Second Edition

Charles Leiter

H a n n i b a l , M i s s o u r i

www.grantedministries.org

Contents

Acknowledgments ....................................................................7

Foreword .................................................................................9

Justification and Regeneration

Preface ...................................................................................13

Chapter 1 Sin: Man’s Ultimate Problem ..............................17

Published by Granted Ministries Press, A Division of Granted Ministries.

Chapter 2 Can A Man Be Right Before God .......................25

Publication History

Chapter 3 Justification: Its Characteristics ...........................33

1st Edition published in 2007.

2nd Edition published in 2009 by Granted Ministries Press Chapter 4

Regeneration: All Things New ............................47

Chapter 5 A New Creation .................................................51

Cover Design: Scott Campbell; updated by Jake Stutzman, Scott Schaller.

Original formatting from 1st Edition retained per Author’s request.

Chapter 6 A New Man .......................................................57

Chapter 7 A New Heart .....................................................63

For more information or additional copies of Justification and Regeneration

and other resources write:

Chapter 8 A New Birth ......................................................71

Granted Ministries Press

Chapter 9 A New Nature ...................................................77

P.O. Box 1348

Hannibal, MO 63401-1348 USA

Chapter 10 Crucifixion & Resurrection .................................83

www.grantedministries.org

Chapter 11 A Change of Realms: Flesh to Spirit ...................91

orders@grantedministries.org

Chapter 12 A Change of Realms: Earth to Heaven ..............101

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations taken from the New

American Chapter 13 A Change of Realms: Sin to Righteousness .......109

1975, Chapter 14 A Change of Realms: Law to Grace ..................115

1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Chapter 15 A Change of Realms: Adam to Christ ...............123

ISBN 978-0-9817321-5-2

Appendices:

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval A.

Regeneration: A Summary ................................133

system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical,

photocopy, recording, or otherwise—except for brief quotations in printed

B. “Cannot Sin” ....................................................143

reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Subject to USA C.

Romans 7 .........................................................147

D. All Blessings in Christ .......................................157

Printed in the United States of America E. Frequently Asked Questions

..............................167

2009

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to express my special gratitude to Paul Washer of HeartCry

Missionary Society for encouraging and supporting the publication of this

book and to Garrett Holthaus of Kirksville, Missouri, for offering many

valuable suggestions regarding its content. Special thanks are also due to

my many proofreaders for carefully working to correct my errors, and—

most of all—to my wife, Mona, for joyfully reading the entire manuscript to

me during a thirteen-hour drive from Colorado and suggesting a number of

very helpful changes.

FOREWORD

There seems to be a great abyss separating the biblical theologian and the

Christian in the pew. While the theologian is able to climb the Everest of

God’s truth and be transformed by the vision, he often communicates the

vision in a language that is beyond us. Thus, we are left at the mercy of

popular Christian literature that is often nothing more than quaint stories,

pragmatism, and baptized psychology.

The Church in contemporary America does not need more strategies, steps,

or keys to the Christian life. The Church needs truth, and more specifically,

the great foundational truths of historical Christianity. In this work, Pastor

Charles Leiter has done a great service to the Church in that he has taken

two of the greatest doctrines of Scripture and two of the greatest miracles in

the Christian life and explained them in simple language without loss of

content.

As I read through the manuscript of this book I was amazed at its simplicity

and scope. The great doctrines of justification and regeneration can only

properly be considered in the context of the other great doctrines of the faith

—the holy and righteous character of God, human depravity, propitiation,

repentance, faith, and sanctification, to name only a few. Pastor Leiter has

not only given us a balanced view of each of these doctrines, but has also

demonstrated how they intertwine to form the foundation of the Christian

life.

Of particular interest to me was the setting forth of a proper view of

regeneration. In modern day evangelism, this precious doctrine has been

reduced to nothing more than a human decision to raise one’s hand, walk an

aisle, or pray a “sinner’s prayer.” As a result, the majority of Americans

believe that they have been “born again” (i.e., regenerated) even though

their thoughts, words, and deeds are a continual contradiction to the nature

and will of God.

Pastor Leiter demonstrates that regeneration is the supernatural work of

God whereby the sinner’s dead, depraved heart of stone is replaced with a

new heart that is both willing and able to respond to God in love and

obedience. Secondly, Pastor Leiter deals with Romans 6 & 7 in a logical

and consistent manner, which he then 9

communicates to the reader with profound simplicity. Our brother’s views

concerning these two great chapters have been a source of great strength,

comfort, and joy for me down through the years of my own pilgrimage.

I have read this book many times before its going to press. I have greatly

benefited from its teaching and heartily recommend its contents. May the

Spirit of God illuminate your heart and mind that you may not only

understand the Scriptures explained herein, but that they might become a

reality in your life.

Paul David Washer

PREFACE

“For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved

to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful,

hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love

for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we

have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of

regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us

richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace

we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:3-7

Two great miracles stand at the very heart and center of the gospel. The first

is justification, whereby condemned criminals are made right in the eyes of

a holy and righteous Judge. The second is regeneration, whereby malicious,

enslaved, and hateful sinners are transformed into lovers of God and man.

Either directly or indirectly, these two miracles appear everywhere in the

New Testament. They are absolutely foundational to a proper understanding

of both the gospel and the Christian life. Yet, even among genuine

believers, there is much confusion and ignorance regarding these precious

and soul-liberating truths.

The pages that follow are an attempt to set forth in clear Biblical light the

nature and characteristics of justification and regeneration. To do this, we

must first consider in Chapter 1 why it is that all men stand in such

desperate need of these two divine acts. This will involve a discussion of

both the objective guilt and the internal corruption caused by sin.

Because all men are guilty and corrupted by sin, there is a great moral

dilemma standing in the way of man’s salvation: How can a righteous God

justify unrighteous sinners without becoming unjust Himself ? Chapter 2

examines this dilemma and the method by which divine wisdom has solved

it through the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Chapter 3, the

nature and characteristics of justification are then explored in light of seven

truths about justification that are set forth in Scripture.

The Bible has a great deal to say about regeneration. In an attempt to get a

clear view of what regeneration is, we will examine nine Biblical

descriptions of this great miracle in Chapters 4-13.

Each description views the same glorious reality from a different angle,

while illuminating different facets of it.

In Chapter 14, both justification and regeneration are considered in terms of

the larger categories of “law and grace” set forth in the New Testament.

And finally, in the concluding chapter, both are considered as part of the

even greater, over-arching reality of our being “in Christ.” Christianity is

Christ. Every spiritual blessing is found “in Him”—including all the

blessings of justification and regeneration—and no spiritual blessing exists

apart from Him.

Throughout this book, many important Scriptures have been assigned to

footnotes, and these are placed at the bottom of each page for easy

reference.

Charles Leiter

Sin: Man’s Ultimate Problem

Chapter One

Sin

Man’s Ultimate Problem

For a proper understanding of both justification and regeneration, we must

begin where the Bible does, and that is with sin. All sin flows from man’s

perverse desire to put himself in the place of God—to be the center and

measure of all things and to “know” for himself what is good and what is

evil.1 According to Titus 3:3-7, men in their natural state are “foolish,

disobedient, deceived, and enslaved to various lusts.” Their lives are

characterized by “malice, envy, and hate.” Far from recognizing this state of

affairs, lost men imagine themselves to be “basically good,” unless God in

mercy reveals to them the true condition of their blackened hearts. Sin is the

ultimate and only problem of humanity. It is my ultimate and only problem

and your ultimate and only problem.

A Biblical View of Sin

The Bible has a lot to say about sin. If we are to rightly understand sin’s

true nature, we must let the light of this Biblical revelation illumine our

darkened minds and soften our calloused hearts. Just think of it! According

to the Bible, sin is—

Absolutely Universal

Sin is absolutely universal in the human race. “All of us like sheep have

gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way.”2

“There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands,

there is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have

become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.”3 You

and I may not have met each other, but of one thing we can be certain even

before our introduction—

both of us are sinners. Every man, woman, and child on the face of the

earth, no matter how old or how young, is a sinner. Even small children,

when allowed to go their own way, are capable of the most exquisite

cruelties to animals and to one another.

1 Genesis 3:4-5 2 Isaiah 53:6 3 Romans 3:10-12

Justification and RegeneRation sin: Man’s ultiMate PRobleM

Race and nationality likewise offer no immunity from sin; the and

permanently destroyed. A moment’s reflection on the sins of most cultured

of nations are just as capable of genocide as the our own past is enough to

confirm that none of them makes any most barbaric. The gas chambers of

the “civilized” are merely sense. Such was the insanity of the prodigal son’s

actions that his sophisticated forms of the machetes wielded by the

“uncivilized.”

repentance involved nothing less than “coming to his senses.”1

Neither is there any such thing as a “noble savage” or “happy There is no

wise sin.

heathen.” In the words of one former missionary, “I went to the mission

field to keep a bad God from sending good men to hell.

Deceitful

When I arrived, I discovered that they were monsters of iniquity.”

Sin is deceitful. The Bible speaks of being “hardened by the The question is

not whether men have had an opportunity to “accept deceitfulness of sin.”2

As with all deception, the victim is unaware Jesus.” The question is whether

they have had an opportunity to of his deceived state. At the very time he

thinks that he is “rich, mistreat the missionary and reject his message—for,

apart from the and has become wealthy, and has need of nothing,” he is in

reality special working of the Holy Spirit, that is what they will surely do.1

“wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked”!3 He Sin is

universal in the human race.

“professes himself to be wise,” but is actually a “fool.”4

All-pervasive

Hardening

Not only is sin universal; it is all-pervasive. Every aspect of the One of the

most fearful things about sin is its power to harden human personality and

of human existence is affected by it: the one who practices it.5 The deeper a

man goes in sin, the less The mind is blinded. “The god of this world has

blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see…”

sin bothers him. According to the Bible, man’s very conscience 2

The will is corrupted and incapacitated. “The wickedness of becomes

“seared as with a branding iron.”6 Every sinner finds man was great on the

earth, and… every intent of the thoughts of himself now committing sins

that he once despised, and the sins his heart was only evil continually.”3

“You will not come to Me that that he now despises, he will someday find

himself committing. It you might have life.”4 “No one can come to Me

unless the Father should shock us to remember that Adolph Hitler was once

a little who sent Me draws him.”5

boy playing with toys just like other little boys. Man knows the The

emotions are disturbed and perverted. Some hearts smolder beginning of

sin, but no man has ever known the end of sin.

with constant anger and hatred; others are tormented day and night by

senseless fears. Multitudes laugh at things that ought to make Enslaving

them weep, while others burst into tears for no apparent reason.

Sin enslaves those who practice it. “Everyone who commits Such are the

deep and all-pervasive disturbances to the human sin is the slave of sin.”7

None can free himself or escape from sin’s personality caused, either

directly or indirectly, by sin.

bondage. Sin “reigns” over the sinner and rides on his back like a tyrant

until it eventually brings him down to the pit of destruction Irrational

and death.8 If you are not a Christian, you have a chain around Sin is

irrational. Many a priceless birthright has been bartered your neck far worse

than any physical chain. You may be able to for one bowl of soup;6 many a

marriage and family thrown away quit one sin, but another sin will

immediately take its place—often for one night of illicit pleasure. For the

temporary thrills of illegal the sin of pride or self-righteousness for what

you imagine you drug use, the highest powers of the human brain are

routinely have accomplished in reforming yourself. Sin is enslaving.

1 Matthew 22:1-6 2 2 Corinthians 4:4 3 Genesis 6:5 4 John 5:40 5 John

6:44

1 Luke 15:17 2 Hebrews 3:13 3 Revelation 3:17 4 Romans 1:22 5 Hebrews

3:13

6 Hebrews 12:16

6 1 Timothy 4:2 7 John 8:34 8 Romans 5:21

Justification and RegeneRation sin: Man’s ultiMate PRobleM

Debasing

The Two Sides of Man’s Sin Problem

Sin sinks the highest and noblest of men and women to the Sin is the

ultimate and only problem of humanity. But this depths of shame and

degradation. The young man who once wore

“sin problem” has two distinct aspects—one internal and the other a fine

suit and sat in a leather office chair now lies unshaven in his external.

own vomit as a result of sin. The young girl who was once clean and

beautiful and innocent is now cheap and sensual and dirty—

The Internal Problem—A Bad Heart

again, because of sin. Men and women made in the image of God,

According to the Lord Jesus Christ, man himself is corrupt and created to

dream immortal dreams and to think the long thoughts vile. “That which

proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the of eternity, are reduced by

sin to groveling in the muck like pigs for man. For from within, out of the

heart of men, proceed the evil a piece of bread. Sin turned angels into

demons1; it turns men into thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders,

adulteries, deeds of coveting

“unreasoning animals.”2 Sin is debasing.

and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and

foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile Defiling

the man.”1 This is the condition of every human heart, apart from Finally,

sin is defiling.3 Sin is not a trifle; sin is not “cute”; sin Christ. If a motion

picture of even our past thoughts, let alone our is not funny. Sin is

exceedingly wicked and perverse; it is “utterly past actions, were to be

played on a large screen before our family sinful.”4 All sin is twisted and

ugly and vile. We should be shocked and acquaintances, every one of us

would run from the room in at how wicked men are and how callous we

have become to that shame. Every non-Christian is—in his person—more

repulsive to wickedness. We are used to it! The first baby ever born grew up

a holy God than he can ever begin to imagine.

to murder his own brother.5 And human history ever since has But man’s

problem with sin is even deeper than this. Suppose been one long stream of

constant warfare, lust, hate, torture, rape, that by some miracle, the sinner

could become a new person and perversion, abuse, and brutality. It is a

blessed thing that we do not never sin again for the rest of his life. He would

still most certainly know in detail the sins that were committed just last

night in our go to hell. The routine murderer who sincerely decides never to

own town or city. Such knowledge would be too defiling to bear.

murder again must still pay for his past crimes. In other words, Yet, we

must face the fact that the world is not the way it is man’s problem with sin

has another dimension besides the internal.

because it has a few bad people like Hitler; the world is the way it is Man

not only has a bad heart ; he also has a bad record in the eyes because it is

made up of multitudes of people just like us! There is of God’s law.

deep wickedness in each of us. Sometimes God will use something

seemingly “little” to show us this wickedness. For Augustine, it The

External Problem—A Bad Record

was not so much his immoral lifestyle, but the wanton stealing of Every

sinner is a fugitive from justice. Regardless of the present pears from a

neighbor’s tree in his youth—not for hunger, but for condition of his heart,

he has objective guilt, outside himself, in the sport—that revealed to him

the utter depravity of his own heart.

eyes of God’s law. He may not have any “guilt feelings,” but he Sin, just for

the delight of doing evil, without reason and without stands “guilty” or

“condemned,” nevertheless. All his past crimes reward, flows from within

the human heart and defiles us all.

cry out for their penalty to be paid and justice to be satisfied. This cry is

anchored in the very character and being of God, in His attribute of justice

or equity.

1 Matthew 25:41 2 2 Peter 2:12; Jude 1:10 3 Mark 7:20-23 4 Romans 7:13

Genesis 4:8

Mark 7:20-23

Justification and RegeneRation sin: Man’s ultiMate PRobleM

It is because of the sense of equity or justice that God has written pretend

that there is no such thing as right and wrong. Instead deep within the

human heart that we feel immediate moral outrage of being guilty sinners,

men and women are viewed as helpless when the perpetrator of a crime is

allowed to go unpunished.

victims of their circumstances. In such a setting, punishment in Why is it

wrong for the rapist-murderer to receive only a ten-order to satisfy justice

becomes unthinkable. Man is free to do as dollar fine? We cannot prove that

he deserves more, but we know he pleases and answers to no one.

that he does. This inescapable knowledge within us is something But no

matter how much men may try to suppress it, there is more foundational

and certain than any theoretical “proof.” It is still an indelible knowledge in

the human heart that right and wrong something absolutely basic to the

human constitution—a reflection are real,1 that men are responsible for

their wrongdoing, and that sin of God’s very nature.

deserves to be punished.2 Deep down, all men know that the scales Much

could be said about God’s attribute of justice, especially of justice must be

balanced at last.3 If you are not a Christian and in this day when the very

concept of justice seems to be almost are reading these lines, the scales of

justice are very unbalanced in lost in society at large. There are three basic

reasons why a crime your life even now, and you can be certain—on the

basis of God’s should be punished: First, for the satisfaction of justice (i.e.,

very being and just character—that if you continue in your present because

crimes deserve to be punished and ought to be punished); condition, He will

never rest or relent until you are in hell. The second, for the good of society

(i.e., for the prevention of further whole moral fabric of the universe would

collapse if He did not put crime); and third, for the good of the offender

(i.e., to cause him you in hell.

to change his ways). Of these three, the satisfaction of justice is It is in this

context that the Bible speaks of the “wrath of God.”

primary and foundational to the other two. If the punishment for a God’s

wrath is not a temporary loss of self-control or a selfish fit crime is not itself

just and deserved, it will neither deter future crime of emotion. It is His

holy, white-hot hatred of sin, the reaction and nor reform the offender.

revulsion of His holy nature against all that is evil. God’s wrath In our day,

the primary and foundational reason for punish-is tied in directly with His

justice. It has to do with His righteous ment—the satisfaction of justice—

has been almost completely determination to punish every sin, to balance

the scales of justice, suppressed and denied. Only the second and third

reasons remain, and to make every wrong right. That is why the wrath of

God and these have been reversed in importance. The “reform” of the

“abides on” every unbeliever.4 The more men persist in sin, the offender is

now primary, and prisons are no longer called prisons, more they are

“storing up wrath for themselves in the day of wrath but “correctional

facilities.” Even those who still believe that crime and revelation of the

righteous judgment of God.”5 God’s wrath must be punished for the good

of society maintain that murderers will eventually be “poured out”; He is a

righteous judge and will should be sentenced, not because they have

murdered, but only in not allow sin to go unpunished forever.

order to prevent future murders. Such a philosophy is wicked and false, and

is based on the lie that men and women are not truly responsible for their

actions.

It is not difficult to understand how this state of affairs has come about.

Because men want to be God themselves,1 they hate the thought of a

sovereign Lawgiver to whom they must give an account. They seek to

suppress the inescapable knowledge of God that is around and within

them,2 and say instead that there is no God.3 This denial of God’s existence

makes it easier for them to 1 Genesis 3:4-5 2 Romans 1:18f. 3 Psalm 10:4;

14:1; 53:1

1 Romans 2:14-16 2 Romans 1:32 3 Acts 28:4 4 John 3:36 5 Romans 2:5

Can A Man Be Right Before God?

Chapter Two

Can A Man Be Right

Before God?

It is here that we encounter the greatest single obstacle to human salvation

imaginable: How can an absolutely just and righteous Judge ever justify

(declare righteous) an absolutely guilty and condemned criminal? How can

any human being escape the damnation of hell? We are told by God

Himself that “He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the

righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.”1 Suppose a

father comes home to find his family murdered. After an agonizing chase,

he is able to apprehend the murderer. When the criminal finally appears

before the judge, he is found to be unquestionably guilty of the crime. But

when the time of sentencing comes, the judge makes the following

declaration: “This man has committed a horrible crime, but I am a very

loving judge and choose to declare him not guilty. In fact, I declare him to

be righteous in the sight of the law!” Such a judge would rightly be

considered as great a criminal as the offender! He has “justified the wicked”

and is “an abomination to the Lord.”

But if this is true even of human justice, how much more is it true of God’s

justice? How can the defiled and guilty sons of Adam ever hope to stand

before God, the righteous Judge of the universe?

How can God ever “justify the ungodly” without becoming an abomination

to Himself ? “He who says to the wicked, ‘You are righteous,’ peoples will

curse him, nations will abhor him.”2

How can God say to sinners like us, “You are righteous,” without violating

His own character? How can God ever save us from Himself and His own

righteousness and justice?

This dilemma has created untold misery for every guilt-sensitive soul. It

was a terrible problem for the patriarch Job. “How can a man be in the right

before God? If one wished to dispute with Him, he could not answer Him

once in a thousand times.”3 “What is man, that he should be pure, or he

who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? Behold, He puts no

trust in His holy ones, 1 Proverbs 17:15 2 Proverbs 24:24 3 Job 9:2-3

Justification and RegeneRation can a Man be Right befoRe god?

and the heavens are not pure in His sight; how much less one who

“impute”] any debt that Onesimus might owe Philemon. This was is

detestable and corrupt, man, who drinks iniquity like water!”1

not really Paul’s debt, but Paul willingly took it as his debt, and it

“How then can a man be just with God? Or how can he be clean was

charged to his account!

who is born of woman? If even the moon has no brightness, and Now, this

very same word and its associates are used with the stars are not pure in His

sight, how much less man, that maggot, regard to sin. For example, the

Bible says that “sin is not imputed and the son of man, that worm!”2

(“charged to our account”) when there is no law.”1 Again, in No one feels

the force of this dilemma more than the repentant Romans 4, Paul says,

“But to the one who does not work, but sinner. He knows that he deserves

to go to hell. In the realm of human believes in Him who justifies the

ungodly, his faith is credited as government, criminals have often actually

turned themselves over righteousness, just as David also speaks of the

blessing on the man to the authorities for justice to be done, rather than live

with their to whom God credits (“imputes”) righteousness apart from

works: unbearable sense of guilt any longer! Repentant sinners know that

‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and they

deserve to be punished, and that it would not be right for them whose sins

have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the not to be. They know

that God cannot just “sweep their sins under Lord will not take into account

(“impute”).’ ”2 Glorious transaction!

the rug” and forget about them. Hence, the cry of their hearts is, Our sins

are not imputed to us, because they have been imputed to

“How can a just God ever smile upon me? How can this burden of Christ,

and accepting them as if they were His own debt, He has paid guilt be

removed? How can God pronounce a blessing upon me?

them in full!

How can a man like me be in the right before God!”

We see the very same reality in the Old Testament concept of

“bearing sin.” On the great Day of Atonement, two goats were Imputation

sacrificed—one shed its blood to atone for sins,3 and the other There is

only one answer to this dilemma. Someone has to (live) goat bore these sins

away to a solitary place 4: “Then Aaron pay for the sinner’s sins. Justice

must be satisfied. Either it will be shall offer the goat on which the lot for

the Lord fell, and make it satisfied by the sinner’s own suffering forever in

hell, or it must be a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot for the

scapegoat fell satisfied by someone else on the sinner’s behalf.

shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon Wonder

of wonders! That “Someone” has come! The Lord it, to send it into the

wilderness as the scapegoat.”5 Here God uses Jesus Christ “bore our sins in

His body on the cross.”3 “Surely two goats to teach us one truth concerning

the atoning work of the our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He

carried. He was Lord Jesus Christ. On the one hand, He dies for our sins,

and on the pierced through for our transgressions; He was crushed for our

other hand—as a result of that death—He effectually carries our sins

iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by away

from the presence of God.

His scourging we are healed.”4

Notice the glorious reality of imputation presented here! “Then How does

this great transaction take place? To understand it, we Aaron shall lay both

of his hands on the head of the live goat, and have to consider the little

word “impute.” It is variously translated confess over it all the iniquities of

the sons of Israel and all their

“reckon,” “count,” “consider,” and “impute.” We can get a feel for

transgressions in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the what it

means by looking at a passage in Paul’s letter to Philemon head of the goat

and send it away into the wilderness by the hand regarding the return of his

slave, Onesimus: “If then you regard me of a man who stands in readiness.

The goat shall bear on itself all a partner, accept him as you would me. But

if he has wronged you their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release

the goat in the in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my

account.”5

wilderness.”6 The question for each of us to ask ourselves is this: Here Paul

instructs Philemon to “charge to his account” [lit.

1 Romans 5:13 2 Romans 4:5-8 3 Leviticus 16:16 4 Leviticus 16:22

1 Job 15:14-16 2 Job 25:4-6 3 1 Peter 2:24 4 Isaiah 53:4-5 5 Philemon 17-

5 Leviticus 16:9-10 6 Leviticus 16:21-22

Justification and RegeneRation can a Man be Right befoRe god?

“Have I ever laid the hand of faith upon the Lord Jesus Christ and those

who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned given my sins to

Him to carry into a solitary land?”

and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace

through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom Not all the blood of

beasts,

God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through On Jewish

altars slain,

faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in Could give the

guilty conscience peace, the forbearance of God He passed over the sins

previously Or wash away the stain.

committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness But Christ,

the heavenly Lamb,

at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the Takes all

our sins away,

one who has faith in Jesus.”

A sacrifice of nobler name

Here Paul declares that Christ died to pay our sin debt so that God And

richer blood than they.

could “justify” sinners and at the same time remain “just” Himself.

My faith would lay her hand

Throughout the Old Testament, sins were merely “passed over,”

On that dear head of Thine,

the payment of their guilt being rolled forward year after year until While

like a penitent I stand,

the Lamb should come whose death could truly take them away.1

And there confess my sin.

All during this time, it appeared that God was being unrighteous, Isaac

Watts

since He justified men (like Abraham and David) without justice being truly

satisfied. Therefore it was necessary that Christ should A substitute has died

in our place! “All of us like sheep have die “publicly,” openly

demonstrating God’s righteousness for all to gone astray; each of us has

turned to his own way. But the Lord see, by making full satisfaction for sin

on the cross. In this sense, has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”1

That is how a just Christ died, not only to justify men, but to justify God!

His death on God can justify lifelong criminals in His heavenly courtroom.

He the cross vindicated and demonstrated the absolute justice of God opens

our ledger and sees that our debt has been imputed to His in justifying His

people. As a “propitiation” (i.e., a wrath-removing beloved Son. Moreover,

He sees that the debt has actually been sacrifice) for our sins, Christ turns

away God’s judicial wrath from paid in full by Him. Hallelujah! God, in His

great love,2 has made us. We are “justified as a gift” (justification is

absolutely free to us), a way to save us from Himself and His own justice!

