Hey there! It’s great to have you here. It has indeed been a while since I wrote and shared my reflections here.
Maybe it’s the spirit of the new year, or just a desire to return back to something I genuinely love to do, but here we are, back at it with a brand new running series.
I love to do these types of efforts on my blog. They are not only immersive and a joy to share; through them, I am able to shine a light on my own need of the Saviour as I research, digest, write, edit and publish them.
Why This Series?
With this blog, I usually aim to share my reflections drawn from my Christian walk. These reflections show me my inescapable weakness, and some practical ways to help me hold on tighter to Jesus.
I did a random, stand-alone post on envy a while back. While I was researching and writing it, the thought just popped into my head, “make a running series for the other ‘deadly sins’.” I parked the idea to stew and develop further, and I feel now would be a good time to flesh it out because we all have struggled with envy, pride and even lust in more than one point in life. My hope is that they will serve you as they have for me; point us all back to Jesus.
And the running title? To deny the existence of our own shadows is to deny what makes us human. Shadows can hide a lot, or make something seem different from what it actually is. Through shining the light of Scripture into these shadows of our sinful selves can we see ourselves as we truly are, and all we can be if we let in the light that is Christ.
So, buckle up and let’s take a look from the outside in, and the inside out.
Origin of the List
What are the seven deadly sins? They are classified according to Roman Catholic tradition to be the chief sins from which all other sins flow.
In the late fourth century, a monk named Evagrius Ponticus (died 399) wrote a handbook of sorts, called Praktikos, and with it, his aim was to help like-minded monks to practice the ways of piety. The work contained a list of the “wicked thoughts” that cause man to fall away from their perfect union with God. The list was originally in this order:
Gluttony
Lust
Avarice
Sorrow
Wrath
Sloth
Vainglory
Pride
This list was most probably used for the next 200 or so years, until Pope Gregory the Great saw similarity between two sets of these sins: vainglory and pride, sloth and sorrow. He took it upon himself to trim the list, collapsing vainglory into pride, sorrow into sloth and adding envy in his commentary on Job and the problem of evil.
The ranking of the list was as follows:
Pride
Envy
Wrath
Sloth
Avarice/Greed
Gluttony
Lust
The Ranking Explained
A glance at the list shows the sins to be listed in order of most severity.
This is the Catholic perspective of mortal sins (a deliberate turning away from God and embracing something else in place) and venial sins (sins committed that do not completely sever one’s communion with God, usually seen as slight and may lead to mortal sin if unattended to).
One’s view of this list, however, is totally upon them, as sin is undeniably sin if not confessed and turned away from. Some may consider greed to be the ultimate, while others see envy as the source of all the wrongs seen in this life.
In this series, I will not follow a particular order, but rather hope to show us how each of these sins are very present in us all, and what we can do to avoid them from taking a hold in our lives, damaging our relationship with God and with those around us.
Below are some websites I used while researching for this article.
Here we are, the last section of our journey. It is my hope and prayer that you have enjoyed the ride almost as much as I have. I started in October, hoping to have finished by end of November, but it seems I had a lot more to learn and a lot more to surrender to God before I could do every post. Maybe after this post, I’ll do a behind the scenes and breakdown of what more I have learnt, but all in good time.
When I started the Solae, as I do with all other series I have done on this blog, I pray it be for God’s glory. Surprising now I have to do an article on what that is, the glory of God alone. If you’re like me, the glory of God is usually a phrase we hear, sing and speak about, but seldom give much thought to. What is it? Why do we ascribe everything to the glory of God? How do we glorify God? These questions and more begin to rise up once we give them the due attention they deserve, and rightly so.
The word that has been recurring in this series is alone; five things that alone are the pillars on which the doctrine of salvation stands. We are saved from our sinful, dead state and our position as legally guilty before God, and now continually being cleansed of our sinfulness, having been made alive by God to seek Him, and pronounced righteous before Him.
