Chapter # 8 Paragraph # 4 Study # 13
April 15, 2008
Lincolnton, N.C.

• I. The Steps in the Divine Program.
  • A. Establishing the "Purpose" in "Love".
  • B. Establishing the "primary methodology": the conformity of each of the participants to the character of the King.
  • C. Developing "sub-methodologies" which include...
    • 1. Foreknowledge [See Study # 8 <386> of this series, March 4, 2008].
    • 2. Predestination [See Studies: # 9 <388> of this series, March 11; # 10 <390>, March 18; and # 11 <392>, April 1].
    • 3. Calling [See Study # 12 <394> of this series, April 8, 2008].
    • 4. Justification: the judicial application of the Substitutionary Atonement to the one who has been "circumcised of heart". His prior debt has been paid and he has been recreated after the image of Him Who created him (the "new creation" of 2 Corinthians 5:17/Galatians 6:15 and the "renewal" of Colossians 3:10).
      • a. The issues of justification are profound and have been attacked continuously by the adversaries of salvation by grace.
      • b. The major issue in justification is the transferral of the "righteousness of God", which has its central presence in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, from Jesus to the "justified".
        • 1) Paul says, in Romans 1:16-17, that the "Gospel" is a revelation of the righteousness of God as an acquisition from God "by faith". As such, it is an explanation of how a person who is not righteous may become so.
        • 2) Paul said, in a sermon in Acts 13:16 and following, that "remission of sins" is through the resurrected Man, Jesus (13:33), and results in "justification from all things, from which ye [we] could not be justified by the Law of Moses" (13:39).
          • a) He says in Romans 2:13 that, in regard to the Law of Moses, those are not justified before God who merely hear and know the difference between right and wrong, but who actually perform what is right and, according to James in James 2:10, totally abstain from any violation of that Law in any of its hundreds of particulars.
          • b) He concludes an extended presentation of his argument in Romans 3:20 by declaring that "by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight".
          • c) He further declared in Philippians 3:6-9 that this stands true even in the case of one who is, "...as touching the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless." In other words, even if a man is blameless before Moses, he will not be found blameless before God by virtue of his zeal for establishing his own righteousness by his own performance.
          • d) This truth Paul underscores in Romans 10:3 where he actually declares that all who are "going about to establish their own righteousness" are actually in rebellion against (they have refused to submit themselves to) the righteousness of God.
        • 3) Paul went on to explain in Romans 3:24 that justification is a "free" act of the grace of God on the basis of the redemption payment made by Christ Jesus. The "freeness" of the act means that there is no "obligation" on either side of the issue: God is not constrained by any merit of man, nor is man constrained by any demand of God. This does not exclude relational reality (justification as a free act of grace is not granted by a Machine) but it does exclude any and all bases for "boasting". In other words, "faith" as a relational requirement is definitively in the picture and cannot be excluded, but "faith" is not, in any sense, a basis for "boasting" as an exercise of self-exaltation over others. God does not justify in order to keep people from coming to the experience of His final wrath; He justifies in order to bring people back into a working, personal, relationship with Himself so that both He, and they, may interact with each other without the barrier of moral pollution. Thus, justification is not merely a decree by God that exempts sinners from the experience of Justice; it is also an act of God by which He paves the way for us to become genuinely righteous by virtue of "re-creation". John claimed in 1 John 3:9 that "whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God." The only way this can be true is if the distinction is made and maintained as to the real origin of sin. Paul says in Romans 7:17, and then repeats himself in 7:20, that any sin that proceeds out of his body has its origins in inner Sin so that "it is no more I who sin". Thus, we are bodies who are simultaneously indwelt by a continuing sinner and by a holy saint who does not sin. In this condition we are challenged to refuse the inner sinner access to our bodies by making those bodies only available to the holy saint.
          • a) This question does here arise: if "I" cannot sin by reason of my new creation state, how does my body yet produce sins?
          • b) The only answer Paul gives is 7:25 -- "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the Law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."
          • c) The "problem" here is that, regardless of whether I have been recreated in sinlessness, or not, I still "sin" and I still bear some responsibility for "not sinning". But, the bottom line of that responsibility seems to be "faith". To the degree that I "believe" in the deliverance of Jesus Christ, I am delivered from the production of sins out of my body. And, to the degree that I "disbelieve" in the deliverance of Jesus Christ, I am taken into bondage by Sin that dwells in me.
      • c. The final impact of "justification" in this text is that God has, by declaring those righteous who have "believed" in His provision of a suitable Substitute, "qualified" us for participation in the Kingdom of God as far as making us judicially acceptable is concerned.
    • 5. Glorification: the historical application of the "justification unto glory" process that was initiated at the summons and culminated at the point of physical death/instantaneous transformation. Glorification is the final stage of preparation for participation in that being "declared" righteous is an insufficient basis for participation: one must actually be changed into those who cannot sin and can actually never violate the Love of God by any thought, word, or deed for as long as eternity lasts.