Dr Paul Allen

English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In 2 Corinthians 5:21 Paul summarized the heart of the gospel, resolving the mystery and paradox of vv. 18–20, and explaining how sinners can be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ .  These 15 Gr. words express the doctrines of imputation and substitution like no other single verse. who knew no sin. Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God (Luke 23:4, 14, 22, 47; John 8:46; Heb. 4:15; 7:26; 1 Pet. 1:19; 2:22–24; 3:18; Rev. 5:2–10).  God the Father , using the principle of imputation treated Christ as if He were a sinner though He was not, and had Him die as a substitute to pay the penalty for the sins of those who believe in Him ( Is. 53:4–6; Gal. 3:10–13; 1 Pet. 2:24).  On the cross, He did not become a sinner (as Bill Johnson in Hosting the Presence Page 41 and others suggest), but remained as holy as ever. He was treated as if He were guilty of all the sins ever committed by all who would e...

Martin Luther, commemorated on February 18 Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Minneapolis: Fortress Press (2006), 15. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness ” (Rom. 4:5). The church has neglected the doctrine of justification by faith alone at different points in her history, even though it was clearly taught by the apostles. During the sixteenth century, for example, Reformers like Martin Luther had to recover this biblical teaching because it had been compromised by some medieval theologians. Justification is a legal declaration. In justification we are declared righteous through faith alone based on the merit of Christ alone. The righteousness that is imputed to our account is an alien righteousness , that is, it is wholly something outside of ourselves. We are not justified based on the good works that we do but on the good works that Jesus has done. When Martin Lut...

Image via Wikipedia There is no greater message to be heard than that which we call the Gospel . But as important as that is, it is often given to massive distortions or over simplifications. People think they’re preaching the Gospel to you when they tell you, ‘you can have a purpose to your life’, or that ‘you can have meaning to your life’, or that ‘you can have a personal relationship with Jesus .’ All of those things are true, and they’re all important, but they don’t get to the heart of the Gospel . The Gospel is called the ‘good news’ because it addresses the most serious problem that you and I have as human beings, and that problem is simply this: God is holy and He is just, and I’m not. And at the end of my life, I’m going to stand before a just and holy God , and I’ll be judged.  And I’ll be judged either on the basis of my own righteousness – or lack of it – or the righteousness of another. The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus lived a life of perfect righteousnes...

Image via Wikipedia “Stand firm therefore … having put on the breastplate of righteousness” (Eph. 6:14). Practical righteousness is moment-by-moment obedience to God . We’ve seen the importance of putting on the breastplate of righteousness as protection against Satan ’s attempts to pervert your thinking and emotions. But Scripture speaks of three kinds of righteousness: self-righteousness, imputed righteousness , and practical righteousness. Which did Paul hav e in mind in Ephesians 6:14? Paul wasn’t speaking of self-righteousness because that is what the breastplate of righteousness is designed to protect you from. Self-righteousness deceives a person into thinking, “I can please God and reach Heaven on my own merit.” But Isaiah said, “All our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment” (Isa. 64:6). Far from getting you to Heaven, self-righteousness will condemn you to eternal Hell because it rejects the merits of Christ ’s atonement. Similarly, Paul wasn’t speaking of imp...