He has done

“through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (justification so by giving

His only begotten Son to die in our place.

is very costly to God). We are justified by receiving the “gift of

righteousness,”2 “even the righteousness of God through faith in The Heart

of the Gospel

Jesus Christ.”3

These realities are at the very heart of the gospel. They are Are you still

carrying the burden of sin and guilt? Are you still expounded by the apostle

Paul in Romans 3:21-26, a somewhat under the wrath of God? “Behold, the

Lamb of God who takes away complex passage that is made clear once we

understand the the sin of the world!”4 There is a “fountain for sin and

impurity.”5

meaning of imputation discussed above:

“The blood of Jesus, God’s Son cleanses us from all sin.”6 No matter how

great your sins may be, they are nothing compared

“But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been to the

infinite worth of Christ’s blood!7 “Where sin increased, manifested, being

witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even grace abounded all the

more.”8 Come to Him! He invites and the righteousness of God through

faith in Jesus Christ for all 1 Hebrews 9:15 2 Romans 5:17 3 Romans 3:22

4 John 1:29 5 Zechariah 13:1

1 Isaiah 53:6 2 John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-10

6 1 John 1:7 7 1 Peter 1:18-19; Acts 20:28 8 Romans 5:20

Justification and RegeneRation commands you to come; you need not fear

that you are being presumptuous by coming: “And let the one who is thirsty

come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.”1 Come to

Him! Take the water of life! Cast your sins upon Him and trust Him as your

sin-bearer. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved.”2

1 Revelation 22:17; Matthew 11:28 2 Acts 16:31

Justification: Its Characteristics

Chapter Three

Justification

Its Characteristics

“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we

ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was

pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities;

the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we

are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to

his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”

Isaiah 53:4-6

We have seen that man’s greatest problem is sin. But that sin problem has

two aspects: The first is internal—man has a bad heart. The second is

external—man has a bad record. To say this another way: For every non-

Christian, sin both defiles him (this has to do with who he is) and condemns

him (this has to do with what he has done). On the one hand, sin’s power is

reigning within him; on the other hand, sin’s penalty is crying out for his

death. And even if he were not helpless to free himself from sin’s power, he

would still be hopeless because of sin’s penalty. It is only when a man

comes to see these terrible realities that the name “Jesus” means something

to him. “You shall call His name Jesus [“Jehovah is salvation”], for it is He

who will save His people from their sins.”1 The Lord Jesus Christ saves His

people from their sins—both the penalty of their sins and the power of their

sins. He does the former in justification and the latter in regeneration.

In Chapter Two we began to consider justification: How can a man be “in

the right” before God? This is the dilemma that has tormented men down

through history. It caused Martin Luther to crawl on his knees up the steps

of the so-called Scala Sancta in Rome, and induced monks to wear hair

shirts embedded with fishhooks in an attempt to pay for their sins. To this

day, it causes natives of the South Sea Islands to sacrifice chickens and

sprinkle 1 Matthew 1:21

Justification and RegeneRation Justification: its chaRacteRistics

their blood to the gods. In more “civilized” countries, many Could my zeal

no respite know,

settle for “going to church” or some other form of “good deeds”

Could my tears forever flow,

to placate their guilty consciences. And everywhere men try to All for sin

could not atone;

“justify” themselves by rationalizing or excusing their evil actions.

Thou must save and Thou alone.

How can a man be right with God? There is only one answer: Augustus

Toplady

A man can be right with God only through the life and death of the Lord

Jesus Christ on his behalf. “He Himself bore our sins This explains why a

person can have a very weak faith and still in His body on the cross.”1 “He

made Him who knew no sin to be justified. Imagine two bridges crossing a

chasm: One is very be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the

righteousness weak and untrustworthy; the other is very strong. A man may

have of God in Him.”2 Christ alone can make us right with God.3 In a very

strong faith in the weak bridge and confidently step out onto this chapter,

we will consider seven truths that are taught in the it. His strong faith will

not keep him from plunging to his death.

Scriptures regarding this great theme.

On the other hand, a man may have a very weak faith in the strong bridge

and only barely manage with fear and trembling to venture Justification is

Based on the Blood of Jesus forth upon it. The bridge will hold him

securely, regardless of his

“Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we weak faith.

All that is necessary is for him to have enough faith to shall be saved from

the wrath of God through Him.”4 “The blood get him onto the bridge!

When someone told Hudson Taylor that of Jesus His Son cleanses us from

all sin.”5 What does it mean he must be a man of great faith, he replied,

“No, I am a man of that justification is based on the blood of Jesus? It

means that very little faith in a very great God.”

justification proceeds on the basis of a ransom paid; it proceeds When the

Death Angel passed through Egypt on the night of on the basis of the

satisfaction of justice. In other words, when the Passover, God was looking

for only one thing—the blood on God “justifies” a person, He is not looking

at the person himself.

the doorposts. “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”1 Those Rather,

He is looking at the blood of Christ. We are “justified by inside the house

might have been full of fear and trembling, but it His blood”! God does not

justify a man on the basis of anything made no difference as long as the

blood had been applied.

in the man. In particular, it is not because the man is—in any way, In his

autobiography Seen and Heard, itinerant Scottish shape, or form— godly

that God justifies him. We are specifically evangelist James McKendrick

tells of the glorious conversion of told in Romans 4:5 that God “justifies the

ungodly”! These are George Mayes, known for miles around as the most

outrageous truly amazing and wonderful words. Do you feel unworthy of

sinner in his district. When McKendrick returned some time later being

justified? You are! Everything about you cries out instead to the area where

Mayes lived, however, he found him in a troubled for your damnation.

Apart from the blood and righteousness of state of soul. “I don’t seem to feel

as I did, ” George lamented.

Christ, you have no hope.

“George,” said McKendrick, “if you had a shilling in your pocket There is

nothing in man that causes God to justify him, and felt wonderfully happy,

would the shilling be worth fifteen including his repentance and faith.

Repentance does not pay for sin. A pence because you felt happy?” “No,”

said George. “Well, how criminal’s remorse for his crimes does not satisfy

the just demands much would it be worth?” “Just twelve pence,” he

answered. “And of the law. Neither does faith pay for sin! Only the blood of

Jesus suppose, if you were miserable and had a shilling in your pocket, can

pay for sin! Justification is based on the blood of Christ.

would it only be worth nine pence because you were miserable?”

1 1 Peter 2:24 2 2 Corinthians 5:21 3 John 14:6; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Acts 4:12

1 Exodus 12:13

4 Romans 5:9 5 1 John 1:7

Justification and RegeneRation Justification: its chaRacteRistics

Again George responded, “No. ” “How much then?” asked is true about us

“on the outside” (i.e., “objectively”); He declares McKendrick. “Just twelve

pence,” said George. “Well, do you see that we are righteous (“right”) in the

sight of His law. Justification your joy does not add to the value of the

shilling, nor your misery does not make us good on the inside. (God does

make us good on take from its value, and that it is worth twelve pence no

matter the inside, but that has to do with regeneration—the new man is how

you feel?” “Yes, that is what I believe,” George replied. “Then

“created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”1) Justification, tell me

—is it your happy feelings or the blood of Christ that puts by contrast, is a

statement (a declaration) about our standing in the your sins away?” “Oh, it

is the blood of Christ,” George responded.

eyes of God’s law.

“Then, don’t you see that when you are happy you are not more The fact

that justification is a declaration concerning our safe, and when unhappy

you are not less safe? It is the blood of standing is made clear by the fact

that the opposite of “justify” is Christ that puts your sins away, and makes

you safe, and keeps you

“condemn”: “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God safe all the

year round,” McKendrick concluded. To this we can is the one who

justifies; who is the one who condemns?”2 When only say, “Hallelujah!”

a judge “condemns” a man, he does not change what the man is on the

inside, but instead “brings a charge against him.” He I hear the words of

love,

declares him to be guilty in the eyes of the law. Likewise, when a I gaze

upon the blood,

judge “justifies” a man, he does not change what the man is on the I see the

mighty sacrifice,

inside, but declares him to be right in the eyes of the law.

And I have peace with God.

’Tis everlasting peace!

Justification has no Degrees or Gradations Sure as Jehovah’s name;

A man is either 100% righteous, or he is condemned. If a

’Tis stable as his steadfast throne,

murderer is charged with seven counts of murder and only convicted For

evermore the same.

of one, he’s still a condemned man! Reader, if you have even one sin that

you have to pay for yourself, you will be in hell forever!

The clouds may go and come,

For the Christian, there is no condemnation. None whatsoever!

And storms may sweep my sky—

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in This blood-

sealed friendship changes not; Christ Jesus.”3 If you belong to Christ, you

are 100% justified in The cross is ever nigh.

Him; there is zero condemnation for you. And the righteousness Horatius

Bonar

that you have in the sight of God’s law is not just a good one; it’s the very

righteousness of Christ; it’s the “righteousness of God”!

Christian, are you looking inside for confidence? You will never

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we have it!

Even the massive anchors of ocean vessels will do no good might become

the righteousness of God in Him.”4

if they are cast inside the hold. They must be cast outside of the

Justification has no degrees! O, Christian, lay hold of this truth!

ship! Cast your anchor on Jesus Christ! Put all your trust in Him!

The devil will try to get you to think that you are at least just a little His

righteousness alone is your confidence and your hope.

bit condemned in the sight of God’s law. You are not! Wonder of wonders!

The apostle Paul knew God better than we do, but he To Justify Means to

“Declare Righteous”

was not one bit more justified than we are! Not even the Lord Jesus

“To justify” means “to declare righteous”; it does not mean “to make

righteous.” When God justifies us, He declares that something 1 Ephesians

4:24 2 Romans 8:33-34 3 Romans 8:1 4 2 Corinthians 5:21

Justification and RegeneRation Justification: its chaRacteRistics

Himself was more justified than we are, for His very righteousness he had

only been “let off the hook,” the repentant sinner would is ours! Our

justification is perfect and absolute.

rather satisfy justice in hell than live with the guilt of his past crimes.

Beloved Christian, you may have some terrible memories Jesus, Thy blood

and righteousness

in your sinful past, but you can be certain of this: those sins are My beauty

are, my glorious dress;

not still hanging in midair. They’ve come down…on the Lord Jesus

’Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed, Christ!1 And He has actually paid

for them! He bore your sins in His With joy shall I lift up my head!

own body on the cross.2

This spotless robe the same appears,

When ruined nature sinks in years;

Justification is both Positive and Negative

No age can change its glorious hue,

Justification is both positive and negative. We see this truth The robe of

Christ is ever new.

clearly set forth in Romans 4:6-8:

Nicholas von Zinzendorf

“Just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom Justification

is More than Pardon

God credits righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose

lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have In many

governments the president or governor has the power to been covered.

Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not pardon criminals. This is

known as “executive clemency.” Presidents take into account.’”

have been known to pardon former Presidents, and state governors have

been known to pardon all the criminals on death row as their First of all,

there is a negative side to justification: God “does last act in office. Some

questions arise: “When these men were not impute” our sins to us. Our sins

have been “covered,” and He pardoned, were their crimes paid for? ” The

answer is, No! “Was the does not “take them into account.” (v.7-8) God can

do this only threatened sentence of the law carried out? ” Again, No! “Was

justice because our sin debt was imputed to Christ and paid for by Him.

satisfied? ” No! All these negatives flow from the fact that pardon We learn

from the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ that sin can does not proceed on

the basis of a payment for sin. Pardon lets the (in some ways) rightly be

compared to a monetary debt: “Forgive criminal “off the hook,” so to speak.

The sentence of the law is us our debts, as we also have forgiven our

debtors.”3 Each of us never carried out. Pardon is an act of authority by a

governor.

owes a very great debt to the justice of God. How great is this By contrast,

justification is a declaration by a judge, and it proceeds debt? In Matthew

chapter eighteen, Jesus tells a parable comparing on the basis of justice.

Christian, when God justifies you, He does our debt toward God to that of a

man who owed ten thousand not “let you off the hook” with your sins still

hanging in midair.

talents to his king. This is equivalent to 164,000 years of work for a He

does not pretend that your sins have been paid for. Rather, He common

laborer, without taking off any Sundays or holidays! Our sees that your sins

really have been paid for by Christ, and He makes debt to God’s justice is

truly very great, but Christ pays that debt a declaration based on that fact.

He makes a declaration about the for His people on the cross. This takes us

back to zero; we owe no way things really are. If this were not true, there is

no way that any debts, but at the same time, we have no money in the bank.

believer could lift up his head. Think of Carol Everett, a former But there is

also a positive side to justification: God places His abortion mill operator

responsible for tens of thousands of deaths.

“blessing” upon us by “crediting righteousness” to us. (v.6) In other Think

of David Berkowitz, the former “Son of Sam” serial killer, words, Christ

not only pays our debt; He also puts a vast fortune now a believer in Christ.

Think of yourself!

in the bank for us. By His perfect obedience as a man, He works The only

way a repentant sinner can hold up his head is for him to know that his sins

have actually been paid for! If he thought that 1 Isaiah 53:6 2 1 Peter 2:24 3

Matthew 6:12

Justification and RegeneRation Justification: its chaRacteRistics

out a positive righteousness in the eyes of God which is laid to our Paul

expresses both the positive and negative results of account. Christ took His

place as the “last Adam”1 and succeeded justification in Romans 5:1-2:

“Therefore, having been justified by precisely where the first Adam failed:

“For as through the one faith, we have peace with God through our Lord

Jesus Christ…and man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so

through we exult in hope of the glory of God.” The first result of

justification the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”2

is negative: We are no longer under a curse. We have peace with To

understand the meaning of this, we must remember that the God—not just

peace from our side, but peace from God’s side.

Law has both a positive and negative side. On the one hand, the When a

criminal drops his handgun and surrenders, the policeman law threatens that

“the soul who sins will die.”3 But on the other pursuing him does not do the

same. He keeps his weapon trained hand, the law promises that “he that

does those things shall live by upon the guilty party until he is safely

incarcerated and justice them.”4 This promise of “life” had a temporal

application to the is eventually satisfied. Only then does he put down his

weapon.

Jews—as long as they obeyed the outward precepts of the Law of The glory

of justification is that God is no longer our enemy—the Moses, they would

“live” in the land that God had given them.

demands of justice have been met, our sins have been paid for, and But the

promise also has a deeper meaning—it has to do with, not God has now

“put down His gun” with respect to us. He is at peace only “life in the

land,” but eternal life. The Lord Jesus made this with us!

clear on more than one occasion: “And behold, a certain lawyer The second

result of justification is positive: We can exult right stood up and put Him to

the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do now in hope (confident

expectation) of the glory of God (heaven).

to inherit eternal life? ’ And He said to him, ‘What is written in the Not

only are we no longer under a curse; we have eternal life—

Law? How does it read to you?’ And he answered and said, ‘You right now.

Eternal life is not something we may have some day, but shall love the Lord

your God with all your heart, and with all your a present possession. “Truly,

truly, I say to you, he who hears My soul, and with all your strength, and

with all your mind; and your word, and believes Him who sent Me, has

eternal life, and does not neighbor as yourself.’ And He said to him, ‘You

have answered come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”1

Glory to correctly; do this, and you will live.’ ”5

God! The blessing earned by Christ has been given to us.

Likewise, when the “rich young ruler” asked Jesus, “What good thing shall

I do that I may obtain eternal life?” His reply was, “If Justification is Once

for All

you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”6 This means that

those who perfectly keep the law can earn or merit eternal life

“Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God.”2

by working out their own righteousness in the eyes of the law.

Justification is a once-for-all, past completed event with results 7 “For

Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is that

last forever. A man is not first justified, then condemned, then based on law

shall live by that righteousness.”

justified all over again. Justification is once for all time. This means 8 Only

one person in

human history has ever done this; all others have failed miserably.

that justification puts us in a new standing, status, or position with The

Lord Jesus Christ alone has “fulfilled all righteousness.”9 He God. “Having

been justified…we have obtained our introduction by not only paid for our

sins; He lived a life of perfect righteousness faith into this grace in which

we stand.”3 Christians have an entirely which is credited to us, and having

received the “gift” of His new standing, and that standing is in grace.

righteousness, we are entitled to life! 10 Not only did the curse due us The

wonder of once-for-all justification and our new standing in fall on Him,

but the blessing due Him fell on us.

grace may be illustrated as follows: Suppose a Christian husband gets up in

the morning and is somewhat unkind to his wife, but 1 1 Corinthians 15:45

2 Romans 5:19 3 Ezekiel 18:4 4 Galatians 3:12; Leviticus 18:4

does not realize his sin until later in the day. When he realizes what 5 Luke

10:25-28 (Compare Leviticus 18:4) 6 Matthew 19:16-17 7 Philippians 3:9

8 Romans 10:5 9 Matthew 3:15 10 Romans 5:17

1 John 5:24 2 Romans 5:1 3 Romans 5:1-2

Justification and RegeneRation Justification: its chaRacteRistics

he has done, he asks God’s forgiveness and his wife’s forgiveness.

The once-for-all nature of justification is clearly illustrated by His earlier

action was truly a sin, though he was not fully conscious the writer to the

Hebrews:

of it at the time. Now suppose further that this man had died before

realizing and confessing his sin. Would he have gone to

“For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to hell?

Certainly not! His first words of confession upon realizing come and not the

very form of things, can never by the same his sin show that his standing

with God all along has been one sacrifices year by year, which they offer

continually, make perfect of sonship: “Father, forgive me for my

unkindness.” Many agree those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not

have ceased to with this analysis, but few have stopped to realize what it

means.

be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, It means

that the Christian remains in a justified state, even during would no longer

have had consciousness of sins? But in those the time that elapses between

committing a sin and confessing that sacrifices there is a reminder of sins

year by year. For it is sin! In other words, the sin is not imputed to him

during the time impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away

sins.” 1

between its commission and its confession.

The case can be made even more strongly: Suppose this same Notice the

argument put forward here: “We know the blood of Christian husband gets

up in the morning, has an argument with bulls and goats cannot take away

sins, because they were offered his wife, and knows that he has been unkind

to her. Instead of over and over every year.” Someone might respond by

saying, confessing his sin, he goes off to work in a huff. All morning he

“What does that prove? They had to be offered every year because is

miserable. Finally, unable to stand it any longer, he bows his new sins were

committed every year. Each year’s sins brought head and asks God’s

forgiveness, then calls his wife and asks her new condemnation.” But

according to Hebrews, such a response forgiveness. Suppose this man had

died before confessing his sin.

betrays a misunderstanding of the true nature of justification.

Would he have gone to hell? Again, the answer is “Certainly not!”

When the worshiper has “once been cleansed,” there is no more After all,

why was he miserable all morning, if not for the fact that

“consciousness of sins.” When the blood of Christ is applied, we he

remained a child of God with a renewed heart throughout the are “perfected

for all time”! “For by one offering He has perfected time of his rebellion?

for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also To say this, is

just to say that the true Christian remains in a bears witness to us…saying, ‘

their sins and their lawless deeds I will justified state at all times. Why?

Because he has a whole new standing remember no more. ’”2 In other

words, the New Covenant promise with God. The Christian is no longer a

criminal under the wrath that God will “remember our sins no more” means

that the whole of God; he is a son under the care of a loving Father.

category of “sins” is gone forever from God’s sight, as far as the law 1 As it

is with

any loving father, God sometimes has to chasten His children, but and

satisfaction of justice are concerned. Believers have been chastening is

altogether different than judicial punishment. Strictly

“made perfect” as to their consciences3 and are no longer to have speaking,

punishment is suffering inflicted for the satisfaction of

“consciousness of sin”4 with regard to the wrath of God! In this justice.

Chastening, on the other hand, is suffering inflicted for the sense, there is

“no more reminder of sin”5 in the New Covenant.

good of the offender. There is a vast difference between the two!

“Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer

Justification is once for all. If this were not true, we would all lose any

offering for sin.”6 “We have been sanctified through the offering our

salvation every time we committed even one sin, and we would of the body

of Jesus Christ once for all.”7

be exposed to eternal condemnation until we came to the point What does

all this mean in daily life? It means that, as a of confessing that sin and

being justified (and converted) all over Christian, I can get up in the

morning and know that I am accepted again! This is not the nature of

justification, or of the Christian life.

1 Hebrews 10:1-4 2 Hebrews 10:14-17 3 Hebrews 9:9, 13-14 4 Hebrews

10:1-2

1 Galatians 4:4-7

5 Hebrews 10:3 6 Hebrews 10:18 7 Hebrews 10:10

Justification and RegeneRation Justification: its chaRacteRistics

in Christ. God delights in me as His child, and the guilt of my sins not

bothered at all, because the Bible says if you have faith you’ll is gone

forever. If I commit a sin, I am “conscious” of my sin as a be saved, and I

have plenty of faith.” In what was this man trusting?

child, not as a convicted felon, and I confess my sin to God as a son Not in

Christ or His blood, but in his own “faith.” The trust of a confesses to his

Father, not as a criminal confesses to a judge. I come Christian is entirely

different. If suddenly the floor were to drop with confidence into the holy

place by the blood of Jesus.1 “Who will out from under all of us at this

moment, every true Christian would bring a charge against God’s elect?

God is the one who justifies; cry out “Lord Jesus!” None would cry out

“My faith!”

who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, Faith is

the eye that cannot look at itself. Faith is occupied with rather who was

raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also its object, and that object

is the Lord Jesus Christ. “And as Moses intercedes for us. Who shall

separate us from the love of Christ?”2

lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be

lifted up; that whoever believes may in Him have eternal Justification is

Received by Faith

life.”1 Here Jesus tells us that the serpent on the pole was actually

“Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God.”3

a foreshadowing of Himself on the cross. How were people saved The

blood of Christ is the ground of justification, but faith in relation to the

serpent? “Everyone who is bitten, when he looks at is the instrument or

channel by which we receive the “gift of it, he shall live.”2 What is it to

believe? To believe is to “look”! Look righteousness.” 4 “What must I do to

be saved? Believe in the Lord and live! Fix all your trust on the Lord Jesus

Christ and be saved.

Jesus, and you shall be saved.”5

What is faith? Faith is not some force or power that we wield that

‘Look and live,’ my brother, live,

reaches out and accomplishes things. Neither does anyone “turn Look to

Jesus now and live!

his faith loose,” though some false teachers exhort us to do so.

’Tis recorded in His Word, Hallelujah!

Faith is just the opposite of such misconceptions. Justifying faith It is only

that you ‘look and live.’

is not “doing” something; rather, it is giving up on doing anything W. A.

Ogden

and simply falling on the mercy of God. This is illustrated in the testimony

of one sister who went through a great struggle before finding rest in Christ.

Aware of her lost condition and trying to do everything she could to keep

herself from going to hell, she found herself losing ground: “I felt as if I

were hanging on the edge of a precipice by my fingertips. Below me was

hell. I didn’t want to go to hell and had worked myself to exhaustion trying

to keep from going to hell. Finally, I could hold on no longer. I let go and

fell…right into the loving arms of Jesus.” That’s faith!

Notice also, we are not saved by faith in general; we’re saved by faith in

Christ. Some people trust in a past “decision,” but a

“decision” will not pay for our sins! Some trust in baptism, a past emotional

experience, or even their supposed “faith.” One elderly man who gave no

evidence of true conversion, when asked if he was ever bothered by the

thought of eternity, answered, “No, I’m 1 Hebrews 10:19-22 2 Romans

8:33-35 3 Romans 5:1 4 Romans 5:17

5 Acts 16:30-31

1 John 3:14-15 2 Numbers 21:8

Regeneration: All Things New

Chapter Four

Regeneration

All Things New

We have seen that sin is the ultimate and only problem of humanity, and

that man’s problem with sin has two aspects, one internal and the other

external: Not only does every fallen son of Adam have a bad heart; he also

has a bad record in the eyes of God’s law. Sin both defiles him and

condemns him; its power rules within him, and its penalty rests upon him.

Man is both helpless and hopeless—his plight is truly impossible. Into this

situation of darkness and despair a great light has shone.1 Jesus has come.

He can and will save His people 2 from both the penalty and power of their

sins. He does the former in justification; He does the latter in regeneration.

In the second and third chapters we have considered the great Bible

doctrine of justification. We will now take up the subject of regeneration.

Justification takes place in heaven, in the courtroom of God. Regeneration,

on the other hand, takes place on earth, in the heart of man. Justification is

a declaration by a Judge; regeneration is an act of creation by an

omnipotent Creator.

A Parable from the University

At every college and university, students study hard to get an

“A” at the end of the course. When I was a student, I did the same thing.

But I had one class that was different. It was a senior level course taken

only by physics and chemistry majors, and there were only four or five

students in the class. The first day of lectures, our teacher surprised us with

the following announcement: “You don’t have to worry about your grade in

this course—you all have an ‘A.’

Now we can just settle down and enjoy the material.”

Now, this is exactly what God does in justification. God gives us an “A” at

the beginning of the Christian life! We do not labor to merit eternal life at

the end of our course; we have eternal life.3 We exult right now that in just

a few more heartbeats, we will be in heaven!4

1 Matthew 4:16 2 Matthew 1:21 3 John 5:24 4 Romans 5:2

Justification and RegeneRation RegeneRation: all things new

Lost religious men have two basic responses to this doctrine.

invariable mark of any man who has found genuine peace with On the one

hand, the legalist hates it. This self-righteous Pharisee God is that he

immediately begins a lifelong quest to know and only does “good works”

because he is trying to get an “A” at the follow the God he now loves.1

(The man with false peace, on the end of his life. If he could, he would like

to live in sin, and he other hand, turns back to his own selfish interests as

soon as he resents the fact that he does not get to. His objection is: “If God

feels safe from the danger of hell.) The true Christian will never use gives

men eternal life at the beginning of the Christian life, what grace as a

“license to sin”; he already sins more than he wants to!

will keep them from continuing in sin? If He gives men an ‘A’ at the

Christians do good works, then, not because they are seeking beginning of

the course, no one will study the material.”1

to merit an “A” from God, but because they have been given new On the

other hand, the lawless religious man likes the doctrine hearts that love to

“study the material.” This provokes some of justification by faith. “Well,

I’ve already got my ‘A’! Now I searching questions: Do I read the Bible and

pray because I have can throw my book in the trash, ignore the teacher, and

go do my to? Do I feel cheated that I cannot pursue sin like the rest of the

own thing.” Such men “turn the grace of God into licentiousness.”2

world? Is there anything in me that just loves God for who He is They view

“free grace” as a “license to sin.” In this day of “easy-and loves goodness

for what it is? Is there any delight in the things believism,” churches across

the nation are filled with just such of God? The answers to such questions

will tell us much about the unconverted people—lost men who like to think

of themselves as state of our souls.

