Bentley 1

Gerald J Bentley
Licensing Ordination and Consecration Committee
Presentation Paper
21 November 2014
My Personal Theology of Christ our Savior
In this paper I will present: the nature of man and his final destination which is
either heaven or hell; the plan and purpose of atonement, through the death of Jesus
Christ; the means and results of justification, also through Jesus Christ; and finally
my personal experience of Christ as my savior, which will be woven throughout the
presentation.
All biblical quotes are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Holman
Bible Publishers Nashville, 1985 unless otherwise noted.
The Nature of man and his final destination
Distraction is tactical redirection, and emotional drama is a tool that Satan uses
because it focuses on the desires of the flesh. When the woman saw that the tree was
good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to
make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate, Genesis 3:6. The result the Bile says is
deathi, a physical death and a spiritual death which is an eternity separated from God.
But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, Isaiah 59:2,
and the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23. Generating drama in various ways
through media, relationships, government et ceterachallenges every soul to find
peace and rest. But the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, Galatians 5:17. Therefore in mans
fallen state the ability to reconcile our relationship through compliance with The Law of

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the Creator is impossibleii. Therefore, the nature of man is broken, sinful and separates
us from God.iii
The sinful nature of man is the result of the willful disobedience of one man. iv
Consequently the character of God and the condition of man are diametrically opposed;
for God is holy and requires me to be holy, Leviticus 11:44; and as Isaiah
acknowledges, Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips,
positioned as a sinner standing before God saying, holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of
hosts Isaiah 6:5-6.
The nature of man and his final destiny is a question each person at some point
has to contemplate. For inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this
comes judgment, Hebrews 9:27, so then each one of us will give an account of himself
to God, Romans 14:12. The Bible gives clear teaching that there are two destinations
for all eternity which is determined by individual choice either in faith and obedience in
Jesus Christ to enter heaven with eternal bliss or; through disobedience and rejecting
Jesus Christ thus entering into hell and eternal torment. To illustrate this let us look to
Luke who records the words of our Lord in chapter sixteen, the story of Lazarus and the
rich man. .Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abrahams
bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. In Hades he lifted up his eyes,
being in torment, Luke 16:2223a.
Later in this story the rich man pleads with Abraham to warn his family. But
Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them,' verse 19. The
rich man obviously was distracted and chose not to pay attention to the truth available
to him. Even today no matter how significant this question is there seems to be no

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urgency to pursue answer to it? Death is a subject that many try to avoid just as the
rich man.
I know a twenty-three year old, college, male who is very boisterous about how
invincible he is. Similarly many in the world seem to think they are invincible. Yet
through the course of history many have tried to answer the question is there life after
death? Being an intellect the twenty-something should at least read the dialogue
Phaedo of Socrates, in the dialogue, Socrates discusses the nature of the
afterlife v He poses four arguments for the immortality of the soul; his final
conclusion was that the soul lives for eternity either to be punished for following the
desires of the flesh or to be full of good for the love of truth and wisdom. vi The problem
with Socrates and the twenty-something is that they know not about the atonement the
God of the universe provides.
Michael E. Wittmer in his book The Last Enemy suggests that our culture is
steering people away from this question and that as a result has had a critically negative
impact on our society. His premise is, are 'you' prepared for death? The fear of
death, specifically going to hell motivated people in past generations to apply
themselves to try to answer this question. Why are people willing to gamble with their
eternity? If in their mind there is the slightest doubt as to the possibility of truth in what
the Bible teaches, you would think they would make at least a halfhearted effort to do
something about it, but If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice. vii
That is why we need to invoke the power of the Holy Spirit to penetrate this veil of
darkness, so that even one might be saved.

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By the grace of God I was not drawn into the veil of darkness. As a young adult I
was exposed to religion, but my religious experience did not satisfy the longing in the
depths of my soul. Baptized at sixteen I participated in church at various levels. The
sermons were about doing unto others, and the teaching was more academic than
spiritual. Yet I knew there must be more. Then the Lord used my entrance into the Navy
to direct me to spiritual truth. That was when I was exposed to preaching and teaching
that challenged me in ways I never experienced. I heard that if I did not have my sins
forgiven and have a personal relationship with the Lord I would wind up in the same
place as the rich man of Luke 16:19, in an eternity of torment. How was it that the
pastor of the church I belonged to as a youth did not see fit to warn his flock, me, of the
impending doom, and that the solution was a personal relationship with the redeemer,
Jesus Christ? Unfortunately there are many churches repeating the same fallacy.
Concerned more with institution and tradition rather than teaching the truth from the
Scriptures, they too are misleading their congregations.
The plan and purpose of atonement
Important in understanding the doctrines of justification and atonement and their
impact in my life is knowing the character of God, the condition of all of mankind
including myself, and the destructive power of sin and my ultimate destination as a
sinner. Socrates did not know the Redeemer but he understood eternity and
consequences of life choices. As stated above with regard to Socrates, four-hundred
years later Jesus Christ would enter the world and specifically address the need for
atonement.

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For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life, John 3:16. For from the
beginning of time God made known the penalty of sin death: but from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will
surely die," Genesis 2:17; and when Adam and his wife Eve realized they had sinned
they were ashamed of their state and hid from the presence of the Lord. viii This is also
when God began to reveal His plan to redeem the sons of man. The first such
inclination is presented in the Lords declaration in Genesis 3:14-16:
The LORD God said to the serpent, "because you have done this, cursed
are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on
your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life; and I
will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and
her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on
the heel." To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in
childbirth, in pain you will bring forth children; yet your desire will be for
your husband, and he will rule over you."
The condition of man as a sinner has mortally impaired our ability to be in a
relationship with God, we cannot satisfy the requirements of The Law, ix so He
intervened with a plan that completely satisfies the required penalty of death, x this is
known as atonement. xi For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was
raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15:3-5.

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My condition and position before God became very apparent when the words of
the preacher came from Luke 16 during a revival I attended as a young sailor. The
image of the rich man being in torment while Lazarus was in comfort burned in my heart
for days; the Holy Spirit revealed this to me, and I was convicted of my hopeless
condition. I confessed that I was in need as a sinner, asked for forgiveness, and to
receive the gift of life from Jesus Christ my Savior; "For the Son of Man has come to
seek and to save that which was lost," Luke 19:10. For there is no other name under
heaven or earth to call upon to be saved Acts 4:12; and from the heart comes that which
will either condemn or bring salvation, Romans 10:10; Matthew 15:18. Because I was
truly sorry for my sins I of repented them, 2 Corinthians 7:10, and received salvation.
I then began to attend the services and Bible studies. What I learned was that
sin and its terrible impact is from the devil who willed in his heart to raise his throne
above the stars of God, and has sinned from the beginning, Isaiah 14:13; 1 John 3:8.
Who, as prince of the power of the air is now working in the sons of disobedience,
Ephesians 2:2, to bring all humanity to live outside of the influence and independent of
God, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4; 1 John 5:19. Also I learned that from the beginning God has
made known that the penalty for sin is death, not just a physical one, but spiritual which
is an eternal separation from God.xii Again, through the Holy Spirit the words of Luke 16
awakened me to the reality of my condition, hopeless and doomed. That is why I am
grateful that The Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil, 1 John 3:8.
He made atonement for my sin.
Shortly after I accepted Christ I was baptized by immersion following the example
of the Lord, Matthew 3:16, as an expression of my new found life in Christ. The words of

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Mark 16:19-31 were used by the Holy Spirit to propel me into fulltime ministry. Later I
began to teach Bible studies to fellow sailors, and preach in the local Union Mission.
Eventually I would return to the pastor of my youth to confront him about what I had
found in my new life in Christ and I asked him why he did not share this information?
Sadly he had no idea what I was talking about; perhaps he had bought into the false
truth of the deceiver.
Paul in his letter to the Romans states, That even though they knew God, they
did not honor Himthey became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was
darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, Romans 1:21-22; and because of
them the way of the truth will be maligned, 2 Peter 2:2. In light of this dreadful
predicament I am convicted that I must proclaim the truth so that the Holy Spirit might
work in their lives. So that they will be wakened and alerted to the eminent urgency
before them and deal with their own eternity; because like the twenty-something and the
many who have been deluded, wide is the gate to destruction and narrow the gate that
leads to life.xiii
Positionally, the guilt of my sin was completely satisfied through Jesus Christ. By
expiationxiv the volitionalxv, sacrifice atoned for my sin and by my faith the righteousness
of Jesus Christ has been imputedxvi to me; therefore, Ive been able to take on the
righteousness of Christ while He has taken upon Himself the fullness of my sin. Millard
Erikson says, God always sees the believer in union with Christ and measures the two
of them togetherHe sees the two as one and says in effect, They are righteous;
and, The believer has been incorporated into Christ and Christ into the believerFrom
a legal perspective, the two are now one.

