Christ,

        Our

              Righteousness

Second Temple Judaism, from which the reformation of Jesus Christ brought forth the perfected religion of the New Testament, was the scene of constant debate over what was required to establish righteousness. Nearly two thousand years later, the debate still continues, as people of widely differing backgrounds offer their advice on the standards that in their opinion one must maintain in order to be accepted before God.

Some today, like the Pharisees of old, are persuaded that righteousness is measured by outward appearance. Much of this is a legalism, a self righteousness that is based in cultural baggage rather than in the word of God. Others insist that works of righteousness are not required and that direct violations of the commandments of God are also overlooked by a God of grace and mercy. This approach results in what Dietrich Bonhoffer described as a "cheap grace," which is no grace at all, and what others have characterized as "sloppy agape," which is no love at all.

From the time of the fall of Adam until Christ, it could be accurately stated that there was none righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10). All men were conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity (Psalms 51:5), and all had sinned and came short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Sin was inherited along with mortality so that all men were as incapable of refraining from sin as they were unable to escape death.

Even the great event of the giving of the law of God at Sinai was not intended as a panacea for sin. As Yahweh thundered out his commandments from the frightful mount, the children of Israel cried out, "Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more. . .", whereupon Yahweh said, "They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him" (Deuteronomy 18:15-19; cf. Acts 3:26). Traditional Judaism has suggested that this prophet was Joshua; however, there is no evidence that Joshua gave laws that were added to the Mosaic corpus, the violation of which would bring judgment upon Israel. This prophet was Jesus of Nazareth, Israel’s Messiah and the world’s Saviour.

The law became a guardian (Galatians 3:19, 24) to protect the Jewish people and to control the conduct of the Israeli nation until the time when this prophet would come to redeem them from sin and teach them the full understanding of God’s will and ways. Jesus was that prophet who completed and perfected the law and provided the means by which it could be established and fulfilled (Romans 3:31). Until Jesus came, the scriptures tell us that there was no flesh justified or righteous in the sight of God (Psalm 14:1; Romans 3:10.)

It should be noted that the words righteous and justified both come from the same Greek word dikaios and mean essentially the same thing. They indicate the status of acceptance before God. While the law protected Israel and set standards for personal deportment, it could not complete the faith of its adherents because of the sin that was continually manifest in their lives. This required the work of the prophet to whom Moses referred, the Messiah, himself.

Born Of Woman, Under The Law

It was fitting and proper then, that in the fullness of time, God sent forth his son, made of woman (after the flesh), made under the law (responsible to observe the law). His personal righteousness was established by his keeping all the law (Romans 10:5). His eternal purpose in doing so was to redeem those who were under the law that they might receive the adoption of sons (Galatians 4:4, 5).

The first and essential element which made this possible was the miraculous virgin birth that brought the Son of God into the world without inherent sin (Luke 1:27-35). His mother was told: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Jesus was the first human since Adam who was not conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity (Psalm 51:5).

The second essential element which made it possible for man to be redeemed from sin was the fact that Jesus Christ was the first man who kept the law of God in its entirety, not giving offense in a single point. He was in all points tempted like as we, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He knew no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth (I Peter 2:22). He who knew no sin became sin in one moment of time when he bore the sins of all mankind in his body on the tree (II Corinthians 5:21; I Peter 2:24). He who had never warranted a curse from God because of his sinless live became a curse as he hung on the cross and assumed to himself the curses of the law that were pronounced upon those who violated its commandments (Galatians 3:13). It was appropriate for him to "fulfill all righteousness," including Judaism’s ritual immersion (Matthew 3:15). In everything, Jesus was fully submitted to the Father’s will.

All that Jesus did in obedience to the will of the Father brought about the perfection of his flesh (Hebrews 2:10) so that his body could be offered as a perfect, perpetual atonement for the sins of all mankind (Hebrews 9:14). Through his obedience and suffering of temptation without sin, Jesus in his humanity established his own personal righteousness. His voluntary suffering in the limitations of human flesh (Philippians 2:6-8) satisfied the demands of divine justice so that he now stands as the embodiment of the righteousness and justification of God for all mankind (I Corinthians 1:30). Jesus established his own personal righteousness and died a death that was not demanded by divine justice; therefore, his death could balance the scales of justice and provide atonement for those who would believe, and his righteousness could be imputed to them for their faith. As Abraham believed and was consequently imputed righteousness by God, so the believer who accepts God’s provision for sin in Christ receives the righteousness of Christ.