“carnal Christians.”

What is wrong with the reasoning of both the legalist and the Biblical

Representations of Regeneration

libertine? Does God give us an “A” at the beginning of our course, The

Bible has a great deal to say about regeneration. In the just to make it

possible for us to skip class and still get a top grade?

following pages we will examine nine Biblical representations of Does He

pay for the criminal’s crimes legally in justification, just this great miracle.

(Two others are summarized briefly in Appendix so that criminal can

continue to murder, rape, and pillage, only now A.) Each views the same

glorious reality from a different angle, with immunity from punishment?

Absolutely not! What does God while illuminating different facets of it. As

we consider the various do? At the very same time that He gives us an “A”

at the beginning of Scriptural depictions of regeneration, it is important for

us to our course, He also changes us on the inside so that we will love to

study bear in mind that the invisible realm they describe is just as much the

material! In other words, when God justifies a man, He also a reality as the

visible and temporal world that we see with our regenerates him.

Regeneration is inseparable from justification, physical eyes. In fact, the

invisible world may be said to be even and justification never occurs

without it. And this is Paul’s answer, more real than the visible world, since

the things of the spiritual both to the Jewish legalists who claimed that his

teaching would realm are permanent and eternal.2

lead men to “continue in sin,” and to the libertines who wanted to use his

teaching as an opportunity for licentiousness: “What shall we say then? Are

we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall

we who died to sin still live in it? ”3 According to Paul, every Christian has

undergone a radical transformation that makes it impossible for him to

continue in sin. This transformation takes place in regeneration. True

“grace”

always “instructs us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live

sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.”4 The 1 Romans 6:1 2

Jude 4 3 Romans 6:1-2 4 Titus 2:11-12

1 Philippians 3:10 2 2 Corinthians 4:18

A New Creation

Chapter Five

A New Creation

What is regeneration? According to the Bible, it is a new creation. When

God regenerates a man, it is a miracle of the same order as when He created

the universe!1 In fact, morally speaking, it is a much greater miracle.

Regeneration is a creative act of God.

Every Christian is a New Creature

“Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things

passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from

God…” 2 Corinthians 5:17-18

We see here that the Christian is described as a new creature. In other

words, when God makes a Christian, He makes something new, out of

nothing, that did not exist before! Moreover, regeneration always involves

this creative miracle—“if any man,” anywhere, is in Christ, he is a new

creature. There are no exceptions; if a man is not a new creature, He is not

“in Christ”! This is not just a pleasant picture, but a reality: “The old things

passed away; behold, new things have come.” “The old order has gone, and

a new order has already begun.” (NEB) Everything is new for the Christian;

he sees the world in a whole new light—even the gravel by the roadside and

the beer cans in the ditches!

Heaven above is softer blue,

Earth around is sweeter green;

Something lives in every hue

Christless eyes have never seen.

G. Wade Robinson

We have no part in bringing this miracle to pass. (A thing cannot create

itself!) God does it all! “All these things are from God.” (v.18) What a

mighty work this is! The Bible refers to it as a

“creation” again and again.

1 2 Corinthians 4:6

Justification and RegeneRation a new cReation

Created for Good Works

Both the church as a whole (the entire body of Christ) and the church in its

local manifestations (individual bodies of believers)

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not are

miraculous creations of God. No man can “start a church”; of yourselves, it

is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that God must do the impossible

and make something out of nothing for no one should boast. For we are His

workmanship, created in a church to exist. He does this by “creating” a

number of individual Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared

beforehand, Christians, made one by virtue of their common life.

that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10

It is highly significant that when Paul thinks about salvation, The Church’s

one foundation

our being “saved by grace through faith,” he thinks in terms of a is Jesus

Christ her Lord:

creative work of God. Christians are specifically said to be God’s She is His

new creation,

“created workmanship”! If our concept of salvation is just that a by Spirit

and the Word.

man “makes a decision”—steps out of the line of those on the way From

heaven He came and sought her,

to hell and into the line of those on the way to heaven—we’ve got to be His

holy bride;

a very defective view of salvation. Christians have been “created With His

own blood He bought her,

in Christ Jesus”!

and for her life He died.

What is the nature of this creative work? First of all, it is “in Samuel J.

Stone

Christ Jesus.” That is, it takes place in the sphere of union with Christ. This

parallels what Paul has said in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If Created in

Righteousness and Holiness

any man is in Christ, he is a new creature.” Secondly, it is “for

“That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside good

works.” The purpose of this creative work is to insure that the old self,

which is being corrupted in accordance with the good works will be its

outcome. These works have been “prepared lusts of deceit, and that you be

renewed in the spirit of your beforehand” for us to walk in, and all

Christians do walk in them, mind, and put on the new self, which in the

likeness of God has because as new creatures they have been specially

designed, crafted, been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

and created by God to do so!

Ephesians 4:22-24

The Church is a New Creation

According to Paul, not only is the church as a whole “one new man,” but

each individual Christian is also a new man. The

“That in Himself He might make [lit. “create”] the two into important thing

to notice at this point is that this new man is again one new man, thus

establishing peace.” Ephesians 2:15

spoken of as having been created. What is he like? He has been From this

important passage, we learn that Paul uses the created “in the likeness of

God…in righteousness and holiness of language of “creation” to describe

the existence, not just of the truth.” These are the characteristics of this

“new creature”!

individual Christians, but of the church as a whole. The church is Such

descriptions should give us a feel for how real this creative not an

organization; it is a created organism—a living thing and a work is: The

new man has been created in the likeness of God in

“new” thing. Christ has taken two totally divergent groups (Jew and

righteousness and holiness! Paul’s language here is not the language

Gentile) and “in Himself ” created the two into “one new man”—the of

poetic imagery, but the language of concrete reality! A parallel

“body of Christ.” This living body is indwelt by a single spirit—the

description of this creative work is found in Colossians 3:9-11: Holy

Spirit,1 and shares a common life—the very life of Christ.2

“Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with 1 1

Corinthians 12:12-13 2 John 15:4-5

its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being 52

Justification and RegeneRation renewed to a true knowledge according to

the image of the One who created him—a renewal in which there is no

distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised,

barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.”

We find again in this passage that the new self [lit. “man”] has been

“created” in God’s image. Therefore, as those who “have put on the new

man,” Christians are “holy and beloved” (v.12) in the sight of God. In

answer to the question, “Who am I?” every Christian should respond, “I am

a new creature, created in righteousness and holiness, holy and beloved in

the sight of God.”

Nothing Else Matters

“For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new

creation.” Galatians 6:15

From all that has been said in the paragraphs above, it is not surprising that

Paul considers the new creation to be of utmost importance. Nothing

matters except this creative work of God! Neither circumcision, nor

baptism, nor any other external human action or religious rite is “anything”

if the new creation is absent. On the other hand, if God has made us new

creatures, the absence of circumcision (“uncircumcision”) or baptism or

any other religious rite is not “anything” either! The only thing that matters

for any of us is this: “Am I a new creature, or am I still the same person that

I have always been?” If I am the same person that I have always been, then

I am not a Christian, and no amount of church attendance, liturgy, religious

ceremony, “going forward at the invitation,” or

“accepting Jesus” means anything. What is regeneration? It is a new

creation! In short, it is a miracle, not a “decision,” or any kind of human act

whatsoever.

A New Man

Chapter Six

A New Man

“That…He might create the two into one new man…”

Ephesians 2:15

“That…you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man,

which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness

of the truth.”

Ephesians 4:22-24

“Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old man with its evil

practices, and have put on the new man who is being renewed to a true

knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—a renewal

in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and

uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all,

and in all.” Colossians 3:9-11

As we saw in Chapter Five, each of the passages quoted above is very

significant in describing regeneration as a creative act of God. But another

facet of regeneration is also made clear in these verses: Regeneration is the

creation of a new man.

Not only is the church as a whole “one new man” (Ephesians 2:15), but

each individual Christian is also a new man! It is very important to realize

that in Paul’s view the Christian is not both an

“old man” and a “new man.” Nor does he have a new man “living inside”

of him. Nor does he have both an old man and a new man living inside of

him. The Christian is a new man.

One popular illustration of Christian experience speaks of the believer as

having both a “black dog” and a “white dog” living within. These dogs are

continually fighting with each other, and

“the one that we feed the most is the one that wins.” Such a view may be

sincere, but it is based on a very defective theology. The Christian does not

merely have something new within him that he never had before; he is

someone who he never was before. The Christian is a new man.

Justification and RegeneRation a new Man

“It is not I!”

it is, in some real sense, to say “Yes” to your deepest desires. Neither This

is well illustrated by an account that is told concerning of these views is

Biblical. The essential truth about every Christian Augustine of Hippo, who

before his conversion had followed an is that he is a new man. At the very

center of his being he has been ungodly lifestyle. After his conversion, he

was seen by one of his

“created in righteousness and holiness.”1 When he says “No” to old

girlfriends, who called out to get his attention, “Augustine, sin, he is saying

“Yes” to his true self.

Augustine, it is I.” “Yes,” replied Augustine gravely, “but it is not I!” This

should be the confession of every Christian.

The Flesh

At conversion, every Christian takes on a new identity. Saul The ultimate

reality for every Christian is that he is a new man, becomes Paul; Simon

becomes Peter. One of the first challenges but it is not the only reality.

Though the Christian has become a new a new believer faces upon

returning to his family and former person in his innermost being, he has not

yet been totally redeemed.

acquaintances is that everyone insists upon calling him by his old Sin still

tries to “reign” in his “mortal body.”2 This more superficial name: “Hello,

Simon.” The new convert must then take a stand on aspect of the

Christian’s personality is referred to in the New the miracle that has

transpired in his life and explain, “I no longer Testament as “the flesh,” and

will be discussed in later chapters.

love the things I once loved; I no longer do the things I once did. I Suffice it

to say at this point that the flesh does not represent who am no longer

Simon; I am Peter. I have become a new man!”

the Christian “really is,” and that the power of the flesh to rule over the

Christian has been broken.3 When our mortal bodies are finally Be Who

You Are

“redeemed,”4 every trace of sin’s remnants will be gone forever, and The

Christian is a new man. That is his essential identity. And we will at last

perfectly “become who we really are.”

because he is a new man, he is called upon to live like a new man.

Since the old man has already been “laid aside” and the new man A New

Identity

“put on,”1 he is exhorted to believe this fact (to be “renewed in the The

truth of the Christian’s new identity, in spite of the remnants spirit of his

mind”2) and to live accordingly by “laying aside the of remaining sin, has

been illustrated in terms of a newly purchased old man” (i.e., his deeds

—“your former manner of life”3) and by factory. Suppose that a poison gas

factory is bought by an oxygen putting on (in practice) “the new man,

which in the likeness of company for the purpose of producing life-giving

oxygen. As soon God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the

truth.”4

as the ownership of the factory passes into new hands, its identity This is

the New Testament method of teaching growth in grace: changes. The new

owners place a sign in front, “Oxygen Factory.”

“Realize who you really are, and then be who you are.” The call to In the

president’s office, a new director sits at the desk. The old believers is not,

“Try to be who you are not,” as many Christians president and new

president do not share the office, struggling with suppose, but rather, “Be

who you are!”

one another to control the company. The old president is gone. In Christian,

it matters a great deal how you view yourself as a fact, the old factory is

gone. An oxygen factory has taken its place, believer. If you are convinced

that you are still essentially evil now even though it may take a while before

all the old equipment can that you have become a Christian, then you have

ahead of you the be switched over to fully function in its new capacity!

lifelong prospect of vainly striving to be something that you are not as At

the moment of regeneration, every Christian is made you attempt to live the

Christian life. On the other hand, if you are radically “new” at the very

center of his being. God places a sign convinced that in the very core of

your being you are both good and in front of his life, “Saint.”5 It is only a

matter of time before this evil, then evil still has a legitimate place in your

heart and life. In essential and central transformation works itself out in

every facet your innermost being, you really do want evil, and to say “Yes”

to 1 Ephesians 4:24 2 Romans 6:12 3 Galatians 5:16; Romans 6:6-7 4

Romans 8:23

1 Colossians 3:9-10 2 Ephesians 4:23 3 Ephesians 4:22 4 Ephesians 4:22,

5 1 Corinthians 1:2; Ephesians 5:3

Justification and RegeneRation of the believer’s experience. An incident

from the life of New York City gang member, Nicky Cruz, illustrates the

wonder of this miracle. Notorious for his lust for blood and violence,

Nicky’s life was suddenly touched by God. Standing in front of his mirror a

few hours after his conversion—his revolver and knife still in his

possession— Nicky looked at himself and said, “So Nicky’s going to be an

angel now!” So it is with every Christian! Once the “new man” has been

created, it is only a matter of time before the “guns and knives” of sin that

are still attached to our lives must inevitably fall away. Hallelujah!

A New Heart

Chapter Seven

A New Heart

Whereas justification is an authoritative declaration by a Righteous Judge,

regeneration is a powerful creative act by an Almighty Creator. This

creative act is described in the Bible in terms of different realities, each of

which brings out different facets of what regeneration is. We have already

noted that regeneration is portrayed in Scripture as both a new creation and

a new man. It is also described in a third way; it is described as the giving

of a new heart.

The Promise of a New Heart

“ ‘Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will

cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I

will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes,

and you will be careful to observe My ordinances…so you will be My

people, and I will be your God. Moreover, I will save you from all your

uncleanness…

Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good,

and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and

your abominations. I am not doing this for your sake,’ declares the Lord

God…” Ezekiel 36:25-32

One of the most wonderful promises of the gospel is the promise of “a new

heart and a new spirit.” (v.26) This is something that God “gives” (v.26),

and He gives it to every Christian. In Genesis 6:5, we are told that “the

wickedness of man was great on the earth, and…every intent of the

thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Again, it is said that “the

intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”1 In another place we are told

that “the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who

can understand it?”2 Such things are not true of the heart of a Christian!

1 Genesis 8:21 2 Jeremiah 17:9

Justification and RegeneRation a new heaRt

The Christian has been given a new heart. He has become “pure in

• “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be heart,”1 “an Israelite

indeed, in whom is no guile.”2 Such statements clean.”

cannot be made about those whose hearts are “more deceitful than

• “I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all all else and

desperately sick”! Lest any should suppose that the your idols.”

believer has both an old heart and a new heart, God specifically

• “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within says, “I will

remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a you.”

heart of flesh.” (v.26) Instead of a hard, cold, unfeeling heart, the

• “I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give Christian is

given a soft, warm, living heart that is sensitive to the you a heart of flesh.”

things of God.

• “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and

you will be careful to observe My All Christians Live Changed Lives

ordinances…”

In connection with this giving of a new heart, God also

• “I will be your God.”

promises to “put His Spirit within us” and to “cause us to walk

• “I will save you from all your uncleanness.”

in His statutes.” (v.27) The certain result of this inner working of In

response to such “precious and magnificent promises,”1 every the Holy

Spirit is that every Christian “will be careful to observe Christian should lift

shouts of praise to God.

God’s ordinances (commandments).” (v.27) This means that it is absolutely

impossible to have a new heart and yet continue to live in sin.

The New Covenant

In our day it is not uncommon to hear statements like this: “That

“ ‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘ when I will person is a

Christian, but he’s lived his life in disobedience to God.”

make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the Impossible! “I

will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in house of Judah, not

like the covenant which I made with their My statutes, and you will be

careful to observe My ordinances.”

fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out

“That person has been a Christian for many years, but he’s never of the

land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although grown. ”

Unthinkable! “I will cleanse you from all your filthiness I was a husband to

them,’ declares the Lord. ‘ But this is the and from all your idols…I will

save you from all your unclean-covenant which I will make with the house

of Israel after those ness.” When God “begins a good work in us,”3 He will

never rest days,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will put My law within them, and until

every idol comes down and all filthiness is cleansed from our on their heart

I will write it; and I will be their God, and they lives! He is determined to

“be our God,” and He will share us with shall be My people. And they shall

not teach again, each man no other!

his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they

shall all know Me, from the least of them to Promises, Not Exhortations!

the greatest of them,’ declares the Lord, ‘ for I will forgive their It is very

important to realize that the statements of Ezekiel iniquity, and their sin I

will remember no more.’ ”

36 are promises as to what God will do, not exhortations as to what

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Christians ought to do. These promises are unconditional and always

fulfilled in every believer. God secures these results, not These glorious

promises are quoted in the New Testament man. Notice again what God

promises to do in these verses: regarding the “New Covenant” of which

every Christian is a partaker.2 Notice that justification is one of the

blessings promised 1 Matthew 5:8 2 John 1:47 3 Philippians 1:6

1 2 Peter 1:4 2 Hebrews 8:8-12

Justification and RegeneRation a new heaRt

in the New Covenant: “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin And I will

make an everlasting covenant with them that I will I will remember no

more.” (v.34) But promised right along with not turn away from them, to do

them good; and I will put the justification and inseparably tied to it is

regeneration: “I will put My fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not

turn away from law within them, and on their heart I will write it.” (v.33)

Justification Me. And I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will

and regeneration are forever bound together in the New Covenant.

faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with All those who

would use their supposed justification as an occasion all My soul.”

Jeremiah 32:38-41

to continue in sin only prove that they are not partakers of the New

Covenant. Once again we see that God never gives someone an In these

verses God again speaks of the “everlasting covenant”1

“A” at the beginning of his Christian life without simultaneously that He

will make with His people. The promises of this covenant giving him a love

for the material!

are glorious beyond words. Much could be said about each of them, but

notice these in particular:

Internal Righteousness

• “I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Under the Old

Covenant, the law was written outside of men Me always, for their own

good.”

on tablets of stone.1 This is always the relationship between law

• “I will not turn away from them, to do them good.”

and the unregenerate man. Law comes to him “from the outside”

• “I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not and imposes

standards on him that he hates.2 Law tells him what turn away from Me.”

he ought to do, but gives him neither the desire nor the power to do it. At

best, law can only give an external righteousness, like that All Christians

Have One Heart

which the scribes and Pharisees had. Jesus said that they were like cups that

had been cleaned only on the outside—“whitewashed All Christians have

one heart. This is made absolutely certain tombs which on the outside

appear beautiful, but inside…are full by the fact that God promises this

heart as a gift: “I will give them of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”3

one heart.” Christians are not told that they ought to have one By contrast,

the New Covenant promises an internal righteous-heart; they are promised

one heart as a free gift.

ness: “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write All

Christians have the same heart! All of them “worship in it.” On reflection, it

becomes clear that this is the same promise the Spirit of God and glory in

Christ Jesus and put no confidence as the one given in Ezekiel 36:26, the

promise of a new heart that in the flesh.”2 All of them love the Lord Jesus

Christ,3 and all loves and wants to obey God. How different true

Christianity is from of them love other Christians.4 This “one heart”

explains why the external religion of all Pharisees! The true Christian

follows two Christians can meet for the first time on a plane or bus and God

because he has a new heart, one with the essence of God’s experience more

real fellowship with each other in thirty minutes law—love to God and

man4—written on it!5

than they can with their lost family members in a lifetime.

Three Great Certainties

All Christians Have One Way

All Christians have one way. Again, this is a promise of God.

“And they shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will We are not

told that all Christians ought to have the same way; we give them one heart

and one way, that they may fear Me always, are told that one way will be

given to them. (v.39) All Christians are for their own good, and for the good

of their children after them.

moving in the same direction—upward and Godward. Some are 1 2

Corinthians 3:1-18 2 Romans 8:7 3 Matthew 23:25-28 4 Matthew 22:35-40

1 Jeremiah 32:40; Hebrews 13:20 2 Philippians 3:3 3 1 Corinthians 16:22

5 1 Thessalonians 4:9

4 1 John 3:14-15

Justification and RegeneRation a new heaRt

moving more quickly than others, and all experience temporary God’s

putting His law inside of us.1 In the New Covenant, God setbacks. But in

the general course of their lives, all are traveling puts within our hearts a

love for Him that causes us to cleave to the same path and headed toward

the same goal.

Him and to heed His warnings.

This means that anyone who travels a different path that leads in At the

time of the Passover, the children of Israel were warned a different direction

is simply not a Christian. “The one who says, ‘I that none of them should

go outside the door of his house until have come to know Him,’ and does

not keep His commandments, morning, but rather stay under the shelter of

the blood. What is a liar [ not a “carnal Christian”!], and the truth is not in

him.”1

would have happened if they had ignored this warning? They would have

surely perished! But the fact is, they did not ignore the All Christians

Persevere in Holiness

warning! They were afraid to go outside, so they all stayed in their All

Christians persevere in holiness until the end. Notice once houses until

morning, and none of them perished. So it is with every more the promises

of Jeremiah 32. Not only has God promised Christian. Praise the Lord!

not to turn away from us (“I will not turn away from them, to do them

good”); He has also promised to do a work in our hearts that insures we will

not turn away from Him (“I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that

they will not turn away from Me”)! Again, this is a promise, and it is

something that God does. Into the hearts of all Christians He puts an

ongoing, holy fear of Himself that secures their abiding faithfulness to Him!

This is true Biblical security, and it is much different than the flippant “once

saved, always saved” that is often taught in our day.

Security is not a matter of “getting saved,” then living a life of sin and still

going to heaven. Neither is it a matter of being thrown into a locked room at

conversion and not being let out, no matter how much we pound on the

door wanting to escape. There are no external restraints preventing a

Christian from returning to his former life: “And indeed if they had been

thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had

opportunity to return.

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one.”2 Do you

want to go back to the world? You are quite free to do so— no one will stop

you! But if you are a Christian, to go back is not your desire. How could it

be, since you have been given a heart that loves and fears God?

The security of the believer thus flows from the very nature of the New

Covenant. The great “fault” of the Old Covenant was that the people “did

not continue” in it.3 The New Covenant was established specifically to

remedy this situation. It does so by 1 1 John 2:4 2 Hebrews 11:15-16 3

Hebrews 8:7-9

1 Hebrews 8:10

A New Birth

Chapter Eight

A New Birth

According to the Bible, every Christian is a walking miracle!

He is a new man with a new heart. In short, he is nothing less than a whole

new creation! But the “newness” of regeneration does not stop there.

Regeneration is also a new birth.

New Birth

“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is

born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’

Nicodemus said to Him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? He

cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?’

Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and

the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of

the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel

that I said to you, “You must be born again.” The wind blows where it

wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from

and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ ” John 3:3-

In this portion of Scripture, we find some of the most wonderful and

instructive words ever spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is here we learn

that to become a Christian is actually to be “born” a second time! By

describing regeneration in these terms, our Lord draws attention to several

important aspects of it.

The New Birth is Radical

Nothing could be more far-reaching or have greater implications for us

personally than our own begetting and birth! When we are begotten and

born, we begin to exist and to live in the natural realm, and nothing is ever

the same for us again— forever! So it is in the spiritual realm: When we are

“born again,” we begin to exist and to live in the spiritual world, and for all

eternity nothing will ever be the same for us again! Hallelujah!

Justification and RegeneRation a new biRth

To be “born again” is to begin to exist. In short, the new birth that every

true Christian feels miserable and grieved when he does is not something

added on to our lives; it is life! We begin to live! To sin. Why does he feel

miserable? Precisely because his true nature say it another way, to be born

again is not to get something we did is to love holiness!

not have before; it is to become someone we never were before. The

Beloved saint! Do not let the devil tell you that you are new birth is at the

very root of our existence as Christians.

worthless and vile as a Christian. You are a child of God—“holy and

beloved”1 in His sight! His very nature (“seed”) is within you, The New

Birth is a Real Birth

and you bear the family likeness! The new birth is a real birth.

The new birth is not like a birth; it is a birth! Notice our Lord’s words in

v.6: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that The New Birth is

Sovereign

which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The new birth is a real birth.

The new birth depends ultimately on God’s will, not man’s Just as

something fleshly is born in physical birth, so something will. All who are

born again are “born not of blood, nor of the spiritual is born in spiritual

birth! “That which is born… is spirit.”

will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”2 The Lord In this birth,

it is God who fathers us; we are “begotten of God.”

Jesus makes this clear in v.8: “The wind [Gk. pneuma: wind, Spirit,

“No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides breath]

blows where it wishes.”

in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”1 John tells The wind

blows where it wishes! No man directs it or controls us that God’s “seed”

[Gk. sperma] remains in those who have been it or stops it from blowing.

Even so the Spirit of God blows where born of God. In the words of Peter,

we have “become partakers of He wishes. This means that the most unlikely

person can be saved.

the divine nature.”2 Such terminology is so explicit that we would Neither

the hardest heart nor the most stubborn will can stop the not dare to use it

except that it is the direct teaching of the Word wind from blowing. If there

was one person that the early church of God.

knew would not be converted, it was Saul of Tarsus. But the things The

reality of the new birth has tremendous implications: First that are

impossible with men are possible with God!3 One gust of all, it shows us

why a true Christian does not live in sin. John of the Spirit of God and the

man who was formerly “breathing tells us in the verse quoted above that a

Christian “cannot sin.”

threats and murder”4 against believers is now a meek and humble (See

Appendix B.) The reason a Christian cannot sin is traced back disciple of

Christ, asking, “What shall I do, Lord?”5

to his new birth and the divine nature residing within him: “No The new

birth is always a sovereign work of God: “so is everyone who is born of

God practices sin, because His seed abides in one who is born of the

Spirit.” Why is it that I am a Christian and him; and he cannot sin, because

he is born of God.” The Christian my neighbor is not? There are only two

possibilities: Either the has God’s nature in him and therefore cannot stand

to live the way explanation lies in man (“I was more responsive; I was not

so hard-he used to live. Any true believer who tries to return to his old

hearted; I sought God of my own initiative”), or the explanation ways will

ultimately find himself unable to do so. Sin is against his lies in God (“He

chose to ‘blow’ by His Spirit, softening my nature; he hates it.

hardened heart and making me responsive to His call”). The Bible

Secondly, we learn from the reality of the new birth how every makes it very

clear that the latter alternative is the correct one: “It true Christian should

view (i.e., think about) himself. The Christian does not depend on the man

who wills or the man who runs, but is no longer a sinner,3 but a saint.4

Again, this does not mean that on God who has mercy.”6 In our natural

state, “there is none who the Christian never sins, or that sin is not enticing

to his flesh, but seeks for God.”7 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of

His that his true nature—what he really is deep inside—loves God and

great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our holiness.

