Daily Word of Grace # 253 (June 1, 2021)
When it comes to our salvation in Jesus Christ there is a very powerful recurring phrase in scripture: “once for all.” The Apostle Peter wrote, “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18). This is as clear a statement of Christ’s substitutionary atonement on our behalf that you will find in scripture. We also see this idea in the Letter to the Hebrews: “And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). As our “great high priest” (Hebrews 4:14) Jesus fulfilled the entire sacrificial law of the Old Testament not just for Israel but also for the whole world, including you. In other words, when it comes to your forgiveness, your salvation, Jesus’ blood shed “once for all” on the cross on Good Friday is enough. That is why Article XXXI of the Thirty-nine Articles, “Of the one Oblation of Christ finished upon the Cross” states, “The Offering of Christ once made is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction, for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual; and there is no other satisfaction for sin, but that alone” (The Book of Common Prayer 874). There is nothing you can do or say to add to what Jesus has already done for you “once for all”—which means the gospel is always a word of comfort and relief.
Love and Prayers,
Dave