A Vicarious Atonement

All that Christ did, he did for us and in our stead. This was in keeping with the Judaic principle of vicarious atonement that was first manifest in Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. What we were and are not able to do through the weakness of the flesh, God, sending his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in the flesh and accomplished redemption in our stead (Romans 8:3). Believers are vicarious participants in the obedience of Christ: they kept the law through him; they died in Christ; they were crucified with him (Romans 6:3, 6); they were delivered from the curse that the law pronounced upon its violator through his being made a curse for them by hanging on a tree (Galatians 3:10, 13). They were freed from the contract with the law by the body of Christ (Romans 7:4); therefore, he is the end, or the teleological goal, of the law for righteousness or justification to those who believe (Romans 10:4). As through the disobedience of one, all die, so through the obedience of one, many are made righteous (Romans 5:19). He who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (II Corinthians 5:21).

Paul explains the righteousness of God in Romans 3: "We have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one . . . therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight . . . But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe . . . being freely justified by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past . . . that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus . . . Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. . . . Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Faith righteousness establishes and fulfills God’s law in the lives of believers.

A Faith Righteousness

The concept of faith righteousness had been foundational to Yahweh’s religion from the time of Abraham. All those who were justified before God in the Old Testament were righteous through faith. Hebrews 11 is a roll call of faith from the Old Testament, detailing men and women who believed God and did what he had commanded them. They were participants in faith righteousness.

When Jesus came, this concept of faith righteousness came to completeness or perfection, resting on a perfect sacrifice and forming a better covenant. The righteousness of Christ is a faith righteousness, and it can be imputed unto us only through our faith in the Son of God, "for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Romans 10:10). Does this faith, then, make void the law of God? Certainly not; for, in effect, it serves to establish the law in that it accomplishes the objective of the law by making the comer thereunto obedient to God (Romans 3:31). When we accept the substitutionary righteousness of Christ through faith in his atoning death and his glorious resurrection, we become completely justified before God, and we need not offer further sacrifice or do additional works to complete or maintain our status of righteousness before God (Romans 5:1; 3:21, 22).

Through this imputed righteousness, we are enabled and empowered to keep the law of God through faith. Should we, then, continue in sin that grace may abound? Let it never be! (Romans 6:1). Should we violate the commandments and the law of God so that we may prove that we are of the faith of Jesus? No, let it never be! Rather, because Christ is righteous and we through faith have partaken of his righteousness, we should live righteously and godly in this present world (Titus 2:12).

When we as believers accept the new covenant through the blood of Jesus, we partake of this agreement: "I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them." Therefore, "by a new and living way" we have access to the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:16-20). Having been imputed total righteousness through Christ, we are then empowered to "work the works of righteousness," to be completely equipped by the Hebrew scriptures unto all the good works that God seeks (II Timothy 3:16).

Holiness A Manifestation of Righteousness

While our righteousness and justification are obtained through Christ apart from the law of God, we are not at liberty to conduct ourselves as we please with total disregard for the will of God. While Christ was the end of the law for righteousness or justification, he was not the destroyer of the law. Indeed, he was the fulfiller of the law (Matthew 5:17-19).

This is the thrust of James’ general epistle: "Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works" (James 2:18). If we have the righteousness or justification of God within us through faith, then that righteousness will manifest itself in our works. Jesus said, "By their fruits ye shall know them" (Matthew 6:17). According to James, the faith of Abraham, which was credited to him for righteousness, was not completed until he acted and offered Isaac in obedience to the commandment of God. Likewise, our faith is not complete until we witness it by obeying the commandments of God and living a set-apart or sanctified life. This is the essence of Judaism and Christianity–a call to holiness.

Righteousness or justification is imputed, not earned, through faith (Romans 4:6); however, we must be obedient to God’s will and be a separate or holy people. God requires that we be set forth in contradistinction to the elements of the world. This is the condition of being holy or set apart. Holiness is not an addition to righteousness or justification; however, it is a manifestation of righteousness. If we are righteous and remain so, we will be a holy, set apart, sanctified people, qualified for the Master’s use (Titus 2:12; II Timothy 2:21). James was correct, then, when he declared that "by works a man is justified, and not by faith only" (James 2:24).

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:1, 2). We lift up our hands and hearts in thanksgiving to God for his amazing grace, for his gratuitous pardon, for his free justification, for his imputation of the righteousness of the Messiah, and for his empowering us to live a life of sanctification in holiness.

Raised Again

For Our

Justification

". . . who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:25).

As Christians, we hear much discussion concerning the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and, indeed, "worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing" (Revelation 5:12). Often, however, we become so involved in paying tribute to the sacrificed Lamb for his act of unfathomable love in offering himself without sin to atone for the sins of all mankind, that we lose sight of a greater act performed in the life of Jesus which speaks of greater, more far-reaching consequences than the Calvary experience.

The single most important event in all of human history was the resurrection from the dead of the only begotten Son of God. The Heavenly Father attached profound significance to the resurrection of the Son, declaring concerning it: "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee" (Acts 13:33). Peter declared in Acts 2:30, 31 that the resurrection, not the birth, of Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s oath to David in Psalm 132:11. While the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem provided a body of flesh in which God could become incarnate, the manifestation of divine power which brought his uncorrupted body forth from the tomb was that act which confirmed and established forever his Messiahship and his divinity. While the death of Jesus on the cross of Calvary provided perpetual and eternal atonement for sin for all who would believe in the redemptive power of his blood, his resurrection from the dead justifies believers in a way in which no sacrifice for sin could accomplish.

Romans 5:10 clarifies this premise: "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." While the shed blood of Jesus reconciled fallen man to God through the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection and life of Christ justified man from the inherent sin of Adam and reinstated the promise of eternal life. Jesus, himself, through his divinity, brought forth his body from the grave, as he had promised: "I am able to lay down my life and to take it up again . . . Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again" (John 2:19). While the crucifixion of Jesus proved that he was man (Hebrews 2:9), his resurrection proved that he was God (Acts 2:36) and therefore endowed with the power of life. Had he not resurrected, what evidence would there be that his death was more than the death of any other man or that his sacrifice for sin was efficacious?

Power Over Death Demonstrated

Through his resurrection, Jesus demonstrated that it is possible for humanity to inherit life through faith. No one had ever before achieved this of himself though it was prefigured in Enoch and Elijah and perhaps even in Moses. What the law could not do, the resurrection of Jesus did (Acts 13:39). If his righteousness was sufficient for him to acquire the promise of eternal life first given to Adam, then we have the distinct probability that through faith in him and his resurrection, we can partake of his righteousness and be resurrected ourselves. The resurrection of Jesus, therefore, takes on greater dimensions than the mere forgiveness of sins of mankind and provides the means for reinstating the opportunity for mankind to obtain eternal life.

According to Revelation 1:5 and I Corinthians 15:23, Jesus is the first begotten from the dead or the firstfruits of the resurrection. In this capacity, he stands forth as an object of faith for the believer, for as in the sin of Adam all die (and we are assured of this fact beyond doubt), so in Christ shall all be made alive (Romans 5:17). If Christ is the firstfruits of the resurrection, he is proof that a great harvest of resurrection is to come when at the end of the age God sends his angels to gather together all of his chosen, both in heaven and earth (Matthew 24:31; Ephesians 1:10).

