What it declares about the value of every human being
There is no grander theme, no better event, no deeper doctrine to reflect upon than the singular event that defines all of human history: the cross of Christ and the Christ of the cross.
According to Scottish theologian Peter Taylor Forsyth, “Christ is to us just what his cross is. All that Christ was in heaven or on earth was put into what he did there . . . . Christ, I repeat, is to us just what his cross is. You do not understand Christ till you understand his cross” (The Cruciality of the Cross, pp 44-45).
For Forsyth, the Christ of the cross and the cross of Christ are inseparable. A deeper probe of the cross will lead to richer understandings of Christ. While the teachings, ministry and life of Jesus all aid in deepening our understanding of His mission and message, it is the cross that is the definitive shaper of our understanding of His message and mission.
For the New Testament writers, the cross incorporates the death and the resurrection of Jesus. Both events are understood as a singular definitive action of God to bring about the redemption and the rescue of the human family. “In the thinking of the New Testament writers, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost and Parousia are a single event,” writes Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth. “They are different moments of the one same act” (Church Dogmatics, Vol 3 No 2, p 497). God acts decisively in Jesus.
In his classic on the cross, German Reformed theologian Jürgen Moltmann writes, “The inner criterion of whether or not Christian theology is Christian lies in the crucified Christ . . . . We come to Luther’s lapidary statement, the cross is the test of everything: crux probat omnia” (The Crucified God, p 7).
Whether we’re studying about hell, discussing the fate of human beings in the face of environmental or natural disaster, race relations or mental health issues, everything must be filtered through the cross of Christ. It’s the quintessential test because in and through the cross we discover who God is and who we are in relation to His self-revelation.
The cross is magnificent because it demonstrates who Jesus is and the extent He would go to save human beings. He would suffer an excruciating and horrible death—paying the price for sin—so we could be redeemed. The cross is magnificent because it declares the value of every human being.
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