INTRODUCTION

A. This study focuses on the heart of the gospel.
1. The cross is the reason God sent his one and only Son into the world.
2. The death and resurrection of Christ are the most important events in the history of the world.
(a) One may ask: Which was more important, Passover or the crossing of the Red Sea?
(b) Answer: Either would be incomplete without the other.
(c) So too with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

B. Why deal with this subject?
1. The cross is the heart of soteriology (doctrine of salvation).
(a) We must never let any branch of theology become more important than soteriology.
(1) In decision making one must learn to tell the difference between what is important and what is essential—and always be sure to do the latter.
(2) Soteriology is essential.
2. We need constantly to be brought back to the Main Thing—lest we lose our focus on what is essential.
(a) Spiritual warfare, signs and wonders, and so on are interesting subjects. But to become advanced theologians (which is what I want all of us truly to be) means constantly returning to the Main Thing.
3. Often the Main Thing in theology turns out to be what we understand the least!
(a) So I will presume nothing and be very simple.
(b) This way the most mature Christian will be reminded of what he or she knows—and the newest Christian can learn.

C. Definitions
1. The Cross of Christ:
(a) Literally, the cross on which Jesus died.
(b) Symbolically, the event that combines:
p 99 (1) The way we are saved.
(2) The shedding of blood.
(3) The shame or stigma that surrounds Jesus’ death.
2. Crucifixion: the ancient Roman method of capital punishment.
3. Atonement: the theological description that is applied to Jesus’ crucifixion—Christ dying for our sins.
(a) At the natural level, what happened on Good Friday was only a crucifixion.
(b) At the level of the Spirit Christ died for our sins.
(c) In a sense, any crucifixion was atonement: one paid his debt to society by dying for his own sins. ‘To atone for’ a wrong is to take some action which cancels out the ill effects that wrong has had.
(d) Jesus was sentenced to die for his own sins, so it was claimed.
(e) But by the Spirit we know that Jesus never sinned; even Pontius Pilate testified to this (John 19:4; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15). He died not for his own sins but for ours (1 Corinthians 15:3; 1 Peter 2:24).

Kendall, R. T. (1996). Understanding Theology, Volume One (pp. 98–99). Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus.