Paul's Passing Thoughts

It begs the question: has the institutional church ever taught us anything at all that is true? Here we go again; have we all not heard all of our Christian lives that justification is “a legal pardon/declaration in which the Christian is declared righteous”? It is usually explained like this:

“When we believe in Jesus, it is just like we never sinned.”

Excuse me, but if you are presently a Christian, it is NOT “just like you never sinned,” you in fact have never sinned, nor will you ever sin in the future.

Huh?

We are talking about JUSTIFICATION, right? Two things happen when we are justified, or… “saved.” The law is ended/cancelled for us when we believe because Christ nailed the law and all of its condemnation to the cross. And, where there is no law, there is no sin. We are not talking about sin as God’s children that grieves the Holy Spirit who seals us until the day of redemption, we are talking about sin that would condemn us eternally.

This is where the logical jump from the ending of the law to justification is defined as a mere legal pardon. The Bible gives tacit recognition to that, kind of, but the primary definition of justification in the Bible is being made personally righteous through the new birth. God’s children are justified because they are made personally righteous. We are not just declared righteous, we are righteous. The nomenclature “duck” does not make a duck a duck, his duckness makes him a duck. Likewise, Christians are justified because they are in fact righteous.

Christians do not bear sin that is covered by God’s righteousness (often erroneously dubbed, “the righteousness of Christ”), our sin is ENDED, and God’s righteousness is infused into us via the new birth—we are literally born of God. Granted, sin still dwells in our mortal bodies, but it cannot condemn us because Christ ended the law on the cross. God now deals with us as children, because we really ARE his children and have his seed (DNA) within us. We may be chastised by God from time to time, but NOT condemned.

Christianity is not a mere mental ascent to the facts of the gospel; it is a literal following of Christ in death and resurrection. You are not “asking Jesus into your heart,” you are accepting God’s invitation to die with Christ and be resurrected with Him. The old you that was under the law literally dies, and you are born again as a literal child of God. Regardless of the fact that you are in a mortal body, you are God’s child and have His seed (σπέρμα sperma; seed of offspring) within you. The issue of the flesh’s weakness is resolved at redemption, but has nothing to do with your present righteousness.

This is why the Christian walk is so important; it testifies to the new birth. Be sure of this: truisms like, “We are all just sinners saved by grace” reveal a fundamental lack of understanding in regard to the gospel. Justification is not a covering, it is an ending of sin/condemnation and the walk of the new creature. I will close with this passage to make my final point:

1John 3:1 – See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.