Reparation Satisfaction
Humanity’s debt of sin is above and beyond all we could ever think or imagine. It is the very nature of sinners to incessantly sin against the Holy God. From the original, inherited sin of Adam and unto the practice of diverse sins, the fact is all have sinned (Rom 3:31; 5:12). Sin is lawlessness (1 Jn 3:4); and it must be punished if not paid for by each person…or an acceptable substitute. How will you repay your infinite debt of sin?
Reparations are paid to the offended party. In the case of sins — breaking God’s holy Law — God is the offended party. Because God hates all those who do iniquity (Ps 5:5; 11:5) and is angry with the wicked every day (Ps 7:11). In return, the natural man is angry with God (Rom 1:30; Jn 7:7). The enmity between Holy God and sinful man demands justice. Every sin must be accounted and paid for…in order for reconciliation of the two parties to return to peace.
Throughout history and in societies around the world people have felt the guilt of sins. The result of knowing guilt has been the creation of man-made religions. The desire is to appease the threat of God’s just wrath against sinners. Man-made religions only exacerbate the sin problem by their imaginative ways of paying for sins via offsetting “good” works. There is a way that seems right to man but the end thereof is death (Prv 14:12).
On the authority of Holy Scripture alone (sola scriptura), God has revealed the one name under heaven and given among men whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12). The verb here is passive. Man cannot do anything to be saved. There is salvation; but to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned to him as righteousness (Rom 4:5).
Who alone is able to justify the ungodly? Jesus Christ suffered for sins once for all time, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God (1 Pet 3:18). He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor 5:21). For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Rom 10:4). Simply put, our sins are imputed to the sinless Son of God on the cross; and His righteousness is imputed to those who believe in His name (Phil 3:9).
No one of himself has right standing before the just God of all the earth (Job 18:25; Rom 3:10). No one produces any favor with the offended Law-giver by good works (Is 64:6; Rom 3:12). Only false teachers preach that justification is by the performance of good works of the Law. These were the Judaisers in the early church and they are the legalists, today.
The apostle Paul insisted that we preach Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor 2:2) because faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the Word of Christ (Rom 10:17). We proclaim Him, admonishing every person with all wisdom, to repent of their sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ so to be saved from God’s wrath to come (Col 1:28; Acts 16:31; 17:30; 1 Thess 1:10).
The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Rom 1:18). One breach of God’s holy Law warrants eternal punishment in the lake of fire (Rev 20:14–15), as if one were guilty of the whole Law (Mt 25:46; Jas 2:10; Jude 7). Now, my dear reader, consider the omniscient accounting of your sins. There will be more than one sin on your rap sheet on the Day of Judgment, right?
Here is the salvo for you to know. Jesus Christ came into the world to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21). Jesus, the Good Shepherd, laid down His life for His sheep, His bride, His church (Jn 10:11, 15). He gave His life for His beloved church (Eph 5:25) by suffering the curse of sin upon tree at Calvary (Dt 21:23; Gal 3:13). In other words, Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross (1 Pet 2:24). His precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, was shed for the forgiveness of sin (Eph 1:7; 1 Pet 1:19). Thus, only in Christ does anyone have redemption, the full payment for and cancellation of his or her debt of sin (Col 2:14). Christ Jesus purchased the church of God with His own blood (Acts 20:28).
Only by God’s mercy and grace is one saved (Rom 9:15; Eph 2:8–9); and only by God’s gracious will and choice (Jn 1:12–13; Rom 11:5). The Lord knows those who are His (2 Tim 2:19); for He wrote their names in the Lamb’s book of life before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8; 17:8; 21:27). From heaven Christ came and sought His one and only beloved (SoS 2:16; 6:3). How will you repay a debt so great? Come to Jesus, today, without money and receive so great a salvation. Has He chosen you? Has He called you? He alone can give you rest from your slave labor to sin and futile works to repay.
Jesus paid it all. It is finished. This is the New Covenant in His blood (1 Cor 11:25) — a penal substitutionary sacrifice for atonement with God. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ — His life; His death; His resurrection; His ascension and enthronement; and His coming again to judge the living and the dead. There is salvation in no one else. Only His reparations have satisfied the offended God on our behalf.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
June 5, 2023
