There are certain verses that run through the spine of the Christian faith. Verses whose substance is the fabric with which all churches were sewn. I will share 3 of them below.
- John 3:16 Amplified Bible (AMP)
For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.
Note: God didn’t offer His son for just the church. He made the provision for the world. This Love wasn’t a paltry trinket, it was immense and dramatic. The outcome wasn’t just a temporal fix, a refurbishment or renovation of the old, but rather the procurement of an entirely new life.
2. Colossians 1:13 Amplified Bible (AMP)
[The Father] has delivered [drawn us to Himself] out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
Note: This verse resonates fiercely with the one above. The Eternal Life we seek to enjoy in Christ is ours by transferrence. We have been plucked from the domain of death, disease and darkness and planted in the palm of His hands. This is a present tense reality. The deliverance is past tense anchorred in the giving of the Son to die for our sins.
3. Ephesians 1:7 and Colossians 1:14 New International Version — UK (NIVUK)
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.
Note: These twin verses say the same thing. Paraphrased, they declare that God doesn’t blessed us based on our need. He doesn’t even bless us “out” of His grace. He blesses us with the exact measure of his grace. It is based on how majesty and massive His grace is. And what exactly does this grace provide for us? REDEMPTION and FORGIVENESS. It should be clear from this verse that we “have” it in Him. We are not just about to get, IN HIM and through His blood WE HAVE redemption and forgiveness of sins.
What the believer possesses in Christ is the riches of God’s grace. We weren’t given handouts or hand-me-downs. We were lavished with the fullness of God. John calls it Eternal Life. Peter describes it as the incorruptible seed and Paul says it is the selfsame Spirit of God.
I believe this.
Do you?
