THE GREAT EXCHANGE: MY SIN FOR HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington

A Brief Book Summary from Books At a Glance

By Benjamin Montoya

 

About the Authors

Jerry Bridges (1929–2016) served for over sixty years on the staff of the Navigators. He authored fifteen books and five devotionals, including The Pursuit of Holiness, which has sold over a million copies.
Bob Bevington (OD, Ohio State University) served as an optometrist for two decades while simultaneously cofounding several entrepreneurial start-up companies, including a LASIK provider with eighteen locations. He is a writer, editor, and the coauthor (with Jerry Bridges) of Bookends of the Christian Life.

 

Introduction

The biggest problem in this world is not who is the White House, world hunger, or anything else that may come to mind. Rather, the biggest problem is sin. Sin is a failure to live up to God’s rigorous standard of God’s holy law. Sin is essentially rebellion against God. The only answer to that problem is the gospel. The gospel is that message that all Scripture points to and proclaims. Recall what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:3, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.” Christ’s death for our sins entails at least two important theological topics—substitution and sacrifice. Christ took our place as a substitute. So also, when He took our place, He sacrificed himself for our sins. OT scriptures point to this reality clearly in Isaiah 53:4–6 and Leviticus 16. The larger reason Christ died was so that we could become the new creation in the image of Christ (2 Cor 5:17). Christ died to bring atonement for sin. Atonement refers to the “satisfactory compensation made for an offense or injury, in which a price is paid on behalf of the offending party, resulting in their discharge from the obligation to the due.” In the biblical context, God is the offended party, the offense is sin, the offending party consists of sinners, the penalty is the full force of God’s eternal wrath, and the price paid is the atoning death of Christ. The goal of this book will be to explain Christ’s work on the cross more fully.

 

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction

Part One: Christ’s Atonement: Overview and Context

Chapter 1 The Unique Qualifications of the Apostles
Chapter 2 Christ’s Atonement: The Apostles’ Summary
Chapter 3 Atonement Foreshadowed: The Old Testament Sacrifices
Chapter 4 Atonement Expected: The Old Testament Prophecies

Part Two: The Apostle-authored Scripture on Christ’s Atonement

Chapter 5 The Acts of the Apostles
Chapter 6 The Epistles of Paul on “the Righteousness of God”
Chapter 7 Romans
Chapter 8 1 Corinthians
Chapter 9 2 Corinthians
Chapter 10 Galatians
Chapter 11 Ephesians
Chapter 12 Philippians
Chapter 13 Colossians
Chapter 14 1 and 2 Thessalonians
Chapter 15 1 and 2 Timothy
Chapter 16 Titus
Chapter 17 Hebrews
Chapter 18 1 Peter
Chapter 19 1 John
Chapter 20 Revelation
Conclusion
Appendix An Outline of the Doctrine of the Atonement

 

Part One: Christ’s Atonement: Overview and Context

Chapter 1: The Unique Qualifications of the Apostles

The Apostles are those people that Christ himself specifically called to that ministry. The word “apostle” refers to those who are representatives who have the full authority of the sender. We should listen to the apostles for several reasons. First, they are eyewitnesses of all that Christ did in his earthly ministry. They say the atoning events and received personal instruction from the Lord in the Scriptures. These events were prophesized in the OT, and the apostles saw the fulfillment. Second, they were supernaturally empowered by the Holy Spirit. Recall that Christ explained in John 14:26, ““But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” The Holy Spirit helped them remember and understand what Christ said and accomplished among them. Third, they had a unique and personal commissioning by the Lord. Because of their commissioning, their words are authoritative based on the authority of Christ himself. Thus, their writings in the NT are authoritative. Thus, their testimony is reliable. Therefore, if we want to understand what Christ accomplished in his great atonement, we need to look at the reliable, important, and authoritative teachings of Christ and about Him in the NT.

 

Chapter 2: Christ’s Atonement: The Apostles’ Summary

The apostles have much to say about who Christ is and what He accomplished with the atonement. Each of these truths will be listed and explained here briefly because they serve as the content for the rest of the book. First, Christ is fully God and fully man. This truth undergirds Christ’s ability to provide the atonement. To make atonement, He had to be perfect. To be perfect, He had to be God himself. But, because man sinned, man must bear the penalty of sin. Thus, Christ had to be both God and man. Christ is the representative head of the redeemed who become united to him through faith and, thus, receive His righteousness, justification, redemption, etc.

Second, Christ’s atonement has legal aspects. God is the judge and his judicial actions reflect his holiness and perfection. To satisfy the judge, Christ died for our sins. At the cross, He achieved the forgiveness that was necessary; He satisfied the legal demands. The legal demands were not a mere paper debt. Rather, it was a violation against God the Father himself. But, Christ extinguished God’s wrath for believing sinners on the cross.

Third, the cross is presented as the perfect place for curse bearing. Many people like to wear crosses as jewelry; yet, in the NT, that idea would be horrific because the cross was. . .

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