I was pondering the substitution of Jesus' life for mine so that I can be alive in God. Without His obedience I would be subject to the fullness of God's wrath because I am a sinful man. Because of Jesus, I am able to stand confidently before God boasting in my righteousness through faith in Christ. I was thinking of how I could explain the substitution in terms that might be more understandable to some one who struggles with the concept of the depraved nature of man.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (v. 11)
Do you think this would work as an acceptable analogy?
Jesus' death on the cross would be like some one going to work for me and giving me all of the income that they earn.
Comments? Thoughts? Am I way off?
We live in a society that is devoid of the concept of sacrifice, even sacrificing a want. Most consider it a great sacrifice to give up soda for lent. Christ gives us the example we should follow and his sacrifice on the cross. I think your concept of the wage earner makes sense but may not go far enough. I would use the movie "Saving Private Ryan". This movie graphically illustrates the physical war that is analogous to the war that rages in our world for our immortal souls. The sacrifice of the God of the universe compared to the sacrifice of a squad of men. So one might live. The most powerful scene in the movie is where the elder private Ryan asks those who sacrificed for him was his life worthy of their sacrifice. This to me leads me to ask: Is my life worthy of the sacrifice of the maker of the universe? I think most people would get that analogy. Just watch the movie and draw your conclusions from that.
ReplyDeleteHmm...I try not to think of Saving Private Ryan because of one scene that I find nauseating (no, it isn't the opening scene), but I follow your analogy and it is definitely stronger than my work analogy.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't trying to diminish the concept of sacrifice so much as find a way to illustrate the substitution aspect of Christ's sacrificial obedience. As silly as it is, Spock's sacrifice at the end of Star Trek II is probably more akin to one man (Spock as the Christ figure) sacrificing for the many (the crew of the Enterprise as mankind).
Cool.
I think that the real trick would be getting people to accept that they even NEED a substitutionary sacrifice. I do like the Spock analogy. :-)
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