The Incarnation: A Crucial Doctrine (John 1:14)

Biblically speaking, what was the purpose of the incarnation? This question is of utmost importance and is not to be trivialized. To misunderstand the purpose of the incarnation is to misunderstand the righteousness of God and the necessity of penal substitution through a pure and sinless sacrifice for the purpose of legal pardon of sinners. When it comes to giving pardons there are only two possibilities: the pardon will either be legal or illegal. In other words the pardon will either uphold the law (legal) or nullify the law (illegal). Of the two kinds of pardons which one do you believe is the kind God gives?

God never gives illegal pardons. God only gives legal pardons. In simple terms, God is righteous and just and will never do anything wrong or unjust. Therefore God cannot and will not illegally pardon. So the question must be asked: “How can God pardon sinners and remain righteous and just in the process?” The right answer to this question will show that the incarnation is a crucial doctrine and that our pardon came at a great cost to God.

The Gospel of John answers how God can pardon sinners and remain righteous and just in the process. The Old Testament sacrificial system with its tabernacle illustrated that God would provide the only law upholding means of pardon. The innocent would have to die in the place of the guilty for pardon to be extended. The sinner’s death penalty for violating God’s Law had to be paid by an innocent substitute. This is called Penal Substitution, meaning penalty substitution.

Could the death penalty for a man really be paid by an animal? Never! That is why the Bible says, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). The sinner’s death penalty for violating God’s Law would have to be paid by an innocent man. Therefore the incarnation of Christ was a necessity for penal substitution and legal pardon. The Gospel of John shows Jesus as the fulfillment of the Tabernacle because He was God in flesh come to live a sinless life, die a sacrificial death, and experience a supernatural resurrection so that God could be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

This was the primary purpose of the incarnation – to make propitiation (legal pardon) for the sins of the people. It would not and could not be an innocent animal that allowed God to give a legal pardon but only an innocent, sinless man. The uncreated Son of God had to become a man to achieve our legal pardon. John said, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Amazing truth – the Son of God on earth as a man! Even more amazing is the reason He was on the earth as a man – “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)!

According to God’s Word, God could not have pardoned any other way, “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendents of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted” (Hebrews 2:14-18).

Penal substitution is the only way God can legally pardon. “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 the incarnation was necessary for the realization of penal substitution (legal pardon) and that is the primary biblical interpretation for the incarnation. If God could have legally pardoned any other way, surely He would have done it!

Our salvation cost God everything! There has never been and never will be a greater demonstration of love than the truth that God sent His only begotten Son into the world as a man to die as a substitute for sinners (John 3:16; Romans 5:8). The incarnation is a precious doctrine; it is a marvelous doctrine; it is a crucial doctrine. No one can be saved apart from pardon based on faith in Jesus. God does not save any other way – there is no other way.

Atheism's Real Problem with the God of Christianity

In the previous post where I reviewed Challenging the Verdict by Earl Doherty, I promised that I would address the deep rooted and real problem that atheists have with the God of Christianity. Allow me to catch you back up to speed. In his book, Doherty unknowingly revealed the inability of evidential apologetics to answer his deep rooted and real problem with Christianity, namely, that the God of Christianity is unjust and His method of atonement is both illogical and immoral. Doherty said, “Should we not expect a just Deity to fashion a punishment fitting the crime? . . . What, after all, was Adam and Eve’s purported ‘sin’? Eating fruit, even a forbidden one, hardly sinks to the depth of depravity” (124). A few pages later Doherty said, “But why did he require such an ultimate sacrifice in order to forgive humanity its sins? Is there not, indeed, some logical if not moral contradiction in ‘redeeming’ men of sins like murder through an act of murder on their part? Why did he not embody the act of redemption in something more exemplary, perhaps by having Jesus perform a few thousand hours of community service? What a moral example that would have set” (126). No amount of external evidence (empirical facts) can give an answer to these objections. God’s revelation of the meaning of these facts is needed to answer Doherty’s deep rooted and real problem with Christianity.

Since God is being accused of injustice, immorality, and ignorance for both His stance toward sin and His method of atonement, we must allow Him to speak and justify His actions (Romans 3:4). So to understand and see the justice, morality, and wisdom of God in both His stance toward sin and His method of atonement, we will have to consider God’s revealed meaning of redemptive history as it specifically pertains to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

First, the resurrection of Jesus means that God is Creator and transcendent Lord. This means that naturalistic evolution is false, because the resurrection of Jesus is only possible in an open system in which God intervenes and miracles are possible. The resurrection of Jesus, since it means that God is Creator and transcendent Lord, also means that there are no “brute facts.” The facts do not speak for themselves but must be interpreted only by God’s revealed meaning for them. As Dan Phillips says of God as Creator and transcendent Lord, “He created all things in heaven and on earth, including heaven and earth themselves. In doing so, God created all facts. And thus God assigned meaning, value, and significance to everything. That means, then, that there are no “brute facts,” only created facts, with their meaning designed and assigned by God” (Dan Phillips, The World-Tilting Gospel: Embracing a Biblical Worldview and Hanging on Tight, Kindle Edition, 91).

Second, the resurrection of Jesus means that Adam was the first man created by God as both the progenitor of and representative for all people born through his seed. This means that theistic evolution is false because of the solidarity of all people with one man. To believe in the resurrection of Jesus as revealed by God as the means by which He saves sinners from among humanity is to believe in solidarity with an original, historical, first man. There could be no solidarity on the basis of theistic evolution because there would be no definite, definable place where the head of the human race, as its sole representative, plunged the race into sin. Therefore no one would be born with a sin nature traceable to an original ancestor.

There would be no solidarity under the system of either naturalistic or theistic evolution. Without solidarity, Jesus could represent no more than one person. The ratio, without solidarity, becomes a one for one ratio. Each individual sinner would have to have a different individual Savior or else Jesus would have to continually come and offer Himself over and over again for each individual sinner.

Third, the resurrection of Jesus means that God is covenant maker who promises life for obedience to and death for disobedience of His covenant. One of God’s assigned meanings of the resurrection of Jesus is that He keeps His promises. He is a covenant keeping God. He is truth and in Him there is no darkness at all. It is impossible for God to lie since to get anything out of something, it has to be in it. There is a reason one cannot get “blood out of a turnip.” Since God is truth there is no lie in Him. Therefore it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18). God keeps His promises. He gives death for disobedience (Romans 6:23).

Adam, as the progenitor and representative of all men earned death for breaking God’s covenant and in order for God to remain true, death reigned from Adam on (Romans 5:12). On the other hand, Jesus, the progenitor and representative of all who have faith in Him earned life for keeping God’s covenant and in order for God to remain true, He raised Jesus from the dead (Acts 2:24) and will raise all who are in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:21-23). God keeps His promises. He gives life for obedience (Leviticus 18:5).

Fourth, the resurrection of Jesus means that Adam was a covenant breaker who earned death for himself and all his offspring through their solidarity with him. Adam transgressed and disobeyed God’s command and became a covenant breaker. Adam became a capital offender. One may question why disobedience to God’s covenant is a capital crime. The human mind, even among atheists, can determine that murder is a capital offense that deserves capital punishment. However, “lesser sins” that the laws of the land do not consider capital offenses are considered capital offenses in God’s kingdom. From this truth the unregenerate human mind recoils and objects.

Why is murder a capital offense? Is it because there is something so unloving about the act of murder that it is hideous? Is it because the murderer is so unloving that he is dangerous to society? Is murder a capital offense because there is no greater display of hatred toward humanity? Murder is the greatest crime that can be committed against humanity because it violates the greatest commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” in the grossest manner and is therefore a capital offense deserving capital punishment.

What is the greatest crime one can commit? Logically, the greatest crime a man can commit is the violation of the greatest commandment. Is there a commandment greater than “love your neighbor as yourself”? Surely, and logically, the greatest crime that a man can commit is a violation of the greatest commandment against the greatest Being. What is the greatest commandment? Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment (Matthew 22:37-38).

