Paul and James on the Same Page

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Paul, in Ephesians 2:8-9)

Faith without works is dead. (James, in James 2:19)

Some have wondered if there is some discrepancy here between Paul and James. Paul says we are saved by grace through faith, not of works. James says that faith without works is dead. Martin Luther, the great Reformer, was all about Paul but could hardly stomach James. Luther infamously called the book of James “a right strawy epistle.”

Faith, not works, is what saves, says Paul. And yet, there are works, and Paul is never very far away from them. In Ephesians 2:9, he declares, “not of works, lest anyone should boast.” But then in verse 10, which invariably follows verse 9, he adds, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Works are not left out of the question. What is left out is boasting — there is never any place for it. No, we are not saved by works. But yes, we are saved for good works. Good works enter the equation not as a means of salvation but as a result of salvation. More importantly, these good works are not our own works but God’s works being produced in us. For we are His workmanship, His new creation in Christ, and the good works He now produces in us reveal Christ in us.

So, for Paul, faith does not leave out works. We can see this again in his letter to the believers of Galatia, in which he is very clear that we are not justified (counted as right with God) by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:16). He is very adamant on this point, as we can see again in Galatians 5:4-5.

You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

If we attempt to be justified by the law and its works, we have fallen away from God’s grace and are alienated from Christ. The only righteousness we can have before God is purely by faith.

And now look at what Paul has to say about this faith in the very next verse: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6 NIV). The NKJV has this as “faith working through love.” The only thing that counts, that has any value or is of any use, is faith expressing itself through love. That is the nature of faith in Christ, the kind of faith that justifies us before God — it expresses itself through love. Faith that does not work through love is dead, which is very like what James says.

Now let’s take a look at what James said. In James 2, he is talking about love, particularly as it relates to showing partiality between rich and poor. His readers have played up to the rich but have dishonored the poor. He admonishes them:

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Loving your neighbor as yourself fulfills the law of God. This is the same thing Paul said in Galatians 5:14. “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” James’ point is that, if you do not love your neighbor as yourself, you have broken the law just as much as if you committed adultery or murdered someone. His exhortation, then, is to live as those who will be judged by the “law of liberty,” which turns out to be the “law of love,” because it is fulfilled by love. No mercy will be shown to those who have not shown mercy — love — to others.

James continues. In this next section, his concern is still about showing love and mercy, but now he begins talking about it as a matter of faith:

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. (James 2:14-18)

The example he brings is about faith expressing itself through love. It demonstrates no love to say to one who is naked and destitute, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” but give them no help to do so. There is nothing of faith in that because there is nothing of love in it. It is dead. Useless. Counts for nothing. You might as well just bury that thing because it does not do anybody any good, not even you.

The nature of faith is that it works — it expresses itself through love. And now James assesses the kind of faith that cannot be shown without works:

You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? (James 2:20)

Whatever belief in God the devils may have cannot rightfully be called faith. It has no saving value, or else even the demons would end up well. It is dead. And so it is with faith that does not express itself through works of love.

James then offers Abraham and Rahab as examples of faith expressing itself through works:

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (James 2:21-26)

See how the faith of Abraham and Rahab expressed itself through their actions. Their actions demonstrated the reality of their faith and in that way completed their faith. But a faith that does not result in works of love is not just incomplete — it is dead. Son, then:

• “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” — Paul
• “Faith without works is dead.” — James

James and Paul end up saying the same thing. They may say it in different ways, but they are both on the same page.

(See also, Faith That Expresses Itself Through Love and Faith Without Love is Dead)

Random Thoughts

Some thoughts culled from my random file. About faith, love, life and relationship with God. Some have occurred to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in interaction with others. Some are aphoristic and avuncular. I didn’t know what else to do with them, so I put them here. For your edification, inspiration and/or motivation — or your money cheerfully refunded.

• Some people are still living in the “before” part of their testimony. But keep praying for them, because God knows how to get them to the “after” part — and it will be breath-taking.
• What counts, the apostle Paul said, is faith expressing itself through love. God is love, and faith in God looks like love.
• The gospel of Jesus Christ is not an ideology, it is an invitation to a relationship with God that changes the world.
• Christ does not offer us a legal contract but a covenant relationship. It is not like buying a car but like getting married — we belong to Him and He belongs to us. Which is why the Church is called the “bride” of Christ.
• Evangelism without relationship is just propaganda.
• Faith is not a doctrine but a relationship. It is not about a proposition but about a Person.
• Faith is learning to be loved by God ... and to love God in return.
• Faith is learning to live in the faithfulness of God toward us, and so we become more faithful toward God.
• Faith in Christ is not working up a sense of certainty about Christ. It is giving your life to Christ, entrusting yourself into His hands.
• Gave up “trying harder” years ago. Started loving God more instead. Happy ever since.
• If you see the glass as half-empty, perhaps that is an opportunity for you to help fill it.
• The nature of faith is that it can be seen in the life of the person who has it. You can tell a lot about what a person believes by looking at how they live.
• When you know Jesus, the judgment of God does not come to condemn you, it comes to condemn everything that stands against you.
• The judgment of God shakes out things that cannot be established and establishes things that cannot be shaken.
• “Set your mind on things above.” That’s how you can see what the will of God being done in heaven looks like. Then you will be able to see where the earth is out of alignment with heaven and call for the will of God to be done here just as in heaven.
• Today, Lord, fill my mind with Your thoughts, fill my mouth with Your words, fill my heart with Your affections. Amen.

More random thoughts …

Faith is an Ongoing Conversation

For by grace you have been saved through faith. (Ephesians 2:8)

Faith is not a static moment of belief but an ongoing conversation with God. It is not a single point, a punctiliar moment of assent to some proposition about God. It is a personal relationship with God. And because it is personal, it is dynamic.

The nature of the faith through which we are saved in Ephesians 2:8 is that it is an ongoing and personal relationship with God. It is not an insulated or isolated moment. It may begin in a moment, but then it continues — an ongoing relationship with God in which we entrust ourselves (not just our “sweet by and by”) into His hands.

This does not require that our faith must reach some standard of perfection, however. Few, if any, have ever had such a perfect faith. Even the saints have plenty of moments of doubt and disappointment, and even disobedience. But even in all of that, faith remains and the relationship endures. And God brings us back to Himself.

Abraham dickered with God. Jacob wrestled with God. Moses argued with God. Jonah was angry with God. But it was all faith nonetheless, because they were bringing it to God and putting it all on Him.

The often-seen attempt to reduce faith down to a single saving moment usually makes it a matter of mental assent to some proposition about God, and all that matters is that split-second of belief. Some have protested that this is more than mental assent, that it is “believing God.” But no matter how they explain it, it always ends up sounding like mental assent to a proposition about God, that He did this or will do that.

