by David Clayton
Righteousness by faith in Christ is one of the simplest
truths, and certainly one of the most beautiful in the Bible. Why then
does it seem to cause friction and confusion?
I believe there
are several answers to this question. One of them is, of course, that we
all have so many wrong ideas deeply embedded in our minds that it is
difficult for us to see with perfect clarity. Everything which we view,
has got to be matched against the database of ideas which is stored in
our minds. If any of those ideas is wrong then it will usually have an
effect on how we view the particular issue in question. Many times it is
our deep-rooted ideas which need to be changed. Often, there is
something fundamentally wrong with them, but because they are a part of
the belief structure around which we have built our entire philosophy,
we refuse to even consider the idea of changing them. They must remain,
therefore the truth being considered must be rejected. For us, the truth
becomes a lie, because of our pre-conceived ideas.
A Logical Sequence
Truth always follows a logical sequence. There is always
a chain of ideas with one thing linked to another to form a beautiful
whole. This is always true. It is equally true that error must create a
chain of false ideas to support its shaky structure with one error
leading to another, until there is a confusing web of false ideas. (This
is why it is so interesting to see that the Roman Catholic Church
claims the doctrine if the Trinity as the foundation of all her
beliefs).
Sometimes we hear ideas presented which are so
illogical that all we can do is laugh at them. Ideas do not fit together
in a reasonable way and we can see clearly that the persons presenting
such views are not balanced in their minds. In contrast to this, there
are times when we may disagree with an idea, but we can see, logically
why a person may believe it. We see one idea linking to another idea in a
reasonable way, yet as we trace these ideas backwards, we find one
basic false idea which lies at the root of all the other wrong ideas
which followed. These ideas may follow a pattern of logic, but will
still be very wrong because they started on a false premise.
It is important that we consider these things. Truth does not contradict
itself, so if we find contradictions between what we believe, and the
word of truth (the Bible) then something must be adjusted. Some people
set out to adjust the Bible, but in every such case, it is our beliefs
rather than the Bible which need modification. In this article, as I
will try to show one connection between righteousness by faith and the
truth about God, I trust that we may be able to see the logic that ties
one truth to another in a perfect sequence.
What is Life?
There is no human being who can give a perfect answer to this question.
If man could answer this question, then probably he would have already
produced life, but the best that he can do is describe the
characteristics of life and show how it manifests itself.
Yet
this is an important question, because over and over in the Bible, man’s
problem is said to be the absence of life. He is described as being
dead and in need of life. We are told that this life is what we have
been given in Christ Jesus. The question is, have we truly, literally,
in actuality been given something, or is this just a figurative way in
which the Bible speaks?
When a person receives life, what does
he receive? For example, let us consider Lazarus when he was dead. What
was there missing from him? What made him senseless, what shut down all
his mind and body functions so that he was no better than a piece of
dirt? What was missing? Was it a spark of electricity, was it a puff of
air absent from his lungs? We know better than that. All the electricity
and all the air in the universe will not bring a dead person back to
life. Life is an element that ONLY GOD possesses and which only He is
able to impart. We may not know what it is, but we know that it exists
and that it is something very, very real.
As soon as an entity
is born, we know whether or not it is alive because there are certain
indicators we look for. In the case of animals we look for independent
movement, response to stimulus – something to indicate that this
individual has the ability to perform certain functions. If these
functions are manifested, then we say the thing is alive, if these
functions are not present then we say it is dead.
Different Kinds of Life
Whatever life is, plants, humans, animals, insects, birds, fishes,
microbes all share it alike. Maybe when we come down to the basic
fundamental definition of it, all life is the same. It is the same spark
of energy existing in the ant which also imparts life to the human. One
thing is certain, however, and it is that life manifests itself
differently in different organisms and in this sense we can say that
there are different kinds of life.
From the moment of birth, a
bird will behave like a bird, a fish like a fish, a dog like a dog and a
human like a human. There are certain kinds of behaviour which do not
need to be learned, they are inherent in the life, they are an integral
part of the organism which receives such life. In other words, life is
not something which is learned or developed. It is something which is
inherited, which is present at birth and which has in it, the
characteristics which will determine how the organism will behave, what
kind of creature it will be. No matter how it tries and how it learns, a
dog will never be a cat. At best, educating a dog in cat behaviour will
only result in a very confused and poorly adjusted dog!
