What Is Your Faith In?

Today in church as I eagerly awaited our Pastor's sermon in Acts, my thoughts drifted back to junior year at Northwestern and my Romans and Galatians class. There I was sitting at my desk listening to the lecture when the words of the professor caught my heart. As I dedicated my full attention to his words I heard him pose this question which almost three years later I now will pose to you...
Are we justified by the faith of Jesus Christ or by faith in Jesus Christ?
He brought up this question in relation to Galatians 2:16 which in the King James Version reads
"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified" But in the ESV, "Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified."
You may be asking yourself, what is the difference between the two? Or why is this question important?
Let me first start by presenting the dramatic difference that the answer to this question brings to the life of a believer. If you are justified by the faith of Jesus Christ, then it is HIS FAITH that has given you peace with God, access to God, and His faith which has made it possible for all of your sins to be forgiven and you to live eternally with God. However if it is faith in Jesus Christ that has justified it is the believers faith which has caused these things to be so.
At this point you may be saying to yourself is not it both working together His faith and our faith that accomplishes justification for the believer? The answer to this question is yes and no :) Let me explain... It is the faith of Christ that has accomplished justification for all men who believe... It is our faith that appropriates this justification to our account. Romans 3:22 also explains that our righteousness (justification) was accomplished by the faith of Jesus Christ: "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ  unto all and upon all them that believe" however again the ESV translation changes the faith that provides righteousness to our faith "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe."
Now, here is the essence of why this concept of us being justified by the faith of Jesus Christ is so important for us to understand: Christ's faith is perfect. Unlike our own faith which can be wavering and often tossed too and fro Christ's faith was completely perfectly faithful.
Christ went to Calvary in absolute confidence that his death would pay for the justification of all that would trust in Him. Jesus Christ was the first person to believe in God's plan of salvation. He left heavens glory in obedience to the Father and committed Himself to the Father's will. Christ's faith is trustworthy. And it is His faith which justifies the believer, it is our faith which appropriates this justification to our account.
Our faith rests in His faith which accomplished the finished work of the cross. Galatians 2:20 " I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith  of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Again the ESV translates this differently; "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
Without His faith our faith has nothing to rest in, this is why the King James Version makes it clear that it is first His faith and then our faith in His. Christ's faith worked alone in accomplishing justification for all who would believe. Christ's faith and our faith work together as we believe in His faith and it is appropriated to us. If you take out His faith you are left with nothing to have faith in!
Unto His Glory!

Fully and Irrevocably Accepted

Josh and I recently returned from a visit to California to celebrate my sister's wedding. It was a beautiful beach wedding with just a hint of rain, which only added to the glorious ambiance of that day! As I stood on the beach that day listening to my sister and her new husband exchange their vows and watching them proclaim their devotion and loyalty to each other, I could only glory in how wonderful God is in His full and irrevocable acceptance of us.
Marriage is of course a symbol of Christ and the Church, so for a wedding to be a time of reflection on Christ's love towards us is not a strange thing by any means; however, I found myself somewhat sad knowing that not everyone knows or experiences in their Christian walk the FULL and IRREVOCABLE acceptance that we have as members of Christ's body.
A few days later I met two of my very best friends for lunch and again as we spoke the topic of God's acceptance was brought to the forefront of our conversation. I again felt sadness sweep over me and I wanted to shout, to proclaim from the rooftops.... WE ARE FULLY AND IRREVOCABLY ACCEPTED.
But, even if I did shout this out, would people really understand and begin to live in the truth of the glorious blessings that this acceptance secures?
It was about three years ago that the knowledge and understanding of God's acceptance began to seep into my heart and take the place of the former performance based acceptance I had used to replace the truth of God's full, irrevocable acceptance! It started simply with a book introduced to my now husband and I by our father: The Complete Green Letters written by Miles J. Stanford. As Josh began to read this book and share it with me I found myself questioning what it truly meant to be complete in Him. What it meant to be a new creature?
"Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are past away; behold all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).Throughout Romans 5 we are taught that through Adam all were made sinners (this is our old nature). Romans 7:18 makes it clear that in that old man (Adam) "dwelleth no good thing". However, Romans 5 also makes it clear that "By the obedience of one (namely Christ) many shall be made righteous" and that "in Him dwelleth the fullness of the godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him" (Colossians 2:9-10).
So, again my head swirled with questions. How is one taken out of Adam and "no good thing" and placed into Christ being "complete in Him" ? Romans 6:6-7 "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin."
At this point I learned to love Romans!!!! I loved learning that when Christ died, I died with Him. When He was buried, I too was buried! And most joyously when He was RAISED, I TOO WAS RAISED. "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we should also live with Him: knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin ONCE: but in that he liveth he liveth unto God" (Romans 6:10).
Acceptance in the beloved is full, complete, and irrevocable at the time of salvation and from every day following! Acceptance is not based off of the believers performance, but instead based on Christ's finished performance at the cross. As a new creature the believer should walk rejoicing each day that sin has NO MORE dominion over him.
But, how is this done? What does this look like? Well, I will give you some simple ways it has impacted my growth in God's grace. But first, I must remind the reader that in what I am about to say I do not intend to minimize sin and its harmful effects, but instead to put it in its rightful place as having "no dominion" in a believers life. That being said...
In this life, until the glorious day of our rapture, we carry around our flesh. It is inevitable that we will sin daily, Lord willing less and less as we grow in His grace, but we will always sin as long as we have our flesh. However, if we view ourselves as Christ views us as dead with him and buried with him and raised again with him, when we sin we say this is NOT who I am. Yes, of course, it is our current situation, but we must look past this and see ourselves as God sees us: "But God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ, (by grace are ye saved;) and hath RAISED us up together, and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-5).
We are to rest, even though our outward flesh may be failing daily, we must in reckon our flesh to be dead on the cross.
After sinning we must not allow sin to reign over us by putting us under guilt and condemnation. There is no condemnation in Christ (Romans 8). Instead may we rejoice in the grace of God that has NOW seated us in heavenly places with Christ.
Stanford eloquently stated it like this "The believer who is not aware of his perfect position before God, who does not realize that the father has already placed him in the light of his presence, is more aware of his self-centered condition than his Christ-centered position." We are to focus on who we are in Christ at all times. Especially when dealing with matters of sin.
A final thought for closing: How many of your sins were paid for at the cross? Was it only those that were those you would commit before you were saved? If this is your current thought process. Ask yourself. How many of my sins were future at the time that Jesus paid for my sins on the cross.
The answer, of course, is all of our sins were future at the cross. Upon salvation we were cleansed of ALL sins past, present, and future. Therefore, through His performance we can walk in our Christ-centered position: resting in our full, complete, and irrevocable acceptance!

Unto His Glory!