DOES THE BIBLE REALLY SAY ...

THAT OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD IS BROKEN WHEN WE SIN? - 2

It was this denial of the grace nature of Christians' on-going relationship with God that Paul found it necessary to rebuke and undo in his letters to the Romans, the Galatians, the Colossians and the Philippians. In each of these churches the original grace-based relationship established by the Gospel was being over-ridden by a performance-based relationship. It seems to be embedded deep within the human heart to relate to God in a tit-for-tat, merit-based way. We keep on thinking that we must bring some puny little offering of our own goodness into the presence of God to maintain our right to be there, that we must do something to maintain his favourable attitude to us, to keep him blessing us.

This misconception, with its far-reaching implications, has its roots in a simple, but extremely significant error: the error of seeing ourselves in ourselves, apart from Christ, instead of always relating to God in Christ. As far as God is concerned he no longer relates to the believer apart from our mediator, Jesus Christ. We, on the other hand, persist in relating to God as isolated, stand-alone, individuals.

From the letter to the Romans we can identify the following distinctions:

IN OURSELVES
The wrath of God is revealed against us.
We are guilty and accountable.
No one is declared righteous by keeping the law.
We are under the judgement of God.
We are under the wrath of God.
We cannot please God.
We cannot submit to God’s law.
We do not submit to God’s law.
We are in a position of condemnation.
We are God’s enemies.
We are powerless.
We are hostile to God.
Our mindset is death.
We under the dominion of sin.
Sin reigns.
We are under the dominion of law.
Death reigns.
We are perishing.
We are ‘in the flesh’.
We are under the law of sin and death.

IN CHRIST
A righteousness from God is revealed (and is ours).
We are acquitted, justified, declared righteous.
We have righteousness apart from the law.
In Christ our substitute the judgement due to us has already been met.
We are reconciled to God, saved from God’s wrath
We have access into God’s presence.
Christ has fully met the requirements of the law on our behalf.
There is no condemnation.
We have peace with God.
What we could not do (that is, qualify for acceptance with God) Christ did for us.
Our mindset is peace.
Our mindset is life.
We are set free from the dominion sin.
Grace reigns.
We are released from the dominion of law.
We reign in life.
We have eternal life.
We are in Christ.
We are under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus..

As Paul has stated so clearly in 2 Corinthians 5:17, if anyone is ‘in Christ’ it’s a whole new set up. We no longer relate to God in ourselves, on the basis of our ability or inability to fulfill the law. Rather, we relate to God always and only in Christ, on the basis of his fulfilment of the law on our behalf as our substitute.

In Romans Paul hammers out the totality of Christ’s identification with us as our substitute in such a way as to rule out the law/performance-based relationships with God we commonly embrace. We all, as Christians, probably have some knowledge that Jesus died for us, but just what the impact of that is appears to be somewhat in doubt. Paul, however, had do doubts about it at all.

We will look further at this in next week’s meditation.