"The historic Protestant view of the Bible's teaching is that the basis of our hope for acceptance with God and eternal life is the provision of Christ for both pardon and perfection. That is, he becomes our substitute in two senses: In his suffering and death he becomes our curse and condemnation (Galatians 3:13; Romans 8:3); in his final suffering and death, and in his whole life of suffering and righteousness, he becomes our perfection (2 Corinthians 5:21). His death is the climax of his atoning sufferings, which propitiate the wrath of God against us (Romans 3:24-25); and his death is the climax of a perfect life of righteousness--God's righteousness--imputed to us (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 4:6,11 with 3:21-22; 5:18-19). This meets our need for more than forgiveness, as Leon Morris says:
'The righteousness we have is not our own, it comes as God's good gift in Christ. But we will be righteous. Notice that this means more than being pardoned. The pardoned criminal bears no penalty, but he bears a stigma. He is a criminal and he is know as a criminal, albeit an unpunished one. The justified sinner not only bears no penalty; he is righteous. He is not a man with his sins still about him.'"
...Alongside the pastoral preciousness of the doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Christ is the great truth that this doctrine bestows on Jesus Christ the fullest honor that he deserves. Not only should he be honored as the One who died to pardon us, and not only should he be honored as the One who sovereignly works faith and obedience in us, but he should also be honored as the one who provided a perfect righteousness for us as the ground of our full acceptance and endorsement by God." Pastor John Piper
These words are from John Piper's book, "Counted Righteous in Christ: Should We Abandon the Imputation of Christ's righteousness?".
There are differing views on how a Christian is righteous, and I thought these words were good food for thought. It's a deep and rich teaching of the Scriptures we surely need to understand, and perhaps wrestle with, but it is well worth it.
May the Holy Spirit open our hearts, and fill our minds with His wisdom and truth, so that we can become more like Christ, and so become more confident in His truth and promises. Amen.
2 comments:
I like that distinction Morris makes between the pardoned criminal and the imputation of righteousness. That just makes you wanna praise the Lord!
Amen to that Craver.
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