All this came to be through the work of Jesus Christ alone, no other person could have so perfectly obeyed God, and by Him taking our place on the cross, bearing the punishment meant for us, we are justified (having His righteousness covering us), made alive from sin, and effectively being indwelt of the Holy Spirit who constantly makes our consciences desire to please God in all we do, say or think.
If to summarise everything we have gone through, we are justified before God by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ’s atoning work alone for the glory of God alone as authoritatively taught through Scripture alone. In this final article, we will look at how all these tie up to the overarching glory of God.
The glory of God alone, overarching and supreme over all
What is the glory of God? John Piper defines it as, the radiance of His intrinsic worth, beauty and greatness of all His manifold perfections. Let’s try to demystify that. In Isaiah’s vision (Isaiah 6), the angels cry out,
Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.
Isaiah 6:3b, ESV
Before we dive into how holiness and glory relate, let us ask ourselves, what is God’s holiness? When we say God is holy, it means He is set apart from all other created things; His love is unlike any other, it is a holy (separate, God-unique) love. His majesty is holy; His justice is holy. Everything Scripture says to be true about God are what are known as His attributes, His holy attributes. If we were to describe God as a diamond, His attributes would be the facets of the diamond; each individual facet shines forth with holiness, and the brilliance with which all facets collectively shine is His glory. This might be a very weak example, but I hope it somewhat gives a perspective of what God glory is.
If we closely look at all God does, it is with the aim of displaying His beauty and greatness; His glory. A song I love, Creation Sings the Father’s Song, has this line saying, His fingerprints in flakes of snow. Psalm 19:1 says that the heavens tell of God’s glory. Have a look at the stars at night, the phases of the moon, the dramatic sunsets and cries of birds in the morning; all these are testament to His greatness. His glory is also shown in our own redemption (Romans 15:9); the manner with which He wrestles with a sinner’s heart and reveals the worth of Himself to the simple is beautiful. Yet, all these things are inended to give man the most basic idea of God’s grandeur and majesty. If He can create all we see and all that will ever be down to their molecular levels, just how powerful and awesome is He?
So, this points us back to Soli Deo Gloria as a tenet of salvation. How does the glory of God fit into the work that leads to our salvation? For starters, it gives us a hint of His supremacy, His greatness and His holiness above all that ever was and will be. In light of this majesty, we then begin to see the extent of our own inadequacy and depravity. Think of it as walking on a dark, muddy road toward a friend shining a light at the end of it; the closer you get to the light, the more you see the filth with which you are covered. The natural reaction would be to turn away so as to hide the mess you are from whoever will see you, and more so, to hide the fact that you are dirty from yourself. However, we see God’s holy love displayed through Christ in whom we have our sins washed away, and our minds renewed and progressively conformed to His desires and will. In turn, we delight to do what His desires are and find joy in seeking Him through His word.
And that is what He has intended, dear one, that through salvation we may be reunited to Him to enjoy being in His presence and under His love, as it was in the Garden of Eden before the fall. The Psalmist says,
You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fulness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forever more.
Psalm 16:11, ESV
God is glorified, that is (as we have inferred), beautified, when those who see His worth and greatness delight and find their source of joy in it. And as we are continually sanctified, we look forward to the day when we too shall become glorified, taking up new bodies that are incorruptible and as intended to be before the effects of sin. That shall be the day when we will fully be satisfied in God, and He will be most fully beautified (glorified) in us.
Why then should we glorify God? It will naturally flow from all we have seen this far. All the other solae are from Him, through Him and to Him. There was and is nothing at all, even if given the opportunity, we could do for ourselves to save us from the wrath of God intended for us; from initiation to execution of salvation, it all was Him and Him alone.
Our response, then? We see our own depravity and corruption, and as much as it grieves us, it shows us that it is only God who can help us, and as such, prompts us to live a life of morality where we, guided by the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures, carry it out with a keen awareness of accountability to God alone. Our words, our deeds, our thoughts; all are held under the microscope of, how can I daily show the beauty and greatness of God?