Should the crime of murder, of not loving a fellow man, an equal being, be greater than any crime of not loving God, the greatest Being? Logic demands that there is no greater crime than not loving God and therefore any crime that violates love for God is a capital offense that deserves capital punishment. When Adam disobeyed God and ate of the forbidden fruit he committed a capital offense because of the nature of his crime. Adam failed to keep God’s commandment, violated God’s covenant, and earned death because not loving and obeying God is a capital offense that is greater than not loving and killing a fellow human being. All men who are born naturally into Adam’s race naturally have the same hatred for God and His commandments.

Fifth, the resurrection means that Jesus is the second Adam, born without the agency of a human father in order to bypass imputation of Adam’s sin nature. In order to accomplish obedience to God’s covenant and thereby confirm the covenant promises of God, Jesus would have to live in perfect obedience to the Law of God. However, if Jesus were a natural born descendant of Adam, He would also inherit Adam’s sin nature. Here the purpose of the virginal conception of Jesus is made clear by the redemptive- historical context of the resurrection.

The virginal conception of Jesus also implies the divinity of Jesus. Here the mystery of the hypostatic union or the two natures of Jesus is revealed as one of God’s meanings of the resurrection of Jesus. He is the Son of man and the Son of God in one person. He is fully God and fully man in the one person of Jesus Christ. In order to accomplish God’s covenant with man, the Son of God, with supreme love for God, would have to become the son of man, without a sin nature.

Sixth, the resurrection of Jesus means Jesus is the covenant keeper and redeemer who earned life for Himself and all his offspring by their solidarity with Him through faith. “In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that he might redeem those who were under the Law” (Galatians 4:4-5). Jesus lived perfectly under the Law of God, kept His covenant, and earned life. Jesus lived in perfect obedience to God because of His perfect love for God doing what Adam did not do and what no natural born descendent of Adam could ever do. As Phillips says, “So we must recognize in Jesus the quality that every other human being since Adam has lacked: utter, comprehensive, all-consuming love for God that flowed from a sinless heart and issued in a flawlessly, perfectly holy life” (The World-Tilting Gospel, 117).

Adam failed to love God with all his heart and as a result he violated God’s command, became a capital offender, and earned death for himself and all his offspring. God’s covenant with Adam was that if he disobeyed he would die. The wages of sin is death. By implication, God’s covenant with Adam meant that if he obeyed he would live. The wages of obedience is life. This truth is expressed in God’s Law given to Israel before the time of Christ. “So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them” (Leviticus 18:5).

There is a one major problem though. Adam has already failed to love God and committed a capital offense. All of Adam’s offspring have inherited his sin nature to the point that none are able to obey God and therefore none can earn life (Romans 3:20, 28). All are doomed, unless God has a solution for the dilemma of how He can pardon capital offenders and give them life instead of death, while He remains true in the process.

Here is where the Gospel really becomes offensive and is viewed by those who are perishing as foolishness. God’s solution for the dilemma of how He can pardon capital offenders, giving them life instead of death, is through Penal Substitution. Someone would have to live a perfect life of loving loyalty to God and then suffer the penalty of capital punishment as a sacrifice for and a substitute of capital offenders.

Earl Doherty objects, “But why did he require such an ultimate sacrifice in order to forgive humanity its sins? Is there not, indeed, some logical if not moral contradiction in ‘redeeming’ men of sins like murder through an act of murder on their part? Why did he not embody the act of redemption in something more exemplary, perhaps by having Jesus perform a few thousand hours of community service? What a moral example that would have set” (126).

Others object and say that it is illogical and immoral to execute and innocent man and to set free a capital offender. How can God do this without committing two injustices? After all, God’s Word says, “He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 17:15). The answer is the resurrection! The resurrection not only makes Penal Substitution logical and moral, it is an absolute necessity for God who is truth. God promised life for the one who obeyed His Law. Jesus did obey God’s Law perfectly. The death of Christ was at the hands of sinful men. Men in violation of God’s Law were responsible for the execution of Jesus so that it was not the Law that promised life executing Jesus but godless men (Acts 2:23). Since Jesus was innocent and was dying by God’s plan as a substitute for sinners, His resurrection from the dead was an absolute necessity and certainty (Acts 2:24). The Law of God based on the Word of God owed Jesus life and since it is impossible for God to lie, it was impossible for death to hold its prey.

Penal Substitution is a logical and moral impossibility for any court system in this world. No human court can accomplish justice through Penal Substitution. In its attempt, any human court would become guilty of two injustices. Executing an innocent man is unjust even if the innocent man is willing. Setting free a guilty man on the basis that an innocent man has died in the place of the guilty man is unjust. Without the power to raise men from the dead, Penal Substitution cannot be a justice serving means of pardon. However, with the ability to raise men from the dead, Penal Substitution becomes the only means by which a righteous God can pardon sinners while He maintains justice in the process (Romans 3:23-26).

Doherty’s solution for maintaining justice while pardoning a capital offender is “having Jesus perform a few thousand hours of community service” (126). However, even atheists know that justice has not been served when the punishment does not equal the crime. Doherty’s question, “Should we not expect a just Deity to fashion a punishment fitting the crime?” now needs to be asked to Doherty instead of being asked by Doherty. Under Doherty’s scheme of atonement, God would allow capital offenders to go free without the penalty matching the crime as Doherty claims God should do.

Jesus lived a perfect life under God’s Law to fulfill its precepts, died a sacrificial death to pay the penalty of breaking God’s Law for sinners, and experienced a supernatural resurrection to fulfill the Law’s promise of life for the one who obeyed it. Jesus earned life for Himself and all who have solidarity with Him through faith.

Seventh, the resurrection of Jesus means that He is both Lord and Judge. No explanation needed! God is just, moral, wise, and loving!

Vicarious Law-Keeping (Romans 10:4-5)

The aim of the Holy Spirit inspired explanation of the Gospel is to remove the false notion that man can be justified through keeping the Law in the power of his flesh. The aim of the Gospel is to show that justification is on the basis of grace along through faith alone in Christ alone because of His vicarious Law-keeping, vicarious Law-paying, and vicarious Law-releasing. In other words, the aim of the Gospel is to show Christ as the fulfillment of the Law and not its nullifier so that the righteousness of God can be attained by faith and never by the flesh. We are justified solely as a gift through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24) based on His sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection – all on our behalf. Therefore we cannot be justified by our own Law-keeping (because we can’t keep it) and we cannot be justified without Christ’s Law-keeping (He’s the only One who could) for it must be fulfilled and not nullified. Our justification is based on the works of another and not our own! We are justified by a Savior who serves as our Substitute who alone was qualified to pay a debt He didn’t owe for those who owed a debt they couldn’t pay!

Since it is true that the aim of the Gospel is to remove the false notion that man can be justified through keeping the Law in the power of his flesh then of necessity you will understand that God has never justified any sinner through works of the Law but only on the basis of faith in God’s perfect Substitute – the Lord Jesus Christ. There has never been nor will there ever be a dispensation in which men are justified by their own law-keeping. It is error and heresy to believe that God has at one time in history justified men by their own law-keeping but today has nullified the Law through a dispensation of grace. There has never been anything but a dispensation of justification by grace through faith in the One and only Vicarious Law-Keeper.

Let me define vicarious so that you know exactly what I’m communicating so that you can also communicate this wonderful good-news to all men everywhere. Vicarious means “performed, received, or suffered in the place of another” (Webster’s Universal College Dictionary). All three meanings of the word apply to the totality of the work of Christ on our behalf. Christ performed Law-keeping in our place through His sinless life; Christ suffered Law-paying in our place through His sacrificial death; and Christ received Law-releasing in our place through His supernatural resurrection. Every single aspect of the work of Christ is necessary for our justification. Without His sinless life He could not become the Sacrificial Lamb and would not experience a supernatural resurrection by which we could be justified and become the righteousness of God in Him. Therefore faith in Christ does not nullify the Law but establishes it (Romans 3:31) and brings to an end all attempts at meriting justification through our own works by receiving it through faith in His works (Romans 10:4).