That this is actually the case is made obvious by the fact 1 Colossians 3:12

2 John 1:13 3 Luke 18:27 4 Acts 9:1 5 Acts 22:10

1 1 John 3:9 2 2 Peter 1:4 3 Luke 6:32-34 4 1 Corinthians 1:2; Ephesians

5:3

6 Romans 9:16 7 Romans 3:11

Justification and RegeneRation a new biRth

transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.”1 As with single day.1

Sometimes He comes as a gentle breeze opening the Ezekiel’s “valley of dry

bones,” God has “caused breath to enter us heart of one person to respond

to the gospel.2 But the moving of that we might come to life.”2

God’s Spirit is always known: “so is everyone who is born of the The only

reason that any of us is a Christian is that the Wind Spirit.” The effects of

divine activity are visible in the life of every of God sovereignly blew in our

hearts. I had no idea when I awoke true Christian.

on the day of my conversion that by bedtime I would be a new creature in

Christ Jesus! I was not “seeking God”; God was not in The New Birth is

Mysterious

my thoughts; there was “no fear of God before my eyes.”3 But by The new

birth is mysterious: “You… do not know where it comes the end of the day a

miracle had transpired, and I went to bed that from and where it is going.”

(v.8) Again, this element of mystery is night filled with the peace that

“surpasses all comprehension,”4 and invariable in the new birth: “so is

everyone who is born of the Spirit”!

the joy that is “inexpressible and full of glory.”5 The wind blows This is a

very wonderful thing: We “do not know” who might where it wishes!

Hallelujah!

be next! The Holy Spirit is a Person, and we cannot predict how He is going

to work. He may save one soul, or He may save three The New Birth is

Known

thousand. Those who market the gospel by “telephone evangelism”

The working of the Holy Spirit in regeneration is always claim to be able to

predict within a tenth of a percent how many known: “The wind blows

where it wishes and you hear the sound

“decisions for Christ” will be obtained. Such predictability proves of it. ”

(v.8) Wind always has movement, life, energy, sound. This only one thing:

These “converts” are nothing more than the movement may come in the

form of a powerful gale that levels products of applied psychology; they are

not the work of the Spirit everything in its path, or it may come in the form

of a gentle breeze of God! The new birth is mysterious!

that causes one leaf to sway back and forth on a limb, but always there is

movement. If there is no movement, there is no wind.

Who has seen the wind?

Neither I nor you:

But when the leaves hang trembling

The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?

Neither you nor I:

But when the trees bow down their heads The wind is passing by.

Christina Rossetti

So it is with the Spirit of God. The movement of God’s Spirit is evident by

the effects it produces. Sometimes the Holy Spirit comes as a mighty gale

sweeping three thousand into the kingdom in a 1 Ephesians 2:4-5 2 Ezekiel

37:1-10 3 Romans 3:18 4 Philippians 4:7

5 1 Peter 1:8

1 Acts 2:37-41 2 Acts 16:14

A New Nature

Chapter Nine

A New Nature

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but

inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes

are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Even

so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A

good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the

fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.”

Matthew 7:15-20

According to these verses, regeneration is not only a new birth, but also the

giving of a new nature. It is significant that the word “nature” is never used

in this passage, though the concept is everywhere. This is because our

“nature” is not something that we

“have,” but a description of who we are. The proper concept of a

“nature” is thus seen in our Lord’s words concerning the two kinds of trees

—good trees and bad trees. These simple words are filled with glorious

instruction concerning the realities of regeneration.

Four major and far reaching truths are immediately evident here: There are

Only Two Kinds of Trees

According to the Lord Jesus Christ, a tree is either “good”

or “bad.” Every man is either a “thorn bush” or a “grapevine,” a

“fig” or a “thistle.” There is no “halfway” group—half fig and half thistle.

Neither do we find in these verses any kind of “composite”

tree. For a tree to have “two natures” at the same time is no more possible

than for a tree to be both a thorn bush and a grapevine at the same time!

Every man is either one or the other.

Trees Bear Fruit According to Their Nature

“Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad

fruit.” (v.17) In other words, the kind of fruit flows from the kind (“nature”)

of tree. Grapevines produce grapes; thistles produce thistles. Notice the

absoluteness of our Lord’s statement: 77

Justification and RegeneRation a new natuRe

“Every good tree produces good fruit.” Beloved reader, let no one of God.”

The same truth is seen in John 10:26-27: “But you do deceive you with

empty words1 and do not deceive yourself into not believe, because you are

not of My sheep. My sheep hear My thinking that “some good trees bear

bad fruit.” According to the voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

Once more our Lord Lord Jesus Christ it never happens! Though the

Christian sins and makes it clear that men do not become sheep by

believing, as many stumbles in many ways,2 his life is inevitably

characterized by suppose, but they believe because they are sheep!

Glorious miracle!

good fruit,3 not by “thorns and thistles.”4 Lest there should be any

Regeneration is the giving of a new nature!

doubt about this, the Lord states it even more emphatically and specifically

in v.18: “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can Bad Trees Can Be

Known

a bad tree produce good fruit.”

Contrary to much popular opinion, it is possible to distinguish Just as a

good tree cannot produce bad fruit, so we learn from between true and false

believers. The Lord Jesus Christ gives us this the latter half of v.18 that it is

not possible for an unregenerate assurance twice in the verses quoted

above: “You will know them.”

man to produce good fruit. Apples can be tied on to a thorn bush (v.16) “So

then, you will know them.” (v.20) To the question, “How externally, but they

cannot be produced by the thorn bush. They will we know them?” our

Lord’s answer is simple and unequivocal: cannot flow out naturally from

what the thorn bush is in its essence.

“By their fruits.”

In v.19 we are told the fate of every tree that does not produce good This

does not mean that we can walk into a Christian gathering fruit: “Every

tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and and in five minutes know

who all the true believers are. Many thrown into the fire.”

times those who appear for a while to be strong and genuine later The Fruit

of a Tree Reveals its Nature

fall away. Likewise, those whose conversions at first appear to be very weak

and questionable are often found twenty years later The fruit of a tree does

not make the tree what it is; it reveals sturdy and strong and still walking

with God. Time must test the what the tree is. The Lord Jesus sets forth this

general principle in genuineness of every profession of faith. Nevertheless,

the fact His warning about false prophets, “You will know them by their

fruits

still stands that sooner or later—and many times sooner—the

.” (v.16) He then proceeds to teach about “good trees” and

“bad trees” and concludes by repeating this great truth in v.20: “So actual

state of a false professor of Christ will become known: then, you will know

them by their fruits.”

“But when the wheat sprang up and bore grain, then the tares The fruit of a

tree does not make the tree what it is: No one became evident also.”1

becomes a grapevine by trying to produce grapes! Only a miracle One of

the first verses to be quoted in any discussion about from God can change

us into what we are not! On the contrary, the true conversion is, “Do not

judge lest you be judged.” (Matthew fruit of a tree reveals what the tree is:

The production of grapes is the 7:1) Seldom does the person quoting this

verse realize that it was evidence that this miracle from God has already

taken place.

spoken by the Lord only a few verses before His statements about This

principle is well illustrated by our Lord’s words to the Jews knowing men by

their fruits. (v.16) The commandment not to in John 8:47: “He who is of

God hears the words of God; for this

“judge” thus cannot be a commandment not to “discern.” In fact, reason

you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” Notice our Lord warns

us in v.6, “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and again that the fruit of a

tree does not make it what it is, but instead do not throw your pearls before

swine.” How are we to know who reveals what it is. Many think that it is

our response to “the words these “dogs” and “swine” are, if we don’t

“judge” in the sense of of God” that makes us to be “of God.” Jesus says

the opposite. It discerning? In fact, the Lord Jesus commands us to judge,

though is because we are “of God” that we respond properly to “the words

not “according to appearance,” but “with righteous judgment.”2

1 Ephesians 5:5-6 2 James 3:2 3 John 15:16 4 Hebrews 6:8

1 Matthew 13:26 2 John 7:24

Justification and RegeneRation Good Trees are Representative of Good

Men

“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its

fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can

you, being evil, speak what is good?

For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man out of

his good treasure brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of his evil

treasure brings forth what is evil.”

Matthew 12:33-35

In these verses the four major truths of Matthew 7:15-20 are repeated by

the Lord Jesus using slightly different terminology. In addition, a fifth major

truth that is implicit in Matthew 7 finds its full expression here: According

to the Lord Jesus Christ, it is theologically proper to speak of some men as

“good” and some men as “evil.”

Christian, do you think of yourself as a “good man”? It is true, of course,

that apart from Christ none of us has any goodness whatsoever. In that

sense, “No one is good except God alone.”1 But, beloved, we are not apart

from Christ! The Bible describes Barnabas as “a good man, and full of the

Holy Spirit and of faith.”2 And Paul speaks of the Roman Christians as

“full of goodness.”3 If our theology allows no place for such language, it is

not a Biblical theology. God has done a miracle in the heart of every

Christian!

Regeneration is the giving of a new (good!) nature.

1 Mark 10:18 2 Acts 11:24 3 Romans 15:14

Crucifixion & Resurrection

Chapter Ten

Crucifixion & Resurrection

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might

increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or

do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus

have been baptized into His death?

Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in

order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the

Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become

united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in

the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified

with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no

longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.” Romans 6:1-

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ

lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the

Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.” Galatians

2:20

Many have read these verses and have tried to “imagine”

themselves being crucified on the cross two thousand years ago.

Others speak of “positional” truth—a sort of shadowy realm of make-

believe where things that are not really true are true

“positionally.” It is only when we come to see that these verses are

referring to the concrete reality of what takes place in regeneration that

they will have any real meaning for us.

It is true that every benefit the believer receives was purchased two

thousand years ago on Calvary, when Jesus died and rose again as our

representative. But these benefits become ours in reality and experience

only as we are united with Christ in regeneration.

That Paul is speaking of regeneration in Romans 6 is made clear by his

referring to believers as “those alive from the dead” (v.13) and as those

who now “walk in newness of life.” (v.4) The same can be said concerning

Galatians 2:20. It was at the time of Paul’s 83

Justification and RegeneRation cRucifixion & ResuRRection

regeneration that the old Saul “no longer lived” and Christ began to flesh.

The flesh is the unredeemed physical body viewed as the place

“live in” the new Paul.

where sin still tries to assert itself. Sin still tries to “reign” in the Notice

that according to Romans 6:2-7, all believers have been Christian’s “mortal

body.”1

crucified, buried, and raised up with Christ by virtue of their union The

New Testament refers to the flesh as “our body of sin,”2

with Him. Crucifixion with Christ takes place at the time of our

“the body of this death,”3 and our “mortal body.” 4 In this context,

regeneration. It is not an advanced state of spirituality to be sought sins (

all sins, even “mental” sins) can actually be spoken of as after, but a

completed reality to be counted upon. (v.6) Every true

“deeds of the body”5 and Christians are exhorted to “mortify” (put

Christian can say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ; to death)

“the members of their earthly body”! 6 This does not mean and it is no

longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”

that the body itself is sinful. Paul makes the amazing statement in 1

Corinthians 6 that the body is “for the Lord, and the Lord is for Crucifixion

& Resurrection

the body.”7 This is the exact opposite of the Greek idea that the What is

regeneration? It is the new birth of a new man who is a body is the “prison

house of the soul.” Nevertheless, the Bible does new creation with a new

heart and a new nature! But it is more: It is clearly represent the

unredeemed mortal body as the place where the crucifixion, death, and

burial of our old self (the person we once sin still tries to reign.

were in Adam) and the raising up of our new self (the person we now As

Christians, we are still waiting for the redemption of our are in Christ) to

“walk in newness of life. ”

bodies 8 at the coming of the Lord. When this takes place, we will

Christian, what does it mean that your “old man” was crucified, be

completely delivered from all sin. But in the meantime, there are died, and

was buried? It means that the old “you”—the person you two extremely

important truths that we need to grasp.

once were—is gone forever. You will never be that person again.

Most of you who read these lines never knew the old Charles A New Identity

Leiter, and I’m thankful that you never will, because that person The first of

these is that we have a new identity. As Christians, is dead and gone

forever! Glory to God! The Christian is a new we are alive from the dead,

raised up to walk in newness of life.

man. Through his union with the risen Christ he is “alive from the That is

who we really are, and who we will be ten thousand years dead,”1 and

because he is alive, he is now able to walk in newness from now! The flesh

is not who we really are. It is only a superficial of life!

(surface) and temporary aspect of our total personality, and it is Contrary

to what is often taught, the Bible never represents already doomed to pass

away. In a short time our bodies will be our old man as still alive—whether

kicking and struggling on the redeemed and the hindrances of the flesh will

be gone forever.

cross or hiding somewhere within us. The old man is dead, buried, The fact

that we are “alive from the dead” is usually a felt reality and gone forever.

“I (my old self, the person I once was) have been at the time of our

conversion. As time goes on, though, and we begin crucified with Christ;

and it is no longer I who live.”

to realize how much evil is still resident in our flesh and how great In light

of these facts, the question immediately arises: “If all our failures are as

Christians, it is common for us to begin to lose this is true, why do I still

have so many problems with sin?” The this sense of “newness.” Nothing is

then bad enough for us to say Bible answers this question, not in terms of

the “old man” who is about ourselves—we are “vile,” “wretched,”

“miserable.” In such a gone forever, but in terms of the “flesh” which is

still present with state it is, of course, utterly impossible for us to “present

ourselves us. The Christian has an on-going battle with sin because there is

unto God” with any degree of joy or confidence: “Lord, I joyfully one

aspect of his personality that has not yet been redeemed—the 1 Romans

6:12 2 Romans 6:6 3 Romans 7:24 4 Romans 6:12 5 Romans 8:13

1 Romans 6:13

6 Colossians 3:5; Romans 6:13 7 1 Corinthians 6:13 8 Romans 8:23

Justification and RegeneRation cRucifixion & ResuRRection

present myself unto You—wretched, vile mass of corruption that I be slaves

to sin.” And in v.14 we are assured that “sin shall not be am—to serve You

with gladness and confidence today.” Never! We master over us, for we are

not under law, but under grace.”

can never present ourselves joyfully to God as long as we have such a

concept of ourselves. But this is not Paul’s view of any Christian!

Embracing the Truth

Instead, Paul exhorts us to “present ourselves to God as those alive

Christians have both a new identity and a new power. These from the dead,

and our members as instruments of righteousness are facts, whether we

believe them or not. Believing them does to God.”1 Christian, you are just

as “new” today and just as much not make them true, and not believing

them does not make them

“alive from the dead” as you were on the day of your conversion!

false. Reality is not changed by our faulty perception of it. What The

wickedness of your flesh is almost beyond description, but is changed is our

experience of that reality. According to the Lord the flesh is not who you

really are, and in a very short time it Jesus Christ, knowing and believing

the truth is absolutely vital to will trouble you no more! Confess your sins to

God, receive His our freedom from slavery to sin. “If you abide in My word,

then forgiveness and cleansing, then present yourself to Him—joyfully you

are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and and

confidently— right now, to serve Him in the “newness of life”

the truth shall make you free.”1 “Sanctify them in the truth; Thy that is

yours in Christ!

word is truth.”2 In light of these statements, it is highly significant that

Paul spends the first five and a half chapters of his epistle to A New Power

the Romans laying a foundation of truth, and that Romans 6:11 is The

second truth that we must realize is that we have a new literally the first

time in the entire letter that he instructs his hearers power. Not only does

the Christian have a new identity, he also has to do anything! When this

first exhortation finally does come, a new ability to break with sin. Even

though our “mortal bodies”

it centers around believing and embracing the truth: “Consider have not

yet been redeemed, and sin still tries to “reign” in them, (conclude, reckon)

yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God we do not need to allow it to

do so: “Do not let sin reign in your mortal in Christ Jesus.”3 To “reckon”

is not to pretend something is true body that you should obey its lusts.”2 We

do not have to “let” sin when we know it is not; to reckon is to accept

reality for what it is.

reign in our mortal bodies!

The necessity of our realizing and believing the truth in order This

assurance of victory is repeated throughout the New to progress in grace is

a central theme in Paul’s letters: “Do not be Testament: In Galatians 5, we

are reminded that the Holy Spirit is conformed to this world, but be

transformed by the renewing of your far more powerful than the flesh.

Though the flesh “sets its desire mind.”4 It is only as our minds are

renewed—as we are enabled to against the Spirit,”3 we are promised that

as we “walk by the Spirit,”

see reality for what it is—that we can “prove what the will of God we “will

not carry out the desire of the flesh.”4

is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”5 Paul says the Again,

Christians are assured in Romans 8 that they have same thing in Ephesians

4 when he urges us to “be renewed in the the power “by the Spirit” to

“kill” sin: “If by the Spirit you are spirit of our minds, and to put on the

new self.” (v.23-24) When putting to death the deeds of the body, you will

live.”5 And Romans 6

a Christian gives in to sin, it is always the result of his failure to proclaims

the same truth repeatedly. For example, in v.6 we learn believe and act on

the truth!

that through the death of our old self, the power of the flesh to Again, the

New Testament method of teaching growth in rule over us has been broken:

“Knowing this, that our old self grace is, first: Realize who you are! 6 (i.e.,

believe and embrace was crucified with Him, that our body of sin (the flesh)

might be the truth), and second: Be who you are! 7 (i.e., actively refuse

done away with [lit. “rendered powerless”], that we should no longer 1

John 8:31-32 2 John 17:17 3 Romans 6:11 4 Romans 12:2 5 Romans 12:2

1 Romans 6:13 2 Romans 6:12 3 Galatians 5:17 4 Galatians 5:16 5

Romans 8:13

6 Romans 6:11 7 Romans 6:12-13

Justification and RegeneRation sin and deliberately give yourself to

righteousness). Beloved Christian, you do not need to live a life of misery

and defeat! You do not need to walk about day by day with a conscience

that is continually defiled by known sin. Ask God to open your eyes to the

truth! 1 Embrace by faith the reality of who you really are. Then, take a

stand on what God has done for you in Christ. “Do not go on presenting the

members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present

yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as

instruments of righteousness to God.”2 “Walk by the Spirit, and you will

not carry out the desire of the flesh.”3 Be who you are!

A Defeated Foe

Beloved Christian, sin’s days are numbered in your life! The ax has already

been laid to the root of your sin. Like a tree that has been cut off at ground

level, its leaves may still appear green for a while, but the fact is that its life

is over. It is only a matter of time until every leaf withers and falls to the

ground!

Sin is a defeated foe. The war against sin has already been won.

Like the pockets of resistance that sometimes continue to struggle on in

ignorance after the treaty of surrender has already been signed, so sin

continues to fight on in our lives with no hope of ultimate victory. Though

the believer’s conflict with sin may at times be fierce, the final outcome of

the battle is assured.

For the Christian, sin is but an early summer snow. Such snows fall

occasionally even in the warmer climates, but they are only the death throes

of a winter that is past. In a day or two they are melted and gone, and they

have no power to stop the inexorable advance of summer. Christian, sin

does not stand a chance in your life! You can fight against it with the

confident knowledge that summer, not winter, is approaching! The remnants

of sin that you still face are just the vestiges of what you once were; they are

not an expression of who you are now, and they will soon pass away

forever!

1 Ephesians 1:17-18 2 Romans 6:13 3 Galatians 5:16

A Change of Realms: From Flesh to Spirit

Chapter Eleven

A Change of Realms

From Flesh to Spirit

Thus far we have considered six Scriptural representations of regeneration,

each of which has given us further insight into the nature of this great

miracle. What is regeneration? It is a new creation, a new man, a new

heart, a new birth, a new nature. It is a crucifixion of our old self and a

resurrection of our new self. But regeneration is more. It is an exchange of

realms: Flesh vs. Spirit

“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of

the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life

and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it

does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so; and

those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the

flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if

anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”

Romans 8:5-9

It is clear from these verses that regeneration involves a change of realms.

Unregenerate men are spoken of as “those who are in the flesh”;

regenerate men are “not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.” (It is tragic that the

NIV replaces the words “in the flesh” in v.8-9 with the words “controlled by

the sinful nature.” Here Biblical translation has given way to theological

fancy.)

Christians are those who are no longer “in the flesh”; they now reside

permanently in the realm of the Spirit. Sometimes Christians will say when

they have acted impulsively or perhaps lost their temper, “I got in the

flesh.” In reality, however, the Christian can no more temporarily “get in

the flesh” than he can temporarily

“become unregenerate”!

Justification and RegeneRation a change of RealMs: fRoM flesh to sPiRit

What does Paul mean when he says that the unregenerate man worship Him

must worship in spirit and truth.” “We are the true is “in the flesh” and the

Christian is no longer “in the flesh, but circumcision, who worship in the

Spirit of God and glory in Christ in the Spirit”? The answer could be stated

like this: The natural Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”1 “For

through Him [Christ]

(unregenerate) man resides in the realm or sphere of the fleshly.

we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.”2 Christians are The

flesh is the source and context of his whole life. He knows

“in the Spirit.” They are able to “see Him who is invisible”3 and to nothing

of life in the Holy Spirit; he lives entirely on the fleshly

“look…at the things which are not seen”!4

plane. He inhabits the realm of glands and physical appetites, of cars and

computers, of sports and entertainment, of cosmetics and Only Two Realms

appearance. “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of The first

lesson that we should learn from Romans 8:5-9 is our flesh, indulging the

desires of the flesh and of the mind, and that Paul thinks in terms of only

two realms. A man is either “in the were by nature children of wrath, even

as the rest.”1 “Whose end is flesh” or “in the Spirit”; he is either

unregenerate or regenerate.

destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their There is

no “half and half ” third realm. A man is either “fleshly”

shame, who set their minds on earthly things.”2

(a non-Christian) or he is “spiritual” (alive in the realm of the Holy The

unregenerate man may have “religion,” but it, too, is Spirit—a Christian).

This same dichotomy is seen in 1 Corinthians fleshly. Paul tells us of a time

when he knew Christ “according 2:14-16: “But a natural man does not

accept the things of the Spirit to the flesh.”3 This is the Christ of popular

religious imagination, of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he

cannot understand ever changing with the times. (In our day He is often a

pale, insipid them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is

spiritual religious figure who lived long ago and went around carrying

appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man…We have

lambs.) Paul no longer knows Christ in this way, however. In fact, the mind

of Christ.” Here again there are only two types of men—the he no longer

knows any man “according to the flesh.” Why not?

“natural” man (unregenerate) and the “spiritual” man (regenerate).

The answer is given in the very next verse—Paul has passed into This fact

takes us a long way toward a proper understanding of a different realm!

“Therefore from now on we recognize no man what Paul says in the next

four verses: “And I, brethren, could not according to the flesh; even though

we have known Christ according speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to

men of flesh, as to babes to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.

Therefore if any in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you

were not man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away;

yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you behold,

new things have come.”4

are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are This

contrast between the two realms of “flesh” and “Spirit”

you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? For when underlies

our Lord’s words to the Samaritan woman in John 4: one says, ‘I am of

Paul,’ and another, ‘I am of Apollos,’ are you

“Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this not mere men?

”5 (The NIV wrongly translates the term “fleshly” in mountain, nor in

Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father… God is these verses as

“worldly.”)

spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”5

What is Paul saying here? He is saying that the Corinthian Usually we take

these words to mean that people can worship God believers are (in some

ways) acting like lost men. “I could not speak anywhere— either in this

mountain or in Jerusalem. This is certainly to you like Christians; I had to

speak to you like ‘men of flesh.’

true. But Jesus does not say “either…or”; He says “neither…nor”!

You’re acting like mere men. You need to have your minds renewed In other

words, God cannot be worshiped in this realm at all; He to realize who you

really are.” It is possible for a Christian to act at is accessible only “in the

Spirit.” “God is spirit, and those who times like a lost man, especially when

he is still a “babe in Christ,”

1 Ephesians 2:3 2 Philippians 3:19 3 2 Corinthians 5:16 4 2 Corinthians

5:16-17

1 Philippians 3:3 2 Ephesians 2:18 3 Hebrews 11:27 4 2 Corinthians 4:18

5 John 4:21-24

5 1 Corinthians 3:1-4

Justification and RegeneRation a change of RealMs: fRoM flesh to sPiRit

but this is a far cry from saying that a true Christian can live his Not only is

God left out of the picture, but “the mind of entire life like a lost man!

Contrary to much popular teaching, Paul the flesh” is actually “hostile

toward God; for it does not subject is not setting forth here some permanent

third category of men—

itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.”1 There is a the so-

called “carnal Christian”—a sort of “heavenly devil,” who deep-seated

hatred for God and His law in the heart of every lost lives his life with

“Christ in the heart” and “self on the throne”!

man. It is for this reason that “those who are in the flesh cannot A Christian

can at times act like a lost man, but when he does, please God.”2

he is acting out of character with who he really is, and he cannot In the

religious lost man this enmity is often well hidden, but maintain the façade

for long.

under the right circumstances it will lash out viciously. Here we need only

to think of the reaction of the scribes and Pharisees Each Realm Has Its

Own Mind

when they encountered Goodness Incarnate: “Crucify Him! We will not

have this man to reign over us!”3 Perhaps many even of The second lesson

that we should learn from Romans 8:5-9 is these religious leaders were

shocked by their own actions and the that each of the two realms is

characterized by a certain type of “mind.”

vehement hatred that they found welling up in their hearts toward

“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the the Son of

God.

things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the The mind

of the flesh is death, but, by contrast, “the mind of things of the Spirit.”1

Notice that Paul is not making an exhortation the Spirit is life and peace.”4

What a blessed thing this is! All things here. (He is not saying what “ought

to” be.) He is simply stating a that are good, all things that are lovely

—“love, joy, peace, patience, fact: Those who are “according to the flesh,”

mind the things of the kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-

control”—belong flesh; those who are “according to the Spirit,” mind the

things of to and flow from the realm of the Spirit!

the Spirit. This is just the reality of the situation.