My friend Ngome often says, be the walking version of a Bible (or the Gospel) to the non-believer. Show the wonder of God in your life that has been made new by the work of Jesus Christ alone, and not to attribute it to what you are able to do now, but what God has thus far enabled you to do it. This is how we live out Soli Deo Gloria.
The Reformers did much to make known these truths, some even dying for what they knew to be true as taught from Scripture. I must admit, at times I wish it could be as what the Catholic church was fighting against, and still fights against today; to attribute part of the work of salvation to human effort and tradition. It would make salvation feel deserved and rightly won, and easy to attain, right? Pray a prayer, do some rituals, and eventually you will outweigh the bad you’ve done and be granted access back to God’s presence. So easy, and so satisfying to the ego.
However, if I look at the depth of my wretchedness, oh, how I am torn apart! And it suddenly becomes blindingly clear that there is nothing that can wholly and fully cleanse me rather than the blood of Jesus; everything I do is coloured by sinful and selfish pride, a desire to be better than my neighbour and eventually God Himself. That couldn’t save me no matter how many times I would try it.
So I look to Christ. Who else lived perfectly, no sinful ulterior motives in everything He did, thus obeying the command set out by God to a tee? And I pray for you, dear reader, that your state doesn’t cause you to flee from God, but that you may be drawn in by His grace, be cleansed and live out the life full of joy that comes with seeing God’s beauty in His word and walking daily with Him, and showing that beauty to all around you in deed, word and thought.
Thanks for sticking it out this far and walking this road with me. I pray you have come to a fuller understanding of salvation as we followed the guideposts, and a greater appreciation for God’s great work.
What next? Well, as much as I would want to hang up my boots and take a breather… Sounds inviting, but more lies in store. For now, I will take a slight break to prepare an announcement on the future of this blog. Hopefully, it won’t be too long, maybe a week or so. Keep me in your prayers as I chart the way forward.
Grace and peace to you. Stay safe, and remember to wash your hands.
Hello, and welcome back to the next installment of the Solae series. It has been a few weeks since we last (virtually) met, and I am glad to be reunited with you guys.
It’s been a tough number of weeks for us all, with the coronavirus ravaging the world and changing our rhythms of life. We can’t meet physically, and acts of love such as a hug or a kiss could be harmful to us. It’s a very interesting period of history to be in. Still, what can we do other than place our trust in Christ and in God, for in Him all questions have answers; if not answered now, they will in due time. Let’s make that a thread of hope to hold on to during this time.
This is going to be the first Easter weekend that many of us will spend away from family and friends (myself included). We usually associate it with the people we will meet, the fun times we will have, and of course the welcome break from a tedious work schedule.
As much as all these are good things (rest, family bonding and iron sharpening iron), I think it gives us an opportunity to return back to the ultimate thing, or person in this case; the real reason for the Easter holiday, the man Jesus Christ.
2000-odd years ago, a man carried a wooden cross up a hill known in the Judean region as the Skull, a popular execution point for the then reigning Roman empire. He was nailed to the cross, as was the Roman style, and hung up to die. Not only was this the worst kind of execution at its time, reserved for the worst of criminals, it was the most tortuous. A crucified man would be hung up in such a way that he would slowly suffocate, and eventually, to speed up death, the Romans would break the man’s legs as an act of mercy. Yes, it was that horrendous.
What was this man’s crime? To the Roman, and maybe everyday Hebrew at the time, he was a radical, a teacher who had amassed a great following by making greater claims about Himself; that He was the Son of God, present at creation, with and sent from the Father, along with astonishing miracles to show that it was so.
The teachers of the Law felt quite unsettled by this man’s teachings, not because they were wrong, but because they showed them the extent to which the Law they taught required obedience; down to the heart, an obedience stemming from love for God and not as a checklist to prove how righteous one was.
