Jesus Christ, through His death, declared the ultimate example of righteousness before the whole of creation.
Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Rom 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Jesus Christ also declared His righteousness through the example set forth by His life. By setting this example unto His death there could be no greater example of righteousness set forth to the entire creation.
Think about it.
Jesus was tempted in ALL POINTS as we are...
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Jesus suffered all the temptations that were common to man, yet not one time allowed temptation to rule over Him.
1Co 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Jesus did what Cain did not...
Gen 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
Jesus did well and was accepted.
2Pe 1:17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
By the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ God preached both the forgiveness of sin and His standard of righteousness unto the whole world.
Peter likened the "death" and subsequent "quickening" to the longersuffering of God to the wicked world in the days of Noah.
1Pe 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1Pe 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
The world stands condemned before God and thus could be said to be "in prison" awaiting execution. Yet God, in His long suffering, grants men time to repent. During the days of Noah God waited 120 years whilst Noah both preached and built the Ark. Likewise, through the death and resurrection of Christ, God both preaches and builds His Church calling all men to repentance (2Pet 3:9).
How ought men respond?
The answer is "with a good conscience."
1Pe 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit:
1Pe 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
1Pe
3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of
God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein
few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
1Pe 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 3:22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
1Pe 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
1Pe 4:2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
In the above passage Peter describes the mechanics of salvation and how it works through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It is through answering God with a "good conscience" that we suffer WITH Jesus having taken on the same mind by which we have ceased from sin. Thus the genuine Christian no longer lives the rest of their time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but rather to the will of God.
I believe it is important to recognise how the modern Babylonian Church System has perverted the purpose of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ by twisting it into a substitutional model where the "dying WITH Christ" aspect has been completely excised. Thus people approach Christianity with a mindset of simply "trusting" (mental assent) in "what He did" as opposed to answering what He did with a good conscience and PARTAKING in it.
This is the root deception in the false Church and it is key to recognise. Once recognised it becomes clear as to why people argue a theological perspective which favour ongoing sin in salvation.
Let's take a look a careful look at Romans chapter 3...
Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Jesus Christ manifested the "righteousness of God" (a standard) directly to mankind through His teachings and example. This same righteous standard is upon all, both Jew and Gentile, who truly believe.
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Both Jew and the Gentile (Rom 3:9) have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Justification is a gift via the means of redemption IN Jesus Christ, a reference to the abiding state of the Spirit of life IN Jesus Christ (Rom 8:2), ie. the WALK of faith.
Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Rom 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
The righteousness of Jesus Christ was declared for the remission of PAST sins for it proclaimed the true standard upon which reconciliation with God is premised. Thus God is just in justifying those whom believe because, with "belief" being the antidote to sin ruling in the heart, there is no license for ongoing rebellion. The root of iniquity is dealt with once and for all. Paul then goes on to explain that the reason that the LAW OF FAITH justifies is because it ESTABLISHES THE LAW.
Rom 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Rom 3:29 Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:
Rom 3:30 Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
Rom 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
We can see the same sentiment expressed later by Paul where he writes...
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Paul clearly connects all the following...
1. No condemnation.
2. The Spirit of life in Jesus Christ.
3. The righteousness of the law being fulfilled in those whom walk after the Spirit.
The whole context negates any ongoing working of iniquity. This is why we read...
Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Rom 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Paul understood the cross in the same way Peter did, as something PARTICIPATORY.
We die WITH Christ and we are then raised WITH Christ. The "service of sin" ceases because our "old man" is crucified, by which the "body of sin is destroyed." In other words the "root of iniquity in the heart" is purged through the experience of a genuine repentance in which we "die to sin". Paul gives vividness to "inward wickedness" by describing it as a "body of sin."
With the "body of sin" destroyed through "dying WITH Christ" we are set free indeed.
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Paul continues...
Rom 6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
Rom 6:9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
Rom 6:10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Rom 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rom 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Rom 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Having truly experienced the Baptism of Repentance (Mar 1:4, Act 19:4, Rom 6:3) and having been raised up with Christ (Eph 2:5, Tit 3:5, Rom 6:4) we are thus empowered to a life of victory over sin as servants of righteousness. Thus we are to reckon ourselves dead indeed to sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ, a life we experience through the Spirit of His life.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
True freedom indeed.
All the above can be easily summed up in one verse of Scripture...
Act 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
How does one partake in the refreshing? Through the answer of a good conscience unto God whereby we are saved by the resurrection.
1Pe 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1Pe 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
1Pe 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 3:22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
1Pe 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
1Pe 4:2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
Jesus summed it up with...
Mar 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mar 8:35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.
Peter elaborated...
1Pe 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
1Pe 2:22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
1Pe 2:23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
1Pe 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Jesus bore our sins on the tree that we BEING DEAD TO SINS should live unto righteousness.
It is through the death of Jesus Christ that we are granted a fresh start having had our past sins and past self serving life permanently put away via the death of Jesus Christ. We approach God via the blood seeking this fresh start, seeking reconciliation, determined to follow God.
Have you died WITH Christ dear reader?
Have you answered God with a GOOD conscience?
1Ti 1:5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
Please consider.
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