Rewarding Every Man According to His Works

The following is an answer to a question regarding judgment passages such as Matthew 16:27 and Revelation 22:12.

Hi I--,

I couldn't find anything that I had specifically written on this subject, but I have a sermon on the sheep and the goats that touches near the issue. The most important thing we need to keep in mind is that God's judgment is all about righteousness. It is not about God judging us for our good deeds with our bad deeds, giving us some good back for the good we've done and giving us some bad back for the bad we've done depending on the proportion of each. That is how most people tend to think the judgment will be, but in reality no one will get five cookies and three coals from God, so to speak. It's all or nothing, because righteousness is all or nothing (Deut. 6:5, 25, 12:32; Gal. 3:10; James 2:10). Those who have "done good" are the righteous, and those who have "done evil" are the unrighteous. There is no in-between.

"For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to what he has done." (Matt. 16:27)

Whenever Jesus describes this day, it always has to do with the "righteous" and the "unrighteous" (Matt. 13:37-43, 47-50, 25:31-46). There will not be a judgment where a man stands before God and is given a mixed recompense. A person either does good or does bad. There are no other options.

It is amazing how John states this:

"Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that does good is of God; but he that does evil has not seen God." (3 John 1:11)

Jesus:

"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth: they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." (John 5:28-29)

Paul adds a very important ending to Jesus' "according to what he has done" phrase. We must keep this in mind:

"We must all be [revealed for what we truly are] before the judgment seat of Christ, so that every one may receive in the body according to what he has done, whether what he has done was good or evil." (2 Cor. 5:10, my paraphrase)

In the eyes of the world, could John, Jesus and Paul have been more ambiguous? Have you "done good"? How do we judge that? It seems so general! We can see immediately that if we understand good and evil in the way they are commonly understood we are at a loss, because everyone, according to the common understanding, does a mixture of good and evil. What is goodness? What is evil? What does the passage mean by these? Without the Biblical truth of righteousness we are at a loss. Through the gospel we understand that good and evil have everything to do with righteousness. A man does good when he is righteous, and does evil when he is unrighteous.

However, no one does good (Rom. 3:12). There are none righteous, not even one (Rom. 3:10). So how will any pass the judgment? How will God resurrect the righteous if there are none? Yet the Scriptures also state that there are righteous people, who are born of God, and therefore that "do good". We reconcile this apparent contradiction (and it is an apparent contradiction) by pointing to that righteousness from God which is given to us through faith in Christ. We are not righteous by obedience to the law, but are counted righteous through faith in Jesus Christ, and therefore attain to the resurrection of the righteous. Clothed with this righteousness, the Judge will judge us as righteous on that day. In this way believers have done good. This is the language of Genesis 4:7: "If you do well, will you not be accepted? But if you do not well..." What is it to "do well" in context but to do what righteous Abel did? That was to believe (Heb. 11:4). The Bible uses the language of "doing good" or "doing righteousness" (ex. Gen. 18:19, Is. 64:5, 1 John 2:29, 3:7, 10). We know that righteousness is moral perfection, but how do we do it? How do we become righteous, and thus live on judgment day? It is not through the doing of the law, but through faith in Christ that we "do righteousness". Believing is something we "do", just like resting is something we do, though the nature of what we do determines that it is not a work (see Is Faith a Work?). What do we do? We "do truth" (John 3:21, 1 John 1:6): that is, we agree with God concerning our unrighteousness, and agree with God concerning the testimony of His Son. We "do the will of the Father" (Matt. 7:21, 12:50): because we believe in His Son as He commands us to believe. "What must I do to be saved?" is a perfectly acceptable question. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved" Paul said (Acts 16:30-31). Believing is what we do, and by doing it we do the will of the Father, we do the truth, we do righteousness, we do good. By believing we show that we are born of God.

So I--, whenever I read those passages I read them with righteousness in view. God will indeed judge men according to what they have done. Let us remember that His standard is righteousness. Those who haven't believed will be found unrighteous and punished for their sins. Those who have believed will be found to be blameless in God's sight, and will be declared the one's who have done good. The wonder of it all is that we are sinners ourselves, and our righteousness is not our own.

If we don't see the judgment this way, we will, at best, always be in doubt about our standing on judgment day. Actually, if judgment depends upon our works in a general sense, then we shouldn't even be in doubt, but rather be in despair. If God judges me based upon my works and gives me what I deserve, I am a lost man. There is no way to have peace except by lowering the standards, but this is impermissible. Except by fooling myself that my good deeds outweigh by bad, or that the punishment for my bad deeds isn't going to be that bad will I obtain some semblance of peace. But this is not how God judges. His judgment is based upon righteousness; righteousness is moral perfection; and the punishment is severe because of the serious nature of sin. There is simply no other way to Biblically understand judgment day.

The final issue that needs to be addressed is the issue of reward. Many of those judgment passages say that Christ will "reward every man according to what he has done." (Matt. 16:27, Rev. 22:12) As Christians we get hung up on this word (and with good reason), because if salvation is a gift of grace, how can Jesus be referring to salvation in these sayings, since they state that He will be doling out rewards? Many Christians therefore conclude that these sayings have nothing to do with salvation, but rather with non-salvific heavenly rewards. While I don't deny the reality of such rewards, I do not believe that these sayings are referring to them. They are referring to salvation or damnation (2 Cor. 5:10-11). But how then can salvation be a reward?

It is a good question, but there is a not-too-difficult answer. First, the English word "reward" is not always the best translation of the Greek word apodidomi. The word can mean several different things, the main idea being "to deliver". It can mean to reward/recompense, or to give away what is yours, or to give back, or to sell, or to give what is promised. The last, "to give what is promised", is helpful, for God has promised blessing for the righteous and punishment for the unrighteous. When Christ returns He will give what He has promised to every man according to what they have done. But though this softens the word some, it still does not wholly answer the dilemma.

We know that sin deserves death. Does righteousness therefore deserve life? Yes it does. Just as death is the appropriate thing for God to give a sinner, life is the appropriate thing for God to give a just man. God is just in giving death to sinners, and God is just in giving life to the righteous. In fact, He must give to each what is just or cease to be just. Therefore, in this sense the righteous indeed await the bestowal of that life which is rightfully theirs. We can say that life is the reward of righteousness. However, our righteousness is a gift and not something we worked for, and so therefore the life that accompanies that righteousness is also a gift and not something we worked for. I only possess life because of the grace of Christ. I can also say that I possess life because of righteousness. As Paul said, eternal life is a free gift from God (Rom. 6:23) because it is "through Jesus Christ our Lord" who provided righteousness for sinners by His death.

Therefore we can see how God will reward every man according to what he has done, whether good or evil, and that this is consistent with the gospel. We don't need to go outside of the gospel to understand this saying. One final passage from Paul: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give [Grk. apodidomi] me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." (2 Tim. 4:7-8) Here we see Paul's conception of his own salvation and the judgment which Jesus spoke of. The Righteous Judge, Christ, who judges in righteousness, will "give" (and the word is the same one translated "reward") Paul the crown of righteousness (which I take to mean life, the manifest glory which is given to the righteous and declares that they are righteous) on that day. It is the reward of righteousness, but there is no doubt in Paul's mind that it is a gift. Our crowns will simply be trophies for the glory of God, as we Christians sing so often.

And it is with this message of the gospel that we need to encourage our flocks. It isn't by salvific nor non-salvific rewards and punishments merited by our works that we will rightly motivate people to say no to ungodliness and worldly lusts, but by the inspiration which arises by the sight and experience of the grace of God (Titus 2:11-15, 3:1-8). This is a lesson the Church needs to learn.