However, faith is more than a moment of assent. And it is more than a moment of “believing God.” It is trust. The devils believe that there is a God (James 2:9), but that is not nearly the same thing as trusting Him. Faith, on the other hand, is entrusting ourselves — who we are, and our lives as well as our destinies — into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. And remaining there in relationship with Him.

The Diversity of Our Gifts

Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. (Genesis 2:19 NIV)

In Genesis 2:19, God sets newly minted Adam to naming the animals. What is especially interesting to me about this is that God did not tell Adam what to name the animals. He simply observed to see what Adam would name them. God left it up to Adam what they would be called.

Adam was created in the image of God and to be like God. Then God puffed His breath into Adam’s nostrils and Adam became a “living being” (Genesis 2:7). The Targum Onkelos, an ancient Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, understands this verse as saying that man became a “speaking spirit.” God Himself spoke — and thereby spoke all things into existence — then He created Adam with the ability to speak, too.

Then God gave Adam the assignment of naming the animals. So now Adam spoke, and whatever he called each animal, that became its name. Adam’s words not only identified, they defined. They were creative.

God has given each one of us creative gifts. Whatever those are, they will look different on each one of us. If you or I had been in Adam’s place, we might each have named the animals differently, and then that is what they would have been called.

God created us to be creative, and in that God-given capacity, there is a rich diversity. The Spirit of God has gifted and called each of us into the ministry of Christ, and we each manifest those gifts and callings in a diversity of ways. It is tempting to think that, because you and I are called to certain ministries and have learned to exercise them in particular ways, others are also called to those same ministries and those same methods. But we each wear our gifts and callings differently. So we cannot expect that I must wear it the same as you, or that you must wear it the same as me.

Some of that is because of how differently God has made each of us. Some of it is because of the circumstances God has placed us in. Some of it is because of the season we each find ourselves in. Some of it is because of how, and by whom, we have been trained and taught in the Christian life. Some of it is because we are still in the process of being discipled in this or that area of our faith and life as Christians. And some of it might be because God has given each of us His breath and His heartbeat, and He is standing by to see what we will do with it — what we will create and how we will call things — just as He watched Adam’s creativity at work in naming the animals.

Each of us has not only been given a gift for the sake of the Church and the world, but each one of us is a gift that God has given to the Church and to the world. We are divine gifts meant for each other. The diversity and creativity of the gifts we have been given, and the gifts we are, help us understand more of the many-sided, multi-colored wisdom of God.

It may seem like the diversity we have represented among us is not always complementary. And perhaps it isn’t. It can be an uncomfortable thing at times, but perhaps that is not necessarily a bad thing — merely a thing. The ultimate thing is the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace that we have in Jesus Christ, which transcends the diversity of our gifts, our callings, our varied understandings of the faith and experiences in Christ, bringing them all together into one.

The Name That is Above Everything

I will worship toward Your holy temple,
    And praise Your name
For Your lovingkindness and Your truth;
    For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.

(Psalm 138:2)

A few years back, I wrote about this verse and how different versions handle it. Some have the Lord’s name exalted above His word. Others have His word exalted above His name. Yet others have them exalted equally.

Recently, a friend pointed out something interesting about this verse in the Septuagint (LXX), which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures and dates back to the 2nd century BC. I had not thought to check this passage out in that translation. But checking out Old Testament Scriptures in the Septuagint is something I do more of these days, especially considering that the New Testament leans heavily on that version — it was the Bible of the early Church.

A simple translation of Alfred Rahlfs’ text of this verse in the LXX is: “For You magnified Your word over every name.” Another translation (Brenton’s), apparently using a text of the LXX that is a bit different, puts it this way: “For thou hast magnified thy holy name above every thing.” When I saw these, I was immediately put in mind of two New Testament passages:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

What put itself together in my mind was this: Jesus, the Word who was in the beginning with God — and is God — has been highly exalted and given “the name which is above every name.” In other words, God has exalted His Word above every name, and the name of Jesus above everything!

The Grace That Transforms Us

Whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29)

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1)

The mystery … is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:26-27)

For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Philippians 2:13 NIV)

The grace of God leads us neither to legalism nor lawlessness. What this grace does do is change us, not from the outside but from the inside. God, in His grace, not only justifies us, He also sanctifies us, and is constantly at work in us, conforming us to the image of His Son. It is not about rules and regulations, which could never produce the life of Christ in us, but about relationship — God dwelling in us by His own Spirit.

A grace that does not change us, from the inside out, is not a grace that comes from God. This change is not a transformation we effect in ourselves in response to God’s grace but a transformation God effects in us by His grace. Our only response is faith — entrusting ourselves into His hands.

Reading Scripture With the Church

The body of Christ, though it has many parts, is one. So we never really read the Scriptures on our own but with the rest of the Church. We read with the Church as it has existed through the centuries, as well as with local church community we are part of today. If we think of ourselves as though we were alone on some little desert island, reading the Scriptures by ourselves, we are in danger of becoming our own little cult. But reading the Scriptures together with the Church, as it is found in all times and places throughout history, can keep us from falling into that trap.

How the Church has read and understood and talked about Scripture is actually what Church tradition is about. When Jude wrote his letter to warn believers about false teachers, he appealed to the faith that had been “delivered to the saints.”

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. (Jude 3)

The Greek word for “delivered” is paradidomi and refers to what has been given into the hands of another — that is, handed down. That is exactly what tradition is, something that has been handed down. The Latin translation of paradidomi in Jude 3 is traditae, which is where we get our English word “tradition.” The faith that Jude had in mind was the teaching that was handed down from the apostles. That tradition of apostolic teaching is preserved for us in the Scriptures.

Over time, the Church’s understanding of that tradition developed as Christians continued to explore what it means and how to explain it for their generations. In the first few centuries, for example, the Church was not altogether clear about how to talk about the relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or about how the humanity of the Lord Jesus relates to His divinity. It was not until the AD 4th century that the Church came together and articulated some important understandings about these things. These conclusions were based on the Scriptures but also on the tradition of how the Church understood the Scriptures from the beginning.

This means that, although the elements concerning the Trinity have always been present in Scripture, we can now identify them more easily and see how Scripture supports the doctrine of the Trinity, because the early Church Fathers labored diligently to help us understand what was handed down from the beginning. Could we have figured it all out on our own? Perhaps. However, I am not confident that we would have. So I am thankful for the tradition that has brought it out clearly for us.

We should each read the Scriptures for ourselves, of course, but the truth is that we never read the them by ourselves. First, we have the Holy Spirit with us to illuminate the Scriptures to us. But God has also given us the rest of the body of Christ, to read the Scriptures together with us. That body, the Church, has been reading the Scriptures for the past 2,000 years — long before you and I arrived on the scene — and our own reading of the Scriptures today has largely been shaped by how the Church has understood them from the beginning.

