Book 2 of Musings An Incorrect Understanding of Grace
The constant emphasis on grace destroys our determination to overcome the sinful nature.
I have written about "grace" a number of times because grace has become the Christian alternative to righteous behavior. "I know I should not behave as I do, but I am saved by grace," the believers maintain.
How often do we hear this?
Can you get a feeling for what is being said about the new covenant? When we say we know we shouldn't gossip, for example, but we know we will go to Heaven anyway, we are claiming that God has provided a covenant whereby we can sin and still live in the Presence of God.
Given the atmosphere of demonic activity in which we are attempting to survive spiritually, plus the pull of the world spirit, the lusts of our flesh, and our stubborn self-will, if we tell people they ought to show their love for Jesus by trying not to sin, but whether they succeed or not is not critical, they simply are not going to make the effort required for the life of victory in Christ. Grace makes up the difference, they have been taught, and they will go to Heaven to a mansion and from there "rule and reign" (sic) with Christ.
If an individual is running a grueling two-mile race, and he is in torment because of the strain, but he knows he is going to win whether he strives or not, what is he going to do?
If a fighter in the ring is knocked down, is exhausted and wants to lay on the canvas realizing that he has won whether he gets up or not, what is he going to do?
If a student in college is facing final exams, and knows she is going to pass whether or not she studies, and her friends are urging her to come with them to a party, what is she going to do?
No person is going to make a painful, costly effort to achieve something if they know they are going to receive it in any case.
It is for this reason that the Christian churches of today are in moral rags. The believers are silly, self-seeking, spiritually soft, easily deceived, and in love with themselves. They would no more deny themselves and carry their cross after Jesus than they would refrain from eating food they know is not good for them.
We American Christians are soft! soft! soft! And it is due directly to the current misunderstanding of the Apostle Paul's teaching of grace.
If Paul meant by "grace" that we will inherit the Kingdom of God ("go to Heaven, according to the current tradition) even if we continue to live in the sinful nature, then he contradicted himself in several passages of the New Testament.
I cannot understand how intelligent, Christian scholars could read Paul's epistles and claim that we can continue to live in the sinful nature and "go to Heaven by grace."
There may be at least four factors that prevent them from using their critical faculties: one, they may be afraid they will fail if they attempt to live a victorious life; two, they may not be comfortable with admitting they have been mistaken in the past; three, they may be afraid of the opinions of their peers if they go counter to traditional thinking, and four, they may not want to surrender all of their sin. After all, sinning is a delicious feeling and may be an integral part of our personality.
When one or more of these four factors is operating in the person's subconscious mind, he or she may unwittingly may not be able to reason logically.
The root of the problem is how the Gentile of today views the term "grace" and how the Jew Paul viewed the term.
The major issue in Paul's day was whether Christians are required to keep the Law of Moses. We do not have that issue today, except in minor instances, and so we cannot understand Paul's argument.
The first Christian church consisted of five thousand Jews who had accepted Christ and who also kept the Law of Moses. We cannot even picture that! Yet, these were the people who experienced the first Pentecostal outpouring.
When the Spirit of God directed the Apostles to the Gentiles, the issue was raised whether the Gentiles were to keep the Law of Moses.
Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses." (Acts 15:5)
We Christians of today have a difficult time understanding why this was even an issue. In fact, it was the major issue of the time!
Along came the Jew, Paul of Tarsus. Paul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He had been raised under the Law of Moses.
God took Paul aside and explained to him the transition from the Law of Moses to the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
No one else, apparently, was given this understanding.
To the present hour numerous Christian people still believe that somehow we are under the Ten Commandments. The relationship of the Law of Moses to our salvation has seldom, as far as I can tell, been set forth in a clear, uncompromising manner.
When Paul spoke of our being saved by grace, he meant we can ignore the entire Law of Moses and look to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. We are not under the Law of Moses but under a new covenant that does not require an adherence to any part of the Law of Moses.
We died to the authority of the Law of Moses when we died on the cross with Christ. We are not breaking God's law when we abandon the Law of Moses in favor of faith in Jesus Christ. This is what grace is.
Grace also is employed in the New Testament to speak of God's Presence in Christ, such as, "they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed."
"The Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."
Now we have been forgiven through the blood of the cross, possess God's Holy Spirit, and no longer are required to obey any part of the Law of Moses.
How do we address the problem of sin?
Sin is behavior of which God does not approve. Sin is nothing more nor nothing less than behavior of which God does not approve.
