The Sufficiency of the Cross

Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:11–14)

We would do well to remember that salvation was never free. Salvation is given freely to believers, but it was secured by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. There is nothing more that is required for salvation than faith alone in Christ. His death on the cross completely satisfied the wrath of God against our sin. We do not need to perform any further works of righteousness in order to secure our salvation. We do not need to do any further penance or borrow from the treasury of merit to expiate our sin. Christ paid for our penalty of sin on the cross in full. 

This understanding of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is often called the sufficiency or finality of the atonement. To say that Jesus’ death is sufficient is to say that nothing more is required on our part to be forgiven of our sin. Jesus paid it all. This is due to the fact that the sacrifice of Christ is of inestimable value. The Canons of Dort state, “The death of the Son of God is the only and most perfect sacrifice and satisfaction for sin, and is of infinite worth and value, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world” (Heading 2, Article 3).

This doctrine can be demonstrated even in the narratives of Scripture. As Christ was suffering on the cross, there was a moment in time when He knew His work on the cross was finished. “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty. …Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit” (John 19:28, 30).

Another moment worthy of our attention in the gospels is when the veil in the temple was mysteriously torn in two. “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split” (Matt 27:50–51). Matthew speaks of the veil that concealed the most holy place from the rest of the Temple. The veil was intended to prevent all people from entering before the Mercy Seat, or the Ark of the Covenant. Only the High Priest was permitted to enter once a year on the Day of Atonement. Yet God rent the veil to demonstrate that Christ’s sacrifice meant that the sacrifice of animals was no longer needed. Christ’s blood accomplished what the blood of animals could not (Heb 10:4). 

One of the primary points communicated in the book of Hebrews is that animal sacrifices are no longer, because Christ’s one sacrifice made a sufficient atonement for all our sins. Hebrews 10:11–14 (cited above) demonstrates His sacrifice on the cross is sufficient because He sat down. A person is only allowed to sit when his work is finished. This is certainly true for Jesus. He does not continue to toil. His sacrifice was “one and done.” The section concludes, “Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin” (Heb 10:18). Nothing more is required. 

The beautiful application in this doctrine is that all believers now have access to God in prayer. The same book of Hebrews draws this application: “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus” (Heb 10:19). Every believer has all that is required to have fellowship with God. Every believer has what was lost on the day that Adam and Eve sinned. Every believer now has what everyone in the Old Testament thought was impossible. We can come within the veil. We can boldly approach the throne of God. Not by our works, but by Christ’s work on the cross.

Sinlessness of Jesus in His Humanity

You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. (1 John 3:5)

These past few weeks I have been writing about the necessary Christian doctrines concerning the identity of Christ. I have already listed the Scripture proofs demonstrating the deity of Jesus, and last week briefly discussed the humanity of Jesus. Both are true at the same time: Jesus is truly God and truly man, summarized in Chalcedonian Creed and labeled as the hypostatic union. 

This week I want to discuss the moral perfection, or sinlessness, of Jesus and explain why it is necessary that Jesus be God, human, and perfect. 

Perhaps Jesus’ moral perfection is easily demonstrated when He is tested by Satan in the wilderness (Matt 4:1–11; Mark 1:12–13; Luke 4:1–13). Jesus never falters even though He is in the worst possible environment (wilderness), with the worst possible conditions (extreme hunger), and is tested with the most enticing temptations (bread and all the world). The author of Hebrew comments further, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15).

Jesus even challenged His unbelieving audience, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” (John 8:46). 

The theologian, Louis Berkhof, explained Christ’s sinlessness even further: “This means not merely that Christ could avoid sinning (potuit non peccare), and did actually avoid it, but also that it was impossible for Him to sin (non potuit peccare) because of the essential bond between the human and the divine natures” (Systematic Theology, 318). This is oftentimes labeled as the impeccability of Jesus. 

Some object to the idea of impeccability by asking, “What was the point of Jesus being tested in the wilderness?” I believe Hebrews answers the question: “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation” (5:7–9). Jesus needed to experience temptations in order to become a more perfect Mediator. 

The necessity of Christ’s identity is due to His work on the cross for the redemption of sinful men. If Jesus were sinful, He would not be qualified to be the perfect sacrifice (2 Cor 5:21; 1 Pet 1:19; 2:22–25). If Jesus were not truly man, He would not be our vicar (Rom 5:6–21; 1 Cor 15:45). If Jesus were not truly God, His death on the cross would have been in vain. For even a perfect man cannot redeem another man (Ps 49:7–10).

The Humanity of the Incarnation

For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. (Colossians 2:9)

Last week, I wrote on the deity of Jesus Christ. This is part of a series discussing some theology that is necessary in order to be considered to be a part of the Christian faith. If there be any alteration to these necessary doctrines, then we stray into heresy. If we get the primary doctrines incorrect, the consequences could mean eternal condemnation because you believed in a false god. 

While Jesus is truly God, it is also true at the same time that Jesus is truly human. Even from the start of Jesus’ earthly life, there was a unity of deity and humanity. He was born of a woman but through the “power of the Most High” (Luke 1:35). This caused Jesus to lay claim to a Jewish identity and Davidic lineage in His humanity, while still possessing divine power in His deity. 

The New Testament gives a lot of evidence that Jesus was truly human and lived the full human experience. In the Gospels we see Jesus' human nature in His physical development (Luke 2:40, 52). He had physical desires for food (Matt 4:2) and drink (John 19:28). He also became physically exhausted (Matt 4:11; John 4:6) and tired (Mark 4:38).

Before all of the New Testament was written, the apostles were already fighting against a heresy called docetism. The heresy stated that Jesus was not actually present in human flesh, but was more akin to a phantom. The heresy stemmed from the idea that the physical world was impure, therefore Jesus would not have come in a physical body. However several Scripture passages would contradict this idea. He ate meals with the apostles (Luke 24:42–43; John 21:9, 13). He bled when he was injured (John 19:32–34). Most scholars think John’s letter was written to deal with docetism. He opened the letter with, “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life” (1 John 1:1; cf. Luke 24:39). 

This balance of Jesus being both truly God and truly man is often summarized with the doctrine of the hypostatic union. The Chalcedonian Creed said it best in 451 A.D.

We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [coessential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ: as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning him, and the Lord Jesus Christ himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us (Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical Notes: The Greek and Latin Creeds, with Translations, vol. 2 [New York: Harper & Brothers, 1890], 63).