DONATE
We rejoice in Christ’s resurrection and the life we have in Him. However, it is troubling to find that there are teachings out there that say that all you need to believe to be saved is that Christ died for your sins. Some say that faith in Christ’s resurrection isn’t necessary to be saved because our salvation is based solely on Christ’s payment for our sins at the Cross, and they’ll intentionally leave out the Resurrection. However, this is not Pauline. The gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24) includes the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul stresses in his letters the importance of believing that Christ is risen from the dead. Note the following verses:
“And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness…But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead” (Rom. 4:22,24).
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:9).
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:3,4).
Unbelievers must trust that Christ is risen in order to be saved, so believers need to stress Christ’s death and resurrection when they share the gospel of grace. When Paul writes about our spiritual baptism with Christ, we are not only identified with His death, but also His burial and resurrection (Rom. 6:3,4). According to Colossians 2:10, we “are complete in Him,” because we have been identified with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection (Col. 2:11,12) the moment we believed in His death, burial, and resurrection.
Christ died for our sins and… He rose again the third day. Don’t leave out the resurrection! It’s crucial to our faith and salvation. We have God’s Word on it. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:17, “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain [empty]; ye are yet in your sins.” But because “Christ is risen from the dead,” those “in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:20,22). That should cause us to want to shout for joy! source
Sign up for our daily email study!
Loading ...
[…] He had come to die for the sins of the world and would not now turn away from the sufferings involved. But this hour of suffering and shame was also an hour of glory, for there the Son of God paid a debt which would have sunk a world to hell. This is why, at this same time, in the very shadow of the cross, He said: […]