Before I begin, I would like to emphasize that we are one body in Christ and the same Holy Spirit is at work in all of us. Many believers already live out the truths detailed below, even without necessarily understanding a doctrine. However, understanding of the doctrine helps bring peace to our hearts, rest from our self-effort, greater revelation of Christ and unbridled joy.
Gospel of Grace 101
To summarize the grace message in one sentence, the good news that is expounded in Grace teaching is that the finished work of Christ is not only for our salvation, but also for daily lives. Our lives in the present moment are found hidden in Christ (Col 2:2) and as such God sees us as He sees Christ: Holy, Blameless and as righteous Sons and Daughters unconditionally loved. If God sees us as He sees Christ, then there are some wonderful revelations given to us that we will look at.1) We are already Holy – (Holy means to be sanctified and set apart).
Growing up, I never thought of myself as Holy. I thought of God as Holy, but me? I’d try, but would see myself as quite far from it. The understanding I held was that the Holy Spirit would help me as I tried to be Holy. But when we look at scriptures and see how Paul addresses the Churches at the beginning of his letters, he writes to the “Saints”. “To the Saints who are at Ephesus, To the saints ... at Colossae.” The word for “Saints” is from the Greek 'hagiois' which means: set apart, holy and sacred. Paul is not just practicing positive confession, thinking that if he says ‘holy’ enough times eventually the congregants would get the message and become holy. Paul is actually referring to what Jesus did in sanctifying us and making us Holy: "And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Hebrews 10:10
2) Not only are we Holy, but we are also the righteousness of God in Christ.
Rather than try to earn righteousness or be righteous by living properly, we have Jesus’ imputed righteousness. It is a gift. Romans 5:17 “For if by the transgressions of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One Jesus Christ.” An understanding of imputed righteousness was quite liberating. We are righteous by faith and not by our efforts, or our ability to keep any law or measure of good Christian rule (Phil 3:9). In the same way our sins were put on Jesus (which we all believe) we took on His righteousness (2 Cor 5:21). When we read chapters in Romans 4, 5 and 6, it seems clear that God has declared us righteous. But somehow in our reluctance to accept actually being righteous, many believers will call themselves ‘positionally’ righteous. This thinking is an unusual and unbiblical twist because it implies that we are somehow deceiving God. If God declares us righteous, do we think we know something about ourselves that He doesn't? Are we somehow hiding our true selves from God? Sometimes it is not easy for us to think we are righteous, which bring us to the next point.
3) The Holy Spirit convicts us of Righteousness (not of our sins).
Jesus made several specific mentions to the promise of the coming Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s role is as teacher, helper, comforter and convicter. But the conviction part often brings confusion. I used to believe that the Holy Spirit would convict me and let me know when I was sinning (as if I didn't already know myself). However, when we read the passage of scripture where the idea of the ‘sin-pointing’ Holy Spirit comes from, the context brings clarity. John 16:8-10 says “And He (the Holy Spirit), when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;” The passage clearly states: The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin (singular). The sin (singular) is that they (someone other than believers) do not believe in Jesus. That is it! The passage definitely does not say the Holy Spirit is active in the believer’s life convicting of sins. But the second part of the verse is equally important. The Holy Spirit convicts us (believers) of Jesus' righteousness when He goes to the Father and we can’t see Him. In fact, the Holy Spirit is always and continuously convicting us saying “You are the Righteousness of God in Christ” “You are a new creation” “You are God’s beloved child” The Holy Spirit in proper light is a wonderful comforter – not a nag!
However, there are some questions often raised: If we are holy and righteous, what about when we sin? Do we cease being righteous? Should we not ask for forgiveness? Interestingly...
4) Christ has already forgiven us.
At one point in my walk, I believed that if I sinned and died before I asked forgiveness I would go straight to hell (some preacher’s words still echo in my mind from Ezekiel: ‘the soul that sinneth shall surely die!’). Then I started to believe that as long as I had a regular scheduled prayer time in the evenings, I had one day’s grace stored before I had to pray again. Yet still that wasn't good enough because I knew sometimes it didn't seem practical. Then I started to believe that as long as God knew that I would eventually ask for forgiveness, if I died I would be ok. But my thinking was focused on me and my act of asking. What I realize now is that my asking for forgiveness is not what forgives me. Instead, rather than ask, I gladly receive His forgiveness. If I feel something bothering my heart, I thank God that I AM forgiven by the shed blood of Christ. Consider this: Jesus pronounced the forgiveness of sins to people who didn't even ask. (The paralyzed man in Matt 9:2), Jesus prayed "Father forgive them" for soldiers who didn't repent (Luke 23:34 - and we know Jesus' prayers are answered ) and Colossians 2:13 states “... He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions”
When I first heard the teaching of already being forgiven a popular verse came to mind. 1 John 1:9 seems to imply that confession is required prior to being forgiven. But as we look at this passage it becomes apparent that John is writing to non-believers. Some commentators will mention that John is addressing Gnostic teachings, which infiltrated the churches and denied sin. But even without the commentary if we look at the context in verses 6 through 8, John is writing to those who are ‘walking in darkness’ and ‘saying they have no sin’ which is not what a believer would do. The word for confession used is the same as ‘to acknowledge’. John is looking to have the Gnostics acknowledge sin. Of course if you don’t believe in sin, then you see nothing to be forgiven of. But if you accept that you have sinned, then you have Jesus’ sacrifice to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you.
