Jesus Christ is our substitute, not our example. Our life is replaced by her life; our eternal death is replaced by his death, and our failure on our fallen nature, is replaced by his victory over sin. In fact, since man cannot reach as God, God had to reach to be made man: Emanuel (God with us). Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and good will toward mankind, and with the entire universe! The following list of events that occurred in the garden of Eden, summarizes any human fruit happened to pretend to be like God: nudity, shame, fear (hide from God), pride (accuse God), auto justification (aprons of fig tree), briers and thorns; sweat and tears; pain and death of an innocent Lamb (skin tunic), temporal (Abel) death, eternal death (Cain). In contrast, the following list summarizes the received spiritual fruits by accepting the vicarious substitution of Jesus: immense gratitude, deep love, inexhaustible joy, immeasurable peace (for with God through our Lord Jesus Christ), gentle patience, great gentleness, abundant goodness, wonderful faith, warm meekness, and Temperance serene (cf. Galatians 5: 22-23). To accept that Jesus is our substitute, and not simply our example, it is not an invitation to live as disorderly, incorrect and inadequate, but otherwise, is an invitation to live a life full of happiness and order, but relying on the merits of the teacher of Galilee, and not trusting in our frustrated attempts to imitate him, since Jesus Christ is not our mere example, but our lofty substitute. When living looking and relying on the bronze serpent raised on the cross of Calvary, no time, nor desires to have other gods, nor take his name in vain, nor look at your neighbor’s wife, nor steal, nor of lying, or kill, or look at the Fiery serpents, nor its venomnor to wounds suffered in the desert of life.
So, looking to Christ, we are considered Saints because God is holy and his gaze sanctifies us. As well as the stones and the burning Bush of Sinai were considered Saints: because God It is holy, and because his Holy presence santificaba them. It is understandable that at first the simple idea of accepting that our example is Jesus not, but our substitute, may cause some eclesiastico-doctrinal itching, which is induced by the inevitable release of histamines reactivo-espirituales, but the Bible suggests that, in the eyes of God, our works of injustice (bad deeds) are like manure (Malachi 2: 2-3), and that our works of righteousness (good deeds) are like (Isaiah 64: 6) filthy rags. So for God the only life that counts is the alternative life of Christ imputed as if our life. In the eyes of God has no value or life exemplary of the rich young man nor ours (Matthew. Revelation 3: 17). In short, accept that Jesus is our example, but our substitute: not intended to encourage debauchery, but that instead, longs to extol the immeasurable grace of God, expressed in the conception, birth, life, work, death and replacement resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ be all glory, all honor and praise, by the centuries of centuries, so that no one can boast in the presence of God, Jesus Christ has been made us by God, our wisdom, our justification, our sanctification and our redemption, so as it is written: that is glory, boast in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1: 29-31).
Amen. Dr. Jorge r.. Talbot Biblical Research Society original author and source of the article.