Our legal vs practical relationship with God

The Bible speaks of two kinds of righteousness:

1. Legal - declared righteousness by grace through faith 
2. ¹Practical - day to day righteousness through faithful obedience. 

These two are distinct and appear to be in opposition when they are in fact connected.

Due to our rebellious distrust and a desire to be our own god, we are naturally inclined to confuse these and mix them together i.e. we see obedience as a means of earning God's acceptance, not as an expression of our already fully having it in Christ.

The following list compares and contrasts these two.

1.     The legal (our legal status and standing before God) can only be and is completely taken care of ^1aby God, not us.

2.     The relational can only be and is addressed ¹by us

1.  The legal has been taken care of ^2aby Christ's work. 

2.  The relational is addressed ^2aby our "work" of believing in that work.

1.     The legal is grounded in ^3aa past historical event 

2.     The relational is an ^3aon going present pursuit.

1.     The legal addresses God as our ^4arighteous judge 

2.     The relational addresses God as our ^4akind and loving Father

1.     The legal is about ^4aGods judgment and condemnation of us 

2.     The relational is about ^4aour love for him and fidelity to him

1.     The legal addresses ^4aGods posture-attitude-disposition towards us 

2.     The relational addresses ^4aour posture-disposition towards God

1.     The legal is ^5asettled, finished, completed, never to be re-litigated.

2.     The relational ^5ais ongoing, unfolding and never done.

The legal (1) is the foundation on which the practical/relational (2) is built.

Those who haven't received and experienced legal righteousness (1) attempt to use relational-practical day-to-day obedience-righteousness (2) to replace it i.e. they attempt to live righteously to gain God's acceptance, not because they already have it in Christ. 

The legal requirement of perfect righteousness can never be achieved (satisfied) by us i.e. our keeping God's commands perfectly because we are not able to. 

The legal is the foundation on which the relational is built. The relational/practical (2) flows from and is the fruit of assigned or declared righteous (1).

We cannot ²properly engage in the relational/practical (2) without clearly grasping the legal (1). 

Many of Paul's letters illustrate this. For example, Paul's spends the majority of his time laying the foundation of justification by faith in chapters 1-11 in Romans and chapters 1-4 in both Galatians and Ephesians, before discussing how to live out that faith in chapters 12 to the end of Romans and chapter 5 to the end of Galatians and Ephesians. You also see this laid out in just chapter 3 of Colossians alone.

The following passages also show these two realities juxtaposed to each other, while also showing how they are completely connected.

Rom 6:4  

(1)We were buried (past tense and legal status) therefore with him by baptism into death,

(2) in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk (present tense and daily conduct) in newness of life.

Rom 7:4  

(1)Likewise, my brothers, you also have died (past tense, legal status) to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead,

 (2) in order that we may bear fruit (present tense, daily conduct) for God.

Rom 8:3-4 

(1) For God has done (past tense, legal status) what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

(2) in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk (present tense, daily conduct) not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Note this contrast and connection is addressed in verse 4 of each of chapters 6, 7 and 8 of Romans (this makes it easy to remember the reference). This also shows the significance of this truth by repeating it three times in sequence using different examples in slightly different ways. The further significance of this is many consider Romans the fullest explanation of the gospel in all its facets and the pinnacle of Paul's letters as well as the New Testament itself, with chapters 6-8 being the pinnacle of Romans, particularly chapter 8.  

Do you wish to live righteously? You can not until you first grasp the full extent of your legal righteousness in Christ. The greater your grasp of this righteousness earned by another and given to you the greater will be it's fruit i.e. day to day righteousness. 

For additional posts discussing our legal vs practical status click here. 

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^1aThis addresses who

^2aThis addresses who and how

^3aThis addresses when

^4aThis addresses who and what

^5aThis addresses what and when

¹I am using "practical" and "relational" interchangeably because our obedience-practical righteousness is based on trust in God - i.e. it is relational. Trust is vital to our relationship with God and how we enter into that love already fully secured for us legally in Christ. 

²Neither can we completely appreciate or benefit from the legal (1) without fully engaging in the relational-practical (2). Our failure to obey perfectly requires us to go back to the work of Christ and remember God's acceptance is not based on our perfect obedience but on the obedience of Christ, an obedience that is already fully completed and can not be added to. This increases our appreciation for His work i.e. due to our failed obedience -- and know with certainty, you will fail and often -- increasingly helps us see the full extent of his work in freeing us from condemnation. 