Spiritual and Physical Life
Spiritual life may be understood in more than one way so let us define
what we mean when we speak of spiritual life. It may refer to the state
of existence of spirit beings – the kind and the quality of life in
which they exist. By this definition, all spirits possess spiritual life
including God, the angels and even demons. It is a kind of existence
which is non-physical. However, this is not the kind of spiritual life
which I want to discuss here.
It is possible for human beings,
in our physical state, here and now, to receive a certain kind of life
that we refer to as spiritual life and this is what we are talking
about. How do we define this spiritual life? In this context what we are
speaking about is a certain kind of life which God imparts to those who
yield to Christ. This life affects us on the spiritual level, that is,
it affects our minds rather than our bodies and this is why we refer to
it as spiritual life. This life is a gift from God through Jesus Christ,
and can be obtained in no other way.
As my understanding of
righteousness in Christ has grown, I have come to realize that one of
the most important things which we need to understand is, what is the
nature of this life and how real is it? I will also add another
question. How can this life be received, how do we obtain it?
Are Spirit and Life the Same?
“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26)
What is it that makes a person dead? The Bible says it is the absence
of the spirit. This agrees with what we are told in Genesis 2:7
concerning how man first received life. It says that God breathed into
man’s nostrils the “breath”, or the “spirit” of life and this is what
made man become a living soul.
The word translated as “breath”
is the Hebrew word “Ruach” which also means “spirit.” Some might say,
“all that it means is that God started the breathing process because it
says that “God breathed into his nostrils.” Notice however, that in John
20:22, Jesus again breathed on his disciples saying, “receive the holy
spirit.” Was it breath that He imparted to them at that moment? Of
course not! It was life. In this case it was spiritual life, something
far more than literal breath – much more than air, more than new
thoughts and ideas. However, the action which He used to represent this
impartation of life was breathing on the disciples, just as God did when
He gave Adam life.
The Bible consistently represents the
spirit as being the key ingredient which makes a person alive. The
following verses illustrate this very clearly.
“And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat.” (Luke 8:55)
“and having said thus he gave up the ghost (spirit)” (Luke 23:46)
“Saying, Lord Jesus receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59)
In these, and many other verses we see the clear teaching that the
spirit (whatever it is) is the vital ingredient which makes a person
alive. When the spirit is gone, a person is dead, when the spirit
returns, the person comes back to life.
Of course there are
many Christians who believe that the spirit is an actual individual
entity which may continue to exist on a conscious level after an
individual is dead. They believe that even though the body ceases to
function, the spirit continues to live and function in a non-physical
realm. This is a false idea which is not supported by the Bible and it
lays the foundation for many false beliefs such as the teaching that at
death man goes immediately to his reward in heaven or an eternally
burning hell, or that it is possible to communicate with dead people,
or, the equally dangerous idea that God’s spirit is an individual
person, independent of God and Jesus.
In an attempt to counter
these false beliefs, some of those who have embraced the truth about
God have gone to an extreme in the other direction. They limit the
spirit to simply, thoughts and ideas, and deny that the spirit is an
actual component made up of some kind of energy, some literal element
which we cannot define. Both extremes are false and deny what the Bible
says. Embracing one or the other will lead us onto a path which will
eventually force us to take a direction which will diverge further and
further from the way of truth.
So, although we cannot define
life, we know that we do possess life, a very real and literal thing and
that this life is referred to as our spirit. This is also true of God.
God’s life is also referred to as the spirit of God. In fact, Ellen
White referred to the holy spirit as the “Soul of” Christ’s life.
“Christ declared that after his ascension, he would send to his church,
as his crowning gift, the Comforter, who was to take his place. This
Comforter is the Holy Spirit,–the soul of his life, the efficacy of his
church, the light and life of the world. With his Spirit Christ sends a
reconciling influence and a power that takes away sin.” {RH, May 19,
1904 par. 1}
The Nature of man
One
of the main reasons why there is misunderstanding and disagreement on
the subject of righteousness by faith is that there is confusion
concerning the nature of man and therefore, confusion also concerning
man’s real problem. Some believe that man’s problem is really a physical
one and consequently, they also believe that the solution is a physical
one. They believe that the real reason why man commits sin is because
he has a weak, fallen, sinful body which he inherited from Adam. They
believe that if, with Christ’s help we are able to bring these bodies
under discipline, then we will be able to stop committing sin.
