Daily Word of Grace: October 8, 2020
In the back of The Book of Common Prayer there is a succinct treasure trove of theology called the “Articles of Religion” (or the “Thirty-nine Articles”), a distillation of the theology of the English Reformation in which the focus is the grace of God in Jesus Christ. One of the most powerful of these articles is Article XXXI “”Of the one Oblation of Christ finished upon the Cross” which 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 none other satisfaction for sin, but that alone” (BCP 874). That is a powerful statement about the sufficiency of Christ’s death on the cross to atone for all our sins, both our natural tendency to sin (original sin) and the sins we commit in our lives (actual sin). This sounds too good to be true, but it is true because it is the gospel. Peter put it this way, “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), and similarly John identified Jesus’s death as “the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). There is nothing you need do or could do to supplement what Jesus has already done for you to atone for your sins. Jesus’ “once made” sacrifice on the cross is already more than enough.
Love and Prayers,
Dave