Some will ask, if we are already forgiven what about the law? What is its purpose if not to point out sin?
5) We are dead to the law of Moses (including the ten commandments) and do not have any relation to it as believers.
There was nothing more confusing growing up as a Christian than understanding the purpose of the law. When we read all the books in the Old Testament we realized that certainly many things were not applicable today. So what many of us thought was that some parts of the Law of Moses were done away with, ie. ceremonial laws, but other parts remained like the moral laws (10 commandments). However I couldn't understand scriptures like James 2:10 and Galatians 5:3 that present the law as a composite whole and coupled with other passages like Romans 7:4 and Galatians 3:25 clearly portray the whole law as not for us as believers today. Instead, the law was added in times past in order that sin would abound (Rom 5:20), and through the abounding of sin clearly demonstrate our insufficiency, inability and total need for a saviour. Consequently the law, in accomplishing its purpose, brought condemnation and death which directly contrasts the Spirit which brings life (2 Cor 3:6-7) So if we are not under the law today, how do we know not to kill anyone? Will we all start stealing? But the question we ask: Is the law really keeping us from killing someone or stealing? (hopefully not!) If we had no law, would we be running wild? The Bible tells us that the law was not made for the righteous, instead for the criminals and the people who would be bad anyways. (1 Tim 1:9) The New Testament writings make a clear case that we are no longer under the mosaic law but many will ask: Are there not more commands in the New Testament? What about all those instructions to the churches? That bring us to point 6.
6) We do good works out of a heart of love because of who we already are, not to become someone.
Some of us when we read New Testament scripture passages start to see a bunch of commands and think that following the commands is how to become holy, or righteous, or how to live so we can be a good Christian. These become the ‘new testament laws.’ However, this is a twisted perspective. Having a mindset that we have to follow commands to be a Christian is one of those cart-before-the-horse scenarios and the distinction is not just a matter of semantics. Now some may dismiss the difference because the end results are the same. For instance, if you set out to feed the homeless from a sense of obligation and service or, if you set out because your heart is overflowing with love, in both instances the homeless will still get fed by you. In some cases the end result may very well be the same, but we can miss God’s whole purpose in our hearts. More so than the end result, God cares about how we get there. (ie, God loves a cheerful giver, not just the giver but the cheerful part is thrown in!) But God is not telling us this to be some tyrant, instead He shares because he cares about how we are doing, our state, our struggle. He wants us to walk and live this life from a place of resting in Him.
Colossians 2:6 says “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him having been firmly rooted, being built up in Him and established in your faith” Our walking in Him is from our firm rooting in faith. If we look at the structure of the New Testament writings a common pattern emerges. We see a “Because.... Therefore...” structure. Because of who we are, therefore this experience expresses in our lives. For example, in the book of Ephesians the author spends the first 3 chapters unveiling our riches in Christ and then in the fourth chapter begins to detail how the new life lives out.
With good works flowing out of our new nature, what about sharing the gospel? How does that look?
7) The Good news of the Gospel is that not only has God reconciled us, (believers) but He has also reconciled the world.
The Bible teaches that Jesus is the Lamb of God who took the sins of the whole world (not just believers - John 1:29, 1 John 2:4). 2 Corinthians 5:19 says “That God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation”. The Good News we share is that Jesus has paid for everyone’s sin. The world is already reconciled to God and He is not holding anger or sin against anyone. Not only has God forgiven the world (remember point 4 ) but also reconciled the world. Reconciliation is even better than just being forgiven. You can forgive someone but never have to see them again. Reconciliation means God is there and has come to everyone, pursuing, knocking at the door and waiting, ready. When we receive Him, we receive His life. With this understanding, I realize that I don’t have to fault the world for their sins. It would be like telling a blind person to stop being blind. Instead I reveal the Light of Jesus’ Gospel, and the Truth opens blind eyes. In coming to an understanding of the Gospel through grace teaching, I have learned and experienced that the life of a believer is not about striving to be someone or obtain something, but it is about being who we already are and realizing what we already have. It is about resting in Jesus and His great love and enjoying the Divine fellowship for which we were created. Out of who we already are, an abundance of love, joy and good works flow.
