Lesson for September 8, 2019
The Integrity of God – Lesson 13
Divine Essence (cont’d)
Justification
The Greek word for justification is “dikaiosis” and means “to declare righteous” or “to be acquitted from guilt.” Justification is one half of God’s holiness, righteousness being the other half. Justification is the function or action of God’s holiness and righteousness is the principle or standard of God’s holiness. God’s justice carries out the judicial sentences pronounced by God’s righteousness.
At the moment of salvation, a person is justified by God because His righteousness is credited to the believer’s account. Justification means vindication (cleared and set free). Because of the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ, a believer is vindicated or set free from all charges against him. The penalty for personal sins and Adam’s original sin was paid by Jesus Christ so that the believer’s debt is now paid in full. The obligation that God’s righteousness (the standard of God’s holiness) demanded with regard to sin, was satisfied by the justice of God (the action of God’s holiness) at the Cross. (Romans 3:28, 5:1; Galatians 3:24)
It was the work of Christ on the Cross that completely satisfied (propitiated) the justice and the righteousness of God. Once God’s justice and righteousness were satisfied, He was justified in declaring anyone who believed in Christ to be righteous. At salvation, the believer is said to be “freely justified by His grace.” Justification, like righteousness, is a grace function of God, which means we cannot earn it, nor do we deserve it. (Romans 5:8-9; 9:30-32; I John 2:2)
Justification is the provision by God to solve the problem of man’s sinful condition. God’s justice had to find a way to deal with sin without compromising His perfect character. God’s love provided the answer in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Since Christ had no sin of His own to pay for, He was qualified to pay the penalty of sin (spiritual death) for the entire human race. (II Corinthians 5:21)
It is the imputation of God’s righteousness to the believer that guarantees him an eternal relationship with God and qualifies him to live eternally. Imputation means that God credits to your account something that properly belongs to another. In this case, God credits the righteousness of Christ to your account because at salvation you were justified and placed in union with Him (Baptism of the Holy Spirit). (Romans 3:22; II Corinthians 5:21)
As believers in Christ, our outward production justifies us before unbelievers. As Christ’s representative on earth, people judge us by what we say and what we do. It is through divine production that we “vindicate” ourselves before others. The verse from the Book of James 2:26, “faith without works is dead” means that faith in Christ without divine production is useless or vain in the eyes of the world. Only through producing the character of Jesus Christ (divine production) can a believer be justified before others. The context throughout the Book of James is directed to those who lack mercy toward others, are judgmental of others and are prejudice and show partiality. For Christians who exhibit these characteristics, their faith is useless because Bible doctrine has not transformed their thinking. Only faith (believing the Word of God) that is exercised(applied) will transform a believer’s thinking, attitudes and actions. Exercising your faith means making the truth of God’s Word part of your consciousness, your frame of reference, your norms and standards and then properly applying it.
It is the responsibility of each one of us to properly represent our Savior. We must all ask ourselves, “What kind of representative am I?” There is a great deal of information with regard to proper representation in the Bible. The Book of James, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives us a clear picture of our responsibilities as ambassadors for Christ.
Proper representation of Christ to the world begins with Divine Viewpoint Thinking (thinking like Christ thought). Others cannot see our thinking. However, they can see the results of our thinking. Our thinking is evident in both what we say, our attitudes and how we act. “Out of the abundance of the heart (mind) the mouth speaks” and “As a man thinks in his heart (mind) so is he.” In Romans 12:1-2 we are commanded to change our thinking from human viewpoint to divine viewpoint by presenting ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. Sacrificial living means setting aside anything in your life that would distract you or keep you from the execution of the Christian Way of Life. God says that this is your reasonable or logical service. Why? Because you cannot be the kind of representative of Jesus Christ that God wants you to be until you are motivated to do what He commands. (Matthew 12:33-37; Proverbs 23:7)
Love
God’s love is always based on His integrity. All of God’s attributes work together as one cohesive system designed to empower believers in the execution of His plan, purpose and will. Therefore, divine love cannot operate independently of God’s integrity. Many believers today have “created” God in their personal image. They often ascribe to God their own superficial, emotional human love and call it “the love of God.” Human love and God’s love are not the same thing. God is not emotional, human love is emotional. God is not sentimental about us. He does not love us because we are “lovable.” God loves believers because they possess the righteousness of God. And God does not need someone to love nor did He create mankind for that purpose. God does not possess love, He is love! (I John 4:7-13)
God is the source of love for believers and we take our precedence for loving others from Jesus Christ.
