DALE RATZLAFF | Pastor and Founder, Life Assurance Ministries (1936–2024)
The New Testament makes it clear that obedience to the law is neither a good definition of the righteousness of God nor a valid means of its achievement.
“But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets” (Rom. 3:21).
“For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified” (Rom. 4:13, 14).
“What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law” (Rom. 9:30, 31).
“For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:3, 4).
“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly” (Gal. 2:21).
“You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:4).
“…and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith” (Phil. 3:9).
Those verses indicate that the righteousness of God which comes on the basis of faith is not even associated with the law. Rather, it is a much higher righteousness beyond the righteousness of the law.
In John 6:28 the Jews asked Jesus, “what shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (Jn. 6:28, 29).
Those of us who believe, however, often do not fully understand the magnitude of God’s abundant grace and what we can now claim as born-again children of God! The writer of Hebrews says, “There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” He admonishes us to “be diligent to enter that rest.” And he says, “we who have believed enter that rest” (Heb. 4:3, 9, 11). Christians who believe enter the “rest” of fellowship with God, the “rest” of Eden’s seventh day when all was very good.
- We now have eternal life (Jn. 6:47)!
- We now know we have eternal life (1 Jn. 5:13).
- We now have peace with God (Rom. 5:1).
- We now have been reconciled to God (Rom. 5:10).
- Our old self (man) was crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6.).
- We are now to consider ourselves to be dead to sin (Rom. 6:11).
- We are now freed from sin (Rom. 6:18, 22; 1 Jn. 3:8, 9).
- We are now dead to the law (Rom. 7:4).
- We now have been released from the law! (Rom. 7:6)
- We now serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter! (Rom. 7:6)
- There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus! (Rom. 8:1)
- We have now received the spirit of adoption! (Rom. 8:15)
- We now overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us! (Rom. 8:37)
- We are now sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise! (Eph. 1:13)
- We are now saved through faith! (Eph. 2:8)
- We are now the dwelling of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:22).
- We are now chosen in Christ (Eph. 1:4).
- We now have redemption through his blood (Eph. 1:7).
- God is now at work in us to will and to do His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13).
- We are now qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints in light (Col. 1:12).
- We have now been transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son (Col. 1:13).
- We now have each received a spiritual gift (Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 12; Eph. 4).
- The Spirit now helps our weaknesses (Rom. 8:26).
- We have now been predestined to be like Christ (Rom. 8:29).
And this is just the beginning! Do you see why the gospel is “good news”?
When we understand more fully the abundant grace of God as revealed in the new covenant, then we can join Paul in his exalted flight of praise:
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Eph. 3:14-21).
REPUBLISHED FROM PRINTED VERSION OF PROCLAMATION!, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2006.
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