And the truth always will cause an unsettling. So the teachers then planned to have Him dealt with once and for all. They portrayed Him as a dissident to the Romans, carrying out a series of back and forth kangaroo courts, before finally having a violent murderer released just so He could die. The lengths we humans go to…
He died, and was thought to be dealt with once and for all. But surprise, He didn’t stay dead. The grave borrowed for Him to be laid in was found open, His body missing. After brief confusion, He appeared to His followers, alive, but apparently more alive than He had been. And to one who didn’t believe, He had the marks of the crucifixion to prove that it was indeed Him and none other.
He then finally rose up back to heaven where he had come from 33 years prior, with a promise to return and take with Him all who placed their full trust in who He claimed to be.
Solus Christus. Christ alone. The fourth pillar of the Reformation stood to show that it is faith placed in this man alone that saves us. What was the prevalent ideology at the time? People were saved by intermediaries, like venerated saints and Mary, who they believed were daily before the throne of God pleading for the lives of people. Jesus Christ, meh, He was one of them.
However, the Reformation sought to clarify that He wasn’t the one of the many intermediaries; He was the only intermediary.
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
1 Timothy 2:5-6 ESV
What makes Him the sole intermediary? Well, for starters, He alone lived a sinless life, that is, He perfectly loved God with His entirety, and loved people as He did Himself. That was the entirety of the Law, which He fully obeyed to the tee.
All the others, saints or otherwise, were human, and as such, subject to failure and disobedience. He, however, was human and God at the same time, meaning He was tempted as we are in every way, but did not succumb to them, whether in action, thought or words.
No one else in the history of the world had been able to achieve such a feat; able to live in the world with all its wickedness and still obey God fully. What the Israelites had done was to sacrifice an innocent animal many times as a means of forgiveness. The animal had done no wrong, but took the place of the person who has offended God. Its substitutionary death atoned for the person’s sin.
However, this was a ritual that would have gone on forever and ever, knowing the depth of the human condition. What Jesus did was step in, not just as the substitution for one person, but for all who had, and eventually would, place their faith in Him as who He said He was. His death would act as a one time act, ending the need for ritualistic sacrifices and offerings for atonement.
The glory of the cross…
And it indeed was enough. His death was marked by the tearing of the veil that separated the innermost temple chamber (Holy of Holies), symbolic that now anyone, not just a select group of people, could approach the presence of God without fear of death.
Any person granted the faith to believe that Jesus is the Son of God who alone took all the sins of mankind (including their own), died and rose again and now stands before God as our only mediator who understands our trials fully and completely is assured of their salvation.
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.But when the
Titus 3:4-7 ESV
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Romans 3:22-24 ESV
Martin Luther said, ‘I must listen to the Gospel, for it tells me not what I must do, but what Christ has done for me.‘ What a profound resolution, that nothing we can do will merit our own salvation; our seemingly good works are stained with the stench of sin, but by the blood of Christ shed on the hill those many years ago, we are washed, made clean and renewed. Hence, we look to Him alone as the basis of our salvation.
As we enter into the season of Easter, my personal desire is to be renewed in my view of who Christ is; that even though the salvation He offers is free, it wasn’t cheap.
How vast is His love for God and the human race, that He would willingly lay down His life to reconcile us back to the Father. I pray we don’t lose that wonder and awe, and that we daily seek Him to teach us and instruct us.
One last leg of the journey remains. Thank you for bearing with my erratic posting schedule. See you all soon!
Sidenote: I got great things coming up for the future of this blog. I will give more details after we are done with the next post, but trust me; it’s gonna be amazing.
Hello again dear ones! It has indeed been a while since the last post on this series, and I do feel bad for breaking the promise I had made, to put up these posts weekly.
Not to dwell on the past and could-have-beens, and to move forward with this wonderful trip we have been having of exploring the pillars of Reformed Christianity.
A bit of an update about where I vanished to; work took a rather interesting and deep dive, and a lot of my efforts went there (stewardship and priorities, and rent doesn’t pay itself 😅). It was a whirlwind of activity. Now that things have settled a bit, I had better get this going before I (probably) disappear again into that black hole.
Here we go!! Buckle up!
From where we left off, we saw that it is only by God’s grace that we are saved. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation; it is free, given without any meritorious advantage to us who believe. What we do cannot save us, no matter how well intentioned it may seem, or how altruistic the heart behind it appears. The church led the masses to believe that, yes, truly it is God’s grace that saves us, but you have to supplement that grace with good works. Then, and only then, will you be truly saved.
Not so.
After a look into what Scriptures had to say, plus the life story of John Newton, we can clearly say it is only God’s grace that saves us. Our response, then, should be to seek how to live a life that shows the beauty of God’s grace; love the unlovable, kindness and generosity to those who seemingly would deserve the opposite, joy in every circumstance.
Let’s continue with this journey; onto the next stop. The Reformers had been able to show where the church had failed in showing with whom supreme authority lay with, and that whatever power traditions and human achievements held had no means in play at redeeming the human soul from its sin and wickedness. A prevailing question then arose; on what basis is man justified before God?
A question which I believe dwells deep within the hearts of many. And with good reason too.
God’s grace is indeed great, that even the most vile of hearts is not too far to be redeemed. How can we reconcile these two extremes, a holy God and a sinful people? How is this holy God able to welcome the most impure of people into His family and call them His own?
Of course, it would automatically make sense to include good works onto the grace already given, but we saw that would nullify grace as grace. If, then, man is not justified (pronounced righteous) before God by works, on what basis then is one able to stand before Him?
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God
Ephesians 2:8, NIV
Faith alone. Sola fide.
Faith is a word we have heard over and over again, preached from the pulpit, proclaimed as a means (by some sects) through which someone can gain material wealth, but what exactly is it? Martin Luther described it as a vital, deliberate trust in God’s grace, so certain that one would die a thousand times for it. Hebrews 11:1 describes faith as the confidence of things not seen; the assurance of things hoped for.
What then do we hope for, may have most probably been the very next question that followed. Obviously not our works, because we can see them, and they are already nullified in the steps that lead one to salvation.
We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
Galatians 2:15-16, NIV
According to sola Scriptura, this holds to be true and inerrant. We are made right in the sight of God solely by hoping in and placing our trust and confidence (faith, in simpler terms) in what Christ has done. This truth is echoed in many other places within Scripture itself; Romans 4:4-5, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 5:19 are just a few to mention.
As simple as it may seem, it couldn’t be further from the fact that this is one of the most difficult things to accept. It is easy to say, I gave of myself in church, so God must save me, or, I volunteer to feed street families and the poor, and give almost half of what I earn to charity. That must count for something.
It is noble, and from our moral viewpoint, it does indeed make sense that one good turn deserves a reward or another good turn. But it doesn’t work that way with God.
Faith means seeing yourself as incapable of even approaching the throne of God, yourself being your entire being; your deeds, your strengths and weaknesses. It means seeing all the grand things we have done as nothing of value before God. It means even seeing our own selves as pitiful striving vapours in the wind.
Faith is knowing and understanding that we can’t save ourselves, but that a means has been offered. That means is the man Jesus. None of us have seen Him, but we believe He is God the Son made flesh, lived among us perfectly and died having fully obeyed and loved God and loved people. Thus, in Him we place our trust and confidence. This is faith that saves.
Faith is not only the foundation we stand on, but the shield that defends us from lies, deceit and slander the enemy and the world may throw at us.
Much like grace, faith is a great gift we know we don’t deserve, but try to justify our deserving of it anyway. Much like the Catholic Church at the time of Luther. Make penance, go to confessions, recite this prayer and count those beads. Then you will be saved.
How I pray that we turn our gaze fully upon Jesus, and see in Him the perfection of our imperfections; that we may be granted the ability to even see Him in that light because of the darkness that fills our being.
On our next post, we will take a look the object, or person, of our faith; Jesus Christ. We will see why faith in Him alone, and no one else, is what makes us right in God’s eyes. I pray we all may be strengthened and preserved until then.
