What you don't understand is that when you accept Jesus' sacrifice for sins as your own, sure; your sins are washed away but Jesus' righteousness, the righteousness of God, is also imputed to you. It becomes a covering that you wear like a coat. This is the meaning of the term, born again, Jesus used in John 4 while talking with the Samaritan woman. Those who accept Jesus' sacrifice as their own, by faith, are washed from their sins but then also baptized into Jesus' death. The problem is that once you have been baptized into Jesus' death you are raised up in Christ Jesus. Jesus did not arise from the dead as Saviour, however; He arose from the dead as Lord. The question is, "What do you do with the Lord?" The correct response would be to honor, respect, and love the Lord but the world wide Church is taught to dishonor the Lord by disobeying by ignoring His commandment (from website “Letter to a Friend”).
It occurs to me that it might help if we understood what righteousness is and why it is so transformative. Righteousness is defined as doing the right thing. In Romans 10:3, Paul states that the Jews did not understand the righteousness of God. “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes.” In Mark 7:9-13, the scriptures reveal how the Jews went about to establish their own righteousness.
“Full well you reject the commandment of God, that you might keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honor your father and mother; and who so curses father or mother, let him die the death: but you say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever you might be profited by me; he shall be free and you suffer him to no longer do anything for his father or mother. This makes the word of God of none effect and causes the people to keep your tradition and many other like things you do.”
While God commanded respect, the Jews exchanged respect with sacrifice. The Hebrew word, corban, means to butcher an animal. When animals were sacrificed to God for the sins of the people they were essentially butchered. Some parts were cut off and set aside for the priests and their families to eat. The tribe of Levi was assigned the duties of the priesthood and received no inheritance of land in the nation of Israel. They were to receive their inheritance through the priesthood. The old covenant commands that the muzzle of the ox not be covered as it works the field. This was so that the ox could eat the grain it was harvesting. God provided for the priests through the duty they served to God.
When the word “corban” is placed together with the phrase, “that is to say, a gift,” it is clear what the Jews were teaching as the law of God. They said that if a man was to present himself as a living sacrifice to the Lord, a gift to God, he was no longer obligated to honor his father or mother. The act of sacrifice was deemed a higher form of righteousness than the act of honor. Going back to Romans 10:3, the Jews didn’t appreciate God’s definition of righteousness and feeling that sacrifice was greater than honor, they elevated sacrifice above honor thus instituting a different form of righteousness than God’s definition. Once they had changed the definition of righteousness, the path to submission to God’s righteousness was obscured.
Which brings us to Romans 12:3: “For I say, through the grace given to me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God has given to every man the measure of faith.” The problem is that the flesh thinks more highly of himself than he ought to think. This was Adam’s problem in the Garden of Eden. The righteousness of God is respect and honor. As long as Adam respected and honored the Lord and the commandment He gave, he lived in righteousness. However, when Adam disrespected God by interpreting the commandment, changing God’s Word thereby, he became unrighteous. It is not the disobedience that made Adam unrighteous; it is the disrespect for God, which caused the disobedience that made him unrighteous.
The Church, by and large, fails to understand that by faith in Jesus’ death, the righteousness of God is imputed to them. As long as they accept Jesus’ payment for sins as the payment for their personal sins, God’s righteousness is imputed to them as a covering. All of the old covenant laws were fulfilled by Jesus as he honored and respected His Father. This fulfillment of old covenant law is imputed to those who “believe in Jesus.” Therefore, as long as the faith in Jesus’ death is maintained the covering is maintained and no transgressions of any of the old covenant laws are imputed to them. This is what it means to be born again and the reason the experience is so transformative. By faith in Jesus’ death for sins, mankind goes from sinner to saint. However, just as the old covenant Jews failed to understand the righteousness of God, the Church has made the same mistake.
In Acts 1:4, just before His ascension, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings; the only blessed Potentate, the only wise God, issues one commandment to the charter members of the organization He has just established through His own suffering and death; one commandment in the new covenant age. Sometime early in the first century, some Church leaders failed to appreciate the righteousness of God, which is honor and respect. They could not see how the gift of tongues was honoring or respecting God and in their ignorance they sought to curtail the practice in church services. They began to teach that the gift of tongues was too disruptive and therefore was dishonoring to a God of order. They took the commandment Jesus issued to His Church and surmised that it was a personal commandment given only to the apostles. They then taught that the apostles had perfectly obeyed the commandment issued to them and that this perfect obedience fulfilled the commandment for all time and no other Christian should concern themselves with attempting to keep this commandment. Then they elevated the Saviour’s commandment to love one another above the commandment of the Lord to wait for the baptism with the Spirit, making the sacrifice of love the higher spiritual act.
