For all humanity

As Jesus made his way into Jerusalem for his final Passover with his disciples, the crowds shouted: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!” (John 12:13).

Shortly thereafter, he proclaimed his impending death to those who went up to the Temple to worship. Jesus called to the Father: “Father, glorify your name!” A voice then thundered to the crowd: “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again” (verse 29).

Jesus told them the voice was for their benefit and that God’s judgment on evil had come so that the prince of this world would be driven out (verses 30-31). He also said, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (verse 32). Jesus conquered evil in order to attract all people to himself. The apostles believed that Jesus died to redeem us all:

2 Corinthians 5:14: “Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.”

Colossians 1:19-20: “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

1 Timothy 2:3-6: “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.”

1 Timothy 4:9-10: “This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance… we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.”
Hebrews 2:9: “We do see Jesus, who…suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

1 John 2:2: “[Jesus is] the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

These passages show that Jesus died for all humanity, that is, in their place and on their behalf. Jesus did for us, as one of us, what we could never do for ourselves. This is what is meant by the vicarious humanity of Jesus (the word vicarious refers to a representative substitute).

Jesus, the second Adam

In Romans 5, Paul addresses believers, but he also explains what Christ

accomplished on behalf of all humanity even before anyone came to faith in God through Christ. Jesus Christ died for people who were still:

• “powerless” and “ungodly” (verse 6).
• “sinners” (verse 8).
• “God’s enemies” (verse 10).

God accomplished his great work for us out of his “love for us” even while “we were still sinners” (verse 8). The result was that even “while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son” (verse 10).

Paul goes on to explain that what Jesus Christ accomplished as the second Adam counteracts what the first Adam did. Through Christ, as the new head of all humanity, “God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for the many” (verse 15). Paul continues:

• The gift “brought justification” rather than condemnation (verse 16).
• “Those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ” (verse 17).
• “One righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people” (verse 18).
• “Through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (verse 19).
• “Grace increased all the more” so that “grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (verses 20-21).

God did all this for us before we were even born. The benefit of what Jesus did so long ago extends to the past, to the present and into the future. Paul says, “how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (verse 10). This shows that salvation is not a one-time event, but an enduring relationship that God has with all humanity—a relationship formed within the person of Jesus Christ, who has brought God and humanity together in peace.

Jesus has not simply done something for us, he has done something with us by including us in his life, death, resurrection and ascension. Paul explains this in Ephesians 2:4-6:

• When Jesus died, we, in our sinful human nature, died with him.
• When Jesus rose, we, in our reconciled human nature, rose with him.
• When Jesus ascended, we, in our redeemed human nature, ascended and became seated with him at the Father’s side.

Everything God has done in Christ shows us the mind, heart and character of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God is on the side of his people and all his creation. God is for us, even before we respond to him (verse 5). He has provided reconciliation and eternal life in communion with himself for every human being.

Mistaken Identity

Recently I heard a T.V. minister refer to some people who are teaching that we were never sinners and (he added) how foolish that idea is. However the Scripture declares in Colossians 1:21 that we were alienated (had a sense of separation) and were enemies (sinners) IN OUR MIND.

Now of course WE believed we were sinners, and as a result we lived out of a sense of adamic life. The Scripture says that we were dead in SIN (singular), which means, mistaken identity; therefore we lived our lives in ungodly 'sinful' behavior.

What we must understand is that Jesus was sent by the Father to REVEAL the very opposite of what 'religion' has reinforced within us.

Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3:14 that 'whatever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be taken from it or added unto it'. God created man in His image and after His likeness. What happened is that mankind FORGOT when he came to earth.

Jesus was sent from God to REVEAL what man had forgotten. You could say that when we were physically born we were born with amnesia.

Amnesia means that we have lost the memory of our identity. A person that is afflicted with amnesia due to an injury to the brain does NOT have an identity change, he has merely  forgotten who he is.

To be 'born again' in aramaic means to 'remember our beginning'.

Paul the Apostle said in Ephesians 1:4 that 'He (the Father) has chosen us before the foundation of the world, that we should be HOLY and WITHOUT BLAME before Him in love'. I Peter 1:3 records that at the resurrection we were begotten or born again.

Objectively and historically that took place before any of us were even physically born. Therefore the born again experience is a spiritual awakening where we remember what was always true of us.

Proverbs 23:7 tells us that 'as a man thinks in his heart, so is he', or so is his experience. The reason mankind acted as a 'sinner' is because that is what he was told from the day of his natural birth, and then 'religion' reinforced that false concept in his mind.

The word 'sin' simply means, mistaken identity and to miss the mark. The mark is Christ, and we totally missed (or forgot) that identity of ourselves. Then the word 'sins' (plural) infers the behavior which came out of that mistaken identity.

