Theological Issues

Christianity is fundamentally different to all other religions in the way it operates. While it may be true that all major religions espouse the same basic values of love, peace, faithfulness, contentment, etc, their views on why the world is the way it is, and/or their solutions to "fixing" it are very different. The purpose of this essay is simply to present the Christian perspective as it comes to us in the Bible. It is a personal view.

The essence of Christianity is the restoration of the relationship between God and people. With that comes all the blessings of an almighty, loving, righteous and merciful God in full control.

The foundation for the design and reliability of the "Christian system" is the righteousness and integrity of God himself. There is not a shadow of variation in this integrity. It there were even the tiniest fault, then the whole system would fail and God would be unreliable even capricious and Christianity could offer no hope.

The starting point is that God made everything, "owns" everything, loves everything, and determines the purpose of everything. This includes humanity. With submission to God’s sovereignty comes all the blessings, protections and eternal sustainability (ie immortality) of His infinite power. With rejection of His sovereignty comes independence without the blessings and protections of His infinite power. God regards those who reject His sovereignty as rebels. The bible tells us that humankind has rejected God’s sovereign rule. The consequence of this is the loosening of the blessings and protections that would otherwise apply to ensure a peaceful, safe and sufficient world. Hence we have war, famine, natural disaster, greed, hate, death etc.

This action of God’s is not based simply around the way He behaves, only to be discovered when an error is made. Rather it is codified into a "law" and related "covenants" (legal agreements) which ultimately mean if people obey God’s commands He will be their sovereign God. This law and these covenants contain no resolution once they are broken. So the first time they fail is the end. The bible records that this happened with the first (representative) people, Adam and Eve. The way the law is recorded is that punishment for disobedience is death. When you consider it fully, this punishment is not so much a judicial act as a simple consequence of disconnection from the only source of life.

Because God has absolute integrity and righteousness, and because He has codified His mode of operation in a law for all to see, His is absolutely and fully obliged to behave according to that Law. If He did not, then we could never be certain of anything He said and He could be . Consequently God is obliged to punish disobedience. He generally seems to allow this to happen passively through the consequences of rejecting His sovereign rule, for which there is no turning back.

The law then requires the punishment of death for any act of disobedience or failure to obey the law. The law requires perfect obedience, something absolutely impossible for humankind or any being other than God Himself. So the law can only a death sentence to God’s creation.

(We might ask why did God create this law in the first place? He must have known what the consequences would be. This is a question I will attempt to speculate about in another essay. I think this issue is bound up in the whole question of evil.)

However, God is determined to recover His creation and humanity these implications. But He can only do so by fully meeting the requirements of the law. This is why the Gospel is necessary. (The Gospel is the "life, death and ressurection of Jesus Christ").

Jesus, who we are told is God incarnate (ie in the form of a man) is perfect in obedience to the law. Consequently Jesus does not "owe his life" to the law. His life then, can be used to meet the demands of the law in place of human "sinners" and they can then defeat death.

Now remember, law itself has no power. It is not an entity as such. It’s power comes from the integrity and righteousness of God Himself. Consequently, as long as God satisfies all accusers that the law has been met then it is done. The only way of doing this of course is to pay the highest possible price, one that is beyond dispute regarding its value over that which is being "bought" or "ransomed" back from the law. There is only one answer, that is God Himself.

So this is what Christianity is ultimately about. God, sacrificing Himself to pay the punishment required by the law because of disobedience to the law. This is way Jesus needed to be God in the flesh, anything else would not be adequate. This is also why Jesus could be resurrected, because He was God and absolutely righteous and could be held by death.

Two more things need to be said, firstly, no-one should make the mistake of believing they can fully obey the law. This is a very dangerous view to hold. Jesus makes this pretty clear in the sermon on the mount. Secondly, while the Gospel is powerful enough to rescue everyone from the punishment of death, there is absolutely no point in rescuing committed rebels. God therefore offers His rescue plan to all who wish to submit to His sovereign rule. Just call on Him and you will be saved, because of the work that He has done.

Incidentally, the Old Testament in the bible is all about preparing for the Gospel event and repeating the rescue pattern so that God’s people would recognise it when it occurred. It is not about an alternative approach or a change of mind on God’s part.