xvii

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The means and result of Justification

Jesus Christ is the agent of both Justification and Atonement. Justification is a
legal word which means, The act of justifying; a showing to be just or conformable to
law.xviii Because there is a separation between God and humans we can only approach
God through the merit of another, Jesus Christ, It was for freedom that Christ set us
free, Galatians 5:1. Even in the very beginning God had a plan that included the death,
burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, And I will put enmity between you and the
woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and
you shall bruise him on the heel," Genesis 3:15. The full righteousness and justice of
Jesus Christ becomes imputed to the believers by faith xix as does salvation; For by
grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God, Ephesians 2:8. At the point I confessed my sin and accepted the free gift of Life
that Jesus Christ provides, I was positionally moved from being guilty before the God of
creation to being found acceptable or justified. Christs sinless life, His death, burial
and resurrection completely satisfied all the requirements of The Law xx and when I
accepted the free gift His righteousness became mine and in return my sinfulness
became His. I abide in Him and He abides in me and there is now no condemnation for
me, Romans 8:1.
The Bible says, For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it
is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved, Romans 10:10; and that
there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things
which proceed out of the man are what defile the man, Mark 7:15. Jesus is making it
perfectly clear that there are consequences for the choices that we make with regards

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to our eternal destination whether to a place of comfort or to a place of torment. Since

my conversion the eternal destination of the lost has become a focus in my life.
The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the
work of His hands, Psalm,19:1. For when Gentiles who do not have the Law and do
instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves,
in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing
witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day
when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus,
Romans 2:14-16.
He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the
earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,
that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He
is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of
your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.' Acts 17:26-28 Who made
the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them in the generations gone
by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; and yet He did not leave Himself
without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful
seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness." Acts 14:15-17. For since the
creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have
been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are
without excuse, Romans 1:20.

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For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which
is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them, Romans
1:18-19. "Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; but the righteous
will live by his faith, Habakkuk 2:4. "Am I a God who is near," declares the LORD, "And
not a God far off? "Can a man hide himself in hiding places so I do not see him?"
Jeremiah 23:23-24a. who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge
of the truth, 1 Timothy 2:4!
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be
added to you, Matthew 6:33. "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks
finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened, Matthew 7:7-8.
Remember that not making a choice is the same as saying no!

Romans 8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death,

ii

Romans 7:5 for while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in
the members of our body to bear fruit for death.
iii

Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,

iv

Romans 5:19 For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners,

Phaedo - Platos Phaedo Wikipedia.org, 16 September 2014, Wikipedia Foundation Inc., 1October 1, 2014
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaedo,
vi

Ibid Phaedo The Affinity Argument

vii

Free Will Rush, Permanent Waves 1980, Lyrics Neil Peart

viii

Genesis 3:8 they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man
and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
ix

Romans 8:3a For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh,

Romans 8:3b God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He
condemned sin in the flesh,
xi

atonement Agreement; concord; reconciliation, after enmity or controversy. Meriam Websters Dictionary
1928
xii

Genesis 2:16b-17 "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." Romans 6:23a For the
wages of sin is death,
xiii

Matthew 7:13-14a "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to
destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to
life,
xiv

expiation the act of making atonement, the means by which atonement is made, Merriam-Webster.com,
2014 Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, October 8, 2014, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expiation
xv

Philippians 2:5-8 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in
the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a
bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled
Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
xvi

"Impute." to lay the responsibility or blame forto credit to a person or a cause, Merriam-Webster.com.
Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. October 8, 2014. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impute
xvii

Erickson, Millard J. (2013-08-15). Christian Theology (p. 881). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle
Edition.
xviii

"Justify." to prove or show to be just, right, or reasonable, Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web.
29 Oct. 2014. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/justify
xix

xx

Habakkuk 2:4b But the righteous will live by his faith.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him.