The Power of the Preaching of the Cross

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Since our problems remain, and we need to find some kind of an answer to them, people have set up all sorts of man-made theories as substitutes for the Word of God. However, those theories are powerless to deal with the problems raised by our uncrucified flesh. "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." (Romans 5:6). In verse 8, Paul says : "But God proved his love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). That is the first part of the message of the Cross : "Christ died for us". "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." (Romans 5:9).

That first part of the message of the Cross is fundamentally based on the power of Jesus’ blood, which blots out our sins and imparts everlasting life. "For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." (Romans 5:10).

Throughout the rest of the chapter, Paul explains how death has ruled over human nature since Adam, owing to disobedience and sin. That disobedience and that sin caused the spiritual death of humanity, and death was handed down from father to son, right down to us. When we came into the world on this earth, we inherited death from our parents, and a whole spiritual, psychological, and physical inheritance blemished by sickness, ill-health, etc… That inheritance can be summed up in a single word : "death". No matter how clever we are, even if we can travel to the moon and to Mars, death presides over all those activities, and they all end up in death and in the grave.

The message of the Cross says : "Jesus died for you, to blot out your sins and to give you Life. Condemnation is no longer." Through a single act of justice and through faith in this message, we receive the justice of the Lord. And in verses 20 and 21, Paul says : "But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:20-21). So the first part of the message of the Cross is the wonderful redemption that Jesus paid for by His blood : He paid the price that we owed, through His sacrifice on the Cross. His blood blotted out all our sins. Immediately afterwards, Paul declares in chapter 6, verse 1, "What shall we say then ? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound ?" That amounts to saying : "You have not grasped the second part of the message of the Cross. Part one, in Romans 5, was : "Christ died for us." Now, in chapter 6, Paul says : "We have died to sin." Our old, sinful nature died in Him ! Throughout chapter 6, Paul explains how vital it is to have the revelation of our being dead in Christ. In verse 3, he says : "Do you not know that as many of us as were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death" ? So many people are ignorant of it ! They may have read about it, but those words have not enlightened their understanding, and have not shone in their hearts.

How important it is to understand that the only real Christian baptism is baptism into Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Lord requires us to be immersed into water once we have believed, which is a representation of our burial and our resurrection. Water baptism in itself does not impart death in Jesus Christ, or resurrection in Him. Only faith in the message of the Gospel and in what Jesus has done can save us. Then our salvation is accompanied by water baptism by immersion, which is all-important, spiritually, when seen in the light of the Cross.

We should be careful to present every aspect of the message of the Cross to new converts, from the very beginning. Those truths should be set forth to them in full detail, till they sink into their spirits, never to be lost to their consideration !

However, could we be content with saying to them : "Come to Jesus, He is going to forgive your sins ! All right, then, now get into the water !" We need to explain to them that their going down into the water is their burial into His death and His resurrection.

Don’t you understand that those who are not baptised by immersion lack something vital ? They lack the actual sign of their burial ! What would you say of a Christian who never partook of the Lord’s Supper, just because he has grasped the spiritual significance of the bread and wine ?

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