God’s Grand Plan of Salvation

This past Sunday was my turn to teach the Salt and Light class at my local church. I often fill in for the regular teacher, and enjoy sharing God’s Word with 20 to 25 Christian brothers and sisters. The lesson was from Romans 3 on God’s Grand Plan of Salvation. The focus was on justification.

As I studied, thought and prayed, I remembered a freshman theology textbook I studied in Bible college. Harry Jessop’s book, Foundations of Doctrine,  impressed me profoundly in those days. Jessop said that there are four simultaneous aspects of being born again.

The Sovereign aspect is the act of forgiveness. Relationally, if I wrong another, I must apologize. My wife often hears me say, “I’m sorry. I was wrong.” Her usual response is “I forgive you.” I remember a legal pardon that President Gerald Ford gave to the shamed former president, Richard Nixon. Ford offered a pardon to forgive Nixon his wrongs.

For me to receive God’s forgiveness, I must respond to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, reminding me that I am wrong. God calls you and me to humble confession, repentance, and faith, that allow for the penitent to receive the assurance of forgiveness. This forgiveness, made possible through the atoning sacrifice of Christ’s body and blood on the cross of Calvary, through faith, clears our record of past sins and frees us from the bondage of sin’s enslavement.

The judicial aspect is the fact of justification made possible by the redemptive work of Christ which declares us righteous. He redefines our category from condemned sinner, to righteous before God by faith.  God conquers an enemy, my rebel heart, and declares me to be His friend. Through repentance from all known sin, renunciation of my past, restitution toward others wronged, and faith in the atoning work of Christ, He offers justification by faith.

The parental aspect is the work of regeneration where Father God makes the repentant sinner new. Ezekiel pictured a valley of dry bones. The wind, representing the breath of God, blew across the dry bones and gave them life. God makes people dead in sin to live again. The Holy Spirit breathes new life into us, regenerating from death to life.  This new life in Jesus Christ includes the fruit of the Spirit, victory over temptation to sin, spiritual power to resist inner sinful urges, and freedom from habitual sin is broken. The love of God fills and transforms the heart and life of the new creation in Christ by faith.

The family aspect of the position of adoption. The estranged now has a place of belonging. The fatherless has a Heavenly Father. I belong. I have an identity based in relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

To this glorious list of simultaneous transformations in the heart of the believer in the new birth, Dennis Kinlaw would add the nuptial aspect of becoming part of the Bride of Christ, culminating in heaven. This new birth allows for a romantic union of lovers. Jesus is the Groom. The church is His Bride. The Father is seeking a Bride for His Son. He seeks to make her a holy and suitable mate for Jesus Christ. The wedding takes place in heaven, and is followed by a marriage supper of the Lamb. This nuptial aspect reminds me of the Father’s procreative intent to multiply the Church, the Bride. Marriage is emblematic of the relational intensity of bonding for a lifetime. This Biblical metaphor runs from Genesis to Revelation. God is on a search for a bride, the Church, to marry his son Jesus Christ.

I am thankful for the new birth. I was converted when I repented of my sins and asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart by faith, making me a new creature in Christ Jesus. Enjoy the multi-faceted picture of this gem of God’s grace.