Theologicus

The Perfect Work of Christ

We Are Justified

The Text

2 Corinthians 5:21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The Devotion

Many people argue that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are two distinct entities.

Have you heard this argument?

• Why was God so angry?
• Why is Jesus so loving and kind?
• Was God in the Old Testament the Father, and then his Son took over in the New Testament?
• I don’t understand a god that would punish people.
• I can only understand a god that loves.

Interestingly, God of the New Testament would cast judgment and execute a husband and his wife for lying to God about selling land and the giving of proceeds from that sale. (Acts 5:1-11)

It is even more interesting to note that the Apostle John wrote in his Gospel in chapter 3:

John 3:16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

And did not finish that statement without further proclaiming and clarifying:

John 3:36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.

So, quite simply, by seeing the wrath of God in both Testaments, we know that God is eternally God, past, present, and future.

But what about his love, mercy, and grace? What about gospel of God, which Paul rightly declares to be "the power of God in salvation for those who believe, to the Jew first and also the Greek," to which he was not ashamed of? (Romans 1:16-17)

To try to speak of God’s grace upon constant grace, his daily renewed mercies, and his steadfast love throughout the Bible, I believe we have to also look at his righteousness throughout the Bible.

But what is righteousness? Oxford defines it as "Of a person: acting or disposed to act rightly or justly; conforming to the precepts of divine law or accepted standards of morality; upright, virtuous.”¹ When God defines it, he takes it to that next proverbial level: "To stand upright in the presence of God.” That is to say: to be without sin, to be perfect.

Here’s the reality: we don’t know a time or place ever in our lives or in our souls that was without the effects and consequences of sin. We cannot fully comprehend what it truly means to be perfect and righteous.

Can we? Even saying something like "That dress is perfect!” or "This gift is so perfect” really doesn’t mean the same thing as calling a person perfect or righteous.

And yet, the Creator God of the universe requires us to be perfect, never to perish, and more so than that, to be with Him forever. To be with God now and forever requires you to be free from sin, never have known sin, committed any sin, or failed to do the thing you were supposed to do.

And when faced with the objective truth that God requires perfection to be declared righteous, people usually respond in three ways.

One reaction is hubris. "Well, I guess I'd better roll up my sleeves and get to work. I know I can do this if I maintain perfect control of myself, but more so, if I can also control those people around me and the world around me. If everyone acts right, I can be right and my life will be perfect.”

The second response is despair. "Oh my God! I cannot possibly obey God! What can I even do?”

Last response is apathy. "Why even bother? This impossible. Screw God, his people, and his made-up laws. They are not real and made up anyway.”

And all three lead not to joy and pleasures but to destruction and death.

That monster, Satan, came to kill, steal, and destroy. And Satan has already come into our world and did just that. Think about this: Adam and Eve had it all. Not because they had all their needs met, but even more, they had it all because they had God. They were already righteous in their dealings with their God, our Father. But in the original parents’ fatal mistake, God doesn’t respond with instant judgment. Instead, God lovingly and calmly comes into our world, evident by simply strolling through the coolness of the garden, looking for His two lost children.

God calls out, "Adam, where are you? Why are you wearing those ridiculous things? Who said you were naked?”

In other words, "What’s wrong? Tell me, Son. Tell me, daughter. What is wrong?”

God doesn’t respond out of judgment alone, although he alone rightfully judges. He did not instantly cause them to drop dead--although their bodies, along with the rest of creation, began their decay unto death. God doesn’t just respond out of righteousness. No, God reacts fully and truly out of everything he is, perfectly and fully.

It is out of the perfection and fullness of God’s love, desires, affections, mercy, grace, justice, righteousness, patience, peace, holiness, aseity, omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence that we can fully see in God’s response.:

Genesis 3:15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, And you will strike his heel.

From the moment we sinned against him, God has not eradicated us. Instead, with his two dying children bearing witness, he promises to make all things right--starting with the death of Satan.

God doesn’t chastise or even condemn. (Bear with me: I will get to that in a moment.) Instead, God responds with, "Satan, I will send Someone to make this right. You might think you have hurt him, but he will crush your skull underneath his bare foot once and for all.”

God promises the monster his death. God makes this threat-promise in front of his naked, scared, frightened, sin-filled kids. With Adam and Eve as his first witnesses, God promises that He alone will rectify what they did — sin against Him. And in this verse, we see the three steps he will take to make all things right with him. Step one: God was sending Someone to be born of a woman. Step two: This Someone would suffer. And yet, step number three, this sent one smashing the enemy's head to smithereens.

And when God turns to Adam and Eve, I believe that God doesn’t just instantly judge them. Why would I say this? Because after this encounter, they are still standing on the earth. What I see is that God is simply laying out the consequences and curses of sin in their lives and the world.

Do not miss this next part. When you teach a Sunday school lesson, preach the word, or read from the Bible on this passage, pay special attention to this verse:

Genesis 3:21 The LORD God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them.

Now, if you had only read the Bible for the first time in your life, and chapter 3, verse 21 was the first time you had ever heard of that, that might not mean anything to you. I mean, it’s nice that God covered their naked bodies. But as the days and lives continue after this moment, God continues to interact, guide, speak to, and reveal His glory to his people; we can go back and see what God was doing in that instance. It is only when I read through the law and the gospel that I can reread that verse in actual truth. God gives them His righteousness because they have heard His gospel and believed.

That Adam and Eve sinned, and they tried covering up their sins with their self-righteousness, which is as dirty garments before God. But God responds by preaching the Gospel of his Son. Adam and Eve react by believing the Gospel. And because they believed in God, God takes away their sin and self-righteousness and clothes them with His righteousness.

