Reflections on Isaiah 53:6,10

T.U.L.I.P.

In an effort to set up my thoughts and reflections on Isaiah 53, I am going to provide some of the context around what led me both to study it, wrestle with the seeming paradox in it, and finally come to my personal conclusion as to how we should understand the Isaiah 53:6 in the context of the rest of the chapter.

Even before I really made a personally motivated effort to memorize Scripture on my own, I knew these verses. Now, I may not have remembered the exact reference right away, and I knew what verse 5 much better than verse 6, but I could come close to quoting these verses for you. And it was with this in mind that I planned to study Isaiah 53 to teach in Sunday school. In the past I’ve spent weeks on studying a single chapter, but because I didn’t have that luxury this time, I planned on briefly looking at some of less familiar parts of this Messianic prophesy. My goal was to simply wet the appetites of the class into looking back at this passage with a revitalized sense of awe that may have been diminished because its familiarity.

In my grand design, I wanted to end the last few minutes of the class dealing with verse 6 and how we should understand what “the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” means. I had planned the majority of my time with looking at Christ as the once for all sacrifice as contrasted to the ongoing priestly sacrifices, what “His offspring” and “prolong His days” (v.10) means, or even how it is so important to note that “the Lord was pleased to crush Him” and “if He would render Himself (as) a guilt offering” (v.10) showed both the willingness of the suffering servant and the pleasure of the Father.

We began by reading 52:13 – 53:12 out loud, and when we were done, I asked what impressed them or stuck out to them from what we had just read. Now, I thought that someone would bring up something form verse 10, or something relating to the silent lamb before the slaughter (v. 7) and that is where we would begin the lesson. It was a good idea until the first, and only, person to answer my question referred to verse 6 and marveled at how awesome it was that Christ bore all of the sins for everyone whoever lived.

Now I had a problem. This is exactly the issue and mindset that I wanted to deal with, somewhat briefly, at the end of the class. Primarily I wanted to deal with it briefly because of the potential powder keg that discussing my conclusions on this verse might lead to. What I mean is this: at this time, I don’t necessarily believe that Isaiah 53 teaches the doctrine of particular redemption (limited atonement), but I believe that the correct understanding of it would lead one to think along those lines. And from my experience in preaching anything that touches on the doctrine of election, much less on the doctrine of limited atonement, the reaction could be less than hospitable and even cause enough discord as to motivate people to leave the fellowship of our local body. This is not to say that I will not say what the Word is saying in a particular text or situation, but I am very aware that I must be delicate because it is not my place to be so “controversial” as to motivate people to leave be cause of me.

So when the observation was made that this verse said that all people had their sins placed on Christ, and He paid for them all, I reluctantly took the carrot and decided to begin to look into what this verse means in the context of the rest of Isaiah 53. So without further ado, here are my reflections on Isaiah 53:6 when taken in context (specifically verses 11 and 12).

“⁵ 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. ⁶ 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 53:5,6)

When looking at these verses, my initial gut reaction is to take them to mean exactly what the words plainly say. Namely, that Jesus bore the punishment for everyone’s sins to bring us all to peace with God because everyone of us have gone astray, but God has caused all of our iniquities to fall on Jesus. I don’t think that I go too by saying that this is the general understanding of the majority of Christians when looking at this verse in the same way. I don’t know if I heard this from someone, or if is simply what I have thought in the past, but these two verses come across almost as the equivalent of Romans 3:23 in the Old Testament. In other words, just as Romans 3:23 (built on the context of Romans 1-3) shows the universality of the sinfulness of man, this verse is portrayed as doing the same thing in the Old Testament.

I had believed that exact thing until studying this chapter for this lesson. It was not verses 5 and 6 that caused me to be up way to late struggling with how to understand it, but it was when looking at these verses in light of verses 11 and 12 that I almost pulled my hair out.

“⁶ 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.

¹¹ As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see {it and} be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.” (Isaiah 53: 6,11 emphasis mine)

The language of “all”, “our”, and “many” may have caused some initial confusion, but in the past I had just understood them to be referring to different groups and had no problem with that. All people are sinful but only those who have faith in Christ will be justified. There is no problem with this because that is the glorious truth of the gospel. However, the problem that I encountered came from fact that the context indicates that those whose sins Christ bears will be justified, but if all people’s iniquities fall on Christ then all would be justified. In other words, then all people everywhere would be saved. Not that I would oppose universalism if the Bible taught it, but it blatantly does not. So how can I understand this in context?

Even though we understand that we are justified and connected to the death and resurrection of Christ through faith, Isaiah doesn’t address that. He simply states that “the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” and that the “Servant justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.” So, as I understand it, whether the “all” of verse 6 and the “many” of verse 11 refer to the exact same people or not, neither can be referring to all people of all time because the Bible is clear that many people will be eternally condemned.

My concern was not that this text somehow teaches universalism, my struggle was how to understand this passage consistently so that it said what I know the Bible teaches elsewhere. And the first thing that I was drawn too was the pronouns used throughout the chapter. Isaiah uses “our” (1,4,5), “we ourselves” (4), “we” (5), “all of us” (6), “each of us” (6), “us all” (6), “my people” (8), “many” (11,12), “their” (11) to describe those to whom the action of the Suffering Servant relates.

At first, the “my people” from verse eight seems to be the best clue as to who Isaiah is writing about here. I believe based on Isaiah 52:14 as well as 53:8 that “my people” refers to the nation of Israel, God’s covenant people. But that still doesn’t resolve the “all” verses the “many” problem that we get from verse 6 and 11. And unless “all” refers to all Israel and “many” refers to the number of descendants as related to the rest of humanity, I don’t think that identifying “my people” is the final key to unlocking the who’s who of Isaiah 53. And I say that because of what we know; we know that much of Israel is and was apostate, and we also know that salvation came to the gentiles in Christ. So, my dilemma continues.

After more searching and scouring of the passage for another clue as to what might be the best key for understanding the “many” against the “all” language, I reread and reread the chapter and surrounding context for some help. It wasn’t until after having read it many times that I again noticed that the first possessive pronoun used in chapter 53 was used in verse 1, and it was the word “our”.

“Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1)

I believe that it is this verse, this statement or lament of Isaiah, which gives the key to understanding and making sense of the rest of this chapter. And the question that I think is important is this: who is the “our” that proclaimed the message that was to be believed? This is not the nation, it cannot be. The nation rejected God and rebelled against the laws of God and of worshipping and following Him alone from the very Exodus from Egypt. Because of their constant rebellion and hard hearts, God sent prophets who were to call the nation back to the Lord. We also know that there were devout priests and other people who remained faithful to God during the rampant apostasy of their land (see 1 Kings 19:14-18).

It seems best to understand the possessive and inclusive pronoun “our” in verse 1 as well as “each of us” and “all of us” in verse 6 to refer to those people who were proclaiming the Word of the Lord. And for lack of a better way to categorize them, I’ll call them the prophets, even though this group would include more than those who wrote the prophetic books in the Old Testament. Isaiah wasn’t commenting on the general sin of Israel in verse 6, he was referring to the faithful group of prophets who proclaimed the message. Remember, this is the same Isaiah who lamented his own sinfulness before the throne of God,

“Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." (Isaiah 6:5)

If Isaiah is referring to those faithfully proclaiming the Word of the Lord to the nations when he says “all of us” and “each of us”, then who are the “many” in verse 11? It seems best to understand the “many” in God’s ultimate redemptive sense. In other words, it is not simply the faithful among the prophets of God to Israel and Judah that He will save, but He is the savior of the gentiles too. The prophets knew this well, and that is why Jonah fled; he did not want God to be merciful to the Ninevites, even though he knew that He would be.

So in this case, “many” is actually a larger group than “all of us” is. Everyone who has been justified by faith is included in the “many”, but only Isaiah’s contemporaries proclaiming the Word of the Lord at that time would be included in the “all of us”. I could even be convinced that “all of us” refers to all of the believers of the message, not just the proclaimers of the message, in Isaiah’s time and in all time. And in this case, the “all of us” would include the totality of those chosen by God, and the “many” would refer to their numerical value.

