Principles of HIS Righteousness, Not Ours

This Sunday in our corporate meditation on our confession of faith, we will be considering this short but infinitely important statement: “Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God” (Baptist Faith & Message 2000, IV.B).

That’s our problem as sinners: “...principles of His righteousness...” We do not stand before our Creator and Judge based upon a moral/ethical relativism that compares us to our neighbors, cultural sentiments, wisdom of the age, etc. We stand before Him based upon His standard, not ours.

“These things you have done and I kept silence; you thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes” (Psalm 50:21).

“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8,9).

He is not like us in a flexible, shifting idea of right and wrong based upon the feelings of the moment or a libertinism in which we are each our own law-giver. He is the unchanging, absolute God Who has given us His perfect standard in the Word of God. And we fall short. All of us. It’s not even close!

“Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:19,20,23).

Before the “principles of His righteousness,” all are guilty and merit only the eternal wrath of an eternally righteous God. “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 one who thinks he will gain entry into the eternal bliss because he is a “good person” has never read and believed God’s own testimony on the matter in Scripture. All are guilty before Him: “...there is none righteous, not even one...there is none who does good, there is not even one” (Romans 3:10,12, quoting from the Old Testament).

So, what is to be done?

Work harder?

Ignore the Law of the Judge and hope in blissful ignorance alone?

The answer is justification: the righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘But the righteous man shall live by faith [Habakkuk 2:4]’” (Romans 1:16,17).

We must stand before God with a righteousness that is as perfect as His own, a righteousness that that not come from us (who are radically incapable of even coming close to achieving perfect righteousness before a perfectly righteous God).

Jesus must be our righteousness.

“Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed [δικαιουται, “justified”] from all things, from which you could not be freed [δικαιωθηναι, “justified”] through the Law of Moses” (Acts 13:38,39).

“...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; Whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:23-26).

This confession of the righteousness of Christ being accounted to us by faith is under attack these days.1 We hold to it, not daring to think that in the coming Day the best efforts of our whole life lived will not match God’s perfect holy standard of righteousness. We plead Christ alone and His righteousness alone.

Those of you who think you can stand before God based on your own goodness or righteousness slander the cross of Christ! “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through [our keeping of] the Law, then Christ died needlessly” (Galatians 2:21). Repent of your self-righteousness and embrace the justification that comes through faith in Jesus Christ’s righteousness!

We hold to this confession.


1 I have a friend that holds to the teachings of this movement (New Perspectives on Paul, as they're called). They seek to redefine "justification" as having nothing to do with our status as sinners before a holy God, calling this view of justification as being the result of Martin Luther's existential angst over his own guilty struggle with sin. They argue that Paul meant no such thing in his theology of justification, that the New Testament idea of justification has nothing to do with our sin before a holy God or how to be saved from His wrath. With this confession we hold not just to Martin Luther's reclaiming of the biblical doctrine of justification, but Jesus' own estimation of what it means to be justified before God! “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:13,14).

The King's Gift of Repentance

This Sunday in our corporate reading of the confession, we’ll be speaking of regeneration: “Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour” (Baptist Faith & Message 2000, IV.A).

“Repent” is the first command of the Gospel (Mark 1:15). I say “command,” and not “invitation,” for that’s exactly what it is. The command to “repent” comes in the context of God’s Kingdom (Matthew 3:2; 4:17). The King doesn’t invite; He commands. We see this further in what is traditionally called “the Great Commission,” don’t we?

“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18-20).

“Repent” isn’t a popular approach to preaching the Gospel anymore, is it? Easy on modern sensibilities or not, it is the entryway into a saving obedience by faith to the Gospel (see Romans 1:5; 10:16; 16:26; 2 Thessalonians 1:8 for the idea of obeying the Gospel by faith). I suspect the command to “repent” in the Gospel has never been popular (like the true Gospel itself) because it labels us sinners so depraved that God Himself had to take on flesh and take His own wrath against us on Himself to accomplish the impossible: our salvation (Matthew 19:25,26; Mark 10:26,27; Luke 18:26,27). In an age where the religion is self and the worship self-esteem, the Gospel is scandal. As it should be. To help us overcome our inborn natural religion, God gives us a gift: the ability to obey His command to repent.

He gave it first to the Jews: “He is the One Whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31).

Then He gave it to the rest of us: “When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, ‘Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life’” (Acts 11:18).

The Holy Spirit brings it to His people through the Scriptures, including the apostolic letter: “For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it - for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while - I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation” (2 Corinthians 7:9-10). “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26). Note that both of these describe repentance not just at the initial moment of conversion, but continually in believers’ lives as they mortify sin. This, in fact, was Luther’s first point of the 95 Theses that sparked the Reformation (he nailed these to the Church door in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517)! The first Spirit-gifted repentance that begins our eternal life in Christ is a continual gift throughout this life as we are conformed to the image of Jesus Christ until the eternal day of Glory.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time...you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring Word of God” (1 Peter 1:3-5,23). If you are a Christian, He has caused you to be born again through the preaching of His Word, and His Word begins the Gospel with the command to “repent.”

Has the King given you the continual gift to obey His command by the power of His Spirit?

Person Faith That Is Corporate

Today's reading from the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 at Indian Hills Baptist Church will be from the introduction to article IV: “There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.”

Yes, it’s a personal faith in that no one else’s faith can be counted as yours for salvation. However, there is a tendency in our culture to compartmentalize faith to the extent that we regard it as private, isolated, and disconnected from others who share in that faith. The mythical, unbiblical “I can be Christian without the Church” mentality is “personal faith” taken to an extreme.

Faith. Note the following occurrences of the verb “to have faith,” translated “believe” (the Greek πιστεύω) in the Acts:

• “And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:44-47).
• “And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need” (Acts 4:32-35).

So keep in mind: “personal faith” does not mean isolated, individualistic faith. It is a faith that does separate you from the world, but immediately and always binds you to the congregation of “those who have received a faith of the same kind...by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1). It is a personal faith that is corporate; that is, of the Body.

“A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel” (VI).

See you at the Gathering, beloved.