Just a few things I wish to share that relate to the exchanges of thoughts here.
What did the angel announce to Joseph as the reason he should call Mary’s son “Jesus” (Saviour)? Was it that Jesus would save his people from hell? Or that he would save his people from their sins? Clearly the latter. And there is a great difference between the two. I say this because I once thought to be saved from sin was tantamount to being saved from hell. But now I believe it to mean being saved from sinning.
What is the purpose of Christ’s death for us? Years ago, I searched the New Testament for the answer, and this is what I found ( have underlined the part that gives the purpose):
*I Peter 2:24 He himself endured our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
II Corinthians 5:15 And he died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
Romans 14:9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
Titus 2:14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.
Heb 9:26 …he has appeared once for all at the end of the age for the abolition of sin by the sacrifice of himself.*
So Christ died to deliver us from sin and purify us. He died so that we might die to sin and live righteously. He died so that He might be the Lord of our lives. He died that we might live for HIM (and no longer for ourselves). He died to eliminate sin from the universe!
Nowhere could I find that He died to save us from hell. Though I did find that being made righteous by his blood, much more shall we be saved by Christ from the wrath of God (Rom 5:9). So I see being saved from sin itself as the basic reason for Christ’s death, and being saved from God’s wrath is a happy consequence of being saved from sin.
However, I am not sure that any of us will entirely escape post-mortem judgment. Jesus said that EVERYONE will be salted with fire (Mark 9:49). Both salt and fire are purifying agents.
Here is an excerpt from George MacDonald’s essay, “Salvation from Sin”:
MacDonald also wrote the following in the same article: