In 1517 Martin Luther posted his 95 thesis declaring salvation by grace through faith. Today the church desperately needs a second reformation of sanctification by grace. Christians are chained to a treadmill of trying to please God by their behavior, of trying harder and sinning less. If they can just discipline themselves enough and be determined enough, they are deceived into thinking they can become righteous and holy and be close to God and He will be pleased. Grace tells us that our relationship and intimacy with our Father in heaven is no longer dependent upon our behavior...or lack there of. Grace tells us we no longer have to strive to become righteous, because He has given us a new nature that is righteous. Grace tells us that it is the only thing powerful enough to deal with our sin. Grace tells us that God is already head-over-heels in love with us and nothing we do can change that. Welcome to "Formed by Grace."

Friday, May 28, 2010

Still describing imputed righteousness

Remember from our last post - just as I now trust in the sinless life of Christ and in the death of Christ in my place as the basis of my relationship with God...and not my behavior...so God depends on the sinless life of Christ and the death of Christ as the basis of His relationship with me...and not my behavior!

Grace is God's willingness to look at us from the perspective that sees his holy Son in our place. While we see our sin, God sees His son. As a consequence he loves and treasures us as much as if we had never sinned...as much as He does his own Son.

And so when we talk about "God imputes His righteousness to us" - this is what we mean. God thinks of Christ's righteousness as ours - and because He looks at us through Christ, He makes a declaration about us that we are righteous.

Now next - the implications of this for us are huge, but most believers do not live as if this was true.
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2 comments:

  1. NickJune 1, 2010 at 1:53 PM

    Hi,

    I'd got your email. I'd also like to comment on another issue which I don't see lining up with Scripture. I believe Christ lived a sinless life, and this was necessary for His Sacrifice to be of Value, but I don't see any evidence for Christ's perfect obedience counted as our own obedience, as if God now saw us *as if* we had been perfectly obedient.

    The only 'component' of Christ's work for salvation I see in Scripture is His Death (and Resurrection). In major justification texts, Paul says nothing of Christ's sinless obedience, only His Death (note Rom 3:23-26; Gal 2:21; 1 Cor 2:2; Eph 2:13, etc).

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  2. UnknownJune 3, 2010 at 6:02 PM

    Bill, right on! Your Reformed training is showing through, but better than that is your knowledge of God's Word. Keep at it, my friend. Our Father's love for us through His wonderful and perfect Son is boundless and so tender! And to think that even the Old Testament saints lived in this same grace though they knew not exactly how or what God would use to fulfil His promise! It makes passages like Psalm 73:21-28 come alive.
    I trust you and Sue are well as are we.
    Jack Ritsema

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