FACING
FACTS
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who
live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in
the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)
Introduction
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We
live in an age where the tendency is for people to act according to feelings and
not facts. The Bible has always taught that facts are more important than feelings.
This is not to say that there is no place for feelings in the Church. But
rather that the facts of Scripture must be our guide no matter what your
feelings are. I want us to consider a couple of things that will help us in our
Christian life.
We
are looking mainly at Galatians 2:20, but I just want you to note that from verses
18-21, Paul uses the first-person singular at least fourteen times. In this
portion of Scripture, if you listed the personal pronoun in order, you would
hear Paul say, “I, I, I, myself, I, I, I, I, me, I, I, me, me, I. So, we see,
then, that there is a lot of personal application of the facts going on here.
As
we look at what’s going on in this portion of Scripture don’t be afraid to
apply these facts to yourself – if they fit.
You
Are in Christ
Paul
makes an earth-shattering statement in verse 20, “I have been crucified with
Christ.” “I, Paul, have been put to death along with Christ!” What does he
mean? Well, he means he died, not literally, but to his former ways, his former
way of life. He could write a book and call it The Death of a Pharisee. His
whole way of life died when Christ died on the cross.
So
how can this be? Well, he has seen how Christ on the cross represents him. You’ve
seen Muslims and Marxists and what not on television burn effigies of various
people. Those effigies represent real people. Well, Paul is saying that Christ
on the cross represents him as a real person, as a sinner. How can he say that?
Well, it was revealed to him in the Gospel.
Paul
tells us elsewhere that all men are sinners in Adam, (see e.g., Rom. 5:12; 1
Cor. 15:21, 22; 1 Cor. 15:45-49). If you were to turn to the 1 Corinthians
15:22 passage you’d see Paul says, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
all shall be made alive.” He’s saying that all those who are in Adam die but
all those who are in Christ shall be made alive. In other words, Adam
represents all people who die, but Christ represents all people who will be
made alive. So, when Paul says, “I have been crucified in Christ”, he’s saying
he has switched representatives. He’s saying that Adam is no longer his representative.
Christ now is.
To
be represented by Adam is to be under the condemnation of the law. But to be
represented by Christ is to be free from that condemnation. “There is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus...” (Rom. 8:1). The
condemnation came to Adam and those he represented (which is all mankind) when
he broke God’s law by eating the forbidden fruit.
In
order to deepen our understanding of what Christ was doing on the cross, we
need to understand God’s covenant with Adam before the Fall. Adam was the
representative of all mankind in this covenant. The Westminster Confession of
Faith calls that covenant The Covenant of Works.
Anyway,
God created Adam perfect and upright, wrote his law on his heart and gave him
the outward command to go forth multiply, subdue the earth, have dominion etc.
(Gen. 1:26-28). We call this The Cultural Mandate, and we are reminded
that it has not been revoked by God (see e.g., Gen. 9:1-7; Matt. 28:18-20). As
a test, God also gave Adam the outward command not to eat the fruit of a
certain tree upon pain of death (Gen. 2:16-17). Adam, then, in the Garden, was
on probation. He had loseable everlasting life. Loseable everlasting life
before the fall and, (upon redemption), unloseable everlasting life after the
fall. Or, if you will, he was an Arminian before the Fall but a Calvinist after
it!
So
then, our main concern here is to understand that all those who are in Adam are
under the Covenant of Works and are condemned by it. Therefore, all those who
are not in Christ are under the Covenant of Works in Adam. The conditions of
that covenant still remain the same today. They have never been revoked. The
conditions are perfect obedience to God’s law – just as it was for Adam before
the Fall.
