The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Obedience in the midst of suffering & sacrifice

Obedience is a major theme in scripture. On one hand, there is the disobedience of Adam, Israel, and all other men. On the other hand is the sinless obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Rom 5:19 "...by the obedience of the one"
Phil 2:8 "...obedient unto death, even the death of the cross"
Luk 22:42 "...not my will, but thine, be done."
Heb 10:9 "...Lo, I come to do thy will, O God."

He was obedient not only when it was "easy", but also when that obedience came at great personal suffering, cost, and sacrifice. How pleased the Father was with this sacrifice in the midst of the flames of suffering! The fragrant odor(Eph 5:2) of His obedience stands in contrast to the stench of disobedience from all other men.

Did you ever notice that the exaltation and the reign of the Son is a reward given to Him by His Father for His obedience in the midst of trials and suffering? For example:

Phil 2:9-11 "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name...that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord"

Rom 14:9-11 "For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living...every knee shall bow to me."

Rom 3:21 "...even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne."

Luke 22:28 "Now you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. 29 And I am covenanting a covenant with you, according as My Father covenanted a kingdom to Me, 30 that you may be eating and drinking at My table in My kingdom . And you will be seated on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

Charlemagne,

Interesting... and your point is?

Thanks in advance for expanding on your thoughts.

You said it, but I certainly thunk it.

Tom

Hello Pilgrim,

There is an important and fundamental question that needs to be asked: How does the death of our Lord result in our salvation?

Perhaps the most popular answer to this question is that man is a sinner and that God has to punish the sinner in order to maintain His righteousness. But instead of punishing the sinner, He punishes Jesus Christ as a substitute and therefore the sinner does not have to endure the penalty of his sin and get's to go free. For the typical Christian, this would be his only understanding of the cross.

There are a couple of things the scriptures repeatedly emphasize:

1) The cross(as well as His entire life) was a demonstration of His worthines: sinless, faithfullness, obedience, humility, etc. Trials and sufferings are a test of the individual, and Jesus Christ was true, faithful, obedient, etc. no matter what sufferings He had to endure, no matter the cost, no matter the sacrifice.

2) The Father delights in His obedient Son. The Son's perfect faithfulness and obedience in the context of such great personal sacrifice is as it were a delightful fragrance to the Father.

3) The Father exalts the Son, rewarding Him with a kingdom, all power in heaven and on earth, the inheritance of all, etc.

4) The Son uses His power and authority to save, redeem, abolish all rule and authority, subject His enemies, etc.

An example of this would be Joseph. The "cross" that Joseph had to bear was being sold into slavery, falsely accused, and cast into prison. In all of his trials and sufferings, Joseph remained faithful and true. Both his master, and the prison administrator saw in Joseph someone who was faithful and true and who could be entrusted with power and authority: a very worthy man, indeed. Joseph is then exalted to Pharoah's right hand and uses the power and authority given to him to save Egypt from famine/death and buy all of Egypt for Pharoah.

Jesus Christ died for our sins. He died for our sakes. But His death alone doesn't solve our sin problem.(1Cor 15:18) A dead savior cannot save anyone. His resurrection, glorification, exaltation, and rule and reign is essential also.

It is undeniably true, that the resurrection especially is essential as it shows that Christ had no personal sin to atone for and thus was the perfect sacrificial substitute to redeem those whom the Father gave Him. However, even Christ's death and resurrection are insufficient in and of themselves to secure the salvation of even one sinner. What is also needed is that perfect obedient life which was the reason Christ rose from the dead... and that perfect life (active obedience) imputed to the believing sinner unto justification. Without perfect holiness, no one can stand before God. Thus we need much more than having our sins punished in Christ (passive obedience), we need His perfect righteousness (active obedience) as well.

Hi Charlemagne,

1 Corinthians 15.18, is Paul's answer to something hypothetical and not real, "If Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain, ye are yet in your sins"

But, of course, we know that Christ has been raised.

As for the benefits of that resurrection which do indeed attend believers, here are some:

Romans 4:25. Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

The fact of His resurrection is the believer's hope of eternal life. By raising Christ from the dead, God was validating Christ's death as effective to procure the salvation of His elect. God had accepted Christ's payment of His life for our transgressions. By Christ's death guilty sinners are declared righteous and are thereby justified in God's sight. The just was given for the unjust, and those that believe are forever delivered from the condemnation of sin.

Ephesians 2:6: And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Having been justified in Christ, the believer is as good as saved. Though he has a life of trials and testing to endure, if he truly is in Christ, then his soul is in such a good condition as that is good as being saved at last, as good as being raised with Christ at last.

This is the result of Christ being raised from the dead. All the elect are as good as saved. Eternal life is their portion, guaranteed! Hallelujah!