Soon, the whole of the New Testament was interpreted to line up with this new definition of righteousness and one generation teaches the next and here we have two thousand years of the thinking that the commandment Jesus issued in the new covenant age is an obsolete commandment just like Moses’ commandment to honor father and mother was deemed obsolete by the Jewish leaders. Moreover, we are the same distance of time from Jesus as Jesus was from Moses when He gave the Jews the Ten Commandments. The flesh thinks more highly of itself than it should. Therefore, the flesh seeks to tear down God’s definition of righteousness, which is to honor and respect those who are worthy of honor and respect. The flesh seeks to honor its self and its accomplishments. Thus honor and respect is heaped upon the great scholars among us and we awe over their interpretation of God’s Word and praise them as great teachers. Yet they disrespect the God of love and dishonor His Word.
Today, the water concerning salvation is completely muddied. Most churches teach that you must believe in Jesus and keep the old covenant laws in order to be saved. Sin is defined as the breaking of old covenant laws and believers are taught to repent of these sins. All emphasis is placed on the work of the cross for sin. Other churches recognize that Jesus was raised from the dead as Lord and celebrate His Lordship but then deny the Lord the respect and honor He deserves by interpreting His Word. The commandment He gave the Church is overlooked.
This is all because the flesh thinks more highly of its self than it ought. Many believers think the Word of God must be interpreted to be understood. In order to believe this, you must also believe that God was not able to convey His thoughts to man in such a way that they did not need man’s help to understand. If God needed our help, should we not rather be worshipping man instead of God? And, of a truth, we are. Each time we agree that an interpretation of God’s Word is more accurate than the Word itself; each time we feel that we must tweak God’s Word, or change it just a little, we are exchanging our loving heavenly Father in our worship to mankind. We are worshipping the graven image we have set up.
Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes,” means something entirely different today than when Paul wrote these words down. The term “Christ” is a title Jesus earned by His death on the cross. Thus, Christ, or Saviour, is the end of the old covenant law for righteousness to everyone that believes because the old covenant law ended with Jesus’ death to all who accept His sacrifice for sins. However, the presence of a commandment issued by the Lord in the new covenant age means that the standard for God’s righteousness has been reset. In other words, the Jews had so distorted the righteousness of God that no one could attain it. Jesus came to reset God’s standard in as simple a fashion as possible.
The problem comes in after sinners are transformed through acceptance of Jesus’ broken body and shed blood for sin, after they are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. To disrespect the Lord’s commandment by changing it to suit the desires of our flesh or by simply ignoring that it exists is incredibly dishonoring of the one whose righteousness you now wear as a covering. The New Testament informs us that the breaking of a commandment is sin and sin is unrighteousness. So although believers are clothed with the righteousness of Christ through faith in His death, they make themselves unworthy to wear that righteousness through disrespect of His commandment.
Consider this: “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness” (Gal.3:6). However, it is not the faith of Abraham that was accounted to him as righteousness; the word “it” refers to the respect Abraham showed God in believing that what God said was trustworthy. God asked Abraham to leave his home and his family and walk out into the desert to find a city that God, Himself, had built. Abraham lived in a busy metropolis with goods coming into the city from all over the region daily. If such a city existed Abraham would have heard of it. The city did not exist in this realm and Abraham had never heard of it. In spite of this, Abraham went out into the desert to look for the city God had spoke of. Abraham had respect for God’s Word. Abraham honored God by His obedience. He obeyed because He believed. He believed because he honored.
The problem is that the word of God was written from God’s perspective. When we try to use natural human wisdom to understand what God has said, everything gets twisted. Which is why Paul said, “Be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom.12:2) and the Old Testament is full of admonitions to meditate on God’s Word. While the natural human inclination is to put the emphasis on Abraham’s faith, God seeks to emphasize the respect and honor Abraham used in his approach to God. Only to God, the respect and honor goes without saying, it is a given and doesn’t need to be identified. That God deserves honor should not need to be said. Therefore, “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness.” His faith was accounted as righteousness because he believed because he honored God. Righteousness means “to do the right thing” and the right thing from God’s perspective is to honor those who deserve honor. To dishonor is sin.
When we receive Jesus’ payment for sins as our own, all of our sins are washed away but we are also baptized into His death and receive His honoring and respecting of His Father in His earthly life as our own. We receive this righteousness as a coat or cloak and this covering is maintained by this same faith. “Jesus is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes” (Rom.10:4). However, as soon as we are baptized into Jesus’ death we are raised up to sit with Him in the heavenlies. The question is; how do we treat the Lord? Do we disrespect Him by ignoring the commandment He issued the Church? Does it seem wise to you to dishonor the Lord after being clothed by His righteousness? If you had one hundred lives to lay down for the Lord, it would not be enough to wash away this disrespect.
