How We Are Saved From Death

To appreciate the Baptism of Jesus we need to grasp the consequences of Sin.

one

Romans 5:12 Paul writes:

Sin entered the world through one man, and through sin death, and thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned.

Paul sums this up in chapter 6:23 The consequence of sin is death.

Here is the problem: God gave us freedom. Freedom means the ability to deal with the consequences of our actions. How are we going to deal with death?

Once a person dies, they can’t save themselves. Someone else must come and save them.

two

Death is the consequence of sin. Why can’t God just forgive and forget?

If God removed the consequences of our actions he would undermine our freedom, in effect it would destroy our freedom. And without freedom we become less than humans. More like animals.

So here is the problem: either we die – which we can’t save ourselves from; or God removes our freedom destroying us as human persons.

three

This is what makes Christmas and the Baptism of Jesus amazing!

The sin and consequences are ours. We must deal with death. But if we do, we are just dead and that means hell.

God found a way to save us from death that would not destroy our freedom and dignity as persons.

He chose to become man. He joins with us. He takes his place among sinners when he enters human nature so that it can be us who deal with all the consequences of sin by God acting through our human nature.

four

God shows us how he will save us at his Baptism

Jesus takes his place among sinners at the Jordan River. This is what blows the mind of John the Baptist and causes him to hesitate.

Then Jesus plunges down under the water, as if into death and rises up like a resurrection.

At his Baptism Jesus shows us how he will save us by becoming one with us to deal with the consequences of sin, by dying and rising as one of us.

five

Sin is the original cause of human suffering.

We are responsible for suffering, we brought it into the world, not God. So, we should stop blaming him for it.

God comes to live in us so we may continue to take responsibility for our sin by willingly accepting our suffering and joining it to the suffering of Jesus.

Accepting suffering heals our soul from the consequences of sin.

How so? Well, sin is disobedience. By accepting suffering, accepting what God allows, we have the chance to say “Yes” to God to make up for all the times we said an emphatic “No!”

Every time we accept suffering and unite it to Jesus we heal our  wounded soul.

That is why Paul began Romans 5 saying: we can boast about our sufferings. These sufferings bring patience, as we know, and patience brings perseverance, and perseverance brings hope,

and this hope is not deceptive, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us!