not shifting ) The problem is 1) That doesn't seem to comport with the normal teaching of Scripture 2) It doesn't fit the text B) How do we know?