The belief in atonement and reconciliation through Jesus’ death on the cross has been a great source of comfort to Christians for centuries. Throughout history, Christians have gathered together in community around this message, which has given them meaning and comfort in life.
For many Christians, the experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit—feeling God’s presence through a powerful spiritual and emotional experience—has also been important. For many, this is experienced as a turning point in their Christian lives and is a source of great joy—indeed, almost euphoria.
But then Monday comes.
You’re sitting in the car, stuck in traffic on your way to work. Traffic is moving slowly, and the driver in front of you isn’t paying attention and gets cut off. Frustration builds, and before you know it, you’re sitting there swearing.
Or you’re scrolling through social media on your phone. Your feed is flooded with “rage bait,” and you can feel your heart rate rising as your anger at the world’s stupidity builds. Before you know it, you find yourself in the midst of a barrage of criticism against politicians, business leaders, and influencers. Often in the comments section, using your full name.
Or you lose yourself in content that serves only to satisfy your own selfishness and desires. You feel empty, dirty, and unwell. But you can’t stop. The brain’s craving for another dopamine rush is insatiable.
We can keep going like this. “Bad habits die hard,” as the saying goes.
Perhaps we take comfort in the forgiveness of sins. We enjoy listening to Christian music, which often focuses on our own inadequacy and how Jesus has atoned for our sins. It brings us comfort and a sense of well-being. But that doesn’t solve the underlying problem, which still gnaws at our conscience in quiet moments. We actually want something else. Something more.
And despite all our Christian cultural traditions—which we may boast about in celebratory speeches, and which we believe, perhaps quite unconsciously, give us reason to feel a little better than others. But human nature remains fundamentally the same.
Why is that? And what can we do about it?
Is there a key we might have overlooked?
In Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 5, verse 10, it says:
“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”
Have you ever wondered why Paul uses two different terms here? Isn’t he actually describing two different phenomena?
He links one of them to Jesus’ death. Paul calls this reconciliation.
He relates the second to the life of Jesus. This he calls salvation.
And it is point two that is the key issue for us here.
If humanity is lost because of sin, and human nature is permeated by sin as a result, shouldn’t salvation and the baptism of the Spirit also bring about a qualitative change in those who come to faith?
Shouldn’t there be a radical change, both in mindset and way of life?
If you read the Bible’s accounts of how the early Christians took it, you would certainly think so. And yet the reality is that most of us carry on as before, even though many of us may be trying to become a “slightly better version of ourselves.”
Maybe I’m not addicted to crude things, like infidelity, pornography, alcohol, or drugs. But what about the desire for recognition? What about the urge to feel “a little better” than “the others”? Or envy? Backbiting? Greed? Maybe not very obvious or crude. But beneath the polished surface, things are simmering.
Am I not really longing for something far more radical than a “slightly better version of myself”?
Isn’t the salvation by his life something far more far-reaching?
Paul writes this to the church in Corinth:
“… always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” (2 Corinthians 4:10–11).
He goes on to write:
“So death is at work in us, but life in you.”
In Christianity, Jesus’ atoning death on the cross is absolutely essential. Jesus dies as a sacrifice for sin, “the righteous for the unrighteous,” and is raised again as our Savior.
But we also believe that in Jesus’ life, a “death” occurred concerning the human nature that Jesus had taken upon himself. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews describes this in chapter 5, verses 7–9:
“In the days of his flesh, Jesus[a] offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.”
Even more clearly in chapter 2, verse 14:
“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.”
And further on in verses 17 and 18:
“Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
Let’s go back to Paul again. From the Letter to the Philippians:
“… who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
(Philippians 2:6–8)
This death was a gradual process, something that happened day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year. Gradually, by “carrying in the body the death of Jesus,” Paul and the other apostles surrendered the sin that had entered through the Fall “to the death of Jesus.”
Jesus as the Forerunner
But the Apostles call this death “the death of Jesus,” because it was Jesus who instituted it. So Jesus was the first to do this. He who was “made like his brothers and sisters in every respect.” So he wasn’t just an atoning sacrifice.
He was also a forerunner.
Peter was one of those who knew Jesus best. In his first letter, he writes: “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:21)
This is sanctification. A process in which we follow in Jesus’ footsteps.
Sanctification, for its part, is closely linked to discipleship. That is the topic of the next article in the series.
Bible quotations in the text are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Read the Bible here.