Corporate or Individually Imputed Righteousness?(2 Cor 5:21)

[Paidion]

Okay, I'll make one more attempt.

When you save a person from a bear attack, you basically deliver him from the attack. But with this deliverance, you also save him from some of the consequences of the attack. For example, you may have saved him from death. Your immediate purpose was to save him from the attack. But alongside that salvation, accompanying it, a part of the whole "package" (if it is a killer bear), you saved him from death.

In almost every type of deliverance this applies. By delivering a person from some predicament, you are also saving him from some consequence.

Likewise, when Christ delivers us from sin itself, (the primary purpose of His death and resurrection), accompanying this is salvation from the consequences of sin, that is "death" (whatever we understand that to mean, whether figuratively in this life ("Let the dead bury their dead), or annihilation at some point, or pain and distress in Gehenna (whether eternally, or for ages). If God doesn't forgive us in this life, then we reap this "death", the main consequence of sin. So forgiveness itself accompanies Christ's deliverance from sin. I don't deny that in any way. The result of this forgiveness is deliverance from the primary consequence of sin, i.e. "death".

A major problem in modern Christendom, is that many believe that forgiveness is the primary purpose of Christ death. In holding this view, the danger is that its proponents may not see living the righteous life as necessary. They may say, "It's not of works, you know. Through Christ's death, my sins were forgiven, past, present, and future. So no matter what sins I commit, I am still saved, and will never go to hell. The Scriptures teach eternal security. (Unconditional security). Once you're born again, you cannot become unborn!"

Some of these people do not emphasize repentance, submission to the authority of Christ, discipleship, or righteousness. They emphasize forgiveness, accepting Christ as your personal Saviour (from hell), and then just living this life because they have to ("This world is not my home. I'm just waiting for heaven and that great mansion in the sky, which Christ is preparing for me.)

I was of this mind set myself, when I was a teenager, right until my mid-twenties.

[Homer]

Hi Paidion,

As I understand your reply, I think I agree with what you wrote . My only hesitation would be that I might have again misunderstood you

Thanks for your reply, Again, I'm glad you are back!

Homer