False Views of Righteousness

[dragonfly]

Hi rand,

Thanks for your reply.

But i think that if you keep breaking down the 'crushing the head with the heel' you will see that it says the same as the one verse I gave you that; sin has no power over us because we are not under the law.

I'm not sure which of the verses you have posted in this thread you are referring to.

I was referring to you opening comment on the power of sin being broken. Is it a theology that you get by combining different scriptures or is there a single verse that says that? I'm not saying i disagree, because i don't.

It is easier to show through a variety of verses.

The reason I think it's important to show the centrality of the cross in making the transition from law to grace, is that there was a time before sin was defeated, when sin had no power over mankind because there was no law. People who don't understand the law-cross-grace flow of God's dealings with sin and man (or man and sin) regularly quote Romans 4:15 to justify 'we are not under law but grace', and that makes no sense at all.

The reason we are able to be free from sin, is because it has been dealt with under the law by Jesus Christ. The grace which comes through joining the New Covenant by faith and receiving the Holy Spirit, is a totally different scenario from Rom 4:15. That's why I wrote as I did.

I hope that gives more context to my previous post.

 

[Theodore A. Jones]

Many Christians say, "God only requires one to be righteous. His Son". The thought goes that since He is righteous, God does not require me to be righteous. This is a typical response coming from Christendom, today.

Does God require men to be righteous? Here many Christians would respond, "No". They take a view called positional holiness that can be expressed as follows:

"Oh, yes, I am very unholy and I commit sin; I sin in thought, word and deed every day, but by virtue of my position in Christ, all Christ's perfect righteousness is accredited to me so that God does not even see my sin; He sees only Christ and since I have my position in Christ, I remain holy before God."

The logic is, because of my position in Christ, God does not see me, He sees only Christ. Since Christ is righteous, I am righteous.

In this view one see righteousness as a legal position in Christ rather than a life of righteousness. They would say you cannot be righteous, only reckoned righteous. Faith enters into a legalistic reckoning of all sins, past, present and future, as already remitted. A permanent justification encompasses all the future sins he may commit, and nothing he does will change his position in Christ. Faith has completed the work, he no longer is responsible to repent.

Also a certain gnosticism has entered the church that says the knowledge of it makes it so. In this view, righteousness is just a matter of knowledge. If you know it, then it is yours. Confess it, and it will be so. This accomodates the positional view of righteousness.

But, does a confession of righteousness make one righteous?

Is faith a substitute for repentance?

Axehead

"For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous." Rom. 2:13