Our Key Positions in Christ - Part 2

 

Welcome back. We have been discussing that after we become a Christian by faith in Christ’s sacrifice for us we are not simply labeled a Christian, but there is so much more! Our precious salvation gains us four wonderful, irreversible morphologic and legal positions in our standing before God. 

 

Last time we discussed the first two positions, spiritual baptism and God’s possession. For the full overview, please read our e-book chapter Positions in Christ. Now let’s consider two more positions resulting from our salvation. 

 

Justification (we are innocent)

 

This is a vital result of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Let’s examine in some detail the meaning of this great promise.

 

·       Meaning of the New Testament word – This word is key because the complete meaning in Greek  for justification (δικαιος, dikaios) is not fully conveyed in English. The word dikaios carried a legal sense that still exists today in modern Greek. In the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, the term signified that someone who was found innocent of all charges against them in a court of law, just as today, is forever innocent.  There was no double jeopardy (1). This important legal concept means once a person has been found innocent, they should not be charged a second time with the same crime. 

 

·       Christ’s work in justification – The Bible indicates that each of us has sinned and “fallen short” of what God requires of us (Romans 3:23). Because God is just, He demands punishment for our misdeeds. However, because He is loving, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to take the punishment in our place (Romans 3:24-26).

 

o   It’s as though Christ acted as a courtroom judge, found us guilty of our sins, sentenced us to death, but afterwards, stood up, removed His judicial robe, came around in front of the judge’s bench and took the punishment for us, for our past, present and future sins!

 

o   Christ’s death satisfied God’s demand for righteousness but also showed His great and gracious love for us.

 

·       No other work or sacrifice is required – Importantly, Christ is a sufficient sacrifice for our transgressions as He is perfect, holy and without sin (Romans 3:25; Hebrews 7:26; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Therefore, Christ satisfied God’s righteous demand for judgment. Accordingly, He died once for all sin, for all time, and He does not need to do this again as did the Old Testament priests (Hebrews 6:1-14; 10:10-18).

 

·       Our legal position before God was pronounced “innocent” when we trusted Christ for forgiveness of our sins. We do this only once and our sins are forgiven for all time. Since Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient, nobody can charge us again (Romans 8:31-34). There is no double jeopardy!

 

Adoption

 

This concept is important in our society because when a family legally adopts a child the new family member gains all the rights and privileges of a naturally-born child (2). In other words, their new status in the family is permanent and cannot be overturned. What a great promise of security to the child!

 

Likewise, in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, as in our own society (with some differences), adoption provided permanent legal status for a child that could not be overturned (3). The Apostle Paul states our position as adopted children into God’s family in four separate places in his epistles, indicating the importance of our new position following accepting Christ as Savior through faith (Romans 8:15,23; Ephesians 1:5; Galatians 4:5). Consequently, we are children of God, adopted into His family with legal protection and a permanent status. Further our wonderful inheritance, guaranteed as a member of the family, Is eternal life What a great promise!

 

Thank you for joining me today. Please visit next time while we continue this wonderful journey about our salvation. 

 

William C. Stewart

 

1.     http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1209&context=wmborj

2.     http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Adopting+parents

3.     http://www.biblestudytools.com/encyclopedias/isbe/adoption.html

 

Email - info@teleiosresearch.com

Website - http://teleiosresearch.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TeleiosResearch

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/TeleiosResearch

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/TeleiosVideos/

 

Disclaimer - This blog and its content are provided only as information and are intended for visitors 18 and older. No content on the website should be taken as advice or recommendation to any personal or institutional situation. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily either shared or endorsed by Teleios. Both the blog and the contents are subject to change at any time without notice. Although I endeavor to ensure that the blog and the content are current and accurate, it may contain errors. I do not represent that the blog or the content is current, accurate or complete, or appropriate for your specific requirements. I do not accept any liability from any person for the blog, the content or any other information (or the use of such information) I provide. I do not have a seminary degree, but I have trained myself in the scriptures to teach and provide this information. For any specific question, I suggest you contact experts in that field and or do your own research into the scriptures.

Our Key Positions in Christ - Part 1

Our Key Positions in Christ - Part 1

Thank you for joining me. We're in the middle of an exciting series describing the timeline of our great salvation from beginning to the end of all time, all performed by God. Please see the prior blogs below to learn the earlier aspects of God’s plan for salvation and give context to today's topic. 