The guilt of our sins was forgiven for eternity on the cross of Calvary.
Now what? We have been forgiven, but we still are a sinful descendant of Adam.
Now the work of salvation begins. The Holy Spirit begins to lead us in the work of destroying the sinful nature that is in us. Step by step the Spirit leads us in putting to death the lusts of the sinful nature. Meanwhile the Bible keeps us on the right track so we do not follow spirits that are not of God.
The Spirit continues to strengthen and guide us until we have become a new righteous creation in Christ.
Where does imputed righteousness fit in this scheme?
Imputed righteousness is a temporary, compensating righteousness that keeps us without condemnation while our personality is being transformed.
The massive error today is to view imputed righteousness as a new way in which God relates to man. The bypass has become the main highway. This means the Body of Christ, the Wife of the Lamb, the Temple of God, the brothers of Christ, the sons of God, consist of people who still are bound with satanic lusts of every sort; who still exercise their self-will, never having learned stern obedience to the Father.
Imputed righteousness is, as I stated, a temporary, compensating righteousness that keeps us without condemnation while we walk each day in the light of God's will.
The work of salvation is that of changing sinful man into the image of Christ.
Therefore by "grace" Paul meant we no longer look to the Law of Moses in order to attain to righteousness. We look to Jesus Christ who enables us each day to gain victory over the world, the lusts of our flesh, and our self-will and stubborn rebellion.
Grace also is used, as I said, to indicate the Presence of God through Christ that guides, strengthens, and heals those who are doing God's will. "I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power." Such an expression is not referring to compensating righteousness but to the Presence and blessing of God.
Did you know that grace is a teacher?
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, While we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you. (Titus 2:11-15)
I think if Bible scholars had taken Paul's exhortation to Titus seriously we would not be in the confusion we are in today.
The grace of God brings salvation. This we all agree on. The Law of Moses has been superseded by a superior covenant.
The grace of God teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. We are not adhering to Paul's exhortation. We say today that the grace of God teaches us that even if we sin we still will go to Heaven.
Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness, to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
It is obvious that the statements "redeem us from all wickedness" and "to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good" is not referring to forgiveness alone but to righteous deeds. The grace of God teaches us to live righteously. It assuredly does not teach us that if we sin we automatically are forgiven.
These, then, are the things we should teach.
Last night, as we were going over these ideas at our Tuesday night Bible study, Chris Worley said, "If a person is planning on competing in a race he is given running shoes and a coach." Christ was pointing out that grace is like the shoes and the coach. Christ went on to state that after having been given the shoes and the coach we could not say we had won the race. We have to actually run in the race.
I do not know how it could be expressed more clearly.
What I have just written is straightforward and easy to understand. To practice what I have written should enable the reader to go from grace to grace and from glory to glory until he stands in the image of Jesus Christ.
To ignore what has been written and to continue in the traditional "I know I ought to quit my sinning but Jesus loves me and is saving me by grace" is to insure fearful consequences in the Day of Resurrection.
And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (Phil 3:9)
Can you see from the above that Paul is not contrasting righteous behavior and faith in Christ, but the Law of Moses and faith in Christ.
Faith in Christ is not merely assent to a theological position concerning Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ is defined by the actions that Paul then describes:
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, And so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:10-14)
True faith, the faith that transforms us, the faith that takes the place of the Law of Moses, is a moment by moment fierce grasp on Jesus Christ, counting all else as garbage until Christ become one's entire universe. It is a determined thrust against all obstacles that would distract one's attention from the fervent pursuit of Christ.
It is only by such wholehearted, consistent, continual effort that one can lay hold on Christ. The goal is to attain to the early resurrection from the dead, that is the resurrection of the blameless royal priesthood when the Lord appears.
The Christ churches are in error today. We definitely are in a time of apostasy, and it can be noticed that many Christians speakers are veering away from grace-rapture-Heaven and are beginning to talk about righteous behavior as an integral aspect of our salvation.
If I am not mistaken, an age of physical and moral chaos is on the horizon for the United States of America. God will use this terrifying situation to make His way straight. The lukewarm must choose to become hot or cold; holy or morally filthy.
Only terrible catastrophe will move American Christians from their silly talk about grace-rapture-Heaven and introduce them to Him who eyes are flames of fire.
New covenant grace does not change one word of the following passage. Rather Divine grace makes it possible for us to meet God's standard and live in the heart of the Father with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: "Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?" He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil- This is the man who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and water will not fail him. (Isaiah 33:14-16)