THE CROSS

THE CROSS.

IF YOU, DO NOT UDERSTAND THE CROSS? YOU WON'T BE SAVED, UNTIL YOU DO.

1 Peter 2:24-25 Who His Own Self bear our sins in His Own Body on the tree (gave Himself in Sacrifice on the Cross, taking the full penalty for our sins, which was physical death; it was not Christ’s suffering that redeemed us, although that definitely was a part of what happened, but rather the price He paid by the giving of Himself), that we, being dead to sins, should live unto Righteousness (we are “dead to sins”by virtue of us being “in Christ”when He died on the Cross, which is done by our exhibiting Faith in Christ [Rom. 6:3-5]; and we were raised with Him in “newness of life,”which guarantees us a perfect, spotless Righteousness): by Whose stripes you were healed. (This refers to the healing of our souls, and the healing of our physical body as well. The Atonement included everything man lost in the Fall, but we only have the Firstfruits now, with the balance coming at the Resurrection [Rom. 8:23].) 25 For you were as sheep going astray (we were like a flock without a shepherd); but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls (refers to the Lord Jesus Christ; He Alone is the True “Shepherd,”and He Alone is the True “Bishop”of our souls; if we allow man to take His Place, we spiritually wreck ourselves; man can only serve as an under-shepherd).

Romans 6:3-5 Know you not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ (plainly says that this Baptism is into Christ and not water [I Cor. 1:17; 12:13; Gal. 3:27; Eph. 4:5; Col. 2:11-13]) were baptized into His Death? (When Christ died on the Cross, in the Mind of God, we died with Him; in other words, He became our Substitute, and our identification with Him in His Death gives us all the benefits for which He died; the idea is that He did it all for us!) 4 Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death (not only did we die with Him, but we were buried with Him as well, which means that all the sin and transgression of the past were buried; when they put Him in the Tomb, they put all of our sins into that Tomb as well): that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (we died with Him, we were buried with Him, and His Resurrection was our Resurrection to a “Newness of Life”). 5 For if we have been planted together (with Christ) in the likeness of His Death (Paul proclaims the Cross as the instrument through which all Blessings come; consequently, the Cross must ever be the Object of our Faith, which gives the Holy Spirit latitude to work within our lives), we shall be also in the likeness of His Resurrection (we can have the “likeness of His Resurrection,”i.e., “live this Resurrection Life,”only as long as we understand the “likeness of His Death,”which refers to the Cross as the Means by which all of this is done):

Romans 8:23 And not only they (the Creation, and all it entails), but ourselves also (refers to Believers), which have the Firstfruits of the Spirit (even though Jesus addressed every single thing lost in the Fall at the Cross, we only have a part of that possession now, with the balance coming at the Resurrection), even we ourselves groan within ourselves (proclaims the obvious fact that all Jesus paid for in the Atonement has not yet been fully realized), waiting for the Adoption (should be translated, “waiting for the fulfillment of the process, which Adoption into the Family of God guarantees”), to wit, the Redemption of our body (the glorifying of our physical body that will take place at the Resurrection)..