But the truth is, there are two sides to man’s nature. There is the
physical and the spiritual. Man possesses spirit as well as flesh, a
mind as well as a body. What is man’s real problem? What is it that
really makes him a slave of sin and an enemy of God, is it his flesh or
is it his spirit? Is it his body or is it his mind? Notice what God
tells us in His word:
“For the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Rom. 8:7)
This is very plain. Man’s problem is that he has a carnal mind, he has a
corrupt spirit which is incapable of good. The very thoughts of sinful
man are evil and therefore it is impossible for him to do good. The
problem is not his body, but his mind. Man’s problem is not a physical
one, but a spiritual one and it must be solved on the spiritual level,
not the physical.
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, (Mark 7:21)
Now it is true that the Bible often speaks of the “flesh” or the body
as being the problem. For example in Romans 8:8 it says that those in
the “flesh” cannot please God. However the very next verse, Romans 8:9
shows us that it is not speaking of the literal flesh and blood, but
rather the fleshly mind or the carnal spirit for we are told,
“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none of his.” (Rom 8:9)
Likewise, Romans 6:6
tells us that the “body of sin” has been destroyed by our union with
Christ. But it is obvious that we still have our flesh and blood bodies
and they are still weak and suffering the effects of sin even after we
become Christians. So it is evident that the Bible is not speaking of
our literal bodies when it speaks of “body of sin,” but again it is
speaking of the carnal mind, the spiritual part of us which is our real
problem.
The nature of man’s life
What is the nature of man’s life, or man’s spirit? By nature man has a
life which is weak, carnal and inherently corrupt. There is nothing
which man can do about this of himself. It is something which he
inherited, it is the life which was passed on to him, transferred from
generation to generation across 6000 years. Our nature is tied to our
lives and when we receive life at conception, we also receive our
natures, therefore a dog behaves like a dog, a pig behaves like a pig,
because of the life which they inherited. In the same way, a man will
always behave as a sinner, with a tendency to always do wrong, because
this is the way he was born. It has to do with the life or the spirit
which he inherited.
When we understand this, then we can see
that man’s problem is his nature, or, that which produces the nature
which is, the life which he inherited, or, the spirit which he
inherited. As long as man possesses the carnal spirit or nature, or life
which he was born with, he will never be able to resist sin. It is
impossible for any creature in the universe to behave in a way which is
contrary to his nature.
False religion
The mark of all false religion is that it attempts to solve man’s
problems on the physical level. Always there is an effort to change
man’s behaviour by external means.
Through affliction of the
body, strict discipline, rites and ceremonies, outward observances, man
tries to solve the problem of his depraved nature. But this is a concept
which is very, very wrong. It lies at the foundation of legalism (that
is, religion which is based on rules), because it leads to the idea that
all man needs to do in order to overcome sin is to bring his body into
obedience to a set of prescribed laws.
It needs to be said
again and again, man’s problem is not on the outside. It is not his
flesh which needs to change, but his spirit or his mind. He needs a new
spirit, he needs the mind of Christ. So can we see? If what we need is a
new spirit, where shall we obtain it? Shall we create it? Shall we
develop it? Shall we produce it by a lifetime of effort? No, no, no! The
Bible says that we can receive it ONLY as a gift from God. This is a supernatural work,
it is something totally outside of man’s ability and if we desire to
obtain this new mind, we must receive it as a gift from Christ, purely
by faith! There is absolutely no other way. No effort of man can make a
sinner into a saint, no amount of discipline can change a carnal mind
into a spiritual mind. It must be the exclusive work of God in Christ.
“ ….Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God …
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3-5)
This is the answer to man’s
sin problem. It is the only answer. Every man who hopes to have eternal
life must be born again because it is the only way that sin can be
overcome. He must be born again of the spirit. What does this mean?
Remember that the spirit is life. Man’s spirit is man’s life and God’s spirit is God’s life.
What Jesus was saying was that the only way man can escape the power of
sin and be qualified for God’s kingdom, is if he receives God’s own
life or God’s own spirit. A life which is completely different from his
own corrupt one.
There are many people who stumble at this
wonderful truth. Some resist the idea that man may literally partake of
the very life of God. To them, it seems a blasphemous idea to suggest
that man and God may actually share the very same life. They fear that
it may lead men to self-exaltation or that it may cause us to drift
towards the teaching of pantheism. But when the word of God teaches
something very clearly we need not be afraid of it. Rather we should be
afraid of rejecting it. It is our misconceptions which must be cast
aside rather than the words of God.
“ …. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
“ …. your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1 Cor 6:19)
“But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” (1 Cor 6:17)
“I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one” (John 17:23)
There are dozens of these verses in the Bible which all teach the same
great truth. The Christian becomes an actual child of God, literally,
because he literally receives the very life of God. Isn’t this what
happens when we parents have children? They become our sons and
daughters because they receive our very life and this is the reason why
they behave like us in so many ways. So the word of God tells us that
this is the reason why we behave like God. It is because we have this
life in us, and this is a life that does not commit sin.
