Last time, in the first of our 52 questions series, we spoke of the problem of sin. We shared how all humanity is born with a sin nature; we are all born corrupt and sinful. This means that we are all guilty and condemned before God. We also shared how God is perfect and must punish all sin. This is the dilemma for every person ever born. But we also shared that God has provided an answer for our dilemma, through Jesus Christ. This is what Christians mean when they refer to the gospel.
But what exactly is the gospel? The word gospel means “good news”. The gospel is the only solution to the problem of our sin. God must punish sin. This means that religion cannot save us since our good deeds cannot remove our bad deeds. You see, if God acted according to his perfect justice, sinners would be condemned to die spiritually and go to hell forever as punishment. On the other hand, if God just forgave us when we said sorry, then his justice would be compromised because he would not be punishing sin.
This situation would be hopeless, but for the fact revealed in the gospel that Jesus came and won the victory over sin on our behalf. This is why it is good news – The message of the gospel is that it is not based on what we have done or can do, but it is based instead on what God has done and will do on behalf of his people.
Two thousand years ago, God sent Jesus into human history to save people from their sin. Jesus was conceived supernaturally by the power of the Spirit of God and was born to the virgin Mary as the God-man. Jesus came to earth specifically to bear the sins of men and women by offering his life as a sacrifice in our place. His death satisfied the demands of God’s justice against sinners and made it possible for God who is perfectly just to pardon them.
When Jesus was raised from the dead three days later, this testified to the fact that he is the Son of God, and that God accepted his death as payment in full for sin. You too can be forgiven and be made right before God. This means that you will receive eternal life through your faith in Jesus – by believing in who he is and the saving work that he accomplished on the cross to pay the price for your sin.
God is perfectly just, and the Bible teaches that God in His perfect justice condemns us for our sin. However, the Bible also teaches that God is loving. Because of God's love, he chose to pay the price for our sin on our behalf, suffering as the God-man the penalty that we deserved, by dying in our place. You see, God paid the price for sin because no amount of good works on our part could ever make us perfect. And perfection is God's standard.
So that sinners could be saved from their sin and spend eternity with God, Jesus, who was sinless, was treated as a sinner, so that sinners would be treated by God as though they were righteous (morally perfect). 2 Corinthians 5:21. God’s justice demands payment for all sin, but God paid that price by offering himself in our place. Listen to number three in our 52 Questions series when we discuss more about the character of God by asking the question, “What is God like?"