Hope this provides some helpful food for thought.

Miss you, I--!

-Eli

Mind, Will and Ability

Dear J-------, thank you for the questions. I hope I may be able to answer them satisfactorily, or at the least contribute something to the discussion.

In addressing your first question concerning whether God gives us commandments that we cannot keep, if I understand Scripture correctly I would have to answer "yes": God gives us commandments that we cannot keep. But this is obviously a very nuanced "yes", for the matter is not so simple.

I base my "yes" upon passages like Romans 7:14--24, 8:4, Galatians 3:21, etc. "For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not." "If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." When God gave the law to Israel He knew Israel would not be able to obey it. God, who knows our natures, knows that the sin that dwells in us cannot be overcome by the will and power of men. So why then did God give the law? It was given in order to show us this truth, or more correctly, to show us our true selves. Man is stubbornly ignorant of his own sinful nature and lack of goodness, but the law puts him in the balances and finds him wanting. The law is beautiful to man (because we are made in the image of God), and though man desires to adhere to it in his mind, upon trying he discovers that there is more to his nature than meets the eye. He discovers sin within himself: that is, an even stronger desire to rebel and resist authority; a desire to exalt himself above everything else. This is the discovery Paul is explaining in Romans 7. It is not that this discovery leaves man with an excuse for his sin; it rather shows man how wretched he really is. Man is a divided being, and the evil part is the strongest. He can't blame anyone else because it is the revelation of himself. "I want to do good, but I also want to do bad, and the bad is what I do, even though I know in my mind that the good is good and the bad is bad! Oh, I am a despicable creature that deserves condemnation!" So the law could not be kept by man, since man by nature was not strong enough to overcome the sin within himself. God knew this.

Yet in another way, all the commandments of God (the moral imperatives of the law) can be kept by man, and God knew this too. But it could never be kept by man in his default state. It would take a new revelation of grace that would enable man to be free from sin and enable him to use his body for the glory of God (Rom. 6:2-14). "For sin shall not have dominion over you, because you are not under law but under grace." Ironically, the law is what stirred up sin and gave sin its strength (Rom. 7:5, 1 Cor. 15:56). Only by being free from the law can man overcome sin and keep the moral imperatives of God. Being free from the law is the key, says Paul. God knew this when He gave the law. So in another sense, God did not give us commandments that we couldn't keep, but we cannot keep them under the law, only under grace. Therefore, until the revelation of grace is given, a man cannot keep the law, it is impossible. But let us remember that regarding this impossibility, man has only himself to blame. However, being made free from the law, he is now able to bear the fruits of holiness to God. Man can truly live the life of love that God commanded.

This is what I understand the answer to your question is. It is a nuanced "yes", or perhaps a "yes and no". We need to guard against simplistic answers since the Bible does not give us a simplistic answer.

As for your second question regarding the mind and the will, yes, I definitely elevate the mind over the will, but this shouldn't be surprising. It is a matter of fact that our wills are subservient to our minds; that is, I could not possibly will anything unless I had something in mind to will about. Information comes into my mind through my senses, and I then have desires and make decisions based upon that information. So the mind comes before the will, and what is in my mind determines what I will. This, I believe, is proven beyond doubt in Scripture. Take Hebrews 11, for example. Everything those people did was "through faith"; that is, it was because of what they believed that they acted the way that they did.

"By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of reward." (Heb. 11:24-26)

See how Moses refused one thing (a very pleasurable thing) and chose another thing (a rather uncomfortable thing), not because he was strong-willed per se (what does that mean anyway, being alone? For a strong will is due to a strong mind), but because of faith: he "esteemed" Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. He "had respect" unto the greater reward. It was clearly the activity of Moses' mind that determined the activity of his actions. It is of deep interest that the Greek word for "had respect" literally means: "to turn the eyes away from other things and fix them on some one thing." (Thayer's Greek Definitions) Verse 27 confirms this by saying that "he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible." This was faith. Moses believed God, saw by faith that Christ was greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, and therefore refused the one and embraced the other. So the will is subservient to what is in the mind. If you think the treasures of Egypt are greater than Christ then you won't forsake Egypt. We need to realize that our behavior ultimately depends, not upon our will per se, but upon our minds. I see this all over the Bible.

If we want healthy churches, we will inform people's minds, teaching them the life-producing truths of the gospel, and fill their minds with the glory, beauty and value of Christ. If we want unhealthy churches, we will skip over or devalue the mind (as is so often done in churches) and emphasize the will as the key. People will feel inadequate and guilty when they fail (and they'll fail), and they'll conclude that they just are strong enough to live the Christian life. But the whole point of Scripture is that they aren't strong enough to live the Christian life (that is, to just look at law and do it), and that they need to be strengthened from outside themselves ("I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength"). According to Paul, it is by the truth that we are loved, forgiven and freed from the law that we have victory over sin. It is only by fixing our eyes on Christ and on the grace of God that is brought to us in Him that we are strengthened to live for God. That is Paul's point in Romans 6-8, isn't it? Putting this truth in your mind is the key to the Christian life. "Likewise reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 6:11, see also Rom. 8:5-6, 12:2) When I set in mind that I am not under the law through the death of Christ, the law no longer stirs up rebellion within me, but I am overwhelmed by the love of God, and cannot help loving Him back without pressure and without fear. This brings victory over sin. This is faith working by love.

Of course, your question is a good one. How do we go about the task of reckoning? Even if we grant that the mind is the key, isn't the will required to shift the mind into gear?

It is true, the will is required to turn our minds unto this gospel truth that sets us free. We are also exhorted in Scripture to be diligent about doing this. However, we must not hastily come to a conclusion and say that the will is therefore the first and main thing. We must see that the mind and the will work in levels. Yes, I must will to set my mind on the gospel truth; but even to will this I must have an understanding in my mind beforehand. As discussed earlier, I can will nothing without my mind. I must be informed; I must know that setting my mind on the truth is the key to the Christian life. So my knowledge about the key to sanctification will instruct my will to set my mind on the gospel truth. We have to recognize another factor in life: that of hearing. If I have misinformation, or a lack of information, I will spend my days according to my uninformed mind, and my uninformed mind will determine my will. Maybe I think the will is the key to sanctification: so then I shall seek to will to obey the commandments, and fail. But if I have been taught the Scriptures, that the mind is the key to sanctification (that is, setting your mind on the truth of the gospel, that I am not under law, etc.), then I shall will to remember, and be diligent to reckon daily. So the mind always determines the will, but there are levels, and at the bottom of it all is information gathered (or Biblically, "hearing"). This is also why we need each other, to remind each other daily of the truth.

I hope that makes sense. It is actually standard operating procedure for the human psyche. I don't believe the Bible presents us with an unreal category of living that is other than the way God made us. What makes this so powerful and spiritual is the content of what we believe. It is the truth - the content - that makes Christianity so powerful, not my operating procedure. Just like we would say that it is not our faith that is anything special, but the object of our faith; it is not my faith that saves me, but Jesus Christ. My faith simply connects me to the power.

