Articles
What Does the Bible Teach?
Most religions begin with questions like, “How can I find God?” Or “What can I do for God?” They offer guidance in becoming a more spiritual person or in doing things that will earn God’s favour.
Christianity is different. Instead of beginning with instruction on what you can do for God, the Bible tells us what God has done for us.
Jesus Christ who lived the only life that was everything God intended a human life to be. He then gave that perfect life as a sacrifice for our sin and rebellion. On the cross, Jesus took our death, our sin, our alienation from God and gave us life, righteousness, and peace with God.
By dying for us on the cross, Jesus defeated the dark powers of Satan, sin and death. This victory was made evident when He rose to life again three days later. · This is the gospel (1Cor 15:1-7). It is the good news announcing God’s victory over evil through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son Jesus. He promises to share that victory with everyone who will trust and obey Him. As it says in Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”
The Bible teaches us the proper way to respond to God’s outpouring of grace and love. He asks that we believe in Jesus, trusting Him alone to be our Saviour and guide back to God (John 11:25- 26). He calls for us to repent of our rebellion and unbelief (Mark 1:15). Instead of boasting in ourselves and what we can do, we are to confess that Jesus is Saviour and Lord (Rom 10:9-13). Finally, God bestows the promises of the gospel upon us by uniting us to Christ in baptism (Mark 16: 16).
We do not do these things to earn our salvation, but they are how God freely bestows upon us the salvation made possible through the gift of His Son Jesus.
This does not mean that the Christian is not to strive to live a life devoted to God’s will. When we come to see how much God loves us, we will want to do what He asks, because we know that what He asks will always be the best thing for us and we want to show our love to Him (1John 3:1-3).
