The Cross as the Fulfillment of God’s Redemptive Plan

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The apostle Paul presents the cross of Christ as the definitive and intentional fulfillment of Jehovah’s redemptive plan. Paul never teaches that the cross was an unforeseen tragedy or a response to human failure. Rather, it was determined as the central part of Jehovah’s purpose to redeem mankind. This was accomplished through God’s foreknowledge and His foreordination of events and groups, not individual predestining of persons to salvation or condemnation without regard to free will.

In Ephesians 1:4-5, Paul writes, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he foreordained us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” The word foreordained (Greek proorizō) means to determine beforehand, decide ahead of time, or set a boundary. However, as understood by proper biblical exegesis and supported by Molinism, God’s foreordination works in harmony with His foreknowledge, which never negates human free will. Jehovah does not individually fix every person’s eternal destiny from eternity past. Instead, He knew from before creation which persons would freely choose to respond to His gracious offer of salvation through Jesus Christ and He incorporated those free choices into His plan.

Jehovah’s knowledge of all future possibilities (natural knowledge), His knowledge of what any free creature would do in any given situation (middle knowledge), and His knowledge of what will occur in the actual world that He chose to create (free knowledge) enables Him to set into motion His plan of salvation without violating man’s responsibility or freedom of choice. As Isaiah 46:10 says, Jehovah declares “the end from the beginning” yet does so in full harmony with free will.

The cross, then, stands at the center of this redemptive purpose. In Romans 1:2-3 Paul writes that the gospel “which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son,” shows that the coming of the Messiah to die for sin was not an unforeseen accident but was the fulfillment of Jehovah’s promises throughout Israel’s history.

The sacrificial death of Christ was also prophesied in Isaiah 53, where the suffering Servant is described as being “pierced for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities.” Though Paul does not cite Isaiah 53 directly, the reality of substitutionary atonement permeates his teaching, most notably in 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.” The Messiah was not compelled by fatalistic determinism, nor were His followers trapped by predestined inevitability. Rather, Jesus willingly gave Himself over to death (John 10:17-18), and Jehovah, knowing what free decisions would be made, set forth His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for sin.

Paul repeatedly shows that the Law could never bring salvation. In Romans 8:3 he writes, “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.” The Law exposed sin but never had the power to redeem from its penalty. The cross brought about what the Law anticipated but could not accomplish: the full and final payment for sin.

Further, the Abrahamic covenant is fulfilled in Christ. Paul states in Galatians 3:14, “so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” The promise to Abraham that “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3) finds its ultimate fulfillment in the gospel going to both Jews and Gentiles through Christ’s atonement.

The cross also serves as the instrument of reconciliation. Colossians 1:19-20 states, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross.” Through the cross, believers are brought into peaceful fellowship with Jehovah without the violation of their free choice to respond or reject His invitation.

Paul also shows that the effects of the cross extend to the restoration of creation itself. In Romans 8:21-22 Paul describes creation’s future release from the bondage of corruption. Jehovah’s purpose, known from eternity past, is not only to redeem individual believers but also to bring all creation into harmony with His will under the reign of Christ.

Paul speaks of the cross as the point where Jehovah’s “eternal purpose” was accomplished. In Ephesians 3:11-12, he writes, “This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in him.” The cross was the climax of that purpose, not through an arbitrary divine decree of individual fates but by foreknowing and incorporating the free responses of human beings.

The Scriptures give abundant warnings of the believer’s continued obligation to remain faithful (Matthew 24:13; Hebrews 10:26-27; 2 Peter 2:20-21). Paul knew that salvation could be forfeited through willful rejection and apostasy (Hebrews 6:4-6). Paul’s teaching stands in full alignment with Jesus’ warning that only “the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13).

The cross of Christ stands as the final and unalterable act in Jehovah’s redemptive plan: prepared before the foundation of the world in view of divine foreknowledge, carried out in time according to Jehovah’s purpose, and dependent on the free, voluntary response of those who accept or reject His provision of grace. The cross secures all that the Law and the prophets pointed to and fulfills every promise of reconciliation and life offered through the Messiah.

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About the Author

EDWARD D. ANDREWS (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. He has authored over 220+ books. In addition, Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV).