Book 3 of Musings A Change in Man

The Christian salvation is not a change in God's requirements, it is a change in man so he can meet God's requirements.

Grace does not abolish the eternal moral Law of God. Grace establishes the Law of God and emphasizes its implications.

It seems to me there are many ideas that need to be brought up to date in Christian thinking. One of these ideas has to do with the nature of salvation.

As salvation is presented today, it is a change in location. To be saved is to go to Heaven when one dies.

This is not the scriptural idea. The scriptural view of salvation is that it is a change in people independently of location.

You may find going to Hell or to Heaven mentioned in the Bible, but these journeys are not emphasized. What is emphasized is eternal life and a change in what we are as a person.

Why is this? It is because going from one place to another does not accomplish anything. Even going to Heaven, where sin began, does not accomplish anything.

"Oh but if I could go to Heaven I would be happy."

No you wouldn't. Your unhappiness comes from what is wrong with your personality, not ordinarily from where you are; unless you are in jail, or the hospital, or some other extreme location.

If we were not changed we would bring our misery to Paradise. Look through the Bible and notice how many passages tell us we will be happy when we go to Heaven.

The essence of the new covenant is, as the Apostle Paul stated, a new creation. If any man be in Christ there is a new creation.

This does not mean, as is commonly taught, that when we "accept Christ" we suddenly are changed from one personality to another. We ought to know better than this by looking at ourselves and at other Christians.

What Paul said was, "If any person be in Christ there is a new creation."

The new creation is the planting of Christ in our personality. That is the new creation.

When the new creation has been planted in us, we have the means whereby we can become a new creation. The transformation depends on whether or not we nourish what has been planted in us.

Today we conceive of grace as an alternative to moral transformation. We don't worry too much about obeying Christ and His Apostles because we have been saved and are going to Heaven "by grace."

What unrealistic nonsense! Has God suddenly changed His mind and is going to have fellowship with the sinful nature of humans?

What is grace?

First, to get us started, grace is the forgiveness of our sins-total release from the Law of Moses.

Then grace is the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to bear witness and to be transformed morally.

Grace is the Seed of God that is planted in us when we place our faith in Christ.

Grace is the body and blood of Christ given to us so Christ grows and lives in our personality.

Grace is the Word of God that has come to us in the Scriptures and is given to us personally from time to time. Not only do we have the Divine promises but we also have the episodes in the Old Testament that have been written for our admonition.

Grace is the ministries and gifts of the Spirit that are given to us through the Holy Spirit.

Grace is the answer to our prayers when we come with our needs before the Mercy Seat in Heaven.

Grace is the Divine strength that lifts us up when we have despaired even of life.

Grace is the songs given to us in the night.

Grace is the faith that God gives to us.

Grace is the indwelling of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Grace is our hope one day we will have fullness of joy in the Presence of the Lord.

All of these are Divine grace. We cannot create them in our own strength. They are given to us freely through the Lord Jesus Christ.

So when we look at grace as a sort of perpetual forgiveness that excuses our conduct we are coming short of the Glory of God, wouldn't you say?

What is the desired end of all this Divine grace that has been given to us?

The end is, as the Apostle Paul stated, the new creation.

Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. (Galatians 6:15)

Can you see the difference? The goal of grace is not a trip to Heaven. The goal of grace is a new creation, that is, a total change in what we are as a person.

We have the Holy Spirit, the Divine Life of Christ planted in us, the body and blood of Christ, the New Testament-all that we need to become a new creation.

The adamic creation, that which we were formerly, cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.

I think the Gospel is preached in America as though it is God way of saving our first personality and bringing it to Heaven. What good would that do? Until we are changed we will have the fightings and slanderings that we have now in the churches. Why should passing into the spirit realm change that? After all, these sins that we Christians practice are spiritual in nature. Why should we change by passing into the spirit world?

Well, maybe they will be suspended when we die and go to Heaven. This is possible, although I see no scriptural basis for this hope.

Suppose they are suspended? This means we are in a dream state so what we actually are does not show.

But then comes the Day of Resurrection. Will what we really are show then? Or will we be carried out of ourselves in some manner.

What does the Scripture teach?

The Scripture teaches that God has given us grace so we may become a new creation. It says nothing about suspending our sinful personality so we can behave without really being changed.

Obviously, what is desired is deliverance, not suspension.

Does the New Testament speak of deliverance from the sinful nature?

Yes, it does. In the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Matthew we are told that in the last days God will remove all sin from His Kingdom.

We understand, therefore, that the Christian salvation is not a change in God's requirements. It is a change in man so he can conform to God's requirements.

Grace will never abolish the eternal moral law of God. The eternal moral law of God is what God is. This will never change in the smallest particle.

The central purpose for the issuing of Divine grace is to free us from the Law of Moses. We now are free to follow the Spirit of God into the program of moral transformation. This the Law of Moses could not accomplish.

We truly are in need of a reformation of Christian thinking. Imagine! We are picturing God's grace as the means of enabling us to have fellowship with God while we are living in our sinful nature. We ought to know better than this!

Divine grace is the means God has given us through the Lord Jesus Christ so we can become new creations of righteous behavior-filled with iron righteousness, fiery holiness, and stern obedience to the Father. We are to be real saints, not saints by imputation.

I guess we all know this in our hearts. But somehow this tremendous misunderstanding of the Apostle Paul has deluded us until we have the present moral confusion in the churches of America.

What will it take to open our eyes to what is written in the New Testament? I do not know. But I am fully persuaded God is about to work wonders among us so we will have churches filled with godly disciples instead of lukewarm churchgoers.

When this renewal takes place, and I believe the revival will be worldwide, the world will be compelled to acknowledge that the Christian people serve the true and living God.

As it is now we are termed "the great Satan" because of the moral filth that is issuing from the sewer pipe called "Hollywood."

We Christians may fret about the river of moral filth, and bewail its existence. And we should. But God is more concerned that His people turn from the grace-Heaven-rapture delusion and begin to serve Him in righteousness and holiness.

Let each one of us dedicate himself or herself to the revival of righteous behavior that is so needed among the Christian people in the United States of America.

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)