9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
This is a continuation of the sentence started in verse 8, above. Paul develops the theme of knowing Christ (vs. 8) and being found in Him (verses 9, 10, and 11) in which he lists at least five blessings you receive by knowing and being in Christ.
***Vs. 9 - “and may be found in Him” - (continued from vs. 8, i.e., “may gain Christ”), My life is in Jesus. My life can be in Jesus, because He died for my sins, and was resurrected as proof the price was paid in full! The life flows from Jesus to me (and other believers). Being ‘close’ to Jesus is not good enough. Knowing about Jesus will not save. Fully immersed in His life, and His life filling mine is the answer.
Old Testament writing provides the metaphor “God is my rock, my fortress...” The only way you can take refuge is to be in the fortress. In the American Old West, settlers would farm near the U.S. Army forts. Settlers would flee to the fort if they feared an attack was imminent. They had to be in the fort to be protected.
The concept of being in Christ is mentioned at least 87 times in the New Testament. For example: Eternal life is found in Christ (Rom. 6:23). There is no condemnation in Christ (Rom. 8:1). There is wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification in Christ (1 Cor. 1:30). We are new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).
“not having a righteousness of my own” - That is: Righteousness he has earned by obedience to the Law.
Can we do enough good deeds, or attend church regularly enough, or work in a Sunday School class enough years to be so righteous that God me meet God’s minimum standard? (See Titus 3:5,6).
This righteousness is the first of the blessings we receive by our faith in Christ Jesus. What is righteousness? It is being in a condition acceptable to God; approved of God. It means that person is entitled to all the advantages and rewards arising from being His own, and not from perfect obedience to the law. It is someone morally upright, without guilt or sin. That person must be holy, because God is holy. (See Lev. 11:44) In Psa. 32:1-2, we are blessed when our sins are forgiven and we are free of iniquity. Jesus’ brother echoes this in his letter: “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” Jude 1:24-25.
“through faith in Christ” - Paul gets to the heart of the matter here. This may be the central theme verse of this letter - Righteousness is yours by faith in Christ.
Faith is the conviction that God exists, and that salvation comes through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. “Faith” is mentioned 228 times, and “believe” 115 times in the New Testament.
How important is faith? “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (Heb. 11:6)
At one point in Jesus’ ministry, He is asked what works need to be done. His answer, “Believe in Him (Jesus) whom He (God the Father) has sent.” (See: John 6:28,29). If you believe in Christ, you will receive eternal life. (John 3:15) Paul says the righteous will live because of their faith. (Rom. 1:17)
In other places is the New Testament, it is stated that faith saves. (See: Luke 7:50; Acts 15:9;). Jesus taught Paul that sanctification (being made holy, righteous, or blameless) is by faith. (See: Acts 26:15-18).
Do you need an abundance of faith? No. Even a little faith is effective! (See: Mark 11:22ff; Matt. 17:19-21; Luke 5:19-24.) Anyone, even a Gentile, can have faith in God and Jesus! Jesus commended the faith of a Roman centurion. (See: Luke 7:9).
“From God on the basis of faith,” - The righteousness you need to have a permanent relationship with God is supplied by Him! (See: Acts 3:15-16, 17:31; Rom. 3:22)
Vs. 10 - “that I may know Him” - The primary reason we (that is, all of us, you and I) need the righteousness of God is so we may know Jesus personally and intimately. He knows everything about you. You transition from knowing nothing about Jesus, to just a knowing little. Because He is Spirit, we must worship Him in Spirit and truth. (See: John 4:34). We wait for the day when we will know Him fully, and worship Him in His glory.
“And the power of His resurrection” - The power of resurrection, which is your resurrection to eternal life, is the second blessing. We are being delivered from the domain of darkness, and transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son. (Col. 1:13). Without resurrection, that is, without being born again we have no hope of eternal life. (See: John 3:3-8) Our old bodies are decaying day-by-day, and will be shed. We will receive new bodies, being renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit. (See: 2 Cor. 4:16, 5:17)
“the fellowship of His sufferings” - If you are anything like me, you are wondering “How can suffering be a blessing?” (The third blessing listed) Then you start mental cartwheels, or back flips with a round-off (Olympic-class imagineer) on how to rationalize this concept. Christ, Himself said that we would be persecuted, simply because He was persecuted. (See: John 15:20, Luke) We are not greater than Christ our Savior, so we can not expect to be treated better.