Of course, we are each bound to follow our conscience and convictions. That, too, has been always been an important value in the Church. However, it is not only individual conscience and conviction that is important but also the sensus fidelium, the “sense of the faithful” — how the body of Christ as a whole has read the Scriptures and understood the Christian faith.

Though it is possible that God may use the conscience and convictions of one to correct the understanding of everyone else, it is more likely that God uses the sensus fidelium, the convictions of the body of Christ as a whole, to help guide the understanding of the individual. Each individual believer has the Holy Spirit who teaches us, but the Holy Spirit often works through means, and one of those means is the gift of teachers He has given to the Church.

So, although we are obliged to follow what we believe to be the leading and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, we do well to pay attention to how the rest of the body of Christ has understood the Scriptures and the Christian faith. It is wisdom to consider carefully how the Church in the early centuries read and understood and talked about the Word in its own context, as well as how later generations read and understood and talked about the Word in their own contexts. It is all part of the larger conversation that has brought the Church, and us with it, to where we are today in our little piece of the conversation, and it will help us understand and talk about the Word in our own contexts.

When we, as part of the body of Christ, do theology or read and interpret the Scriptures, we are always in conversation with tradition. It is not a question of whether we need tradition. The truth is that we cannot get away from it. And I am very thankful for that — I have more confidence in the tradition of the Church that has gone before me for 2,000 years than in my own ability to figure the Christian faith out for myself. If I stray very from what the historic Christian church has long considered orthodox, I should think I had taken a wrong turn somewhere.

Random Thoughts

Some thoughts culled from my random file. Some have occurred to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in interaction with others. Some are aphoristic and avuncular. I didn’t know what else to do with them, so I put them here. For your edification, inspiration and/or motivation — or your money cheerfully refunded.

• Paul tells us to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). He did not leave us the option of just one or the other, truth or love. We must do both. We must speak the truth, but we must do it in love. Truth and love are, first and most importantly, personal — that is, they are about a person. For God is love and Jesus is the Truth (1 John 4:9; John 14:6). So if our communication fails to reflect truth or love, it fails to reflect the Lord Jesus, and we come short of the glory of God.
• Because we’ve been given the sword of the Spirit (the Word of God), the temptation is for us to think that we are supposed to hack away at people with it.
• God is love. He who abandons love abandons God.
• God is love. He who has faith in God has faith in love.
• Jesus saves us with a salvation that truly changes us.
• The cross is the intersection of heaven and earth, of time and eternity, of creation and the Creator.
• When Jacob wrestled with God, who prevailed? Jacob won a blessing … but that was always what God wanted to do for him.
• The world looks for someone to exercise authority and be the “tie-breaker.” Christ looks for those who will submit to each other. Big difference.
• The way of Christ always turns the world on its head. And the world always fights hard against it. Christians often do, too.
• The closer we know the Lord, the more guidance will take care of itself. The better we know His heart, the more we will know what to do.
• We tend to know what we like and like what we know are. Then we are uncomfortable with what we don’t know, and fearful of anyone who knows something we don’t.
• I learned about Christ from the Church and from the Book. But it is because I have met Christ that I have realized that the Church and the Book are true.
• Everyone is a heretic to someone.
• Salvation by grace through faith is a relationship, not a contract. Which means no loopholes, just friendship.

More random thoughts …

The Emotions of God

Is God able to suffer, to be grieved, to experience emotions? He cannot be manipulated, overwhelmed or unexpectedly overcome by emotion, nor is emotion something to which He is involuntarily subject. However, God is fully able to enter into personal relationship with humanity. And in His sovereignty, He is fully able to allow Himself to be emotionally moved — to experience joy, anger, grief, suffering, etc. — by those with whom He is in relationship.

As people who have been created in the image of God, our emotional capacities reflect our likeness to God. So the emotions of God are very real and not merely anthropopathic projections. This is different from speaking of God in anthropomorphic ways (the “hand,” “arm,” “finger,” “eyes” of God, etc.). God is not physical, so to speak of God in terms of physical forms is purely by analogy. However, God is spirit, and the emotions are immaterial qualities (even though they may also have physical manifestations in the human body). So, although we cannot speak of an immaterial being in terms of material characteristics, except by analogy, we can speak directly of an immaterial being in terms of immaterial qualities such as love, joy, grief, etc.

Human emotions are out of whack. They have been affected by the Fall, humanity’s rebellion against God. So they are as much in need of redemption as are human minds — and God’s purpose is not to eliminate our emotions but to renew them, bringing them into line with His own.

God’s emotions are in perfect harmony, perfect alignment, and His work in us is to conform us to the image of the Son, Jesus Christ, in whom the divine emotions are perfectly expressed. That includes our emotions as much as anything else. God has given us the Holy Spirit to bring forth His fruit in us — love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). All these reflect the character and qualities of Christ and can be summed up in one word: love.

Within the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the emotions of God are perfectly balanced and expressed, even apart from God’s relationship to creation and humanity. We can sum up that relationship as love, for God is love. In creating the world, God also chose to love the world — how could He create anything and not extend His love toward it?

When we love others, we are opening ourselves up to them, allowing ourselves to be affected by them. Likewise, in choosing to create and love the world, God opened Himself up to us and allowed Himself to be affected by us. Through the redemption we have in Jesus Christ, and by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us, God is bringing our fallen human emotions into alignment with His own divine emotions, so that, as God is love, we may be love, too.

Friendship With God

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8)

In the Greco-Roman culture of Paul’s day, the language of “grace” and “faith” indicated a particular relationship, the friendship between a patron, or benefactor, and a client, or beneficiary. The patron freely extended his favor and friendship to an individual or a group. Those who trusted him and welcomed his gift entered freely into friendship with him. He became their friend and they became his. Their concerns became his concerns and his concerns became theirs, because they were now friends.

Through Jesus Christ, God freely extends His favor to us, inviting us into friendship with Him. We enter into this friendship through faith in the Lord Jesus, entrusting ourselves into His hands. Now we belong to Him and He belongs to us. Our concerns become His concerns and His concerns become ours. “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,” Peter says, “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7).

This friendship we have with God through Jesus Christ is a participation in the life of God. It is the life of the age to come. It begins for us in this present age but also transcends this age. It is life that is both now and forever, just as God is both now and forever. In a word, this friendship with God is salvation.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith,” Paul says. This salvation is not a contract or an obligation but a relationship with God, a divine friendship that lasts forever. No loopholes, just love.

Not Ashamed to Call Us His Own

For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren. (Hebrews 2:11)

But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:16)

God is not ashamed of those who belong to Him by faith. Even as messed up as we are, God is not ashamed to call us His people. And Jesus is not ashamed to claim us as His brothers and sisters. For we are being sanctified by Him. Notice the tense, “are being sanctified.” That indicates that this process of being sanctified, being transformed as God’s own people, is ongoing. We are a work in progress.

Paul tells us that “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13). In other words, God is not only enabling us to do what pleases Him, He is even creating in us the desire to do what pleases Him. God has no doubt about what the end result will be. As Paul said earlier in his letter to the Jesus believers at Philippi, “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). And God knows exactly what that end result will look like — it will look like Jesus. “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29).

God is currently in the business of shaping us into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we may forever be like Him. And God, who sees the end from the beginning, is happy with that, because He is happy with Jesus. Jesus is happy with that too, which is why He is not ashamed to be “the firstborn among many brethren” and to call us His brothers and sister.

Alive to God, Dead to Sin

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:8-11)

But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:22-23)

The death Jesus died on the cross has become my death, and the life Jesus lives by the resurrection has become my life (Romans 6:8-10). This life of Christ that is now in me is eternal life, the life of the age to come, and it has already begun in me. Even now, in this present age, I am alive to God and dead to sin. And that is how I should always reckon myself (v. 11).

Further, believe it or not, I am no longer a slave to sin but have been set free from it. And now, in Christ, I have become a slave to God, wholly His servant, and alive to Him.

To be clear, this was not my doing but God’s. The work is fully His. The fruit of that work in me is sanctification (holiness) and the result is eternal life, the life of the age to come. It is this very life that changes me, because it is the life of Christ Himself. It is the gift of God that I have in Christ, through faith in Him.

Now, also to be clear, when I speak about no longer being a slave to sin, I mean that sin no longer has any right or power or authority over me. For not only has the penalty of sin been paid but also the power of sin has been broken by the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross. This does not mean that I am no longer able to sin, however, but it does means that I am now able to not sin.

And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:13-14)

Being dead to sin means that I am no longer bound to yield myself as an instrument of unrighteousness. I am now alive to God and can now yield myself to Him as an instrument of righteousness. Sin no longer has “dominion” (Greek, kyrieuo) over me. That is, sin is no longer “lord” (kyrios) over me. God has delivered me from the dominion of darkness and brought me into the kingdom of His Son (Colossians 1:13), and now Christ has dominion over me. Through Him I am now dead to sin and alive to God. And that changes everything.

Chief of Sinners?

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)

In this letter to his protégé, Timothy, Paul refers to himself as the “chief” of sinners. He even uses the present tense — he does not say, “of whom I was chief,” but “of whom I am chief.” But does he mean that he was still sinning in the worst way? Was “chief of sinners” still his condition, even though he was now redeemed and in Christ? Let’s look at this verse in context:

And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:12-15)

Notice that Paul speaks of what he was formerly. A blasphemer, a persecutor and an insolent opponent of Christ is what he used to be before he came to Christ. But is that what he still was now as he wrote this letter to Timothy? Was he still blaspheming God? Still persecuting Christians? Still insolently opposing Christ? Of course not!

Or was he still tempted to blaspheme? Still struggling to refrain from persecuting Christians? Still desiring to oppose Christ? Again, of course not! He is speaking about his old ways, his old behaviors, what he was before he came to faith in Christ.

So when Paul identifies himself in verse 15 as the chief of sinners, he is not talking about his current state in Christ — that would mean that Christ had made no difference in his life, in his behavior or in his desires. What an ineffectual salvation that would be. It would also be contradictory to his teaching elsewhere about the transforming power of God in the life of believers. For example:

• In Romans 12:2, Paul speaks of being not conformed to this present age but being transformed by the renewing of the mind. Shall we suppose that God utterly failed in transforming Paul and renewing his mind?
• In Galatians 5:16, Paul speaks of “walking in the Spirit,” which results in not fulfilling the “lusts of the flesh.” Did Paul miserably fail in that?
• In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul speaks of the “fruit of the Spirit”: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Was the Holy Spirit completely unable to bring forth any of that divine fruit in Paul? Was Paul completely barren of it?
• In Philippians 2:13, Paul reminds the Jesus believers at Philippi, “It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). In other words, God is at work in us enabling us to do what pleases Him. Not only that, but God’s work in us also creates in us the desire to do what pleases Him. Was God thoroughly ineffectual in creating such desire in Paul’s heart, or in giving Paul the power for fulfill it?

The answer to those questions is, of course, No! God did not fail to change Paul. Quite the opposite, the testimony of Acts and the letters of Paul demonstrate that his life was revolutionized by Jesus Christ.
So when Paul speaks of himself as chief of sinners, he is speaking of what he was in his former life. He is not describing his present condition — even though he uses the present tense verb, “am.” But when he identifies himself as chief of sinners, he is saying that nobody is worse than he had been. It is as if he was saying, “I am the record-holder for sinfulness.”

During the recent Olympics, there were a number of records set. Each of the athletes who set them can rightfully boast, “I am the best at ...” But that does not mean that they are each still out on the field performing those record-setting feats. It simply means that no one has surpassed what they have done and broken those records. Likewise, Paul is not saying that he is still sinful in the worst of ways but, rather, that he still holds the record — that nobody is worse than he had been.

Was Paul still capable of sinning? Of course he was, just as all Christians are. But he was not still sinning in the worst of ways, the ways in which he formerly did as a blasphemer, a persecutor of Christians and insolent opponent of Christ. Nor did he struggle with a desire to return to those things. God had done a wonderful work in him, so that as he neared the end of his life he could say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

Random Thoughts

Some thoughts culled from my random file. Some have occurred to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in discussion with others. Some are aphoristic and avuncular. I didn’t know what else to do with them, so I put them here. For your edification, inspiration and/or motivation — or your money cheerfully refunded.

• If we delight ourselves in the Lord, we will end up with the desires of our heart. If we delight ourselves in the desires of our heart, we will end up with nothing.
• If we get things right in the small moments, we will be alright when the big moments come.
• Discipleship is a process. So is salvation. The invitation to one is the invitation to the other. The life of the age to come is lived out as discipleship in this present age.
• God is love. All the fullness of God dwells in Jesus. Which means that all the fullness of love dwells in Jesus.
• In the Parable of the Prodigal, the extravagant love and grace of the Father was just as much for the elder brother as for the younger, prodigal one … and both were in desperate need of it.
• Good theology leads to wonderful doxology. Isn’t that what we are really supposed to mean by “orthodoxy”?
• When we offer great praise to a great God, we develop great expectation.
• Every little moment of decision is a moment for repentance and conversion. Will I turn to God and yield to the change He wants to work in me? Or will I turn away from God and remain as I am? And every day brings those little moments. So every day is a good day to repent and be converted again.
• Both pride and shame tell us lies.
• The problem I see with both the old “turn or burn” gospel and the new “lovey-dovey, feel good” gospel is that they are both focused on us — on me. But the gospel of the Bible always focuses us on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Christ-centered, not us-centered, and that makes all the difference.
• Grace is God holding out His hand to you. Faith is taking hold of God’s hand.
• The Trinity means that the Father is present to us through the Son by the Holy Spirit. By faith, we partake of His life, now and forever.
• The Father sends the Spirit, the Spirit shows us the Son, the Son reveals the Father.
• Sanctification, to put it in Trinitarian terms, is the work of God in me, through the life of Christ in me, by the power of the Holy Spirit in me. Which is also what salvation is.
• The Christian faith in five seconds: We have union with the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit.

More random thoughts …

For He Must Reign

For He must reign till He has put all His enemies under His feet.

(1 Corinthians 15:25)

In the first half of Psalm 21, we looked at the coronation of King Jesus and the victory of the cross and resurrection, which established His kingdom. Now we shall consider what His reign accomplishes, prefigured in the second half of Psalm 21:

Your hand will find all Your enemies;
    Your right hand will find those who hate You.
You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger;
    The LORD shall swallow them up in His wrath,
    And the fire shall devour them.
Their offspring You shall destroy from the earth,
    And their descendants from among the sons of men.
For they intended evil against You;
    They devised a plot which they are not able to perform.
Therefore You will make them turn their back;
    You will make ready Your arrows on Your string
    toward their faces.
Be exalted, O LORD, in Your own strength!
    We will sing and praise Your power.

(Psalm 21:8-13)

The first half of the psalm was about the past victories that established the king. The second half is the anticipation of the future victories the Lord would give to the king. Historically, King David had many victories, and the kingdom reached its zenith during the reign of King Solomon, David’s son. But after that, the kingdom rapidly deteriorated and split in two. After a succession of kings, some good but the others mostly bad, the divided kingdom was carried off into captivity and exile.

It became clear that God would have to raise up a very special king through whom God would fulfill all the wonderful promises and expectations given to Israel about the royal line of David. This Messiah King would not only deliver and restore Israel but would rule over the nations and set everything right in the world. The New Testament finds the fulfillment of this expectation in Jesus of Nazareth. Though He was crucified, God raised Him from the dead and established Him as Messiah and Lord over all (Acts 2:36).

For forty days after the resurrection, Jesus instructed the disciples about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). He announced to them that all authority had now been given to Him in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). Then He ascended to His throne in heaven, the place of ruling and reigning, at the right hand of the Father.

When King Jesus comes again, all those who belong to Him will be likewise raised from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20-23). “Then comes the end,” Paul tells us, “when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and power and authority and power” (1 Corinthians 15:24).

In the meantime, then, King Jesus reigns. “For He must reign till He has put all His enemies under His feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25). The Lord Jesus has already been seated at the right hand of the Father, “far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but in that which is to come” (Ephesians 1:20-21). And now He is in the process of destroying their oppressive rule and bringing them into submission.

The Coronation of the King

The king shall have joy in Your strength, O LORD;
     And in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
You have given him his heart’s desire,
    And have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
For You meet him with the blessings of goodness;
    You set a crown of pure gold upon his head.
He asked life from You, and You gave it to him —
    Length of days forever and ever.
His glory is great in Your salvation;
    Honor and majesty You have placed upon him.
For You have made him most blessed forever;
    You have made him exceedingly glad with Your presence.
For the king trusts in the LORD,
    And through the mercy of the Most High
    he shall not be moved.

(Psalm 21:1-7)

This is a psalm about King David. But ultimately, it is a song about King Jesus, the Son of David. And it is also about all those who belong to Jesus through faith in Him (see A Tale of Three Kings in the Psalms).

Psalm 21 is a celebration of the victories God has given to the king. Indeed, they are the very victories that have established the king as king, for by them God has “set a crown of pure gold” upon the king’s head.

As we think of Jesus, the great victory that established His kingdom is found in the cross and the resurrection. By them, God has given Jesus the desires of His heart. Though He despised the shame, Jesus willingly endured the cross, because of the “joy that was set before Him,” and He has been seated at the “right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). The great humility of Jesus led to His great exaltation (see The Humble God-Man Exalted with the Highest Glory).

By resurrection from the dead, God has made Jesus, who was crucified for our sakes, both Lord and Messiah (Acts 2:36). That is, He showed Jesus to be the One whom God anointed as King over Israel and the nations. More than that, by the power of the resurrection, God has seated the Lord Jesus at the right hand of God, “far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but in that which is to come” (Ephesians 1:20-21).

Jesus asked God for life, and God gave it to Him — length of days forever and ever! How great is the glory with which God has delivered Him, and the honor and majesty God has placed upon Him. He is most blessed forever, and exceedingly glad with the presence of God, at the right hand of the Father.

And in Him, so are we.

Grace and the Remnant Echo of Unworthiness

When we focus on our unworthiness before God, we slip into the legalistic mindset just as much as when we focus on our worthiness. But love does not think that way. So, God, who is love, does not weigh us out as to whether or not we are “worthy.” That simply has no place under His grace. “I am unworthy” is the remnant echo of an old human-wrought system that never did hold sway with God, and was disproven by the Incarnation and the Cross.

Yet there is something in us that wants to keep pointing out our sins to us, however many or few we may think we have, and we often want to compare them against the sins of others. However, that is not the voice of the Father but of the accuser.

But the Holy Spirit is in us to reveal to us the things of the Lord Jesus, things that Jesus has received from the Father (John 16:14). The Spirit is always directing our focus to Christ, and Christ is always revealing the Father to us. When our attention is on Him, not on us, then what other aspiration do we need?

It’s not that we are not important. But we don’t focus on our importance any more than God focuses on His own importance (Philippians 2:5-8). God is love, and the nature of love is to give and serve. In other words, love focuses on the one who is loved. So God focuses on us and we focus on God. We are important to God, significant to Him, because He loves us. And we in turn realize God’s importance, His significance to us, by loving Him.

On what shall our hearts dwell? Shall we look at our unworthiness and count all our sins? Or shall we not rather focus on Christ and have faith in Him? Let us appreciate His love by focusing on God, who is love, revealed to us through Christ by the Holy Spirit. For His grace shatters the remnant echo of unworthiness.

The Gospel is a Mystery Revealed

Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith — to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen. (Romans 16:25-27 NIV)

Paul closes his letter to the Jesus believers at Rome with this doxology. A doxology is a prayer that lavishes praise and honor toward God. It is characteristically a statement about His goodness and eternal glory.

The glory Paul lavishes in this doxology is about the mystery that has been revealed in the gospel of Jesus the Messiah. In the New Testament, a “mystery” is not a secret that God is keeping from us but a secret that God has revealed to us. The mystery Paul refers to is one that was hidden for many long years, until God began to make it known through the writings of the prophets.

There is something interesting here about Paul’s reference to the prophetic writings. He says that it is through them that the age old mystery has been revealed. The mystery was always present in those writings, and Paul began his letter by describing the gospel as something God “promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures” (Romans 1:2).

The promise was always there, though it was not clearly understood. But it was with the coming of Christ that the mystery was revealed through the writings of the prophets. In other words, it is in light of the announcement that God’s Messiah has come into the world that those old prophetic writings now make sense.

We can see this, for example, in Luke 24, when the risen Lord appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They had been confused by recent events — the crucifixion of Jesus on Friday, and then the rumors of what had happened just that morning, the morning of His resurrection.

And now Jesus was walking beside them, though they did not recognize Him, and He explained what all this was about. “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). Later, Jesus appeared to the Twelve (minus Judas), who were just as confused and disturbed as the Emmaus disciples had been, and He began to explain to them, also, from the Scriptures:

“These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”

And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations [i.e., the Gentiles], beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:44-47)

The mystery was always present in the Old Testament writings, “hidden in plain sight,” as it were. But it is in the Lord Jesus and the message of the gospel that it’s meaning and significance has now been brought to light.

What, then, is this secret Paul has in mind? It is the revelation that Jesus the Messiah has come not only for the sake of Israel but to deliver the Gentiles as well. The pagan nations, who once had no covenant with God, can now enter covenant with Him through faith in the Lord Jesus, and be blessed with Israel, for Jesus has come to rescue them, too.

Paul talks about this mystery in other letters and in other ways, but it always turns out to be about the glory and grace of God being revealed in the world through Jesus the Messiah.

A Word About Divine Glory

The word “doxology” comes from the Greek words doxa, which means “glory,” and logos, which means “word.” A doxology is a word about divine glory. It carries forward the Old Testament meaning of the Hebrew word kabod, which literally means “weight.” As applied to God, it refers to the value and expression of His goodness. The glory of God is the “weight,” or manifestation of His goodness.

A doxology is a prayer that lavishes praise and honor on God. It has two main features: A statement of God’s glory, goodness or praiseworthiness, and an expression of His eternality.

God’s eternality means that He is faithful and that He does not change. Therefore we can trust Him at all times and in every circumstance. The author of Hebrews says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). As He was in the past, so He is today, so He will be forever. In doxology, the portrayal of His eternal attributes becomes a source of stability, comfort and encouragement for us.

In the New Testament epistles, doxological prayers often arise spontaneously, as the writer gets caught up in awe and wonder at the ways and works of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. In the book of Revelation, we get a glimpse into the throne room of God and see the activity of saints and angels cascading their praises in adoration.

To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5-6)

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come! (Revelation 4:8)

You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created. (Revelation 4:11)

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing! … Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever! (Revelation 5:12-13)

Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 7:12)

(For more about these and other doxologies in the New Testament, see Praying With Fire: Change Your World with the Powerful Prayers of the Apostles, available in paperback and Kindle.)

The Revelation of Love

God is love. (1 John 4:8)

The Lord Jesus Christ is the revelation of God. He is the “express image of His person,” the exact likeness of the Father (Hebrews 1:3). “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell” (Colossians 1:19). Jesus said of Himself, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

Jesus is the revelation of the Father, the revelation of all the fullness of God. He is, then, the revelation of love — because God is love.

The Holy Spirit is the revelation of Jesus. He is the Spirit of truth Jesus promised would come (and has now come). Of Him, Jesus said, “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14-15).

Jesus is the revelation of God, who is love, and the Holy Spirit is the revelation of Jesus. So, the Holy Spirit, also, is the revelation of love. And, indeed, Paul tells us, “The fruit of the Spirit is love” (Galatians 5:22). The Spirit is at work in us to reveal that fruit through us.

The nature of the Trinity is love, and the love of the Father is revealed to us through Jesus the Son by the Holy Spirit. And by the Holy Spirit, this love is to be revealed in the world through us.

So I offer you this blessing:

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. (2 Corinthians 16:14-15)

Random Thoughts

Some thoughts culled from my random file. Some have occurred to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in discussion with others. Some are aphoristic and avuncular. Some I didn’t know what else to do with, so I put them here. For your edification, inspiration and/or amusement — or your money cheerfully refunded.

• The language of “going” to church can so often and so easily lead people to think that the Church is a building or a meeting instead of what it really is — the body of the risen and ruling Christ.
• When we begin to understand our identity in Christ, as His body, then the Church is unleashed to be the world-changing people God calls us to be.
• It is good for the church to gather together regularly, and we are called to do so. But we are still the church even when the worship hour is over and we walk out of the building to go back into the community outside. So instead of “going to church,” I prefer to speak of the church gathered together and the church sent out.
• The more the Church is present for the sake of the community, and not focused on its own numbers (“nickels and noses”), the more the community is interested in hearing about the Lord we proclaim.
• The value of a good creed and a good liturgy is that it points us to Christ. But the problem is that we carelessly mumble the creed, rush through the liturgy and do not look to the One to whom they point: God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Then it becomes like the master who points at the moon, but the disciple looks only at the pointing finger instead of looking along the finger to behold what the master is pointing toward.
• On the cross, Jesus not only made provision for the salvation of souls but also for the liberation of the world and all its aspects — even the physical creation itself — from bondage. Because at the cross, Jesus disarmed the principalities and powers (Colossians 1:15), which are the demonic influences behind the corrupted cultural and political systems of the world.
• The first part of dominion is the last part of kingdom. The “new creation” has already begun in the coming of Jesus the Messiah and His resurrection from the dead, and we are part of it (2 Corinthians 5:17). Our job now is to announce the good news that the King has come into the world to establish His dominion, so that all nations may come into proper alignment with the King and His kingdom through faith in Him.
• People often do not think through what they say — or what they believe, or what they say they believe — to know how much of what they say is what they really believe. Often what they say is merely a matter of cultural alignment. That is, speaking in agreement with the culture (or subculture, or counter-culture) with which they most identify themselves. And they are usually not much better at it when they come to the Bible and ask what is in it. Do they come to somehow confirm their cultural identity? Or do they come to be challenged by it — their words, their thoughts, their beliefs tested by the Word of God, and their lives changed?
• For the first eleven centuries, the Church understood the cross mainly in terms of victory over the devil. Is there something we can learn from that?
• Sometimes the Holy Spirit may lead us in startling ways. More often, though, His leading is so subtle that we do not particularly recognize that it is Him. It may come as a desire, a burden, an intuition about something, the discernment of a particular need we are able to meet, or some other subtle way. And we respond to it in a Christ-life way. (Yes, I said Christ-life, which is also Christ-like.)
• Sometimes we need to look at the forest, and sometimes we need to consider the tree.
• Correct theology is important. And yet, according to Jesus, it is by our love for one another that all will know that we are His disciples. In 1 John 4:8, we read that God is love. Theology is something that is about God, but love is something that God is. If we do not have love for one another, I wonder how correct our theology actually is.
• Show me your theology by your love, and show me your love by your love. I’ve had too many Christians try to show me their love by their theology — it usually does not work out well.
• When we fail to act in love, even “defending the faith” does harm to the body of Christ.
• For some Christians, grace is a doctrine. For others, it is a way of life.

More random thoughts ...

Spiritual Growth and the Divine Nature

His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Partaking of the divine nature is not instantaneous but a process that takes place over time. Peter clearly has spiritual growth in mind, as we can see from the verses that follow, about adding to our faith. By this he indicates the progressive and ongoing nature of salvation, the outworking of the salvation we initially entered into through faith in Christ. One day we will experience the fullness of salvation when our bodies are glorified and raised immortal just as Jesus’ body has been. So we can say, as Paul did, that we have been saved, we are being saved and we will be saved.

But it is also true that the progressive spiritual growth aspect (as well as our final glorification) are inherent in the salvation we entered into when we first came to know the Lord Jesus. From the beginning of our salvation, we have the ability to partake of the divine nature. It is there for us all along the way, and sums up all we need for life and godliness. But learning how to walk in (or live out) the reality of that is what our spiritual growth is about. And that is what Peter encourages us to in verses 5-9:

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

Because access to the divine nature is inherent in salvation from the beginning, it is part of the atonement — what the work of Christ in the cross and resurrection secured for us. In verse 9, Peter speaks of being “cleansed” of our old sins. That certainly is an atonement reality and an important aspect of our salvation — Jesus washed our sins away. But in verse 4, Peter takes it a step farther when he speaks of escaping the “corruption that is in the world through lust.” In that, we can see that the power of sin has broken so that we no longer have to be corrupted by it. Through the cross, Christ offers us escape from corruption and lust , an escape we can learn to appropriate and live by. This present escape from corruption is also part of the atoning work of Christ.

We appropriate this escape by faith (which is more than mere mental assent to the propositions posed by the atonement), and that is where Peter begins in verse 5: “add to your faith.” What then follows in verses 5-8 (knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love) are not meritorious works but the outworking of faith and the outworking of salvation. It is ultimately expressed as love (last in Peter’s list, but certainly not least). As Paul shows us in Galatians 5:6, faith “works” through love. Again, this not a meritorious work by which we earn anything from God but is the expression of faith. It is love that fulfills the commandments and manifests the divine nature, and by it we really do partake of the divine nature — for God is love.

In Galatians 5, Paul talks about “walking in the Spirit,” and the “fruit of the Spirit.” The “fruit” listed in Galatians 5:22-23 is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Love heads the list, and all the rest can be described in terms of love. This sounds very like the things listed in 2 Peter 1:5-8, which all seem to lead up to love. These things portray for us the character of Christ, and they come forth in us through the Spirit of Christ.

The way Paul speaks about the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5, then, is very like what is described in 2 Peter as being a “partaker of the divine nature.” For how can we bear the fruit of the Spirit of God without being a partaker of the divine nature? Walking in the Spirit of God, bearing the fruit of the Spirit, partaking of the divine nature — this is salvation, central and profound and dynamic.

Following Jesus ~ Salvation and Discipleship

Discipleship is a process. We can also say that salvation is a process. There is a point where salvation begins, and we are “born again” — so that we can say that we have been saved. At the end, when Jesus comes again, there is a point where we will experience glorification (and we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is) — so that we can say that we will be saved. And in between there is a process of sanctification going on in which the life of Christ in us is being worked out — so that we can say that we are being saved.

Salvation, then, is an ongoing process, with a beginning, a middle and an end. And in this process, we are with Christ from beginning to end. So, salvation is also a relational development, a growth in relationship with the Lord Jesus.

When I look at the Great Commission as it is expressed in Mark and Matthew, I do no think that they are talking about two separate things from one another. They are both talking about the same thing, but in two different ways:

Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:15)

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19-20)

They are both about salvation and they are both about discipleship, even though Mark uses the word “saved” and Matthew does not, but speaks, instead, of making “disciples.” Salvation and discipleship are not two separate issues. When salvation begins, so does our discipleship. Discipleship is what salvation looks like in the process of practical sanctification. It is what faith in the Lord Jesus looks like in the life of a believer.

At this point, let me be quite clear that none of this — salvation, discipleship, sanctification and, indeed, the entire Christian life — is about our own efforts. It is all the work of God in us, by His grace, and we receive it by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now I would like to talk about a couple of passages I have been thinking about lately in regard to salvation and discipleship. The first is Matthew 11:28-30, where Jesus says,

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

The invitation to come to Jesus and receive “rest” is an invitation to salvation. And Jesus tells us here how to find that rest: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me.” That is discipleship. The Greek word for “learn” here is mathete, which is where the word for “disciple” (mathetes) comes from. But notice how this is sandwiched between the two statements about “rest.” Jesus is not talking about rest and discipleship as two different things but as one thing: rest that is expressed as discipleship. The invitation to come to Jesus for “rest” (salvation) and the invitation to “learn” from Him (discipleship) are the same invitation.

The second passage is John 10:27-28, where Jesus says,

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28)

Again, being one of Jesus’ sheep indicates salvation. Jesus says He “knows” His sheep. Compare this with Matthew 7:23, where Jesus says to the false teachers, “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

Now, notice what Jesus says about those He calls “My sheep,” and whom He knows:

1. They listen to His voice.
2. They follow Him.

Listening to Jesus’ voice and following Him — that is discipleship. Now, look at what Jesus gives to His sheep: eternal life, which is the life of the age to come — that is salvation. So in this passage, also, Jesus is not speaking of salvation and discipleship as two separate things but as essentially the same thing — salvation that looks like following Jesus. The life of the age to come is lived out as discipleship in this present age.

With all these things considered, then, the invitation to salvation is the invitation to discipleship. Not two separate and distinct invitations. But, again, whether we are speaking of it as salvation or as discipleship, it is all by grace through faith. Becoming a disciple of Jesus is not a matter of our works but a matter of faith in Jesus. Faith in the Lord Jesus is not merely giving mental assent to a proposition about Jesus. Faith in Jesus looks like following Jesus. Following Jesus is how faith in Jesus expresses itself.

This brings me back to the Great Commission, for an additional thought. The going, the baptizing, the teaching — it’s all part of evangelizing, all part of preaching the gospel. In Mark 16:16 we see that the expected response is faith and baptism. Likewise, in the evangelism practiced by the apostles in the book of Acts, the expected response to the gospel of Christ was repentance, faith and baptism — becoming disciples. In Acts 14:21, for example, making disciples was not presented as some separate activity from preaching the gospel: “They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples.” To evangelize was to make disciples, and to believe the gospel was to become a disciple.

