Peter informs us that the angels, commissioned to keep us safe [Psalm 91:11], have been more than curious about our relationship with God:
“Of which salvation the prophets … prophesied of the grace that should come when … [they] testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow…. which things the angels desire to look into.” [1 Peter 1:10-12].
As believers in Christ, it should be a priority for us to join them in searching out the provisions of our salvation that, not only, our lives might provide answers for them, but also, that we “receive not the grace of God [in any sense] in vain. [2 Corinthians 6:1]. All theology should ultimately be about the life, death and resurrection of our Savior; this should occupy our interest as believers [1 Corinthians 2:2].
I have been spending endless hours in retirement over the last 4 years studying about “The Cross” and why our Savior had to die. An evangelistic message is never sufficient to quench our thirst for learning all we can about Jesus’ death and resurrection. No one can study Romans and conclude differently. So, after writing my first book on “The Cross” I rewrote it and rewrote it, and rewrote it again, investigating not just our Savior’s death, but what led up to it, and what resulted afterward. For this I found it necessary to reach back to the Garden of Eden for answers.
The theology correctly teaches that Adam’s sin in Eden was not an isolated event but one that introduced to humanity a depravity that made it, now, impossible for us to please God [Romans 3:23}. So God decided to seek a reconciliation through the death and resurrection of His Son [John 3:16; Romans 11:32; Galatians 3:22].
If you are taught in Torah Law [Hebrews 10:1] the motif of Jesus becoming a “ransom” for us [Mark 10:45] provides an explanation, even if you show no interest in what Augustine (354-420 AD) called “original” sin. The Council of Trent met between 1545 A.D. and 1563 A.D. to address original sin. The Council contended that baptism provided the cleansing for this. The stain of Adam’s disobedience was expunged from the record at Calvary! John Stott [in The Cross of Christ. Downers Grove, IL:InterVarsity Press. 2021. page 96, 181] wrote, “there is a strong biblical emphasis on the influence of our inheritance, what we are ‘in Adam.’ The doctrine of original sin means that the very nature we have inherited is tainted and twisted with self centeredness.” [Mark 7:21-23; John 8:34].
But I have come to see all this in a simpler light. When Adam, after eating of the forbidden fruit of the knowledge of—not just— good [but also ] evil, and being confronted by God, he projected blame first on his wife and then God, Himself, “The women You gave me….” [Genesis 3:12]. It was then, I surmised from the Biblical record of all that followed, that God said to Himself, “Mankind’s heart has ossified in seeking to know evil, he needs a new heart!” [Ezekiel 36:26].
If one is curious about our salvation, study the heart! I find this enlightening because it speaks to a lot more than free will. The heart, in Biblical language, is the seat of all our emotions, intelligence, conscience, decisions, desires, and reason. And as such it must become, thanks to Calvary, the place where the Spirit of God resides as our guide and teacher [John 14:17; 16:8]. This is way Jesus had to die and this is why He rose again from the grave-to giev us a new heart [Jeremiah 31:33].
“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” – Romans 6:4.
