Note: You can find this in a printable PDF on the Free Resources page of this blog. For further reading on this subject I recommend The Green Letters “Chapter 12: The Cross” by Miles Stanford.
Substitution
- Christ died for our sins as our Substitute.
He died in our place for our sins. - Christ endured the punishment we deserve for our sin.
- This dealt with the penalty for our sins. We are delivered from the penalty for our sins because Christ already paid this penalty in full.
- By faith we stand on this truth to be justified. We are declared right with God through trusting in Christ as our Substitute.
- Isaiah 53:5-6; John 19:30; 1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21
Identification
- When Christ died on the cross, we died to sin with Him.
- This deals with the power of sin in our lives.
- By faith we continue to stand in this truth to be delivered from enslavement to sin day-by-day.
- We are dead to sin in our position. Now by faith we must stand in this reality to experience deliverance in our daily lives.
- It is as we reckon this to be true that we will present ourselves to God as those who have died to sin and are now alive in Christ.
- Romans 6:6, 11, 12-14; Galatians 2:20
Appropriated by Faith
Both aspects are appropriated by faith. We appropriate Christ’s substitution for our justification by a one-time act of faith. We experience daily deliverance from sin’s power as we continually appropriate by faith the truth that we are dead to sin through Christ’s death. The first is a one-time event. The second is to be daily appropriated by faith. Both are true in position, but identification only bears fruit in our daily lives as we continually appropriate this reality by faith.
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