New Creation Righteousness
Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again [from above] he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3.3, NASB)
The “sinner saved by grace” bumper sticker prominently displayed on a disproportionate number of beat-up Chevettes belies a fundamental misunderstanding of the essence of the Gospel. You usually find those Chevettes parked at churches where the preacher implores the audience each Sunday to “come to God” by kneeling at the altar and confessing that they are indeed sinners. After some heartfelt sobbing, the confessor is considered to have “prayed through” and he is a “saved” man. When this “saved” man comes back the next Sunday, although God has supposedly forgiven him, he is browbeaten again by the preacher. This time around he’s “saved by grace,” but he is still a despicable sinner who ought to know just how he’s continually failed God between Monday and Saturday. This approach to salvation is completely foreign to the New Testament epistles.
The issue for that unsaved man is not the forgiveness of any particular sins. And the issue does not have anything to do with him repenting enough so God will take him in. The crux of the problem is his nature. As a sinner, he is a child of the devil and a child of wrath who hasn’t the ability nor the right to ask a thing from God.
in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (Ephesians 2.2-3, NASB)
Unless this diabolical nature is changed, forgiveness of particular sins is really irrelevant.
When one goes to the New Testament epistles which lay out the how-to for the born-again nature Jesus spoke of to Nicodemus, there is no sinner’s confession of sins, requisite godly sorrow, or repentance to be found. He, instead, sees quite another kind of confession:
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10.9, NASB)
The unsaved man doesn’t confess that he’s a sinner before God in order to get saved. He outwardly confesses another lord - Jesus - and that dreadful nature of his is transfigured:
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God … (2 Corinthians 5.17, 18a, NASB)
This born-again experience is not theological righteousness, a reckoned righteousness, or even an imputed righteousness. It is an actual impartation of God’s own righteous nature to mankind. The unregenerate child of wrath becomes the very workmanship of God (Ephesians 2.10 - “For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus”). It is because of this New Birth, “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” that the saved man can never, ever be termed a “sinner” in any way, shape, or form.
Adrian Warnock’s Blog is also dealing with this subject.
I’ve really been enjoying this series, and I think you’re absolutely right. I also would have violently disagreed with you a few years ago. I was totally on the “sinner saved by grace” train until a while back when I read Megashift by James Rutz. When he brought up the fact that we’re actually considered in the Bible to be saints, not sinners, I thought that sounded horrible. How prideful! How conceited! But then I actually read his arguments and more importantly looked at the actual Scriptures throughout the NT, I realized that he was right. We WERE sinners, we HAVE BEEN saved by grace, and now we ARE saints endowed with the righteousness of Christ.
Such an idea has been a revelation in my life, because it actually causes me to view any sin in my life as an abnormality that I have the power to eliminate as a new creation in Christ, rather than feel like my sin is a part of me that I’ll always have to struggle with on a daily basis. Praise God He gives us the ability to truly repent and follow the paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake!
Peter, I loved this line: “Unless this diabolical nature is changed, forgiveness of particular sins is really irrelevant.”
That’s the absolute truth! It’s not our behavioral sins that are the problem anyway - it’s the sin nature we had until we were born again. Jesus didn’t tell Nicodemus “You must repent,” but instead He said, “You must be born again.”
Jared, I should have had you and Suzie write this one.
Peter,
Jesus did preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 4:17) as did the Apostles (Acts 2:38, 3:19) as should the church (Luke 24:47). I don’t think it’s possible to view being born again apart from concomitant repentance. If one wants to say that is a message to the not yet believing (sinner) rather than the church (saints), that’s copacetic. Nonetheless, I am waiting with baited breath to see your treatment of Hebrews 12:1. If you hadn’t intended to treat that passage in this series, I wish you would, I think it would go a long way in clarifying your position on the saint failing. Anyhow, you do excellent work, and I’ve been enjoying the series.