So,
what was Paul doing before he met Christ? He was trying to keep the Covenant of
Works, which is seen in his erroneous view that a fallen human being can keep
God’s law perfectly. And he thought he was doing a fine job of it too. Listen
to what he said, “...circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the
tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning righteousness which is in
the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss
for Christ” (Phil. 3:5). But when Paul met Christ, he discovered that the Law
of God had already killed him. It had killed him centuries before – way back in
the Garden when Adam sinned. He had been seeking to uphold the terms of
agreement in the Covenant of Works. But it was impossible for him to keep that
covenant because he was a sinner before he even began. Why? Well, because Adam
represented Paul in that covenant, Paul as a fallen human being has a share in
Adam’s guilt and so do we.
Paul
had been seeking to represent himself. However, as we all are, he was
disqualified by God on account of his covenant representative, i.e., Adam. Therefore,
in order for any of us to receive everlasting life, we need to find a new
representative in the Covenant of Works. But all of mankind was condemned by
Adam’s sin against God – all but One, “But when the fullness of the time had
come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem
those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Gal.
4:4). The Son of God became the Son of Adam or the Son of Man (the same thing)
when He was born of a woman. He became the Second Adam – born under the law. Why?
To buy back those who were under, those who were condemned by the law as a
Covenant of Works.
The
law of God only condemns (Rom. 8:3). Saul the Pharisee, like all Pharisees, erroneously viewed the Mosaic law as a Covenant of Works, something that he had to keep to
receive unloseable everlasting life, rather than that which shows us our great
need to have faith in the Saviour promised by God (see e.g., Gen. 3:15, Isa.
7:14, 9:6-7). “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we
might be justified by faith” (Gal. 3:24). The law was not given to anyone or
any party, such as the Israelites at Mount Sinai, as a means of attaining salvation
through keeping it. Fallen human beings are disqualified on account of original
sin.
Adam
failed as our representative to keep the Covenant of Works (Rom. 5:12). But the
unfallen Christ, as our representative, kept the Covenant of Works perfectly by
keeping every jot and tittle of God’s law (Matt. 5:17-19). Therefore, as our
representative He has received everlasting life – for Himself and for those
whose faith is in Him. He has received everything God the Father promised Him! He
has received unloseable everlasting life for all those He represented, yes, for
all those who receive the adoption as sons – even the Apostle Paul. If you are
in Christ, then like Paul, you have been crucified in Christ. This means that
you have been taken from under the condemnation of the Covenant of Works and
placed under the acquittal of the Covenant of Grace. Whereas, the law declares the
condemnation of all, the gospel declares salvation to all who believe (John
3:16).
You
are no longer in Adam but in Christ the Second Adam, as Paul in 1 Corinthians
15:47 names Him. It means that you no longer seek to be justified by keeping
the Law or the Covenant of Works. Christ has done this for you. Therefore, look
to Him alone for your righteousness. Look outward to Christ and not inward to
your own (supposed) works.
In
summary: Adam broke the Covenant of Works for all mankind. Therefore, as
sinners, no one can receive everlasting life through the keeping of the law. We
are all condemned in Adam. However, Jesus Christ was without sin, and He kept
the Covenant of Works perfectly. As our new representative He was obedient to
the law even unto death. Therefore, when you look at Christ crucified you see
that you were crucified with Him. How? Because you see in His death true
righteousness revealed.
As
surely as Samuel hacked Agag to pieces because Agag was a sinner (1 Sam. 15:32-33), so does the
crucifixion of Christ hack us sinners to pieces. The penalty for breaking God’s
Law, or if you will the Covenant of Works, hasn’t been softened. The wrath of
God was poured out upon Christ who represented you the Covenant breaker. To be
crucified with Christ, then, is to have received the full penalty of God’s law
in Christ. Just as you had received Adam’s sin and guilt, so Christ has
received your sin and guilt. But He has adopted you and you have received His
righteousness. That what it means when you are in Christ...
Christ
in You
Paul
goes on to say, “I have been crucified in Christ; it is no longer I who live,
but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). What does he mean then by “Christ lives in
me”? Well, we’ve already seen that Paul wasn’t actually crucified with Christ. It
was his whole old way of thinking that was crucified. He used to think a man
could justify himself before God by pointing to his own good deeds. But he
became a new man when Christ with His good works was revealed to him.