Welcome back, dear reader. It’s been close to a week since I last shared a post here, and now that all my business is done, I can place my focus on finishing this series and starting a new one.
Today I put up the last guest post in this series, written by my friend Jay Ngome. Yes, that’s a real name 😂. The end of October marks three years of our friendship, and it’s been great being encouraged by him in my walk in times of despair. He’s a bass player, and a good one at that. Who knows, maybe you’ll hear him somewhere… We’ll see.
Without much ado, here’s the guest post on sanctification.
We looked at regeneration in the a previous post and in a nutshell:- Regeneration is rebirth; sanctification is growth.
In regeneration, God implants desires that were not there before: desire for God, for holiness, and for glorifying God’s name in the world, desire to pray and worship; desire to love and bring benefit to others.
In sanctification, the Holy Spirit “works in you, both to will and to work” according to God’s purpose, enabling His people to fulfill their new, godly desires (Phil. 2:12, 13). Christians become increasingly Christlike, as the moral profile of Jesus (the “fruit of the Spirit”) is progressively formed in them (2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 4:19; 5:22–25).
Regeneration is Rebirth; Sanctification is Growth.
Lazarus -Alive Man in death Clothes.
The man who had died came out,his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them,’Unbind him,and let him go.’ (John 11:44). Lazarus was brought back and made alive (given new life) but was still wrapped in death clothes, a representation of Born again people who were dead in trespasses and were made alive but are still wrapped in flesh(death clothes).
This flesh that gives fruit of sin as the apostle John points out in no uncertain terms. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8.)
We have a corrupted mind that has been defiled by the things of the world, a heart that is deceitful above all else. Against such are we asked to wage war and strive to be holy as He who called us is Holy. We thus have to be delivered from this pollution of sin and transformed into the image of Christ. When he comes back we be fully transformed to be like him and be removed from the presence of sin(glorification).
Justification – delivered from the Penalty of sin
Sanctification -delivered from the pollution of sin
Glorification – delivered from the presence of sin.
Sanctification is the process by which you are transformed to have divine nature by the act of consistently putting sin to death by resisting temptation. This is what it means to cleanse the inside of the cup. (Matthew 23:26). This is an ongoing process, dependent on God’s continuing action in the believer, and consisting of the believer’s continuous struggle against sin and As Paul says in Romans 6, it’s a function of your new nature in Christ.
Dependent on God’s continuing action in the believer
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).
In 1 Thessalonians Paul prayed that the Lord would complete His sanctifying work in their lives. Just as with salvation, sanctification is not accomplished by our will or actions—it’s the work of the Lord in the lives of His people.
After being born(Regenerated) we are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth.(Ephesians 1:13-14). He “works in us, both to will and to work” according to God’s purpose, enabling His people to fulfill their new, godly desires (Phil. 2:12, 13). He also gives us assurance that God will surely complete this process of sanctification “He who started a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).
Consisting of the believer’s continuous struggle against sin
“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
1 John 1:7.
John would then call us to walk in the light. Walking in the light is the state of being obedient to do all that God reveals to you through the Holy Spirit. For example, when He shows you that you need to overcome greed,deceitfulness,or any other lust. This means both that you put to death through the help of the Holy Spirit all of the sin you are shown.
Paul would also tell us;
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:9-10.
Conclusion
Our human nature is heavily consisted of wretched tendencies But the hope of the gospel is clear:
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2 Peter 1:3-8
We are promised that we can be partakers of the divine nature by fleeing the corruption in the world that comes through our lusts. As we gradually overcome our sinful human nature it is replaced by divine nature.
Let us stay in obedience to God’s Word and the Holy Spirit.
Hey hey! Welcome back to the next part of our series #KnowMore. Part 6! Wow, I am glad we have made it this far, and it is my hope that we all are growing in the knowledge of these truths.
The beauty of the Gospel is that it is simple enough for a child to understand, yet has some aspects of it that defy our own logical ways of thinking and predetermined paths of reason. All it takes is faith in God to impart the wisdom to understand and accept the truths as they are. It is difficult trying to fit the round truths and teachings of God into our square shaped ideals and thought patterns; what can be done is to allow God Himself to shape our minds and hearts to then allow these truths to fit into our daily lives.
