The Big Picture

Not my righteousness, but God’s righteousness

Rom 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (17) For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Verse 16 is a well-known verse, but verse 17 contains a very important statement which tells us that within the gospel, God’s righteousness is made manifest.

The righteousness of God without the law has been made known, Rom 3:21. So, this is not a question of your righteousness, it's a question of God's righteous. The gospel tells us that God freely justifies the one who believes in Jesus, because, without this grace of God, there is NOTHING that we can do to save ourselves. If it was up to us, God could not justify us, because we're guilty in his sight!! So, now it's up to God, and the question is, will God justify ungodly men?

QUESTION:

Paul contradicts himself saying even dead in sin your saved by grace then he says after knowing the truth if you sin there is no longer a sacrifice for sin. Why can't Bible thumpers see Paul's lies?

ANSWER:

You draw attention to this supposed contradiction because you appear to be unaware of rightly dividing the Word of truth. There are two parts to God’s redemption plan. Prophetic (Israel’s doctrine) and Mystery (Paul’s doctrine). These two parts (doctrines) are unique and distinct, and they cannot be merged (or blended) together, as you clearly are doing in your question. On the other hand, if you keep the two doctrines apart, everything falls into place.

BLOG COMMENT: Look to Jesus

It helps when we look to Jesus Christ daily to help us lay aside every weight (provision for the flesh) as well as the sin in walking in the light in fellowship with the Father & the Son. Especially in our thoughts, we need to lean on Him to stop the wicked thoughts and stop playing with desires in our minds to think on good things.

RESPONSE:

Thanks for your informed comment and its advice. I do want to react on a specific phrase in your comment which I believe is important to understand in the context of ‘looking to Jesus daily’.

Your comment says, “when we look to Jesus Christ daily…”

How do we ‘look to Jesus’? This phrase typically means that we follow or imitate Christ according to what He has taught us in scripture. In other words, we don’t look to Jesus by following traditions or ordinances, nor by being molded to a specific church creed or identity. No. We look to Jesus by looking into His Word. The only way we can grow in Him, learn of Him, and become like Him, is to study His Word and allow it to change our mind and our actions in accord to obedience to it.

God’s greatest desires for us

If one removes all preconceived notions of Christianity, all religious traditions, all ordinances, and all rituals, the essence of one's faith would be reduced to what God truly desires from us; to believe in Him, and to learn of Him. How can we know this? Well, the Word of God tells us,

1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

The bare essential of this scripture is like two other passages where God reveals the simplicity of His love and desire for us.

In Isa 1:11-14, God expresses that He is not interested in sacrifices of animals or blood offerings. He questions why the people feel the need to worship Him in this way and states that these ceremonies hold no meaning for Him. Additionally, God expresses His dislike for assemblies, festivals, and holidays, finding them burdensome and tiresome. All God wanted is the hearts of His people to believe in Him, turn from their evil ways, find His heart, and love Him.

Doctrine of the Mysteries #26

The results and reward of the Judgement Seat of Christ

In the previous article we learned about the Judgement Seat of Christ and what we will be judged for. In this article, I’d like to draw attention to what the results of this judgement is and its subsequent reward.

Let us understand again that this judgement, for members of the Body of Christ, is not for sins or damnation, since our sins have already been judged at the cross of Christ, and through imputation of Christ’s righteousness, we stand justified and completely atoned before God, Rom 5.

Thus, the judgement we will face is to determine the degree of responsibility and commission we will be given, based on our knowledge and understanding of our Father’s will and purpose in the ages to come. The accompanying reward is a measure of the glory and authority of Christ that one will hold in the ranks and positions of the hierarchy of heaven.

To relate to this more easily, let’s apply an analogy concerning a father [re: God], who is a carpenter, and his son [re: you], who is being groomed to inherit the father’s carpentry business [re: heavenly reward].

Doctrine of the Mysteries #25

Every man's work shall be made manifest:

1Co 3:11-13 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (12) Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; (13) Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

Many of us believe that our good works in this life will determine how we are judged when we stand before Christ's judgment seat. This is not true! What you did in this life has little bearing on that day. It's all related to what you know. The knowledge of Christ within you is what's represented by the gold, silver, and precious stones. In essence, it's a judgment of your understanding of Paul's doctrine and your development within it. It is the degree to which the wisdom and knowledge you have gained from studying His Word has formed Christ in you, Pro 24:3-5.

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Not my righteousness, but God’s righteousness

Not my righteousness, but God’s righteousness