This means that if anyone claims to be a Christian, but does Walking in the

New Realm

not “mind the things of the Spirit,” he is deceived. The Christian is alive in

a new realm. He is “in the Spirit.” His source and sphere

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the of life is the

Holy Spirit, and he is just “naturally” inclined toward desire of the flesh.

For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit,

“the things of the Spirit”! When he gets out of bed in the morning, and the

Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one when he is given a

few minutes to relax at work, when he has some another, so that you may

not do the things that you please. But leisure time, his mind gravitates

toward the things of God.

if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the

flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, Each Mind Has Its Own

Outcome

sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts The third

lesson that we should learn from Romans 8:5-9 is that of anger, disputes,

dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, each type of mind leads to its

own outcome—either death or life: “The carousing, and things like these, of

which I forewarn you just mind set on the flesh [lit. “mind of the flesh”] is

death.”

as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things 2 Death is its

ultimate characteristic and end, regardless of how pleasant things shall not

inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,

patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, may appear at its beginning.

Think of it! Everything in the fleshly gentleness, self-control; against such

things there is no law. Now realm, even the “best” things, will eventually

leave us with nothing those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the

flesh with its but emptiness, decay, and corruption—death! Why? Because

God is passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the

source of true life, and He is left out of the picture.

the Spirit.” Galatians 5:16-25

1 Romans 8:5 2 Romans 8:6

1 Romans 8:7 2 Romans 8:8 3 Luke 19:14 4 Romans 8:6 (Gk.) 94

Justification and RegeneRation a change of RealMs: fRoM flesh to sPiRit

In these verses from Galatians 5, the two realms of “flesh” and aroused by

the Law, were at work in the members of our body to

“Spirit” are sharply contrasted. Paul makes it clear that those who bear

fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, practice “the

deeds of the flesh…shall not inherit the kingdom of having died to that by

which we were bound, so that we serve in God.” On the other hand, “those

who belong to Christ Jesus have newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of

the letter.”

crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” They have made Here

again, Paul thinks in terms of two and only two groups.

a definitive break with the old realm and life of sin through repen-Those

who are “in the flesh” (unregenerate) are characterized by tance and faith

in Christ. The Christian is now promised victory

“sinful passions…at work in the members of their bodies to bear over the

flesh as he “walks in the Spirit”: “Walk by the Spirit, and fruit for death.”

These sinful passions are “aroused by the Law.”

you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”

Christians, on the other hand, are characterized by “release” from Of

special significance for our present study, however, is v.25:

“bondage” to the Law and by service “in newness of the Spirit and

“If we live by [or “in”] the Spirit, let us also walk by [or “in”] the not in

oldness of the letter.” It is not difficult to discover which of Spirit.” Notice

again what we have already seen in Romans 8: The these two groups the

“man of Romans 7” belongs to! He is “of flesh, Christian is one who is “in

the Spirit”! He lives in the realm of the sold into bondage to sin.”1 The Law

is “arousing” all sorts of sinful Spirit, and his source of life is the Spirit!

“Now,” says Paul, “realize passions in him.2 He is a “prisoner” to “the

law of sin which is in where you are, and walk there!— live it out in

practice.” “If you live his members.”3 He is a “wretched man,” seeking

someone to “set in the Spirit, then walk in the Spirit.”

him free” from “the body of this death.”4 Furthermore, he never There are

two (and only two) realms, and as Christians we are makes mention of the

Holy Spirit even once in the entire passage!

alive in the realm of the Spirit. Because we are now alive in this Clearly this

man is not “in the Spirit,” but “in the flesh.” For a new realm, we are, for

the first time, able to walk by the power Christian to turn to Romans 7 for

comfort when he is “defeated”

of the Spirit available to us in the place where we now are. This is therefore

inexcusable, even though at times he may feel as if he walk “in the Spirit”

involves obeying the Spirit’s promptings when

“belongs” there! (See Appendix C.)

we sense in our hearts that He is “grieved” by something we are It is very

significant that as soon as Paul has concluded about to do: “Do not grieve

the Holy Spirit of God.”1 When the his consideration of Law, sin, and flesh

in Romans 7:7-25, he Spirit is grieved, we must stop immediately! On the

other hand, to immediately summarizes everything once more in terms of

the

“walk in the Spirit” also involves obeying the Spirit’s promptings

“two realms”: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those when He

urges us to do something positive—to speak up for God, who are in Christ

Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus or witness, or pray:

“Do not quench the Spirit.”2 It is as we “walk has set you free from the law

of sin and of death. For what the Law in the Spirit” that we experience the

good and lovely “fruit of the could not do, weak as it was through the flesh,

God did: sending Spirit” discussed above.

His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He

condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement The Two Realms in

Romans 7 & 8

of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the The

concept of regeneration as a change of realms between the flesh, but

according to the Spirit.”5 Again, these verses are simply an flesh and the

Spirit is of great significance for our understanding of expanded

restatement of Paul’s earlier introduction to this section many other

Scriptures. In particular, it is foundational to a proper in Romans 7:5-6.

Notice that in v. 4 Christians are described as understanding of Romans 7.

Notice that Paul introduces his whole those who “do not walk according to

the flesh, but according to discussion in Romans 7:7-25 by referring to the

“two realms” in the Spirit.” As we saw earlier in connection with v.5, this is

not v.5-6: “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were 1

Romans 7:14 2 Romans 7:7-14 3 Romans 7:23 4 Romans 7:24

1 Ephesians 4:30 2 1 Thessalonians 5:19

5 Romans 8:1-4

Justification and RegeneRation an exhortation, but a statement of fact. It is

not a description of certain advanced Christians, but of the general walk of

all Christians.1 The verses that follow this summary (8:5-14) continue

Paul’s discussion of “flesh” and “Spirit” and have already been considered

above.

1 See also Romans 8:14.

A Change of Realms: From Earth to Heaven

Chapter Twelve

A Change of Realms

From Earth to Heaven

We have seen that regeneration is an exchange of realms: the Christian is

one who is no longer “in the flesh,” but “in the Spirit.”

But these are not the only realms exchanged in regeneration. The eighth

representation of regeneration that we will consider has to do with the

Christian’s translation from the earthly sphere into the heavenly sphere.

“If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why,

as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such

as, ‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!’ (which all refer to things

destined to perish with the using)—in accordance with the commandments

and teachings of men?” Colossians 2:20-22

“If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above,

where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the

things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and

your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is

revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Therefore

consider the members of your earthly body as dead [lit. “put to death the

members which are upon the earth”!] to immorality, impurity, passion, evil

desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is on account of these

things that the wrath of God will come, and in them you also once walked,

when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger,

wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to

one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and

have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge

according to the image of the One who created him.” Colossians 3:1-10

According to Colossians 2:20-22, Christians are no longer

“living in the world”! They have “died” to that realm and have 101

Justification and RegeneRation a change of RealMs: fRoM eaRth to heaven

passed into a different realm. This world of temporary and material realm.

They have been “born from above” and are part of a new things (“things

destined to perish with the using”) is no longer the order. They despise the

things that the world “highly esteems”1 and sphere of their life. What is the

sphere of their life? The answer is cherish the things that the world

despises. The stone which “the given in the verses that follow (3:1-10):

“You have been raised up builders” rejected as being worthless is precious

and foundational to with Christ; …you have died and your life is hidden

with Christ in them.2 Their motives and actions are an enigma to the world.

They God; …Christ… is our life.”

gaze on things that are unseen3 and pattern their lives according The

Christian is one who has “died,” and his life is “hidden with to invisible

realities. They understand the “hidden wisdom” which Christ in God.” He

lives in the heavenly realm. When the sphere of is “foolishness” 4 to the

world. They “have the mind of Christ.”5

his life was still this earth, he walked according to this earthly realm.

“For this reason the world does not know them, because it did not

“In them you also once walked, when you were living in them.”1

know Him.”6

But now the sphere of his life is heavenly, and he is exhorted to In light of

these realities, it is little wonder that the world hates realize that fact and to

“set his mind” on “things above.”

Christians. “If you were of the world, the world would love its Beloved

Christian, you belong to the heavenly places! You are own; but because you

are not of the world, but I chose you out of the no longer a part of this

world. You have been “crucified to the world, therefore the world hates

you.”7

world” and the world to you! 2 Only your mortal body, which has not yet

been redeemed, is still “down here” in this earthly realm.

Citizens of Heaven

That is why Paul exhorts us to “put to death the members which are upon

the earth”! 3 “Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice…

“…whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and do not be

conformed to this world (“age”), but be transformed by the whose glory is

in their shame, who set their minds on earthly renewing of your mind, that

you may prove what the will of God is, things. For our citizenship is in

heaven, from which also we that which is good and acceptable and

perfect.”4

eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Philippians 3:19-20

Not of This World

In sharp contrast with those whose god is the flesh and whose

“You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I minds are

fixed on earthly things, Christians are already citizens am not of this

world.” John 8:23

of heaven. They live and move in the heavenly kingdom, and their minds are

set on things above.8 Their hearts are in heaven, from In these words to the

Jews, our Lord again speaks of the earthly which they eagerly await the

return of their Savior and King.

and heavenly realms. As we would expect, He speaks of Himself as

belonging to the heavenly sphere. What we do not expect is what

“Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds He says a few

chapters later about all Christians: to the present [earthly] Jerusalem, for

she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free; she is

our mother.”

“The world has hated them, because they are not of the world, Galatians

4:25-26

even as I am not of the world…They are not of the world, even as I am not

of the world.” John 17:14, 16

“For you have not come to a mountain that may be touched…

but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living Christians are

not of the world even as Christ is not of the world! As partakers of His

heavenly life, they belong to a different 1 Luke 16:15; Psalm 15:4 2 1 Peter

2:4, 7 3 2 Corinthians 4:18

4 1 Corinthians 2:6-10, 14 5 1 Corinthians 2:16 6 1 John 3:1 7 John 15:19

1 Colossians 3:7 2 Galatians 6:14 3 Colossians 3:5 (Gk.) 4 Romans 12:1-2

8 Colossians 3:1-2

102

103

Justification and RegeneRation a change of RealMs: fRoM eaRth to heaven

God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the Oh, the

blessedness of being, even now, a part of this heavenly city, general

assembly and church of the first-born who are enrolled the bride, the wife of

the Lamb!

in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men

made perfect.” Hebrews 12:18, 22-23

Glorious things of thee are spoken

Zion, city of our God;

We see again in these verses that Christians are the freeborn He whose

word cannot be broken

citizens of “the Jerusalem above.” They have come, not to a Formed thee

for His own abode.

mountain that may be physically touched, but to an invisible and On the

Rock of Ages founded,

heavenly one—Mount Zion, the “city of the great King.”1 They What can

shake thy sure repose?

are right now a part of the “heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the With

salvation’s walls surrounded,

living God,” along with all those who have already died and gone Thou

mayest smile on all thy foes.

before them to heaven. This is the “city which has foundations, See! The

streams of living waters,

whose architect and builder is God.”2 Because their hearts are fixed

Springing from eternal love,

upon this permanent heavenly Jerusalem, Christians are willing to Well

supply Thy sons and daughters,

forsake the security of all temporal earthly establishments and to And all

fear of want remove.

go to Christ “outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” “For here Who can

faint while such a river

we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is Ever

flows their thirst to assuage?

to come.”3

Grace which, like the Lord, the Giver, Never fails from age to age.

“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from

God, made ready as a bride adorned for her Savior, if of Zion’s city

husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, I, through grace,

a member am,

‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall Let the world

deride or pity,

dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God I will glory in

Thy Name.

Himself shall be among them…’ ” Revelation 21:2-3

Fading is the worldling’s pleasure,

All his boasted pomp and show;

“…‘Come here, I shall show you the bride, the wife of the Solid joys and

lasting treasure

Lamb.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high None but

Zion’s children know.

mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming John Newton

down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.”

Revelation 21:9-11

Seated with Christ

Who is the “holy city, new Jerusalem”? None other than

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who

“the bride, the wife of the Lamb”! This city, the bride, now resides has

blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly in heaven, but in the

consummation will “come down out of places [lit. “heavenlies”] in

Christ.” Ephesians 1:3

heaven from God.” God Himself will then forever “dwell among”

His people and “the glory of God” will forever rest upon them.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He

loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, 1 Psalm 2:6-8;

48:1-2; 87:5; 110:1-2 2 Hebrews 11:10, 16 3 Hebrews 13:12-14

made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been 104

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saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in of the

resurrection life of Christ, and He has already defeated and the heavenly

places, in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-6

broken the power of the sin that you are facing right now—by His death,

burial, resurrection, and ascension! As a participant in His Because we are

“in Christ” and are partakers of His resurrection life, your calling is not to

try to achieve something for yourself that life, we find ourselves seated with

Him in the heavenly places. In He has not achieved, but to believe what He

has already done for Him we possess “every spiritual blessing” and are

lacking in nothing; you and to walk in it. In this way you will be enabled to

fight “the we have been granted “everything pertaining to life and

godliness.”1

good fight of faith”1 instead of the miserable struggle of unbelief!

Christians have no need for “something more” in addition to The same is

true of our battle against the powers of darkness.

Christ; their great need is to see and enter into the reality of what We

constantly need to be reminded of the fact that Satan has already they

already have in Him. It is the gracious work of the Holy Spirit been

defeated by Christ on the cross,2 and that “in Christ” we are to bring this

to pass.2 Paul therefore prays for the Ephesians that seated “far above”3

all the hosts of evil. We should read Ephesians the “eyes of their heart may

be enlightened” by the Holy Spirit, so 6:12 in the light of this present

reality: “For our struggle is not that they may “know…the surpassing

greatness of God’s power”

against flesh and blood, but against the [defeated] rulers, against the

toward them as believers.3 This is the very same power that raised

[dethroned] powers, against the [subjugated] world forces of this Christ

from the dead, and “seated Him at God’s right hand in the darkness,

against the [vanquished] spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places,

far above all rule and authority and power and the heavenly places.” As we

humbly “submit ourselves to God and dominion, and every name that is

named, not only in this age, but resist the devil,” we have the promise that

even this roaring lion will also in the one to come.”4

“flee” before God’s otherwise defenseless sheep! 4 Glory to God!

Keep Looking Down

From all of these verses, it is clear that believers have their sphere and

source of life in the heavenlies. They are no longer of this world. They no

longer live here,5 but in heaven.6 In our day-today experience, it makes a

great deal of difference whether we view ourselves as “down here” in this

world—like a diver on the ocean floor with a little life-line connecting him

to the surface far above (heaven), or whether we view ourselves as “seated

in heaven”—

looking down on the affairs of this life! It makes a great deal of difference

whether our motto is “Keep Looking Up” (“to the realm where you do not

yet belong”) or “Keep Looking Down” (“from the realm where you already

are, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God”)!

In practical terms, this means that Christians are not laboring to achieve a

life that they do not yet have or to obtain a victory that has not yet been

won. They are participants in the very life of Christ and in the victory that

He has already won. Christian, you are a partaker 1 2 Peter 1:3 2 John

14:16, 20, 26; 16:12-14 3 Ephesians 1:15-19

1 1 Timothy 6:12 2 Colossians 2:15; John 12:31 3 Ephesians 1:20-21

4 Ephesians 1:19-21 5 Colossians 2:20 6 Colossians 3:3

4 James 4:7

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A Change of Realms: From Sin to Righteousness

Chapter Thirteen

A Change of Realms

From Sin to Righteousness

Regeneration is an exchange of realms. The ninth and final representation

of regeneration that we will consider has to do with the Christian’s passage

from a state of slavery to sin to a state of slavery to righteousness. Because

of this exchange, every Christian can truly confess, “I used to be a slave to

sin, but I am not any longer! I am a slave to righteousness!”

“Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of

sin might be done away with [lit. “rendered powerless”] , that we should no

longer be slaves to sin.” Romans 6:6

“For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under

grace.” Romans 6:14

“Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves

for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin

resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be

to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the

heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having

been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in

human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you

presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting

in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to

righteousness, resulting in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin,

you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you

then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the

outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and

enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the

outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God

is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:16-23

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Justification and RegeneRation a change of RealMs: fRoM sin to

Righteousness Only Two Masters

reason for existing and finds true freedom only by remaining in In keeping

with all that we have seen thus far, it should come submission to his

Creator.

as no surprise that in these passages there are two, and only two, masters

set forth as possible slave owners. On the one hand there is Slaves to Sin

Sin, and on the other hand there is Righteousness. These two slave The

verses quoted above make it very clear that before our owners are

diametrically opposed to each other. The difference regeneration every one

of us was a “slave to sin.” (v.6, 17, 20) What between them is not a little

thing. It is the difference between what does it mean to be “a slave to sin”?

It means to live under the is filthy and what is pure, what is honorable and

what is shameful, dominating power of sin. Sin rules and “reigns”1 over its

subjects, what is noble and what is base. In short, it is the difference

between demanding their obedience. They cannot not obey it! Illustrations

life and death, between heaven and hell, and between God and of this

slavery abound from both the Bible and church history: the devil. Since

these two masters are so completely antagonistic Before his conversion,

evangelist Mel Trotter was a helpless to each other, it is utterly impossible

to serve both of them at the drunkard. Coming home after a ten-day

drinking bout, he found same time. “No servant can serve two masters; for

either he will his two year old son dead in his wife’s arms. In the depths of

hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and remorse—

convinced that by his absence he had murdered his despise the other.”1

only son—Trotter vowed with tears never to drink again. But less than two

hours after his child’s funeral he returned home blind drunk All Men Are

Slaves

once more! Such is the nature of slavery to sin.

It may come as a shock to realize that according to these verses But it is not

only the drunkard or the drug addict who is a all men are slaves. There are

absolutely no exceptions. Both the slave of sin. All men outside of Christ are

in sin’s bondage. Even writer and reader of these lines are most certainly

slaves. We are, the “good moral person” who has no apparent vices is a

slave to at this very moment, either slaves of sin or slaves of righteousness.

sin. This is obvious from the fact that he does not believe in and There is no

place of neutrality or “middle ground” between these worship the living

God. Why does he not bow down before his two extremes. No one in the

whole world is “free” in the sense of Creator in love and adoration? Simply

because his master won’t having no master at all. The question is not

whether or not we will let him! Sin has a stranglehold on his life and will

not allow him have a master. The only question is whether we will have a

good to do that which is sane, reasonable, and right. “The god of this

master who blesses us with life and peace or an evil master who world has

blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might curses us with death

and destruction.

not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the Satan came

to Eve with the perverse suggestion that God could image of God.”2

not be trusted. When Eve decided to test his hypothesis by becoming Our

Lord makes it very clear in John 8:31-36 that no slave of a “neutral

investigator,” she discovered through bitter experience that sin will be in

heaven: “‘If you abide in My word, then you are truly there is no place of

neutrality between God and the devil. To step out disciples of Mine, and you

shall know the truth, and the truth shall from under the authority of God is

to immediately place ourselves make you free.’ They answered Him, ‘We

are Abraham’s offspring, under the dominion of the wicked one—the “thief

” who “comes and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that

You only to steal, and kill, and destroy.”2 Like the railroad locomotive say,

“You shall become free”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘ Truly, truly, I that fulfills

its reason for existing and finds true freedom only say to you, everyone who

commits sin is the slave of sin. And the slave by remaining within the

constraint of the rails, so man fulfills his does not remain in the house

forever; the son does remain forever. If 1 Luke 16:13 2 John 10:10

1 Romans 5:21 2 2 Corinthians 4:4

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Righteousness therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free

indeed.’”

righteousness that they have been unable even to sleep until they No slave

of sin will remain in the Son’s house forever, but freedom witnessed to a lost

friend or helped someone in a time of special is the birthright of all who are

“truly” the Lord’s disciples!

need. They have joyfully given themselves to be burned at the stake or torn

by wild beasts because they were “controlled” by the love Slaves to

Righteousness

of Christ.1 Because of their slavery to righteousness, Christians At the time

of regeneration every Christian ceases to be a slave have repeatedly found

themselves unable to keep from humbling to sin and becomes a slave of

righteousness: “But thanks be to God themselves and asking forgiveness

when they have wronged that though you were slaves of sin, you became

obedient from the another. The story is told of an awakening in the British

Isles heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and under

the ministry of W. P. Nicholson when multitudes of rough having been freed

from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”

dock workers were converted. So many stolen goods were returned (v.17-

18) Notice that in these verses Christians are not said to by these men that

the warehouses were filled to capacity and a be “free from sin”; they are

said to have been “freed from sin.”

company order had to be given, “Please don’t bring back any more Paul is

speaking here, not about sinless perfection, but about stolen goods!” Such

is the slavery of the Christian to righteousness, emancipation from one

master (sin) and enslavement to another and what a blessed freedom it is!

The wonder of regeneration—an master (righteousness).

exchange of slavery to sin for slavery to righteousness!

According to the Lord Jesus Christ, this change of ownership takes place

when One who is “stronger than the strong man”

(Christ) attacks the “strong man” (Satan) and takes possession of his

goods: “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own homestead, his

possessions are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he attacks

him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he

had relied, and distributes his plunder.”1 Glorious transaction—to be set

free from the dominion of Satan by the Lord Jesus Christ and to become His

grateful love-slave forever!

All Christians are slaves of righteousness. What does it mean to be “a slave

to righteousness”? It means to live under the dominating power of

righteousness. Righteousness rules and reigns over Christians, demanding

their obedience. Again, examples abound both in the Bible and in church

history. Jeremiah found himself inwardly compelled to preach God’s

message, in spite of the reproach that it brought upon him: “Because for me

the word of the Lord has resulted in reproach and derision all day long. But

if I say, ‘ I will not remember Him or speak anymore in His name, ’ then in

my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I am weary

of holding it in, and I cannot endure it. ”2 Countless times down through

the centuries Christians have felt themselves so constrained by 1 Luke

11:21-22 2 Jeremiah 20:8-9

1 2 Corinthians 5:14

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A Change of Realms: From Law to Grace

Chapter Fourteen

A Change of Realms

From Law to Grace

“For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under

grace.” Romans 6:14

“For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to God.

I have been crucified with Christ…” Galatians 2:19-20

We have seen in the preceding chapters that regeneration is described in the

Bible in terms of a “change of realms”—from flesh to Spirit, from earth to

heaven, and from slavery to sin to slavery to righteousness. But the Bible

speaks of another change of realms—from being “under law” to being

“under grace.” Since this change of realms encompasses both justification

and regeneration, it is vital that certain aspects of it be considered in any

discussion of these two great miracles.

In the verses quoted above, Paul tells us that Christians are

“not under law” and have “died to the Law.” In other passages he tells us

that Christians have been “released from the Law,”1 and are no longer

“bound”2 by the law, but have been “set free” by Christ from the law’s

“yoke of slavery.”3 The lost man’s relationship to God is one of law; for the

Christian this is not the case. He dwells in a state of glorious “liberty” and

“freedom.”4

What does it mean that Christians are “under grace”? And what does it

mean that they are “not under law” and “dead to law”? Does it mean that

it is no longer wrong for Christians to steal, commit adultery, or otherwise

continue in sin? Paul’s answer is a resounding, “May it never be!”5 What

exactly, then, does freedom from the law entail? Having considered the

nature and characteristics of justification and regeneration, we are now in

a position to give several answers to this question. The answers are very

wonderful and far-reaching in their implications.

1 Romans 7:6 2 Romans 7:6 3 Galatians 5:1 4 Galatians 5:1, 13

5 Romans 6:14-15

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The Curse

of obtaining righteousness and life. As seen in previous chapters, the In

what sense are Christians free from the law? The first answer law holds out

the promise of life and blessing to those who establish to this question is

that Christians are free from the curse of the law.

their own righteousness by keeping it.1 “Do this and you will live,”

All lost people live under a curse: “For as many as are of the works is the

principle of law. Under the law, men exhaust themselves (and of the Law

are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone fail miserably)

trying to merit the favor of God and get an “A” at who does not abide by

all the things written in the book of the the end of their course.

law, to perform them.’”1 No matter how well things may seem to For the

Christian, everything is different. He already has his be going in his life, the

non-Christian lives continually under the

“A”; he already has eternal life; he already has the smile and favor curse

of God. Though his children may be healthy, his garden of God—all

because of the work of Christ on his behalf! God thriving, and his flowers

blooming beautifully, the wrath of God delights in him and rejoices over

him like a groom rejoices over his

“abides” upon him at all times.2 One day he will hear the awful bride:

“And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God words,

“Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which will rejoice

over you.”2 “In that day it will be said to Jerusalem: has been prepared for

the devil and his angels.”3

‘Do not be afraid, O Zion; do not let your hands fall limp. The The

Christian, on the other hand, has been redeemed from the Lord your God is

in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult curse of the law: “Christ

redeemed us from the curse of the Law, over you with joy, He will be quiet

in His love, He will rejoice having become a curse for us—for it is written,

‘Cursed is everyone over you with shouts of joy!’ ”3 Knowing as we do how

sinful and who hangs on a tree…’ ”4 Glory to God! If you are a Christian,

unworthy of God’s delight we still are, it is difficult for us to believe you are

no longer under the curse! There is not the least bit of curse that He could

really feel this way about us. But He does! He not remaining upon you, for

“there is no condemnation for those who only loves us; He loves us beyond

our ability to comprehend—His are in Christ Jesus.”5 Furthermore, the

curse will never come upon love “surpasses knowledge”!4

you again, for your sins are gone forever!6

The Christian is free from the law as a requirement for obtaining life. Christ

has not only redeemed him from the curse of the law; He Free from the law,

oh, happy condition, has also obtained for him all the blessings of life and

righteousness.

Jesus hath bled, and there is remission.

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law…in order that in Cursed by

the law and bruised by the fall, Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might

come to the Gentiles, Grace hath redeemed us, once for all.

so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”5

This means that instead of living under a curse, the Christian now Once for

all, oh, sinner receive it,

lives under the perpetual blessing of God. Though his children Once for all,

oh, brother believe it;

may have sickness, his garden be blasted from drought, and his Cling to the

cross, the burden will fall, flowers wilted, he lives continually under God’s

smile. This state Christ hath redeemed us, once for all!

of blessedness flows from his justification: “And the Scripture, Philip P.

