Why did Jesus die? Is there really a short and simple answer to this question? Can the most important event in human history really be summed up in one quick line? Think about the various kinds of answers we can come up with. We could give historical reasons for Jesus death: Jesus died because the temple leaders condemned him to death for blasphemy (Luke 26:66-71). We could give political reasons for Jesus’ death: Jesus died because Pilate condemned him for being disturber of a peace and rebel against the authorities of Rome (Luke 23:1-5). We could give spiritual reasons for his death: he died to put an end to the “the rulers…the authorities…the cosmic powers over this present darkness…the spiritual forces of evil in the heaven places” (Ephesians 6:12). We could give theological reasons for his death: Jesus died to pay for the sins of the world, to justify believers by giving himself as a substitute for all of humanity thereby making forgiveness of sins available to all, through faith, by taking on the penalty of sin which is death, in himself (Substitutionary Atonement) (Romans 3:21-26). Which of these is the answer? Can one of these stand in isolation from the others and accurately represent the complete gospel for Paul? The New Perspective answers, “no”.
The New Perspective makes a case for the fact that the complete gospel according to Paul is very multifaceted. According to Paul, in the death of Jesus is the telescoping of several dimensions of reality, and when these various dimensions come together to a make one complete image, we see the effective culmination and fulfillment of God’s World Renewal Plan that began in Genesis. This means that for Paul, the death of Jesus is something much more than substitutionary atonement. The substitutionary atonement is certainly true for Paul, but there’s much, much more to the story than this. For Paul, the cross is the culmination of God’s World Renewal Project which began back in Genesis. This means that the cross did not happen solely for the sake of penal substitution. Rather, forgiveness becomes available to believers through the cross so that God’s Kingdom would be restored on earth and the World Renewal Project could be fulfilled. The forgiveness of sins is merely a means by which God’s greater mission of planting his Kingdom on earth is accomplished.
This, I will argue, is precisely where Paul’s doctrine of holiness comes into play—holiness is fleshed out in God’s sovereign reign in the lives of His people on earth, through the forgiveness of sins. To build that argument, we will first consider the cross event through two lenses. The first lens is the cross as the second Exodus with all sorts of political, spiritual, theological, and historical dynamics coming together in one hugely important eschatological event. The second is the cross, with the resurrection in sight, as the moment in which the Kingdom finally arrives; the cross as the coronation day of the Messiah King. Once again, it is when we understands Paul’s vision of the cross as the coming together of these various dynamics woven together like a complex tapestry that we get a full picture of the cross as the accomplishment of God’s World Renewal Project.
(this is an excerpt from a working book manuscript titled Holiness in Fresh Perspective: Covenant, Cross and Kingdom. All Rights Reserved.)
