110
March 1931
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
“Thou, Lord Jesus, art my righteousness. I am Thy sin. What Thou wast not, Thou didst become that I might become what I was not.” The truth of imputed righteous ness is as clear in Scripture as the truth of the removal of guilt. Eleven times in one chapter, the word “im puted” or “reckoned” is used to teach the great truth of a divine righteousness' provided for believers in Jesus Christ. When Christ is received as “the Lord our right eousness,” the recipient becomes “the righteousness of God in him.” Men have disputed about this and have contradicted it, but it remains as one of the greatest and grandest teachings of Scripture even though it transcends the expectations of nature and the activities of the un regenerated reasoning faculty. To call this a bit of “old- fashioned theology” is nonsense. It is undeniably the clear teaching of Scripture, and as such is received and rejoiced in by the Christian believer. Count Zinzendorf has left on record this notice of a personal experience of his own: “About this time, I met with the work of Dippel, in which the doctrine' of im puted righteousness is attacked. Its system seemed to aim at eliminating from the idea of God the notion of His wrath; and just so far as I sympathized with that view, I liked the system. I was then in the attitude of the natural theologian; and the ‘good God’ distressed me when His acts seemed to lack a sequence of mathemat ical precision. I sought to justify Him, at all costs, to men of reason. But when I came to think over my own conversion, I saw that in the death of Jesus, and in the word “ransom,” there lay a profound mystery—a mystery before which philosophy stops short, but as regards which revelation is immovably firm. This gave me a new intuition into the doctrine of salvation. I found its blessings and benefit first in the instance of my own heart, then in that of my brethren and fellow workers (in the Moravian Church). Since the year 1734, the doctrine of the expiatory sacrifice of Jesus has been, and will forever be, our treasure, our watchword, our all, our panacea against all evil, alike in doctrine and in practice.” N ew L ife I s I mparted Not only is guilt removed and righteousness imputed to the believer in Christ, thereby clearing him from con demnation, but a new life is also imparted. This meets the third condemning factor, namely the evil nature within. Our Lord is not the founder of a new religion; He is the Fountain of a new life. To receive Him is to become a partaker of the divine nature. This divine and new life imparted to us does not displace the old fallen nature. The two dwell together in the same house, but they do not agree the one with the other. The old nature lusteth against the new, and the new against the old. Hence there is the conflict with which believers are so painfully familiar. The story of this conflict is found in the seventh chapter of the epistle to the Romans. It depicts the believer in possession of the new life, but without an experimental knowledge of deliverance from the dominion of the old life. As long as this condition continues, there must remain a certain degree of con demnation because of defeat. The removal of all condem nation involves at least one more step. It would never do to leave the child of God in constant defeat. The possession of the new life does not in itself include vic torious living. Another step is necessary, and a further provision is therefore made.
O Grace of God Man sees the fault, but God the heart’s contrition; Man gives the blame, but God the full remission; Man deems indelible sin’s crimson stain; God views the soul by blood made white again. 0 grace of God! Man can forgive, and yet doth oft remember The past transgression; but God’s heart so tender Doth cast our sins into the deepest sea, Nor e’er brings back cleansed guilt to memory. O grace of God! Man may not feel again love’s lost emotion, Nor yet confide, once wronged, with full devotion; But God, foreseeing all, loves still the same, Nor breaks His bond, where He has set His name. 0 love of God! Love wonderful, love vast, love all unmeasured! Infinite heights and depths in God’s heart treasured! Reveal to us, 0 Christ, that love transcending Our highest thought—the love that hath no ending — The love of God! —J. H. S. G u ilt I s R emoved Consider diligently this fourfold provision. First, guilt is removed. The sense of guilt incurred through wrongdoing is lifted from the conscience because, the penalty having been met, the sin is removed. The atoning sacrifice on Calvary s cross cleanses the conscience from the burden of guilt. At the cross, God called our sins into question. He pronounced upon them the sentence of death and then executed the sentence, for it is written: “Christ died for our sins.” That death was a judgment death. “The Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all,” and “he was numbered with the transgressors.” He as sumed our liabilities, met all our delinquencies, discharged our obligations, removed our guilt; and now the righteous Judge of all the earth, our God and Father, can and does utter the verdict of our tex t: “There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” Guilt is removed. Herein is love—and herein is righteous ness too. R ighteousness I s I mputed The second contributing cause of our condemnation is the lack of righteousness through sins of omission. This is met "by a righteousness which is reckoned to the account of the sinner who puts faith in the atoning blood of the Saviour, for it is written: “Him who knew no sin, he made to be sin on our behalf that we might be come the righteousness of God in him.” Luther’s com ment on this verse is both suggestive and quickening:
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