1 + 1 +1 = 1

The "Sinai and the Cross" blog from last week considered the "God's Eternal Purpose" (GEP) chart from the beginning of man's "salvation journey" in the bottom left corner and moving to the end of that journey in the top right corner. (Both the Development chart and the GEP chart can be found on the Trying to Walk Facebook page.) Using that approach we focused on the "what?" of God's Eternal Purpose. This week we're starting at the end and moving toward the beginning in hopes of focusing on the "why?"

At the very end of the GEP journey (top right corner) is Heaven. (May that be the final destination for us all.) But just before Heaven we can envision countless souls, and since we started at the end, they have not encountered anything that comes before. They "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23. In Galatians 5:19-21, Paul gives a long list of sins and concludes by saying, "those who practice such shall not inherit the kingdom of God." So we have a large assembly of people who will not be able to get into Heaven because they are carrying the guilt of their sin.

While they are assembled before Heaven, it would be incorrect to say that they are on the "salvation road" because there is a problem. That problem is the guilt of their sin. This is a problem that God foresaw, and in His wisdom He had a plan to take care of it that culminated in the cross of Christ. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3:16-17.

What Jesus did that redeemed mankind, literally "bought" our salvation, was to sacrifice His life in His death on the cross. "How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For IF we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection." Rom. 6:2-5

What an interesting comparison. Jesus died, was buried and resurrected. These verses say we died (v2) to sin, we were buried (v4) with Him through baptism, and we shall be in the likeness of His resurrection (v5) and walk a new life (v4) having been resurrected. There is a form, or pattern here; death, burial, resurrection. Paul says we partake in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, that we do it with Him when we are baptized. In verse five Paul speaks of us as "hav[ing] been united together in the likeness of His death."

How are we united together in the likeness of His death? He died and was buried. We repent and are baptized. To repent is to turn away from, to no longer practice, or to "die" to sin. To be baptized is to be buried in water. Baptize is an Anglicization of a Greek word, rewriting it with the matching English letters replacing the original Greek letters. The translation of the word is "to immerse", or bury.

How we are united with Christ in the likeness of His death is important. The word IF makes it important. It lays down a condition between us and resurrection, a new life, salvation. Those things - a resurrected life, a new life, savlation - can be ours IF we have been united together in the likeness of His death. That is to say, salvation can be ours IF we have repented and been baptized. I can see no other way to interpret what these verses are telling us.

Off and on through the sixth chapter of Romans Paul continues this parallel between the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and our death, burial and resurrection in baptism. He speaks in verses 15 and 16 of people given over to sin, and then (vs 17-18) says, "'God be thanked that though you were the slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form [pattern] of doctrine to which you were delivered and having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness."

How did they (do we) "obey . . . that pattern of doctrine"? That pattern was set by Jesus and is death, burial, resurrection. It is obeyed when we follow it through baptism. Notice that once they followed that pattern, obeyed that "form"of doctrine, they were set free from sin to become slaves of righteousness. What difference does it make in one's life to be set free from sin? The barrier between that person and Heaven is removed. If those people we spoke of earlier obey from the heart that form of doctrine, they will be free from the guilt of sin and subject to enter Heaven. IF. If they don't obey that form of doctrine, they will not be free from the guilt of sin, and will not be fit for Heaven.

This whole system became activated when Jesus died on the cross, replacing the Mosaic Age with the Christian Age, and giving us that death, burial, resurrection form of doctrine. God had that worked out way back when, actually before He even instituted time, so there really was no "when." But He prepared the world for such a concept before the cross through the Law of Moses.

The Law of Moses highlighted for people that God had a serious list of expectations for their attitude and behavior. If they couldn't live up to God's expectations they faced eternal doom. They could only avoid that doom by blood sacrifices which had to be continually made. It was never the way God planned to save people. It was the way He showed people the pitiable, hopeless condition they were in and how much they were in need of a way of alleviating their condition. Then, "in the fullness of time," Galatians 4:4, Jesus came as the Messisah.

But in God's wisdom, even the Law of Moses was not appropriate for His new creation at the beginning of time. The people of the world were a random collection of nomadic tribes without much real cohesiveness and/or, apparently, whatever was needed to make a formal religion practical. So at that time, which we call the Patriarchal Age, God did His work with people by dealing with the tribes, or clans, on an individual basis. He told them what to do as He needed them to do it. He prepared the minds of mankind to be subservient to God. But this was never God's plan for the salvation of mankind. It was His plan for getting them ready, on His timeline, to accept the idea of a national religion for a nation of people of collected tribes to serve the same (and only) God through a common religion.

But before He even did that, before He did the first iota of His physical creative work, He created a spiritual plan by which He could save the sinful people that would need His help. He led people through it over time as He saw fit until the "fullness of time" made the world ready for His saving grace and mercy, and His great love, to send His son as the atonement for our sins. When the Patriarchal Age is added to the Mosaic Age is added to the Christian age it equals one salvation plan that was always God's Eternal Purpose.