The Cross of Christ,
Chapter 3: Born Crucified (part 3)
The question therefore is, “What is the solution to our sin problem?” Is it changing the political and economic environment? If I pluck an apple tree and plant it in an orange grove, will it produce oranges? No. Some years ago a movement tried to do that very thing. It was called “The Moral Re-armament.” In other words, arm yourselves with love, purity, and honesty, and the world will change for the better. It promised we would have no more wars. That movement is dying out because it hasn’t worked.
The reason why the Christian church also has failed is because it has failed to see the dual answer of the gospel to the sin problem. The power of the gospel is not only in the blood of Christ but also in the cross of Christ. Sinful acts God can forgive because of Christ’s shed blood, but sinfulness cannot be forgiven; it must go. One of the mistakes we make when we become Christians is that we think that through the help of God we can change our sinful natures. Well, I have bad news for you. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:6: “That which is born of the flesh is (always) flesh.” God’s answer for the sinful flesh is not making it better.
Do you know what God’s answer is to the flesh? Do you know what God’s verdict is on the flesh? Crucifixion. The flesh must die. That is His solution. God forgives you for your acts through the blood of Christ but for sinfulness He doesn’t forgive you. He strikes the tree down. The apple tree that produces sour apples must be cut down and a new apple tree must be planted. 2 Cor. 5:17 tells us what the cross does: “If any man be in Christ he is a new creation, the old has passed away.” The formula of the gospel is not changing the environment. The formula of the gospel is not making you good. The formula of the gospel is “NOT I, BUT CHRIST!”
That is why a French theologian in the 19th Century made this statement: “Every Christian is born crucified.” The famous modern martyr who died in Germany at the age of 39, Deitric Bonhofer said, “When God calls you, He calls you to die.” If you have not died, if you were buried alive by your pastor when you were baptized, you are not a Christian; because the gospel demands that you die in exchange for the life of Christ. That is God’s answer to our sin problem.
The death of Christ was not one man dying instead of all men. The Bible doesn’t teach that. Yes, Christ did die tor us, in the sense that He tasted death instead of all men. You and I as Christians will never have to experience the second death which Christ tasted on the cross. Thank God for that. But when He died it wasn’t just one Man dying instead of all men. That is illegal. No law, God’s or man’s, will allow it. According to the New Testament teaching, it was all men that died in one Man. The death of Christ was a corporate death.
When an American wins the Olympics, who is happy, who rejoices? Not just one person but the whole nation rejoices because that one man represents America. So when Christ died, He died as “US.” 2 Cor. 5:14 (NIV): “Because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.” Just as all men sinned in Adam, so also all men died in Christ, the second Adam.
What did Christ say concerning the cross in John 12:31? “Now is the judgment of this world.” When Adam sinned his condemnation came upon all men because all men were implicated in his sin (Romans 5:12, 18). Since the human race is the multiplication of Adam’s one life, we were all in him when he sinned. Likewise, the same human race was put into Christ at the incarnation so that when He died, we died in Him. This is the truth of the cross in which the whole world was judged in Christ.
Hence, when you accept this truth by faith, the cross of Christ becomes your cross. Jesus says, “When you follow me you must deny self and take up your cross daily” (Luke 9:23). The problem is that many have defined the Christian cross as individual crosses separate from the cross of Christ, because Jesus said, “Take up your cross.” So we say that God has given every one of us individual crosses.
And because we have identified the believer’s cross with the hardships of life, each of us have different crosses. Some have big crosses and some have small crosses. Some have heavy crosses and some have light crosses. Consequently, when we go through difficult times we say, “The Lord has given me a very heavy cross.”
Nowhere in the Bible does it teach that. God doesn’t give each of us individual crosses. There is only one cross that saves. It is the cross of Christ, and that cross is a corporate cross. When you become a Christian, the cross of Christ becomes your cross. Hardships of life is not the cross since unbelievers also have to face hardships of life. Christians are not the only ones who have to face problems in this life. The cross of Christ is what you have received as your cross when you accept Christ and Him crucified. The cross of Christ becomes my cross and your cross the moment we join ourselves to Him by faith.
Studies
Pr Jack Sequeira