We looked at regeneration last week, the first of three guest posts in this series. We saw how God takes our hearts that are dead to sin and makes them alive through His Son, Jesus Christ. In no way are we able to quicken ourselves to acceptance; rather, we are given new life to be able to believe in Him and walk in His ways.
Today is the second post, done by a very good friend of mine. He has expressed the need to remain anonymous, and as a gesture of my respect for him, I will keep his identity unknown. It is his desire that God be glorified in his post, and not him as the writer, which is something I really commend him for.
He has been instrumental in my walk with Christ, and has helped me return to God’s word regarding my own sinful state and my continual need for Jesus’s strength. I pray this post on justification will be of great help to you.
Blessed Are Those Whose Lawless Deeds Are Forgiven, And Whose Sins Are Covered; Blessed Is The Man Against Whom The Lord Will Not Count His Sin.
The doctrine of justification has caused tremendous controversy in the history of Christianity. It provoked the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, where the reformers stood for the Biblical truth that justification is by faith alone.
It addresses the most serious plight of fallen human beings-their exposure to the justice of a holy God. The truth of the matter is that God is just, and we are not. David, in Psalms 130:3, prays, “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquity, O Lord, who could stand?”
In fact, none could stand. “None is righteous, no not one…no one seeks after God…no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12, ESV). Most of us would think that when we work hard enough to be good people, then we could survive when we appear at the judgement seat of the righteous God. That we could earn our merit before God is a great myth, and the truth is that we are debtors who cannot pay our debts.
The implication is that only another could pay the debt for us. Only God could pay the debt in our stead. Having paid the debt, He would be just, in justifying us. But what really is justification?
We consider this in parts: the nature of justification, the basis of justification, the means of justification and the result of justification.
The nature of justification is that it is an instantaneous legal act, and not an actual impartation or infusion of righteousness. God declares sinners as just before His sight, while yet, they continue to sin. It describes what God declares about the sinner, and not what He does to change the believer (but indeed, He does something to change them). Romans 8:33-34 contrasts “bringing a charge/condemning” with the justifying work of God. Just as bringing a charge is a declaration of judgement according to some standard, so is justification.
Is then God unjust when he declares sinful men righteous in His sight? Certainly not! Paul explains in Romans 3 that He upholds His justice when He declares sinful men righteous.What, then, is the basis of God declaring sinners as just? The answer is that sinful men are “justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:24-25 ESV).
This is to say that the righteousness of any man is not from himself. Rather, it is an imputed righteousness from Christ. Moreover, it is to say that Christ took upon Himself the sins of the elect. For the sake of the elect, God “made Him [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV).
In upholding His justice, God punished for all the sins of the elect, and Christ bore this punishment on Himself, being the propitiation-appeasement of God’s righteous wrath due to sin.
The implication of the basis of justification is that Christ’s work on the cross must be applied, for any man to be justified. By what means are the works of Christ be imputed to anyone? Scripture consistently shows that the works of Christ are received by faith. “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” (Romans 3:28 ESV). Paul says, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of our own that comes from anything we do, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:8-9 ESV).
Faith looks outward, to receive the free gifts from heaven, pure and undeserved as they are. “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.”-truly, the wages of all works is death because they are sinful-“And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:4-5 ESV).
The result of justification will be that the believer will bear fruit. They will seek to obey the master who has bought them at a price, because they love Him. John rightly says that “we have come to know Him if we keep His commandments.” (1 John 2:3 ESV). A believer will not continue to make a practice of sinning, because the God who justifies them also tunes their hearts to love what He loves, and to hate what He hates. It is not to claim that they will be without sin, but that they will continue to grow in sanctification.