This understanding of who the various groups are allow us to interpret Isaiah 53 consistently in its context as well as in the broader context of the Bible’s teaching on salvation. All of those people who have their sins imputed to Christ will be justified by His righteousness, and there will be many people who come from every tribe, tongue, and nation who receive God’s gracious gift of salvation through Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria

The Great Deluge

On a Sunday, probably much like this one in so many ways, a little over two years ago, our world was rocked by a massive disaster. Called the Asian Tsunami or the Boxing Day Tsunami, an unimaginably large earthquake shook the very foundations of the earth, and death emanated from its epicenter.

This earthquake was one of the largest ever recorded in modern history, it registered a 9.3 on the Richter scale having originated nearly 100 miles off the coast of northern Sumatra and about 19 miles under the ocean’s surface that produced waves that peaked at nearly 100 feet above the ocean’s surface. It has been guessed that if you could put all of the seismic activity relating to earthquakes since 1906 into a mathematic equation, nearly 13% of that total occurred on December 26th, 2005. The resulting loss of life is almost an unfathomable 229,866 men, women, and children.

On Thursday, November 12th 1970, an intense cyclone referred to afterwards as the Bhoda Cyclone, producing winds of between 111-130 mph and flooding of 9-12 feet, which is equivalent to the strength of a category 3 hurricane, descended upon what is now Bangladesh and claimed the lives of between 300,000 and 500,000 people.

In the 20th century alone, terrors emanating from atheistic communism have claimed the lives of between 65 and 95 million people. Through wars, genocide, purges, political maneuvering, and random and wanton murder, small segments of powerful men have condemned millions of others to death.

The horrific scope and reality of tragedies and atrocities, whether of man’s own creation or as the result of divine or “natural” causes, are often communicated in a variety of ways. For instance, these types of events are often recounted in numbers of jobs lost, dollars lost, homes or property destroyed, homes evacuated, people infected, square miles covered, miles per hour (wind), depth of flood waters, and lives lost.

That being the case, the single greatest calamity ever to fall upon the earth and to afflict mankind cannot be measured in the numbers of homes lost, lives lost, property destroyed, or in terms of economic impact. No, the greatest of all calamities – the worst of the worst – was so massive, so far reaching, and so devastating that it can only be communicated, numerically speaking, by the number of survivors. And there were only eight of them.

This climaxing event, and the events that lead up to it and flowed from it, is recorded for us in Genesis 6-9. And it is on this 17th of February, 2007, that I want to first look back the events of the Great Deluge and then look forward to the greatest single tragedy. Why look at this today instead of picking up where we left of last year with the 2nd chapter of Paul’s letter to the Philippians?

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. (Genesis 7:11)

Now I am fully aware that the Jewish calendar of Moses’ time and before is not equivalent to our current 365 ¼ day calendar year. And so, it was not on February 17th in the year 1656 after creation. But for tonight, just think of it as Sunday February 17th 2008, or February 17th of some other year. My only point with emphasizing the date is this: who in Noah’s time (including himself) would have guessed that the world would end on a normal day in the middle of February? And likewise we must all be mindful that we do not choose the day, hour, or manner in which we will die or in which those around us will die – it will most likely occur on an otherwise normal day.

Why, why was the world destroyed in this way at this time in the single greatest natural disaster in history?

⁵ Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ⁷ The LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them." (Genesis 6:5-7)

The answer: sin. Generally speaking, it was the overall and continual wickedness of man on the earth. But the “straw that broke the camel’s back” as it were, was the great perversion of the coming of the sons of God into the daughters of men. This was, specifically an unholy mingling in marriage. And as flashy or notably horrid as this sinful act was, the reality is that it was not simply this one single sin that caused God’s anger to burn towards the people.

The simplicity of this answer – namely, that the world was destroyed because God was angry about the sin of the people – should not cause a thoughtfully dismissive “hmmm” or “duh” or any other reaction that would cause us to gloss over this vitally important and pertinent truth. It should cause us to sit in awe of God’s perfect and holy standard of perfection.

Even using words like “perfection”, “holiness”, or “righteousness” are so lacking in their ability to communicate, at least to me, what God’s standard truly is. I understand the idea…to a point, but the weight of the truth of God’s demands and expectations especially in light of my inability to meet these expectations, is so fleeting and impossible to wrap my mind around.

So, how did God deal with the lawbreakers in Noah’s day? As terrible as the Boxing Day Tsunami was, as bad as the Bhoda Cyclone was, or as devastating as 100 years of Communism has been, the great deluge in Noah’s day minimizes them all.

The Bible records in Genesis chapter 7 that the “all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened” (11) and that the rain continued for 40 days. The flood was so dramatic that it covered the highest peaks of the mountains by as much as 25 or 30 feet. Mt Everest’s is 29,028 feet above sea level. That means that the waters reached nearly 29,050 feet above sea level. That is, of course, unless there were greater and loftier peaks that were swept away during the great deluge or have since been worn down. So, at least, the waters were around 29,050 feet in depth.

This means that, if the water surge was consistent throughout the entire 40 days, the waters increased in depth by ½ foot every minute, 30 feet ever hour, 726 feet each day, until it reached its final depth of over 5.5 miles. The rains stopped after 40 days, but the flood waters remained for a total of 150 days. And it was not until July 17th, at the end of the 150 days, that the ark rested on Ararat. But it was not until February 27th of the following year that God finally commanded Noah to leave the ark.

This is a massively clear picture of just how much God hates sin.

But the flood is not just a story about God’s hatred of sin, no. It is a picture of that, yes, but it is also a beautiful picture of God’s grace. God saved Noah and his family.

⁵ Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ⁷ The LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them. ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD." (Genesis 6:5-8; emphasis mine)

The Hebrew word translated as “favor” means graciousness, a subjective (kindness, favor) or objective (beauty); and in the Greek Septuagint, this word is translated “xariV$” which is the same Greek New Testament word that is used for God’s unmerited favor that is bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus because of His good pleasure.

This was an exercise of divine mercy in the midst of judgment, for the transmission of the human family. This preservation may be regarded as a reward of his piety. But it was a 'reward of grace,' as one that trusted in a better righteousness; and it is no small proof of its being a reward of grace, that it extended to his whole family, though one of them was wicked.¹

“This is a Hebrew expression that means God was propitious to Noah and favored him. The Hebrews often spoke in this way. They would say, “If I have found grace in your sight: instead of saying, “If I am acceptable to you” or “If you will grant me a favor.” This phrase needs to be noted, because certain ignorant people infer with futile subtlety that if men find race in God’s sight, it is because they seek it through their own industry and merit. I acknowledge, indeed, that here Noah is declared to have been acceptable to God because by living uprightly he kept himself pure from the pollution of the world. But from where did he attain this integrity except from the preventing grace of God? The origin, therefore, of this favor was gratuitous mercy. Afterward the Lord, having once embraced him, retained him under his own hand, so that he would not perish with the rest of the world.²

God graced Noah for the same reason, even though the manifestation itself was different, that He acts graciously towards all of those who have been saved and will be saved.

That being said, Noah was not an average American evangelical in the way that he carried himself and acted. The prophet Ezekiel puts Noah, along with Job and Daniel, as the symbol of piety and obedience that – even if they were present in Jerusalem during the time of God’s judgment against it, could not spare even their families for their own sake, but only themselves (cf. Ez 14:14ff). The writer of the Hebrews puts forth Noah as an example of his faith in and reverent obedience to God (cf. Heb 11:7). And Peter referred to Noah as a “preacher of righteousness” (cf. 2 Peter 2:5).

Even with this impressive resume that few mortal men can equal, God was gracious to Noah and his family because God was gracious to Noah and his family.

Following Noah’s Deliverance from the Great Deluge, God made an unsolicited and an unconditional covenant with Noah, and through him, He made it with you and me, that God would never again destroy the earth in the waters of a great and terrible flood. And in order to remind us of this promise, He gave to us the beautiful rainbow.

What a glorious picture of God’s gracious salvation! This picture and view of salvation was not lost to the Church, but before I can get into that, I want to go back to look at the reason that brings us to the brink and puts us in the cross-hairs of God’s perfectly aimed rifle.

The cause of our problem before God is no different than the root cause that brought about the Great Deluge in Noah’s day. And God’s wrath has been kindled against many individuals and nations in the past – sometimes He stays His hand for a while, and other times He does not hold back.