 

Today we're discussing our wonderful positions in Christ. At our salvation through faith in Christ’s death we are positioned spiritually with God in four primary ways. Let's discuss the first two this week and we'll discover the next two next time. 

 

1.     God’s possession – As New Testament believers, God has redeemed us (purchasing us at the cross) has enabled us to become His peculiar possession (1 Peter 2:9). How does God accomplish making us His possession?

 

·       The Holy Spirit’s sealing – We are marked as God’s possession at salvation by the Holy Spirit who is given to us (Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9). This is a great promise and a result of our belief to salvation by faith alone in Christ’s substitutionary work on the cross (Ephesians 2:8-9).

 

·       His workmanship – Upon belief we are also remade into God’s image (Ephesians 2:10) as a new work. Please see just below under Baptism for further detail.

 

2.     Spiritual baptism – This biblical truth is vital in understanding who we are as Christians.

 

·       First, let’s consider the word itself. In the Epistles when baptism is mentioned, it refers almost always to spiritual baptism. Water baptism might be considered as an external ritual to signify the internal event. The word βαπτιζω (baptizoo) in Greek (the original language of the New Testament) was an old term borrowed from the dye trade. It meant that a piece of cloth immersed in a dye became ‘identified’ with the new color.

 

·       Second, how is being ‘identified’ with Christ associated with being a Christian? Fortunately, a lot! When we believe at salvation we are identified with Christ’s gracious death and resurrection. At this time, our old self died and was buried with Christ. We are raised now to new life with Him and God views us as sitting with Him at His right hand (Romans 6:2-12; Ephesians 2:4-7; Colossians 2:12-13).

 

·       Similar concepts in scripture that also appear to speak to spiritual baptism are: regeneration (Titus 3:5), born again (John 3:5) and new man (Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10). Why is this concept so important?

 

o   Believer’s sin – Although every believer sins, we possess the power to say ‘no’ to sin because our new person in Christ is now able to live a victorious life.

 

o   The reason for the resurrection – Baptism teaches us the importance of the resurrection because Christians are raised with Christ to new life without which they would still be dead in sins (1 Corinthians 15:17).

 

o   Eternal security – Baptism helps each believer know they cannot lose salvation because scripture does not indicate that committing a sin will kill the new person and bring the old dead self back to life!

 

o   Prayer - believers who are now holy can approach God at any time directly in prayer in confidence. Old Testament believers did not have this advantage, being limited to the Day of Atonement when only the high priest could approach the most holy God (Heb 10:19-22).

 

Otherwise, we are transformed permanently to a new life, resurrected with Christ and free to serve Him and pray to Him. We cannot be defeated by the misdeeds of our old self. These changes cannot be reversed. What a great comfort we have in the truth of scripture!

 

In summary, we have four great positional promises as a believer because of Christ’s redemptive work on the cross, resulting in either legal or morphological irreversible changes. We covered two of these important positions today God's possession and spiritual baptism. For the full overview, please read Positions in Christ - Teleios, Inc. (teleiosresearch.com).

 

Please join us next time as we discuss or legal justification and our adoption into God's family. Wow what wonderful promises God has provided us to assure us of our great salvation!

 

William C. Stewart, MD

 

Email - info@teleiosresearch.com

Website - http://teleiosresearch.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TeleiosResearch

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/TeleiosResearch

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/TeleiosVideos/

 

Disclaimer - This blog and its content are provided only as information and are intended for visitors 18 and older. No content on the website should be taken as advice or recommendation to any personal or institutional situation. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily either shared or endorsed by Teleios. Both the blog and the contents are subject to change at any time without notice. Although I endeavor to ensure that the blog and the content are current and accurate, it may contain errors. I do not represent that the blog or the content is current, accurate or complete, or appropriate for your specific requirements. I do not accept any liability from any person for the blog, the content or any other information (or the use of such information) I provide. I do not have a seminary degree, but I have trained myself in the scriptures to teach and provide this information. For any specific question, I suggest you contact experts in that field and or do your own research into the scriptures.

 

Christ's Glorious Resurrection

 

Christ’s Glorious Resurrection

 

Welcome back to my blog. The last few weeks we have discussed the chronological events of salvation. Although we make salvation efficacious for ourselves by belief in Christ’s death as the punishment for our personal sins, the marvelous story of salvation began before all time and will end with Christ’s final magnificent return.