Much love in Christ to you, J-------,

-Eli

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 - The Unrighteous Will Not Inherit the Kingdom of God

Dear J--,

The passage you asked me to explain (1 Cor. 6:9-11) is one which I used to quote frequently and fondly in the days when I didn't understand the gospel of grace. In fact, it may have been the most important verse to me during that time. God mercifully brought me to the place of understanding His grace when I was 21, but before that I was zealous for God without knowledge, seeking to establish my own righteousness, and open-air preaching in my hometown and across the United States a message I thought was God's gospel. This passage was actually the one I would preach on the most. It seemed so clear to me: the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Those who do such things will not inherit God's kingdom. I would preach against sin (against the sins listed in this passage by name) and would tell people to turn from their sins if they wanted to be saved. That is the simple logic of this passage, isn't it? If you do these things you won't be saved, so you had better not do them. I would preach that Jesus died on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven. He was necessary: because of His atonement we can be saved if we turn from our sins. If He hadn't died no amount of turning from our sins would help us. This is because of our stained past record. Something had to be done about the sins we had already committed. Through the blood of Christ God can forgive us of our past sins if we turn from our sins today and stop being unrighteous in the present. If we happen to sin again in the future, we just needed to repent of it and then the blood of Christ will cleanse us afresh. The trick was to die cleansed and righteous. In this way we can inherit the kingdom of God. I was convinced this was the faithful interpretation of 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, taking in all of its parts, and that I was not going to be "deceived" by those who said you could sin and still be saved. My preaching was on the authority of the New Testament, from none other than the apostle Paul himself.

I knew that Paul's writings (particularly Romans and Galatians) were chiefly used by others to defend the idea of "righteousness through faith without works", but I believed that 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 proved the idea of "salvation by grace without works" was a misinterpretation of Paul. Of course, I had to do something with those writings of Paul which spoke about grace without works, but based upon 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 I took those writings with a grain of salt, believing that Paul was just speaking about the ceremonial works of the law which we didn't need to do to be saved, since Christ fulfilled them all (the Substance fulfilled the shadows). I couldn't accept that Paul meant even our good moral works were excluded. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 sealed, for me, my interpretation. I would not be deceived.

But, God be praised, I was delivered from my deception. God allowed me to take an honest look at myself in the light of my own preaching and I saw that if what I was preaching was true, then I was an unrighteous man headed for, not the kingdom of God, but hell. If what I believed about 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 was true, that Paul was saying we must be righteous by our own moral works in order to inherit the kingdom of God, then I had no hope. Yet even in my spiritual agony I still believed my interpretation of 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 was true. I felt that I was excluded from the kingdom of God, but that surely there were Christians in this world who were succeeding and doing it. I was just not one of them. Notice how my eyes were on the righteousness of myself and others, and not on Christ. Christ was in the background. He had done His part, for which I was thankful. But He could not do anything more for me at this point (besides aiding as an incentive), because it was now I who needed to turn from my sins in order to make His atonement effective in my life. But would I do it? Would I turn from my sins and work righteousness before God? I felt myself to be helpless. I felt myself to be a slave to sin, unable to overcome sin, just like in Romans 7. I had failed. I had failed to utilize this opportunity God through Christ had so freely and graciously given to the world of sinners. I knew I was doomed.

This was the horrendous place that my naïve interpretation of 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 had landed me. It was in this dark place that God revealed the true meaning of the cross of Christ to me, shattered my phony Christianity, and introduced me to the glorious truth of the gospel of His Son. Righteousness through faith apart from works! Here's how I described my conversion elsewhere:

Then one night, as I was laying in bed, feeling the full weight of my guilt upon me, the first line of the song "In Christ Alone" passed through my mind. "In Christ alone, my hope is found." It very gently but suddenly dawned on me that in all reality my soul's hope had never really been in Christ, but in myself, and that I had always hoped that I was worthy enough to receive eternal life. Another revelation suddenly swept over me: Christ had died for me while I was a sinner... He loved me even though He knew exactly what kind of person I was, and how unworthy I was. I had always professed that I was a sinner, but when I finally realized how bad a sinner I was I despaired that God loved me. That night I realized that God loved me, a bad sinner, and the cross was proof of that. I had never seen this before, even though I had believed in the fact that Christ had died on the cross for my sins; but I had never truly understood the real meaning of that fact, and what it revealed about God's attitude toward me. That night it was as if the Father gently spoke to me, saying: "Eli, you've been begging me to have mercy on you for weeks, and you've been doing this because you don't even know who I am. For if you really knew me, you wouldn't need to beg."

Suddenly I realized what Christianity is all about. Christianity is not about trying to make God merciful. It is not about convincing God that He should forgive and you and give you eternal life. It is not about trying to be worthy of the blood of Christ. Christianity is about believing that God is merciful and forgiving, made known to us through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins. This is the good news that we are called to believe, and by believing in Him we find rest.

Without any effort, this wonderful news displaced my shame and guilt, and the great burden that was putting pressure on my chest immediately lifted. As the truth of God's grace came in, the fear of hell went out, and I knew I was forgiven. God's forgiving heart toward me was revealed to me from the fact that Christ died for me. I trusted in it and found peace. God counted me as righteous that very night, not because I was a good person, but because Christ had died for my sins, and I trusted in His grace revealed to me through His only begotten Son. This is the good news! "Therefore being justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1)

My conversion radically changed the way I understand the Bible and Paul's writings. I now understand there is no such thing as righteousness before God's tribunal which is not moral perfection, and therefore, there is no hope for us except through faith in Jesus Christ. Justification cannot come through our moral works. Only through trusting in the cross of Christ, where our sins were dealt with once and for all time, can we stand righteous before God. By sending Jesus, God was not giving the world a priceless opportunity to turn from their sins so that they may inherit the kingdom. God was taking care of the world's unrighteousness problem through the saving death of Jesus Christ completely. Whoever puts their trust in Christ is accounted righteous before God apart from any good works that they do, and despite any bad works which they commit, because of His cross. Christ and His work become the focus of Christianity, not ourselves. Righteousness through faith apart from works is the great revelation of the gospel, which in turn reveals the great saving love of God toward sinners. Diminish righteousness through faith and you diminish the glory of God. Introduce the need to do anything for justification other than faith in Christ, and you overturn Christianity and make it all about ourselves once again.

So then, in the light of righteousness through faith, how are we to understand 1 Corinthians 6:9-11? Notice I said, "in the light of righteousness through faith." I am no longer approaching Romans and Galatians (and the entire Bible) armed with 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. I am approaching 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 armed with Romans and Galatians (and the entire Bible) in order to ascertain its true interpretation so as not to be deceived. The passage starts this way: "Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?" and ends this way: "But you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Any interpretation of 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 which in any way undermines the gospel of righteousness through faith is false. The lesson we learn from the entire Bible is that there is no righteousness for us before God other than the perfect righteousness that comes through faith in Christ. If there were, Christ died for nothing.

What this means is that we cannot interpret 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 in a hasty way. To use it as a proof-text (as I did) to say that if any person (including a Christian) commits sin they are excluded from the kingdom of God is out of the question. There is another and better way to interpret this passage. And it is no use to say that Paul means that those who "make a practice of" or "live in habitual" sin will not inherit the kingdom of God. That, too, is just as contrary to the gospel, because it still makes entrance into the kingdom based upon your moral doing or not doing. Such an interpretation just modifies the size and scope of the doing.

What if we were to say, "This passage is all about the evidence of salvation. Those who do these things show that they aren't really righteous through faith, and therefore they won't inherit the kingdom of God, because they aren't believing in Christ." There are two major problems with this view.

