The Place of Spiritual Growth in the Christian Life (part five)

Previously I mentioned four "now" aspects of the Gospel: propitiation, justification, reconciliation and regeneration. We briefly discussed propitiation -- how Christ became an atoning sacrifice for our sins,

I feel like this when I try to justify myself through works

bearing the judgement and wrath of God in our place. In this post I'll touch on justification, which is the wonderful result of propitiation.

But first, here's another tip for spiritual growth: The best growth flows out of a healthy relationship with God. We need to focus on our relationship with God in the present. I believe a solid understanding of the above four "now" aspects of the Gospel will help us understand the basis of our love relationship with God. Then, growth will be something that happens knowing that the loving, powerful Holy Spirit is with us every step of the way, helping us with every detail of growth. He is the chief gardener of our lives.

The following scripture sheds light on the meaning of justification. "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood." (Romans 3:21-25)

What's this saying? Let's break the passage down. Imputed righteousness is available from God for sinful humans. This righteousness is given to us as a gift, so we don't have to earn it by obeying God's many rules. The Old Testament (Law and Prophets) foretold it. We can receive this righteousness by faith, by believing in Jesus Christ. All of us are sinners who fall way short of God's perfection. Fortunately, though, because of His grace (unmerited favor), we are declared righteous (justified) because of Christ's atoning sacrifice (propitiation). But to receive this righteousness, we must put our faith in Christ's blood that was shed to atone for our sins.

Way back in the Reformation, perhaps earlier, a wise Christian came up with a nice little saying known as The Double Imputation, also known as The Great Exchange. It goes something like this: "All our sin was imputed to Christ; all His righteousness was imputed to us." These are beautiful words, and true. 2 Corinthians 5:21 states it like this: "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

There are two types of righteousness: behavioral and positional. Behavioral righteousness is marked by the good things we do and the sins we avoid. In this sense, when we call someone righteous, we are essentially saying they are a person of exceptional moral character, who sins little and does many good deeds.

Positional righteousness is very different. It is like receiving an Olympic gold medal without actually winning the race or suffering through all the hard training. But it's not cheating. It's completely justified, because Christ Himself did the hard training and won the race -- then he mercifully gifted his gold medal to us. All who believe in Jesus are awarded the gold medal of righteousness.

This gold medal was given to all Christians when they first placed their faith in Christ. It's not something waiting for us in the future. We are 100% righteous right now.

Because God sees all Christians as completely righteous, we are fully pleasing in His sight. Despite our flaws and struggles with sin, God loves us and is pleased with us.

This beautiful relationship with God exists because of propitiation and justification. In the next post, I'll focus on reconciliation, the sweet result of the Gospel that focuses on our reconciled personal relationship with God.