Here is the wonderful truth of redemption in Christ – we can’t keep the Law; He never said we could! He can keep the Law; and He always said He would! It is in this and this alone that the weary and heavy laden find rest for their souls. We don’t have rest because the Law has been abolished – we have rest because our Lord has been sufficient! Christ didn’t abolish the Law; He fulfilled it just as He said He would.

There are those today who believe that the Law has been abolished and that Romans 10:4 is teaching that the Law has been abolished. These are so against the Law that they discount the sinless life of Christ under the Law as a non-essential to salvation. They would dare divide the seamless garment of the work of Christ and reject His obedience to the Law as a necessary part of our justification. This is a severe misinterpretation of this passage that not only overlooks its immediate context but also the overall context of Scripture. That the Law has not been abolished but fulfilled is the explicit teaching of the Bible and so it does not imply in this verse or any other verse that the Law has been abolished. Faith establishes the Law because it trusts in the vicarious Law-keeping of Christ!

In Romans 10:4-5, Paul is contrasting Gospel righteousness (Romans 10:4) to the righteousness of the Law (Romans 10:5) in order to show that we are saved by Another’s Law-keeping and not our own. Why is this so? Because to be saved by the Law through our own ability to keep it is impossible for sinful man since the Law requires perfect obedience at every point perpetually throughout man’s life in order to receive the Law’s promise of life. The Law promises life for those who live by it in perpetual perfection but it promises death for those who don’t. “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them’” (Galatians 3:10; Deuteronomy 27:26).

So the Law does not bring righteousness to man, it actually reveals man’s unrighteousness through his inability to live by it in perpetual perfection. It is because of this that men must trust the only sufficient Substitute, Jesus Christ, in order to be justified by God. “Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for ‘The righteous man shall live by faith’” (Galatians 3:11).

We are justified by faith in the finished work of Christ alone. It is not that He kept nine of the commandments and we kept one – it is that He kept all the commandments and we kept none – “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (James 2:10). We don’t add anything to the work of Christ – He did it all and He did it all by Himself. That is why we read that “when He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3).

That, my brethren, is vicarious Law-keeping - the Law-keeper dying for the Law-breakers and being raised from the dead for our justification and His own vindication. Christ performed the whole Law, suffered the Law’s penalty, and received the Law’s release on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him and also receive the Law’s release. That is justification; that is liberation; that is the Gospel!

The Security of the Saints (Romans 8:33-36)

In our studies of Romans 8 we have been considering the truth that the things that would work against us and cause us to turn away from the truth of God and our trust in Him are actually being used by God to work for us and not against us. This means that all the trouble that the saints have to endure for the sake of righteousness strengthens their faith instead of stifling it. It is because of this that the saints persevere to the end by patiently enduring all trials and tribulations with complete faith and confidence in God’s love, wisdom, and power on their behalf in and through all situations and circumstances.

We could summarize Romans 8:31-39 like this: God is for us (Romans 8:31); Christ died for us (Romans 8:32); God justified us through the sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8:33); Christ intercedes for us and so we cannot be condemned (Romans 8:34); Christ loves us and nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:35-36); and God loves us and nothing in all creation can separate us from His love which He has given us in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:37-39).

The security of the saints is guaranteed based on what God has done and on nothing that we have done. God justified us freely as a gift by His grace without any cause whatsoever in us to merit that gift (Romans 3:24). He chose us by His foreknowledge (Romans 8:29; 1 Peter 1:1-2); He called us through the Gospel (Romans 1:6-7; Romans 8:28); He predestined us to become conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29); He justified us through Christ (Romans 3:24; Romans 8:30); and He speaks of our glorification in the past tense because of all that He has done for us (Romans 8:30) which means that our salvation is completely by His grace and not based on any works that we have done or will do (Romans 3:28; Ephesians 2:8-9).

There is one thing that the saint is sure of and it is the truth that God loves him with an out of this world love because he doesn’t and couldn’t deserve to be loved by God. The saint knows that God is for him and not against him and that God has proven it by giving His Son to pay the penalty of capital punishment for him while he was yet a capital offender (Romans 5:8; Romans 8:31-32). With that in mind the saint knows that no person or any problem can separate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

No person can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:33-34). We notice in these two verses that there are people who would accuse us, charge us with ungodliness and condemn us to hell if it were in their power. We are not to be surprised by this but are to expect it. Jesus told us that the world would hate us because it hated Him and it now hates us because He has chosen us out of the world (John 15:18-19).

These are the people who substitute light for darkness and darkness for light. They call evil, “good” and good, “evil.” They claim to be servants of God although they do not know God nor are they known by Him. They claim to be Christians while labeling true Christians as false. They think that they are serving God when they charge us with ungodliness, insult us, persecute us, falsely say all kinds of evil against us, and would want to kill us (Matthew 5:11; John 16:2).

These are servants of the devil who disguise themselves as servants of righteousness (2 Corinthians 10:13-14), who boast in the flesh (2 Corinthians 11:18), who do not live by faith (Romans 8:5-8), who do not have the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9), who do not have accurate knowledge of the way of salvation (Romans 10:2) and who seek to establish a way of salvation that depends in some form or fashion on what they can do for God (Romans 10:3). It is because their understanding of the way of salvation violates God’s way of salvation that they hate, persecute, and would charge God’s elect with ungodliness.

They think they are right when they are wrong and they think those are wrong who are right. They hate the real Gospel and love a false gospel. Therefore they bring charges of arrogance, pride, speaking against the people, speaking against God’s Word, and speaking against God against God’s elect. There are two problems with that: one, the charges are false and two, God is the one who justifies! They cannot undo the justification that God has granted in Christ Jesus. They may bring up our past but that is under the blood. They may bring up our present but that is under the blood. They may bring up our future but that is under the blood. They cannot condemn us because that is not their prerogative. The intercession of the Lord Jesus on our behalf guarantees that all genuine charges are paid in full and that no false charge will be considered as true.

No problem can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:35-36). Not only will men who are of the world hate us and charge us with ungodliness hoping to condemn us, they will also attempt to get us to water down and compromise the truth in order to separate us from Christ and silence our witness. They will cause us problems.

Notice all the ways that men of the world have at their disposal to try and separate us from our love for Christ and His love for us. First is tribulation which is trouble or pressure of a general sort. They put pressure on us and cause us trouble. Second is distress which carries the idea of strict confinement or being helplessly hemmed in. Third is persecution which refers to affliction suffered for the sake of Christ. Fourth is famine which results when Christians are persecuted and discriminated against in employment and cannot afford to buy enough food to eat. Fifth is nakedness which refers to destitution in which a person cannot adequately clothe himself. Sixth is peril which means to be exposed to danger in general, including danger from treachery and mistreatment. Seventh is the sword which means having to face being murdered or executed because of unwavering commitment to the truth of Christ.

Christians should not be surprised by the problems they have to face for the sake of Christ. It is written, For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered (Psalm 44:22; Romans 8:36). Instead we are to face these problems knowing that no person or no problem can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. We are to sing the victory song of the saints to the praise of the glory of His grace.

Penal-Substitution: Fact or Fiction?

Penal-substitution is the word that theologians use to succinctly define how God accomplished atonement for guilty sinners so that He could issue what is known as a principled pardon – one that upholds justice. The Bible clearly teaches penal-substitution as the only remedy for the dilemma of how a holy God can pardon sinners and remain just in the process. However, the opponents of penal-substitution declare that it is unjust and that the Gospel of penal-substitution is immoral and illogical.

