{"id":10839,"date":"2021-01-04T21:59:03","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T21:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=10839"},"modified":"2022-01-12T15:15:11","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T15:15:11","slug":"the-cross-of-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=10839","title":{"rendered":"The Cross of Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">[<strong>Note: \u00a0<\/strong>This MS is available in<strong> \u00a0<\/strong>larger font on our <b>Brief Articles 2<\/b>\u00a0page.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"> By far, the most enduring symbol of the religion of Jesus Christ is the cross. It so represented Jesus\u2019 life, work, and death that the apostle Paul said it was the only thing of which he would ever boast (Gal. 6:14). The cross marks several matters of great significance:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>God\u2019s love\u2014<\/strong>God loved us so that he gave His Son to make our eternal life possible (John 3:16). The cross is God\u2019s ultimate demonstration of that saving love (Rom. 5:8).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>End of the law\u2014<\/strong>The law of Moses was given only to Israel, rather than to all mankind (Deu. 5:1). Its purpose was to preserve Abraham\u2019s lineage through Jacob until God would fulfill His promise to him (Gal. 3: 16\u201319). The law of the Old Testament was thus never intended to be permanent, but a \u201cshadow of good things to come\u201d (Heb. 10:1). The Lord took away the first law that He might establish the second (v. 9). The point at which He did so was when He died on the cross, His will thereupon voiding the authority of all previous Divine wills (Heb. 9:15\u201317). The law was \u201cabolished\u2026through the cross\u201d and \u201cnailed to the cross\u201d (Eph. 2:14\u201316; Col. 2:14). The Old Testament is God\u2019s inspired Word and we must study it for our spiritual profit (Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:6\u201311), but since the cross, the New Testament has been the <strong>sole source of authority<\/strong> for worship, the plan of salvation, the church, human behavior, and all other matters that pertain to our relationship to God.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Atonement for sin\u2014<\/strong><em>Atonement, redemption, <\/em>and<em> reconciliation <\/em>all relate to remedies for our offenses against God (sins). We could not provide the required atonement (payment) for sin, earn our reconciliation (restoration of fellowship) with God, or redeem (purchase freedom from sin) ourselves. Since we could not\/cannot save ourselves (Eph. 2:8\u20139), we must have a Savior\u2014the very purpose for Jesus\u2019 coming: \u201cChrist Jesus came into the world to save sinners\u201d (1 Tim. 1:15). He is the \u201cpropitiation\u201d (i.e., atonement) for our sins (1 John 2:2). He reconciles and redeems us with His blood (Col. 1:20; 1 Pet. 1:18\u201319), shed on the cross.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Sacrificial living\u2014<\/strong>As Jesus bore (and died on) His cross, so must his disciples be willing to bear their \u201ccrosses\u201d daily (Luke 9:23). Our \u201ccrosses\u201d are the things we must suffer rather than forsake or abandon Him. If we are faithful, whatever we have borne for Him will be worth it all.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Only the blood of Christ cleanses us of sin (Heb. 9:14; Rev. 1:5b). This cleansing occurs only when (not before) one is baptized (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; 2 Pet. 3:21; et al.).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">[<strong>Note:<\/strong> I wrote this article for and it appeared in the <em>Denton Record-Chronicle, <\/em>Denton, TX, October 5, 2012].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">Attribution: From <em>thescripturecache.com<\/em>; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 0[Note: \u00a0This MS is available in \u00a0larger font on our Brief Articles 2\u00a0page.] \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By far, the most enduring symbol of the religion of Jesus Christ is the cross. It so represented Jesus\u2019 life, work, and death that the apostle Paul said it&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"easywp-readmore\"><a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=10839\">Continue Reading&#8230;<span class=\"easywp-sr-only\">  The Cross of Christ<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[134,83,102,984,615,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cross-of","category-law-of-moses","category-love","category-love-of-christ","category-sacrifice","category-sin","wpcat-134-id","wpcat-83-id","wpcat-102-id","wpcat-984-id","wpcat-615-id","wpcat-51-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10839"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17332,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10839\/revisions\/17332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}