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The Two-Fold
Work of the Cross
by Chip
Brogden - http://www.TheSchoolOfChrist.Org/articles/twofold.html
"Christ also
suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His
steps" (I Peter 2:21).
If we were to ask
a Christian, "Have you accepted the work of the
Cross?" Many of them would say yes. If you ask them
what the work of the Cross is, they would respond by saying that the
work of the Cross is the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus for the sins
of the world.
While this is true
enough, it can be misleading. A better question to ask is,
"Have you accepted the two-fold work of the Cross?"
Try this out on a few Christians and you will probably get a puzzled
reply along the lines of, "What is the two-fold work of the
Cross?" That is because most people are only familiar with
one side of the Cross, not both sides.
For many years I
was only taught one aspect of the Cross - that is, the cross on which
Jesus died for me. That is all I knew, and so that is all I
taught. On this cross He was crucified as my substitute.
He laid down His life for me. His precious blood was shed for
the forgiveness of my sins. Not only that, but the Bible says
that God laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. John the Baptist
calls Him, "The Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the whole world."
By identifying
with His sacrificial death, He becomes our Substitute. We enter
into His finished work. We are made one with Him there on the
Cross. Thank God we do not have to pay this debt, for it has
been paid for us. We do not have to go to the Cross and be
crucified for our sins.
I would suggest
that almost every Christian is familiar with this aspect of the
Cross. It is the foundation of evangelicalism, the basis of
millions of sermons to millions of believers. It is the
truth, and we thank God for the truth whenever it is proclaimed.
There is another
side to this Cross, another dimension of the same truth, which is not
as well-known, and is hardly preached at all. As a result, many
believers are content to embrace the "Sinner's Cross"; that
is, they have confessed Jesus as Savior, and they understand and
accept Him as their Substitute. It is certainly true that Jesus
is our Substitute, and that He died on the Cross for is. But as
we have said, there is a two-fold work of the Cross.
Peter alludes to
this two-fold work when he writes, "Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps." Christ
suffered FOR us; that is the first aspect. But He left us an
EXAMPLE; that is the second aspect.
So the work of the
Cross is two-fold. First, Jesus is our Substitute.
Secondly, He is our Example. In the first case, He took up the
Cross. In the second case, I take up the Cross. The first
work of the Cross is for the Sinner; the second work of the Cross is
for the Disciple.
Jesus said that
the way to Life is through a narrow Gate and a difficult Path.
The Gate is only the beginning of the journey; it is not the
destination. So we must have both the Gate and the Path.
One is not complete without the other. Once we are through the
Gate, there is a Path for us to walk. The Gate makes it
possible for us to walk the Path, but the Gate is incomplete without
the Path. The Life is at the end of the Path, not at the beginning.
This corresponds
to the two-fold work of the Cross. The "Sinner's
Cross" is the Gate. Because Jesus is my Substitute, I can
now walk the Path. The "Disciple's Cross" is the
Path. Now I am following His example. Can you see the difference?
Jesus says the way
to Life is through a Narrow Gate and a Difficult Path. The
Narrow Gate is Christ. It is Narrow because He is the Only
Way. But why is the Path so difficult? Partly because it
is much easier, much more appealing, to accept Jesus as a Substitute
than to accept Him as an Example. Stated differently, it is
much more appealing to accept Jesus as Savior than to accept Him as
Lord. With a simple prayer I can acknowledge Him as my
Substitute and Savior. But to make Him my Example and my Lord,
to actually walk in His footsteps, is not so appealing.
Why? In the
first case I simply embrace the "Sinner's Cross" and
everything is done for me. But in the second case I must take
up the "Disciple's Cross" and actually follow in the steps
of the Master. It only takes a moment to pass through the Gate, but
the Path takes a lifetime of walking.
Peter wrote of
this two-fold work of the Cross, but we see in Matthew 16 that he did
not always have this understanding. In Matthew 16 we see Jesus
as our Substitute and our Example all in one chapter. First
there is Jesus as the Substitute. He begins to show His
disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things, be
killed, and raised the third day. For His sins? No, for
our sins. So in this He is our Substitute.
Peter, taking
offense over this, pulls Jesus aside and begins to rebuke Him.
Imagine! Peter is rebuking the Lord Jesus over this issue of
the Cross. It is, indeed, a difficult thing to comprehend.
But Jesus turns and rebukes Peter. Yes, it will be so. I
will go to Jerusalem and die for the sins of the world. I must
complete My substitutionary work.
But the two-fold
work of the Cross goes deeper than the physical death of Jesus.
And so Jesus immediately begins to speak to them, not about HIS
Cross, but about THEIR Cross:
"Then Jesus
said to His disciples, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever
desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for
My sake will find it'" (Mark 16:24,25).
Peter objected to
the death of the Lord Jesus and wanted to prevent His
crucifixion. The Lord Jesus responded that not only must the
Master be crucified, but anyone who desired to follow after the
Master would, of necessity, have to take up their Cross as well.
Peter eventually
learned this lesson, and it is time we learned it as well.
Jesus is both my Substitute and my Example. Jesus, is both my
Savior and my Lord. Jesus is both the Narrow Gate and the
Difficult Path.
If there is any
doubt as to the reason for a lack of power, a lack of joy, a lack of
faithfulness, a lack of Spirit-and-Truth today, we need only examine
a person's ultimate attitude towards the Cross. Is the Cross,
to them, something that Jesus saved them FROM, or something that
Jesus saved them FOR? The fruit, or the lack thereof, tells the
whole story. For there never will be, and there never can be,
any fruitfulness apart from embracing the two-fold work of the Cross.
The question will
of course arise: can Jesus be Savior, but not be Lord? Can I
accept the salvation but not the discipleship? Can I enter the
Gate but not walk the Path? And the underlying concern is
really this : can I pray the Sinner's Prayer, live any way I please,
and still go to heaven when I die?
The question
itself is very revealing in the ones who ask it. Consider that
it takes two beams to make a Cross; one beam is not enough. If
we accept only half of the two-fold work of the Cross then we have
not truly embraced the Cross. If we continue to preach an easy
Gospel and bring sinners to an easy Jesus by having them pray an easy
prayer then we are guilty of propagating another gospel, a false
gospel, a Gate without a Path.
The Rich Young
Ruler came to Jesus with the exact same concern: what must I do to
inherit eternal life? His primary concern was going to heaven
when he died. For many Christians that is the ultimate
objective and the motivation behind everything they do. In
actuality, Jesus said comparatively little about "going to
heaven when you die." But He had quite a bit to say about
being obedient to the will of God and producing fruit while you're
still living here on earth.
To the Rich Young
Ruler who wanted to be saved, Jesus offered discipleship, not salvation:
"Then Jesus,
looking at him, loved him, and said to him, 'One thing you lack: Go
your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will
have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.'
But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had
great possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to His
disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter
the kingdom of God!'" (Mark 10:21-23).
Not "how EASY
for them to enter the Kingdom of God", but "how HARD it
is". The two-fold work of the Cross is a hard saying for
rich and for poor alike. Many turn away sad and sorrowful at
the thought of taking up the Cross as a disciple. For that
reason, only the first half of the two-fold work of the Cross is preached.
I suspect that the
Rich Young Ruler would have eagerly accepted Jesus as his Substitute
- because the subtle implication is that since Jesus died on the
Cross, I won't have to die! But like all the other suggestions
of the adversary, this too is only a partial truth. For the
whole truth is that the work of the Cross is two-fold, and we can
embrace both, or neither, but we cannot keep one and discard the other.
You may be
concerned that if we make salvation contingent on discipleship then
fewer people would get saved. That's exactly the point.
This is precisely what Jesus meant when He said, "Few find
it" (Matthew 7:14b).
So what are we do
to? Should we continue to give false comfort to those who are
unwilling to take up their Cross, deny Self, and follow Jesus?
By no means. Instead, let us endeavor to show others, by
example, that the only way to Life is through Death; the only way to
reign with Him is to suffer with Him; not those who hear, but those
who hear and put into practice, are His true disciples.
May the Lord Jesus
Himself bear witness of these things, that they are true. Amen.
I am your brother,
Chip Brogden
http://www.TheSchoolOfChrist.Org
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(c)2007
TheSchoolOfChrist.Org. Permission is granted for non-commercial
(free) distribution provided this notice appears.
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