As long as there is breathe in our lungs we can repent of our sin, be washed white as snow, and start over right. Such is the incredible love and longsuffering of our God. Jesus died that we might be saved; not just washed from our sins. Each and every day we must lay our lives down to take up His as the Holy Spirit pours out of our bellies. This is the meaning of the word “baptize.” To wait for the baptism with the Spirit is to wait to be saturated by the Holy Spirit as He pours out of your innermost being and manifests Himself as tongues. You see, the gift of tongues, in all its glory, is dwarfed by the importance of honoring the Lord of salvation. This is what early Church leaders failed to recognize. Although there are many good reasons to speak in tongues, the honor and respect shown for the Lord of salvation is the most important. This honor is revealed by obedience and obedience reveals the honor. Paul said we must believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus in order to be saved. It is not enough to be clothed with the righteousness of the old covenant; we must also put on Christ in all meekness and lowliness of heart. Jesus is represented in this age by the Holy Spirit who pours out of our bellies through obedience of the Lord’s commandment.
This simple act of submitting to the Lordship of Christ daily instates the righteousness of the new covenant in our lives. Remember, in Romans 10, Paul is comparing the Jews to the Church. He is lamenting over the Jews because the Jews went about to establish their own standard of righteousness because they failed to recognize God’s standard of righteousness, which made them unable to submit to God’s righteousness. This was meant as a warning to Church leaders not to make the same mistake. Alas, it fell on deaf ears.
By the time Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, the Jews taught a derivation of the Ten Commandments in the synagogues. The leaders of the Church have bested the Jews. The one commandment of the Lord Christ Jesus is not in the consciousness of the modern Church. Most Christians are not even aware that Jesus issued a commandment after His resurrection. Yet, when Paul sought to teach some etiquette to the Corinthians concerning the receiving of communion, he didn’t speak of the Saviour’s supper or the cup of the Christ; he spoke of the Lord’s Supper. When he asked them to examine themselves to see if they were worthy of the body and blood of the Christ, it was not Jesus’ title of Christ that he used; it was His title of Lord. How would a blood washed saint, one clothed with the Saviour’s righteousness, become unworthy of the body and blood of the Lord? Of course, the idea that it could have anything to do with the Lord’s commandment is preposterous! Yet, if we totally ignore the Lord’s commandment and pretend He never issued it, or if we interpret that it has been fulfilled with no scriptural foundation and hold that it is no longer applicable to Christians without scriptural evidence, have we not dishonored the Lord; the one who died for our sins? If we dishonor the Lord does that not affect our worthiness to receive the Saviour’s body and blood?
The flesh of mankind looks on the gift of tongues with disdain. Therefore, leaders of the Church have a dual reason for controlling the gift. While not being able to understand the Lord’s righteousness (definition of right behavior) and in their zeal to be righteous, they changed the righteousness of God for traditions of men because they could understand their own thoughts. Moreover, the gift of tongues is a nuisance that must be controlled for the sensibilities of man. The whole of the scripture has been interpreted to reflect these positions. However, all one needs is a little integrity, a little honor for God and the veil over the eyes begins to drop.
God’s definition of righteousness is fulfilled as people show the proper respect and honor for the Saviour who died in our stead for our sins. To accept His sacrifice and apply it to your life honors the one who provided it. On the other hand, to ignore the sacrifice Jesus made on your behalf would be incredibly dishonoring. Similarly, to recognize and obey the commandment the Lord issued His Church honors the Lord and respects His office of Lord of Lords and King of Kings, the only blessed Potentate (1Tim.6:15), the only wise God (Jude1:25), but to ignore that commandment or interpret that it has no bearing in your life is incredibly dishonoring and disrespectful of the one who holds all authority in heaven and in earth. Thus, those who are clothed by the righteousness of Christ by faith in His death become unworthy of the righteousness they wear through disrespect of the Lord.
Consider 1Samuel 15:22: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams.” In typical human kind thinking, Saul thought to sacrifice would be the higher form of righteousness or right behavior or the right thing to do rather than to follow the instructions of Samuel who spoke for God. Instead of hearing, “Well done thou good and faithful servant,” the kingship was stripped from him and given to another who so respected and honored Saul because he was appointed king by the Lord, even though he had fallen from grace, would not raise a finger against him even though the Lord delivered king Saul into David’s hand on several occasions. God spoke of David, saying, “He is a man after my own heart” because David cherished honor and respect. All David’s sins were not imputed to him because he understood God’s definition of righteousness and practiced it.
The modern Church teaches that God rewards sacrifice and honors it. We are taught that sacrificial living and sacrificial giving grabs God’s attention and that He honors and respects those who live and give sacrificially with healing and health and great financial gain. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Lord honors obedience when obedience comes because of honor and respect. That obedience requires sacrifice is a secondary truth. It is not the sacrifice that God seeks; it is the honor that provides the sacrifice. The Lord honors those who honor Him and none of their transgressions are imputed to them.
The purpose of the Lord is to cause human kind to inherit the complete estate of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Why would He be impressed with our ability to sacrifice?