Christians Bottleneck their Growth due to Misunderstanding Grace and Justification

Christians Bottleneck their Growth due to Misunderstanding Grace and Justification

A lot of my articles have had their basis in the book of Romans lately. It springs from a renewed observation of a widespread lack of spiritual understanding that many Christians have today. The absence of effectual teaching in the modern denominational churches have caused Christians to stumble and fall in the most fundamental, and critical concepts of the Christian faith. Lacking these basic concepts have caused stunted growth towards spiritual maturity, and unity in the faith, that Paul defines in his writings. It is my humble opinion that Christians need an urgent and in-depth review of the book of Romans in order to regain a solid understanding of its core principles and spiritual value.

The book of Romans can be divided into four primary pillars of truth. God's righteousness, in chapters 1-3. God's grace, in chapters 4-8, God's dispensational wisdom, in chapters 9-11, and God's mercies over our Christian living, in chapters 12-16. Understanding these four pillars, in their proper order, and context, is critical to our faith and spiritual maturity. Consider the effects on the growth and maturity of a Christian if we review the order of these pillars in reverse. A believer's faith, identity, and stability in living (aka, the fourth pillar), is negatively affected if they do not have a grounding in dispensational truth. Dispensational truth, (aka, the third pillar), cannot be appreciated without a firm knowledge of God's grace, and purpose, for both Israel and the Gentiles. God's absolute grace (aka, the second pillar), is barely possible to comprehend if one has a good understanding of God's righteousness, but since most of the Christian world do not even grasp the fact that they are hopelessly lost in their sins, the meaning of God's righteousness, (aka, the first pillar), is so diluted from truth, that the grace of God is replaced by a skewed understanding of self-worth, and a detestable notion that they can somehow earn, or work for, or trade with God, for their justification.

It is interesting to note that if one carefully considers these four pillars in their sequential order, there is a clear bottleneck in spiritual growth, due to the failure of understanding God's grace and the concept of justification. In chapters 4-8, Paul writes some of the most significant, and valued literature on the face of this planet. By God's grace, and through the life and work of Jesus Christ, guilty men have been offered the gift of justification. Consider this; a righteous God has made a way to declare guilty men innocent while still retaining His own righteousness. Who has even heard of such wisdom and love! The way God did this was to sacrifice His own Son, and then impute the righteousness of Christ freely and without constraints upon those guilty individuals who would choose to believe in Christ and receive God's incomprehensible gift of grace.

Now, stop right here! These few chapters of Romans, specifically chapters 5-8, are the most misunderstood, misinterpreted, mistaught, and misused scriptures in all of the Bible. Right here is the point of confusion and the cause of such stunted growth in Christianity. Remember, these pillars are connected. If one does not understand God's righteousness, which underscores God's grace, the other pillars in Romans, which deal directly with our doctrine and living, get adversely affected too. A lack of the foundational understanding of grace, and justification, has weakened the faith of many Christians and is the cause of much of the false teaching that has permeated the hearts of believers. 

So, what is so important about God's grace, and how has it caused Christians to end up with a false doctrine and an immature faith? Let me end this post with some factual points and also provide some recommended links to further expound on this topic.

A few summary points on grace, and what we should know about it

The moment you believe in Jesus, and are 'saved', God sees you as crucified with Christ! God’s grace puts you on the cross with Christ. Paul writes the following in Galatians,

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

This is the GRACE of God! How can our minds ever comprehend this? It is absolutely crucial to know that the work to justify you is God's work! You have 0% part in the work of justification. You qualify for justification by choosing to believe in Christ, thereafter, you simply trust God.

It is interesting to note that the whole of Romans 6 is about "knowing things". Justification is settled within you when you come to the knowledge of the truth. The Word generates the faith necessary to believe in what God says and to quit trying to add your own works or efforts to justification. Yet, this is exatly what the majority of Christians do, due to not knowing the truth. Notice what Paul stresses in Romans 6,

• Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 
• Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 
• Rom 6:9  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 
• Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
• Rom 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death (unfruitful), or of obedience unto righteousness?

We need God's grace drilled into us. We need proper teaching and instruction that will renew the mind and to cause us to see ourselves as God sees us – in GRACE.

The moment we are justified, we are placed under a completely new administration. We were born into the administration of Adam, in which sin and death were imputed to us. However, at salvation, we are placed under a new federal head, Jesus Christ, and at that moment, we inherit righteousness and life through Him. Again, this is automatically yours. There is no need to work for it or earn it in any way. If you look at Gal.2:21, Paul writes that any effort you attempt, to earn justification, simply causes frustration on the grace of God. 

What is it to FRUSTRATE the grace of God? It is to ignore the work of God on your behalf and to make the cross of Christ of no effect (Gal.5:4). Can you, as a Christian, even conceive of doing this? Well, it is something that you end up doing the moment you ignore this truth and continue to live in the flesh (like the Corinthians*), or when you strive, even if by good intentions, to set out laws for yourself to help you be a better Christian, and to try to please God by your own strength, (like the Galatians*).

I'll end with a few verses that illustrate how both these churches failed in their attempts to live a "Christian life" by grace. In both cases, Paul had to reprimand them by correction and reproof after they both departed from the foundational truths laid down by Paul in previous visits. The letters were to bring both these church bodies back to the grace of God through the principles provided in Romans chapters 5-8. It is only by returning to this second foundational pillar of truth that Christians today will be able to begin to mature in their spiritual walk. At this stage of the Christian walk, there is very little to do. The absolute key to living at this point is not in action or doing, but in learning. Knowing where they stand according to the grace of God, and then moving on to a good dispensational knowledge of the Word, growing in that knowledge, and then applying it to their lives, will bring them to a measure of maturity and provide them a solid foundation to push on to the meat of Ephesians and Paul's other prison epistles.

CORINTHIANS*

• 1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 
• 1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 
• 1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 

GALATIANS*

• Gal_2:16  Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
• Gal 3:1  O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2  This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?3  Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? 
• Gal_5:4  Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
  
  

Recommended links for deeper insights into justification and grace:

• The issue of sin is settled once and for all for the believer in Christ (thebigpicturelink.blogspot.com)
• The Debate on Eternal Security (thebigpicturelink.blogspot.com)
• Isn't justification just an excuse to ignore our commitment to Christian morality? (thebigpicturelink.blogspot.com)
• Are persons who are justified unable to sin and so the matter of sin is settled? (thebigpictureask.blogspot.com)
• We are to keep God's commandments. Why don’t we? (thebigpictureask.blogspot.com)
• One of the greatest passages of literature ever written (thebigpicturelink.blogspot.com)