The following passage best summarizes and captures these truths:

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." - Rom 8:1-4

Led by the Spirit

We often read into the expression "led by the Spirit" something that is not there. e.g. Some interpret not being "led by the Spirit" to mean we are out of 1God's will. And in one sense this is true. It is not God's will for us to operate in the flesh but in the Spirit. But being lead or 2directed by God's Spirit is not what we might think.

What does it mean to operate "in the Spirit?" Is it something we must do or will to happen? Yes and no. 

To "walk in the Spirit" simply means to operate knowing (believing) we are under the perfect care and love of the Father. We could simply substitute Spirit with love and we have the idea. 

And we are under God's infinite care because this has been earned/secured for us by the efforts of Christ, not ours i.e. this is only possible by grace.

To be lead by the Spirit is not something we do, per se. It is only possible because of something that has been done for us i.e. it is possible only due to the status gained by another (Christ) on our behalf and given to us solely as a gift.

Because of Christ we can operate knowing - if we believe - we are fully loved no matter 3what we are feeling, experiencing or doing. This is the fixed status of anyone who is in Christ.

So what is our role? What is it we are to do? 

We do play a part but our "work" or "walking" is simply choosing to believe we are under his perfect love as we go about living our lives for God's honor i.e. acting by faith in this status of being perfectly and infinitely loved, secured for us by another (Christ). As scripture says, "the just shall live by faith..." 

The call or admonition to ⁵"walk in the spirit" is a calling to believe -- and never stop (remain/abide in) believing we are constantly under the care of God and fully loved by him  3 no matter what we encounter or how badly we fail. The only thing we are to 4"do" - i.e. our "work" - is believe this is true regardless of what we are experiencing or feeling. 

Faith, however, is not passive. When we truly believe it moves us to act - to action. We are compelled by the love of God to faithfully pursue Him. If we are not compelled we do not yet comprehend - believe - in the love God has for us. It is in our believing we experience the power and influence of the Spirit. The greater our faith in Him and His perfect love for us the greater our freedom in Christ and the greater the fruit it produces in and through us. 

For a discussion on all things working for good click here.

For a further discussion on operating in the spirit click here

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 1 many interpret being "out of God's will" as being off track and therefore never reaching the destiny God has set out for us. Because we "missed it" it is now lost to us forever. 

However, God's will is not "vocational" but developmental. It is not to take us to a specific place but to make us like a specific person i.e. his Son. To do so he uses all things i.e. all the good and bad choices, experiences and circumstances we encounter in life.

For a further discussion on "being in the will of God" click here

2 Being led or directed by his Spirit simply means operating in and under the influence of his love. God is love and is Spirit. Though God's love and Spirit are not exactly synonymous this is not an incidental comparison. Our call to operate this way is simply a call to believe his love set upon is fixed,  relentless, nonstop i.e. endless and without interruption, as indicated by his coming to take up his abode within us.   

For a further discussion on the definition of terms click here

 3 Even when we are sinning we are still under his love and care for God uses all things to make us more like his Son i.e. He's constantly increasing our humility which increases our capacity to experience more of his love; he's always working in and through all things for our good.

  4 For a discussion on why faith is hard "work" click here.

⁵Why doesn't it say "walk in good deeds?" Because good deeds are the fruit of the Spirit (love) not of our will power.

Loving ourselves...part III

When God calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves, he's not telling us to love ourselves, he's calling us to care for our neighbors in the way we are already naturally inclined care for ourselves. 

What this passage is doing is giving us a standard. Self-care is the standard by which we measure and base our care of others. He is telling us to simply do for others what we desire they do for us in the way we automatically and naturally do it for ourselves.

However, we have a problem. This is totally impossible to do by ourselves. Our commitment to self-care is too great--so is our need for infinite love. We can not love others sacrificially until we know we are loved in the same way. 

Which is exactly why he appeals to this as our standard. He wants our care of others to be equally as great as our care for ourselves. 

The solution?

It is only when we know - are fully convinced - we are ¹perfectly cared for and loved by God, that we are freed and enabled to love others, but not until then. In ourselves alone, we do not have the love necessary to love in this way - i.e. sacrificially - or the assurance it will be worth the sacrifice.

But how can we know whether God loves us that much? Through Christ and his work on our behalf we have absolute proof of God's love. In and through Christ, God completely took care of both our alienation and our need for infinite love. He did all of this for us because of his care and love for us.

Do we believe this is true? Do we believe that God loves us ²this much? Unless and until we do we can never love others as God designed us to.

