Proposition 6
- Tanner Hawkins
- 6 hours ago
- 7 min read
Christadelphian Unamended First Principles
PROPOSITION 6
By Bro. Kyle Miller
PROPOSITION 6 – That God, in His kindness, conceived a plan of restoration which, without setting aside His just and necessary law of sin and death, should ultimately rescue the obedient of the race from destruction, and people the earth with sinless immortals. John 1:29; 3:16; Rom. 3:26; 2 Tim. 1:1, 10; Tit. 1:2; 1 John 2:25; Rev. 21:4.
What It Means
This proposition sums up the entire purpose and message of the Bible. It deals with the rescuing and restoration of the obedient of the human race. To understand what this is talking about, we have to know what the race is being rescued from. What is the race being restored to?
Adam was told in Genesis 2:17 that if they ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil they would die.
Genesis 2:17 – But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
We know they did eat from it. We read in
Genesis 3:12-13 – And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
That was the first act of disobedience against God. They had been told not to eat from that tree, and that if they did, they would surely die. They now had eaten, and verse 14 continues,
Genesis 3:14 – And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
There were many aspects of the curse listed, but in verse 19 they are told they will return to the dust. That of course means they will die.
Genesis 3:19 – In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Adam and Eve and their offspring and descendants – which comprises the whole human race – are condemned to death. Back to Proposition 6, it states that God, in His kindness, created a plan of restoration that allow the obedient of the race to be rescued from destruction, which is death - eternal death. It’s important that we see that God conceived this plan “in His kindness”. Man had broken God’s law, and the full execution of that law would have been just. God did not have to create a plan of salvation. He could have allowed His law to be carried out just as warned, and Adam and Eve would have perished that day. But He nevertheless instituted a plan to offer the race hope.
As the law had been broken, man would still have to die in order for God’s law of sin and death to have its fulfillment, and this is why mankind dies as was discussed in Proposition 5. But God’s plan allows hope from this death. This is why God teaches about resurrection – the “standing again” of those who have died. Resurrection is the key to allowing the law of sin and death to be fulfilled while also allowing hope for man.
God’s plan involves the “taking out” of the race a group which are obedient to His will and seek Him out, and it therefore will result in a group of saved people who have proven themselves as God’s servants. But this plan doesn’t merely involve a rescue from death, it includes being blessed with eternal life.
Scriptural Testimony
This plan is summarized explicitly in John 3:16. This is one of the most quoted verses of the Bible.
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Jesus Christ is the plan that God set into place to rescue the obedient of the race. Those who believe in him will not perish, but have everlasting life – that is, be rescued from death and given life. There are many more verses that also make this clear. One is
John 1:29 – The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
John the Baptist was sent before Jesus Christ to preach that the Messiah or Savior was coming soon. When he saw him, how did he greet him, or announce his arrival? He said that this is the one who will take away the sin of the world. We saw earlier that it is sin which led to death. Taking away the sin, the reason for death, allows for life.
In Romans 3 we are told that we are all sinners that come short of God’s glory, but that we can be saved through belief in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice.
Romans 3:23-26 – For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Another verse given as support for this proposition is 2 Timothy 1:1. This is simply more proof that the Bible, and specifically Paul in this case, teach that it is through Jesus Christ that the promise of life comes. That is how he opened his letter to Timothy, mentioning the promise of life through Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 1:1 – Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,
He goes on in verse 10 of the same chapter to say that Jesus Christ has abolished death and brought life and immortality.
2 Timothy 1:10 – But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
In Titus 1:2, Paul states that the hope of eternal life was promised by or conceived of by God before the world and creation began. God knew what would happen. He knew that Adam and Eve would sin, and He already had the plan in place. We read in
Titus 1:2 – In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
God knows the end from the beginning, and in the garden after man sinned, God showed through what means this life would be possible. As was mentioned in the previous episode on Proposition 5, God made Adam and Eve coats of skins. An animal was slain and its skin used to cover their nakedness, and this is what allowed them to continue living for a time. This was symbolic of the role Jesus would play in God’s plan, and we know this because in Revelation 13:8, Jesus is called “the Lamb slain from the foundation (or the beginning) of the world.”
1 John 2:25 is another place where another of Christ’s apostles tells us that we are promised eternal life through Jesus Christ.
1 John 2:25 – And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
Note that eternal life is promised to us, not currently in our possession.
Revelation 21:4 also promises a time when there will be no more death. This verse goes further though. It lets us know that there will not only be no more death, but that other aspects of the curse that we live under will be removed as well.
Revelation 21:4 – And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
No more tears, sorrow, crying pain or death! All those things will be passed away thanks to Jesus Christ being the perfect sacrifice that will remove sin and death from the world. We are told that if we believe and follow him that we will be part of that. Christ told his disciples in
Mark 16:16 – He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned.
Why This a First Principle
Proposition 6 a first principle of the truth because it is really the whole theme of or message of the Bible. It is God’s plan to rescue the obedient of the race and bless them with eternal life so that the earth is eventually filled only with sinless, immortal servants who dedicated themselves during their lives to God and became heirs of His promises. He did this by providing one who would be able to live his life without sinning and then offer himself as a sacrifice for sin, and by doing that, overcome sin. Christ is the cornerstone of this plan of hope and has been the focal point of God’s plan from the very beginning. It is therefore only through Christ that man can escape the sentence of death and have the hope of eternal life.
If we don’t believe that God instituted a plan of hope for man, then we cannot avail ourselves of it. 1 John 4:9 says, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” That is the Gospel. Without this, nothing else in the Bible matters.
This proposition expresses the importance of God generously creating a plan of salvation for man, but there are many details to this plan and principles on which it is based. Some of these principles will be discussed in the next episode on Proposition 7.