First, how and where do we draw the line which tells us how much sinning may be permitted before a person is evidently not a believer? One sin? Five sins in a month? A certain kind of sinning (e.g., without remorse)? The fact is, the human experience, including the Christian experience, is messed up by sin, and we can't tidily explain the boundaries of sin in our lives. It is impossible and unrealistic to draw any line. One sin is sufficient to trouble a conscience. Also, if we go down this road (as many do), it is likely we will end up making excuses for sin. "I looked with lust, but I'm not an adulterer. Besides, I haven't done it in a while!" If the kingdom of God is barred to adulterers and coveters, we should know right away that excuses are going to flow.

Second, Paul does not say in this passage that those who don't believe in Christ will not inherit the kingdom of God, but that "fornicators" and "drunkards" and "extortioners" will not inherit the kingdom of God. It is to these that the kingdom of God is barred. So it is in Revelation 22:15: "Outside are the dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and whoever loves and makes a lie." John does not say "Outside are those who don't believe in Jesus." Even though that is certainly true, that is not the point. It is sin that keeps you out of the kingdom. These passage are not here to tell us about evidences but are here to show us plainly what keeps men out of the kingdom: unrighteousness because of sin. Now how does this fit with Christianity? Isn't it true that "the vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives?"

I am not saying we are not to read the passage plainly. I am saying that we are to read it plainly; and we are to put it into context. The questions we must ask about it are: "Why is the passage here?" "What goes before it and after it?" "What purpose does this passage serve in the flow of the apostle's thought?" I believe many take this passage out of context.

The passage exists in a discussion Paul is having regarding fornication in the Corinthian church (starting in 5:1 and ending in 6:20). It has been reported to Paul that fornication is taking place among the Christians, of a kind that is unheard of among non-believers! The entire section is about what the Corinthian Christians should do about it and why, and what they should think about fornication and why. Addressing the immediate problem, Paul gives them his judgment (5:3): he tells the saints at Corinth that they should remove the person who has committed the fornication from their midst (5:5). He had already given them those instructions before in another letter: "I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then you must needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one, no not to eat." (5:9-11) This list sounds just like the list in 6:9-11.

Paul then proceeds to talk about judgment (5:12-6:8). We are not to think that he is moving on to a new subject when he speaks about judging. On the contrary, Paul is upset that the Corinthian Christians are not wise enough to have judged this problem with the fornicator in their midst. Paul gave his judgment (5:3), but he would have preferred it if they had judged the situation themselves (6:2-5). "I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? No, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?" (6:5) The Corinthians were so dull that they didn't do anything about the fornicator, but were rather puffed up. They also would not judge among themselves in other matters, but would take their problems to secular judges (6:6-7). So we see that "judging" here has to do with deciding what to do (drawing verdicts) when issues arise. It is something good to do, which God wants His people to be able to do. We should have wise men in our churches who can make decisions when issues arise. So Paul was upset with the Corinthians, not only that they didn't have the wisdom to judge this matter of fornication in their midst, but lots of other issues as well.

This is the preceding context of 6:9-11. From 6:9 to 6:20 Paul begins to instruct the Corinthians, not about the immediate problem of the fornicator in their midst, but about fornication in general: what they should think about it and why. Since they showed that they were unwise and unable to judge this matter of the fornicator, Paul is going to "wise-them-up". He proceeds to explain to them why fornication is something Christians should not partake in. He gives six different reasons: 1) because fornication is sin, which bars the unrighteous out of the kingdom of God, and you don't belong to that group (6:9-11), 2) because fornication is not profitable (6:12), 3) because the body is for the Lord, not for fornication (6:13), 4) because your bodies are the members of Christ, and should not be joined with harlots (6:15-17), 5) because fornication is a sin against your own body (6:18), 6) because your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and you are not your own, but are bought by a price, therefore you should glorify God with your body (6:19-20). This, then, is the context of 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.

Notice the many reasons Paul gives for avoiding fornication. If, as is often said of 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, fornication will keep anyone out of the kingdom of God, wouldn't that be enough of a reason to avoid it? "Don't fornicate, you will go to hell." Good enough for me! However, Paul is not threatening the Christians at all in 6:9-11, and he goes on to give plenty of wise reasons why Christians should not fornicate: God didn't make your body for that... you are hurting yourself and making life difficult for everyone... most importantly, you are bought with a price, therefore glorify God with your body. These are not threats at all. Rather, these are positive encouragements for Christians, Christians who are bought by the blood of Christ, and who have the promise of resurrection from the dead. "And God has both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by His own power." (6:14) Paul is telling Christians who "are washed, sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God" (6:11) to not fornicate. It should be obvious that these blood-bought saints who are righteous through faith are being taught wisdom from the apostle Paul about to how to live their lives, and are not being threatened with hell if they sin.

Therefore, I believe, just like Ephesians 5:1-10 and Colossians 3:1-11, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 is an exhortation for Christians not to sin (and it is only one reason, not the only reason), because it is for sin's sake that the unbelieving, unrighteous world is going to perish. God has revealed His wrath against sin. Men will go to hell for sin. Christians who know this should therefore not partake in sin, not as a threat, not because they will lose their salvation, but because they are saved and should live as the children of light (which is what they are). We, who know God, should not live like those who don't. We know what pleases God and what doesn't. We know that Christ died for our sins, and that without Christ we would perish on account of our sins. Therefore we should not sin. The unrighteous will indeed not inherit the kingdom of God because of their sins, but we are not unrighteous if we have believed in Jesus Christ. We are washed, sanctified and justified. We should not therefore be partakers in those sins which Christ died for, and which will send unbelievers to perdition. This is a fitting way to instruct the unwise Corinthians. "Don't you guys know that unrighteous people will perish eternally because of fornication and the like? You should therefore not do these things, and be judges of such matters!"

This interpretation is in keeping with the context, is a plain reading of the text, and is in harmony with the gospel of grace as well as the rest of the Scriptural exhortations to holy living. Our Christian lives should be lived in full assurance of faith, not motivated by fear but by love and a sound mind. We should be fixing our eyes on Christ and His great salvation rather than on ourselves and our works to obtain peace. Where we are looking is where our hope lies.

So that is how I now understand 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. My previous interpretation landed me in a world of trouble. It perverted the gospel and blinded my eyes from seeing Christ. I was a preacher of works-righteousness, guiding people down a dead-end street toward a ditch that I myself was preparing to fall into. It brought nothing but darkness, bad fruit, and despair. I praise God for rescuing me from deception, and opening my eyes to see the righteousness He has provided for vile sinners through faith in His Son. There is no other hope! There is nothing else that sets people free from condemnation, bringing life and joy and peace, except the one true gospel of grace. Since understanding grace, my life has completely changed in almost every way.

May God guide us in His truth and help us understand all things through the lens of His Son's finished work at Calvary. "For I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." (1 Cor. 2:2)

With love, your brother,

Eli

No Longer a Slave to Sin

Hello J----, thank you for your email. From Fredericton, eh? My old stomping grounds! Glad to get in touch with you.

It may sound somewhat cliche, like something out of an AA program, but the first thing is indeed coming to the knowledge that you are unable to free yourself from sin's dominion. This is the whole point of the latter part of Romans 7: Paul explains how the human attempt to obey God causes us to discover that we are unable to do what we know is good; that we are slaves; that we are in need of redemption from outside of ourselves. It sounds like from your email that you are probably feeling that way. I know that place. It is a bad place and a good place to be: bad because you feel like garbage, and perhaps "wretched" (literally, exhausted from hard labor), but good because it is the place where something new can begin. As long as you think it is all about your willpower and effort, that you are able to do it if you just tried harder, you will not look away from yourself to Christ. The purpose of the law is to crush and ultimately kill us, so that our life will be from Christ and not from ourselves. These last words can either be religious gobbily-gook (so often said by Christians but without any meaning) or a real experience based upon a real and substantial meaning. There is nothing unreal about Christianity. We must never use words without meaning.

