An Illustration Gone Wrong

Sometimes a teacher or a preacher must go to extraordinary lengths in order to make his or her point. I read the story recently of one such occasion. It is the story of Dr. Christianson, a teacher of Christianity. I won't go into the story in depth here, but if you want to read it in full just click here. (This is just one of many websites featuring the story or a version of it.) None of the websites that reproduce this story make any claim as to it's authenticity, or lack thereof. It is just used to make a point; it illustrates the meaning of the death of Jesus.

In short, the teacher came to class one day armed with a big box of doughnuts. He asked each and every member of the class, one by one, if they wanted one. Each time someone said 'yes' the teacher made the best student in the class 'Steve' do 10 pushups in order to 'pay' for the doughnut. As the story continues, Steve gets exhausted, and now some classmates are crying at this powerful demonstration. As the teacher neared the end of the class, one class member said 'No - I don't want a doughnut", but the teacher made Steve do the pushups anyway.

The story concludes like this: As Steve very slowly finished his last push up, with the understanding that he had accomplished all that was required of him, having done 300 push-ups, his arms buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor. Dr. Christianson turned to the class and said. "And so it was, that our Saviour, Jesus Christ, on the cross, said to the Father, 'into thy hands I commend my spirit.' With the understanding that He had done everything that was required of Him, he yielded up His life. And like some of those in this room, many of us leave the gift on the desk, uneaten."

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Now that’s a terrific and emotive story, the problem being it’s not entirely accurate. You see, Steve did something FOR his classmates, but he didn’t do anything TO his classmates. Jesus Christ has done something TO humanity. Unless each individual member of the class makes a decision to pick up and eat the doughnut, they have not been affected in any way by what Steve has done. But Jesus Christ’s Incarnation, Life, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension has affected every human being who has ever lived – regardless of whether or not they choose to eat their doughnut!

When God took up human existence, lived, died and rose again, human existence was decisively altered, forever changed. Without our knowledge and without our consent. We are always very quick to tell people about Adam. About how, in Adam, the entire human race was plunged into sin and death. We put Adam at the top of the pyramid of human existence and say that the entire landscape of human existence is under Adam’s influence. Every man, woman and child affected by Adam. And the we propose a Jesus Christ that rescues only some. We propose a Jesus Christ that does not undo the mess that Adam made. Everybody went down with Adam, some of us will be saved in Jesus. We are therefore required to conclude that Adam, a mere man, has had a greater influence on the human race than Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has. The great early church father Iranaeus would not allow this. In what I consider to be his most profound phrase, he said - What was lost in Adam was restored in Christ.

What was lost in Adam was restored in Christ.

We were not given a choice when Adam plunged us into death, alienation, and corruption. And we were not given a choice when God in Jesus Christ rescued us from that. What Adam did, Jesus Christ has undone. We give ourselves too much credit, and nowhere near enough credit to Jesus Christ. Every man, woman and child that was plunged into ruin and alienation by Adam, has been rescued by the Incarnate Son, for that is why He came. And it was completed on the Cross.

What was lost in Adam was restored in Christ. How could it be any less?