Contending for the Faith

Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. (Jude 3-4 NIV)

Jude urges his readers to “contend for the faith,” and the issue that raises his concern is so important that he has set aside what he initially intended to write to them about. He has learned that there are ungodly people who have slipped in among them, who “pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”

This is not merely a theological issue. It is a moral one, with theological implications. J. B. Phillip’s translation puts it this way: “They have no real reverence for God, and they abuse his grace as an opportunity for immorality. They will not recognize the only master, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

They are “ungodly,” which means that they have no regard and no respect for God, and it shows in how they live. It is not so much that they have denied the sovereign Lordship of Jesus as a matter of doctrine, but they have denied it by their practice. The life they live gives the lie to the faith they profess. They have taken the grace of God, by which we are saved, and have used it as a license to sin.

There is a connection between what a person believes and how he lives. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ leads to a life of obedience to Him. Those who trust in Him, follow Him. But a faith that does not connect to how one lives is not a faith worth having.

Contending for “the faith,” for Jude, was not merely a matter of embracing the correct doctrines but had just as much to do with how “the faith” gets lived out. These ungodly ones were false not only because of their doctrine but also because of their immorality. The two go together, because what a person actually believes affects how he lives, and how he lives reflects what he actually believes — regardless of what he might profess to believe.

These were false teachers Jude was warning about, dreamers spouting theological nonsense, who not only indulged in sexual immorality but scoffed at divine authority and the reality of evil entities (v. 8). They were as faithless as Cain, as greedy as Balaam and as rebellious as Korah (v. 11). They were completely selfish and lacking in love. Jude says of them:

These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm--shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted — twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. (v.12 NIV)

It is against these, then, that Jude urges his readers to contend for the faith. For the faith is not simply a body of doctrine, it is a way of life that affirms the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ in all things.

Learning Jesus, Learning Love

He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:8)

By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35)

Correct theology is important. And yet, according to Jesus, it is by our love for one another that all will know that we are His disciples. In 1 John 4:8, we read that God is love. Theology is something that is about God, but love is something that God is. If we do not have love for one another, I wonder how correct our theology actually is. John puts it bluntly: “He who does not love does not know God.”

Truth is important, and, indeed, Jesus said that He is the truth. This shows us that truth is not merely propositional but personal — that is, it is revealed to us in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Theology, as we usually speak of it, is propositional. In that respect, then, correct theology (propositions about Jesus) is not necessarily the same thing as the Truth (Jesus Himself), just as a map is not the terrain it represents.

Love, however, is not merely a proposition about Jesus. Love is what Jesus is. And it is when we love one another that we demonstrate that we have not merely learned about Jesus but have learned Jesus Himself. For when we love one another, we are displaying who Jesus is in a way that correct theology never can.

Theology is not God and God is not theology. A man may know correct doctrine about God, but that does not mean that he thereby knows God Himself. But love is personal and relational. Jesus is the “Word” that John spoke about. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God” (John 1:1). However, Jesus the Word is not just a word about God. To know Jesus is to know God Himself, for Jesus is the expression of God in human form. Jesus said that whoever has seen Him has seen the Father (John 14:9). But we cannot say anything like that about propositional theology or correct doctrine.

The Lord Jesus is the expression, not of propositions about God, but of God Himself, who is love. To whatever extent we encounter love, then, we encounter God through Jesus Christ. And to whatever extent we express love, we express God through Jesus Christ.

Good Works Are God Works

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

We are neither saved by good works nor kept by good works. But the salvation that is by grace through faith in Ephesians 2:8-9 is a salvation that results in good works in Ephesians 2:10. However, those good works are not our good works but God’s, for we are His workmanship.

When we are saved by grace through faith in Christ, though, we do not become robots, operating automatically or by remote control. No, we become born again, and we now have the life of Christ in us, the power and indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us, God Himself at work in us. This new life we have in Christ is responsive to God because it comes from Him. And God is at work in us not only empowering us to do His good pleasure but also creating in us the desire, the will, to do His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). So the good works that God does in and through us, and which result from salvation by grace through faith, are not a violation of our human will and desire. They are a manifestation of the salvation we receive when we come to Christ in faith.

This means that the change of behavior we experience as believers is not a result of our own works but of God’s. So we need not worry about how much change would satisfy God. For God will always be satisfied with the work He does in us, and He will do whatever work needs to be done in us. And the good work He has begun in us, He will bring all the way through to completion (Philippians 1:6).

This also means that perseverance is not a result of what we do but, rather, a result of what God does in us. Those who have begun in the new birth continue in the new birth. Those who have begun in eternal life continue in eternal life. And those who have begun by grace through faith continue by grace through faith. Because it is God’s doing, not ours.

Random Thoughts

Some thoughts culled from my random file. Some have occurred to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in discussion with others. Some are aphoristic and avuncular. For your edification, inspiration and/or amusement — or your money cheerfully refunded.

• Faith is not primarily about a proposition but about a person, because truth is not primarily a proposition. Truth is a person. Jesus said, “I am … the Truth.” So faith in God is not merely a belief about God but a personal relationship with God. It is for the sake of this relationship Jesus has come into the world, for He is not only the truth but the way and the life as well (John 14:6).
• People act on the basis of what they believe. Watch how they act and you will know what they believe. We reveal what we truly believe by what we consistently do.
• Sometimes we hang on in faith. Sometimes we let go in faith.
• The lifestyle of prayer is a habit of devotion, always in communication with God and fully consecrated to Him. It is a persistent attentiveness to God, a life that holds on to faith and hope, regardless of the circumstances. It is a peaceful life of joy, knowing that God hears and will answer.
• Prayer is not just words directed to God, but being mindful of God, being present to God and waiting before God.
• Often we do not know what to pray. Pray anyway.
• I think we often have more faith in our interpretations and understandings and articulations about Christ than we have in Christ Himself.
• All the words in the Bible taken together do not exhaust the revelation of God we have in the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.
• James said that faith without works is dead (James 2:26). Paul said that faith expresses itself through love (Galatians 5:6). So then, faith without love is dead.
• When our love is lacking, so is our faith.
• Through Jesus Christ, we not only enter into eternal life, we enter into eternal love.
• God is love, and love does not withhold what is good from those who are loved. God has given us the greatest thing — His Beloved Son. And in Him we have every good thing.
• God is love. Grace is the love of God reaching out. Glory is the revelation of God's love reaching out.
• The cross of Christ and the kingdom of God are not in competition anymore than means are in competition with their ends. The cross is the means and the kingdom is the end for which Jesus went to the cross. All of it is the gospel.
• Tears speak when words cannot.
• Live today today. Don't try to relive yesterday or pre-live tomorrow.