If we were to read Romans chapter 7 quickly, without stopping to explore all the details, and just ask ourselves, from a bird's eye perspective: what is Paul talking about? What's the main subject in view? I think many of us would be surprised at how quickly we could answer that question. Paul is talking about living under law. That is his subject at the beginning of the chapter (7:1-6) and that is the theme he explores throughout the rest of the chapter. In fact, the rest of chapter 7 is simply an explanation of a few shocking statements he had just made concerning the relationship between law and sin. In answering the objection of 6:1 ("if it's all about grace and we don't have to keep the commandments, will we not continue in sin?"), Paul flips the objectors argument on its head. He declares that - contrary to what we may think - it is not the law that prevents us from sinning, but it is actually the law that is the cause of our sinning. Likewise, it is not grace that will cause us to sin, it is actually grace that will enable us not to sin. "For sin shall not have dominion over you, because you are not under law, but under grace." (Rom. 6:14) The radicalness of this cannot be underestimated. He has turned the most common objection to the gospel upside down. Their supposed knock-down argument has now been turned against them. The law will not help you. Rules will not help you. Restraints will not help you. Only grace, the free gift of God's acceptance and forgiveness through Christ, will (not only save you, but) help you overcome the dominion of sin. 

In chapter 7 he puts it this way: "Wherefore, my brethren, you have become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, so that we should bring forth fruits unto God." (7:4) Dead to the law... so that we may bring forth fruit unto God. "For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins, which were aroused by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death." (7:5) Here Paul makes the shocking statement that sin comes about because of the law. He spends the remainder of the chapter illustrating this truth. It is not that the law is sin (7:7) but that it reveals the sin that dwells within me. The commandment comes, but its coming awakens the sin within and stirs up rebellion. This sin is inoperative without the commandment (7:9). The commandment does not create sin, but reveals it within me; even more than that, it is the very reason that sin awakens. I know the commandment is good and I want to obey it, but I am not strong enough to simply choose to overcome the sin that is within me. I am a slave to sin. What this means is not that I am absolved from guilt, but that I have discovered my true nature. The law is spiritual, just and good (7:12, 14). Only God is by nature spiritual, just and good. I am not God. I am not good. It is no use talking about whether Romans 7 describes a man before or after conversion. That is missing the entire point. It is the inevitable experience of a man under law: any man, at any time, under the demands of a law that only God Himself can withstand. This is why Christians can relate to it and why religious non-Christians can too. Unless we see this we will miss the point. It is a shocking declaration that Paul is making: it is the law that causes us to sin (whether before or after conversion), revealing the sin that dwells within us.

Paul could not be breaking from his past Judaic way of thinking - nor the religious way of thinking current in all ages - more. Men without understanding see law as the way to resist sin, bear fruit unto God, and attain life. Obedience! That is the way to please God and get the blessings, they say. Obedience, moment by moment; that is the way to deal with the sin in your life (I am using the word "obedience" in the worst sense; the popular, not the correct, way. The popular use of obedience focuses on your will as the linchpin: "Just do it"; "In the moment of temptation it all comes down to your choice"). This way of thinking is manifested in the way people respond to sin in others. When people see sin in others, they typically don't think: "Oh, that sin is a symptom of a deeper problem"; they just think: "Hey, he sinned. He isn't a very good person. He isn't being obedient." Therefore the typical reaction is to withdraw from that sinner and to go find people who are serious about obeying God. But if sin is symptomatic, the right reaction would be to draw near and help that person ("restore such a one in the spirit of meekness"). Paul is showing us that sin is symptomatic. We sin or don't sin based upon something that goes before our choice, something that determines what we will choose. Philosophers of old (ex. Aristotle), and psychologists today are aware of this. Even some theologians (ex. Jonathan Edwards) recognized that our will (choosing) is not independent, but that our will (what we choose) is dependent. But dependent on what? Here is the answer that everybody, including Paul, gives: your mind. More specifically, what you are thinking; the object of your thoughts. In the context of Romans 6-8, it is whether your mind is set on law or on grace.

It is amazing how important the place of the mind is in the New Testament, and yet how little most Christians pay attention to this. "Be not conformed to the pattern of this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Rom. 12:2) That's another summary of Paul's teaching on living the Christian life. "Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom. 6:11) The word "reckon" is critical. It means "to consider, to deem", having to do with the mind. According to Paul, this is the practical key to the Christian life. "For to be fleshly minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Rom. 8:6) This is the meaning of "walking in the Spirit" (Rom. 8:4). A dear friend of mine who attended Bible college for several years told me about his deep frustration with this phrase "walk in the Spirit". His professors always told him that this is the key to the Christian life - to walk in the Spirit - but they never explained what it meant to do that. He lived a defeated life, and he didn't know what the key meant. If you ask Christians, "what does walking in the Spirit mean", you will commonly be met with an equally ambiguous phrase: "It means to live by the Spirit"; "It means to obey the Spirit"; "It means to be governed by the Spirit"; "It means living your life with reference to the Spirit". What do all these wonderful phrases mean? What is the Spirit? This most often just breaks down to mean: "Choose to do what is right and not what is wrong when the choice arises." The Spirit is like your second conscience, telling you what you should and shouldn't do, and you are walking in the Spirit when you are obeying it. J----, does this at all ring a bell? Yet how can that possibly be Paul's meaning in Romans 7-8, when he has just been describing his inability to choose to do what he knows is right? How then can the answer be: "Just do it?" I think we have missed something terribly.

The meaning of "walking in the Spirit" (or "according to the Spirit" or "after the Spirit"; these are the same thing) in 8:4 is supplied in the next verse: "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, and they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit." (8:5) So it is a matter of the mind being set on "the things" of the Spirit. What are you thinking about today? What do you set your mind on when you get up in the morning? Where does your mind drift throughout the afternoon? What are you thinking about at the dinner table, and when you lie down at night (does this sound like Deuteronomy 6:6-12?)? What's on your mind? To Paul, there are two different "things" that can be on your mind: the things of the flesh or the things of the Spirit. "Flesh" and "Spirit"? These two terms require explanation; what do they mean?

Paul's language comes from the Old Testament. The flesh/Spirit theme is an unspeakably important theme throughout the entire Old Testament, pervading almost every page. It has to do with ability and power: man's power vs. God's power, or, to be more specific, the power of anything other than God vs. the power of God, and which one you are trusting in. Think about Cain and Abel; Abraham, Sarah and Hagar; Joshua and Caleb at the border of Canaan; Gideon; David and Goliath; Hezekiah and the armies of Sennacherib; Nebuchadnezzar eating grass... these all highlight the theme of trusting in what man can do vs. what God can do. The specific terms which embody this theme do not have to be used to understand what is going on. In the later history of Israel the terms "flesh" and "Spirit" came to embody this theme (see Ps. 44:3, 5-8, Deut. 8:10-11, 14, 17-18, Ps. 56:1-4, Ex. 15:1-2, 6, Is. 13:1, 3, Jer. 17:5, 7, 2 Chron. 32:7-8, Zech. 4:6 to see this transition. Notice the very significant word "arm". Then see also Is. 51:9-11, 53:1, 1 Cor. 1:18, 23-31, Luke 1:51, Rom. 1:16). The language and concepts of the New Testament are rooted in the Old Testament. When this theme of trusting in man's power vs. God's power is applied to the gospel, it translates into trusting your own works to obtain salvation vs. trusting in Christ alone. When I am trusting in Christ alone, I am, like Abraham or like Abel, trusting in God's ability and not my own. The Spirit is God's power = God's saving work through Jesus on the cross. It is therefore the Spirit that we are trusting in when we trust in Jesus. The flesh is our power = trying to earn God's salvation through our own efforts under the law. When I am trusting in my own obedience to the law I am therefore trusting in the flesh.