The “world” persecuted Christ, put on a sham trial and then executed Him. The world does not love Jesus, nor His followers. Sufferings will come because we are living for Jesus.
Persecution must not come upon us because we are behaving badly (See: Almost any activity by the Westboro Baptist Church - the crazies that protest at funerals of servicemen killed in battle). In Peter’s first letter, a whole chapter is penned regarding this. (See: 1 Pet. 4:1-16) Summed up: never suffer because of evil actions. Live at peace with people, yet being willing to share your faith in Christ to anyone who asks you. (See: 1 Pet. 3:15)
Paul was ready to go anywhere the Lord would direct him. He was ready to share his faith in Jesus Christ at any time. Living a sanctified life (not sanctimonious, but separated and holy before God) will bring disdain and hatred. It will bring light to the people around you, and some will be upset, very upset, because they do not want the light exposing the way they conduct themselves. (See: Matt. 5:16; Luk. 8:16-17; John 1:5; John 3:19-21)
Paul understood and knew the suffering Jesus Christ went through in order to pay for our sins. Christ took on a burden we never, never could endure. Whatever Paul suffered, and in extension what we may suffer, is “nothing” in comparison. Paul was willing to suffer for the gospel (2 Tim. 1:8). He rejoiced in the suffering for Jesus! (Col. 1:24) He knew as we emulated the suffering of Christ we would share in the comfort through Christ (Rom. 8:16-17; 1 Cor. 1:5-7).
Jesus Christ also suffered emotionally as he wept for Jerusalem and Israel. His thoughts may have been echoed from the book of Ezekiel, “Why then would you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezek. 18:31; 33:11) Paul had a burden on his heart for the Gentiles. What an example for you and I - to have a burden for our family, our friends, our neighbors - that we might ache for them to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
“being conformed to His death” - What a blessing it is die to self, so that we may be given a new self that has its life in Jesus. (This is the fourth blessing in the list.) When Christ died for our sins, His earthly body died and was buried. When Christ resurrected, He had a new body. Not a repaired and fixed up body, but a whole new body. If you and I want to share in His resurrection, we must know our earthly body must die and be taken away - none of it will be, or is, acceptable in the presence of God. We will be given news bodies, like Jesus’ body. We are new creatures. (See: Rom. 6:6; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9-10). “The Normal Christian Life”, by Watchman Nee does a wonderful, detailed discussion of this subject, based on Paul’s the letter to the Romans. Watchman does a much better job than me. Unless you give up your body in death to Christ you cannot receive the new body. He is not telling you to go out and get yourself killed for Christ. You must fully accept that the body you now live in must die to Christ - when and if you accept Christ’s death for you, the body which already has a death sentence is now dead for all intents and purposes. Your new, perfect body provided by God through Christ is waiting for you to occupy it. “Conformed to His death” is your body must die as did Jesus Christ’s body, so that you may have a new imperishable body as does our Lord and Savior. This is not mental gymnastics, imaginations, rationalizations. If Christ did not die for your sin, you must die in your sin (“die” as in eternal separation from God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.) He died so that we may live with Him forever. (See: 1 Pet. 3:18; Rom. 6:10).
Vs. 11 - “attain to the resurrection from the dead” - Eternal life - the fifth blessing. Of Course, Paul says it best, “But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, ‘DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?’The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;” (1 Cor. 15:54-56). We do not gain immortality without resurrection. We do not gain salvation, or resurrection, without faith in Christ. Believe on Him and you shall be saved. (See: Acts 16:31, Rom. 10:9, 10)
To sum up, Paul has listed five (5) positive benefits from knowing Christ as Lord and Savior:
- To gain the righteousness from from God, through faith;
- To know the power of His resurrection;
- To know the fellowship with Him, and His sufferings;
- To be conformed to His death;
- To receive resurrection from the dead.
No comments:
Post a Comment