September 2, 2009 THE LOGIC OF THE PLAN OF SALVATION by Cornelius R. Stam Printer Friendly Version In I Cor. 1:22 we are told that "the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom." This is doubtless why God chose Paul, with his profound intellectual background and acumen, to proclaim "Christ crucified," the "wisdom of God" as well as the "power of God" (I Cor. 1:23,24). Paul was a gifted logician as well as a theologian, and nowhere is this more evident than in his epistle to the Romans, where, by divine inspiration, he presents the logic of God's plan of salvation. Again and again, throughout the epistle, he uses that word so prominent in mathematics and in logic: "therefore." "Therefore thou art inexcusable..." (Rom. 2:1). "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight" (3:20). "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested.... Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law" (3:21,28). "Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access..." (5:1,2). "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (8:1). "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors..." (8:12). "I beseech you therefore... that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (Rom. 12:1). It is an inexorable, unchangeable law that sin results in death. But the Lord Jesus Christ, "who did no sin," took our place and "died for our sins." Thus it is also an unchangeable law that "He that hath the Son hath life." "The law of the Spirit" is "life in Christ." The moment one trusts Christ as Savior the Spirit gives him life, the life of Christ, which is everlasting -- indeed, eternal life (Rom. 8:2; I John 5:12). To the Reader: Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface: "It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles." We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.