Bliss

foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel

beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations shall Blessing and Favor

be blessed in you.’ So then those who are of faith are blessed with Not only

are Christians free from the curse of the law; they are Abraham, the

believer.”6 “Just as David also speaks of the blessing free from the

crushing burden of having to keep the law as a means upon the man to

whom God reckons righteousness apart from 1 Galatians 3:10 2 John 3:36

3 Matthew 25:41 4 Galatians 3:13

1 Galatians 3:12; Luke 10:25-28; Philippians 3:9; Romans 10:5 2 Isaiah

62:5

5 Romans 8:1 6 Hebrews 8:12

3 Zephaniah 3:16-17 4 Ephesians 3:19 5 Galatians 3:13-14 6 Galatians

3:8-9

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works: ‘ Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, Every

Christian has been freed from this state of bondage. For and whose sins

have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin him the law is no longer

an external rule that contradicts his true the Lord will not take into

account.’ ”1 It is infinitely better to nature and desires. Rather, the law is

internal; it has been “written waste away in a prison cell under the blessing

of God, than to live on his heart” in the miracle of regeneration.1 He is

constrained in a palace under His curse! “Then the King will say to those

on by love, not law.2 That which flows out of his innermost being His right,

‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the conforms to the law

and fulfills it automatically, for “love is the kingdom prepared for you from

the foundation of the world.’ ”2

fulfillment of the law.”3 A Christian being who he really is will never Are

you a Christian? Then the blessing of God rests upon you have to worry

about coming into conflict with God’s law! “The in ways too wonderful to

imagine! “Things which eye has not seen fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,

peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and ear has not heard, and which have

not entered the heart of faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such

things there is no man—all that God has prepared for those who love

Him!”3 “Surely law.” 4 “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the

Law.”5

goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, In

keeping with this reality, Paul says that “law is not made and I will dwell in

the house of the Lord forever!”4

for a righteous man, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, External

Rules

for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill

their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men As we have seen

in the sections above, some aspects of the and homosexuals and kidnappers

and liars and perjurers, and Christian’s “freedom from the law” have to do

with justification.

whatever else is contrary to sound teaching.”6 The righteous man He is

free from the curse of the law, and he is free from the law has no need for

such external restrictions, since he is restrained as a means of obtaining

life. But another aspect of the Christian’s by his own holy nature. Even the

commands and exhortations of freedom from law is a direct result of

regeneration: The Christian the New Testament are necessary only because

believers have not is free from law as an external rule that contradicts his

real nature and desires. This freedom comes to him through the miracle of a

yet completely “become who they are.” Since we are yet in this new heart.

“mortal body” and subject to the “deceitfulness of sin”7 and the To

understand what this means, we need only to consider the

“schemes of the devil,”8 we still need guideposts to help us sort condition

of every unbeliever: The law imposes itself upon him out right and wrong.

However, as we grow in grace, our minds from the outside and contradicts

his true desires, keeping him in are progressively “renewed,” and “because

of practice, our senses a state of continual bondage and frustration. It

forbids the things are trained to discern good and evil.”9 In this way, we

are enabled that he loves and commands the things that he hates. When he

more and more to “prove what the will of God is, that which is reaches out

his hand to steal, the law says, “You shall not steal.”

good and acceptable and perfect.”10

When he looks on a woman to lust for her, the law says, “You shall The

Christian is not “under” law; he is (to use Paul’s actual not commit

adultery.” The lost man’s condition is thus summed terminology) “in-lawed

to Christ.”11 If all men were Christians up by the words of one popular

bumper sticker, “Everything I like there would be no need for locks on

houses or signs in stores is either illegal, immoral, or fattening.” The law

constrains and forbidding shoplifting. And this state of affairs will become

a restrains the unregenerate man by fear and by threats, and he hates

reality in heaven, where everyone will experience absolute liberty it: “The

mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to

the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.”5

1 Hebrews 8:10 2 2 Corinthians 5:14 3 Romans 13:10; Galatians 5:14

4 Galatians 5:22-23 5 Galatians 5:18 6 1 Timothy 1:8-10 7 Hebrews 3:13

1 Romans 4:6-8 2 Matthew 25:34 3 1 Corinthians 2:9 4 Psalm 23:6

8 Ephesians 6:11 9 Hebrews 5:14 10 Romans 12:2 11 1 Corinthians 9:21

(Gk.

5 Romans 8:7

“ennomos Christou”)

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Justification and RegeneRation to do as he pleases! There will be no signs

in heaven saying, “You shall not murder” or “You shall love the Lord your

God with all your heart”—there will be no need for them!

Supply and Demand

All Christians have died to the Law. They are “not under the law, but under

grace.” To examine the meaning of these terms more fully would take us

beyond the scope of this book, but perhaps one further aspect of our “death

to law” should be mentioned.

Christians have died to the law in that they no longer live in the realm of

“demand,” but in the realm of “supply.” They are “under” grace, not law,

as a dominating power, and they live in the realm where grace “reigns.”1

In this realm nothing depends ultimately on man; everything depends on

God. Every desire for goodness and every act of obedience is graciously

worked in the believer by God! “For it is God who is at work in you, both

to will and to work for His good pleasure.”2

In the realm where grace reigns, God undertakes to work in me in spite of

my weaknesses and failings until I am perfectly conformed to the image of

Christ. Though I may be shocked by my failures as a Christian, God isn’t!

He already knew all my sins and weaknesses before He ever set His love on

me, and He actually controls and directs my failures for my own good—in

order to expose my weaknesses and to deliver me from them. (Luke 22:31-

32) In the New Covenant, God mercifully determines to “cleanse us from all

our filthiness and from all our idols,” 3 and He will never rest or relent

until that work is finally accomplished! Hallelujah!

Safe in Thy sanctifying grace,

Almighty to restore—

Borne onward—sin and death behind,

And love and life before—

O, let my soul abound in hope,

And praise Thee more and more!

A. L. Waring

1 Romans 5:21 2 Philippians 2:13 3 Ezekiel 36:25

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A Change of Realms: From Adam to Christ

Chapter Fifteen

A Change of Realms

From Adam to Christ

“But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from

God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that, just as it

is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” 1 Corinthians 1:30-31

In the preceding chapters we have considered something of the wonders of

both justification and regeneration. It should be clear by this point that both

of these mighty acts truly are at the very heart and center of the gospel.

What “good news” could be more glorious than the proclamation of

restored fellowship with God—

that the most hopelessly condemned can stand unashamed in God’s

presence, clothed in the very righteousness of Christ, and that the most

loathsome and vile can become totally new creatures in Him?

But as wonderful as they are, both justification and regeneration are only

part of a greater over-arching reality—the reality of our being “in Christ.”

As Christians we can say that we are justified, that we have perfect

righteousness, that we are new creatures, that we are seated in heavenly

places, and that we are blessed in all the other ways that we have

considered in the preceding pages, or we can simply say that we are “in

Christ”! For to be in Christ is to possess every spiritual blessing

imaginable1—including justification and regeneration, and every other

“good and perfect gift.”2

(See Appendix D.)

Justified in Christ

All the blessings of justification are ours in Christ. In Christ we have perfect

righteousness—the very righteousness of God: “That I…may be found in

Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but…the

righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.”3 “He made

Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the

righteousness of 1 Ephesians 1:3 2 James 1:17 3 Philippians 3:8-9

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Justification and RegeneRation a change of RealMs: fRoM adaM to chRist

God in Him.”1 Thus, it can be said that we are “justified in Christ.”2

Channels only, blessed Master,

In Christ we have “the forgiveness of sins,”3 and “there is…no But with all

Thy wondrous power,

condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”4

Flowing through us, Thou canst use us

Every day and every hour.

New Creatures in Christ

Mary Maxwell

Just as all the blessings of justification are ours in Christ, even so all the

blessings of regeneration are ours in Him: “Therefore if

“In Adam” vs. “In Christ”

any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed This brings

us to consider a final “change of realms” that is away; behold, new things

have come.”5 “We are His workmanship, more fundamental and profound

and comprehensive than any created in Christ Jesus for good works.”6 We

have been “sanctified other—the change of realms from being “in Adam”

to being in Christ Jesus,”7 “in Him we have been made complete,”8 and

“in Christ.” According to the Bible, all of human history can be are seated

“with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.”9

summed up in terms of two men: Adam and Christ. All other men A

Dependent Life

are “in” either one or the other of these two men. Those who are in Adam

die; those who are in Christ live forever.

From these verses it should be evident that justification and regeneration

are not blessings that we possess in ourselves,

“For since by a man came death, by a man also came the independent from

God. God does not make us new creatures in such resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ a way that we ourselves become

positive sources of righteousness, all shall be made alive. But each in his

own order: Christ the able to produce life on our own apart from Him.

Rather, we are first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming.”

new creatures in Christ Jesus. Apart from Christ we are nothing 1

Corinthians 15:21-23

and can do nothing.10 All that we are and have, we have only in Him. Thus,

the Christian life is a totally dependent life. This is

“So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living our Lord’s

teaching in John 15: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As soul.’ The last Adam

became a life-giving spirit. However, the the branch cannot bear fruit of

itself, unless it abides in the vine, so spiritual is not first, but the natural;

then the spiritual. The first neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am

the vine, you are the man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from

heaven.

branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; As is the

earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the for apart from Me

you can do nothing.”11 We are not “adequate heavenly, so also are those

who are heavenly. And just as we in ourselves to consider anything as

coming from ourselves, but our have borne the image of the earthy, we shall

also bear the image adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as

servants of a of the heavenly.” 1 Corinthians 15:45-49

new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the

Spirit gives life.”12

“Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who

had not sinned in the likeness of the offense Emptied that Thou shouldest fill

me,

of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come…For if A clean vessel in

Thy hand;

by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the With no power

but as Thou givest,

one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace Graciously with

each command.

and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus

Christ. So then as through one transgression there 1 2 Corinthians 5:21 2

Galatians 2:17 3 Colossians 1:14 4 Romans 8:1

resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of 2 Corinthians

5:17 6 Ephesians 2:10 7 1 Corinthians 1:2 8 Colossians 2:10

9 Ephesians 2:6 10 John 15:5 11 John 15:4-5 12 2 Corinthians 3:5-6

righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For 124

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Justification and RegeneRation a change of RealMs: fRoM adaM to chRist

as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made Christians

Have “Died To” the Old Realm

sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made

righteous.” Romans 5:14, 17-19

“Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die

again; death no longer is master over Him. For the Notice that in these

verses Adam is said to be a “type” of death that He died, He died to sin,

once for all; but the life that Christ, and Christ is said to be “the last

Adam.” Adam was the first He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider

yourselves to be dead man, the head of the natural human race. Through his

fall, sin and to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:9-11

death entered mankind and humanity was ruined. Christ has come as “the

last Adam” to start a new human race and to be the head of Once we have

understood how comprehensive the “two a new humanity. Just as Adam

represented and is vitally united to realms” of Adam and Christ are, we are

in a position to understand all those who are in him, so Christ represented

and is vitally united Paul’s meaning when he speaks of Christians as having

“died to all who are in Him. Those who are in Adam partake of all that to”

various things. In Romans 6:11 Paul calls upon Christians was true of

Adam; those who are in Christ partake of all that is to believe and count

upon the fact that they have “died to” sin.

true of Christ.

Similar terminology is used concerning the Christian’s relationship to Law:

“For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to The

Characteristics of the Two Realms

God.”1 The Christian’s relationship to the world is also spoken of in terms

of crucifixion and death: “But may it never be that I should The change of

realms between Adam and Christ is the most boast, except in the cross of

our Lord Jesus Christ, through which fundamental and comprehensive

change that any man can undergo.

the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither is It

includes every other change of realms that the Bible associates circumcision

anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”2

with conversion, including all those discussed in previous chapters.

Notice that our death to the world is tied in with both the “new Notice again

the two realms and all that is comprehended under creation” and our

“crucifixion” with Christ.

each of them:

What does Paul mean when he says that Christians have “died to” sin, Law,

and the world? Certainly he does not mean that we In Adam

In Christ

have “died to” these things in the sense that we are no longer Sin (Rom.

5:12, 19)

Righteousness (Rom. 5:18, 19)

affected by them. This is obvious from the fact that Paul exhorts

Condemnation

us not to “let sin reign in our mortal bodies.” Such exhortations (Rom.

5:18)

Justification (Rom. 5:18)

Death

would be unnecessary if Christians were not still being affected by (Rom.

5:17; 1 Cor. 15:22)

Life (Rom. 5:18; 1 Cor. 15:22)

Flesh

sin. Romans 6:11 does not mean “Pretend that you are no longer (Rom.

8:9; 7:5)

Spirit (Rom. 8:9)

The World

affected by sin, even though you know that you are”! Rather, the (Col. 2:20)

The Heavenlies (Col. 3:1-3)

Law

key to understanding the meaning of our “death to sin” is found (Rom.

6:14)

Grace (Rom. 6:14)

Curse

in v.10, which speaks of the experience of Christ Himself: “For the (Gal.

3:10)

Blessing (Gal. 3:14, 8-9)

Bondage

death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives,

(Rom. 7:6)

Liberty (Rom. 7:6; 2 Cor. 3:17)

Sin Reigns

He lives to God.”

(Rom. 5:21)

Grace Reigns (Rom. 5:21)

“Under” Sin

Notice that according to Paul even Christ Himself “died to (Rom. 3:9;

7:14)

“Under” Grace (Rom. 6:14)

sin”! In what sense did Christ “die to sin” when He died? Was Slaves to Sin

(Rom. 6:17)

Slaves to Righteousness (Rom. 6:18)

He ever “alive” to it? And in what sense does Christ now “live to Death

Reigns (Rom. 5:17)

We Reign in Life (Rom. 5:17)

God” since His resurrection? Was He ever not “alive to God”? The

Darkness (Acts 26:18)

Light (1 Thes. 5:4-5)

Dominion of Satan (Acts 26:18)

Kingdom of God (Col. 1:12-13)

1 Galatians 2:19; Romans 7:4; Colossians 2:20-21 2 Galatians 6:14-15

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Justification and RegeneRation a change of RealMs: fRoM adaM to chRist

answer is clear: When Christ died on the cross, He “died to sin” in

believers. Every Christian should draw great comfort from the fact that He

passed out of its realm, and He now “lives to God” in that that he is now

“in Christ” and united to Christ. After all, each of He passed into the

heavenly realm at the time of His resurrection us has experienced firsthand

the real and devastating results of our and ascension! “Even so,” Paul says

in v.11, Christians have “died union with Adam! Our union with Adam

effectually secured sin, to sin” by passing out of its realm, and are “alive to

God” by condemnation, and death for each of us. “Sin reigns”1 and “death

passing into His realm! They have left one realm and entered into reigns”2

over all the fallen sons of Adam, riding them down to the another. When

Paul says that we have “died to sin,” he is referring pit of hell and

destruction.

to something that has really happened! The Christian has not died But if

union with Adam is this powerful in securing death, how to sin in the sense

that he is no longer affected by it, but he has died much more powerful is

union with Christ in securing life! This is to sin in the sense that he no

longer lives under sin’s reign. In the Paul’s argument in Romans 5. He

repeatedly speaks of the work crucifixion and death of our old man, we pass

out of the realm of of Christ as “much more” effectual than the work of

Adam: “For flesh, out of the realm of the world, out of the realm of the Law,

if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, and out of

the realm of sin and death.

much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift

Christian, you actually have “died to sin,” in that you have of righteousness

will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”3

passed out of its realm. Sin no longer “reigns” over you; it no

“Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, that, as sin longer

“fits” you; it no longer “is” you; you are no longer its slave!

reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness As it was

with the wicked man in Psalm 37, so it is for the Christian to eternal life

through Jesus Christ our Lord.”4 Sin is a terrible when his “old man” dies:

“Yet a little while and the wicked man tyrant that reigns with such power

over those who are in Adam will be no more; and you will look carefully for

his place, and he that death for them is inevitable. But sin no longer reigns

over the will not be there.”1 The “wicked man” that we once were “is no

Christian. Grace reigns over the Christian, and it reigns with such more.”

He is “no longer found” in “his place,” and those who have inexorable

might that nothing can stand in its way. Christian, you come to expect his

presence there are “surprised” by his absence: may be ever so weak and

sinful, you may have every reason in

“For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out yourself

to despair that you will ever reach heaven, but “grace the desire of the

Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, reigns” in your life and it

will never rest or relent until every sin is lusts, drunkenness, carousals,

drinking parties and abominable conquered and you are perfectly

conformed to the image of Christ!

idolatries. And in all this, they are surprised that you do not run with

Hallelujah! Grace “reigns” effectually “through righteousness” all them

into the same excess of dissipation, and they malign you.”2 How the way

“to eternal life”!

this unexpected change came about is explained in the preceding verses:

“… he who has suffered in the flesh [i.e., died] has ceased from Now let my

soul arise,

sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of

And tread the tempter down;

men, but for the will of God.”3

My Captain leads me forth

Christian, your death to sin is a reality! Therefore, count upon To conquest

and a crown:

the fact that you are dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus!

The feeblest saint shall win the day,

Though death and hell obstruct the way.

The Certainty of Life in Christ

Perhaps it is fitting to end this study by considering once Should all the

hosts of death,

again the unspeakably bright future that lies ahead for all true And powers

of hell unknown,

1 Psalm 37:10 2 1 Peter 4:3-4 3 1 Peter 4:1-2

1 Romans 5:21 2 Romans 5:14 3 Romans 5:17, 15 4 Romans 5:20-21

128

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Justification and RegeneRation Put their most dreadful forms

Of rage and mischief on,

I shall be safe, for Christ displays

Superior power, and guardian grace.

Isaac Watts

Keep Looking Down!

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God!”

130

Appendix A: Regeneration

Appendix A

Regeneration

A Summary

At the time of our union with Christ, all of the following became true of us:

1. New Creation—a) old things passed away, and b) we became new

creatures.

• 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 new creature

• Galatians 6:15 (cf. v.14) a new creation

• Ephesians 2:10 His workmanship, created, in Christ Jesus

• Ephesians 2:15 in Himself might create the two into one new man—one

body (v.16)

• Ephesians 4:24 the new man, which according to God has been created,

therefore…; for we are members of one another (v.25)

• Colossians 3:10 the new man who is being renewed according to the

image of the One who created him

• Cf. also, all verses with word “new”—e.g. Titus 3:5

“renewing”

2. New Birth—we have been “born again”; a real birth takes place in the

spiritual realm.

• John 3:6 that which is born is spirit

• 2 Peter 1:4 partakers of the divine nature

• 1 John 3:9 born of God, His seed remains, and we cannot sin because

born

• Hebrews 2:11 one Father (really!), therefore brethren

• 1 John 3:1 “such we are. For this reason…”

3. New Heart—a) our stony heart was removed, and b) we were given a

“heart of flesh.”

• Ezekiel 36:22-32 “new heart,” “new spirit,” “I will put My Spirit within

you”

• Jeremiah 31:33-34 “within them,” “on their heart ”

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Justification and RegeneRation aPPendix a: RegeneRation

• Jeremiah 32:38-41 I will give them one heart and one way; I will

• Ephesians 2:10, 14-16 that in Himself might create the two into put the

fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away one new man and

reconcile them both in one body to God from Me.

• Galatians 3:27-28 for all of you who were baptized into Jesus

• Hebrews 8:10 I will put… into…

Christ have put on Christ…there is neither Jew nor Greek…for

• 2 Corinthians 3:1-3 with the Spirit of the living God, not on you are all

one in Christ

tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts

• Romans 13:13-14 not in sensuality, strife and jealousy, but put on the Lord

Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in 4. Spiritual

Circumcision—our heart was circumcised by the regard to its lusts

Spirit.

• Ephesians 4:22-25 in reference to your former manner of life,

• Romans 2:28-29 circumcision of the heart by the Spirit you lay aside the

old man, which is being corrupted in accordance

• Colossians 2:10-11 in Him made complete; in Him, were with the lusts of

deceit, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, circumcised with a

circumcision made without hands in the and put on the new man, which

according to God has been created

“putting off ” of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; in

righteousness and holiness of the truth. Therefore, speak truth, (v.13) were

dead in the “uncircumcision of our flesh” (the physical for we are members

of one another.

condition of all Gentiles)

• Ephesians 2:11 the “so-called” circumcision, made in the flesh 7.

Crucifixion and Resurrection—a) our “old man” was cruci

“by human hands” (There is an allusion and contrast here to the fied, “we”

died, we were buried, and b) we were raised up true circumcision of

Christians.)

to newness of life, and ascended to heavenly places, having

• Philippians 3:3 the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit, become

partakers of Christ’s life and power through the and put no confidence in

the flesh

indwelling Holy Spirit.

• Acts 7:51 uncircumcised in heart and ears; …always resisting the Holy

Spirit

Crucified:

• Deuteronomy 30:6 the Lord will circumcise your heart to love…

• Romans 6:6 our old man was crucified with Him

• Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no 5. New

Nature—transformed from thorn bushes to fig trees!

longer I who live

• Matthew 12:33-37 “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good;

• Galatians 6:14 “I have been crucified to the world through the or make

the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by cross of Christ.”

its fruit.”

• Matthew 7:15-20 (esp. v.18 “cannot”) Died:

• Romans 6:2 we who died

6. New Man—a) we have put off the old man, and b) we have

• Romans 6:7 he who has died

put on the new man. (Adam vs. Christ)

• Romans 6:8 we have died with Christ

• Colossians 3:8-11 since you put off the old man with its

• Romans 7:4 you were made to die to the Law practices, and have put on

the new man who is being renewed

• Romans 7:6 have been released, having died to that by which we to a true

knowledge according to the image of the One who were bound

created him, in which there is no Jew and Greek…but Christ is

• Galatians 2:19 I died to the Law

all, and in all

• Galatians 2:20 I no longer live

134

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Justification and RegeneRation aPPendix a: RegeneRation

• Colossians 2:20 you have died with Christ

• Ephesians 3:16, 20 strengthened with power through His Spirit

• Colossians 3:3 you have died

in the inner man; exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or

• 2 Timothy 2:11 for if we died with Him

think, according to the power that works within us

• 2 Corinthians 5:14 therefore all died

• Colossians 3:4 Christ, who is our life

• Philippians 1:19, 21 the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ; Buried:

“to live is Christ”

• Romans 6:4 buried with Him

• Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Him who strength-

• Colossians 2:12 having been buried with Him by baptism ens me.”

• Many others!

Resurrected and ascended:

• Romans 6:4 as Christ was raised, so we too might walk in 8. Flesh/Spirit

—a) we are no longer “in the flesh,” but b) we newness of life

are “in the Spirit.”

• Romans 6:5 likeness of His resurrection

• Romans 7:5 when we were…

• Romans 6:8 also live with Him

• Romans 8:5-9 those who are according to the flesh; “the mind

• Romans 6:11 alive to God in Christ Jesus of the flesh is death”; those who

are in the flesh cannot please

• Romans 6:13 those who are alive from the dead God—however, you are

not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if

• Ephesians 2:5-6 made us alive together with Christ, and raised indeed the

Spirit of God dwells in you us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the

heavenlies;

• 1 Corinthians 2:10-3:4 natural, fleshly, “according to man”; cf. 5:14!

“mere men” contrasted with “spiritual” and “mind of Christ”

• Galatians 2:19 that I might live to God (i.e., were acting like lost men)

• Galatians 5:25 we live by the Spirit

• 2 Corinthians 5:16 from now on we recognize no man accord-

• Colossians 2:12 were also raised up with Him, through faith in ing to the

flesh; even though…have known Christ according to the working of God

who raised Him from the dead the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no

longer; new creature, old

• Colossians 3:1-3 have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking things

passed away; (i.e., We no longer view anything from the the things above,

where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, fleshly perspective,

because we’re no longer living there! ) for you have died and your life is

hidden with Christ in God

• Galatians 5:25 live by the Spirit (Notice the flesh/Spirit contrast

• 2 Corinthians 5:15 that they who live should live for Him who in

preceding verses.)

died and rose again on their behalf 9. World/Heavenlies—a) we were

translated from the earthly Partakers of His life and power:

sphere, and b) we were placed in the heavenly sphere.

• John 4:14 in him a well of water springing up to eternal life

• Colossians 2:20 “as though living in the world”!

• John 6:57 “As… I live because of the Father, so…he also shall live

• Colossians 3:1-3 “things above” contrasted with “things on the because

of Me.”

earth”

• John 15:4-5 Abide in Me, and I in you. The branch cannot bear

• Philippians 3:19b-20 “earthly things” contrasted with “in fruit of itself.

heaven”; we are citizens now

• 2 Corinthians 4:11 that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in

• Ephesians 2:6 “seated with Him,” “in the heavenlies,” “in our mortal

flesh

Christ”

• Galatians 2:20 “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”

• Ephesians 1:3 “in the heavenlies,” “in Christ”

136

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Justification and RegeneRation aPPendix a: RegeneRation

• Galatians 4:25-26 “present Jerusalem” vs. “Jerusalem above”

• John 8:31-36 slave of sin; slave does not remain in the house for-

• Hebrews 12:22 have come to “the heavenly Jerusalem” vs.

ever; free indeed

“mount that may be touched”

• Note implications for proper interpretation of Romans 7, where

• Galatians 6:14 crucified to the world!

Paul speaks of a man who is “sold into bondage to sin” (v.14),

• John 17:14, 16 not of the world, even as Christ not of the world!

“a prisoner to the law of sin” (v.23), “serving” the law of sin Cf. John 8:23,

1 John 4:4-6

(v.25), and still needing to be “set free” from the body of death (v.24).

10. Darkness/Light—a) we were taken out of the realm of

“darkness,” and b) we were placed in the realm of “light.”

• Ephesians 5:7-14 you were formerly darkness, but now you are In the

death of the old and the resurrection of the new, we: light in the Lord;

walk as children of light; deeds of darkness; awake sleeper, and arise from

the dead, and Christ will shine on

• died to sin and are alive to God. Romans 6:1-14; 1 Peter 2:24

you.