“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in
him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” (1 John 3:9)
This is the truth, brothers and sisters. Men do not overcome sin
because they try hard to do what is right. They do not gain the victory
by striving and struggling against temptation.
“For I know
that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will
is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”
(Rom 7:18)
Such methods are vain and frustrating. They can
never lead to victory, because we cannot resist our natures. The only
hope is that we may receive a new nature or a new life and this is what
God gives us when He gives us His Holy Spirit. It is His own nature, His
own perfect life which cannot be touched by sin.
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Rom 8:2)
The Word or the Spirit?
There is one other important question which needs to be answered. What
is it which changes a sinner into a saint, is it the word of God or is
it the spirit of God? Or is it that the word of God is the same as the
spirit of God? Of course Jesus said, “the words I speak unto you, they
are spirit and they are life.” (John 6:63) This may lead to the belief
that Christ does not literally live in His people and that it is not
actually God’s life which literally is united to the life of the
Christian. Some Christians believe that it is by reading the words of
the Bible that we are changed. We receive the thoughts from the Bible
and they change our thoughts so that our thoughts become LIKE the
thoughts of God and this is what it means to say that we have the life
of Christ. It really means that we think in the same way that he thinks.
In John 5:39 Jesus said,
Search the scriptures for (because) in them ye think ye have eternal life…” (John 5:39)
Sometimes we read this verse and think that Jesus was here giving the
Jews a command to study the Scriptures. But the meaning of this
statement is better understood when we read it in a version other than
the King James. We see that what Jesus was really saying was, “ you
search the Scriptures …” He was commenting on the Jews’ habit of
searching the Scriptures rather than commanding them to study them.
Here we see that the Jews loved to read the scriptures. What was their
purpose in doing this? They thought that eternal life was in the
scriptures. They thought that by feeding on these words they would
obtain the blessing of God. But Jesus went on to show the true purpose
of the scripture,
“…and they are they which testify of me…”(John 5:39)
This is the purpose of the scriptures; to testify of Christ. The Jews
read the scriptures thinking that in reading and memorizing these words
they would obtain life. However, words can never give us life. The
purpose of these words is to direct us to Christ, the one who is the
true life, the only one who can give us everlasting life. As Paul says
in Gal. 3:24, “ the law was our school master to bring us unto Christ .”
So Jesus continued by saying,
“And ye will not come to me that ye might have life.” (John 5:40)
“I am the way, the truth and the life (John” 14:6).
What a tragic picture? The Jews studied and studied the scriptures,
they could explain every doctrine and they made sure to memorize
passages of the word, even writing out sections and sewing them into the
very garments they wore, or posting them to the walls of their homes.
But they missed the whole point of what they were reading! All this body
of knowledge had only one point, one purpose and it was to lead them to
Christ, Yet while they embraced the words which spoke of Christ, they
rejected Christ Himself, the living reality to which those words were
directing them. Paul tell us,
“…if there had been a law given which could have give life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.” (Gal. 3:21)
But this is not possible. Words cannot give us life. No matter how we
memorize them, no matter how we think about them, no matter how
beautifully they express the truth, words cannot give us life. It is
only Christ Himself, the living word of God who can Himself give us
life, not by counseling us or educating us or stirring up our thoughts,
but by implanting in us the seed of His very own life, His own
life-force, the holy spirit, thereby making us a partaker of the very
life of God, or the divine nature. Therefore, again Paul tell us, “ the
letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. ” (2 Cor. 3:6) and, “the
Lord (Jesus) is that spirit” (2 Cor. 3:17)
I certainly am not
saying that the word is not important. We must study that word, we must
understand it, but only because this enables us to find and to hold on
to Christ. It is He and He alone who can give us life.
In
sharing these truths we have lost a few friends (although we have also
made a few). What a pain this has been! It hurts to lose friends, but
especially when they become upset at the plain teaching of the word of
God. Traditional thinking is so deep-rooted in many that they either
cannot, or will not think outside of the common mold. They reject the
most wonderful truth in the word of God because it does not fit with the
way they have seen things all these years.
“But even unto
this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless
when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.” (2 Cor.
3:15, 16)
May God our Father, grant us the wisdom, honesty,
open-mindedness and understanding that we may turn to the Lord so that
this veil of misunderstanding may be taken away.
