Imputed Righteousness

“For the love of Christ constrains us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who both died and was raised for them.” 2 Corinthians 5:14-15.

Here we see Paul’s reasoning. When we become disciples, we have the same hatred for our own life according to the flesh that Jesus demonstrated in the temple, where He spoke abut how He would raise up the temple again in three days. John chapter 2. It was the same with the battle He fought in Edom, which we read about in Isaiah 63. Then a day of vengeance was in His heart. His battle in “the flesh of David” was to destroy the lusts and desires, so that the body could be built up as the temple of the Holy Spirit. Then there would be peace in the body, peace in which to pray and listen. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.

The death which took place in Jesus’ body, and the fullness which came to dwell there in the days of His flesh, is imputed to His disciple when he signs the contract. This is the imputed righteousness on the basis of faith in Christ Jesus as High Priest and Lord.

We read in Romans 7:4-6: “Likewise, my brethren, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.”

Here we see again that what took place through the body of Jesus is imputed to us—but only if we continue to hate the lusts and desires of the flesh. Then we serve in the newness of the Spirit. This was a new ministry that Jesus introduced. He lived before the Father’s face. He lived in “the obedience of faith,” something neither His mother nor His brothers and sisters after the flesh could understand. And when he began His ministry, they thought He was beside Himself. Mark 3:21. “For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3. Such people seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth.

When we, like Jesus, serve in the newness of the Spirit, then what the Spirit shows us of what comes forth from our body—our nature—will be put to death, because we were baptized into His death. Romans 8:13-14. This is the disciple’s growth and development. What was imputed to him by virtue of the finished work of Christ Jesus will thus be carried out in Him. Hebrews 9:14. And the apostle writes, “The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. Do you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:10-14.

What do you hear when you read this? Do you hear the law when you hear these exhortations? If so, you have not heard the gospel. We read, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” Surely, to be under grace is not to be under the law, is it? No, it was Jesus who came with grace and truth, which is the gospel; Moses came with the law. However, because you have been led to believe in a false grace, a grace without truth, the workings of grace have become like law for you. Jude 3-5. “By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God; stand fast in it.” 1 Peter 5:12.

Grace had become so falsified already in those days that Peter took Silvanus as witness in declaring that they were in the true grace. And, since it was all by grace, it was our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who received the honor. Those who seek their own honor are not in God’s grace. 2 Peter 3:17-18.

Here we see that exhortations are a part of true grace. The apostle continues to write in his second epistle to those “. . . who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours in the righteousness of our god and Savior Jesus Christ.” We read further, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” Then he goes on to clarify for them: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature.”

Most Christians believe that divine nature is something we will have only when we get to heaven. But the apostle states clearly that it was by escaping “. . . from the corruption that is in the world because of passion . . . .” “For this very reason be diligent to show forth virtue in your faith . . . .”

Because they were in the true grace, he could continue to exhort them, and he intended to keep on doing so as long as he was in the body, even though they knew these things and were established in them. 2 Peter 1:1 flg.

Most people, when they hear an exhortation, say, “We can do nothing.” They are quoting Jesus, which makes them feel like they are on solid ground. But just as most people twist God’s Word to make it suit them, these people twist the words of Jesus. What did He really say? “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5.

So when they say, “we can do nothing,” they are actually saying they are outside of Him. Consequently, they are neither His disciples, nor are they members on the body of Christ.