“Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts, through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For Christ, while we were still helpless, died at the appointed time for the ungodly … God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:5-8).
This message is a reminder that the hope provided by Jesus Christ is an objective reality, Rev. Jeremiah Johnston told Fox News Digital.
Johnston is pastor of apologetics at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, and founder of the Christian Thinkers Society.
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“In Jesus we are blessed by God with an excruciating gift,” Johnston told Fox News Digital via email.
“The word excruciating is derived from the Latin at its root (excruciat based on crux, meaning ‘a cross’). That is, the Latin meaning had to do with suffering extreme torment, such as being crucified,” he said.
Rev. Jeremiah Johnston of Texas said that the hope of Jesus is an “objective reality.” (iStock/Bertuzzi Photography)
With Jesus, “God sent his Son to a filthy, bloody, squalid cross to demonstrate His love for us.”
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This means that Christians should “never have the attitude that God is somehow lucky to have us,” said Johnston.
Christians should “never have the attitude that God is somehow lucky to have us” — and should instead acknowledge that “long before we were born, God loved us.” (iStock)
With this passage, all people should be assured that “long before we were born, God loved us before we had done anything good or bad.”
The cross, said Johnston, is proof of the extent of how much God loves humanity.
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“Let’s focus in on the final phrase, ‘But God proves (Συνίστησιν in Greek) His love for us,’” he said, referencing Romans 5:8.
Christ’s death on the cross is how Christians “can know that God loves us now,” said Johnston. (iStock)
“This is the equivalent of saying God is still proving His love for us in the present by His completed action of sending Christ to die for us on the cross.”
Essentially, “we can know that God loves us now because of all Christ did for us on the cross,” he said.
“This is all God ever needed to do to show His love at the present time,” he said.
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“The death of Christ [is of] biting significance as a permanent stamp of God’s full and joyful acceptance of those who trust in Jesus for forgiveness of sin and eternal life in heaven,” Johnston said.
Jesus, he said, “established hope for us that does not disappoint.”
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“And the hope that is ours in Jesus is an objective reality — and the subjective feeling of hope will come as we allow Christ to be established in our hearts through communion with Him in his Word,” said Johnston.
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