Your sin did not surprise God, and Jesus Christ is not the emergency plan God devised after everything went wrong.
In this episode of Marrowcast, John and Jeffrey begin Chapter 2 of The Marrow of Modern Divinity and explore what Fisher calls “the eternal purpose of grace.”
Before the foundation of the world, God purposed to save fallen sinners through Jesus Christ. What He purposed before time, He promised in time and performed in the fullness of time through the incarnation, obedience, death, and resurrection of His Son.
This does not mean that God simply ignored His law or relaxed the demands of His justice. The debt still had to be paid, the curse still had to be borne, and the corruption of fallen humanity still had to be repaired.
The good news is that God laid the whole burden upon Christ.
Jesus entered the covenant as the sinner’s Surety, taking responsibility for a debt that was not His own. He satisfied divine justice, fulfilled the law, bore its curse, and secured the salvation of His people.
Grace does not sneak sinners around the law. Grace gives sinners the whole Christ.
In This Episode
John and Jeffrey discuss:
Why the covenant of grace was not God’s backup plan
What The Marrow means by the “law of faith”
The gospel as “good, merry, glad, and joyful tidings”
How God purposed grace before time, promised grace in time, and performed grace in Christ
Why divine mercy never comes at the expense of divine justice
What it means for Christ to become the sinner’s Surety
Why God looked to Christ for the payment of His people’s debt
The difference between Christ satisfying our guilt and the Spirit repairing our fallen nature
Why election should comfort sinners rather than prevent them from coming to Christ
How the law condemns, while the gospel freely gives us Christ
Key Takeaway
Grace is older than your guilt.
The debt was ours.
The bond was Christ’s.
The payment was full.
God looked for the debt from Christ, and Christ paid it all.
Scripture Discussed
Ephesians 1:3–5
2 Timothy 1:9
Titus 1:2
Psalm 85:10
John 6:37
Galatians 4:4–5
Hebrews 7:22
Romans 5:12–19
Reading
The Marrow of Modern Divinity
Chapter 2: “Of the Law of Faith, or Covenant of Grace”
Section I: “Of the Eternal Purpose of Grace”
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Marrow Theology, Practically Applied.