(cf. 1 Peter 4:1-2)

• Colossians 1:12-13 qualified to share in inheritance of the

• died to law and are alive to God. Romans 7:4-6; Galatians 2:19; saints in

light, for…delivered us from the authority (domain) of Colossians 2:20-22;

Galatians 6:12-15

darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son

• died to self and are alive to God. 2 Corinthians 5:15

• 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 you are not in darkness; you are all sons (cf. v.14-

17)

of light and sons of day; we are not of night nor of darkness; since

• died to the world (as the sphere of law and sin) and are alive to we are of

day let us be sober…

God:

• Romans 13:11-14 awaken from sleep; the day is at hand, let us

♦ Colossians 2:20 (the world as the sphere of law—see v.16-17, therefore

lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of 20-23)

light; let us walk properly as in the day

♦ Colossians 3:3 (the world as the sphere of sin—see v.2, 5f.)

• 1 John 2:7-11 the darkness is passing away, and the true light is

♦ Galatians 6:14 (the world as the sphere of law—see v.12-15

already shining; “in the light” vs. “in the darkness”; “darkness and 4:3)

has blinded his eyes”!

• Acts 26:18 to turn from darkness to light and from the domin-ion of Satan

to God

As we begin to believe (i.e., “reckon,” count upon the fact—

• 1 Peter 2:9 called out of darkness into His marvelous light Romans 6:11)

that we are new creatures alive in the heavenly

• Cf. also Matthew 4:16, 5:14-16; Luke 1:79 !, 11:33-36, 16:8, sphere, the

“spirit of our mind” is progressively “renewed”

22:53; John 1:5 (“the darkness”= men!), 3:19-21, 8:12, 12:35-

(Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23; Colossians 1:9), and we are 36, 12:46; 2

Corinthians 4:1-6, 6:14; 1 John 1:5-7

enabled more and more to see, think, and act from the heavenly

perspective:

11. Slaves to God—a) we were released from our slavery to sin, and b) we

became slaves to righteousness.

• Since we already “have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16;

• Romans 6:6-7 no longer slaves to sin Romans 8:6), we are now able to

“let” His mind rule in us

• Romans 6:14 sin shall not be master over you (Philippians 2:5) and to

“arm ourselves” with His mind (1 Peter

• Romans 6:16-23 were slaves of sin; having been freed from sin, 4:1-2). cf.

Philippians 3:15 (v.13-15)

became slaves of righteousness; freed from sin and enslaved to God

• Since we have already been crucified, we are enabled now by 138

139

Justification and RegeneRation aPPendix a: RegeneRation

faith to “take up our cross and deny self ” (Luke 9:23)— truly, 6:12, 13, 19;

Romans 7:5, 14, 18, 23, 24, 25; Romans 8:3, 10-13

not just self-righteous “self-denial.”

(Note: sin = “the deeds of the body”!); Romans 12:1-2;

• Since we live by the Spirit, we can now walk by the Spirit Colossians 3:5f.

(Note: v.5 lit. “Put to death the members which (Galatians 5:25). Contrast

Colossians 3:7.

are upon the earth”!); Galatians 5:19f.

• Since the old man has already been put off and the new man put

• “Realm”: the region or sphere in which something rules, on (Colossians

3:9-10), we are exhorted to live accordingly by

“reigns,” or prevails; same as “kingdom” (Colossians 1:13b).

“putting off the old man” (i.e., his deeds) (Ephesians 4:22), by See also

“domain” (Colossians 1:13a) and “dominion” (Acts

“putting aside anger…and putting on a heart of compassion…”

26:18): authority, jurisdiction.

(Colossians 3:8, 12), and by “putting on the armor of light”

(Romans 13:12; Ephesians 6:10-18; 1 Thessalonians 5:8).

• Note: Some authorities maintain that the infinitives of Ephesians 4:22, 24

are not imperatives, but “infinitives of result” and should be translated as

“…you have laid aside the old man…

and have put on the new man…” (See John Murray, Principles of Conduct,

214-18.) This would make v.22 & 24 to be statements of fact (as in

Colossians 3:9-10) and v.25-32 to be the exhortations based on those

statements of fact.

• Since we have already “clothed ourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27);

we are now able in practice to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans

13:14).

• Since we are children of light, we are to walk as children of light

(Ephesians 5:7-10; 1 Thessalonians 5:4-10).

• Since we are slaves of righteousness, we can now refuse to let sin

“reign” and can present our members as slaves to righteousness (Romans

6:12, 19).

• Cf. also James 3:10-12; Isaiah 52:1-2; Isaiah 60:1-5; Proverbs 31:4; etc.

Summary of terms:

• The “old man”: our old self, who we were in Adam, our unregenerate self

• The “new man”: who we are in Christ, the new creature, our true identity

as Christians

• The “body of sin”: the “flesh”; the unredeemed physical body viewed as

the realm where sin still tries to reign. Cf. Romans 140

141

Appendix B: “Cannot Sin”

Appendix B

“Cannot Sin”

John tells us in 1 John 3:4-9 that Christians “do not” and

“cannot” sin. What does he mean by such statements? Numerous answers

have been given to this question over the centuries, but here we will

consider only two of these.

1. One popular explanation of these verses is that the

Christian’s new nature cannot sin. “God’s seed” (which is perfect)

“remains” in the Christian, and it never desires or commits even a single

act of sin. While there is much truth in this view, it nevertheless faces

formidable objections.

First of all, John does not say that the Christian’s new nature cannot sin; he

says that the Christian himself cannot sin: “God’s seed abides in him; and

he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

(1 John 3:9) The “he” who “cannot sin” is clearly the Christian as a total

person—the same person who is said to have been “born of God” in the

last part of the verse.

Secondly, the proposal that a Christian’s “new nature” does not sin is

actually a meaningless statement. Only a person is capable of sinning or

not sinning; an abstract nature cannot will or act at all.

As we have seen in Chapter Nine, a “nature” is not something that we

“have” separate from our persons; it is a description of who we really are

in our innermost being.

Thirdly, “doing sin” is contrasted in v.7-8 with “doing righteousness.”

Surely John is thinking here, not of a single act of righteousness, but of the

practice of righteousness. So, likewise, when he speaks in this passage of

the impossibility of Christians

“doing sin,” he must have in mind, not a single act of sin, but the practice

of sin.

Fourthly, John is concerned here to show that the actual actions of

Christians are diametrically opposite to the actions of the unregenerate. He

is talking about Christians actually not sinning, not just Christians “sinning

and hating it” or Christians “sinning, but not sinning from their new

nature.” Such teaching would play into the hands of the very heretics John

is opposing.

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Justification and RegeneRation aPPendix b: “cannot sin”

2. The best explanation of these verses is that the “sin” which take away

sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides a believer “does not”

and “cannot” do is habitual or persistent

in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either sin. John

is literally saying that the Christian does not “do sin.”

seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you.

That is, the Christian does not “practice” sin. On the contrary, the Whoever

practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.

Christian “practices righteousness”: “Little children, let no one Whoever

makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the deceive you; the one who

practices righteousness is righteous, just devil has been sinning from the

beginning. The reason the Son as He is righteous.” (1 John 3:7)

of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one Why does the

Christian find himself unable to “practice sin”?

born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides The answer

is given in v.9: “No one who is born of God practices in him, and he cannot

keep on sinning because he has been sin, because His seed abides in him;

and he cannot sin, because he born of God.”

is born of God.” All Christians have a new nature (God’s seed) as their

essential identity. This new nature (which is perfect) asserts itself against all

evil, effectually preventing the believer from living in sin. On the contrary,

righteousness is the main characteristic of his life. The Christian’s walk is

not perfect, however, because he still has the flesh to contend with

throughout this lifetime. When his mortal body is redeemed, then the new

life already present in him will be manifested in its fullness, and his actions

will perfectly correspond to the desires of his renewed heart.

This understanding of John’s words is the only one that gives full weight to

the present tenses of the verbs involved and is reflected in the best modern

translations of 1 John 3:4-9.

NASB:

“Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is

lawlessness. And you know that He appeared in order to take away sins;

and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins

has seen Him or knows Him.

Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness

is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the

devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared

for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil. No one who is

born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot

sin, because he is born of God.”

ESV:

“Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin

is lawlessness. You know that he appeared to 144

145

Appendix C: Romans 7

Appendix C

Romans 7

To attempt to deal with the controversies surrounding Romans 7 would take

an entire book. Only a few guidelines for its interpretation can be suggested

here:

1. Romans 7 flows directly from Romans 6, continuing and expanding

upon the themes that are introduced there. According to Romans 6,

Christians have “died to sin”1 by virtue of their union with Christ and have

therefore been “freed”2 from it, so that sin no longer has “dominion”3 over

them. The result of this death to sin is

“service”4 to God that brings forth “fruit”5 unto sanctification. Paul

repeats this pattern of triumph in Romans 7: Christians have “died to

law”6 by virtue of their union with Christ and have therefore been “freed”7

from it, so that law no longer has “dominion”8 over them. The result of this

death to law is “service”9 to God that brings forth “fruit”10 unto God. In

short, Paul has been “soaring”

in Romans 6, and he continues to soar in Romans 7!

The real purpose of Romans 7 is to explain and expand upon Paul’s

statement in 6:14: “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not

under law, but under grace.” According to this verse, our deliverance from

the dominion of sin is a direct result of the fact that we are no longer

“under the law.” The first question to be answered is, “How has it come to

pass that Christians are no longer ‘under the law’?” Paul answers this

question in 7:1-4. Christians have passed out of the realm of law, having

died to it by virtue of their union with Christ. The second question to be

answered is,

“Why is freedom from law necessary in order to secure our deliverance

from the reign of sin?” Or, conversely, “Why is freedom from sin’s reign

impossible for all who are still under law?” Paul answers this question in

7:5-25. All who are still “under law” are also still

“in the flesh.” (v.5) But law actually stirs up and strengthens sin’s dominion

over those who are in the flesh, leaving them in a state of bondage and

death. (v.5, 7-25)

1 Romans 6:2, 11 2 Romans 6:7, 18, 22 3 Romans 6:14 (Gk. “dominion,”

“rule”) 4 Romans 6:22 5 Romans 6:21-22 (Gk. “fruit”) 6 Romans 7:4 7

Romans 7:6, 2-3

8 Romans 7:1 (Gk. “dominion,” as in 6:14) 9 Romans 7:6 10 Romans 7:4

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Justification and RegeneRation aPPendix c: RoMans 7

2. It is absolutely vital to realize that Paul thinks in terms

“The one who is truly in communion with Christ, will…emit this of two and

only two groups—those who are “under law” (“in groan…daily and

hourly.”1

the flesh”) and those who are “under grace” (“in the Spirit”).

It is true that in this day of glib “easy-believism” and shallow (pp. 96-98)

The characteristics of these two groups are summarized repentance

multitudes of professing “Christians” desperately both before (7:5-6) and

after (8:1-4) Paul’s discussion in Romans need a revelation of their own

inner depravity and corruption. In 7:7-25. This means that in v.14-25, Paul

is not describing a “carnal the case of many, this would lead to bitter

weeping 2 and genuine Christian” who has not yet “passed into Romans

8,” as the “deeper conversion. But any true child of God who has traveled

very far life” view of Romans 7 would tell us. All Christians are “in”

Romans 8, on the pilgrim pathway already knows quite a bit about his own

just as all Christians are “in” Romans 6 and “in” Romans 7:6.

wretchedness and vileness apart from the transforming power of 3. Paul

has already described in detail the state of every Christ. Instead of praying

that God would give us “such a view of Christian in Romans 6 and in

Romans 7:16. We cannot ignore

[our] own depravity and unworthiness that [we] may indeed grovel this

description when we come to the last half of Romans 7.

in the dust before Him,”3 would it not be more Scriptural to ask According

to Romans 6 and Romans 7:1-6, all Christians have God for such a view of

Christ’s resurrection life in us 4 and our new been “freed from sin” and

have become “slaves of righteousness.”1

nature in Him 5 that we might soar in the heavenlies and joyfully

“Sin shall not be master over” Christians, for they are “not under serve

Him in newness of life?

law, but under grace.”2 Christians have been “joined to another, to Some

theologians have tried to escape this “wretched Christian”

Him who was raised from the dead, that they might bear fruit for view of

Romans 7 by saying that even though Paul is speaking here God.”3 They

are “alive from the dead.”4 They are no longer “in the of his own present

experience as a believer, he is merely describing flesh.”5 They “serve in

newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the fact that “no Christian is as

holy as he wants to be.” Romans the letter.”6

7, according to this view, teaches only that “the Christian’s reach The view

that Romans 7:14-25 is a description of “the Christian always exceeds his

grasp” and that during this lifetime the Christian at his best, even of Paul at

the time of writing” thus flies directly in

“cannot arrive at perfection.” All these statements are undoubtedly the face

of everything Paul has said up to this point. How can we true, but they do

not do justice to the degree of failure and misery

read Romans 6 and 7:1-6 and still contend that all true Christians evident

in this passage. Paul is clearly describing here (to use his are actually “of

flesh, sold into bondage to sin” 7!

own words) a state of “wretchedness,”6 a state of “bondage,”7

It is highly significant that this view of Romans 7 has led to and a state of

inability 8 to “do good.” In other words, the man of the “wretched man”

concept of the Christian life, where “wretch-Romans 7 is not just battling

with sin but utterly defeated by it, edness” and spirituality are almost

equated, and the more holy we in stark contrast with Paul’s description of

all true Christians in become, the more “wretched” we are. In the words of

one writer: Romans 6 and Romans 7:1-6.

“This moan, ‘O wretched man that I am,’ expresses the normal 4. Romans

6 & 7 are structured around four questions and experience of the

Christian, and any Christian who does not so their corresponding answers.

At the end of Romans 5, Paul makes moan is in an abnormal and unhealthy

state spiritually. The man two shocking statements that require defense and

clarification. The who does not utter this cry daily is either so out of

communion first is that “the Law came in that the transgression might

increase,”

with Christ, or so ignorant of the teaching of Scripture, or so and the

second is that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the deceived about

his actual condition, that he knows not the cor-more.” (v.20) Paul expects

these statements to be misunderstood ruptions of his own heart and the

abject failure of his own life.”8

and distorted by others, so he sets out to clarify and defend them 1 Romans

6:18 2 Romans 6:14 3 Romans 7:4 4 Romans 6:13 5 Romans 7:5

1 Pink 2 Zechariah 12:10 3 Pink 4 Ephesians 1:18-23; Ephesians 3:14-21

6 Romans 7:6 7 Romans 7:14 8 A. W. Pink, “The Christian in Romans 7”

5 Colossians 3:9-13 6 Romans 7:24 7 Romans 7:14, 23-24 8 Romans 7:18-

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in chapters six and seven. He does this in terms of four questions 5.

Romans 7:1425 flows from and is a continuation of Paul’s and their

corresponding answers. (6:1; 6:15; 7:7; 7:13) Each of discussion in v.713

of the “man to whom the commandment these question-answer sections

follows a very specific pattern. First, has come.” In v.5 Paul describes the

condition of those who are Paul poses the anticipated misunderstanding or

distortion of his

“in the flesh” and “under law”: “For while we were in the flesh, the

position. He then follows with a strong denial (“May it never be!”) sinful

passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the and a brief

summary answer to the misunderstanding. This brief members of our body

to bear fruit for death.” The key words here answer is then clarified and

expounded in the verses that follow.

are “Law,” “sin,” and “flesh.” These three words from v.5 will form This

pattern is invariable throughout Romans 6-7: the heart of Paul’s discussion

throughout the rest of the chapter.

Romans 6:1—Question: “What shall we say then? Are we to In v.7-12 Paul

begins to explain his statement in v.5 by reference continue in sin that grace

might increase?” Strong denial: “May it to his own experience prior to

conversion. There was a time when never be!” Brief answer: “How shall

we who died to sin still live in Paul lived in a state of complacent self-

satisfaction: “I was once it?” Fuller explanation of brief answer: v.3-14.

alive.” (v.9) He thought he was doing fine in keeping the Law: “As Romans

6:15—Question: “What then? Shall we sin because we to the righteousness

which is in the Law…found blameless.”1

are not under law but under grace?” Strong denial: “May it never But then

a major turning point came in Paul’s life. By the be!” Brief answer: “Do

you not know that when you present your-working of God’s Spirit, “the

commandment came” to him. He selves to someone as slaves for obedience,

you are slaves of the one began to realize how deep and exacting the Law’s

requirements whom you obey…?” Fuller explanation of brief answer: v.17-

23.

really are and how impossible it was for him to fulfill those Romans 7:7—

Question: “What shall we say then? Is the requirements. “Sin became

alive,” and Paul “died” under the Law sin?” Strong denial: “May it never

be!” Brief answer: “On terrible conviction of his sinfulness. (How long this

went on, we do the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except

through not know, but we do know that before he ever met the risen Christ

the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law on the road

to Damascus, it was already “hard” for Paul to “kick had not said, ‘You

shall not covet.’” Fuller explanation of brief against the goads.”2) The

Law, which promised life, thus resulted answer: v.8-12.

in death for Paul, not through any fault of its own, but because of Romans

7:13—Question: “Therefore did that which is good the utter sinfulness of

sin.

become a cause of death for me?” Strong denial: “May it never Up to this

point in his discussion (v.13), Paul has described be!” Brief answer:

“Rather it was sin, in order that it might be only the relationship between

“Law” and “sin,” showing how the shown to be sin by effecting my death

through that which is good, Law actually stirs up sin and leads to death. But

he has not yet that through the commandment sin might become utterly

sinful.”

explained why Law should produce such effects. This he can do Fuller

explanation of brief answer: v.14-25.

only by a discussion of “the flesh”!

This is the setting of v.14-25! Verse 14 does not begin a new This is the

setting of Romans 7:14-25! Verse 14 begins with the and entirely unrelated

theme, as some have supposed. The subject word “for” and continues and

advances Paul’s discussion of “Law, being dealt with in this section is not

“the immature Christian’s sin, and flesh” by dramatically describing in the

present tense the

failure to walk in the Spirit” or “the mature Christian’s continuing place of

sin’s reign—“the flesh”: “For we know that the Law is struggle with

remaining sin.” Rather, the subject here is “the spiritual; but I am of flesh,

sold into bondage to sin.” (Notice that goodness of the Law, in spite of its

effects upon those who are in the transition to the present tense takes place

quite naturally since the flesh.” In this connection, it is very significant that

v.14 begins Paul could hardly say, “We know that the Law was spiritual.”)

Paul with the word “for” and is immediately followed (twice!) by the then

continues in the present tense until the end of the chapter, word “for” in

v.15.

1 Philippians 3:6 2 Acts 26:14

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giving a firsthand account of the “bondage to sin” experienced Lord, how

secure my conscience was,

by those who are “in the flesh.” He does this from the vantage And felt no

inward dread!

point of one who has now become a Christian and can see clearly I was

alive without the law,

the nature of the conflict that was formerly taking place in his And thought

my sins were dead.

life. For this reason the terminology that Paul uses in these verses shows

much Christian influence, though it is descriptive of his My hopes of heav’n

were firm and bright; pre-Christian state.

But, since the precept came

Remember again Paul’s controlling statement: “For while we With a

convincing pow’r and light,

were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the I find how

vile I am.

Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.”

My guilt appear’d but small before

“Flesh” is controlled by “sin,” and in the presence of Law the sinful Till

terribly I saw

passions of the flesh will always culminate in “death.” The fact How

perfect, holy, just, and pure,

that “flesh” is Paul’s emphasis throughout this section is clear from Was

thine eternal law.

the terminology that he uses: “of flesh, sold into bondage to sin,”1

“a law in the members of my body,”2 and “the law of sin which is Then felt

my soul the heavy load;

in my members.”3 This bondage to “sin in the members” leads to My sins

reviv’d again;

the desperate cry, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free I had

provok’d a dreadful God,

from the body of this death (margin: “this body of death”)?”4

And all my hopes were slain.

Paul’s answer to this cry is given in v.25, “Thanks be to God through Jesus

Christ our Lord!” and more fully in 8:1-4, “There is I’m like a helpless

captive, sold

therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Under the pow’r of sin:

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the I

cannot do the good I would,

law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was Nor

keep my conscience clean.

through the flesh, God did…in order that the requirement of the My God! I

cry with every breath

Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but

according to the Spirit

For some kind pow’r to save;

.”

To break the yoke of sin and death,

Notice Paul’s summary here of what he has just said at length And thus

redeem the slave.

in 7:14-25: “…what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the

flesh…”! And notice again his description of those who are Christians:

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set Three Final

Observations

you free from the law of sin and of death…that the requirement of In

closing, three things should be noted:

the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the 1. In

spite of superficial resemblances, Galatians 5:1625 is flesh, but according

to the Spirit”! The man of Romans 7 cries,

not parallel with Romans 7. Romans 7:14-25 describes the struggle

“Who will set me free?” The Christian replies, “The law of the and defeat

of a man who is still “in the flesh” and “under the Law.”

Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free.”

The Holy Spirit is notably absent from the language and thought Isaac

Watts sums up Paul’s teaching in Romans 7 in a hymn of this man. In fact,

the Holy Spirit is not mentioned anywhere in entitled “Conviction of Sin by

the Law—Romans 7:8, 9, 14-24”: the entire passage.

Galatians 5:16-25, on the other hand, describes the inevitable 1 Romans

7:14 2 Romans 7:23 3 Romans 7:23 4 Romans 7:24

conflict that the Holy Spirit has with the flesh in the life of a true 152

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Justification and RegeneRation aPPendix c: RoMans 7

believer. A note of victory is sounded throughout this passage: involves

excruciating defeat as part of the process of learning to The Christian is

“not under the Law.”1 He has already definitively

“walk in the Spirit.” Like Peter, we often have to learn by bitter

“crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” through failure the

insufficiency of our own resolve.1 The question before repentance and faith

in Christ.2 The power of the Spirit in his life us, however, is not, “What do

Christians often experience?” but, effectually prevents him from following

the natural inclinations

“What is Paul teaching in Romans 7 ?”

of his flesh—he cannot do “as he pleases.”3 Since he lives “in the Spirit,”

he is able now to “walk in the Spirit.”4 And as he “walks in (Those

interested in reading further on this subject are referred the Spirit,” he is

assured that he “will not carry out the desire of the to: Robert L. Reymond,

A New Systematic Theology of the Christian flesh.”5 These verses are not a

statement of “wretchedness,” but an Faith, Appendix F, 1127-32; Martyn

Lloyd-Jones, The Law: Its assurance of victory!

Functions and Limits; and Herman Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of The real

parallel to Galatians 5:16-25 is Romans 8:12-14, where His Theology, 126-

30.)

“flesh” and “Spirit” are similarly contrasted: “So then, brethren, we are

under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you

are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are

putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being

led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” According to these verses,

the Christian is under no obligation to live according to the flesh. He is

able, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to “put to death the deeds of the

body.”

In fact, being thus “led by the Spirit” is one of the distinguishing

characteristics of all who are truly “sons of God”! Notice the parallel here

between being “led by the Spirit” (Romans 8:14) and

“walking in the Spirit” (Romans 8:4; Galatians 5:16).

2. The man described in Romans 7:725 is not the typical lost

“man on the street,” who knows nothing of the spirituality or real

desirability of the law. The man in Romans 7:7-25 is the man to whom “the

commandment has come.” He makes statements that the typical unbeliever

would never make. The state of misery that he is experiencing eventuates in

his coming to Christ: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”6

From this it is evident that this man is being “taught by God” and is

“hearing and learning from the Father.”7 Everyone who has thus “heard

and learned from the Father” comes to Christ.8

3. There is no doubt that every true Christian has felt at times as if he

were “in the middle” of Romans 7. Even the truly righteous man “falls

seven times”!9 Christian experience always 1 Galatians 5:18 2 Galatians

5:24 3 Galatians 5:17 4 Galatians 5:25

5 Galatians 5:16 6 Romans 7:25 7 John 6:45 8 John 6:45 9 Proverbs 24:16

1 Luke 22:31-34

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155

Appendix D: All Blessings in Christ

Appendix D

All Blessings in Christ

It was “in Christ Jesus” that God’s purpose and grace were granted to us

from all eternity:

• 2 Timothy 1:9 “who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not

according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which

was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”

• Ephesians 1:4-6 “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the

world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.

In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to

Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the

glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”

• Ephesians 1:9-10 “He made known to us the mystery of His will,

according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him, with a view to

an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing

up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth.”

In Christ the purposes and promises of God are all fulfilled:

• Ephesians 3:11 “This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which

He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

• 2 Corinthians 1:19 “For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached

among you by us—by me and Silvanus and Timothy—

was not yes and no, but is yes in Him.”

• 2 Corinthians 1:20 “For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him

they are yes; wherefore also by Him is our Amen to the glory of God

through us.”

• Ephesians 3:6 “to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow

members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus

through the gospel.”

• 2 Timothy 1:1 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus…”

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Justification and RegeneRation aPPendix d: all blessings in chRist

Union with Christ takes place at conversion:

• Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a Jesus for

good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we new creature; the old

things passed away; behold, new things should walk in them.”

have come.”

• Colossians 2:11 “and in Him you were also circumcised with a

• Romans 16:7 “Greet Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen, and

circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of my fellow

prisoners, who are outstanding among the apostles, the flesh by the

circumcision of Christ.”

who also were in Christ before me.”

• 1 Peter 5:14 “Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to In Christ

we have redemption:

you all who are in Christ.”

• Romans 3:24 “being justified as a gift by His grace through the

• 1 John 2:5 “but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of redemption

which is in Christ Jesus”

God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in

• 1 Corinthians 1:30 “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, Him.”

who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and

• 1 John 3:24 “And the one who keeps His commandments abides

sanctification, and redemption.”

in Him, and He in him. And we know by this that He abides in us,

• Ephesians 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, by the

Spirit whom He has given us.”

the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His

• 1 John 4:13 “By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, grace.”

because He has given us of His Spirit.”

• Colossians 1:14 “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness

• 1 John 4:15 “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, of sins”

God abides in him, and he in God. ”

• Romans 16:3 “Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in In Christ

we are reconciled to God:

Christ Jesus.”

