The Great Exchange

[Reformed]

Is this too good to be true?

The Great Exchange

On Calvary there transpired the momentous and grandest transaction of all time and eternity. Christ the Substitute of his people (Isaiah 53) was laden with our guilt and trespasses just as if he himself had committed those sins: He was counted with the transgressors. “He hath made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Christ took full responsibility for the sins of his people and by his death he made atonement for them. As the scapegoat he took them away from us. He died the just for the unjust (1 Peter 3:18).

By the same token, his righteousness is counted as ours. “He has clothed us with the garments of salvation.” In justification we stand before God, not having our own righteousness by the righteousness of Christ imputed to our account.

The exchange consisted in Christ giving us freely what is his (righteousness, holiness, perfect standing, full obedience to the Law, etc.) and took our debt upon himself. In order for God not to forsake us eternally, God forsook him (“My God, my God, what hast thou forsaken me?”). By his punishment we are made whole; by his stripes we are healed. The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Conversely, on the basis of Christ’s atonement, God lays upon us white and spotless garments, bright and clean, procured for us freely by Christ.

In Him we have a righteousness,
By God Himself approved,
Our rock, our sure foundation this,
Which never can be moved.
Our ransom by His death He paid,
For all His people given,
The law He perfectly obeyed,
That they might enter heaven.

                        Augustus M. Toplady.

http://www.emich.edu/abroad/images/crosssunrise.jpg

 

[Reformed]

Is this truth or fiction?

THE GREAT EXCHANGE

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

“What will you give me in exchange?” is often the question. Getting something for nothing is a concept completely foreign to us. Yet that’s what God has done for us in Christ.

He gave us his Son who had no sin. “Holy, blameless, pure” is how the author of Hebrews describes Jesus (7:26). Not once did an unholy thought surge into his mind, an unclean word slip from his lips, an unkind deed surface in his daily life. Never did he have to pray, “Create in me a pure heart, O God” (Psalm 51:10). Always he could stand before his Father as one who had no sin.

But we couldn’t. If every sin ever committed in this world were a brick, I wonder how many Empire State Buildings we could erect. If some calculator could automatically make an entry for every sin in just one day of my life, I wonder how high the number would go. How do I even begin to get a glimpse of what Jesus carried for sinners like me when it says, “God made him . . . to be sin for us”?

What do we get in exchange? “The righteousness of God,” Paul answers. Instead of sin, I have holiness. Instead of punishment, I have pardon. Instead of hell, I have heaven. This great exchange a loving God has prepared for the world by his Son’s work. Thank God I know by faith it’s mine.

Lord, thank you for charging my sins to Jesus and crediting his righteousness to me. Amen.

This devotion is from Richard Lauersdorf’s Together with Jesus, a collection of 366 devotions published by Northwestern Publishing House

 

[ricko]

Certainly sounds like you are preaching. I believe that is frowned upon. You have a question maybe?

 

[Reformed]

Certainly sounds like you are preaching. I believe that is frowned upon. You have a question maybe?

Do you believe that this verse is true?

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

 

[Publisher]

Bruce Carrol, an evangelical vocal artist, recorded a song called “The Great Exchange”. The album “The Great Exchange” by him is one of my favorite gospel recordings…while not a fan of “Country”, it has a “country” flavor.

 

[Robert_in_SD]

Do you believe that this verse is true?

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

Yes. But I don’t believe that Jesus “became sin” in the sense that He suffered the express (eternal?) punishment that was due to us in the sense that many imply. Rather, he was the perfect sacrifice to make atonement for those sins. I’m not sure in what sense you take this. Do you believe he essentially suffered the express punishment for all of our sins, or do you believe that this passage is stating that Christ made atonement for sin.

Peace,
-Robert

 

[Reformed]

Yes. But I don’t believe that Jesus “became sin” in the sense that He suffered the express (eternal?) punishment that was due to us in the sense that many imply. Rather, he was the perfect sacrifice to make atonement for those sins. I’m not sure in what sense you take this. Do you believe he essentially suffered the express punishment for all of our sins, or do you believe that this passage is stating that Christ made atonement for sin.

Peace,
-Robert

I understand it in the Biblical way? How do you understand it, through the lenses of the Catholic Church? Just kidding…

Did Jesus absorb the punishment of your past sins only? If so, who will pay the price for your present and future sins, maybe yourself?

 

[Robert_in_SD]

I understand it in the Biblical way? How do you understand it, through the lenses of the Catholic Church? Just kidding…

The biblical way IS the Catholic way.

Reformed:

Did Jesus absorb the punishment of your past sins only? If so, who will pay the price for your present and future sins, maybe yourself?

That’s not what I meant. We both agree that His sacrifice was sufficient to redeem all of us… and that we are all freed from the eternal punishment due to sin through His sacrifice - alone.

Whether I think that His redemptive work is applied in a way that my own sins - past present and future - are forgiven in a single moment in my lifetime is a different question. I can answer your question in this way: Yes, His sacrifice was sufficient to remove the guilt for all of my sins, past present and future. The grace He obtained for each of us is there like an infinite ocean of water that is available for us to bathe in whenever we are repentent and in need of forgiveness. One quick dunk at the moment of our birth might not be enough bathing for some of us. I can’t speak for you, but I certainly will take a bath in that ocean of grace whenever I’m feeling stinky.

I would not call such a plunge my own “work.” It seems more like resting in the mercy and love of Jesus to me?

And, finally, I do not believe that Jesus suffered the express punishment that I would suffer, had I died in unrepentent sin - i.e. eternal damnation. Rather, I believe His death on the cross was sacrificial (and efficacious as such) and not merely replacement. And I do not believe He was abandoned by God on the cross. He WAS God on the cross.

Peace,
-Robert

 

[dessert]

Do you believe that this verse is true?

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

It also points to the *Ministry of Reconciliation * it contrasts with the covenant that condemns.

 

[distracted]

Lord, thank you for charging my sins to Jesus and crediting his righteousness to me. Amen.

that doesn’t mean you don’t have to do things … one is not saved by faith in Christ alone. If that were the case, the demons and satan would be saved as well… surely they believe better than many of us humans do… (James 2:14)

You can’t just say to Jesus: "Here are my sins… Now i don’t have to worry… cause you have them… or whatever… i can go off to work and make lots of $ and live like a pagan and like everyone else… and i am still saved… dont have to do antyhing for the kingdom… don’t have to be purified… cause you did everything…

a person has to be thoroughly INTO Jesus… in order to get into Heaven… and that means, among other things, belonging to His Church…

which he did not establish just for the h-- of it…

The Church is the only thing powerful enough to overcome the gates of Hell… and for those who trust in Scripture alone… that is the only time in Scirpture where Jesus promises that anything would so prevail…

 

[TriuneUnity]

that doesn’t mean you don’t have to do things … one is not saved by faith in Christ alone. If that were the case, the demons and satan would be saved as well… surely they believe better than many of us humans do… (James 2:14)

Belief is not faith. We are not saved by belief in Christ alone. We are saved by faith in Christ alone.

You can’t just say to Jesus: "Here are my sins… Now i don’t have to worry… cause you have them… or whatever… i can go off to work and make lots of $ and live like a pagan and like everyone else… and i am still saved… dont have to do antyhing for the kingdom… don’t have to be purified… cause you did everything…

Have you ever seen a Protestant say that you wrote above is sola fide? That is the hugest strawman in the history of cornfields. It’s insulting for Catholics to keep repeating this same canard over and over.

 

[ralphinal]

Belief is not faith. We are not saved by belief in Christ alone. We are saved by faith in Christ alone.

Have you ever seen a Protestant say that you wrote above is sola fide? That is the hugest strawman in the history of cornfields. It’s insulting for Catholics to keep repeating this same canard over and over.

I am sure that it is. At least anti-CAtholics don’t keep repeating the same canards over and over

 

[Reformed]

that doesn’t mean you don’t have to do things … one is not saved by faith in Christ alone. If that were the case, the demons and satan would be saved as well… surely they believe better than many of us humans do… (James 2:14)

You can’t just say to Jesus: "Here are my sins… Now i don’t have to worry… cause you have them… or whatever… i can go off to work and make lots of $ and live like a pagan and like everyone else… and i am still saved… dont have to do antyhing for the kingdom… don’t have to be purified… cause you did everything…

a person has to be thoroughly INTO Jesus… in order to get into Heaven… and that means, among other things, belonging to His Church…

which he did not establish just for the h-- of it…

The Church is the only thing powerful enough to overcome the gates of Hell… and for those who trust in Scripture alone… that is the only time in Scirpture where Jesus promises that anything would so prevail…

I’m not sure if you can make a biblical case that you must be a member of the Catholic Church to be saved. The jailer asked the Apostle Paul the questions “what must I do to be saved” in the book of Acts? Paul did not explicitly state or imply that you must become a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Jesus saves sinners which has nothing to do with membership with the Roman Catholic denomination. Please prove me wrong through the Scriptures if you disagree. If you cannot support your membership requirment to be saved, then you are changing the gospel of God’s grace into legalism (man-made requirement).

