What is the “last word” of Christianity?
By that, I mean what is a statement that I want my flock to take with them as they go home on Sunday? What is the Biblical truth that people need to remember in moments of crisis, including crisis of conscience? Of all the things that teenagers remember for their confirmation, what do I want them to remember – and believe – and pass on to their children? What is the abiding testimony of God to man in the Bible? What did Jesus come for?
I can take all of the candidates for the “last word” that I have heard over the last 50 years of my life and sum them up in two statements. Here they are:
1. It is important to believe that Jesus is our Savior, but finally it all comes down to whether we live like we really believe it.
2. For the sake of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven all of your sins.
Which is really the "last word"?
The last word is that for the sake of Jesus Christ you are forgiven.
Anything that puts in a “but” makes salvation conditional upon us, or something we do, or something other than Christ.
The last word is that for the sake of Jesus Christ you are forgiven.
What does it mean to live “like we really believe it” anyway? Who decides? On what basis? According to Jesus, we Christians don’t think we have been passed that test in any case. (Mat. 25:37-40)
But He did, and His righteousness becomes ours: For the sake of Jesus Christ you are forgiven all of your sins.
Those who prefer the first word as the “last word” of Christianity may very well be concerned about hypocrisy. But fallen humanity that could never be perfect is never going to perfectly live out what we believe, even if our eternal lives depend upon it. The fact is that Christ saves us – even from inconsistency in the way we live.
The last word is that for the sake of Jesus Christ you are forgiven.