So were we 'sinners' in the Mind of our Father? Absolutely not! We were only sinners, enemies and separate from our Father IN OUR MIND according to Colossians 1:21. (by Kay Fairchild)

A Different Idenity

Adam certainly died to the awareness of who he was, therefore he identity?"

experienced death immediately. Hence, God asked: "Adam, who told you that you are naked or void of My life or
God-
He is heart awareness causes us to experience death.

We must put on the Mind of Christ and see that in our Father's perspective we never lost our identity.

What He has made us cannot change, only WE can take on the awareness of a different identity.

The prodigal never had an identity change, only in his awareness did he fail to see who he was and therefore left the father. The lost sheep didn't become a goat when it left. The lost coin didn't lose it's value because it was covered over with dirt.

We need to question our theology and see if we have believed things just because religion has preached these false realities.

The early church fathers never taught that we were in Adam and then had to be put back in Christ. The early church fathers never taught exclusion or penal substitution. These are man's ideas because they are 'at home in the body' or they judge by appearances.

Is Humanity Righteous? (Romans 5:18-19)

If I gave you a million dollars, how would you react? If you were poor, you’d be thrilled. You’d thank

me and tell all your friends how awesome I am. But if you were Bill Gates you might say, “Meh. Add it to the pile.”

How you react to a gift reflects your need for that gift. Which is why I am dismayed by the teaching that says humanity is justified and righteous.  “All humans are justified through the faith of Christ… All people, past, present and future, are justified already.” The Bible declares that the righteousness you and I both need comes to us a gift through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom 1:17, 5:17).

What does it mean to be righteous?

To be righteous means to be right or straight with God. To be unrighteous is to be bent by sin. A quote from DL Moody comes to mind: “The law tells me how crooked I am. Grace comes along and straightens me out.” It’s the grace of God that straightens us out and makes us righteous. How does it work? Righteousness is a Person (1 Cor 1:30). Receive Christ and you receive his righteousness, and the result is you are justified by God.

So who is righteous? Jesus exhorted us to seek his righteousness and promised that those who want it shall have it (Matt 5:6, 6:33). Receive the gift by faith and you are 100% righteous! In Christ, you are just as righteous as he is. In contrast, inclusionism teaches that all are righteous whether they want it or not:

The disobedience of one man exhibits humanity as sinners; the obedience of another man exhibits humanity as righteous. (Rom 5:19, Mirror)

As far as I know, the Mirror is the only Bible translation that suggests humanity is righteous. Every other Bible says something like “through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” See the difference? One translation suggests all are righteous; the others say many will be made righteous. Big difference. I personally like this translation:

One man’s disobedience placed all men under the threat of condemnation, but one man’s obedience has the power to present all men righteous before God. (Rom 5:19, Phillips)

How do you become righteous? There is nothing you can do to make yourself righteous, but the good news declares that Christ’s obedience has the power to make you righteous. Believe it, and receive that free gift!

Getting straightened out

A miracle takes place whenever God transforms a crooked man like Saul into a righteous man like Paul. Saul was the chief of sinners – a violent man and a blasphemer (1 Tim 1:13) – but by the grace of God he became an apostle and herald of the gospel. That’s a miracle! But the miracle might not have happened if Saul had been convinced that he was righteous to begin with. In fact, that was part of Saul’s problem; he thought he was righteous when he wasn’t.

It would have been a mistake to tell Saul the sinner that he was righteous. And it’s a mistake to tell the Sauls of this world that they are righteous.  The self-righteous aren’t righteous but unrighteous.

Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. (Rom 5:18)

Paul is not saying all are righteous, for elsewhere he says the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9). Like Jesus before him (Matt 5:45), Paul distinguished between the righteous and the unrighteous. He wasn’t being judgmental, but simply stating a fact, which is that if you are unrighteous you can be made righteous by grace! Condemnation is for all who follow faithless Adam; justification and life are for all who follow Jesus. So choose Jesus!

Are all righteous?

Paul says the gift of grace righteousness overflows to the many (not all) and on account of the gift “many (not all) will be made righteous” (Rom 5:15,19). Why many and not all? Because not all receive the gift. Light has come into the world but some prefer the darkness.

For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. (Rom 5:17)

Only those who receive the gift of righteousness reign in life. Incidentally, this is a particularly awesome passage to read in Phillips’ translation:

For if one man’s offence meant that men should be slaves to death all their lives, it is a far greater thing that through another man, Jesus Christ, men by their acceptance of his more than sufficient grace and righteousness, should live all their lives like kings! (Rom 5:17, Phillips)

If a believer is not living like a king, it is because they do not properly value the gift of Christ’s righteousness. But if an unbeliever is not living like a king, it is because they have not received it, and they won’t receive it if they are told they already have it.

