Many people fight the idea that we are all sinners. Romans 6:23 states that the wages of sin is death. Just from the simple fact that we all end up dying, we can determine that indeed we are all sinners in need of a Saviour.

When we look at the law of God—the principles of right living as outlined in the Bible—we can see that we certainly have broken the law. All of us have, at some time or another, lied or stolen something that wasn’t ours to take, or wished we could have something that we didn’t. Many of us have killed—both literally and with our words.

No one is exempt from breaking the law. The word “law” can sometimes get people angry, but the law is just a standard of behavior and attitudes that, if followed, would make Earth a heaven to live on.

But all of us know that this planet is far from a heaven. So many commit suicide because they just can’t bear the world and its problems any more. Death, however gruesome, is still, in their minds, an easier and better solution than facing the problems in their lives.

If more people turned their lives over to the control of God, and followed His principles, there would be much less pain and sorrow. However, that is not the case. We are indeed a dying human race that desperately needs a solution and a purpose.

The principle of sin leading to death is so firmly entrenched in the Bible and God’s Kingdom that God Himself could not change it for us after Adam and Eve sinned. If God could overlook the sin problem in us, how could He expect order and harmony in heaven? So, He devised a rescue mission, which is laid out in the Bible. Paul, one of the apostles of Jesus, spent his whole life communicating this rescue mission, known as the Gospel or good news, to the people in Europe and the Middle East.

In Pauls’ writings, we find a key phrase that turns up throughout all his letters. That phrase is “in Christ” or “in Christ Jesus.” Similar phrases such as “in Him,” “together with Him,” “in the Beloved,” “in Whom” all express the same idea. If we do not understand what the Bible means by this expression, we will never be able to fully understand the good news of the Gospel.

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians tells us that God devised this plan for us before He even made the world. This was His contingency plan. Because death spread to all humankind, since we are all offspring of Adam, God had to devise a plan where we could all be saved “in Christ.”

The Father took the human race and corporately united it to His Son. But first Christ had to qualify to be our representative and Saviour by consenting to be made human.

God the Father united the life of His Son to our humanity in the womb of Mary. That is why Jesus is called the second or last Adam. Only by consenting to be made human could Jesus truly represent us. And when He died, His deeds of righteousness became our deeds of righteousness, and as a result we are legally redeemed.

The Bible tells us that all who are “in Christ” will live. Just as all die because all have sinned “in Adam,” so also all have obeyed “in Christ” and stand justified to life in Him. By His perfect life and sacrificial death, He satisfied all the demands of the law on our behalf. In Christ, humanity has a new history that qualifies every believer for heaven.

Many people believe salvation is just the forgiveness of sin. It’s as though our sins are written on a blackboard and that, when Jesus died, He was like an eraser that erases all of our sins. But this is not what the Bible teaches!

Yes, our sins are written on a blackboard and Jesus is like an eraser, but that is not the whole story. Our slate does not remain empty! All of the good and holy and righteous deeds that Christ ever did are now transferred to us and are now written on our blackboard. This is the incredible good news of the Gospel.

The important thing to remember, however, is that what God has brought to the whole human race by Christ’s obedience is a free gift and it cannot be ours unless we accept it.

The moment we believe that God has done this for us, and accept it for us, we become included “in Christ” and have all the privileges that comes with being in Christ. The moment you accept Christ as your Saviour and you trust only in Him for your salvation, God looks at you as accepted in the Beloved. It’s as though once we’re born, we received a special birthday present from God. It’s up to us when we will open that gift and receive what He has given us. We have two options with this free gift from God: accept it or reject it.

The Bible assures us that God will make us holy, unblameable, and unreproveable if we choose to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Though we may be sinners, in God’s eyes we are now considered prefect, blameless, and without fault. This gives us peace with God and allows us to stop worrying about our salvation. If we believe in Jesus, we become sons and daughters of God. As we continue to move forward in this belief, God will change us into people fit for heaven.

God looks on everyone who believes in Jesus Christ as His child. If you believe in His name, you have already received eternal life even though you may not feel it or think you deserve it. When President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, it legally freed all slaves. Yet ten years later, there were still some slaves working on plantations. Why? Because they did not believe the good news, so to them, they were not freed.