Jesus Received Our Paycheck - by ROBIN SELF

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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In recent years we have modified our thinking about certain doctrines and assumptions about doctrines. In particular, we have found that what Bible teachers teach and what pastors teach is simply what they've been taught, and is too often misleading, incomplete, or just plain wrong. 

And we are guilty ourselves for simply accepting what were were taught without examining these things in light of the Bible.

Today's article is one of those situations. Romans 6:23 is one of the better-known verses in the Bible, and is a profound statement of salvation. But the problem is, we want to personalize too many things in the Bible, even when the subject matter is clearly about someone else or in some other context.

We think Romans 6:23 is a good example:

Ro. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We instantly want to insert ourselves into this verse. We think the wages of OUR sin is the topic, but the verse doesn't say that. It says that the wages of sin, all sin, is death. And it says the gift of God is, for all people, eternal life. Paul was writing about something different than the what we think. 

Be patient as we explain. First, note in the verse that death is the result of sin. Paul's context is specific. Leading in to this verse he had written about the results of a particular sin, the sin of Adam. We find in the previous chapter of Romans where Paul discusses this:

Ro. 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned...

See it? Adam's sin brought death and condemnation into the world. The wages of Adam's sin resulted in death to all mankind. It isn't about our individual sin. Paul was not referring to you. 

This is not a isolated verse. Paul makes the same point in his first letter to the Corinthian church:

1Co. 15:21-22 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

So because of Adam's sin death came into the world, the resulting death is man's actual problem. Death and condemnation is the default state of mankind: 

Jn. 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Your first breath was as a dead man. Condemned already. You weren't born in sin, you were born in the death that came from Adam's sin. Yes, your sin is grievous to God, but sinning is what dead, condemned people do. 

Sinners will not be judged for their sin, because they are dead already, they in effect are already judged. Condemned already. 

We realize this might be an astonishing statement. But look it up. Try to find a verse that says God will examine or review unsaved peoples' sins and then execute judgment.

So, when we are saved, the precise transaction is that we pass from death to life:

Jn. 5:24 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

Without the resurrection, we are still dead (1Co. 15:17). But a particular thing happens beyond getting our sins forgiven. It's even more than being born again, justified, and baptized in the Spirit. Jesus defeated Death (1Co. 15:53-54), and those He saves are written in the book of life:

Re. 20:15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

At the beginning of creation, no one's name was in there. Everyone starts dead and condemned. Everyone who has lived and will live is not currently written in the book of life, yet when they are saved their names get written down. 

It's an important distinction, because we have this idea that a transaction or payment or legal determination happens. We think Jesus made payment for every person's individual sin. He didn't. We think the Father punished Him instead of us. This simply isn't true. The only transaction that ever happens is the moment when Jesus speaks our names and washes us by the blood: When we come alive, He gives us a new name (Re. 2:17) as born again people and writes that name in the book of life (Re. 3:5).

With all that in mind, let's consider Ms. Self's presentation.

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When you earn a wage for work you’ve done, you receive a paycheck or a direct deposit into your bank account. (Ms. Self is inserting herself and us individually into the subject verse, as we discussed above.)

Scripture teaches us that the wage each of us has earned for our sin is death. (No, the verse tells us how death entered the world through Adam's sin.)

As descendants of Adam, we are marked for this payment the moment we take our first breath. (As we mentioned, we did not receive death as a payment, we were already dead.)

There’s no escaping it.

However, on the cross, Jesus received the wage that was earned by those the Father gave Him. (Where does the Bible say this? Well, it doesn't. He died to wash away our sin, not to take our payment.)

In His love, He incurred the cruelty, endured the shame, bore the wrath that should have been deposited into our account. (He did not bear the Father's wrath. The Father did not punish Jesus. No verse in the Bible says so.)

He took our place. (There is no verse in the Bible that says He took our place.)

As Ray Comfort says, Jesus paid our fine so God, as the Good Judge, could let us go free. (There is no verse that says Jesus paid our penalty so that we could go free.)

This is grace. There’s nothing we could ever do to earn this gift.

But when His Holy Spirit draws us, we repent, believe, and put our faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross. Then we live in obedience to Him.

As creatures who are born condemned, (Whoa. Ms. Self gets it exactly right, but obviously doesn't make the connection to what she previously wrote.)

our only hope is to put our trust in Christ for salvation from the penalty we have rightly earned as our wage. (Again, we weren't paid death, we were already dead. Death came into the world through Adam's sin.)

We all die once, but because of the blood shed on the cross, we don’t die twice, as the lost will experience eternal “death” in hell, but we receive eternal life in heaven. (Well, we were born dead, and we we were saved we were made alive and the Old Man died. Then we begin the process to die to self. So it seems there's more than one or two deaths. 

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." Then, unless Jesus comes first, we will die a natural death.)

What a glorious Savior who would take such a brutal payment on our behalf. (His death on the cross was due to the brutality of the soldiers and the torture on the cross. He was not punished by the Father for our sins.)

Put your trust in Him today.