However, you don't even need to go outside of Romans to see this. Paul describes "flesh" as living under law in Rom. 7:4-6, and he describes the Spirit as the work of Christ on the cross in Rom. 8:2-4. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death, for [here comes the explanation of what was just said] what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, by sending His own Son [to die]... so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." (8:2-4) We, by our own works, could not obtain righteousness (that is the weakness of the flesh, our power), but God worked through Christ to obtain it for us (that is the law of the Spirit, God's power). Christ therefore is the power of God unto salvation. This is the Spirit. Obviously when Paul tells us about the flesh and the Spirit in 8:5 he already expects us to understand what he means by those terms based upon how he has been using them. Unless we understand them we cannot live a victorious Christian life, since Paul is basing everything upon them.

Paul's discussion of the Christian life in Romans 6-8, we will notice, has absolutely nothing to do with a changed nature. It has everything to do with a changed mind. Romans 6:6 is not talking about a nature change, but about our dying and rising with Christ through our unification with Him by faith. Jesus Christ actually died and rose, but through faith in Him I am united to Him so that God considers (God's mind!) me to be dead and risen also. This is precisely Paul's point from 6:3-11. Then in 6:11 he gives us the whole key to the Christian life: "Likewise reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord." He has just said that Christ died unto sin and lives unto God. Since you are united to Him, you are to consider yourselves to be dead to sin and alive unto God also. What is true of Jesus is true of you (remember Ephesians 2:6?). Paul is not telling you to make it happen; he is not telling you to die with Christ. He is telling you that this is true of you if you have trusted in Christ, and therefore you should set your mind on it. Reckon it to be so, since it is so. In other words, "think the way God does about yourself." Have the mind of God concerning yourself; that is, set your mind on the truth. I cannot stress enough that, to Paul, this is the key (Rom. 12:2, Gal. 2:19-20). It is by having this mind that we shall walk in victory.

Why does this mind give us victory over sin? The answer is (basically) twofold:

1) because by not thinking that I am under law (that is, thinking about what I need to do, what the commandment is requiring of me, in order to be right with God) sin remains inoperative. If the law stirs up sin, as Paul has clearly shown, then by removing the believer from the law sin is therefore not stirred up. It is not that we have a new nature. If that were the case this whole discussion of law would be pointless. Many Christians talk in a way that is the exact opposite of what Paul is saying: they say "God gives a new nature so that now we don't rebel against the law and can obey it." Well, if that were the case, why do Christians still sin, and why didn't Paul just say that? Why did he rather say, "You have become dead to the law... so that you can bear fruit unto God"? Why would Paul be telling us that we are no longer under law, and that this is the secret to the Christian life? No, what is new for the Christian is that he is no longer under the law thanks to the death and resurrection of Jesus; and it is this that changes everything. We are not only forgiven of our sins. We are freed from the law. God does not forgive us of our sins only to leave us in the same situation that we were in previously, with the exception that He gives us a new nature that obeys the law. This is not to be found in Paul. Rather, through the death of Christ we are not only forgiven but are in a new situation which allows for the possibility to walk in newness of life. What is that new situation? A new nature? No, rather: "Sin shall not have dominion over us (why?), because we are not under law but under grace." (6:14)

2) because by thinking about how I am under grace of God, I am thereby stirred up to love and good deeds. This is precisely Paul's point throughout all of his letters, and not the least being Romans. Why we do good deeds and why we don't do sinful deeds must have everything to do with love, or else it is worthless (1 Cor. 13:1-3, Gal. 5:6). It is never automatic (Rom. 6:12). It is never due to a mystical nature. It is eminently a matter of the mind. Everywhere that Paul talks about the Christian doing good works it is always so realistic, always appealing to common sense and reason, always appealing to the love of God that has been demonstrated toward us through Christ (Eph. 4:32, 5:1-2, Col. 3:13, Titus 3:3-8). Paul does not want us to be robots; he wants us to respond relationally to the love of God. He wants what we do to have its source there (if it's not from there, where is it from? Everything other source is spiritually worthless). Our lives should be lived in love for God because of God's great love for us. Take a look, for example, at Romans 6:19-21, 12:1-2ff, 13:11-14, 14:4, 13-23, 15:1-7, 27 and notice how Paul reasons about good deeds. It's not about a magical Spirit pulling our strings as if we were puppets. Paul appeals, argues, reasons, persuades, points out the beauty of, draws parallels... he is seeking to develop our moral sense. "We ought too..." "This is right"... "This is appropriate"... "How much more should we..." These are the thoughts that flow from a heart filled with love for God due to a vision of the love of God. This is how God wants you to live, J----. He wants you to live from a mind and heart filled with truth. Christians tend to get distracted from the real thing. They get preoccupied with seeking a magical sanctification that bypasses the relational world that God created.

Just as the law stirred up rebellion, grace stirs up thankfulness, wonder and praise. In Romans chapter 8 Paul is essentially just pointing with his finger to the love and grace of God, so that his readers can look and be transformed. He's putting into practice what he is talking about: "Set your mind on the truth of who you are in Christ" Paul says, and then he goes on to say: "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!" (8:1); "You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry 'Abba, Father!'" (8:15); "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ!" (8:17); "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us!" (8:18); "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, and are called according to His purpose!" (8:28); "What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (8:31); "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies!" (8:33); "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!" (8:38-39). If we Christians aren't moved by these things, don't you think there's a problem? The fact that we let these things fly over our heads, and then seek to be transformed by some mystical experience, shows just how out of touch we are with reality and the Scriptures. These are the things that are to move us! His great saving love is what we are to be compelled by. The problem is that we are not listening to the truth; we are not grasping the transforming truth of the grace of God.

Both of these points (freedom from the law, and the grace of God) are huge things to explore further another time. I want to share with you my own experience, briefly, with these things. I know what it is like to experience Romans 7, and I know what it is like to live in the truths of Romans 8... Romans 7 stinks royally; Romans 8 is life and peace. But sanctification is not a one-time event when things change once and for all from Romans 7 to Romans 8, but rather something that depends upon a daily, and even moment by moment, consideration of truth. Just like in the Old Testament, the New Testament is also all about remembering. This may sound familiar, but here's the thing: many Christians are not even aware that the mind, and not the will, is the issue; and even for those who have figured out that it is about the mind, many aren't sure what they are suppose to set their minds on. You have already won half the battle of the Christian life once you have discovered that sanctification has to do with the mind and not the will, and that the object of our thoughts should be grace and not law. Once you know these things, it's only a matter of practice.

Think of it like a man who has been in prison for 35 years and is finally set free. He walks out of that prison a free man, but his mind is still gripped by the way prison works. He needs to learn to live like a free man. He isn't used to it, so he keeps thinking he has to ask permission for everything that he does, and wonders if he is allowed to go to certain places and eat certain things. It may take some time for him to become comfortable living free. Many ex-prisoners feel so much more comfortable in prison that they end up going back.

