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NASB | Romans 4:6 just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 4:6 And in this same way David speaks of the blessing on the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: |
Subject: Imputed Righteousness |
Bible Note: "I agree. We are not always righteous in practice. But it is not practice (label this works) that makes us righteous in the first place. It is received as a gift - here and now." Jesus Christ is righteous. How do you know? Now look at us. We are not righteous for the very same reason that Jesus is righteous. We still transgress God's law; we still fall short of His glory. Righteous beings do not sin. Christ's righteousness is indeed a gift, but that is different from saying that because Christ is righteous that we have become righteous. The righteousness that will get me into heaven is Christ's own given to me, not any righteousness that God has wrought in me. That is what the Reformers referred to as an "alien righteousness," a righteousness not our own. I am not going over Romans 5:19 again. See that we WERE made sinners bacause of Adam. It does not sy we WERE made righteous because of Christ, but rather that we WILL BE made righteous. That is glorification, not justification. Grammar and sequence of tenses does influence how we are to understand God's word. You wrote: "'Nowhere does Scripture tell us that our new natures are perfect ones." Not true, Joe. 2 Pet 1:4, Eph 4:24." I already addressed Ephesians 4, so no need to re-hash that one. "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." --2 Peter 1:2-4 His divine power has granted us everything we need through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Being made partakers of the divine nature is tied to having escaped the corruption of the world. There are two ways of looking at that, but neither one support your view. The first is to say that we are already a partaker of the divine nature, which does not mean that we ourselves have become divine in nature. We are partakers of the Holy Spirit as Christians. That is the divine nature which gives us everything pertaining to life and godliness. The having escaped the world can refer to something being as good as done (therefore referring to the assurance of the believer). The other view is that once we have escaped from the world that we will be make fully a partaker of Christ's divine nature. While both I think hold elements of truth, I lean toward the first one. Neither says that we have been made divine in nature (i.e. righteous). You wrote: "Amen! Jesus in us works through us to perform the righteous acts for which were we recreated! - Eph 2:10." Agreed. Why is it necessary for Jesus to work through us if our natures are already righteous as He is? You wrote: "Your new spirit DOES NOT make you want to sin so that you can blame it on the flesh." Again, I agree. And yet we still do sin. The righteous do not struggle and fail in sin. Jesus never lost out to sin. That is true righteousness, and one day I will be completely free from sin. That isn't today, because I am not righteous. "That is the view of a babe in Christ who does not know the Christ is in him. Christ is us changes our WANT TO. I no longer WANT TO do what I used to do." Very biblical. However, righteousness is more than "not wanting" to sin, and you have to admit you like sin less than when you were first converted. It is a gradual and growing hatred of our sin that we experience. "That doesn't mean that I am sinless in action or thought. But I am no longer a sinner. I am a saint because God has made me so." God has declared you so because of Christ. He is in the process of making you so (Philippians 2:13), and one day you will assuredly be so. "Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus." --Philippians 3:12 --Joe! |