This means that those who oppose and reject penal-substitution do so on the basis of its supposed foolishness. This is precisely the biblical record for those who oppose the Gospel – “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God….For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18, 22-24).

However, as is evident from the biblical record and from sound reasoning, the Gospel of penal-substitution is both the power of God and the wisdom of God. It is the supposed superior morality and intelligence of the opponents of the Gospel that causes them to view the Gospel as foolishness. They do this to their own destruction and shame. All throughout their arguments, the opponents of penal-substitution violate the principles of sound logic (they are not so wise after all), confuse categories, and exalt their sense of morality as higher than that of God Himself.

So, is penal-substitution fact or fiction? Is it immoral and illogical or is it the highest expression of both morality and logic? In order to establish the morality and logic of penal-substitution we will look at both sides of the argument and see who is in violation of sound logic and who is exalting a superior sense of morality.

First, we need to deal with penal-substitution as the only law-upholding basis for the justification of capital offenders (sinners). When a person has committed a capital offense the law-upholding penalty is capital punishment. Any court that fails to uphold capital punishment for criminals that are capital offenders is unjust. Justice has not been served if a capital offender goes free without the law-upholding penalty of capital punishment being carried out. The court would be unjust and the law against capital crimes would be useless.

So we must ask and answer the question of how can a court justify capital offenders and remain just in the process. If the court declares the guilty, “innocent”, then that is fiction. If the court pardons the guilty without the penalty of the law being upheld then that is injustice and an unprincipled pardon. If the court executes an innocent man in the place of the guilty man then the court is guilty of the highest form of injustice (this is precisely what Pilate did when he released Barabbas and had Jesus crucified – Matthew 27:26).

Now it would have been something altogether different if Pilate and Jesus had entered into a mutual agreement where Jesus was willing to take the place of Barabbas and die in his place and Pilate had the power to raise men from the dead. If that were the case then Pilate could have executed Jesus in the place of Barabbas and then he could have raised Jesus from the dead which would have justified Barabbas, provided proof of the justness of Jesus, and maintained the justness of Pilate. But Pilate did not have and no court on earth has the power to raise men from the dead so the possibility of penal-substitution as a means of justifying capital offenders while maintaining the justness of the court does not exist among men.

So with men, justifying capital offenders is an impossibility; but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:25-26). There was a mutual agreement between Jesus Christ and God the Father where Jesus would live a sinless life under the Law; die a sacrificial death in fulfillment of the Law; and experience a supernatural resurrection so that God could be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Romans 3:26).

The common objections by the opponents of penal-substitution always fail to take into account the absolute necessity of the power to raise men from the dead in order for penal-substitution to be a moral and logical means of justifying capital offenders. When this happens then immediately categories have been confused and all sorts of unfounded objections arise which have no correlation to the subject at hand.

For instance, penal-substitution is declared to be a legal fiction by its opponents because they fail to take into account God’s legal transaction of transferring debt and payment of debt from one account to another. If a debt is actually paid by another who didn’t owe the debt then there is no fiction whatsoever as to the declaration of paid in full where the payment for the debt is credited to the account of the one who didn’t pay it. So if there has been a legal transaction by which an innocent party pays in full the debt owed on behalf of the guilty party, the declaration of justified isn’t legal fiction but is indeed legal fact!

This means that the certificate of debt that consisted of decrees of punishment against the capital offender has been cancelled and taken out of the way by a willing and able substitute that paid the debt (Colossians 2:13-14). There is now therefore no condemnation for the capital offender whose debt has been paid by another (Romans 8:1).

Does this mean that the capital offender can now commit as many crimes as he wishes? Absolutely not! His love for the One who paid his debt by dying in his place and being raised from the dead will move him to no longer live for himself but for the one who died for him (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). So God’s declaration of justification on the basis of faith in Christ is not only a legal fact of righteousness; it is also the beginning of the process by which the guilty sinner’s righteousness is becoming a literal fact. This is known as sanctification where the forgiven man’s actions are transformed into righteous acts by his love for and obedience to the One who died and rose again on his behalf. The life that the forgiven man now lives, he lives by trusting and obeying the One who loved him and gave Himself up for him (Galatians 2:20).

Also, penal-substitution is declared to be immoral because its opponents say that the innocent cannot die for the guilty. Says who? Again this would be immoral only if the innocent man wasn’t raised from the dead and thereby righteously and justly vindicated. Again this view falls short because it fails to take into consideration that God can do this without it being immoral precisely because He has the ability to raise men from the dead. The opponents of penal-substitution exalt their own morality above that of God.

From there the argument goes to penal-substitution being contrary to every known system of justice in the world. Duh! I guess so! No court on earth has the power to raise men from the dead and so even if an innocent man were willing to die in the place of a guilty capital offender, the court still couldn’t carry out the transaction in such a manner as to be just. And not only that, finding an innocent man willing to die for capital offenders isn’t going to happen in this world because this world doesn’t have that kind of love. The love that God bestows on undeserving sinners is an out of this world kind of love. Penal-substitution is the highest expression of love that can or ever will be demonstrated (Romans 5:6-8).

Penal-substitution is the only law-upholding, mercy-giving, and principled-pardon that a holy God can offer and still maintain His righteousness and His justice.

Children of God (Romans 8:12-17) - Five Evidences

The apostle Paul has been laboring to show and explain how the Gospel of justification by grace through faith establishes the Law of God rather than nullifying it (Romans 3:31) and how justification by faith NEVER gives a license to sin (Romans 6:1-11) but justification by faith ALWAYS results in sanctification (Romans 6:12-23).

All of Romans 6, Romans 7, and Romans 8 is an explanation for why people who are justified by faith alone will not continue in sin and how justification by faith establishes the Law rather than nullifies it.

So, in Romans 7, Paul had to deal with both the intent of the Law (Romans 7:1-13) and the inability of the Law (Romans 7:14-25) to show that he was not preaching against the Law and that the Law was indeed that which is good (Romans 7:16). The intent of the Law is to show us God’s righteous character and our unrighteousness. The Law shows us how bad we are; it actually stirs up our badness. However, the Law also has an inability – it cannot justify a single sinner! So not only can the Law not justify – neither can it sanctify.

Then in Romans 8, the apostle Paul got to the heart of the matter as to why justification by faith NEVER gives a license to sin and ALWAYS issues in sanctification – the person who is justified by faith is given the Holy Spirit of God who is the power of godliness.

Paul has been making two comparisons and contrasts in Romans 8:1-17. He has been comparing and contrasting the lost man to the saved man; the man of the flesh to the man of faith; the self-led man to the Spirit-led man. One of the primary dangers that Paul is warning about in this section is that of having a form of godliness but denying its power. In other words Paul is warning about being controlled by the flesh and claiming to be saved when in reality that is impossible. No one is saved who does not have the Spirit of God and who is not controlled by the Spirit of God no matter how religious he appears.

Romans 8:1-4 teaches us of exempted living for the believer. The believer is exempted from the Law and its penalty because his penalty has been paid for by Christ. And now the believer can live for Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit rather than attempting to please God by the Law in his own power.

Romans 8:5-8 teaches us of the excluded life for the unbeliever – even if he claims to be a believer. The unbeliever has no power or ability to obey and please God because he does not have the indwelling Holy Spirit. The unbeliever can only live by the flesh and not by faith and therefore can never please God.

Romans 8:9-17 teaches us of the exalted life for the believer. The believer lives the exalted life; he lives on a higher plane because he has the Spirit (Romans 8:9-11) and the Spirit has him (Romans 8:12-17).

In Romans 8:12-17 Paul gave five evidences of the Spirit having the believer:

The first evidence that the Spirit has you is that by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body (Romans 8:12-13). This means that you are committed to the Lordship of Christ in your life; that you are not leaning on your own understanding; and you are not being self-led. You are growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and are learning to obey all that He has commanded. You are not your own – you have been bought with a price – so you are learning to glorify God in your body and surrender it to Him. You have a new relationship to self and sin – you are fighting against it.