Inclusionism says all are righteous, but Paul says righteousness is received by faith. In the first five chapters of Romans, he says this SEVENTEEN TIMES:

• I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last… (Rom 1:-16-17)
• This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. (Rom 3:22)
• (God is) justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Rom 3:26)
• A man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. (Rom 3:28)
• There is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. (Rom 3:30)
• However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. (Rom 4:5)
• Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness… he is the father of all who believe… (and) who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had… the righteousness that comes by faith. (Rom 4:9-13)
• Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. (Rom 4:16)
• but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. (Rom 4:24)
• Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. (Rom 5:1-2)

The good news that Paul preached is scandalous: “God justifies the wicked (Rom 4:5).” This is the sort of message that enrages the self-righteous but makes the sinner blush with joy.

God justifies the wicked! He gives grace to the unrighteous!

The law says you have a great need for righteousness; the gospel declares you have a great Christ for your need! “You are broken and in need of straightening out – receive God’s free gift of righteousness!” It is just about the most splendid announcement a bent and broken sinner can ever hear.

What are we to do with the scandalous announcement? “Believe it!” says Paul again and again and again. “Have faith in this good God who loves sinners and justifies the wicked.”

And what will happen if I do?

“Receive it and this powerful gospel will change you,” says Paul. “It will save you and make you righteous (Rom 1:17, 3:22, 30, 5:1). And when you see that – that in Christ you are as righteous and holy as he is – you will reign like a king (Rom 5:17).”

The Cure for Guilt

The other day I lost my temper. It was only for a moment, but it was enough. Damage was done.

Later, I felt sick about what I did and took steps to make amends. This is how guilt works. Guilt is a signal that our lives have been disrupted by sin. Guilt is a sign that a hurt needs to be healed.

But there’s a problem.

Ever since sin was given free leash in the Garden of Eden, guilt has gotten out of control. We feel guilty for things we did and didn’t do. When we do well we feel guilty for not doing better. And when we fail, guilt pounds us. Worst of all, guilt never goes away. Like an alarm that won’t switch off, guilt is the soundtrack to our lives.

Burdened by guilt we may turn to religion in the hope of finding relief. Instead, we encounter the condemning ministry of the law. Religion tells us we’re even worse than we thought. We have not only let down friends and family, we’ve let down God.

With religious zeal we try to make the guilt go away but it’s no use. We keep nine laws but break the tenth. We’re good six days a week but stumble on the seventh. No matter how hard we work, the guilt pile just keeps growing.

Guilt is a killer

I am convinced that guilt and condemnation are at the root of many of our health problems. Guilt breaks us. Our emotional bones were made soft for love, not hard for guilt-bearing.

I was a pastor for ten years and I can tell you that a lot of counseling done in the church is guilt-based. Pastors spend the much of their time helping others manage their guilt. Which is ironic since pastors are the ones making folk feel guilty in the first place. (Please don’t feel condemned my preaching brothers! But please stop preaching mixture. It’s making others sick and sucking the life out of you.)

I’m not here to point fingers. We’re talking about the crippling effects of guilt.

If only there was a cure for guilt. There is!

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb 10:22)

Since the cross is God’s cure for your sin, it is also the cure for your guilt. Do you battle with guilt? Then look to the cross. Your sins are there not here.

Justified = not guilty

To be guilty means to be held responsible for your sin. I’m all for taking responsibility for our mistakes but when it comes to sin all the responsibility in the world isn’t going to clear your sinful name. Your sin burden is simply too great.

On the cross, Jesus took responsibility for all our sin. He literally became sin and in him all sin was condemned (Rom 8:3). The gospel declares your sin problem has met its match in Jesus Christ.

Do you know what this means?

Under law, the best of us is justly charged guilty of sin. But under grace, the worst of us is justly charged righteous, on account of Jesus (2 Cor 5:21).

This is one of the most profound revelations of grace yet many miss it. They say, “I know I am righteous and justified but I still feel guilty.” Connect the dots. If you are righteous and justified, you are not guilty.

“But, Paul, I feel guilty.” That feeling is a symptom of unbelief in the goodness of God. Don’t let that feeling run around like a rat in the attic. Deal with it. Take that feeling and make it bow to the obedience of Christ.

He has forgiven you all your sins: Christ has utterly wiped out the damning evidence of broken laws and commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it over his own head on the cross. (Col 2:13-14, Phillips)

Under the law, there was a long list of charges against you. “You’re a lazy Christian, a lousy parent, and a poor excuse for a human being.” Want to know what Jesus thinks of those charges against you? He nailed them to the cross. Don’t agree with those charges. Agree with Jesus!

Guilt from the Bible?

Many Christians battle with guilt because they’ve not fully grasped the finished work of the cross. They’re filtering life through the obsolete lens of the rule-keeping covenant.

