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NASB | Ephesians 3:6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ephesians 3:6 [it is this:] that the Gentiles are now joint heirs [with the Jews] and members of the same body, and joint partakers [sharing] in the [same divine] promise in Christ Jesus through [their faith in] the good news [of salvation]. |
Bible Question:
Dear Joe, I agree that justification is a legal declaration, but that does not mean that it is not practical or real. You rightly speak of our records of wrong and Christ's record of righteousness switching places. So, in practical terms, I am declared righteous before God. This means that that is how God sees me, right? It would not benefit me in the least if God declared me righteous and then said, "Well, Bill, I've declared you righteous, but you're not really that way. I'm just pretending that you are for legal purposes." God, brother, does not pretend. God does not see something that is not there. God's view is truth. If God declares you righteous, it is because that is how He sees you -righteous. He declares you righteous because that is what He makes you, not because He is pretending. Say that I stand before God guilty of all my sin. God says, "Bill, the wages of sin is death and that is what you deserve. My standard is complete righteousness and you do not meet it. So I sentence you to death and you will be separated from Me forever." Then, from the sidelines, Christ speaks up and says, "Father, because I love Bill, I will take Bill's sentence. You may declare Me guilty in his place and exact his death sentence upon Me...but in return, because I am innocent and righteous, You must declare Bill innocent and righteous." God, being a just Judge, says that that trade is equitable. So Christ takes my sin and punishment and God declares me innocent and righteous. Now, when I leave that chamber, am I innocent and righteous in God's sight? Christ was made to be sin that I might become His righteousness, right? To imply that just because a truth is a legal declaration, that it is not practical is an insult to the judge and jury. If a judge and jury finds that an accused person is not guilty of a crime and they make that pronouncement 'not guilty', then that person is for all purposes, legally, practically, positionally, experientially 'not guilty.' The very reason that the accused is not guilty is because the jury or judge has made that determination. He is pronounced 'not guilty' because that is what he is, not because the judge and jury are pretending or 'just see Him that way.' Can I ask, out of curiosity, how righteous are you, Joe? If, perchance, God called you home right now, only the righteous can enter heaven, right? So how righteous are you right now on Oct 14, 2001? By Bible, not my church, not my pastor, not DTS, not dispensationalism, says that righteousness is a gift - Rom 5:17. Joe, have you received that gift? If you have received it, how can you make yourself more righteous than what Christ has made you? By Bible, not my church, not my pastor, not DTS, not dispensationalism, says that Christ's obedience has made me righteous - Rom 5:19. When does that happen, in your opinion? By Bible, not my church, not my pastor, not DTS, not dispensationalism, says that I have become the righteousness of God in Christ - 2 Cor 5:21. If I am in Christ, then I am what He is. Are you in Him, Joe? If so, how righteous are you? By Bible, not my church, not my pastor, not DTS, not dispensationalism, says that my new self has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth - Eph 4:24. Was your new self (2 Cor 5:17) created this way, Joe, or are you seeking to establish your own righteousness? By Bible, not my church, not my pastor, not DTS, not dispensationalism, says that my righteousness is not from my own works but that I have received it through faith in Christ. It comes FROM God to me, not from me because of my works - Phil 3:9. Joe, if you are not currently righteous, why not? It is a gift, it is free, it comes from Christ (not the Law), He made you that way. Have you received it? Righteous in Christ, Bill Mc |
Bible Answer: Bill: These are great questions, and were addressed between Martin Luther and the Catholic Church during the Protestant Reformation. You write: "So, in practical terms, I am declared righteous before God. This means that that is how God sees me, right?" God sees me clothed in Christ's righteousness (cf. Zechariah 3). He knows that there is no righteousness in my own standing, but I have a FOREIGN righteousness, a righteousness not my own. You would agree that God still realizes that we sin, right? He would not be omniscient if He couldn't "see" that. You wrote: "It would not benefit me in the least if God declared me righteous and then said, 'Well, Bill, I've declared you righteous, but you're not really that way. I'm just pretending that you are for legal purposes.'" This was precisely Rome's argument against Luther. They accused him of fabricating a "legal fiction." However, as Luther stated, God is not pretending that we are righteous in ourselves. God looks at Christ's sacrifice as sufficient payment for our sins, and Christ's righteousness as our own. That is not to say that we are PRACTICALLY righteous, because you and I and God know that we still commit sins on a painfully frequent basis. This is what Luther meant by the phrase "simul iustus et peccator" -- at the same time just and a sinner. We have been declared righteous, but we have not yet been MADE righteous. Being forgiven does not make us intrinsically better, although the Spirit of God works within us to gradually make us more like Christ in practice -- sanctification. I agree wholeheartedly that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone through Christ alone. Yet again I emphatically state that the Protestant Reformation was anything but a defense of works-righteousness. I simply disagree with the anti-Reformation view of Rome that we are actually, instantly transformed into righteous people rather than declared so on the basis of Christ's righteousness. To answer your question, on October 14, I am presented before God as righteous by Him in whom I have placed my faith. I am more intrisically righteous, thanks to the Spirit's work within me, than I was on the day of my conversion; and I look forward to being truly righteous in my own right when I am glorified before my holy God. --Joe! |