The second evidence that the Spirit has you is that you are being led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14). This means that the government of your life rests on His shoulders and that He is in control and not you. This also means that you are being led by the Word of God because this is what the Spirit uses to guide God’s children. You will be growing in both hearing and obeying the Word of God. The Spirit will lead you into all truth and will give you the power to obey that truth by adjusting your life to that truth. You will begin to have discernment and will know the difference between true and false teachers because you are being guided by God’s Word which is evidence that you are being guided by God’s Spirit. All of this added together will mean that your walk is characterized by living by faith and not by the flesh.

A third evidence that the Spirit has you is that you have a new relationship to God with Him as your Father (Romans 8:15). This means that you are not a slave but a son. You obey God because you love Him and want to please Him, not because you are afraid of the consequences. Christians are not slaves afraid of a mean master but are children in awe of a loving Father. We see how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God; and such we are (1 John 3:1). This is our motivation for putting to death the deeds of the body. The Spirit does not lead us into obedience by stirring up slavish fear. He leads us into obedience by stirring up family affection – love for God as our Father. The Spirit does not make us slaves who act out of fear but sons who act out of faith. Faith is trust and trust is based on love, not fear! So not only do we have a new relationship to sin and self (putting to death the deads of the body), we also have a new relationship to God (with Him as our Father).

A fourth evidence that the Spirit has you is that He witnesses that you are a child of God to your spirit (Romans 8:16). The Spirit of God makes God’s love for us real by pouring out God’s love for us in us (Romans 5:5; 1 John 4:16). And then we love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). So you see, our service to God is out of love for God and not out of fear. And since we serve God out of love we serve Him the way that pleases Him and not our own way. We do the will of God the way of God from the Word of God because we love Him – and this is how the Spirit of God witnesses to us that we are the children of God (see 1 John 2:3).

A fifth evidence that the Spirit has you is that you suffer because of your love for God and your relationship to Him (Romans 8:17). We suffer for the sake of righteousness and for the sake of Christ. The reason is because we live by faith and not by flesh and the world hates us for it. They do not know God and therefore they do not know us (1 John 3:1). This is why they hate us and why we suffer with Him (John 15:18-21).

No Condemnation - Exempted Living (Romans 8:1-4) Part 2

The Law cannot claim you (Romans 8:3-4)

Since the Law cannot condemn you it also cannot claim you. Why is this so? Because Christ has already set you free from the Law’s condemnation by suffering and paying for the Law’s just claim over you on the cross. The “law of double jeopardy” states that a man cannot be tried twice for the same crime. God would not be just to condemn you when He has already condemned Jesus Christ in your place as though He was you. Since Jesus Christ paid the penalty for your sins and since you are in Christ, God will not condemn you.

The only safe place from the just wrath of God is in Christ Jesus. This is true because the Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who could and did suffer the wrath of God in our place so that we wouldn’t have to.

The Law cannot save a sinner from the wrath of God – it can only condemn the sinner and guarantee that he will indeed be the recipient of God’s wrath. Through the Law comes the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20) and because of this the Law brings about wrath (Romans 4:15).

In Romans 8:1-2 we saw the twin truths of justification and sanctification and their relationship to one another. Romans 8:1 is a declaration of justification through no condemnation. Romans 8:2 is a declaration of sanctification because of no condemnation. We saw that justification is the cause of sanctification and that sanctification is not and cannot be the cause of justification. So this means that God’s legally declaring us righteous in Christ is the foundation and cause of our actually becoming righteous by loving Jesus and living for Jesus.

Romans 8:3-4 declares these twin truths of justification and sanctification once again. The Holy Spirit of God wants us to understand the God ordained order of our salvation. Justification always precedes and causes sanctification. Where there is no sanctification, justification has not taken place – not because sanctification causes justification but because justification always causes sanctification. These twin truths are devastating to the heresy of easy-believism and firmly establish the Biblical truth of Lordship salvation.

But not only are these twin truths devastating to libertinism they are also devastating to legalism. Paul has been laboring to show both the intent and the inability of the Law so that men would see their need to be justified and sanctified by faith and not by the Law. In other words the apostle has been laboring to show that the Law cannot justify and that it cannot sanctify. This is the perfect antidote against legalism.

So in Romans 8:3 we read about what the Law could not do but what God could and did do. “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.” Here we see four statements in this verse: (1) The Law cannot condemn sin in the flesh and therefore it cannot justify or sanctify, (2) the Law cannot justify or sanctify because of the weakness of our flesh, (3) what the Law could not do God did, and (4) God condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son and therefore we can be justified and sanctified by faith in Christ.

The Law cannot condemn sin in the flesh and therefore it cannot justify or sanctify. This doesn’t mean that the Law cannot criticize sin or show it to be worthy of death – this is precisely what the Law does. In the sense of passing the sentence of death on the sinner and guaranteeing that it must take place, the Law is perfectly capable. But this is not what our text is speaking of. Our text is speaking of having the ability to set us free from the law of sin and death not by condemning sin in the flesh by criticizing it but by actually condemning sin in the flesh by carrying out sin’s penalty through capitol punishment on a willing and able Substitute. This the Law cannot do! The Law cannot justify the sinner; it cannot exempt him but can only demand his execution. The Law cannot sanctify the sinner; it cannot change him but can only charge him with his crimes.

The Law cannot justify or sanctify because of the weakness of the flesh. “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh….” This portion of verse 3 tells us why the Law cannot justify or sanctify – the weakness or wickedness of our flesh. The problem with the Law is not that its commandments are evil (Romans 7:12) but that we are evil and sold into bondage to sin (Romans 7:14). The word flesh means our old fallen nature – what we are by nature because of our connection to Adam. We are by nature sinners! Therefore it is our nature to rebel against God and His Law and therefore we are rightfully under condemnation. This means that we need to be delivered from the just condemnation that belongs to us and we need a new nature. We need justification and sanctification.

How will we be delivered from condemnation? Not by keeping the Law – we can’t! How will we get a new nature? Not by keeping the Law – we can’t! How then? By trusting not trying! The sooner we see our sickness the sooner we can seek the Savior! Our flesh cannot be empowered by the Law for the Law does not arrest sin in us but arouses it!

What the Law could not do, God did! The Law could not exempt us it could only guarantee our execution; the Law could not justify us. The Law could not change us it could only charge us with our crimes; the Law could not sanctify us! What the Law could not do, God did! God exempted us and justified us and He changed us and sanctified us. How did God do this?

God condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son. Here is the high and holy doctrine of Penal-Substitution. God executed the just penalty for sin in the flesh of His sinless Son as an offering or substitute for my sin and your sin. There was no sin in Christ to condemn so the condemnation that He received was not His own but as a substitute for others. This is clearly seen in 2 Corinthians 5:21 – “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

My sin was punished fully and in its finality in the body of Christ. And if my sin was punished there finally and fully, then I will not be punished for it again – “My sin O the bliss of this glorious thought; my sin not in part but the whole; is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!” (Horatio G. Spafford, It Is Well With My Soul, 1873).

But what was the purpose of God justifying us by condemning our sin in the flesh of His sinless Son? Was it just so that we would be justified and have a fire insurance policy guaranteeing that we wouldn’t go to hell? Did God intend to justify us and not change us? What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the condemnation of the Law but under grace? May it never be!

God justified us so that we would love Him and serve Him and thereby be sanctified. This is what verse 4 declares – “So that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

The love of God rescued us from the wrath of God so that we would love God and serve Him in newness of life. Our justification causes our sanctification. We love Him because He first loved us. Another way of saying this wonderful truth is that we are sanctified because He first loved us and justified us. Our obedience is a result of love not Law.