God destroyed Sodom, Gomorrah, and their surrounding cities. God was going to kill Moses just after He’d commissioned him to lead Israel out of captivity and slavery, but Moses was spared when his wife circumcised their son on the spot. God was seemingly on the verge of destroying the nation many times just following their miraculous Exodus from Egypt. God declared destruction of the nation of Israel if they disobeyed, and He carried it out through Assyria and Babylon. And God has prepared a place of the most extreme torment and misery for all people everywhere who die in a state of sin – even if the only infraction was that you disobeyed your parents one time when you were a teenager.

Sin is horrible. Sin is repulsive. Sin is repugnant. The glamorous nature of the sins of Sodom & Gomorrah, the people of Noah’s day, or even the blatant idolatry of the Nation of Israel shouldn’t desensitize us to the horrific nature of the smallest transgression of His divine standard. Hatred is murder. Lust is adultery. Doubt of God’s promises is slander against His good name! Pornography is a vile and disgusting perversion of sexuality, a betrayal of your spouse – whether you’re married now or you will become married in the future – no matter if you’re in your clean and isolated home sitting at your computer or at Naked Sushi night at a Twin Cities restaurant that is being advertised on radio that is targeted to people who would hold to many of our same social ideals and political values.

And again, let me restate that we must not casually hear and agree with the general idea that human sin is evil in the sight of God. I would argue that the more we seek to understand sin, not in a desire to revel in sin as the world does, but in order to understand just how great our debt is to Christ, and it is this understanding when coupled with a greater understanding of the beauty, majesty, glory, and mercy of God displayed through His grace in our salvation that we grow in our walk with Him by leaps and bounds.

“We are all loathsome to God, before we are washed pure in the blood of Christ!

By nature, we are all in a filthy and cursed condition. We are a lump of clay and sin mingled together. Sin not only blinds us—but defiles us. It is called filthiness (James 1:21). And to show how befilthying a thing it is, it is compared . . .
to a plague of the heart (1 Kings 8:38),
to corruption (Deuteronomy 32:5),
to vomit (2 Peter 2:22),
to a menstrual cloth (Isaiah 30:22).

If all the evils in the world were put together and their quintessence strained out—they could not make a thing so black and polluted as sin is! A sinner is a devil in a man's shape! When Moses' rod was turned into a serpent—he fled from it. If God would open men's eyes and show them their deformities and damnable spots—they would fly from themselves, as from serpents!

When grace comes—it washes off this hellish filth! It turns ravens into swans. It makes those who are as black as hell—to become as white as snow!

"Christ gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own." Christ shed His blood—to wash off our filth. The cross was both an altar and a laver.

Jesus died not only to save us from wrath (1 Thes. 1:10)—but to save us from sin! (Matthew 1:21). Out of his side came water which signifies our cleansing—as well as blood which signifies our justifying (1 John 5:6).”³

The final destination for those who are found in contempt of God’s Holy Court is the same for us as it was for Noah’s friends and neighbors. This is a place of eternal and unmatched suffering and horror.

“Hell is described as a place where "their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched." Repeatedly Jesus spoke of outer darkness and a furnace of fire, where there will be wailing, weeping, and gnashing of teeth.

The Book of Revelation describes hell as "a lake of fire burning with brimstone" (Rev 19:20; 20:10,14-15; 21:8). Into hell will be thrown the beast and the false prophet (Rev 19:20). At the end of the age the devil himself will be thrown into it, along with death and hades and all whose names are not in the Book of Life. "And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever" (Rev 20:10 b).

Because of the symbolic nature of the language, some people question whether hell consists of actual fire. Such reasoning should bring no comfort to the lost. The reality is greater than the symbol. The Bible exhausts human language in describing heaven and hell. The former is more glorious, and the latter more terrible, than language can express.”⁴

Now whereas there has not been a singular event that God has caused virtually the entirety of mankind to meet with their eternal fate since the Great Deluge, there has been a single event that has occurred that has more perfectly and more manifoldly displayed God’s hatred of Sin and need for justice to be served. It is the greatest tragedy that has ever occurred – not because of the outcome, but because of the actual event itself. The only way for God’s wrath at you, and me, and every other redeemed individual to be satisfied was with the death of His own Son.

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Cor 5:21)

And it is here – in the sacrifice of the Beloved Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, that Peter draws our minds back to the catastrophe of the flood.

¹⁸ For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; ¹⁹ in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, ²⁰ who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. ²¹ Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you-- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience--through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him. (1 Peter 3:18-22; emphasis mine)

Two questions come up from this text. The first is this: Does baptism – and by that I mean water baptism – save us? To that question I would answer with an un-hesitating “NO!” The second question is this: If water baptism is not what saves us, what in the world is Peter saying here? And I want to answer that in two ways.

First, what Does the Bible clearly say about how man is saved?

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. (John 3:18)

I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. (John 5:24)

I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. (John 6:47)

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. (Romans 3:28)

nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. (Galatians 2:16)

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹ not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8,9)

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.” (Romans 1:16,17)

He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36)

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, (Titus 3:5)

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (Romans 5:1)

I have only given a few verses that argue for the fact of salvation being through faith by the means of God’s grace. But the fact that there are so many more verses than what I have provided is an argument for the overwhelming nature of the Bible’s clear statement about the doctrine of justification by faith.

Justification by Faith. Although the Lord Jesus has paid the price for our justification, it is through our faith that He is received and His righteousness is experienced and enjoyed (Rom 3:25-30). Faith is considered righteousness (Rom 4:3,9), not as the work of man (Rom 4:5), but as the gift and work of God (John 6:28-29; Phil 1:29).⁵

Second Question: If we’re saved by grace through faith and not by means of water baptism, what on earth is Peter saying here? What is the analogy that he is drawing?

The first key is to understand what ideas are “corresponding” in what Peter is trying to say. Peter is relating Christ’s sacrifice and our salvation through it to the entire story of Noah and the ark. He is not comparing the act of water baptism and a salvation effecting quality that it might have with Noah’s experience. Noah was saved by the ark, not by the water.

The water of the Great Deluge baptized the world in death, but Noah sailed safely through it in the Ark that the Lord provided. Similarly, when we are saved by Christ we are placed inside of the perfect ark that has been baptized in the wrath of God’s judgment on the cross.

“But baptism (from baptize) simply means ‘to immerse,’ and not just in water. Peter here uses baptism to refer to a figurative immersion into Christ as the ark of safety that will sail over the holocaust of judgment on the wicked.

God preserved [Noah and his family] in the midst of His judgment, which is what He also does for all those who trust in Christ.”⁶

Therefore, by being found in Christ Jesus, through faith, God displays His desire to give mercy and grace while still showing His requirement for justice.

God offers two promises, one desirable and one undesirable. The first promise is that if you, as a sinner, die in your sins, God promises to cast you into a reality that is far clearer, far more tangible than anything you know here on earth. And that reality will completely and utterly crush you, but you will be preserved to endure it in misery. That is the first promise, the promise of God’s vengeance and His righteous and holy wrath that will be poured out on all ungodliness.

The second promise is God’s promise of grace. Oh, if you will but call on the Lord, confess and turn from your sins, place your complete trust in Him alone to deliver you from His wrath by means of His substituting His Son in your place – if you trust in the finished and perfect work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary, God promises to give you eternal life. He will give you a new heart, with new desires, and you will wage war on those sins that so justly condemned you before the throne of Glory. He will cause you to grow in holiness and cause you to desire His word and love His Son.

It is possible that we can experience some conviction and yet be unchanged. After hearing a much more powerful sermon and articulation of the gospel than I have presented tonight, King Herod Agrippa said, “In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.” (Acts 26:28) He had some conviction there – but I don’t know of a good historical account that tells of the conversion of King Agrippa II.

Don’t let the conviction of the Holy Spirit wane as you move it to the back of your mind and ignore it. For there will come a time that, after having done that so often and so long, that you will no longer be convicted and you will be adrift in your unbelief.

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¹ (from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

² Genesis, John Calvin. p. 71.(The Crossway Classic Commentaries)

³ The Beatitudes, Thomas Watson, 1660

⁴
(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright (c)1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)

⁵ (from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright (c)1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)

⁶ 1 Peter, John MacArthur, p. 217

Worthy Christian Conduct Part 1: Understanding The Gospel

I recently preached a message to my church on the text of Philippians 1:27-28. But before I launched into this text, I felt that it was necessary for me to remind the church of where we had come from and what we have gone through in the study of Philippians. So, for the reason of context and as a reminder, here is my own personal summary of what Paul has said (from his perspective) to the Philippians and about the Philippians through the end of this first chapter.