Guilt is what you get when you are constantly told you are not doing enough, giving enough, praying enough. Since this mixed-up message is the predominant theme of graceless Christianity, is it any wonder guilt has become an epidemic?

Much of what gets done in the name of the Lord is motivated by guilt. “Jesus died for you, what will you do for him?” Crumbs. I’d better roll up my sleeves and get busy. “There are people going to hell because you are not evangelizing. Sign up for our outreach and make your guilt go away.” It’s appalling. It’s manipulation of the worst kind and it is about as far from Jesus as you can get.

Making matters worse, many of our Bibles were translated by the guilt-conscious. Do you know how many times the words “guilt” and “guilty” appear in the New Testament? The answer depends on which Bible you’re reading:

2    Young’s Literal Translation
3    American Standard Version
6    King James
13    Message Bible
16    New International Version
34    Good News
45    Amplified

What do these numbers mean? They reveal how much guilt is in your reading diet. For instance, if you read the NIV you’re getting nearly triple the guilt that you’d get from the KJV. If you read the Amplified, you’re getting nearly eight times.

Some Bibles should come with a health-warning: “Contains added guilt and traces of religious nuts.”

I looked up all the Greek words for “guilt” and “guilty” in Vines and found there are very few. In fact, Vines spends more time listing words that have been incorrectly translated as guilty. I won’t bore you with the details of my study but here’s an interesting question:

Do you know how many verses there are that say Christians are guilty?

Answer: Zero. Nada. Not one. So the next time you hear a message that makes you feel guilty – that seeks to hold you accountable for something you’ve done or not done – you can safely reject it as unbiblical.

When I lost my temper the other day, I apologized and quickly made amends. There was nothing religious about that. It’s just love. It’s common sense. But dead religion would’ve said, “Paul, you’ve not done enough. Every sin is a sin against God. On account of your sin you are now out of fellowship with him. You broke it, so you fix it. Examine your heart, confess your sin before God and he will wipe your slate clean.”

Such a message appeals to our religious flesh but it’s an anti-Christ and anti-cross pile of manure. Instead of leading you back to the one you hurt, it’ll cause you to withdraw and stare at your navel. Instead of thanking God that in Christ you are always righteous, you’ll waste time asking him to do what he’s already done. Instead of laying hold of the grace that empowers you to sin no more, you’ll beat yourself up like a religious flagellant.

(If you think I’m against confession, I’m not. And if you want to write in and tell me about 1 John 1:9, read this first.)

Learn the new language of grace

Guilt may be the lingua franca of dead religion but it wasn’t a language the New Testament writers spoke. It’s certainly not a language they speak in heaven. If you speak the faithless language of guilt, may I suggest you learn the new language of God’s love and grace.

When you have seen the finished work of the cross, it changes the way you look at your mistakes and failings. You no longer dwell on your weaknesses – there’s no power there. Instead, you fix your eyes on Jesus who was “delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Rom 4:25).

When you sin, the accuser will seek to bring a case against you. And in the eyes of the flawless law, he has a good case! However, the issue is not whether you have stumbled but whether Jesus has been raised. If he has been raised then you have been justified. Case dismissed.

It takes no faith to look at your mistakes and condemn yourself. It takes faith to look at Christ and say, “Because of you, I have been judged not guilty for all time. Thank you, Jesus!”

Unbroken Fellowship With God

Now the question might arise: “Why would God not want us to confess our sins to Him? After all, we do make mistakes!” The answer is simple: Because walking around the whole day remembering all the bad things we have done will not bring us closer to God! Jesus already paid the full price so that we could have unbroken fellowship with the Father. This means that when we make a mistake, it does not break our fellowship or right standing with God. Jesus was forsaken by his Father on the cross so that we would never have to experience that!

Some may argue: “But I want to be genuine with God and talk to Him about all my mistakes.” Well if people believe they need to be “genuine” with God about their mistakes, then to be really genuine they should rather act in faith, because without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). How much faith does it take to look at our mistakes and feel miserable about them? None. On the other hand, it takes faith to believe we are forgiven, loved, holy, perfect and righteous, even after we have just messed up…

There is however nothing wrong with confiding in our loving Father about our struggles. He understands us better than anybody else. But it’s all about our motives. When we mess up, do we run to Him feeling guilty and condemned like a murderer about to be condemned to retribution? Or do we ask Him for wisdom in overcoming the habits of our unrenewed minds, knowing we stand completely forgiven and holy in His sight? Begin to see yourself as God see you perfect, blameless, holy, righteous. When God looks at you He see you IN CHRIST, and nothing more nothing less. When you change the way to see yourselves you will begin to start to enjoy the abundant life God has for you all along.