The believer lives a righteous life, not in the power of the Law, but in the power of the Holy Spirit. The believer lives a righteous life, not by trying, but by trusting. This is what Paul meant when he said all the way back in Romans 1:17 that the righteous man shall live by faith.

The righteousness that God demands in His Law is fulfilled in us through the Holy Spirit’s power. Our sanctification – fulfilling the requirement of the Law – is based on our justification – Christ’s fulfilling the requirement of the Law on our behalf.

The Law cannot condemn us and it cannot claim us because of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus our Lord. We now have no condemnation and experience exempted living.

No Condemnation - Exempted Living (Romans 8:1-4)

The Law cannot condemn you (1-2)

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). The apostle is here speaking of justification. For those who are in Christ Jesus their penalty for violating the Law has been paid by Jesus Christ. All who are under the Law are under the Law’s condemnation and curse. The Law condemns those who are not in Christ and it demands their execution for their violation of the Law. Romans 3:20 shows the “therefore” of condemnation because of the Law’s conclusion that by works of the Law no flesh shall be justified in God’s sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

Romans 8:1 shows the “therefore” of no condemnation on the basis of being in Christ under grace and not in Adam under the Law. For all who are in Adam and have not been transferred into Christ through faith in Christ, have not been justified; the Law’s condemnation on their lives has not been eradicated; and their penalty or condemnation must be paid by them just as the Law demands.

For those who are in Christ, the requirements of the Law have been fully satisfied on the basis of the sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection of Christ, so that the Law no longer has jurisdiction over the believer and it cannot condemn the believer. By faith in Christ and being in Christ we have died to the Law and been released from its condemnation of us.

What does “no condemnation” mean for those who are in Christ in this fallen sin-sick world? What is Paul saying in Romans 8:1 when he says, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”?

Paul was saying that all of God’s just and righteous wrath and holy opposition toward us has been absorbed by another on our behalf. In other words, the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty has been turned away from us by being poured out on Jesus Christ so that what God’s holy nature and Law required for our sin was fulfilled in Christ our Substitute so that God can justify us and remain just in the process. This means that in Christ, God is for us and not against us. Paul comes to the glorious climax of this truth in Romans 8:31 – “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”

But now on the other hand, those who are not in Christ Jesus, those who have a profession of faith but no possession of faith, and those who make no claim of faith whatsoever will find the terrible truth that the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty has not been turned away and that God is against them and not for them.

This truth is easily seen in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 – “…when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His might angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”

So Romans 8:1 is the wonderful good news of no condemnation for those who have been justified by faith in Christ and are indeed in Christ. But how does one begin to know for sure that he has been justified and is indeed in Christ?

Well for starters as we answer that question let me state the obvious truth and then we will proceed to prove it – genuine and biblical justification always precedes and empowers sanctification. Without sanctification following justification there has been no justification. This is what James was writing about in his letter. A faith that does not work cannot be saving faith. In other words a justification that does not produce sanctification cannot be biblical justification.

Notice Romans 8:2 – “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” Here we don’t see justification, we see sanctification. The declaration of our justification is in verse 1 – “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” – that’s justification. But here in verse 2 we see a description of practical sanctification. Sanctification proves justification but does not cause it. Justification causes sanctification and if there is no sanctification then justification hasn’t taken place. This is the truth the apostle Paul was teaching in 2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

The basis for the truth and assurance that there is therefore now no condemnation is the phrase “in Christ Jesus.” In Adam all die – in Adam we were all condemned. In Christ there is no condemnation because in Christ all shall be made alive – so in Christ all are justified.

But we also see the wonderful truth that all who are in Christ are also in the process of being sanctified because we have been set free from the law of sin and death through the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Paul went on to say in his letter to the Corinthians – “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).

We have died to the Law and its penalty in Christ and have been given a new life principle by the Spirit of life so that the Law cannot condemn us. We are new creatures who are no longer under condemnation. Our penalty has been paid by our Substitute who loved us and gave Himself up for us so that we no longer live for ourselves but for Him who died and rose again on our behalf. Because this is true we are in the process of being sanctified because we are now living for Jesus. This is exempted living – from the Law.

Understanding Sanctification (Romans 6:14)

To not understand the gospel is to not understand either Law or grace. When this is the case one will either resort to legalism or license. Legalism never gives victory over sin because the flesh is corrupt and weak and so the Law arouses the sinful passions of the flesh rather than arresting them. The Law is that which gives power to sin (1 Corinthians 15:56) and not that which gives victory over sin.

License never gives victory over sin because it turns God’s grace into an excuse to remain in sin by adding the demonic doctrine that you can be saved and still live in sin; that you can believe but you don’t have to behave; that you can be justified and still not be sanctified. In this case people use grace as a license to live in sin.

Legalism tries to behave without believing; license tries to believe without behaving; Christians behave because they believe and therefore are sanctified because they are justified. God’s grace is that which gives the power to behave (Titus 2:11-14) and never that which gives a license to sin (Jude 4).

The gospel of justification by grace through faith stands in direct opposition to both legalism and license. The gospel always gives victory over sin where legalism and license never do. Being justified by faith in Christ through the gospel always issues in being sanctified in life by living under His Lordship. Justification (having been declared holy) always issues in sanctification (being made holy) and therefore there will be progressive victory over sin in the life of the saved person.

Notice that in legalism and license that there is a reversal or a removal of sanctification in relationship to justification. In legalism (attempting to be justified by works of the Law) sanctification precedes justification and this can never be because the Law does not give the power to live a holy life but is in fact that which gives power to sin. So in legalism there is a reversal of the relationship of justification to sanctification. In license justification stands alone with absolutely no connection whatsoever to sanctification following or flowing from that justification and this can never be because grace is not that which gives a license to sin. So in license there is a removal of the relationship of justification to sanctification.

However, salvation with its various aspects is a seamless garment that cannot be divided, rearranged, or have any one aspect removed and still be biblical salvation. People who distort the gospel by distorting the aspects of salvation do it to their own destruction. Salvation has three aspects: (1) justification (past tense), (2) sanctification (present tense), and (3) glorification (future tense).

In justification we are set free from sin’s penalty; in sanctification we are being set free from sin’s power and pollution; and in glorification we will be set free from sin’s presence. Sanctification – being set free from sin’s power and pollution is something that neither legalism nor license can accomplish. Why not?

The missing element in both legalism and license is love. Jesus said, “If you love Me you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Our obedience to Jesus is based on our love for Him which is based on His love for us which was demonstrated to us through the gospel. We love Him because He first loved us and we obey Him because we love Him.

Legalism and license are both perversions of love. Legalism is feigned obedience without love and license is feigned love without obedience. Lordship is true obedience because of true love – love is the power source of sanctification. We read of faith working through love (Galatians 5:6); that love constrains us or controls us – “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15); and that love fulfills the Law (Matthew 22:37-40; Galatians 5:13-14; James 2:8).

Loving loyalty to Jesus as Lord gains victory over the power and pollution of indwelling sin. The Law cannot do this – it gives the command to obey but not the power to obey. The gospel of God’s grace gives the power to love and therefore the power to obey – we are not under Law but under grace – we are under the Lord.

"For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:14).

Living for Jesus (Romans 6:14-23)

We have been looking at attaining victory over sin in Romans 6:1-23. We have seen that we are to know – know that we are dead to sin and alive to God (Romans 6:1-10); we have seen that we are to believe or consider this to be true because it is (Romans 6:11); and we have been looking at we are to present or yield (Romans 6:12-23).

We have already considered how we are to present/yield (glad-hearted and free/willingly) in Romans 6:12-13. Now in our study we come to why we are to present/yield (Romans 6:14-23).

