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The Gift of Righteousness by Bryan Kessler

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The Gift of Righteousness by Bryan Kessler Session 4: The Gift of Righteousness By Bryan Kessler In the last session, having navigated through Romans 1-3, we looked at God's wrath, our sins being imputed to Jesus on the cross, Jesus as our atonement and propitiation, and the liberating truths of the finished work of the cross, such as the complete forgiveness of our sins, a cleansed conscious, victory over the devil's accusations, and freedom from condemnation, wrath, punishment, and anger. Now we are ready to discuss Romans 4-5 as we study the gift of righteousness in this session and justification in the next session. Before we get started, however, there is a vital truth that we need to understand first if we want to fully comprehend the gift of righteousness and that is our union with Christ. Our Position In Christ Paul used the phrase "in Christ" 84 times in his epistles, underscoring the importance of this essential truth. Yet many believers can't accurately articulate what it means to be in Christ. Without a firm grasp of this vital concept, understanding the gospel, especially as it is revealed in the book of Romans, is difficult. Therefore, let's spend some time looking at what it means to be in Christ. To begin, we have to realize that Paul's audience was very familiar with covenant, for covenant was a common way of securing alliances, pacts, and treaties in the first century. Because of this common method of binding two parties together, Paul did not have to explain covenant terms to his readers. He used covenant terms freely, without explanation, because his audience understood what he was talking about. For us in the western world who are unfamiliar with covenants and covenant concepts, it can be difficult understanding the truth Paul was trying to convey. To help us see this, let's suppose that we reverse the roles and Paul steps into the twenty-first century. Someone hands him a popular Christian book, and as he begins to read, Paul gets hung up on the phrase, "If you Google 'the book of Romans', you will see hundreds of resources and commentaries that will give you insight into this book." As you can imagine, Paul would have to put the book down and ask his host, "What does it mean to Google?" Paul's host would then proceed to tell him, "Oh, Google is just a search engine that you can use to quickly find things on the internet." To which Paul would respond, "What is the internet?" The host would reply, "Oh, the internet is a vast network of connected computers that serve up information, such as the news, maps, and the weather." And Paul would look at his host with a confused look and ask, "What is a computer?" The host would respond, "Oh, a computer is a device that runs on electricity and allows you to type documents, send email, and create videos?" To which Paul would ask, "What is electricity, what is email, and what are videos?" To us in the twenty-first century, almost everyone understands what it means to "Google," so an author would not have spend time explaining search engines, the internet, and computers to the reader. Yet for someone like Paul who lived in the first century, it would take at least 6 months of extensive training to help him understand one phrase that we are so familiar with. The same is true when Paul used the phrase "in Christ" 84 times in his epistles. To Paul and his audience, this covenant concept of being "in" a representative was so familiar that he did not have to explain what he meant by "in Christ." To us in the 1 twenty-first century, however, especially if we live in the western world where the only covenant that we are familiar with is the covenant of marriage, this covenant concept can create confusion. Though a detailed explanation of covenant is beyond the scope of this class, let's quickly look at what a covenant is and then focus on an important step in covenant making, the selection of a covenant representative, for this will help us fully grasp what it means to be in Christ (For more information about covenant, please refer to the Lifeschool class Understanding Your Inheritance in Christ). The word “covenant” is used approximately three hundred times in the Bible. It is a concept that permeates both the Old and New Testaments and is a central theme throughout Scripture. In fact, what we normally call the Old Testament and New Testament should be translated as the Old Covenant and New Covenant. The covenant is so important that it separates two dispensations in the Bible! A covenant is a formal, solemn, and binding agreement that joins two parties together as one. A covenant is often secured by a blood sacrifice and unites two parties together based upon a common agreement, often extending to future generations. Whenever a covenant was cut between two parties, a covenant representative was always selected on behalf of each group. These representatives entered the covenant on behalf of everyone in their party and would thus bind the entire group to the expectations of the covenant agreement. Everyone who belonged to a particular party was considered to be "in" its representative, so that everything the representative did and agreed to in making the covenant would be imputed to each member of the group. For example, let's suppose that the Zata tribe, renowned for its strength, valor, and cutting- edge tactics in warfare, wanted to cut covenant with the Zoe tribe, famous for their farming practices. The covenant between the two tribes consists of the Zatas agreeing to protect and defend the Zoes from enemy attack and the Zoes agreeing to train the Zatas in the art of agriculture. To begin the covenant ceremony, a representative is selected from the Zata tribe and the Zoe tribe. To signify their vow to protect every member of the Zoe tribe from enemy attacks, the representative from the Zata tribe hands the representative from the Zoe tribe a sword. Likewise, to show their commitment to train the Zatas in farming, the representative from the Zoe tribe gives the representative from the Zata tribe a stalk of corn. Though each member of the Zata and Zoe tribe did not directly cut covenant with each other, they are treated as if they were "in" their representative when the covenant was enacted. That is, each member of the Zata tribe is reckoned to have received the stalk of corn and each member of the Zoe tribe is reckoned to have received the sword because they were considered to be "in" their representative when the covenant was cut. Since the individual members of each tribe were "in" their representative and the agreement of the covenant was imputed to them, everyone in the Zata tribe can call on their covenant partners to help them farm and everyone in the Zoe tribe can call on their covenant partners to help them fight their enemies. Once again, we see the concept of imputation, for everything that the covenant representative does and agrees to in the covenant ceremony is imputed to every member of their tribe because they are considered to be "in" their representative. Thus, whatever the covenant representative does and agrees to in the covenant ceremony is reckoned to be what every individual member of the tribe has done and agreed to. Being fully God, Jesus was the representative of the Father in the New Covenant. Being fully man, Jesus was also the representative of humanity in the New Covenant. It is important for us to understand that the New Covenant was not cut between God and you or God and 2 me; it was cut between God the Father and God the Son. We then enter into the New Covenant, which was cut over two-thousand years ago, when we are born again. Just as Abraham was Israel’s representative in the Abrahamic Covenant, Jesus was humanity's representative in the New Covenant. In the same way Abraham’s descendents shared in the blessings of Abraham by being in him, believers partake in the blessings of the New Covenant by being in Christ. In a manner parallel to the Old Testament saints entering the Abrahamic Covenant through circumcision, we enter into the New Covenant that was cut with Jesus by faith through the circumcision of the heart when we are born again (Rom. 2:29). In the book of Romans, Paul emphasized this theme of us being in our covenant representative, Jesus Christ, the moment we are born again and thus partaking of all that Jesus is and accomplished in securing the New Covenant on the cross. For example, Paul said that we "have become united with Him in the likeness of His death" and that we were "joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead" (Rom. 6:3-5; 7:4). So how are we united with Christ and joined to Him? The easiest way to answer this question is to highlight what happened when we were born again. When God saved us and put His Spirit within us, our spirit became new and was joined to the Holy Spirit. Paul said, "But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him" (1 Cor. 6:17). Pause for a moment and meditate upon this glorious truth. We are one spirit with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the One in Genesis who executed the commands of Jesus to create the heavens and the earth (Gen.
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