“The Church simply must get deeply in touch with what the Gospel actually means in regard to how we are now to relate to God and man. Jesus invited people into a connection with Him, not a religious reform program. He showed up in the midst of our brokenness with compassion and healing, shocking everyone by how fearless He was about keeping His love on with sinners. Jesus didn’t create distance with broken people; He created connection. But this shouldn’t surprise us, because we know that His entire mission was to finally remove sin—the source of all relational disconnection—through the Cross.

“When He served as a sacrifice for our sins, [Jesus] solved the sin problem for good—not only ours, but the whole world’s (1 John 2:1-2). Other translations use the word ‘propitiation’—‘He Himself is the propitiation for our sins….’ Propitiation is the completely satisfying sacrifice that closes the gap between God and His children. Only Jesus Christ could serve as this sacrifice, and He did. He solved the problem of sin. He solved it for everyone, for good. It doesn’t matter who has or has not ‘prayed the prayer.’ Sin has been handled, and everyone has access to the Father.” —Danny Silk