In I Corinthians 15:3, 4, 12-14, 16, 17, 19-22, Paul further elaborates on this theme: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures . . . Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain . . . and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins . . . but now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Paul declares that if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not raised. The converse of this is also true: If Christ is raised from the dead, then there will be a resurrection of the dead, the order and nature of which the apostle proceeds to explain in the remainder of I Corinthians 15. The acquisition of a new body "like his glorious body" (Philippians 3:21) is explained in II Corinthians 5:1: "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

The assurance of our hope of resurrection and life after death, then, is totally contingent upon our confidence in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the reason for the apostle’s assertion in Romans 10:9, 10 that the method and order which brings about the crisis experience of the rebirth is this: "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

Man’s justification through faith in the resurrection of Jesus, then, is in itself his investiture of the attribute of righteousness. According to Paul, believing with the heart and confessing with the mouth that God raised Jesus from the dead produces the imputation of substitutionary righteousness and salvation (Romans 10:9, 10). The imputed righteousness is, however, totally unmerited by man and is the direct result of divine grace.

Historical and Prophetic Fact

It is important to note that more is required than belief in the death of Jesus, for salvation in the ultimate sense is unattainable without the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In order to be born from above both in spirit and in the body, we must believe in the resurrection. The Christian promise is not just a rebirth in spirit or absorption into the divine that occurs with the shedding of the material body (as with neo-Platonism and Eastern Monism). It is the fruition of the promise of God’s Word espoused by the Pharisees of Jesus’ time–the resurrection of the body to rule with Messiah on earth during the Messianic Age.

Belief in the resurrection is not, however, blind faith, for there is ample testimony to corroborate the fact that Jesus did, in fact, rise from the dead. From the standpoint of history alone, all the documentation of a simple historical event are met. The infallible word of prophecy predicted it, and the eyewitnesses of the New Testament confirmed it.

The same prophecies which foretold the suffering and death of the Son of God also predicted his resurrection. "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption" (Psalm 16:10). "Yet is pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand . . . by his knowledge shall my servant justify many . . ." (Isaiah 53:10, 11).

The eyewitnesses of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus testified: ". . . unto the apostles whom he had chosen: to whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs. . ." (Acts 1:2, 3). "Wherefore of these men . . . must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection . . ." (Acts 1:21, 22). "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses" (Acts 2:32). If the resurrection were a hoax or a phantasmagoria, would all of the disciples–without exception–give up their lives rather than recant their testimony?

The Blessed Hope

Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ and our hope of a similar experience through faith in him, we are of all men most miserable (I Corinthians 15:19). Even Epicureans and hedonists live by the premise, "Eat, drink, and be merry; for tomorrow we may die." Through faith in Jesus and his resurrection, we are able to lay hold on that "blessed hope," the "glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13) when "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump . . . the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (I Corinthians 15:52). We can shout with Paul: "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 15:57), and with John we can exclaim: "Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20).

NailedTo

      The Cross!

For nearly two thousand years theologians and Bible teachers of various persuasions have had their hammers out, nailing a wide variety of things to the cross of Christ. Some have nailed the ceremonial law to the cross. Others have impaled all the law of Moses there. Still others have hung the entire Hebrew Scriptures on the cross. A fair question for a believer to ask is, just what was nailed to the cross?

First we must understand that all that was literally nailed to the cross of Calvary was the fleshly body of Jesus of Nazareth and the inscription of Pilate that Jesus was the King of the Jews. The question of controversy arises over Colossians 2:14. And, the answer to the question of the symbolic language of this passage is found in the literal event which occurred on Golgotha. We shall find that the principle of the grammatico-historical hermeneutic that "context interprets text" will provide a reliable exegesis of this passage as it does with all scripture.

"In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ . . . And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross . . . . Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances" (Colossians 3:11,13,14,20).

What is the meaning of the term handwriting of ordinances? How and why were they "against us"? How did Christ’s death free us from them? What impact did Christ’s "blotting [them] out" have on the Judaism of his day? Were the ordinances God’s commandments, or was the issue not so much of laws but of sin?

A Burdensome Exercise

By the time of Christ, Judaism had become a burdensome exercise that was contrary to the nature of man (Acts 15:10). It had come to demand that each individual establish his own righteousness or justification before God through works. Righteousness was thought of as being achieved by men’s response to the commandments of God rather than by a sovereign act of divine grace through faith. The religion of Sinai that had been birthed in the faith of Abraham had been developed into an endless maze of mitzvot (commandments) and halachot (interpretations of commandments) which were designed to govern all areas of human conduct.