Don’t believe me?

Consider the following:

Luke 15:17–24 When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.” ’ So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

What did the father do? He quickly covered his son’s mess, shame, and guilt with the best robe; ordained his son with his family seal, and covered his kid's dirt and poop-covered feet with peace. And then he ordered the fattened calf to be barbecued because his son was once lost but now was found.

The father in the parable had all the means to restore his son to his own family. But how much more is the Good Father in heaven able to restore and bring the very worst and vilest sinners into his own family?

God knows everything about you. He determines when you were born and where you will live. On top of that, He knows when you were far from him, running away from him, and sinning treasonously against Him. He sees all of that. He knows all of that. God also knows when you appear to do good things, but your heart is not in the right place, and you only do good things to serve yourself. Namely, your heart is not perfectly about God. But when God saw you in your unrighteousness, he decided not to judge you to instant condemnation. But even before the creation of the world, God had chosen to save you.

Just as God slew an animal to clothe his kids, the slaying of that animal did not save them. Just as God proclaims His law to His people, that law could not and did not save them —it was too weak to do so. Even when God laid out the instructions to spill the blood of perfect, spotless animals to show his people what God must do to save them, not even the animals’ dried blood that completely stained the bronze altar would save his people! (Hebrews 10:4)

No! God demanded the Perfect Sacrifice, and that sacrifice had to be Man. But here’s the dilemma: no one ever born of man is perfect. No one! All who were born of Adam inherited Adam’s wicked and depraved heart. No one is righteous. No, not one. All of us have fallen way short of the glory of God. But under the law of God, the shedding of blood purified everything, and without the shedding of blood, there is no removal of sin. (Hebrews 9:22) Man has fallen into sin, committed sin even when they thought they were obeying the law of God (they were not), and only man can atone for sin. You cannot atone for sin when you are born in sin and have always sinned. God has a perfect requirement for atonement: it is a perfect man who lives perfectly, and can never know sin. This man could even be tempted as we are, but still be freed from sin. From the moment I was stitched together by God in my mother’s womb, I am disqualified from atoning for my sin. My very birth was into sin, and my continuous disobedience condemns me before the righteous and just God. And don’t get hung up on the word ‘continuous’ as if I could somehow stop sinning on my own. If I had broken one of God's laws, I would be guilty of breaking all of God's laws. (James 2:10)

With every single verse, chapter, and book in the Old Testament, God continuously, lovingly, and graciously preached His Gospel to his people, both Jew and Gentile: "I know you have sinned. I have specific laws that you must perfectly obey to be with me forever. They are but the standard by which to live with me forever. Oh, I know you were going to fail. All of you will fail. And your sins will have consequences--sometimes even dire and mortal. But trust in me. No matter how many times you fail, trust me. Maybe not in your lifetime, or your kids’ lifetime, or your kids’ kids' lifetime, but I promise you that one day I will fix everything that you have broken."

That fix is His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. God the Father sent God the Son to be born as a baby to live his life perfectly and obey every single law that God gave his people. His Son was tempted in every way that we are, but never fell short of the glory of God. But in perfect obedience to His Father by the power of His Spirit, the God and man, Jesus Christ, made a beeline to the cross in perfect obedience and with joy and gladness because what Christ was about to do was to save His people from their sins. It was upon the last step on that hill of the skull where Jesus Christ would gladly give up his perfect life once and for all, so that we would have the perfect life once and for all.

2 Corinthians 5:21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

What is the response to this righteousness?

Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

We have peace with God.

We have grace in which we stand.

We get to boast and worship God.

We get to hope in God.

We get to see the glory of God.

We have the Christ!

And since we have the blessed only begotten Son of God, we get everything that he has. Surely, Jesus Christ has inherited everything because he was perfectly obedient. Since we are co-heirs, we get everything he received. (Hebrews 1:1-2; Romans 8:14-17)

But much more precious than the entire world and all the riches contained within, we get something that no amount of money or power could earn--the righteousness of Christ.

We have the Christ. Therefore, we have his righteousness as our own.

Praise be to God!

The Scriptures

Psalm 51:4 Against you—you alone—I have sinned and done this evil in your sight. So you are right when you pass sentence; you are blameless when you judge.

Habakkuk 2:2–4 The LORD answered me: Write down this vision; clearly inscribe it on tablets so one may easily read it. For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it testifies about the end and will not lie. Though it delays, wait for it, since it will certainly come and not be late. Look, his ego is inflated; he is without integrity. But the righteous one will live by his faith.

Luke 8:9–14 Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?” So he said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that Looking they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing. As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit.

Romans 1:16–17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.

Romans 3:20–30 For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law. But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets. The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus. Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By one of works? No, on the contrary, by a law of faith. For we conclude that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

Romans 4:2–8 If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about—but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness. Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed. But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness. Likewise, David also speaks of the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the person the Lord will never charge with sin.

Romans 5:1–11 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

Romans 8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

Romans 10:8–13 On the contrary, what does it say? The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we proclaim: If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame, since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males, no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom. And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Galatians 2:15–21 We are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners,” and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified. But if we ourselves are also found to be “sinners” while seeking to be justified by Christ, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

Galatians 3:10–14 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, Everyone who does not do everything written in the book of the law is cursed. Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith. But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Titus 3:3–7 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. He poured out his Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior so that, having been justified by his grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.

Hebrews 10:35–39 So don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith; and if he draws back, I have no pleasure in him. But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.