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You have faithfully worked with me in my ministry (v.5), you continually partake of the same grace as I do (v. 7), and your salvation is secure because of God’s single-handed initiating, sustaining, and completing work for it (v. 6). Because of your faithfulness to me and to Christ, you have my deepest affection through Christ Jesus (v. 8). I pray that your love would greatly increase with judicious wisdom (v.9) so that you may approve what is excellent in order that, one day, you may sincerely stand blameless before Christ (v. 10) after you have been filled with the righteousness from Christ (v. 11). Don’t worry about the fact that I’m in prison because I am convinced that God will deliver me from this imprisonment so that I can continue my work in Christ for your benefit (v. 12-26).

Now, my friends, you must live in a way fitting the gospel by which you have been saved! Do this in such a way so that whether I can come and see you or simply hear reliable reports concerning you, I will hear that you are unified in Christ and in the protection of the faith of the gospel. (v.27) Do not be shocked that you will continually be opposed by people because of the gospel that you are defending (v. 28). God has not only allowed you to believe the gospel, but in the same way He is also allowing you to suffer like I do for His sake (v. 29-30).

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I want to attempt to point out the main goal and three attributing factors that Paul brings up in this text, and then I want to ask and answer a few questions in an attempt to encourage us to live in a manner worthy of the gospel. The main goal and the three attributing points in this selection of text are these:

Goal: The church is to live in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

1. The church is to stand firmly together in spirit and mind
2. The church is to strive together for the True Gospel
3. The church must stand fast amidst adversaries of the True Gospel

Paul’s goal and commission for the church: Live in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What is the gospel of Christ? This first question may seem like a no-brainer or we just may forget to ask ourselves this question, but if we do not clearly understand what the gospel is then we cannot have any idea how to live our lives in a manner worthy of the gospel.

So many of the problems within modern day Christendom is due to the forsaking of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Whether this forsaking was done intentionally by those who sought to pervert the gospel, or whether it was done slowly over time through good Christian families who just didn’t make it a point to lift high the banner of the gospel of Christ, it makes no difference. The end result is still the forsaking of the gospel and apostasy. With that in mind, I want to make three points about what the gospel is so that we can understand it in order to rightly understand what we are called to live our lives worthy of.

The Gospel is the message of reconciliation.

The Good news is the proclamation for how man can be at peace with God. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news to all men that a completely unrighteous person can be at peace with a completely righteous God. In short, the good news is the way in which God has displayed His uncompromised and unstained righteousness and separation from the sinful and the wicked while, at the same time, giving Him the ability to forgive sinners and show them grace and mercy.

Don’t switch me off and grow deaf to what I am about to say here regarding the gospel because it is familiar to you. I don’t see how it is possible to live lives that are worthy of the gospel of Christ if we don’t esteem it rightly! If the very message of how we are made right with God and the fact that this message, this deliverance, necessitated God to be punished on my behalf has become casual in our minds and hearts, how then can we live lives worthy of the gospel? If the gospel is less spectacular to me than the current status of whatever sports team I follow, how can my life be a display worthy of it? How can I live a life worthy of the gospel of Christ if it is less captivating than the latest reality or celebrity television show, competition, news story, or event? How can I live a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ if it is less precious and commands less of my thoughts and desires than video games, movies, or other leisure activities?

I know that it is so easy to allow something that you have heard so often throughout your entire life to become somewhat mundane, trivial, or even annoying. But please, I beg you, don’t let the gospel become like that for you. I have known, seen, and interacted with people who profess to be believers who openly show their disinterest with the primacy of the gospel message of salvation from the wrath of God. I have also witnessed plain and simple disgust at the message of the cross of reconciliation by ‘theologians’ like Brian McLaren who refer to the cross of Christ as “divine child abuse.” Others like Steve Chalke openly scorn the doctrine of the substitutionary death of Christ as a contradiction to what he sees as the character of God. Chalke said, “If the cross is a personal act of violence perpetrated by God towards humankind but borne by his Son, then it makes a mockery of Jesus’ own teaching to love your enemies and to refuse to reply evil with evil.”

Some of the opponents of the gospel, for sure, began their journey in Christendom with this type of derision. In other words, they have never accepted the teaching of Christ crucified, risen, and reigning as the glorious act of God for salvation. However, many others that I have seen (and some who I have known personally) have become bored with the gospel. Bored with salvation from sin and death?

When I was talking about the gospel with a friend of mine who went to Bible college with me and I pressed the fact that the primary message of the gospel to mankind is that of the offer of salvation from sin and peace with God, namely the doctrine of justification, he actually responded flippantly by saying (I’m summarizing): “That’s all well and good, but what does justification do for me now?” So, again my friends, please do not become sinfully familiar and casual about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must fight against that tendency if we have any hope of living in a manner pleasing to God.

The gospel of God and its most pivotal event, the cross of Calvary, is how God’s righteousness and justice are fully and finally vindicated in His dealings with unrighteous people. One very beautiful picture of the cross of Christ is found in the prophet Isaiah’s writings.

³ He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

⁴ Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
⁸ He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
⁹ And they made His grave with the wicked --
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
¹¹ He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:3-12)

The gospel contains the foundational doctrines of God.

Saying “gospel” is a way to summarize the teachings of Christ in salvation. Preaching the gospel is the same as preaching doctrine and theology. Because without proper theology, proper doctrine, the gospel message is perverted, corrupt, and an impotent message that will not save!

I don’t want to delve too deeply into the theology of the gospel doctrine, but I do want to make one thing absolutely clear: We must be so careful of the temptation that is so prevalent inside of the Christian church today that proclaims doctrine as an unimportant thing. In this view, only Jesus and the gospel are important and they don’t want to get bogged down in deep theological debates or issues.

R.C. Sproul once responded to someone who held this view that “theology” needs to take a back seat, and the church should just preach Christ. Dr. Sprawl’s answer was to ask that person to tell him who Jesus is. As soon as any answer is given as to nature of the person and work of Jesus Christ, you are articulating doctrine. We must not be afraid to get our hands dirty in the mining of Truth from God’s word. It’s not easy work, it’s not careless work, and it doesn’t come without some difficulty and struggle, but the reward is that the gospel itself will emerge so much more beautiful than it ever was before. I can testify that in the last few years, the gospel has become more beautiful and dearer to me after years – a decade – of struggling with some very heavy and weighty theological issues.

The Gospel Must be Believed.

You have heard preachers and teachers call you and others to “Repent and Believe the Gospel”. Because “gospel” is a summary of the truths that we need to believe; we need to believe it!

You cannot just believe that a man named Jesus lived. You cannot just believe that a man named Jesus lived, did miracles, and claimed to be God. You cannot just believe that a man named Jesus lived, did miracles, and claimed to be God, preached salvation and then was unjustly executed, murdered by the hands of sinful men at the behest of other sinful men, but then rose again to life on the third day before ascended to Heaven.

The gospel contains all of those truths, yes, but we cannot just believe that those things occurred and believe that they are true. We must believe in the God-Man Jesus and place our trust in Him alone who clothed Himself in flesh, proclaimed God’s message of salvation, was unjustly executed, and then gloriously defeated death to rise again to life on the third day and following that, ascended to be at the Right-Hand of the Father.

"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:15)

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16)

“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,” (Ephesians 1:13)

The doctrines that make up the message of the gospel are essential, and one cannot be saved without properly understanding the basic facts that Jesus Christ is the second Person of the Holy Trinity. He clothed Himself in flesh and was born of a virgin. He lived an utterly sinless life and fulfilled all righteousness while He was alive. He came to be the atoning and all satisfying sacrifice before God for the sins of all those who would place their faith in Him. He died at the hands of sinners and by the providential plan and will of Almighty God in the place of criminals. He endured the wrath of God in the fullest measure to satisfy God’s wrath at sinful man, so that whoever will trust in Christ alone for salvation will be a beneficiary of the great exchange. Christ also rose to life again on the third day and then later ascended into heaven where He now sits at the right hand of God the Father.

