Christians commemorate three major historical events surrounding the Lord Jesus: Christmas (birth), Good Friday (death) and Easter (resurrection). Although Jesus is the central figure, God’s love and sacrifice is the common denominator of these three events.
But Christians often tend to overlook God’s love and sacrifice while celebrating Christmas. The reason behind Christ’s birth - Christ was born to die, so to save mankind from their sins - is usually the chief focus during Christmas celebrations.
God’s Love Led To Christ’s Birth
Christ was born because of God’s love for mankind. For God so loved the world that HE initiated and fulfilled the program of salvation through Christ - to save man from sins. Since love gains perfection with sacrifice, God sent the second person of the blessed Trinity, the Lord Jesus, to die, resurrect and ascend into heaven (thereby those who believe in Christ would be saved from their sins).
God’s love for mankind could be best remembered and accentuated if we consider the Historic Christian doctrine of salvation in comparison with the competing doctrines. God’s love for mankind is best displayed in the doctrine of salvation of the Historic Christian worldview.
The competing doctrines of salvation fail to display God’s love for mankind. God can only be a loving being. If any doctrine portrays God as not a loving being, then that doctrine cannot be true.
For instance, God cannot be a loving being, if he mandates man to do good works to attain salvation. Similarly, God cannot be a loving being, if HE would eventually save all of mankind, irrespective of their belief or disbelief in HIM.
Salvation By Works: Cannot Be A Loving God’s Salvific Program
It is well within God’s perfect and infinite knowledge and power to devise other means of salvation (other than the death of Christ on the cross of Calvary) to save man from his sins. For instance, God could have mandated man to do good works to be saved.
But God would have passed the buck to man had HE mandated man to do good works to attain salvation. God, who creates man, should own the sole or the primary responsibility to save the man. But if God’s mandate was for man to do good works to be saved, the responsibility of being saved would have shifted from the domain of God to the domain of man.
Only an unloving and an unjust God could have executed the salvific program of the man doing good works to be saved. No one is perfect in doing good works, for we can never be immune to sin or imperfections. Man is always prone to sin. Hence, doing good works to utter perfection is impossible for man. Every good deed that we perform will always be tarnished by our bad deeds.
But an argument predicated on the grading system in pedagogy could be posited. God could save man based on his performance of doing good works in life. In other words, those who ‘Fail’ in God’s salvific scrutiny would not be saved, whereas those who ‘Pass’ (by exceeding God’s expectations) would be saved.
Even then, had God instituted a plan of salvation-by-works, HE could be blamed endlessly.
Had God not created man with an innate inclination towards imperfection, it may be plausible to not blame God. But man is not perfect; he has a natural propensity to imperfection (sin). Hence God could be blamed. Every good work that man performs could be questioned and every good work could be improved upon.
This problem is compounded by the fact that God does not create people uniformly (physical, mental, emotional etc.). For instance, not all people are created with the same IQ.
In order to be saved, the man ought to adequately comprehend God’s plan for salvation so that he can consistently perform good works. But a man with an average or a low IQ would naturally struggle to assimilate God and HIS plan to save him, thereby this man can come up short while performing good deeds. If this is the case, how could God not be blamed, for man is HIS creation?
Abnormalities exist in mankind. Hence, people with average or below-average physical, mental and emotional capabilities would perform deeds differently, let alone good or bad.
Defining good and bad is also not a simple task. A terrorist thinks he is performing a good deed when he kills his enemy. But those being killed by this terrorist consider him as an evil human being. Similarly, a parent punishing the child could either be termed good or bad based on the differing perspectives of the parent and the child. If defining good and evil is a complicated process, then performing good deeds would naturally be more complicated and contentious.
On the other hand, if God lowers HIS expectations for man, so to compensate for HIS unequal creation of man, God’s justice could be questioned, which would then lead to questioning HIS very essence as the greatest conceivable being. God cannot be the greatest conceivable being if HE is unjust.
When God creates people with abnormalities, they cannot perform good deeds consistently. More importantly, mandating man to do good works when God creates man with severe abnormalities, projects God as an unjust being. But the greatest conceivable being cannot be unjust so God could not have instituted a program of salvation by good works. Therefore, a loving and a just God cannot expect the man to do good works in order to gain salvation.
Universal Salvation: A Loving God Will Not Save All Men
Another contradicting doctrine on salvation is that of universal salvation – that everyone would be saved. But universal salvation cannot be sustained without demeaning God.
God cannot be a loving God if HE is unjust (an imperfect being cannot be God). So this doctrine of salvation would crumble because a good and a loving God could not have instituted a horrendous program to save the man.
If universal salvation has any merit, the notion of good and evil or right and wrong should not be in existence. But as long as good and evil exists, universal salvation cannot be God’s program to save man, for universal salvation posits God saving both the good and the unrepentant evil.
If God saves both the good and the evil, either God should be evil or morality should cease to exist. But God cannot be evil, for the greatest conceivable being cannot be evil. Moreover, there is good and evil in our world. Therefore, it is impossible for God to save both the good and the evil.
Consider a man who is innately corrupt – a man who cheats, maims and murders innocent people so to gain wealth and power. How could such a man be saved unless he repents of his wrongdoings and reforms his life? But universal salvation posits salvation for such a man despite his unrepentant life.
Consider those who curse God. Militant atheists fall into this category. If a man who curses God dies without repenting (many atheists have died such a death), and if God saves such a man, then this implies that God deserves no respect or reverence.
God cannot be revered or respected if HE saves those who perennially curse HIM. If God encourages people to not respect and revere HIM, HE cannot be God, to begin with. Such a God cannot be in existence.
God, as the greatest conceivable being, should be worshipped in awe and reverence. God is holy; hence HE deserves to be worshipped. But if God saves those who perennially curse HIM, the implication is that HE does not demand worship (because men would still be saved without worshipping God).
A God who does not demand worship cannot be a holy or a loving God. Hence this God cannot be in existence. Therefore, the program of universal salvation bites the dust. God could not have instituted such a program to save the man.
Christmas: God’s Love & Sacrifice
Christmas is all about God’s love and sacrifice.
Christ’s birth demonstrates God’s love for mankind. Love is always unconditional. So God became man and placed HIMSELF under the power of evil to brutally suffer and die for us. God’s sacrifice on the cross of Calvary demonstrates HIS love for mankind.
Christ’s birth also signifies God assuming the primary responsibility to save the man. Christ died for us while we were still sinners. The all-loving God sent HIS Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to sacrifice HIMSELF for the sake of mankind. Thereby, all those who believe in Christ are saved.
We celebrate Christmas to thank God for Christ’s birth. But to think of Christ’s birth without recognizing God’s love and sacrifice is to disregard the true meaning behind of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So when we celebrate Christmas, let us remember God’s love and sacrifice, and let us love each other by sacrificing our needs so to satisfy the needs of those around us – our families, friends, and even those whom we do not know.
Enjoy a Christ-filled Christmas season!