 

[Contarini]

Is this too good to be true?

The Great Exchange

On Calvary there transpired the momentous and grandest transaction of all time and eternity. Christ the Substitute of his people (Isaiah 53) was laden with our guilt and trespasses just as if he himself had committed those sins: He was counted with the transgressors. “He hath made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Christ took full responsibility for the sins of his people and by his death he made atonement for them. As the scapegoat he took them away from us. He died the just for the unjust (1 Peter 3:18).

By the same token, his righteousness is counted as ours. “He has clothed us with the garments of salvation.” In justification we stand before God, not having our own righteousness by the righteousness of Christ imputed to our account.

The exchange consisted in Christ giving us freely what is his (righteousness, holiness, perfect standing, full obedience to the Law, etc.) and took our debt upon himself. In order for God not to forsake us eternally, God forsook him (“My God, my God, what hast thou forsaken me?”). By his punishment we are made whole; by his stripes we are healed. The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Conversely, on the basis of Christ’s atonement, God lays upon us white and spotless garments, bright and clean, procured for us freely by Christ.

In Him we have a righteousness,
By God Himself approved,
Our rock, our sure foundation this,
Which never can be moved.
Our ransom by His death He paid,
For all His people given,
The law He perfectly obeyed,
That they might enter heaven.

                        Augustus M. Toplady.

Most of us do not reject the Calvinist doctrine of Atonement because we find it too good to be true, but because we find it unworthy of a God who is “good” in anything remotely similar to what humans mean by the word. (And if God isn’t good in anything like the sense in which we normally use the word, why use the word at all?)

Edwin

 

[Reformed]

Most of us do not reject the Calvinist doctrine of Atonement because we find it too good to be true, but because we find it unworthy of a God who is “good” in anything remotely similar to what humans mean by the word. (And if God isn’t good in anything like the sense in which we normally use the word, why use the word at all?)

Edwin

You don’t need to be a Calvinist to receive the Great Exchange. I believe C.S. Lewis coined the phrase “The Great Excange”. And we know C.S. Lewis was not a Calvinist. Receiving limited atonement, particular atonement, or universal atonement is not a dividing line in the sand. Heck, I just read a book on Calvin’s view on the atonement. You can say that Calvin believed in both universal atonement and limited atonement. It essence, that is probably the truth… for salvation in Christ is both exclusive and universal.

 

[BlestOne]

I’m not sure if you can make a biblical case that you must be a member of the Catholic Church to be saved. The jailer asked the Apostle Paul the questions “what must I do to be saved” in the book of Acts? Paul did not explicitly state or imply that you must become a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Jesus saves sinners which has nothing to do with membership with the Roman Catholic denomination. Please prove me wrong through the Scriptures if you disagree. If you cannot support your membership requirment to be saved, then you are changing the gospel of God’s grace into legalism (man-made requirement).

Let’s start with the rest of the story OK…

31 But they said: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 32 And they preached the word of the Lord to him and to all that were in his house. 33 And he, taking them the same hour of the night, washed their stripes, and himself was baptized, and all his house immediately. 34 And when he had brought them into his own house, he laid the table for them, and rejoiced with all his house, believing God. 35 And when the day was come, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go.

As you have been told before, belief and faith are 2 different things. What else did they do? They were baptized, including his whole house right? Then he (the jailer) fed the apostles and he rejoiced… Let’s see… he believed, was baptized, entrusted the salvation of his family to Christ, and then he served them… belief, grace of baptism, faith, works… did I miss something?

 

[Reformed]

Belief is not faith. We are not saved by belief in Christ alone. We are saved by faith in Christ alone.

Have you ever seen a Protestant say that you wrote above is sola fide? That is the hugest strawman in the history of cornfields. It’s insulting for Catholics to keep repeating this same canard over and over.

Great significant distinction to make. We are saved by the instrument of faith in the person and work of Jesus of Christ on our behalf. Our faith does not save us. Faith is the conduit in which we receive the merits of Christ. Does that sound Roman Catholic…LOL.