I John 4:7-13 teaches Christian love, therefore, only Christians can exhibit God’s love (born of God). And only by knowing the doctrine of impersonal love can the believer properly apply it. Impersonal love is how we regard others and often involves being tolerant of others despite their behavior, their personality or their beliefs. Our attitude should always be the same that Christ exhibited toward others. The ultimate demonstration of impersonal love was Christ’s attitude on the Cross when He said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:24)
God has not only provided eternal salvation for believers, He has also given them a system by which to live the Christian life. John 3:16 tells us about the love that God has for the entire human race that caused Him to send His uniquely born (only begotten) Son to provide eternal life for those who believe in Christ. John 10:10 tells us about the life that God wants all believers to live after salvation. Only within God’s power system can a believer enjoy the abundant life spoken of by Jesus in this verse.
The Greek word for propitiation is “hilasmos” and means to appease the wrath of an offended party or to satisfy the fair demands of someone that has been offended. The perfect substitutionary payment by Jesus Christ for sin propitiated (satisfied) the righteousness of God. As deity, Christ was not able to sin and as human, He was able not to sin. Therefore, He went to the Cross in a state of sinless perfection. We must remember that Christ in His humanity could have sinned and was tempted to do so on many occasions. In His humanity, He endured much greater temptations and testing than we will ever face, and yet He was able to refrain from any form of sin (even mental attitude sin).
Eternal Life
Eternity applied to God means He has always existed and always will exist. Therefore, He is eternal life. He has always existed totally apart from time. God is not subject to time, because He is the cause of time. Both time and space are both objects of His creation. God transcends all creation including time, therefore, has always existed.God does not need to be chronological as we do. (Romans 4:17)Time, which is finite, has both a beginning and an end.Eternity, which is infinite, has no beginning and no end. (Isaiah 44:24; II Corinthians 4:6; Ephesians 1:19-21, 3:20; Hebrews 1:3)
Eternal life is God’s life imputed (credited) to the believer’s human spirit (its home) at the moment of salvation. This imputation of eternal life occurs simultaneously with the imputation of the human spirit. We possess eternal life the very moment we trust Christ as Savior. Eternal life has more to do with eternity than life on earth and it is the life of God that creates the capacity to receive and appreciate eternal rewards. Since it is God Who imputes eternal life to the believer, it is a matter of grace. Therefore, eternal life is not deserved, nor can it be earned. This means that anyone who has believed in Christ for salvation (whether they are living their spiritual life or not) possesses eternal life. It also means that all believers are secure in Christ forever. (John 1:4, 5:25-26, 11:25-26; 14:6; I John 5:11-13)
Another result of the imputation of eternal life to the believer is the guarantee of a resurrection body. Theologically we call this Ultimate Sanctification and it will occur at the Rapture of the Church. This resurrection body is said to be like that of Christ’s resurrection body. This means believers will no longer possess a sin nature, and therefore they are no longer able to produce human good and no longer able to commit sin. In our resurrection bodies we will be able to produce only divine good. The imputation of eternal life assures believers of an eternal relationship with God. (Philippians 3:21; I Thessalonians 4:13-17; I Corinthians 15:51-57; I John 3:2)
Eternal life means living in a state of eternal peace and happiness for every believer regardless of his eternal rewards. Some believers will reign over cities and some will not, but we all will live in magnificent “mansions.” Though our primary motivation for the execution of the Christian Way of Life should always be our personal love for God, knowing that there are degrees of reward should also motivate our advance to spiritual maturity. In God’s system of reward and blessing, believers must never forget that proper motivation and proper protocol are the keys to successfully appropriating them. A right thing must always be done in a right way in order to be right.