That great exchange is that Christ’s righteousness is credited to the sinner so that God will see that sinner as if he had lived Christ’s sinless life, and thus the saved saint can now experience the blessing of being with God for all eternity. The second part of that exchange is that the sinners’ sins are all credited to Christ so that God could pour out His wrath completely on the sin-bearer. Without this exchange, the sin-bearer is the sinner and this wrath is poured out on the sinner for an eternity in Hell. But with this exchange, Christ could receive the just punishment and wrath for sinners’ sins in a finite amount of time (a few hours).

And the gospel message is so priceless that no one can ever earn or even partially merit the benefits of this great exchange. The gospel is a free gift to all of those who repent of their sins and who will believe it and trust in Christ’s work alone to save them. The great doctrine of justification by faith is so beautiful because I cannot earn it, I do not deserve it, but I receive the grace of God by faith and then go out and display the fruit of my new life in Christ by love and good deeds.

Quote of the Day - Justification: James & Paul

Over the past year or so, one of the issues that has come up a few times between me and my brother-in-law in our discussions is the issue of justification. Specifically, justification as it is related to the arguments in both Paul’s and James’ writings. Some (Roman Catholic’s, various Orthodox churches, and other works righteous systems) use James to argue that man is saved, in some measure, by a concert of faith and works. Protestants and bible-believers of all stripes reject this type of understanding that tramples over the doctrine of salvation by grace.

Going along with that, as well as the theme of election that I have been studying from Romans 8, Jeff graced me with a quote that I will attribute to him, even though he would attribute it to someone else, and so on and so on.

“Paul stresses justification by faith, and James stresses justification of faith. Paul treats of the justification of the man of faith, and James treats of the justification of the faith of the man.”¹

This is a very good and concise way of articulating the different audiences, objections, and objectives that each author is dealing with.

Soli Deo Gloria, Solus Christus, Sola fide, Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia

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¹Jeff Buck, in an e-mail to me on Aug 31, 2007 11:52 AM, although he would attribute the framing of this quote to someone else, who also would, no doubt, attribute it to someone else…and on and on.

Reflecting on Galatians

This past Sunday, I finished going through the book of Galatians with my adult Sunday school class. We started studying it in September, and have not really deviated from it except on a few occasions. I have personally been thoroughly blessed both through studying and teaching this book. I do not fully understand all that there is to know from the book of Galatians (I won’t ever on this side of eternity), but I feel as if I am more equipped to articulate, defend, and incorporate what Paul wrote than I was a few months ago. I became very excited to cover the final eight verses (Galatians 6:11-18) this past week because I found that it was a very…satisfying conclusion to the book.

I say that it was a satisfying conclusion of the book because it appealed to my thought structure in a different way than others of his letters end. Basically, it ends with, what seems to me, Paul firing off a final statement to cover each of the major themes of his letter. Let me also say that my mental appreciation of the form of this letter does not elevate it above any other Scripture, it is just one of those passages that just…clicks with the way that my mind works.

As I look back over the book, I see many themes that Paul covers. He begins by defending the singularity of the gospel (i.e. there is only one message), the intention of the Law, the believer’s sonship in Christ, the allegory of the bond and free women (this is very cool, by the way), the deeds of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit, bearing of one another’s burdens, and boasting. However, the two primary themes (as I see it, and I am willing to be corrected) that are woven throughout the others are salvation by faith apart from works of the Law and the authentic nature of Paul’s apostolic ministry.

The lesser (by emphasis in the book, not necessarily by importance) of the two themes is Paul’s defense of his apostolic ministry. We see it begin in chapter two where Paul recounts his visit to Jerusalem (cf. Acts 15) and submits his teaching to the other apostles in private out of fear that he “might be running, or had run, in vain” (Galatians 2:2) regarding the gospel of grace and faith that he was preaching. He was utterly convinced of the truth of what he was preaching, and he seems to have wanted the issue resolved once and for all. However, you will notice that the dissention caused by those false teachers in Acts 15 is similar to that of the teaching of “certain men from James” (2:12) that Paul encounters later in Antioch.

The specific issue of the Jerusalem council was to determine if Gentile converts to Christianity had to follow the Jewish laws, particularly if the male converts had to be circumcised. Paul brought Titus to Jerusalem to, as it seems, show off a gentile man, who was not circumcised and did not follow the dietary laws and regulations, as an example of a non-Jewish Christian. Well, the conclusion of the Jerusalem council was to say that converts to Christ did not, in fact, need to undergo circumcision or follow the ceremonial and dietary laws that God gave to Israel.

Unfortunately, the issue didn’t stop at Jerusalem because it seems that men went out from there claiming to have been sent “from James,” who seems to be the elder of the Jerusalem church. Also, it seems that these false teachers, these “Judaizers” (they were called Judaizers because of their desire to put new converts under the burden of the Jewish system), lied when they claimed to have been sent by him because it was James who articulated the judgment of the apostles against this heresy.

¹⁹ "Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, ²⁰ but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood." (Acts 15:19,20)

So, the result of the council is that Paul’s doctrine is recognized as the true gospel¹ and that the other apostles had been preaching this same message as well. Paul also contrasts how it was when he initially came to the Galatian church and that he came in need proclaiming the gospel, whereas the false teachers “shut you out so that you will seek them.” (Galatians 3:17) In other words, because of the teaching of the Judaizing false teachers, the followers would be compelled to seek after these teachers instead of going to others (like Paul or the other apostles).

The pinnacle of his argument in favor of his apostleship as presented in this book is found in the second chapter where Paul confronts, opposes, and rebukes Peter (Galatians 2:11-21). One of the messages conveyed here is that Paul shows how Peter was lulled into going along with this hypocrisy, and calls him on it. Peter was always the front man for the disciples of Jesus as well as the apostles. So for Paul to use this account of the confrontation with Peter, he was not pulling any punches. Remember, the readers could have, with relative ease, checked to see if this had in fact happened.

So, in a final way to punch his point across about how his ministry and message is authentic, Paul says this as one of the final statements of his letter:

“From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus.” (Galatians 6:17)

Case closed.

Whereas I see Paul’s defense of his own ministry to be a key issue here, it is, by comparison, dwarfed by the subject and the amount of material presented relating to the main theme of the book. This theme is that salvation is by faith apart from works of the law. In other words, Paul here is saying that salvation, or more specifically I believe that he is referring to the process of justification, is applied to the believer on the basis of faith, and faith alone. Now I realize that a common objection to the doctrine of Justification is that the exact phrase “faith alone” only appear in James when he writes, “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24). The short answer to this objection is that Abraham and Rahab (both referenced in the context of James 2) both did actions showing their faith in and allegiance to God after they had “believed God, and it was reckoned to [them] as righteousness]” (James 2:23). In other words, the justification that James speaks about is how we are seen before men’s eyes, and not through God’s. Here’s what John Gill had to say about this verse and the controversy and apparent contradiction that it presents,

“Moreover, the Apostle Paul speaks of justification before God; and James speaks of it as it is known by its fruits unto men; the one speaks of a justification of their persons, in the sight of God; the other of the justification and approbation of their cause, their conduct, and their faith before men, and the vindication of them from all charges and calumnies of hypocrisy, and the like; the one speaks of good works as causes, which he denies to have any place as such in justification; and the other speaks of them as effects flowing from faith, and showing the truth of it, and so of justification by it; the one had to do with legalists and self-justiciaries, who sought righteousness not by faith, but by the works of the law, whom he opposed; and the other had to do with libertines, who cried up faith and knowledge, but had no regard to a religious life and conversation; and these things considered will tend to reconcile the two apostles about this business, but as effects declaring it;”²

Paul’s issue here in Galatians is against those whom Gill referred to as legalists and I have referred to them as Judaizers. Legalism is, in its most basic and correct understanding, a system that adds anything to the process of salvation above faith in Christ. In other words, the circumcision that the Judaizers were pushing did just that. And because of this heresy, those who followed in their teaching would be led astray, never to hear the true gospel of grace through faith alone.