The rabbinical community had sought to "build a fence around the law" so one would not come close to breaking one of the actual commandments. Rather than continue to be justified by faith as Abraham was, the leaders of Israel sought security in a complex system of traditions that added to God’s requirements in the written Torah (law) what came to be known as the Oral Torah. These restrictions were designed to place a fence of warning that would signal one’s proximity to the breaking of a biblical commandment; however, they often caused men to seek to be more righteous than God (Ecclesiastes 7:16), promoted self righteousness, and even voided the commandments of God (Matthew 15:6). The intention of the rabbis was good, but misguided. They did not trust the Spirit to direct people in observing the commandments; therefore, they resorted to restrictions that God, himself, did not require of his people.

The extreme care that this multiplicity of commandments of the oral law required made it impossible for anyone to be faultless in every respect. Indeed, in being careful to fulfill one commandment one would often break another commandment (e.g. what would one do when the commandment to circumcise on the eighth day must be fulfilled on the Sabbath?). This was, no doubt, the reason Peter called the Old Testament order of Judaism "a yoke . . . which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear" (Acts 15:10). It also helps us understand Paul’s observation that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

It was impossible that men who were sinners by nature could establish perfect and lasting righteousness before God by fleshly works. The flesh of man was the only weakness of the law. The law was "holy" and the commandment "holy, and just, and good" (Romans 7:12). The law was "perfect, converting the soul" (Psalm 19:7). The only possible means of justification for man is through the judicial proclamation of God that he is righteous, and this can be accomplished only through a divine act of grace that generates faith in men. It can be applied only because Jesus paid the price to ransom the souls of men. It is not, therefore, of man’s works–never has been, and never will be!

A Body of Flesh Obviates Fleshly Works

When a sinless body of flesh that had been perfected through sufferings and temptations was nailed to the cross, the need for fleshly works of righteousness ended. Consequently, the laws and ordinances which prescribed ritual for establishing such, including the sacrificial law, became obsolete and outmoded. So, metaphorically speaking, these ordinances were nailed to the cross in the body of Jesus. This is why the apostle tells us that we are not to be judged by what we eat, or by what we drink, or by what days we observe (Colossians 2:16). In short, we are not subject to carnal ordinances or rules governing fleshly purification and righteousness (Hebrews 9:10).

The problem was sin, not God’s law. It was sin that was against mankind, not God’s law. The Messiah came to remove sin. In a very real sense, all the sin of the human race was nailed to the cross of Christ when it was laid upon him to such a degree that "he became sin for us." In order to redeem those who would believe, the price was paid for all mankind.

It was not the intention of the New Testament writers, however, to imply that the law was abolished or that there was no value in Judaism. The principles of the Judaic faith remained the same; however, their function and manifestation were altered. God, who requested that his people remember his festival times forever, did not suddenly change his mind and abolish them. He merely transformed them from means of establishing justification to media of praise and worship. This is why we find the apostle who said that no one’s salvation should be judged by the days he observed urging Gentiles in Corinth to keep the Feast of Passover (I Corinthians 5:8). We also find Paul shaving his head and going through the rites of purification in the temple so he could prove that he walked orderly and kept the law (Acts 21:20-24) and making all haste so that he could be at Jerusalem for the observance of the Feast of Pentecost (Acts 20:16).

When Jesus said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law" (Matthew 5:17), he meant exactly what he said. The eternal laws and principles of God were never abolished; however, the requirement for fleshly righteousness was rendered unnecessary through the personal righteousness of Christ. The body of Christ, nailed to the cross of Calvary, freed the believer for all time from the bondage and yoke of fleshly works so that he might freely serve the living God in the Spirit.

What was nailed to the cross? Flesh and carnal works, that the Spirit and faith might be exalted! Sin, so that all men might be freed from its enslaving power. The carnal ordinances of Judaism, so that God’s religion might be restored to its original ideal–faith!

Chapters 10-13