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Gotquestions attempts to explain Jesus' intercession for us in terms of a courtroom scene. Such a scene is not found in Scripture. The whole scenario is a complete fiction.
Gotquestions attempts to explain Jesus' intercession for us in terms of a courtroom scene. Such a scene is not found in Scripture. The whole scenario is a complete fiction.
We must deem this Bad Bible Teaching.
We will explain below.
Jesus is the Advocate for Christians, meaning He is our great Defender. This is the intercessory role He currently fulfills for those who are His (1 John 2:1). Jesus is always pleading our case before the Father, like a defense lawyer on our behalf. (Let's quote the verse:
1 John 2:1b But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
This is the NIV, which we think provides a problematic translation of this verse. The Greek interlinear is:
If anyone should sin an advocate we have with the father, Jesus Christ, righteous [one].
The word in question is "defense," or "advocate." The Greek word is Paraklēton:
1. (properly) one called near (to give help)
2. an intercessor (one who entreats of behalf of another)
3. a comforter
Does this mean Jesus is a defense lawyer? Well, no. Let's read on:
1 Jn. 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
The help, intercession, and comfort Jesus gives is the forgiveness of sins, which makes us righteous before the Father.)
Rev. 12:10b For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
He's been hurled down, he's not in heaven.
The Bible tells us there are no charges or accusations against us:
Rom. 8:33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
Col. 1:22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation...
Gotquestions totally botches this.)
pointing out our sins and frailties before God, just as he did with Job (Job 1:6-12). (Notice that Gotquestions does not provide a NT verse to document this claim. Because there isn't one. Further, Satan did not accuse Job of sin or frailties. Quite the opposite. He accused God of protecting Job.
Let's requote Rev. 12:10b:
For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
The word "accuses" is katégoreó, of an extra-judicial accusation...
"Extra-judicial." That means the Satan is NOT PART of a heavenly courtroom scene, his accusations are "extra-judicial.")
But the accusations fall upon deaf ears in heaven, because Jesus’ work on the cross paid our sin debt in full; (Jesus did not pay our sin debt. There is no Bible verse that says so. Rather, He paid for us:
1 Cor. 6:20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
1 Cor. 7:23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
These are basic facts of Scripture. We are troubled that a website dedicated to explaining the Bible fails to understand them.)
therefore, God always sees in His children the perfect righteousness of Jesus. (No verse supplied.)
When Jesus died on the cross, His righteousness (perfect holiness) was imputed to us, while our sin was imputed to Him at His death. (These two undocumented assertions are false. Because of the cleansing by the blood God proclaimed us to be justified by faith:
1Co. 6:11 ...But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
The Greek word for "justified" is dikaiousthai, to judge, declare, pronounce, righteous and therefore acceptable... We have literally obtained righteousness:
Ro. 9:30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith...
The Father used Jesus' sacrificial death as the means to cleanse us, to lift our condemnation, to give us new life, and to pronounce us righteous. God doesn't pretend we are righteous, we are actually righteous. It isn't a case of Jesus standing in between us and the Father saying "Hey, hey, look at me, look at me. Don't look at that dirty sinner, look at me."
Further, our sins were not imputed to Him. Reformist/Calvinist theology teachers that the Father punished Jesus in our in our place. So rather than the blood being completely sufficient to take care of the sin problem, Jesus got punished in addition. This really means that the sin never got forgiven, it only got transferred to Jesus. But if the Father punished Jesus for our sin, then the blood was irrelevant to wash away sin.
We assert that the blood was enough:
1Jn. 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
He. 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus...
He. 9:28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people...
Nothing else is needed. Therefore, the Son was not punished by the Father.)
This is the great exchange Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 5:21. (Let's quote:
2 Cor. 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
It seems one must approach Scriptures like this one with a preconception. But an if we give this an honest reading without bringing our theological baggage we see a very simple statement. Ironically, Gotquestions is exactly right in their next sentence... )
That took away forever our sinful state before God, so God can accept us as blameless before Him.(Exactly! How can they state the truth but not see it? There is no exchange in this verse.)
Finally, it is important to understand that Jesus is the only human mediator between God and man. No one else—not Mary, not any previous Christian saints—has the power to intercede for us before the throne of the Almighty. No angel has that position. Christ alone is the God-man, and He mediates and intercedes between God and man. “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
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