Why we are to present/yield (Romans 6:14-23)

We are to yield because of love (Romans 6:14-15). It is because of God’s love for us that we yield ourselves to Him. His love for us is expressed by His grace to us. God in His love has given us His grace which does not give us an excuse to sin but a reason to obey. Paul has proved that we are not saved by the Law and that we do not live under the Law. For many this would mean that we can sin all we want because they don’t understand the wonderful constraining and controlling power of love. Love is what gives the strength or ability to obey.

Sin and Law go together (1 Corinthians 15:56) just as obedience and love go together (John 14:15). Since we are not under Law, but under grace, sin is robbed of its strength. The person who claims to have Jesus as Lord but does not obey Him doesn’t love Him. Jesus said, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord’, and do not do what I say?” He also said, “If you love Me you will keep My commandments.”

Another way of saying the truth of Romans 6:14 would be to say that sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under the Lord. We are under the Lord because of love. We are to yield because of love.

We are to yield because of liberty (Romans 6:16-20). Whatever you yield to becomes your master. Sin is an unloving and unkind tyrant. It is deceptive promising pleasure and happiness but instead takes one into deeper and deeper misery and ultimately paying death and destruction. Sin will take you farther than you want to go; keep you longer than you want to stay; and cost you more than you want to pay!

Before you were saved, you were the slave to sin. Now that you belong to Christ you are freed from the old slavery and made the servant of Christ. Christ is a loving and kind Lord and as we obey Him we experience liberty from the bondage of sin. We grow in our sanctification (Romans 6:16). Our growth in sanctification, our making progress in victory over sin is based on obedience from the heart because of our love for the Lord. Our sanctification is always based on our thankfulness for our justification (Romans 6:17) – He who has been forgiven much loves much! God works His salvation in a person’s innermost being. God changes men’s natures when they trust Him. A person whose heart has not been changed has not been saved. Righteous living issues from an obedient heart because of being committed to Christ because of love for Christ.

Knowing the truth of the gospel (Romans 6:17) and loving Christ because of it issues in liberty from sin and loyalty to Christ (Romans 6:18). This truth can also be stated like this – “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). And just as enthusiastically as we served sin – presenting our members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness – we are to in like manner serve righteousness – so now present your members as slaves to righteousness resulting in sanctification (Romans 6:19).

The late Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote, “As you go on living this righteous life, and practicing it with all your might and energy, and all your time…you will find that the process that went on before, in which you went from bad to worse and became viler and viler, is entirely reversed. You will become cleaner and cleaner, and purer and purer, and holier and holier, and more and more conformed to the image of the Son of God” (Romans: An Exposition of Chapter Six [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1972], pp. 268-69). Obedience to Christ because of love issues in liberty from sin and sanctification.

Obedience to self and sin issued in slavery to sin and condemnation without any reference whatsoever to any form of sanctification (Romans 6:20). To be free in regard to righteousness is to have no connection at all to righteousness or any ability to bring it about. Only loving loyalty to Jesus as Lord can make righteousness our master and bring about liberty from sin.

We are to yield because of love and liberty.

We are to yield because of life (Romans 6:21-23). If you serve a master you can expect to receive wages. There is fruit that comes from the master you serve. Sin pays the wages of death! God also pays wages – holiness and everlasting life.

Jesus said that He came to give life and to give it more abundantly. This is the exact opposite of what sin gives (Romans 6:21). After being saved we became ashamed of the sinful things that we used to do that only had the outcome of death and destruction. The fruit of sin that was in our lives only produced more bondage and more destruction.

However, because we yielded to God because of love and were set at liberty from sin, we derive our benefit or fruit resulting in sanctification (victory over sin) and the outcome, eternal life (Romans 6:22).

So one’s master determines what one receives – either death or eternal life. Those who remain in their sin and remain under sin’s dominion will receive death. Those who are removed from their sin and placed under the Lord’s dominion will receive eternal life (Romans 6:23). The fruit of loving sin is death – the fruit of loving the Lord is eternal life. We will obey what we love! Yield because of love, liberty, and life!

United with Christ in Death and Life

The apostle Paul was constantly misunderstood and falsely accused for preaching justification by faith by preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many speculations and lofty imaginations were raised up against the knowledge of God and His gospel. Paul's ministry was one of persuasion where he used the Word of God to destroy speculations and persuade men of the truth.

The constant attack against the gospel and against Paul's preaching was that he was giving a license to sin and was preaching against the Law if the gospel was true. However, nothing could be farther from the truth! So the speculation was reared by the legalistic Jews and it was rejected by the apostle Paul and then refuted by Paul.

The speculation reared against the Gospel of God (Romans 6:1) – Justification is so free and easy that it appears as that which will give a license to sin – it especially looks that way to the legalist. So the legalist rears up the speculation against the Gospel of God and accuses the Gospel of that which gives a license to sin.

The speculation rejected by the apostle Paul (Romans 6:2) – “May it never be!” Justification is not that which gives a license to sin and therefore there is no way that justification is against the Law – justification, the legal and actual declaration of righteousness in Christ, never fails to issue in sanctification – “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”

The speculation refuted by the explanation of the Gospel pictured in baptism (Romans 6:2-11).

First, baptism pictures that we died to sin (Romans 6:2-7). In what sense have we died to sin? We have become united to Him. By God’s doing we are in Christ Jesus – God establishes a union between us and Christ so that His death is our death. This is in direct correlation to how we were united to Adam so that his disobedience is our disobedience and his condemnation is our condemnation. Those who are in Christ Jesus through faith in Him died with Him on the cross – His death was our death and God sees it as such and so do we (Romans 6:3); those who are in Christ Jesus were buried with Him – His burial was our burial (Romans 6:4); those who are in Christ Jesus have become united with Him in the likeness of His death (Romans 6:5); and those who are in Christ have been crucified with Him and are no longer to be slaves to sin (Romans 6:6-7).

So the outcome of being united to Christ through faith is that we have a new relationship to sin. You can’t go on living in sin because you have died to sin because Christ died to sin and when He died we died with Him. This is based on union through imputation. Anyone who claims to have a new relationship to God through Jesus should ask himself this question: does my professed relationship with Jesus give me a new relationship to sin? Have I died to sin?

It is an impossibility to be united to Christ without becoming a brand new person (2 Corinthians 5:17) because of now having a different relationship to sin – instead of living in it we have died to it. Justification never fails to issue in a person’s death to sin. Before we were saved we all formerly lived in and walked in the lusts of our flesh and indulged in the desires of the flesh and of the mind (Ephesians 2:3). But that is past tense! We were dead [to God] in our trespasses and sins, in which we formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived…(Ephesians 2:1-3).

Since justification never fails to issue in a person’s death to sin it also never fails to issue in sanctification which is a person’s life to God - “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). So not only does our union with Christ provide the foundation for our justification; it also provides the foundation for our sanctification. This brings us to our second picture in baptism.

Second, baptism pictures that we are alive to God (Romans 6:8-11). A dead man needs more than anything else a new life principle. This is precisely the purpose of God in the Gospel as He puts us to death to sin in Christ and then raises us up with a new life principle under the Lordship of Christ (Romans 6:4). Here is where our journey of sanctification begins and it contradicts the fallacy that justification through faith gives a license to sin. So perfection is not yet and will not be arrived at in this life.

However, perfection is guaranteed in the future when we see Jesus (Romans 6:5; 1 Corinthians 15:49; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2). But that is called glorification and here we are dealing with sanctification.

Baptism not only pictures justification – dying to sin – it also pictures sanctification – living to God – so that we see clearly that baptism contradicts the false notion of easy-believism.

Since baptism pictures that we have died to sin and are alive to God (Romans 6:8-11) then anyone who has been baptized but doesn’t have a new relationship to sin (no longer obeying it and its lusts) also doesn’t have a new relationship to God (obeying Him because we love Him) and his baptism is a sham, he doesn’t know what baptism means, and he doesn’t understand the Gospel.

Do you have a new relationship to God that is proven by your new relationship to sin? Have you died to sin and are you alive to God?