 

We have examined the biblical concepts of God’s choosing us and dragging us to salvation alongside the Holy Spirit’s conviction, all which brought us to the point of faith in Christ for our personal salvation. We also have considered what Christ accomplished by his death to allow us to be saved. Please see the last two weeks of blogs for details at https://teleiosresearch.com/blog-teleios/. This week we discuss Christ’s glorious resurrection and why it's so important.  

 

Significance of the resurrection 

 

·       Regarding Jesus Christ -  If Christ did not rise from the dead He cannot be not God, God’s promises were voided, Christ does not have the power of God, He did not ascend to heaven and begin the church, He cannot minister to us now nor will He return to establish eternity and reign in His Kingdom. Consequently, the resurrection is central to who God is and His promises.      

 

·       Regarding man - The resurrection is central to our salvation and our identity as Christians. The resurrection is described by a number of concepts in the epistles, the most common of which is spiritual baptism.  This is an important biblical truth which is vital in understanding our transformation into Christians at our salvation. 

 

When we become a Christian, we are identified (baptized, Greek, baptizo) with Christ’s gracious death and resurrection. Otherwise, at salvation our old self died and was buried with Christ. We were raised (resurrected) to new life with Him and spiritually we sit with Him on the right hand of God the Father (Romans 6:2-12; Ephesians 2:4-7; Colossians 2:12-13). 

 

Similar concepts in the epistles that are based on the resurrection are: regeneration (Titus 3:5), born again (John 3:5), a new man (Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10), Christ in you the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27), the anointing by the Spirit (1 John 2:20,27), and the seed (1 John 3:9).

 

·       Importantly, the resurrection provides the following:

 

o   Power not to sin – Although every believer sins, we have the ability to resist sin because as a new person in Christ we have the power by the Holy Spirit to live a victorious life. We can say “no” to sin!

o   Holiness – Our new life in Christ allows us to be viewed as holy by God so we now have access to Him. (Hebrews 10:19-22). Indeed, without the resurrection and our new life, despite our forgiveness, we would still be dead. This is because without the regeneration (spiritual baptism) resulting from the resurrection, we would still be “in our sins” because of our fallen depraved nature inherited from Adam (1 Corinthians 15:17-19; Ephesians 2:3).

o   Prayer - Because we are a new holy person based in Christ’s resurrection we have the freedom to come boldly to God in prayer without hindrance (Hebrews 10:20-23).  

o   Eternal life – Because of the resurrection we are raised with Christ to new life. We are now holy and we can enter heaven and eternal life when our physical life ends. 

o   Eternal security – The regeneration helps prove we cannot lose our salvation because scripture does not indicate that our new self can be killed and the old dead self re-resurrected like some bad re-make of the ‘Night of the Living Dead’!

o   Able to serve - Since we are resurrected to a new and holy person, and possess the Holy Spirit, we are a new creature that is able to serve God according to His will (Romans 6:11-16). We were not able to do His works prior to becoming a Christian (Romans 3:10-12). 

 

In other words, by the resurrection we are transformed permanently to a new life, identified with Christ and sitting with Him in heaven. These changes cannot be reversed. What a great comfort we have in truth of scripture!

 

Therefore, as a new person, we are liberated from sin and are free to serve Christ. We cannot be defeated by the misdeeds of our old self nor affected by Adam’s fall (Romans 6:11-23). 

 

What a great salvation we have, which God planned before all time and carried out in his wisdom knowledge love and for his good pleasure (Ephesians 1:4-8). Join me next time as we continue this wonderful journey discussing God’s wonderful plan of salvation. 

 

William C. Stewart, MD

 

Email - info@teleiosresearch.com

Website - http://teleiosresearch.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TeleiosResearch

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/TeleiosResearch

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/TeleiosVideos/

 

Disclaimer - This blog and its content are provided only as information and are intended for visitors 18 and older. No content on the website should be taken as advice or recommendation to any personal or institutional situation. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily either shared or endorsed by Teleios. Both the blog and the contents are subject to change at any time without notice. Although I endeavor to ensure that the blog and the content are current and accurate, it may contain errors. I do not represent that the blog or the content is current, accurate or complete, or appropriate for your specific requirements. I do not accept any liability from any person for the blog, the content or any other information (or the use of such information) I provide. I do not have a seminary degree, but I have trained myself in the scriptures to teach and provide this information. For any specific question, I suggest you contact experts in that field and or do your own research into the scriptures.