God says he loves us and did everything necessary to prove it. Is he lying? The actions God took prove he is not. It is for us to believe or reject His promised love demonstrated by His sacrificial actions. This is his call and also our greatest struggle, to believe. Do you?

For more comments on loving ourselves click here and here. 

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¹When we know that no sacrifice we make in loving others will go unrewarded, we are able to love sacrificially. And how do we know this? Because God proved it by sending His Son to restore us to himself and then raised him back to life after he sacrificed himself for us. Resurrection life after His sacrifice is ours because it was Christ's first. Christ's resurrection is the firstfruits of all other resurrections for those who love Him.  

²do we believe in his love enough that it transforms and frees us to love others in the same way he loves us i.e. sacrificially? Not unless or until we do can we ever love sacrificially.

Power… Within or without?

How are we empowered-strengthened to live for God?

We are told in Eph 3:16, that it is "...] according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being..."

This all sounds good but what does it mean exactly? Let's break it down.

This passage tells us we are empowered-strengthened to live for God "...according to the riches of his glory"

What are "the riches of his glory?" It is the immense worth-beauty-glory of God shared within and among the Father and Son in, by and through the Spirit. This is the essence of the dynamic ¹life and love of God itself. And this life - God's very own life - is fully extended to us in and through Christ. Because of Christ, we have been invited to participate in the Divine dance of the very same life and love of God in, by, and through the passion-Spirit-breath of God!

It is this holy Passion-Love-Spirit of God for his own infinite worth-glory we enter into, partake of, and are empowered by - i.e we receive the life and the love of God via his Spirit as we ²behold and adore Him in his glorious beauty, through which we are strengthened and empowered to live for him.

14 I bow my knees before the Father... 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.  

Vs 16 

...he may grant you to be strengthened 

...with power

...through his Spirit

...in your inner being

What drives and empowers us to live for God is a response by us from within (our inner being) to the love that comes to us from without (from God) through his Spirit (which now dwells within us) because of the work of Christ done without/outside of us.

The power needed to live for God is both from within and without. It is the coupling of God's Spirit-Love-Passion within the triune God, with our being - as His image-bearers - to experience, enjoy, and glory in this Divine dance of love (i.e. because we are like God, we are able to respond in kind - the same way He does - to His infinite beauty and glory). The love of God that comes to us (from without) stirs our heart (within through the Spirit), empowering us to live for him. As we behold His infinite beauty-glory revealed to us by His Spirit we are aroused and quickened to love, pursue and obey God. To say it simply, we love (and pursue/obey) Him because He first loves us. 

As we receive God's love that comes to us from without, we are empowered within, to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and others as ourselves. We are enlivened or quickened by the love and glory of God, to love Him in return and desire to live for him... it is God who works in us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Phil 2:12).


Power and humility

To say I am empowered by God might seem boastful. But to be empowered by God is not a point of pride but of humility. His empowering us is not possible without the grace of God extended to us in and through Christ, giving us access to God and the overflowing abundance of His infinite love to, in, and through is, by His Spirit. It is the work of Christ that makes us clean vessels suitable to be indwelt by his Spirit and filled with this love. 

This is our present state as a child of God in Christ. It is a state or status given to us not earned by us. It is not something we have to do or necessarily feel, but that we must believe and respond to by faith if we are to experience Him fully. The more we believe, receive and respond to His love (through obedience), the more we experience God's presence and are empowered by Him.

Why is this humbling? It reveals...

*Our capacity-ability (being in His image) to respond is from God, not us, 

*It is the love (God's infinite love) we are responding to (He is the initiater), and 

*Christ alone qualifies us to receive that love...

These are all given to us by God. We do not cause these, we are simply the most lavishly endowed heirs-recipients of them. All these things are ours only because of Christ, not us. 

Our "work" is to believe these are true.

28Then they inquired, “What must we do to perform the works of God?" 29 Jesus replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.” John 6

For a discussion on where we get the strength for self-denial click here. 

For a further discussion on the nature of being empowered by God click here.

For a discussion on how we participate in the promises of God click here.

For further discussion on the Trinity click here.
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¹Joh 17:3  And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 

The word used for "know" here is an intimate knowing; the kind of knowing we experience in and through relationship, not simply an intellectual knowing/gathering of information.

This is initiated by the Father, secured for us by Christ, and revealed to us by the Spirit.

² II Cor 3:17  "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."

Do you wish to change from the inside out? Then behold and meditate on the glory of Christ.