By Mark McCulley
Fortner writes, “It was not enough that our sins were imputed to him. His suffering unto death on the cross was much, much more than a legal matter. It was a real soul-suffering unto death. The agony of His mind and His soul cannot be described and it cannot be explained to our finite minds.”
The somebody who wrote this has told lots of people that he is not one of those “I don’t explain, I only proclaim” guys. He has even gone so far as to call into suspicion any preacher who will not try to answer questions about what he says by reference to God’s word.
So I have some questions, not only about what the Bible says about the “soul”, but also (more important still) about what the Bible has to say about this supposed difference between a legal matter and something “real”.
Think of me as a bs detective, as a deconstructionist of differences than cannot be explained or supported by what the Bible says. Who made me that? When God’s people are being comforted by half-truths and even contradictions of what the Bible says, I will not be an enabler. I will not shut up.
What is the “more” here, the much much more? I certainly agree thatthe Lord Jesus is both God and human, and therefore we who are only human cannot begin to explain His sufferings. But what I am asking is this: what’s the difference between a “legal matter” and the “real” death of the Lord Jesus?
Is it not true that this legal matter, the imputation of the sins of the elect to Christ, is real, so real that Christ died for these sins? So where is there any BIBLE distinction between the legal and the real? And what can be more real than real? if legal imputation is a reality and not a fiction, and if the death of Jesus Christ is a real result of that, where is the “more”?
I suggest that we stop throwing out soundbites unless we are preparedto define them, defend them, and explain them by reference to Scripture. Does not the Bible tell us what the “soul” is? Does not Ezekial 18 tell us that the “soul that sins shall die”?
If we are going to use the word “soul”, why not start in Genesis 1:20 and find out what it means? I know it would be easier to ask what “cult” the questioner belongs to, but if we trust God, we need to trust God’s Bible enough to submit to its explanations. Genesis 1:20–”let the waters abound with an abundance of living souls.” Genesis 2:7–”And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul”.
If we are going to preach about “soul”, why not stop repeating what we heard another preacher say and go on from Genesis, verse by verse, and see what “soul” means? Does not the Bible tell us about dead souls? See Leviticus 19:28; 21:1;11;22;4; Numbers 5:2;6:6,11; 9:6,7,10; 19:11, 13. (It’s fine to understand and translate this as “corpses” but certainly not as “bodies without souls”.
When the text says “souls”, it’s perverse to deny that in the interests of holding on to one’s traditions about ghosts.)
If we were to go far enough in studying the word in the Bible, we will get to this precious verse–Isaiah 53: 6–”He poured out His soul unto death.” Now we can say that Jesus is both God and human, and therefore we cannot begin to explain how the incarnate one could die. And I agree. I very much agree that we cannot. We can explain that Christ now has two natures in union, but certainly we cannot explain what this means. But in our proclaiming (or explaining), let us not be guilty of denying what the verse says: the Servant poured out His soul unto death.
The Lord Jesus died. I cannot explain it. But let’s not get all mystical and talk about some difference which is “more” real. Sin demands death, and the guilt of the elect imputed to Christ, demanded AS A LEGAL MATTER that Jesus “really” die. And He did. That’s what the Bible says, and we should not fuzzy it up with distinctions we cannot explain or justify from Scripture.
I have certainly not written enough to consider all that the Bible says about “soul”. And it certainly would be easier for you to just continue to put soundbites together. It will only cause you trouble and slander to ask any further about what “soul” means. But I think you should. I dare you. In the meanwhile, until you ever get time to study the matter, why not stop using the non-biblical wisdom of men? We all tend to quote each other saying the same thing. Better to be checking God’s testimony.
Yes, it would be easier to “condense it all down ” to one verse, or one sentence. That would bring happy contentment, closure. But is it not a wonderful thing that the Lord Jesus poured out His Blood on the cross? According to the Bible, is that something different from pouring out His soul? Is the blood, the physical death of the incarnate Son of God somehow less “real” and important than something else? What does God demand for sin? What does the Bible say?
One final glorious thing. After His “blood paid it all” (for every sin of every elect sinner), the Lord Jesus did not stay dead. Read the first sermon in Acts 2:27 where Peter quotes Psalm 16:10–”Thou will not leave my soul in the grave.” God has left David (and Peter) in the grave until Jesus comes again. But God has not left Jesus there. That is the good news Peter is preaching. This is a Biblical distinction, not a traditional soundbite. David is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us unto this day. But God raised up the Christ to sit on His throne.
Unless we know something more about David and Peter than the Bible tells us, so that we can pray today to living saints, let us rather give our attention to the one of whom Acts tells us: His soul was not left in Hades… This Jesus God raised up.
John 3:13–”No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.” Look not to David or Peter or preachers quoting other preachers. Look to Christ. He must be lifted up. He was. How was He lifted up? By His death! Christ shed His blood. Christ poured out His soul. Christ was obedient even unto death. As many as believe in Him, they will not perish but have eternal life.
We were not born immortal. Eternal life is not natural. The Lord Jesus gives His elect immortality, life without probation and death, and this is only because Jesus died for their sins on the cross. All those for whom Christ did not die will perish.
lucidmarbles 