It is most excellent that Paul’s defense of his apostleship and his defense of the gospel merge in the council of Jerusalem and the following hypocrisy of Peter and Barnabas in Antioch. Both of these instances show the truth of his calling and office and the truth of the gospel. Paul hammers on this doctrine throughout every chapter of this book. In Chapter one he refers to the fact that there is only one gospel, not two or more, and he makes a very clear and stern condemnation of any deviation from that gospel,

“⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! ⁹ As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!” (Galatians 1:8,9)

In chapter two Paul shows the nature of the false teaching that he is confronting at the same time as he is asserting proof for his apostleship. The primary issue was that of whether or not there is a required Jewishness in Christians, and it seems to be focused around the dietary laws and circumcision. Paul sets up his argument, that he lays out throughout the rest of the book, about the inadequacy of the Law and adherence to it as a means of being made righteous when he says,

¹⁹ "For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. 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 gave Himself up for me. ²¹ "I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly." (Galatians 2:19-21)

Chapter three opens up with a few rhetorical questions where he basically asks if the Galatians received the Holy Spirit and experience miracles “by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” (Galatians 3:2 & 5) The answer is, of course, that it was all received through faith and not by performing a religious ritual. He then concludes the chapter with an argument for the proper place for the Law given by God to Moses.

“²³ But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed.
²⁴ Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. ²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” (Galatians 3:23-25)

The picture here is that before the gospel of faith was revealed through Jesus Christ, we were bound to keep the Law of Moses even though it was impossible to do. In other words, we were bound to this system that we could not fulfill and therefore could not redeem us. This system and standard of God’s holiness that also shows our inability to measure up is the “tutor” that helps us and, by God’s grace, shows us that we need a substitute. Therefore, once Christ came, He fulfilled the Law; He “redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us.” (Galatians 3:13) This is pictured beautifully in the prophetic words of Isaiah and in the doctrinal statement of Paul when they said, speaking of Christ’s punishment on our behalf,

“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.” (Isaiah 53:5)

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Therefore, Paul’s letter to the Galatians goes on to say that the reason for why God set it up this way is “so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (v. 14), not through observing and keeping the law or performing deeds, but “by means of a promise.” (v. 18) We would be saved by Christ’s work on the cross, but we would not and cannot contribute anything to our justification. If we attempt to add to that finished work on the cross, we in effect say that Christ’s righteousness is not enough and that He was unable to deal with all of my sins. This type of legalistic addition is blasphemy and heresy, and it is a doctrine of devils that cannot save.

The fourth chapter’s contribution is primarily contained in the allegorical way that Paul uses Hagar and Sarah to show the different outcomes from the law and from the promise. Ishmael was born according to the flesh, through Hagar, and Paul shows how Ishmael and the rest of Hagar’s spiritual offspring came about by the flesh, and they are not the chosen of God. However, Isaac, and the rest of Sarah’s spiritual offspring, are born according to God’s promise. This is an excellent portion of Scripture that took me quite a while to wrap my head around.

Paul’s argument here is hitting the false teachers and those under their sway on a level that is at the very root of their attempts to achieve full “Jewishness”. The descendants of Ishmael were outside of the covenant that God made with Abraham, and therefore they were not allotted any inheritance with the nation in terms of the physical land or in terms of the Spiritual promises. Paul equates the Judaizers with those born from Hagar, and that they are likewise outside of the covenant relationship with God. He also shows the similarity of Isaac’s mistreatment by Ishmael and that of Christians who are mistreated by imposters, posers, as well as pagans.

Chapter five is most known for its teaching about the fruit of the Spirit, and that is as it should be, because that is a great section of this chapter. However, one must note that this whole chapter is a contrast between the same things; flesh and spirit. The beginning of the chapter sets the stage for how we are to understand the teaching that follows as well as how it connects back to the previous statements about faith contrasted to law keeping.

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

All of the discourse in this chapter is rooted in the teaching that we are not saved by any human work. Whether Paul is writing about the deeds of the flesh as being the evidence of an unsaved person and that this leads to destruction (Gal 5:16-21), or when he contrasts it with the fruit of the Spirit that is evidence that those who display this fruit live and walk by the Spirit (Gal 5:22-25), he is explaining that our salvation is based on grace and mercy, not merit and wages.

This leads us to the conclusion of the book, and what Paul says near the end of Chapter six. Paul summarizes the issue that was at hand for the Galatians, those in Antioch, and those at the Jerusalem Council with the definite summary of the conflict and the doctrine that resolves it when he wrote,

“¹⁵ For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. ¹⁶ And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.” (Galatians 6:15,16)

We need to be created anew by Christ, and we can have that done by God’s grace through our faith in Christ Jesus. And for those of us who place our faith in Christ’s completed work in his life, death, and resurrection, we will be granted salvation, or “peace and mercy”, and inherit the blessings of God.

The truth of this great doctrine is the same today as it was for those to whom Paul initially wrote it. The difference is that there is no contemporary movement (or at least not a notable one) demanding circumcision and dietary adherence for attaining salvation. We do, however, have many different forms of this type of legalism that will not save.

This legalism takes the form of all non-Christian religions in their requirements to attain any higher enlightened state or their perception of heaven. This also takes many forms inside of Christendom. From the Mormon cult that requires baptism (whether you are living or dead) for salvation to the cult of the Jehovah’s Witnesses whose works-righteous system appears very crass and less cloaked in Christian terminology.

The distorted teaching that baptism is required, or a prerequisite, for salvation is rampant throughout more main-stream portions of Christendom; from Catholic to Methodist, and Lutheran to Easter Orthodox, this is a gross misunderstanding of baptism and it is a heretical teaching. Do Christians need to be baptized? Yes. But we don’t need to do it in order to attain salvation as it is an act that is done after faith, and we have seen how we are saved through faith apart from works of the Law. However, it is also true that a continued refusal to be baptized when the command of Christ is preached and known could very well be a sign of an unregenerate heart. The rebellion that shows in relation to one of Christ’s simplest forms of obedience is an ominously telling sign of the probability of a greater rebellion and condemning rebellion that has never bent the knee of faith to Christ alone.

Paul refers to this teaching in his letter to Titus when he said of Christ and our salvation,

“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,” (Titus 3:5)

May we hold fast to the truth of God’s word and never prostitute ourselves for a counterfeit that cannot save. Soli Deo Gloria.

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¹ It was always the true gospel, and that is why I don’t say that it was “declared” true or “made” true or something along those lines. Paul’s doctrine was affirmed against the growing apostasy and heresy that was taught by the Judaizers and those caught in their sway.

² Gill, John. "Commentary on James 2:24". "John Gill's Exposition of the Bible". 1999.

Excerpt from Spurgeons Puritan Catechism (with proofs)

32.Q. What is justification?

A. Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardons all our sins (Rom. 3:24; Eph. 1:7), and accepts us as righteous in his sight (2 Cor. 5:21) only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us (Rom. 5:19), and received by faith alone (Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9).

The War with Sin and the Imputation of Christ’s Righteousness

I have been doing a bit of reflecting on the text of Scripture (Galatians 5:16-21) that we studied in Sunday school this past weekend. We looked at the “deeds of the flesh” which are the evidences of an unsaved and unsanctified life that come directly before (in the context of Galatians 5) the “fruits of the Spirit”, and these are the evidences of a saved and sanctified life.

When I was studying, one of the major rabbit trails that I explored had to deal with our justification before almighty God, and what that means and implies for the daily lives of the believers. The verse that propelled me into this line of thinking was

“For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” (Galatians 5:17)

I know that it might be a bit of a stretch to say that this verse made me think of the doctrine of imputation, but that is where it led me. We are sinful by nature, and being regenerated doesn’t change the fact that we have a sinful inclination whose roots go down very, very deep. We cannot ignore the fact that we will continue to sin until we die or until Christ returns. However, as John MacArthur put it, as we grow and in holiness throughout our life as believers we will, “sin less, but feel worse.” In other words, as a Christian, I will be sanctified as I live and grow in Christ (sin less), and in that process I will have a fuller understanding of God’s holiness and my sinfulness and depravity. Therefore even the smallest of sins (as man might reckon them) are seen as exceedingly heinous and my understanding of my rebellion is poignant (feel worse).

Seeing Paul’s description of the way in which the Holy Spirit and my flesh are at odds with one another in that the desires of each is set against the other. It’s helpful to see this dichotomy both from this pseudo-detached way that he lays it out here as well as from the point of view of a personal and agonizing battle that he lays out in Romans.

“For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:19,24)

And I made a point to say that even though we know that we will sin until for as long as we live, that doesn’t give us some kind of “get out of jail free” card relating to our responsibility for our sins or the necessity to war against them. I quickly built the case that we are able to resist sins because of what we are being tempted with and because God can keep us from sinning.

“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

“⁷ and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men ⁸ (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), ⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,” (2 Peter 2:7-9)

So you may be wondering how in the world did all of this lead me to think about the doctrine of imputation…well, I’ll tell you. First of all, one of the primary messages of the book of Galatians is the defense of the doctrine of justification by faith apart from works of the law. Or, in the language of the reformers, the declaration “sola fide,” which is translated as “faith alone.” This doctrine is at the heart and soul of what the entire Bible teaches. We see that man is made right before God – he does not make himself right nor does he assist in the making of himself right before God – and that is the only way that man has ever been made right with God.

Abraham believed God, before he ever was asked or attempted to follow through with the sacrificing of Isaac, and it was credited to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). The men of Nineveh were about to be destroyed by God because of their individual and national wickedness, but after hearing the prophet Jonah preaching, “the people of Nineveh believed in God” (Jonah 3:5). And because of their faith, the redeemed men of Nineveh will stand at the end of time and condemn the wicked contemporaries of Christ because “they repented at the preaching of Jonah” and the Pharisees did not. The wretched sinner, not the self righteous and condemned Pharisee, was justified because he pleaded, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” (Luke 18:13b) The thief on the cross didn’t perform any act of service or deed (no, not even baptism) to commend himself to the Lord but, like the tax collector in Jesus’ parable, he knew what he deserved and he pleaded with Christ,

“⁴⁰ But the other answered, and rebuking him said, "Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? ⁴¹ "And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." ⁴² And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!" ⁴³ And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." (Luke 23:40-43)

It is upon this basis of unmerited favor and unearned righteousness that my sins were imputed to Jesus and fully punished on the cross. It is also upon this basis of this same unmerited favor and unearned righteousness that Christ’s perfect righteousness was imputed to me on the day that I repented of my sins and placed my faith – my trust – in Christ. And because I am clothed with the righteousness of Christ, I am treated (eternally) as if I had lived his life, even though I still presently sin.

This whole line of thinking brought me to ponder the “what if” related to this awesome and infinitely valuable imputation. What if Christ’s righteousness weren’t fully imputed to me and I only received some of this righteousness and had to work with it until it was fully formed in me? That is the essence of the doctrine of the infusion of righteousness, as I understand it, as held by Roman Catholicism. This theological understanding is that we are given some of Christ’s righteousness, but before we can be accepted into heaven, we must be completely purified. That is where the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory comes into play.

Other than the problem (an enormous and insurmountable problem) that arises out of this theological framework that I must work to earn my righteous standing (justification) before God (simply based on the fact that Christ’s work was not sufficient to do it all completely), we have the bigger issue of continuing sin to deal with. And this problem is bigger than my Roman Catholic friends, I think, realize.

If I were given some righteousness of Christ (even up to 99.9% of it) I would still not be able to “attain” a righteous standing before God. Because if, immediately following this infusion, I was attempting to find a way to complete my righteousness and I sinned even one time, I would be back to square one; a wretched and completely unrighteous sinner.

Before the fall, Adam was perfectly sinless and right with God (i.e. blameless in His sight). It took only one sin for Adam to go from being sinless and perfectly acceptable before God to being a wretched sinner whose deserved end was death, both physically and spiritually. Only one sin! If Christ had sinned, but only once, what would have been the result of His death on the cross? I’ll tell you this, He wouldn’t have been an acceptable sacrifice that could atone for anyone’s sin…not even His own. He would have been justly under the condemnation of the Father. So what makes men think that we are somehow different than our father, the first Adam, or the Lord, the second Adam?

If I, after repenting of my sins and trusting in Christ and having received the infusion of 99.9% of Christ’s righteousness, sinned in any way, shape, or form, that righteousness would do me no good. I would be in the same predicament that I was prior to receiving that infusion of righteousness. I would, again, be a fallen and wretched sinner hanging over the chasm of God’s just wrath and judgment, and holding on for dear life, but only barely able to grasp the firmly rooted shrub of God’s divine patience. But once God has determined that his patience has run its course, the roots of that shrub give out, and I would fall to my eternal demise. (See 2 Peter 3:9)

So, you see, the necessary doctrine of imputation is directly linked to the clear biblical teaching of justification by faith apart from works of the law. Since scripture, from beginning to end, is clear that we are justified by faith alone and our works will not and cannot make us right before God, we must earnestly defend this doctrine. We cannot make any compromises on this doctrine, because if we do, the very infinite rock that we are trying to stand upon for our salvation will become an immeasurable boulder that looms above our heads and will completely and totally ruin us in the end.

May the Lamb receive all of the glory and reward for His suffering.

An Attainable Goal for Instructing Our Children

I heard a good and convicting comment when listening to podcasts today and it was this,

“Every six year old in this church should be able to answer the question, ‘How could God punish sin in Jesus if Jesus had no sin?’ And if our six-year-olds cannot answer that question, we need to beef-up our devotional life at home.” – John Piper¹

Piper said that when he picked the age of six, he was giving the middle age of where children should be able to answer this question. I think what he means by this is that children who grow up in our (believer's) homes should be able to answer this question in a basic way at the age of three. The answer that the children should be able to say is that God didn't punish Jesus for His sins, but for our (my) sins....

We should point our children to (and know them ourselves) the following passages in the Bible:

“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.” (Isaiah 53:5)

“He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.” (Romans 4:25)

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:3)

“who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,” (Galatians 1:4)

“and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;” (1 Peter 3:18)²

If our children can get that fact straight as early as 3 (and it is possible), just think how fertile the soil will be for the gospel when they are old enough to understand it deeper and respond in repentance of sin and trusting the savior for salvation.

Christ saves through grace and faith, but as parents and workers in the church, and even more so as parents, we have a responsibility to teach our children these things as of first importance even before they can talk with us. It seems to me that the instilling of this kind of teaching into our children with verbal communication is the second step that follows them hearing it from us to one another and seeing it in how we live.

Grace be with you all.

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¹ “What the Law Could Not Do, God Did Sending Christ, Part 2” by John Piper as heard on the 2/8/07 Desiring God Radio Netcast, originally preached on November 4, 2001.

² All emphasis shown in these passages is mine.

Context Makes All of the Difference

The other day I heard the song called “I’ll do my Best” by Go Fish and I couldn’t help but feel more motivated to love, serve and worship my God and Savior because of that song. The song has very simple and repetitive lyrics, but I find that there is power in repetition when you sing, teach or preach to people of any age.

Love, I’ll Love,
I’ll Love You Lord forever (repeat)

I’ll do my best, I’ll do my best,
Oh I’ll do my best for You (repeat)

Serve, I’ll Serve,
I’ll Serve You Lord forever (repeat)

I’ll do my best, I’ll do my best,
Oh I’ll do my best for You (repeat)

Praise, I’ll Praise,
I’ll Praise You Lord forever (repeat)

I’ll do my best, I’ll do my best,
Oh I’ll do my best for You (repeat)

I’ll Love, I’ll Serve,
I’ll Praise You Lord forever (repeat)

I’ll do my best, I’ll do my best,
Oh I’ll do my best for You (repeat)

When I think about these lyrics, depending on who is singing, that person could be acting in an absolutely heretical and abominable way toward God or their actions could be a pleasing and right response to His grace. Let me explain what I mean.

There are two, and only two, different types of religion in the world. There is the religion of human achievement that builds any hope of pleasing God, attaining heaven, or some other goal upon what I can do. In other words, God may do some, or even most, of the work in order to get me saved but my own contribution is what makes the difference. This type of religious thinking and action toward God is an abomination and He will not deal kindly with them when He judges them no matter if the person claims the name of Christ or not.

You see, this type of religion doesn’t see sin in its proper context, and therefore the adherents believe that by doing certain things they make up for any sin that they may (or may not) have done.¹ This philosophy cheapens God’s glory to something that Man can, on some level, measure up to as well as it lessens the treasonous nature of all sin and diminishes the horror of sin. Basically, it makes God more like man, man more like God, and sin more like holiness. Not to mention that this type of idea, especially when it is inside of label of Christianity, makes a mockery of the cross of Christ.

The second type of religion in the world is one of Divine accomplishment, or Justification by faith apart from works of the Law (Romans 3:20-28; Galatians 2:16; 3:1-18). In this system, and only true Christianity has this as one of the foundational principles of salvation, God does 100% of everything to bring people into a right relationship with Him. God remains totally holy and man remains utterly sinful, and yet this sinful man is able to be made right with God and is able to be in fellowship with Him. This is all made possible by the virgin birth, the perfect and sinless life, the substitutional and sacrificial atoning death, and the victorious resurrection of the eternal second Person of the Triune Godhead; the God-Man Jesus Christ.

The song lyrics above are blasphemous if coming from that first mindset where the person thinks that he is able to do something in order to be made right and acceptable before God. However, if they are sung in the way that the artist intended and they come from the foundation of justification by faith alone in Christ Jesus and they are an outpouring of gratitude from a person in that position…well, then they are most correct and acceptable before a Holy God.

The context makes every difference with this type of mentality. If this is the way that one is seeking to be justified, then it is heresy and that person will end up in hell. However, if this is the response to justification by faith, it is the picture of what sanctification looks like in the redeemed Body of Christ. We dare not mingle or confuse these two glorious truths (Justification and Sanctification) from God’s Word or we will show that our faith is not in the True God, but yet another created god and religious ideas that will end up with those who follow and believe in hell.

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¹ I say “or may not” because many religious people believe that they are good and do not believe that they sin much (if at all) and have a very self righteous attitude.

Saving Faith

I'm studying the book of Galatians in Sunday School, and so the theology of Justification by faith apart from works of the Law has been center stage on my mind and heart. I heard the following quote about a week ago, and it was really powerful:

“And I want to make sure that you understand; saving faith is not a believing in something you don’t like. Saving faith is not believing in a person [that] you don’t cherish and treasure and love. Saving faith is a believing in and a receiving of a treasure or it does not save.”¹

Not only do I agree with John Piper here, but I would also like to add to his idea with defining faith. Some critics of the doctrine of Justification by faith (alone) apart from works of the Law try to accuse the Reformers of believing that faith was merely mental assent. I find this accusation rather dubious for a few reasons.

First of all, even if some of the reformers did have tendencies toward this idea, it was the fact that "mental assent" was the lynch pin of the reformation. It was seeing the fact that the Bible railed against works righteousness (what was taught then and now in Roman Catholicism), and so if some did truly hold to this idea of "mental assent" was most likely due to the extreme opposition of the Roman church. But it was as wrong then as it is now.

Secondly, faith is defined in the Bible in a way that cannot be wrangled to only mean mental assent. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1) The words "assurance" and "conviction" blow right past mental assent and straight into an idea of trust. I think that "trust" is probably one of the best synonyms to communicate (in English, anyway) what faith truly is.

In the same way that an historic (Roman Catholic accusation) and contemporary ("Easy Believism") idea that faith is a mental assent to some creed or statement of faith is wrong, saying or believing that faith, that is not ongoing, saves is just as wrong. Faith for one moment that ends, and doesn't continue or show a changed life in Christ by the fruits of the Spirit is not saving faith. Saving faith continues on because one must be sanctified in order to receive eternal life. All people who are truly justified are sanctified. To quote another “Piperism” from the same sermon, you can’t make an “end run” around sanctification (Romans 6:22).

If I were to define faith, I would define it like this:

Faith is the God given (Ephesians 2:8), evident (James 2:14-26), and continuing (Colossians 1:21-23) trust in Him and His promises.

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¹ “Dead to the Law, Serving in the Spirit, Part 1a” Desiring God Broadcast aired on November 24, 2006 that was originally preached on January 28, 2001.

The UnFair Gospel

This past Wednesday I began teaching some of the children (K – 6) in our mid-week church service in the role of bible instructor. Even though I do teach adults and kids at different times, this was going to be very different for me. You see, this children’s program has been setup to have 3 “stations” where the kids rotate throughout the course of the evening. My station is set to be a time for prayer and a chance for the children to “ask anything” about anything related to God, the Bible, life, or almost anything at all.

Having worked with children before, I know that kids can ask really good questions that totally catch me off guard. Knowing this, I tried to be prepared for it, but I received questions from “Why do Americans care about popularity when we say that we believe that all men are created equal?” to “Why does God allow sin to exist?” With these (as well as others) questions, I started off by attempting to answer the question by finding out the reason for the question (i.e. what motivated this question from this child), answering that question, and finally moving into some biblical truth or principle that we can learn from looking at this question and the issues that are raised by it.

The best question of the evening was from a little boy who must be no older than 7 or 8. His question was, basically, “Why is life not fair?” His reason for the question came from a recent event at school where his class had watched a video, but the teacher had told the class that they’d get an extra break during the video. Well, they didn’t get the extra break because they ran out of time. He was upset and didn’t understand why his teacher would say one thing and not deliver on it. I totally understood his disappointment, so I tried to explain that his teacher probably meant to give them another break, but because they ran out of time watching the video, the teacher couldn’t follow through. I then asked him if he would rather have had regular class with an extra break or if he would have rather watched the movie. To that, he smiled and answered (very quickly) that he’d rather have watched the movie, and (although it was unfair) preferred what had happened.

Well, all of that to say this: that question made me think. So, after I addressed his situation and answered the question, I then told the children (4 boys around the ages of 8 or so) this story.

ME: In this room where we are now there are many rules. If any of the rules are broken, the person who broke the rule is given a specified punishment. One of these rules is that if you kick me in the shins, you will have to pay a $50,000 fine to me. All kicks to the shins must be punished and payment must be made in full.

Even though they know the rules, both Billy and Tommy kick me in the shins. Since they did that, what would be the right and fair thing to do? Would it be the fair thing to make them both pay me the $50,000 fine?

Kids: Yes.

Me: Yes, that would be the fair thing to do. But, what if I decided to have Billy pay me the $50,000 fine, but instead of having Tommy do the same, I made my son, Micah, pay Tommy’s fine for him? Would that be fair?

Kids: No.

Me: Why?

Kids: Because Micah didn’t kick you in the shins, so he shouldn’t be made to pay.

Me: That’s right, it isn’t fair because Micah is being punished for something that he didn’t do, and you’re not being punished for something that you did.

I then went on to talk to these kids about how this is exactly how God acts if we repent of our sins and place our trust in Christ Jesus. When that happens, God poured out His wrath – the wrath that would have and should have come to me – upon Jesus Christ for the sin of the believer. God has done this so that He could welcome man into His presence as well as satisfy His justice.

This truth, as it is flushed out and really dealt with for all that it entails, is really foreign to most people. And not just 8 year-old children, but older kids and adults alike don’t grasp this (or haven’t dealt with it) either. The weight of what happened on the cross, the truth of the substitutionary atonement that we find in Christ Jesus, was made most clear to me when I considered the following facts.

1. Sin (any sin) is deserving of punishment in Hell.


2. I have sinned, and therefore it would be just to punish me in Hell.


3. The Bible is clear that man’s punishment in Hell will be eternal, because man can never pay it in full.


4. Jesus Christ is and was perfect and sinless before, during, and after His incarnation.


5. Jesus Christ deserves no penalty, no condemnation, and no punishment from God.


6. Jesus Christ paid the full penalty for my sin (as well as for the sin of all true believers of all time) on the cross.

Implication: The just punishment of me and my sin that would have been inflicted upon me by the pouring out of the wrath of God, and which I would have spent an eternity paying for but never satisfying, has been paid in full by God Himself. Jesus Christ endured the wrath of God necessary to fully atone for my sin. That is something that I could never, in an eternity, do myself.

It was thinking about the fact that caused me to more clearly and truthfully appreciate the work of Jesus on my behalf. Namely, I would have been in Hell for all eternity and yet I’d still be no closer to satisfying the justice of God than when I first began my time in hell. I am convinced that only when we think of the cross of Christ in this manner, with this detail, that we can have any sort of tangible grasp of both the wrath and the love of God.

It is from meditating on this truth, this unfair treatment of Jesus Christ by God the Father, and the unfair treatment of me by God the Father, that my love and adoration for God has been increased higher and farther than ever before. Even now, I believe that my understanding of this great exchange, this double imputation of sin and righteousness, is very dim. The clarity that I have to understand this comes from my knowledge of the Word of God and my knowledge of my own utter depravity before a Holy God. And I am sure that when I am near death and I look back at this time of my life where I have such clarity and understanding about this great truth, that my current understanding will be a flickering candle next to the roaring fire of the understanding that only many more years of walking with God, studying His Word, and warring with sin can bring.

To God alone be the Glory for His grace and mercy, His unfair treatment, in the salvation of sinful men.