 

[Reformed]

Let’s start with the rest of the story OK…
As you have been told before, belief and faith are 2 different things. What else did they do? They were baptized, including his whole house right? Then he (the jailer) fed the apostles and he rejoiced… Let’s see… he believed, was baptized, entrusted the salvation of his family to Christ, and then he served them… belief, grace of baptism, faith, works… did I miss something?

Thanks for making that important point. In Scripture, you will see faith (belief) first and immediately you will see baptism and even household baptism. Christians should be immediately baptized after belief in the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins. Just consider the order, faith and belief in Christ followed by baptism. Check out Lydia’s conversion, because there is something that came before faith and baptism. I call it sovereign grace given to the elect only. Consider all of the convesions in Scripture. Look at Saul’s conversion to the Apostle Paul. Why was only Saul able to see the Lord and his companions did not?

Acts 16

The Conversion of Lydia

So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us

 

[BlestOne]

This brings me to exactly what I was going to bring up next… The grace of God… God gives us the grace to believe first, it is his gift to all his children, not some elect as you have said. Look at

24 And he answering, said: I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel. 25 But she came and adored him, saying: Lord, help me. 26 Who answering, said: It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs. 27 But she said: Yea, Lord; for the whelps also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters. 28 Then Jesus answering, said to her: O woman, great is thy faith: be it done to thee as thou wilt: and her daughter was cured from that hour.

What is the point? The point is that the woman was not a Jew and yet she had faith that Jesus could cure her daughter. The Jews were rejecting the message of their Messiah. The Word was sent to the elect first (The Jews) and many did not accept the Christ, then salvation was offered to the rest of the world…everybody! If we accept the Graces of God and come to believe, are baptized and live our lives with this in mind, we too can be part of salvation.
Continued…

 

[BlestOne]

…Continued…
So by Grace we are saved…
II. GRACE
1996 Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.46
1997 Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life: by Baptism the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head of his Body. As an “adopted son” he can henceforth call God “Father,” in union with the only Son. He receives the life of the Spirit who breathes charity into him and who forms the Church.
1998 This vocation to eternal life is supernatural. It depends entirely on God’s gratuitous initiative, for he alone can reveal and give himself. It surpasses the power of human intellect and will, as that of every other creature.47
1999 The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the *sanctifying *or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification:48

Therefore if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself.49 2000 Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love. Habitual grace, the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God’s call, is distinguished from actual graces which refer to God’s interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification.
2001 The preparation of man for the reception of grace is already a work of grace. This latter is needed to arouse and sustain our collaboration in justification through faith, and in sanctification through charity. God brings to completion in us what he has begun, "since he who completes his work by cooperating with our will began by working so that we might will it:"50

Indeed we also work, but we are only collaborating with God who works, for his mercy has gone before us. It has gone before us so that we may be healed, and follows us so that once healed, we may be given life; it goes before us so that we may be called, and follows us so that we may be glorified; it goes before us so that we may live devoutly, and follows us so that we may always live with God: for without him we can do nothing.51 2002 God’s free initiative demands man’s free response, for God has created man in his image by conferring on him, along with freedom, the power to know him and love him. The soul only enters freely into the communion of love. God immediately touches and directly moves the heart of man. He has placed in man a longing for truth and goodness that only he can satisfy. The promises of “eternal life” respond, beyond all hope, to this desire:

If at the end of your very good works . . ., you rested on the seventh day, it was to foretell by the voice of your book that at the end of our works, which are indeed “very good” since you have given them to us, we shall also rest in you on the sabbath of eternal life.52 2003 Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. But grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church. There are sacramental graces, gifts proper to the different sacraments. There are furthermore special graces, also called *charisms *after the Greek term used by St. Paul and meaning “favor,” “gratuitous gift,” "benefit."53 Whatever their character - sometimes it is extraordinary, such as the gift of miracles or of tongues - charisms are oriented toward sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. They are at the service of charity which builds up the Church.54
2004 Among the special graces ought to be mentioned the graces of state that accompany the exercise of the responsibilities of the Christian life and of the ministries within the Church:

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching; he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid, with zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.55 2005 Since it belongs to the supernatural order, grace escapes our experience and cannot be known except by faith. We cannot therefore rely on our feelings or our works to conclude that we are justified and saved.56 However, according to the Lord’s words "Thus you will know them by their fruits"57 - reflection on God’s blessings in our life and in the lives of the saints offers us a guarantee that grace is at work in us and spurs us on to an ever greater faith and an attitude of trustful poverty.