Mankind was created sinless by God in his image (Gen 1) but fell into sin and rebelled against God (Gen 3). Sin infects everyone and separates us from God (Rom 3:23), leaving us completely unable to earn merit in God’s sight by good works of our own (Gal 2:16). Jesus Christ, the son of God who is both fully God (John 1:1-3) and fully human (Phil 2:7), lived a perfectly righteous life (Heb 4:15) and then died on the cross as our substitute, bearing our sin (1 Pet 2:24) and the divine wrath of God against our sin (Isa 53:5-6). The death of Jesus on the cross is the ultimate display of both the love of God (John 3:16) and his terrifying wrath against sin (Rom 5:8-9). Jesus rose from the dead three days later, validating his sacrifice (Rom 1:4). We must be “born again” to appropriate the sacrifice of Christ and enter the kingdom of Heaven (John 3:3). Salvation is impossible outside of Christ (John 14:6). The new birth happens when we repent of our sin which represents a change of mind leading to a change of heart (Luke 13:5), and place our faith (i.e., trust) in Jesus (Rom 5:1)—at that moment we are justified in God’s sight with all our sin (past, present and future) forgiven (1 John 2:2). At the same time, the perfect righteousness of Christ is credited to us from God’s perspective (Gal 2:16). The event of justification breaks the back of sin in our life and results in a new creation (2 Cor 5:17) as the Holy Spirit indwells us (1 Cor 12:13) with God’s seal of salvation (Eph 1:13-14). Justification marks the beginning of the life-long process of sanctification wherein the indwelling Holy Spirit conforms to the character of Christ (2 Thess 2:13). Death is referred to as an enemy, the last enemy to be destroyed (1 Cor 15:26). Unlike the death of an unbeliever, the death of a Christian marks his/her final victory with an immediate translation into the very presence of God and eternal joy (2 Cor 5:1) to await final bodily resurrection to eternal glory (1 Cor 15:42-43).