So it is with people when they become Christians. Before we were Christians we were under law. It was all about what we had to do to be right with God, and it wasn't about living as a response to love, but was about living out of fear or compulsion. When we become Christians we are still so used to hearing the voice of law. We aren't used to thinking of God as gracious, nor of ourselves as free from condemnation. We need to learn how to live as free men and women under grace. We need to learn to live lives that respond to God's love. It isn't natural, it isn't what we are familiar with.

This is the Christian life. A person is not living a sanctified life just because he does not get drunk or fornicate. It's not just about your actions. Rules can affect people's actions. It is about love. A sanctified person is one who is responding to God's love revealed in the gospel, and is living, not by rules but by love. A sanctified person is one who has joy and peace in believing the gospel. The amazing thing is that this joy and peace is not dependent upon your behavior, but comes the moment you realize the truth of who you are in Christ.

I am by no means saying that I don't sin. I sin everyday lots of times. But I know why I sin. I sin because I forget about the truth that I am delivered from the law of sin and death, and I forget that I am so greatly loved by God and that I have been given the most glorious hope and future. When I remember these things, when I set my mind on the truth, sin loses its control over me. The truth doesn't stir me to rebel, it stirs me to love in action. I don't have to sin, and the reason is not because I am strong and can choose not to, but because the cross of Christ has freed me from the law and the love of God displayed there compels me; it fills me with joy, peace and strength that I do not possess of myself. My new ability to not sin is not because of my own power, but because of the power of God. As Christians, when we are living under grace, and bearing the fruits of the Spirit, we can with total confidence say, "It is the power of God at work in me, and not myself."

In this way we are no longer slaves to sin, and don't have to let sin reign within us (Rom. 6:12). Isn't that just amazing? It amazes me. The newness of life that we can now walk in is one of joy and peace. We don't need to beat ourselves up over our sins; Christ was punished for them so that we don't have to be. Whenever I sin, I simply thank God that He has forgiven me and holds nothing against me. Where sin abounds grace much more abounds, and therefore my sinning is often turned into a time of praise. I find myself sinning less and less when I am thinking this way. We don't sin less when we are focusing on what we are not permitted to do, but when we are focusing on the great love of God. He has received us! He has thrown our sins behind His back! He has covered us with the robe of righteousness! We are blameless in His sight! Our old man is crucified with Christ and is gone! We are new creations in Christ! These are the things we should be encouraging each other about. It is a wonder how little we as Christians think and talk like this... is it a wonder that we live such miserable sub-New Testament lives? We are not enjoying the life that we truly possess. We are not realizing the truth about who we are.

Life is good in Jesus Christ, J----. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. You will find rest for your soul. If you find yourself struggling with sin, let me encourage you with the gospel. If you have put your trust in Christ, God does not hold any sin against you. You are free from the law. Your relationship with God is not based on whether you sin or not. You are complete in Christ. God is always rejoicing over you with singing, and sees no spot or blemish on you. You don't have to stop sinning. You will not be condemned or rejected or unloved. You don't need to listen to the voice of the law which tells you that you need to stop sinning to be on God's good side. Listen to the voice that is speaking from the cross: "I love you. I died for you when you were a sinner. Your righteousness is of me." You will find that as you learn to listen to the truth of grace, and learn to resist the devil's voice of condemnation, that you will start to not feel like a slave who cannot stop sinning. If you are going to stop sinning, let it be because you want to. Lacking the desire to stop? Think about God and what He has done for you. Don't beat yourself up when you fail. You will fail many times since it is not overnight that you will have learned to walk in grace. Learn to rejoice in the Lord daily. Learn to thank Him. Learn to set your mind on your hope and your future. Learn to revel in His amazing love. You will discover the truth of Romans 6:14.

Let me end this email with a prayer from the apostle Paul. "May you know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God." (Eph. 3:19)

Your brother in Christ,

-Eli

My Experience in Revivalism

Dearest L-----,

Thank you for sharing your heart with us and your concern over what we are teaching about grace. Your concern has definitely been heeded and respected. We greatly value your fellowship in the faith and love you too. I am so blessed to know you!

I'd like to share with you my thoughts on David's blog post, as well as a bit more about my background. It is important that you know where I come from.

I grew up in a home that I would describe as conservative Pentecostal, that is, both my parents speak in tongues, sing and dance in the Lord with great joy, engage in spiritual warfare, but yet never fell trap to any of the extreme Pentecostal trappings that many Pentecostals often do (as in the experience which you shared with us the other night). My memories of home are wonderful, and I thank God for my upbringing. My parents have always been steadfast and joyful examples of faith in God for me and my siblings. So that is the environment I grew up in.

When I became passionate to serve God in my late teens, my parents gave to me a book by Leonard Ravenhill which had a profound influence on my life. In Ravenhill's characteristic way, he chastised the modern church for its laziness and sinfulness and contrasted it with the Book of Acts and other people throughout church history who lived radical lives for God. I was stirred. That is what I had been feeling about the church, questioning why there was such a difference between it and the church I read about in the Book of Acts. I did a search for Ravenhill online and that led me to Sermonindex. I was amazed at the teaching and sermons on that site, and daily took in as much as I could. Sermonindex was the site I spent the most time on for several years. I loved listening to men speak with passion about knowing God intimately and serving Christ boldly. I had never heard preaching like that in the church that I grew up in. I was also blown away by the accounts of revivals in various places (Hebrides, Wales...). I wanted to see revival happen in my own hometown and took up these men's challenge to pray and to labor for it. I started boldly preaching on the streets and challenging others to live their lives for God.

I was invited by Greg Gordon to visit him in Toronto in 2006 (he got to know me through Sermonindex as well as through my blog where I would write posts about revival and Christianity and share about what I was doing on the streets). We bonded, and ever since then he and I have had a pretty close relationship, involving traveling together and living together. I count Greg as a very dear friend whom I love very much. I helped Greg (in a small way) organize and run the first and second Revival Conferences in Canton, Ohio, and Greenock, Scotland. We also lived together in Victoria, BC, for a summer, just he and I, and spent lots of time witnessing on the streets. Greg lived for a while in New Brunswick, Canada, in my hometown, spending time with my family. I saw him when I would visit home. He has even visited me in Logan and hopes to do so again sometime. I'm telling you this just so that you know how deeply involved I have been with Sermonindex and Greg's ministry. If you look, you'll even find that I am a speaker on Sermonindex (see under Audio Sermons by Speakers, Other Speakers A-F). I met David Ravenhill and his wife at a wedding which he was conducting for one of my friends. I visited Leonard Ravenhill's grave in Garden Valley, Texas, in reverent awe. I read most of his books and others that he recommended (in fact, most of my earlier library was filled with books somehow related to Ravenhill). I considered him a standard. You can go to the earliest posts on my blog and learn about me from those early days. You'll see how much I was influenced and involved in revivalism.

