A helmet covers the mind, a vital area, in times of warfare. The mind reaches the heart and the heart produces attitudes and actions. “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7).
A Christian’s mind must be firm in the truth of God’s salvation to withstand the satanic lies of religion, philosophy, and culture. Otherwise a Christian could have a wrong view of himself and of the Lord. He could be deceived and found to be working against God. Let’s consider four areas of the doctrine of salvation.
GOD’S VIEW OF MANKIND
Sinners by Practice. God’s Word in Romans 1 sees mankind under the wrath of God and worthy of death and judgment. This wrath is not “a bad mood” but the offending of a holy God when mankind’s practices “such things.” The list of offenses are found in verses 29-31.
But sometimes a person’s wrong actions is perceived as not premeditated—an ignorant mistake. If so, do “such things” deserve God’s judgment? For example, suppose you installed a new white rug but did not tell the children to be careful with it, and they walked across it with their dirty shoes. Would you be just in punishing them? But if you told them to be careful with everything in the house and they said, “Who cares?” walking on it anyway, would they now be deserving of punishment? This is the way a person careless of God’s claims is dealt with in Romans.
Sinners by Choice. God’s Word shows that because of creation, conscience, and His commandments, mankind is not ignorant of God. Yet with this knowledge of God and His basic morality, it is revealed that “when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God neither were thankful” (Rom. 1:21).
Thus man is not innocent because he is not ignorant. Man is not simply one who falls short because of weaknesses, but a rebel against God. Regardless of whether he has God’s religion (the Law) or not, man knows and sins anyway. So Romans 3:12 and 19 conclude that there is “none that doeth good” and all mankind is “guilty before God.”
This evaluation by God flies in the face of the majority opinion. Man is basically good, they say, and through proper training and values, can be pleasing to God. This satanic lie makes man in need of a teacher, not a Saviour.
Sinners by Birth. Romans goes on to reveal the source of our sin. What good is salvation if it only treats the symptoms? In Romans the source of sin is not culture, class, a dysfunctional family, or a chemical imbalance. It is racial, for there is only one race: the human or Adamic race. Humanity is connected to Adam from whom sin entered and then death followed. Therefore, death comes upon all, for all have sinned. We are wrong by birth; it is a racial defect.
Thus sin cannot be solved by political changes, religious reform, psychological therapy, or prescription drugs. Nothing short of a new birth or adoption into a new race will suffice to solve the problem. This is another salvation truth that flies in the face of popular opinion, which holds that each person is a child of God and all are part of the equal brotherhood of the family of God. For, the reasoning goes, all share the same human source in Adam—whom God created. However, this common Adamic connection is not the solution but the problem (5:12-19). The human link to Adam constitutes one a sinner under the condemnation of death.
Thankfully, God’s Word speaks of the head of another race, a spiritual one. And its head, or progenitor, is God’s Son, Jesus the Christ, “the last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45). It is only in union with Him that we live and are the sons or children of God (Jn. 1:12).
In God’s eyes, it’s the family you’re in that makes you one of His, not how many bad or good things you do. Simply put, in the words of God in 1 Corinthians 15:22, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” It’s not what you do but who you are. For example, a cherry tree is still a cherry tree whether it has ten cherries or a thousand on it. And whether the majority of cherries are good or bad does not change the type of tree.
THE WORTH OF JESUS
Since man needs nothing short of a Saviour and a new life, God in love and wisdom has provided such, coming Himself in the Person of His Son. Romans 1:3 speaks of His Son’s human heritage: “the seed of David”—God’s chosen line to rule His people. Thus Jesus has worth, a legal claim to God’s throne. He is royalty.
Romans 1:4 reveals Jesus’ divine heritage: “the Son of God.” Thus He is also eternal and divine, though taking a human body. The Creator has become like the creature. Because He is God, He was sinless and pure to His Father. Christ Jesus stands alone among the billions of humanity: He is a king who is pure (bypassing Adam’s sin nature by the virgin birth). He is God who is a man. As a man who has overcome death, He is the head of a new race.
The worth of Christ goes against the satanic lies—lies that postulate that He was only a good moral teacher, or just a reformer for freedom of choice from the tyranny of corrupt religion and politics, so man could reach his full potential. If Jesus is less than the seed of David, then there is no rule of God over man in a coming kingdom. If He is less than the Son of God, then His death is not effective for salvation, and man is either hopelessly lost or good enough to save himself. If we are not worthy of death then we don’t need a Saviour. If He is not the Saviour then he is not worthy to reign (Rev. 5:9). The satanic attack against God’s salvation fights on the ground of worth: man or the Lord Jesus Christ.
THE WORK OF JESUS
The Lord Jesus said to His Father, “I have finished the work” (Jn. 17:4). The reason His work as a Saviour counted was because of His worth. One might offer one’s favorite roller ball pen as payment for a million dollar debt. The pen, of course, will not count as a satisfactory payment because of its lack of worth.
Thus the Lord Jesus’ death was unlike any other. It was not a consequence of His sin, for He had none. His death had value and power to it. It would be accepted by God as a substitution for sinners. In biblical language, His blood was a propitiation (Rom. 3:25). That is, it was a satisfactory sacrifice in God’s eyes. It fully paid the great debt of death our sin had incurred against a holy God.
His death goes against the popular thought that it was simply a love statement to show how much we are worth loving—because Jesus went through such passion to show us. Rather, His death was a substitutionary payment proving that mankind must stand in need of a Saviour. Christ’s cross verifies that we are guilty sinners by practice, rebels or enemies of God by choice, and born inherently wrong. The purpose of the work of Christ on the cross is connected to the condition of man.
It is God Himself who has the final word on the death of Jesus. Man (religious and political), though finding no moral charge against Jesus, had Him crucified as a religious blasphemer (a mere man claiming to be God) and a political rebel (an insurgent king). Crucifixion was man’s evaluation of Christ. The prophet said, “We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted” (Isa. 53:4). But God disagreed with that verdict and revealed that Jesus did not belong in a criminal’s grave, removed from society. He raised Him from the dead! Then He ascended to the right hand of God, honored by God Himself.
TERMS OF GOD’S SALVATION
Resurrection declares that His death was not His punishment, but salvation for us. “But He was wounded for our transgressions,” says the prophet (Isa. 53:5). Now do we agree with God’s verdict or man’s (even religious man)? Can one be right with God and disagree with Him over His beloved Son? When one agrees with God from the heart concerning God’s evaluation of Jesus as Lord by resurrection, then he is saved, made right with God (Rom. 10:9).
It is faith (trust) in Christ that saves, apart from human works or deeds of the Law (Rom. 3:28; 4:5). God’s terms are not Christ plus what I do, but faith in Christ alone. If one can contribute to one’s salvation then man must not be totally bad or Christ’s work must not be totally sufficient. Obeying God by faith takes away our right to boast before Him—guilty sinners have no grounds to boast—except in God’s grace through the cross (Rom. 3:27).
Peter argues concerning the terms of salvation that when they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ because of grace, the Holy Spirit came in them instantly. This proves that faith alone in Christ purifies the heart or else the Spirit would not have come in (Acts 15:8-11). God’s salvation is the very basis that causes saved man to now live right, Romans 6-8, but that is not the scope of this teaching.
To battle successfully we need to have our minds protected. Our beliefs and thinking must be defended from the lies of the Enemy. By wearing this helmet of salvation one can be preserved from satanic doubts that discourage and satanic lies that deceive.