•

2 Corinthians 5:19 “namely, that God was in Christ reconciling Romans

16:9 “Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and the world to

Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, Stachys my beloved.”

•

and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”

2 Corinthians 12:2 “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—

whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do In Christ we have

been brought near:

not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven.”

• Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were

• Galatians 1:22 “And I was still unknown by sight to the churches far off

have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

of Judea which were in Christ.”

In Christ we have forgiveness:

In Christ our spiritual blindness is removed:

• Ephesians 4:32 “And be kind to one another, tender-hearted,

• 2 Corinthians 3:14 “But their minds were hardened; for until forgiving

each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven this very day at the

reading of the old covenant the same veil you.”

remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.”

• Colossians 1:14 “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”

In Christ we are new creatures, alive in a new realm.

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new In

Christ we have righteousness:

creature; the old things passed away…new things have come.”

• 1 Corinthians 1:30 “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, 158

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Justification and RegeneRation aPPendix d: all blessings in chRist

who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and In Christ we

are sanctified:

sanctification, and redemption.”

• 1 Corinthians 1:2 “to the church of God which is at Corinth, to

• 2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin those who

have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, on our behalf, that

we might become the righteousness of God with all who in every place call

upon the name of our Lord in Him.”

Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours”

• Philippians 3:9 “and may be found in Him, not having a

• 1 Corinthians 1:30 “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus,

righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which who became

to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and is through faith in Christ,

the righteousness which comes from sanctification, and redemption.”

God on the basis of faith”

• Philippians 1:1 “Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, to all

the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including In Christ we are

justified:

the overseers and deacons…”

• Galatians 2:17 “But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we

• Philippians 4:21 “Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren

ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister who are

with me greet you.”

of sin? May it never be!”

In Christ we are dead to sin and alive to God: In Christ we have no

condemnation:

• Romans 6:11 “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin,

• Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those but alive

to God in Christ Jesus.”

who are in Christ Jesus.”

In Christ we have been made complete:

In Christ we have freedom from the law of sin and death:

• Colossians 2:10 “and in Him you have been made complete,

• Romans 8:2 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has and He is

the head over all rule and authority.”

set you free from the law of sin and of death.”

• Colossians 1:28 “And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and

teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may In Christ we have liberty:

present every man complete in Christ.”

• Galatians 2:4 “But it was because of the false brethren who had sneaked

in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in In Christ we have

boldness and confident access: order to bring us into bondage.”

• Ephesians 3:12 “in whom we have boldness and confident access

through faith in Him”

In Christ religious ceremonies mean nothing:

• Galatians 5:6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor In Christ we

have salvation:

uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through

• 2 Timothy 2:10 “For this reason I endure all things for the sake love.”

of those who are chosen, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in

Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.”

In Christ we have spiritual circumcision:

• Colossians 2:11 “and in Him you were also circumcised with a In Christ

we have an inheritance:

circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body

• Ephesians 1:10-11 “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, of the

flesh by the circumcision of Christ.”

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having been predestined according to His purpose who works

• 1 Corinthians 1:4 “I thank my God always concerning you, for all things

after the counsel of His will.”

the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus.”

• Ephesians 1:6 “to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He In Christ

is God’s eternal glory:

freely bestowed on us in the Beloved”

• 1 Peter 5:10 “And after you have suffered for a little while, the

• Ephesians 2:7 “in order that in the ages to come He might show God of

all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, the surpassing

riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ will Himself perfect,

confirm, strengthen and establish you.”

Jesus”

• 2 Timothy 2:1 “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that In

Christ we were sealed with the Holy Spirit: is in Christ Jesus.”

• Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which surpasses all

• Ephesians 1:13 “In Him, you also, after listening to the message

comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in of truth, the

gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you Christ Jesus.”

were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise”

In Christ we are in the heavenly places: In Christ we have resurrection

power:

• Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord

• Ephesians 1:19-20 “and what is the surpassing greatness of His Jesus

Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in power toward us

who believe. These are in accordance with the the heavenly places in

Christ.”

working of the strength of His might, which He brought about in

• Ephesians 2:6 “and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Christ,

when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at Him in the heavenly

places, in Christ Jesus”

His right hand in the heavenly places.”

In Christ there are riches in glory:

In Christ we have spiritual gifts:

• Philippians 4:19 “And my God shall supply all your needs

• 1 Corinthians 1:5 “that in everything you were enriched in Him,

according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

in all speech and all knowledge”

In Christ all things hold together:

In Christ we have every blessing:

• Colossians 1:17 “And He is before all things, and in Him all

• Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord things hold

together.”

Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the

heavenly places in Christ.”

In Christ we have life; Christ is our life:

• Galatians 3:14 “in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of

• John 3:15 “that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life”

Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the

• Romans 6:11 “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, promise of

the Spirit through faith”

but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ”

• Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of In Christ

are found the love, grace, and peace of God: God is eternal life in Christ

Jesus our Lord.”

• Romans 8:39 “nor height, nor depth, nor any other created

• Romans 8:2 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has thing,

shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is set you free from

the law of sin and of death.”

in Christ Jesus our Lord”

• 1 Corinthians 15:22 “…in Christ all shall be made alive”

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• Colossians 3:3-4 “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in

God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be

revealed with Him in glory.”

• John 6:56 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and

I in him.”

• John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and

I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

• Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I

who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I

live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for

me.”

Those who are in Christ have put on Christ:

• Galatians 3:27-28 “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have

clothed yourselves with (lit. “put on”) Christ. There is neither Jew nor

Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female;

for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

• Colossians 3:9-11 “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old

self with its evil practices, and have “put on” the new self who is being

renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created

him—a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew,

circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman,

but Christ is all, and in all.”

In Christ we are one:

• John 17:21-23 “that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me,

and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that

Thou didst send Me. And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given

to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them, and Thou in

Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou

didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me.”

• Romans 12:5 “so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and

individually members one of another.”

• Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor

free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ

Jesus.”

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Appendix E: Frequently Asked Questions

Appendix E

Frequently Asked Questions

• How does the teaching of this book relate to the idea of

“sinless perfection”?

According to the Bible, “there is no man who does not sin.”1

“Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good

and who never sins.”2 “For we all stumble in many ways.”3 In keeping

with this reality, the Lord Jesus taught his disciples to pray daily, “Forgive

us our sins.”4

We can understand immediately why this is so, just by considering one of

the two great commandments: “You shall love the Lord your God with all

your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your

strength.”5 Which of us could say that we have ever loved God for even one

hour as He deserves to be loved? In order to do this, we would have to love

Him just as perfectly as Christ Himself does. But none of us has ever done

this, not even when we were praying or worshiping! Even our prayers and

praises fall immeasurably short of the perfect faith, love, fervency, and

devotion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Another way of saying this is that even

our prayers and praises are sinful, to the degree that they “miss the mark”

of the total perfection of Christ.

For this reason, it is only “through Jesus Christ” and His atoning death on

our behalf that our prayers and other “spiritual sacrifices”

are “acceptable to God.”6 We cannot even “thank God” except

“through Jesus Christ”!7 According to the Bible, even unwitting sins are

still sins 8 and must be paid for by the blood of atonement.

Every Christian who has been rightly instructed by the Word and Spirit of

God feels something of how terribly he daily misses the mark of loving God

with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength.

He could easily spend all his time exploring and reviewing the ways that he

has failed God during the course of a single day. This is not, however, the

focus of the Bible itself. We find, instead, an emphasis 1 2 Chronicles 6:36 2

Ecclesiastes 7:20 3 James 3:2 4 Luke 11:4 5 Mark 12:30

6 1 Peter 2:5 7 Romans 1:8 8 1 Corinthians 4:3-4; Leviticus 5:17-19;

Numbers 15:22-25; Psalm 19:12-14

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in the Bible on the wonderful and mighty work of grace that God This is not

a Biblical approach to the Christian life! Christians has done in His

children. For example, the Lord Jesus speaks of do, indeed, “stumble in

many ways,” but according to the Bible, Nathanael as “an Israelite indeed,

in whom is no guile”!1 He speaks God delights in His children and their

faltering expressions of love of the Christian as one who has “an honest

and good heart”2 and to Him. He “exults” and “rejoices” over them with

“shouts of refers to him as a “good man,” who “out of the good treasure of

his joy”!1 He sees them as His beautiful “bride,”2 and their offerings heart

brings forth what is good.”3 He speaks of the disciples, in spite and lives

are a “fragrant aroma”3 to Him.

of all their failings, as those “who have stood by Him in His trials”4

and “have kept God’s word”!5

• What is the difference between constantly falling short of Paul, likewise,

when recounting the story of Abraham, passes the perfection of Christ and

constantly being defeated by known over Abraham’s stumblings and

characterizes him as a man who sin?

“did not waver in unbelief.”6 He is “convinced” that the Roman believers

are “full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also To say that

Christians constantly fall short of the perfection to admonish one

another.”7 He describes all Christians as “holy of Christ, is quite a

different thing than to say that Christians and beloved”8 and says that they

“have crucified the flesh with its have to be defeated by known sin. It is just

such obvious and known passions and desires.”9 Examples like these could

be multiplied.

sin that John has in mind in 1 John 2:1, when he says, “My little Every

Christian should follow this emphasis of the Bible.

children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And

Realizing how far short he daily falls of perfection, the Christian if anyone

sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ should,

nevertheless, fix his heart and mind on the wonderful the righteous.” By

using the word “if,” John makes it clear that things that God has done for

him in Christ. This is the attitude Christians do not have to knowingly yield

to sin. Paul has the same of faith. In ourselves, we are “nothing”10 and

“can do nothing,”11

thing in mind when he exhorts us not to “let sin reign in our mortal but in

Christ, we “can do all things”!12 The opposing mindset, by bodies that we

should obey its lusts.” Christians do not have to let sin contrast, has been

well illustrated by a fellow pastor: reign in their mortal bodies! When

confronted with obvious sin, the believer has the ability “by the Spirit” to

“put to death the deeds of Imagine visitors arriving at a man’s home. When

they begin the body.”4 As he walks in the Spirit, he will not fulfill the lusts

of to comment on the many changes and improvements that the flesh.5 In

fact, Paul declares with certainty that sin shall not be have taken place in

his house, he hangs his head in shame master over any Christian, for he is

not under law, but under grace.6

and says, “Oh, but there’s something I need to show you.”

Christ “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every He then

goes to the kitchen and drags out the garbage can.

lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, (Every

house has one!) He and his guests then spend the zealous for good deeds.”7

evening examining in detail the contents of the garbage No Christian is

perfect in this lifetime—far from it! But every can, groaning over the

vileness and repulsiveness of each Christian has the power in Christ to

break with known sin and to item. They do this while sitting in a newly

remodeled living live a life of “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy

Spirit.”8

room, but they are so engrossed in their task that they are completely

unaware of their surroundings!

1 John 1:47 2 Luke 8:15 3 Luke 6:45 4 Luke 22:28 5 John 17:6

1 Zephaniah 3:17 2 Song of Solomon 4:1f; Ephesians 5:25 3 Philippians

4:18; 6 Romans 4:20 7 Romans 15:14 8 Colossians 3:12 9 Galatians 5:24

2 Corinthians 2:14-16 4 Romans 8:13 5 Galatians 5:16 6 Romans 6:14

10 Galatians 6:3 11 John 15:5 12 Philippians 4:13

7 Titus 2:14 8 Romans 14:17

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• Some people say that Romans 7:1425 simply portrays the but instead

“practices” what he knows to be “evil,”1 “doing the Christian’s ongoing

battle with sin—that the Christian life is very thing he hates.”2 This defeat

by known sin is described as basically a life of victory, but that Christians

are deeply grieved consistent, not occasional, and nothing is said of any

ability this by those failings and shortcomings that still remain in their

lives.

man might have through the power of the Holy Spirit to mortify How would

you respond to this view?

sin. By contrast, we as Christians can daily praise God that “the law of the

Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the I am in general

agreement with such people regarding the law of sin and of death”!3 We

have been “released from the Law, nature of the Christian life. The

Christian life is basically a life having died to that by which we were bound,

so that we serve in of victory, and Christians are deeply grieved by those

failings and newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”4

shortcomings that still remain in their lives! Not everyone who takes

Romans 7:14-25 as referring to the Christian has a “wretched man” or

“defeatist” view of the Christian life, and we should not

• What about Galatians 5:17? Isn’t it saying the same thing as assume that

they do. My difference with such people is basically Romans 7?

a difference over the interpretation (and possible abuse) of one Galatians

5:17 (“For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, passage of Scripture,

not necessarily a difference over the nature of and the Spirit against the

flesh; for these are in opposition to one the Christian life itself.

another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”) is It is a matter

of fact, however, that multitudes of people do abuse not an assurance of

defeat, but an assurance of victory. Paul Romans 7 and turn to it for

“comfort” when they are miserable begins in v.16 with the promise that if

we “walk by the Spirit,”

and defeated by sin: “After all, even the Apostle Paul couldn’t get we “will

not carry out the desire of the flesh.” He then explains in victory, so why

should I expect anything different?” Even those v.17 why this is so: The

Holy Spirit, whose character is in direct who believe that the Christian life

is basically a life of triumph are contradiction to the flesh, sets Himself

against it and opposes it, subtly tempted with the thought that “this one sin”

may be the one effectually preventing us from living selfishly or following

the dictates of that they, like Paul, will never be able to overcome.

the flesh. After contrasting the “deeds of the flesh” with the “fruit In light of

this abuse of Romans 7, I would emphasize once of the Spirit” in v.19-23,

Paul then assures us once again in v.24

more that the theme of Romans 7 is not “indwelling sin in the that “those

who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with believer,” but “the

goodness of the law in spite of its effects upon its passions and desires.”

those who are in the flesh.” Romans 7 has to do with the fact that A

quotation from commentator Albert Barnes may be helpful the Law, though

“spiritual” and “good,” was “weak through the at this point:

flesh.”1 It portrays in detail the reality that “while we were in the flesh, the

sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were There is no reason for

interpreting this, moreover, as seems at work in the members of our body to

bear fruit for death.”2

always to be the case, of the overpowering tendency in the It should also be

noted (in light of the answer given previously mind to evil, as if it taught

that the Christian was desirous regarding “sinless perfection”) that in

Romans 7:14-25 Paul is of doing good, but could not, on account of his

indwelling clearly speaking, not of the holiest Christian’s continual failure

to corruption. So far as the language of Paul or the fact is measure up to

the perfection of Christ, as some have supposed, but concerned, it may be

understood of just the opposite, and of conscious defeat by known sin. This

is evident from the fact that may mean, that such are the restraints and

influences of the man portrayed in these verses consciously wills to do

good, 1 Romans 8:3 2 Romans 7:5

1 Romans 7:19 2 Romans 7:15 3 Romans 8:2 4 Romans 7:6

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the Holy Spirit on the heart, that the Christian does not the The basic facts

are clear:

evil which he otherwise would…

1. The deepest and ultimate truth about the Christian is that he He (Paul) is

exhorting them (Galatians 5:16) to walk in the is a new man. This is his

essential identity. The new man represents Spirit, and assures them that thus

they would not fulfil the who he “really” is at the present time and who he

will be a thousand lusts of the flesh. To encourage them to this, he reminds

years from now.

them that there were contrary principles in their minds, the influences of the

Spirit of God, and a carnal and downward 2. The new man is not the only

truth about the Christian. There tendency of the flesh. These are contrary

one to the other; is one aspect of his personality that has not yet been

redeemed—his and such are, in fact, the influences of the Spirit on the

“mortal body.” According to the Bible, the Christian’s continuing mind, that

the Christian does not do the things which he struggle with sin arises from

this fact. Sin still tries to reign in his otherwise would.1

mortal body.1

This unredeemed mortal body, viewed as the place where sin still tries to

reign, is referred to in the Bible as “the flesh.” Scripture

• Aren’t you being overly literal in your understanding of the speaks

repeatedly of the “members” of the body (hands, feet, eyes, various

passages that describe regeneration?

etc.) as the place where sin asserts itself.2 The Bible even refers to It is

obvious that when the Bible speaks, for example, of “God’s sins as “deeds

of the body”!3 We know that when a Christian sins, seed”2 remaining in us

and of our having become “partakers of the it is not his body alone that

sins, but the Christian himself as a divine nature,”3 these terms are not to

be understood in any carnal total person. Nevertheless, the Bible makes it

clear that once the sense. Nor do they imply any diminishing of the absolute

gulf body has been redeemed, sin will no longer be a problem for the

between the infinite Creator and His finite creation. Nevertheless, believer.4

we must constantly bear in mind that the Holy Spirit deliberately The flesh

is one aspect of the Christian’s total personality, but it is chose these terms

precisely because they do accurately convey to not the ultimate truth about

him. It does not represent who he really us the truth about invisible reality.

We dare not, in the name of is or what he really loves. The “deeds of the

body” grieve him and theological sophistication, “explain away” such

terms to the point fly in the face of all that is most precious to him.

that they are emptied of any real meaning. The Christian really is 3. The

Christian does not need to be defeated by the flesh. As his

“born of God.” He really is a “new creation” with a “new heart,”

mind is “renewed”5 by believing the facts concerning who he really

“alive from the dead” and “seated in the heavenly places”!

is, and as he learns to “walk in the Spirit,” he will be enabled more and

more to “put to death the deeds of the body.”

• If the Christian is a new man and the body itself is not sinful, where

does sin in the believer come from?

• What is the practical difference between the teaching that a The Bible

does not give us a detailed description of the Christian has two natures and

the teaching that the Christian is psychology of man or of the workings of

human personality. Rather, a new man having the flesh to contend with?

it gives us a functional or practical description. This description leaves The

basic difference is one of identity: Who am I really? What many

metaphysical questions unanswered, but it is more than is the ultimate truth

about me? If, in the deepest core of my being, sufficient to give us a firm

foundation for living the Christian life.

1 Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament, Galatians 5:17

1 Romans 6:12-13 2 Romans 6:13, 19; 7:5, 23; Colossians 3:5; James 3:6;

4:1

2 1 John 3:9 3 2 Peter 1:4

3 Romans 8:13 4 Romans 8:23 5 Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23

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evil is still an expression of who I really am and what I really love,

• What about Matthew 7:11? In what sense are Christians then

sanctification becomes a process of trying to deny reality and

“evil”?

become someone other than who I really am.

If, on the other hand, I am a new man still having the flesh When Jesus says

to the Pharisees in Matthew 12:34 (quoted to contend with, every time I say

“no” to sin, I am saying “yes”

above), “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what to who I

really am and what I really love. Sanctification is then a is good?” it is

clear that He is using the word “evil” to refer to the process of embracing

reality, of believing what is true and of becoming non-Christian—“the evil

man” who out of his “evil treasure brings in practice more and more the

person who I truly am.1

forth what is evil”—in contrast with the Christian, “the good man”

who “out of his good treasure brings forth what is good.”

In Matthew 7:11, on the other hand, Jesus is teaching His

• When Jesus says in Mark 7:2122 that “from within, out of disciples

about prayer. It is obvious, therefore, that when He says the heart of men,

proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, to them, “If you then, being

evil, know how to give good gifts to murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting

and wickedness, as well your children, how much more shall your Father

who is in heaven as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and

foolishness,” is He give what is good to those who ask Him,” He is not

saying that they speaking of Christians as well as nonChristians?

are “evil men” in the same sense that the unconverted Pharisees Since the

Lord is referring here to definite acts which are. Nevertheless, in

comparison with “their Father who is in heaven,”

“proceed out” (v.20) of men and defile them, including literal they are

indeed “evil.” As we saw earlier in this appendix, even

“fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,” and “deeds of coveting true

Christians fall immeasurably short of God’s perfect goodness.

and wickedness,” it is clear that He is describing lost humanity in When

compared to Him, “No one is good except God alone.” 1

general, not Christians.

Christians, by contrast, are referred to by the Lord as those

• Don’t Jeremiah 31:3134 and Ezekiel 36:2528 refer to Israel, with “an

honest and good heart.”2 According to Jesus, the Christian not the

church?

is a “good man who out of his good treasure brings forth what is Many

prophesies in the Old Testament regarding a renewed good.”

or restored “Israel” are seen in the New Testament to have their

“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the ultimate

fulfillment in the church. The “new covenant” is one of tree bad, and its

fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.

them. God says in Jeremiah 31 that He will make a new covenant You brood

of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what

“with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.” The writer is good?

For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the to the Hebrews makes it

clear that this promise is fulfilled, not in heart. The good man out of his

good treasure brings forth what the physical “house of Israel and house of

Judah” as such, but in is good; and the evil man out of his evil treasure

brings forth the church.2 Every Christian, whether Jew or Gentile, is a

partaker what is evil. ”3

of the New Covenant.3 Any future mercies of God to the Jews will result in

their being grafted into the church alongside believing Gentiles.4

Ezekiel 36 is likewise spoken in the context of several “new covenant”

promises. For example, Ezekiel 34:23-25 speaks of the 1 Mark 10:18 2

Hebrews 8 3 Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25

1 Colossians 3:9-10 2 Luke 8:15 3 Matthew 12:33-35

4 Romans 11:11-24

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peace” that God will then make with His people, and Ezekiel 37:24-28

speaks of this

“covenant of peace” as “an everlasting covenant.” (See Hebrews 13:20.)

Far from viewing the Old Testament promises to Israel as not applying to

the church, Paul tells the Gentile believers at Ephesus that though they once

were “excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the

covenants of promise,” they have now been made partakers (along with

believing Jews) of those very promises, having been “brought near by the

blood of Christ.”1 Both Jew and Gentile have been made into “one new

man”—the church. “For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups

into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall…that in Himself

He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and

might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross…” Paul

goes so far as to say that the Gentiles are “no longer strangers and aliens,

but…are fellow citizens with the saints [Jewish believers], and are of God’s

household.”

This view of the Old Testament promises is also put forth by Peter, who

speaks of the church, not Israel, as the fulfillment of God’s Old Testament

desire2 for a “holy nation”: “But you are a chosen race, a royal

priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may

proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into

His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the

people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received

mercy.”3

1 Ephesians 2:11-22 2 Exodus 19:5-6 3 1 Peter 2:9-10

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About the Author

Charles Leiter resides with his wife Mona and two of his children in

Kirksville, Missouri, where he has pastored since 1974.

The Lord has used him as a teacher in His service for the true help and

benefit of many Christians. In addition to his pastoral labors, Mr. Leiter has

also spent time ministering in conferences overseas and throughout the

country. You may learn more about his ministry and the church he co-

pastors by visiting online at www.lakeroadchapel.org

A Word from the Publisher

It is our great aim to see the praises of our God upon the lips of His people.

Since its inception, Granted Ministries has sought to further the influence of

those whom God has wonderfully used for our own personal growth in the

faith. Under God, Charles Leiter has had a profound impact upon all of us

involved with Granted Ministries. And more specifically, the contents of this

book (unfolding with such great clarity the essential truths of justification

and regeneration) have proved to be a tremendous blessing to many.

We trust our efforts to make this book more widely available will be a

service to the body of Christ. We believe it is the truest need of the church

that she would more completely and deeply know her blessed God. In this

effort we join our Lord Jesus Christ in prayer,

“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). We

encourage you to visit us online at www.grantedministries.org and avail

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As with all of the resources that we make available, this book is offered to

any who believe they can benefit from it, whether they can pay for it or not.

There is a cost for the book, but we do not want this to be an obstacle to

anyone. If you cannot afford to purchase a copy, or if you can only afford a

portion of the price, we ask that you write and give us the opportunity to

serve God by providing for His people.

Our only stipulation is that you not request the book unless you are certain

to read it within six months. We do not want to generously enlarge your

library, but to generously enlarge your spiritual condition.

– C.T. April, 2009

Granted Ministries Press

P O Box 1348

Hannibal, MO 63401-1348

Other Titles Available From:

Justificación y Regeneración by Charles Leiter Paperback: 5.5” x 8.5”

Page Count: 176

ISBN: 9780981732121

The Spanish translation of Justification and Regeneration by Charles Leiter.

Please help us to get this wonderful book into the hands of Spanish-

speaking Christians!

The One True God by Paul D. Washer

Hardcover: 7.4” x 9.5”

Page Count: 192

ISBN: 9780981732107

A unique kind of workbook, The One True God intends not just to teach

truth but to lead to an encounter with the living God.

Beneath that goal the book aims to ground believers in orthodox Christian

theology and the actual contents of the Bible. Students are encouraged to

thoughtfully draw conclusions from the Scriptures rather than to merely

absorb the principles, inferences, and illustrations set before them by the

author. For this reason the book does not include such material and instead

focuses on digesting the Scriptures directly. This workbook is the finest

resource for new converts of which we are aware.

This book is essentially bound as a Wire-O bound journal, with a hardback

cover wrapping around the entire book, even the spine. This keeps the book

in good shape for a long time, and also provides for optimum usability.

Coming Soon!

The Truth About Man by Paul D. Washer Hardcover: 7.4” x 9.5”

Page Count: 176

ISBN: 9780981732114

This workbook is set up just like The One True God, focusing on digesting

the Scriptures directly. Readers will find the book invaluable. While of

extreme importance to the believer, the biblical witness concerning the

condition of man is often misunderstood or ignored. This workbook is a

wonderful help in seeking a remedy.

This book is essentially bound as a Wire-O bound journal, with a hardback

cover wrapping around the entire book, even the spine.

This keeps the book in good shape or a long time, and provides for optimum

usability.

Valuable Selections from the Writings of George Müller Hardcover: 5.5”

x 8.5”

Page Count: 64

ISBN: 9780981732138

Valuable Selections from the Writings of George Müller is a collection of

writings chosen especially for the impact they have had in the lives of

countless believers. This booklet includes Müller’s testimony, his teachings

on subjects such as faith, the kingdom and its treasures, stewardship,

partnership with God, the study of Scripture, and discerning the will of

God. Also read Müller’s encouragement to those with unconverted family

members; an address once given to young converts regarding the

importance of the Word of God; and several excerpts from his journal of

God’s abundant provision in the midst of, and out of various trials. After a

few pages explaining why Müller desired to begin the orphan houses the

book concludes with a final exhortation to prayer.