Bible Word of the Day
Efficacy (Effectiveness of God’s Grace and His Word)
Meaning
The word “efficacy” as it relates to Christian doctrine speaks of two things. One it speaks about the effectiveness of God’s grace, which is Jesus sacrifice for us at the Cross of Calvary. And two, it speaks about the effectiveness of the word of God. The Bible tells us that God spoke creation into existence. Jesus Himself is called the “Word of God” in the opening lines of John’s Gospel. Moreover the Bible tells us in the book of Isaiah about God’s word, “My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
And Martin Luther commented on God’s word “What appears to be more meaningless than a word? And yet when God speaks a word, the thing expressed by the word immediately leaps into existence.” And Reformed theology tells us that Christ’s atonement was efficacious. In other words, it effectively produced the result of forgiveness of sins for the elect. Jesus atonement for us was effective in every way and for all sins, past, present and future. The word used is “propitiation” and it’s found in the books of first John and Romans. The word means that the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, fully and completely paid God’s price for the punishment of “All” our sins, past, present and future. There is nothing any person can do to add to the work of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary. Moreover, there are no works any person can perform that can achieve the salvation which we have through Christ.
“So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Book of Isaiah 55:11)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (Gospel of John 1:1-3)
“He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (Book of First John 2:1)
“And are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former.” (Book of Romans 3:24-25)