The Blessings of Justification

When I attended Bible College I had an Old Testament professor who when he preached began by saying, “It’s a glorious experience to be a Christian!” It was Dr. J. W. Lee’s desire to express to his fellow Christians the blessings of justification. This is what the apostle Paul was doing in Romans 5:1-11. After having established the truth of justification by faith apart from works of the Law from Romans 1:1 – 4:25, Paul went on to declare six implications or blessings of justification.

Since we are justified by faith we have peace with God (Romans 5:1). This peace that we have with God which is based totally on having been justified by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ is both objective and subjective – our peace with God is based on fact first and foremost which when properly understood and applied will issue in its being felt in the heart.

Our peace with God is objective – it is based on fact (Isaiah 32:17) – “And the work of righteousness will be peace….” Our peace with God is based solely on absolute truth. Justification means that God declares us righteous, which is a declaration of peace, made possible only by Christ’s sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection. It is only through Christ that God can give a legal pardon where His justice and mercy can meet together without one violating the other – “Lovingkindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Psalm 85:10).

Our peace with God is subjective – the fact produces feeling (Isaiah 32:17) – “And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.” As long as our feelings of peace are flowing from the facts of our peace then all is well. However, it is possible to feel at peace but to actually be at war with God – “There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord" (Isaiah 48:22). The false prophets declare peace to people who have no peace – “They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, “You will have peace’”; and as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, they say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you’” (Jeremiah 23:17). False peace is based on lies (false facts), which leads us to the truth that feelings are not to be our source of assurance but the facts as revealed in God’s Word are to be.

Since we are justified by faith we have access to God (Romans 5:2). In our sin we are locked out of God’s presence and do not have access or entrance into His presence. Through Jesus Christ we have access to God where God, so to speak, stretches out His golden scepter to allow us into His presence without us forfeiting our lives. Our justification through Christ’s blood gives us peace with God and access into His presence so that we can come to Him through worship and prayer and even approach His throne of grace in our time of need. The privileges of prayer and worship are based on justification. One doesn’t just go waltzing in into the presence of royalty without someone taking him by the hand and giving him an introduction into royalty’s presence. This is what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in obtaining our justification.

Since we are justified by faith we have joy in God (Romans 5:2-4). This joy in God is both future and present.

We have joy in the future sharing of the glory of God (Romans 5:2) – “And we exult in hope of the glory of God.” We all fell short of the glory of God and we all despised God’s glory and exchanged it for that which is a lie (Romans 1:23) but those who have been justified will share in the glory of God. The truth of our future glorification gives us joy in God who is able to complete what he has begun.

We have joy in the present suffering for the glory of God (Romans 5:3-4). Our suffering for the sake of righteousness proves our justification to be real (Matthew 5:10-12) and is used by God to transform our character. Also we are promised that our present suffering is producing in us an eternal weight of glory that our suffering cannot compare to (2 Corinthians 4:16-17). He who is justified by faith has peace with God, but tribulation in the world. The unrighteous have peace with the world, but distress and tribulation with God (Romans 2:8-9). The peace of the justified is eternal and his tribulation and distress temporal. The peace of the unrighteous is temporal and his tribulation and distress eternal.

Since we are justified by faith we have assurance of God’s love (Romans 5:5-8). We have the inner experience of God’s love for us (Romans 5:5). God’s love for us is poured out within our hearts through His Holy Spirit who was given to us. God’s Holy Spirit causes us to stand amazed that He could love us – sinners condemned and unclean – and yet He does. This is the basis of our loving God – “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:16, 19).

We also have the outer proof of God’s love for us (Romans 5:6-8). There is never any reason for the believer to doubt God’s love for him or her. Just one look at the sacrificial death of Christ on our behalf should dispel any doubt about God’s love for us.

Since we are justified by faith we have assurance of final salvation (Romans 5:9-10). There is no way under God’s heaven that those who have been justified by the blood of Christ will fail to be saved from the wrath of God. That in and of itself would be an insult to the Lord Jesus Christ who died on our behalf and would also nullify the purpose of His death.

Since we are justified by faith we exult God Himself (Romans 5:11). The whole purpose of God sending His Son and reconciling us to Himself through Him was so that not only would we exult in our Lord Jesus Christ but so that we would also exult in God Himself. Our love for the Father is because of His love for us by sending His Son to rescue us just as our love for the Lord Jesus Christ is because of His love for us by coming and giving Himself up for us.

“It’s a glorious experience to be a Christian.”

Justification by Faith in God

In Romans 4:1-25, Paul proved four aspects about justification by faith from the life of Abraham in the Old Testament: (1) how the Old Testament proved that justification is by faith and not works (Romans 4:1-8); (2) how the Old Testament proved that justification is by faith and not circumcision (Romans 4:9-12); (3) how the Old Testament proved that justification is by faith and not Law (Romans 4:13-17); and (4) how the Old Testament proved that justification is by faith in God (Romans 4:17-25).

We have now studied the first three aspects about justification by faith from the life of Abraham as recorded in the Old Testament. Now we come to the fourth and final aspect about justification by faith from the life of Abraham – justification is by faith in God (Romans 4:17-25).

Faith believes God (Romans 4:17). Faith is not only believing in God, it is also believing God. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith rests completely in God – in His wisdom, love, and power! Abraham believed in God and believed God who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. Abraham didn’t only believe in God – he also believed God.

Faith believes without seeing (Romans 4:18). “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Against all evidence to the contrary Abraham believed God’s promise and His power to call as though existing that which did not exist – that he would be a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” Abraham took God at His word and believed God even under what appeared to be impossible circumstances – this gives glory to God and is genuine and biblical faith.

Faith believes in spite of circumstances (Romans 4:19). God waited until it was totally impossible from the human standpoint to fulfill His promise to Abraham by giving him a son in the face of impossible circumstances. It was unthinkable that a man ninety-nine years old could beget a child in the womb of his wife who was eighty-nine years old and who had never had a child up to this point! From a reproductive point of view, both Abraham and Sarah were dead. But in spite of the circumstances – Abraham did not become weak in the faith – he kept on believing God.

Faith believes God’s promise (Romans 4:20). God is truth and He cannot lie – believing God’s promise because of believing God’s character gives glory to God. Abraham didn’t focus on his impotence but on God’s omnipotence.

Faith believes God’s power (Romans 4:21). God is able to perform what He promises and therefore the promise of God and the power of God combine to give absolute assurance of the things hoped for – “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

Faith receives God’s justification (Romans 4:22-25). Since faith believes God by believing without seeing, believing in spite of circumstances, believing God’s promises, and believing God’s power it receives God’s justification – completely as a gift and not something to be earned. The gift of justification is tied to God’s promise concerning His Son – this is the testimony or the promise that faith believes in order to receive God’s justification. To not believe is to not receive and to make God into a liar.

The story of Abraham and his faith is important to us today because men are now saved and have always been saved on exactly the same basis on which Abraham was saved – through believing God concerning His promise concerning His Son. Jesus said that Abraham rejoiced to see His day, and he saw it and was glad (John 8:56). Abraham believed God’s promise concerning God’s Son.

God’s promise concerning His Son was the He would deliver Him up because of our transgressions and raise Him up because of our justification (Romans 4:25). "Delivered up" is a judicial term referring to the commitment of a criminal to his deserved punishment. Jesus Christ was delivered up to serve the sentence of death that our transgressions deserved. Over and over the Bible makes it plain that the death of Christ was for our sins, for our transgressions, and not for crimes that He committed because He never did.

Christ was raised from the dead to provide our justification. Two things are true here: (1) God would have been unjust to execute an innocent man in the place of the guilty and then not raise that innocent man from the dead, and (2) a dead high priest cannot mediate between man and God and therefore cannot save anyone – but our living High Priest, Jesus Christ, can!

Justification is by faith in God!