I'd like to tell you what was going on with me on the inside during that time. Through the revival teachings of Sermonindex I became a person who outwardly looked very good, but who inwardly was very ugly. Inside I was full of pride, selfish ambition and envy. But on the outside I was angelic, appearing very humble and giving all glory to God. I was also full of lust and had no self-control. But outwardly I passed as someone who was a hard-liner against sin and who was passionate about holiness. I was judgmental towards other people, both Christian and non-Christian, thinking that I was better somehow because I knew the truth and was working to be part of the solution. I prayed much, and the more I prayed the more I felt that I was closer to God than others. I remember saying lots of critical things about the idea of grace and about people who believed in it. To me, they just wanted to sin and didn't want to carry the rugged cross of holiness. Of course, I wasn't carrying it myself, but at least I wanted to, and at least I was preaching it, right? I really thought that I was doing God's will and that God was on my side. I remember thinking one day at a church service where people were rejoicing in the love of God: "Why are they so happy? I'm the one who's doing all the work. These people don't even do what I do." I also felt competitive with other young people who were zealous for God. I would read on Sermonindex what they had been doing and felt that I needed to do something like that too. I liked posting my exploits for others to see; but all the while I was doing it under the sincere conviction that I was godly and was really serving God. I cannot emphasis enough how spiritual I looked on the outside. My best friend Miles, when I told him a few years ago that I wasn't a Christian during those days, was amazed. He said that he had sincerely thought that I was "one of the most spiritual people that he had ever met." I had fooled myself as well.

What I want to tell you is that I wholeheartedly followed Leonard Ravenhill and the other revivalist's advice about getting down to business with God, and I had born the sour fruit of that teaching. Those ugly things were inside me, but they were fruit. I truly wanted to serve God... I really believed in Him - but the course I took was not grace but works. Paul warned us that the way of flesh produces the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21), and I experienced it. I didn't want to sin and be proud, but I couldn't help it, because it was all about my works for God. "The church is a mess because Christians are lazy. Who will rise up and get with it?" "God wants to bless you with the Spirit and revival, but you have to pray and deal with your sins." Revivalist teaching is not about grace. The cross of Christ has very little place in it except to bid us come and die. All the sermons, while they can be beautifully delivered and can shine up the attributes of God, always ultimately end up being about you and what you need to do. While humility and holiness is always held up and highly sought, there is very little of it at all to be found among those who preach and listen to revivalism (though there is a lot of appearance of humility). Revival messages are all about how "if God's people, who are called by His name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways, then God will hear from heaven and forgive their sins, and heal their land" one way or another. However, that is not the gospel. While revivalists sincerely want to see God move and to have intimacy with Him, they fail to realize that in Christ God has moved in the most marvelous way which will never be repeated, and that it is the glorified Savior that draws people to God for intimacy, because intimacy with God is based upon faith in the Son who reveals the Father, and not in our own works and mystical experiences.

I have been there and done that. I know what it is to be on either side. I know what it is to be seeking revival, and I know what it is to be glorying in Christ. Today, I don't feel like there's a big difference anymore between what I believe and experience and what the church in the Book of Acts believed and experienced. I find myself relating to them more and more, rather than just always pointing out the chasm. They understood the gospel and were excited about it. I have come to understand it too, and it is far more exciting and beautiful than anything I ever knew. I'm not interested in a mystical experience in order to "know God personally", because I now know God personally through faith in Jesus Christ. He loved me and gave Himself for me! God does not need to validate His love for me in constant religious experiences because He "demonstrates His love for me in this, that while I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me." (Rom. 5:8) This is the verse that granted me peace when I was in dread and despair in 2007 because of my hypocrisy and sin. The truth set me free. I at last came to rest from my own works and found joy and peace in His grace.

Grace is really what the Bible is all about. Of course, grace is a loaded word, and it carries with it all the glorious truths of righteousness and the incomprehensible love of God. Christianity is not about having a relationship with God that has to do with working in order to be on God's good side in whatever way. It is about believing that His favor has been given undeservedly in Christ, and enjoying it, finding all of our strength in the peace and joy that He has provided. I can honestly say that things changed in my life, both inwardly and outwardly, since I put away the revivalists teaching and turned to the teaching of God. The fruit has changed. I no longer feel like a hypocrite. While we all sin when we take our eyes off of the blessed truth of Christ, I am no longer enslaved to sin like I used to be. That judgmental, selfishly ambitious, lustful and ugly person that I used to be is gone. It is the power of God's good news that has changed me, not my willpower and my efforts like it used to be about (though I used to say that it was all about God's power in those days). How blind I was, but now I see!

I disagree with David Ravenhill's blog post. It was to give us freedom that Christ died, but in David's scheme there is no freedom, because a little leaven leavens the whole lump. If I am not free from the condemnation of all my sins, past, present and future, then I am not free. What else did Christ die for? What other freedom could it have been? It wasn't political or physical, but moral. I am no longer under the responsibility to pay for my sins, and that is the truth. But this truth does not lead me to sin, as Ravenhill is suggesting. The gospel truth is not simply that I am free from condemnation, but that I am loved by God who has manifested His love by freeing me from condemnation. My freedom is a manifestation of His love. In this light my freedom becomes a powerful motivation to serve God, because "we love Him for loving us first." (1 John 4:19) There can be no true service towards God unless it is from the source of love for God, but there can be no love for God without the love of God; and there is no love of God that the New Testament knows apart from the love of God that frees us from the condemnation of all our sins. "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and gave His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10) Paul found his whole motivation for the Christian life here: "The life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness comes by the law, Christ is dead in vain." (Gal. 2:20-21) It is not good when Christians seek holiness in order to be in the right condition with God to obtain His blessings rather than for the sake of holiness itself, which is simply love for God and man. This love can only be in our hearts by the gospel.

The problem with what David is saying is that he is divorcing the freedom from the love, and then criticizing the freedom. Yes, people will sin when they think in terms of freedom without the love of God. But what then is the solution to their sin problem? Take away the freedom? No! Preach the love of God! The revivalists are correct in that they point out that there is a problem in the church today. They rightly see that the church today doesn't look like the Book of Acts. But they wrongly diagnose and thus they administer a false solution. They think the problem is grace, and their solution is legalism (put bluntly, for they wouldn't say it like this). However, the problem is not grace, but counterfeit grace. The problem is "grace" divorced from Christ, which is not grace at all. Guilt-tripping and working harder for God is not the answer. The answer is seeing Christ in all His glory and grace. That is where the power to save and transform lies.

I don't believe the devil is like he is describing. That's just not the picture we get of him in the Bible. He preaches "righteousness" (2 Cor. 11:15). He blinds men from seeing the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4). He stands opposed to Jesus by the spirit of legalism (see the Pharisees). He deceives men into doubting the loving character of God (that's what the serpent in the Garden of Eden did). Remember that the Pharisees, who were the children of the devil, believed in losing one's salvation by sinning, and taught people not to get drunk and not to fornicate. I found David's teaching to be typical of revival teaching, shallow and missing the deeper thing: the gospel.

While I am sorry that it took me so long to understand the gospel of grace, and that I undoubtedly hurt myself and other people along the way, I am thankful to God for the experience that I had in revivalism, because it has made me far more sensitive to these issues and has also freed me from the attraction of the impressive. If there is anything about the revivalist preachers, it is that they are impressive. Their preaching is impressive, their praying is impressive, and their zeal is impressive. But so much of that is of man; man impressing man, and zeal without knowledge is deadly. I have since learned that nothing that I do is of any spiritual value before God to get His blessings, but that only Christ is valuable. In Christ I am blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3), and in Christ all the promises of God are "yes" and "amen" (2 Cor. 1:20). "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, I count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness that is of God by faith." (Phil. 3:7-9) If righteousness brings life, then in Christ I have life. The necessity of the times is to see that Jesus Christ is sufficient.

May God bless you, L-----, with this vision. Thank you again, sister.

Your brother,

-Eli