So glad you have passed by to continue in the growth of knowing more about who God is and what He has in store for us all. I might not always get to say this, but I really do appreciate each and every one of you for reading, sharing and desiring to know more about the wonderful God who is our friend and redeemer. I am thankful to God that He is continually showing you and I His grace and will for us through His word, and I hope it will go on even beyond this series as you cultivate a personal walk with Him.
On Monday, we looked at the person of Christ, His life story and His purpose on earth. He claimed to be God in flesh, to show us that it was possible to fully obey the commands of God in order to be considered as holy before Him. It’s only a lawgiver, we saw, who can attain the law he gives. He claimed to be the Messiah, the one foretold about by the prophets to be a conquering King who would lead the nation of Israel to a glorious future of peace and prosperity, but the form He took instead of a servant was quite the opposite.
Today, we will gain further insight at what exactly He came to conquer, and how He ultimately defeated it. I hinted at it in the second part of this series, Holy, Just and Merciful. God Himself becomes the one who takes our place, and His justice is upheld while His mercy is upheld. Let’s take a deeper look.
What exactly is sin? The Hebrew word translated as sin is khata, which means to fail, or miss a set mark. Our core purpose, why we were created, was to seek to obey God in a fulfilling, trusting relationship with Him, because He knew what was good for us, and what would cause us harm. That was the set goal, the mark we were to always uphold. So, when we rebelled and decided to determine on our own what was good and evil, we failed; we sinned.
That’s where all the problems we see today started; our attempt to define what was good in our own eyes usually meant that we sought, and still seek, that which benefits us more than what will benefit those around us and give God the glory. Most of the time, they end up being things that fracture our relationships, cause grief and pain and eventually, in the extreme case, death. In Genesis 4, Cain is seen to be very angry when God showing favour to his brother Abel’s sacrifice than his own, he allowed khata, the failure to meet God’s standard of what was wrong and right, to overtake his reason and purpose to glorify God by showing respect for life, and ended up killing Abel.
So, with all the wrong done, God’s justice had to be upheld, right? When He spared the lives of Adam and Eve, He killed animals on their behalf. So, symbolically, the shedding of an innocent animal’s blood represented the death of that animal on the person’s behalf. It was as if the animal took on the sinfulness, the failure of the person to meet God’s standards and commands, and is punished on the behalf of the person (in this case, death is the punishment). The animal commonly used by the Israelites was a lamb.
On Monday, we mentioned a cousin of Mary called Elizabeth, who in her old age gave birth to a man
whose purpose was to show people their hearts needed redemption, a new birth, that could only be offered by a greater sacrifice than that of sheep or goats. His name was John the Baptist, and when he was baptising people in the Jordan River, he saw Jesus coming and proclaimed;
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
John 1:29 ESV
The lamb, of course, was a common animal used in atonement (taking the place of a sinner deserving death); however, it would usually be used to take away the sin of one person, or at most, a few other people. But a Lamb who takes away the sin of every single person on the earth? That must be a really different kind of atonement. How was it then possible for one person to be able to take the failures of everyone upon Himself?
Jesus claimed to be God, who made His dwelling among us, and took on a body like ours, along with all it’s weaknesses and impediments. Yet, He still remained obedient to God, and show love to those around Him in service, healing of bodily and spiritual brokenness and raising the dead to life. He was sinless; He attained every standard set by Himself without breaking even one. Thus, it was right that He took upon Himself the sin of every person who had ever failed to meet God’s requirement, like a lamb who had not done any of the wrongs committed by humans.
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die–but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:7-8 ESV
That’s the thing that makes Jesus’ sacrifice so overwhelming; He being so perfect and free of any sin took the place of we who had every right to be punished and pay the ultimate price for our wrongs.
Nowhere else do we see such; the Creator reaching out to redeem His own creation to Himself, for His glory and their own good. It’s mind-blowing, earth-bending and soul-shattering to even think about it.
Next week begins the guest posts from three of my friends. It feels good to take a breather and offer
you a new angle.
We will begin with regeneration; what is that? Well, let’s wait and see. Technically, you wait and see, because I already have 😝😝.
