O Sweet Exchange
In the late 2nd century, an anonymous Greek apologist, wrote to a curious pagan named Diognetus, answering questions about Christianity. Questions like: What God do Christians trust? Why do they love one another? What is this new thing?
The letter's claim is that truth about God cannot be reached that way at all: "no man has seen or recognized Him, but He revealed Himself." Truth descends; it isn't deduced
This anonymous writer turned the idea of the pursuit of truth on its head, saying: truth isn't discovered; it's revealed.
And it was ultimately and finally revealed in Jesus.
Below is an updated, tweaked rendering of a section of the letter, titled “The Sweet Exchange.” The theology isn’t as tightly defined in some places as ours is today, but it’s a great explanation of the truth revealed in who Jesus is and what He did.
The Sweet Exchange
What did anyone really know of God before Jesus came? Will you accept the empty, foolish claims of the world — that God is found in the elements - earth, wind, water, fire (fire - the very thing they are headed for, they call God), Men foolishly seek God in elements that God Himself created? If any of those claims deserved belief, then any created thing could just as easily be declared a god. All of that is merely showmanship and the trickery of charlatans.
The truth is: no human being has ever seen God or figured Him out - but God has made Himself known.
And He made Himself known in Jesus - by grace through faith, which is the only way to God.
God is the Master and Maker of the universe. He made all things and set each one in its place. He showed Himself to be not only a friend to man, but is patient beyond measure. That is what He always was, always is, and always will be: He alone is good. kind, slow to anger. He is Truth.
The Father, along with the Son and the Spirit, conceived a plan too great for words.
For a time, this plan was mystery, some called it a secret, Some say He seemed to neglect or be indifferent toward us. But He foreshadowed this plan in His Word. And when He unveiled it through His beloved Son, and brought into the open, what He had prepared from the very beginning, became ours at once:
a share in His blessings,
eyes to see,
minds to understand
things not one of us would ever have dared to expect.
And how did He send Him? Was it, as someone might guess, to set up a tyranny — to inspire fear and terror? Not at all. He sent Him in gentleness and meekness, the way a king sends his son who is himself a king. He sent Him as God; He sent Him as a man to men. He sent Him to save — to persuade, not to compel, for compulsion is no attribute of God. He sent Him to call us, not to hunt us down; to love us, not to condemn us. One day He will indeed return as Judge — and who will endure His coming then?
So then, having already arranged everything together with His own Son, He allowed us, all through that earlier time, to be swept along by our unruly impulses exactly as we pleased, carried off by pleasures and desires. Not that He took any delight in our sins — He was bearing with us. Not that He approved of that season of wickedness — He was preparing for the season of righteousness.
His purpose was this: that we, convicted by our own conduct as unworthy of life, should now be counted worthy through the goodness of God; and that we, having proved beyond all doubt that we could never enter the kingdom of God on our own power, should be enabled to enter it by the power of God. Because of His work.
And when our wickedness runs its full course, and it becomes perfectly plain that all we could expect as its wages is punishment and death; and when the moment arrived that God had appointed to reveal at last His goodness and His power — oh, the surpassing kindness and love of God! — He did not hate us. He did not reject us. He held no grudge against us.
Instead He has been patient with us;
He bore with us; and in His mercy
He took our sins upon Himself.
He gave up His own Son as a ransom for us:
the Holy One for the lawless ones,
the innocent for the guilty,
the just for the unjust,
the incorruptible for the corruptible,
the immortal for the mortal.
For what else could have covered our sins but His righteousness? In whom was it even possible for lawless, godless people like us to be justified, except in the Son of God alone?
O sweet exchange! O unsearchable work of God! O blessings beyond all expectation! — that the sin of many should be hidden in one righteous Man, and that the righteousness of One should justify many sinners!
2 Corinthians 5:21 – He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Oh that we might hear His voice and be “of the truth”
Having shown us in the former time that our own nature was powerless to gain life, and having now revealed the Savior who is able to save even the powerless, God willed that for both these reasons we should trust His goodness — and look to Him as our nurse, our father, our teacher, our counselor, our physician; our mind, our light, our honor, our glory, our strength, our life, and our Savior.
I pray this edifies you as you meditate on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Here’s my 30 second answer to the question, “What is the Gospel?”
God created you to glorify Him, but because of your sin you deserve death and hell.
Jesus came as ultimate truth. He lived the perfect life you should have. Died on the cross, and rose again to bring to God all those who will hear His voice.
He took our filthy rags and gave us His righteous robe. O Sweet Exchange!
The call - the command - the only rational response to this truth is to repent of your sins, believe in Jesus and live a life of ongoing trust in the ultimate truth of who He is - and what He has done.
Grace and Peace!
Pastor Rob