Before
Paul had met Christ, he had been trying to generate his own righteousness. He
had been trying to keep the law, as a Covenant of Works, by his own steam. Then
Christ revealed to Paul a righteousness that Paul hadn’t worked for. This
righteousness is revealed in the Gospel as Paul says elsewhere to the Romans,
“For in [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith;
as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’” (Rom. 1:17).
Paul
used to look inward all the time. He used to look inward all the time to see
how he was going. When he was under the law, i.e., the Covenant of Works as he
saw it, he was under tremendous pressure to perform. God was demanding the
perfect keeping of all His commandments for justification. Not only was there
the moral law, but there were all the dietary regulations. All the feasts had
to be kept, all the ceremonial laws, all the judicial laws. Paul was trying to
keep all of this to the letter, even to the jot and tittle. But he was trying
to do so in his own strength. It was putting the cart before the horse. It was
like Sisyphus pushing a huge boulder to the top of a hill only to have it roll back
over him and kill him.
It’s
right we examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith (1 Cor. 11:28). But
the Christian looks at Christ when he examines himself (Heb. 12:2). Paul looked
only at the Law, yes, as the Covenant of Works. There is no grace in the
Covenant of Works after the Fall. It brings only condemnation, hardship and
death. For this reason, the Lord revealed the Covenant of Grace to Adam after
the Fall (Gen. 3:15). The protoevangelium, the promise of the gospel. The
righteousness of Christ is revealed in the Covenant of Grace.
The
Old Testament saints put their faith in the Christ to come. And we put our
faith in the Christ who has come. Paul says in Romans 1:17 the same thing as
Habakkuk 2:4. Therefore, the teaching of both Old and New Testament, the Bible,
is that, “The just shall live by faith.” Faith in what? What is the object of
the Christian’s faith? His own performance as he tries to do good works? Certainly
not. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
All
the Old Testament saints believed in Him and not in their own good works for
everlasting life. There’s a whole bunch of Old Testament saints who believed in
Christ listed in Hebrews 11, the “Hall of Faith.”
Now
then, when you start talking about people believing in God’s only begotten Son,
you are talking about faith. Look back in Galatians 2:20 and you will see where
Paul’s faith was directed, “And the life which I now live in the flesh I live
by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Faith, then,
has an object. And the object is the Son of God. To believe in the Son of God
for salvation means that you don’t believe in yourself for salvation. And if
you are believing in Jesus Christ, it means that you have faith in Jesus Christ
the Son of God.
Before
the Fall Adam was promised everlasting life for his obedience, i.e., God's law given as the Covenant of Works. (God's law had been witten on mankind's heart, Rom. 2:14-15). This was still
an act of grace on God’s part. God didn’t have to promise Adam anything. But
the Lord told Adam he would perish if he ate the forbidden fruit. Which means,
conversely, that he would not perish but have everlasting life – so long as he
abstained from eating the forbidden fruit. After the Fall the way of attaining
everlasting life, what we now call salvation, was different. “Whoever believes
in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” But up until Paul met Him,
he was believing in his own good works for everlasting life. I’ve been
labouring the point on purpose. I want you to see that the Christian is no
longer under the Covenant of Works. The Christian has been set free from the
condemnation of that covenant. The Christian is now under the Covenant of Grace.
This
is where the Christian needs to be very careful. This is where you hear people
quote Romans 6:14b, “You are not under law but under grace.” This is taken by some
to mean that, because we’re not under the Covenant of Works but under the
Covenant of Grace, the Law has no claim on us. But Paul says that Christ is
living in Him. So, we have to ask the question: What is Christ doing in Paul? What
is Christ doing in you and me? Well, we have to agree that Christ is at WORK in
each one of us. What’s He working towards? What does He want us to end up
looking like? Well, He’s showing us that we were powerless to keep the Law of
God in our sinful condition. He is showing us that He has kept the Covenant of
Works perfectly, not for Himself but for us. He is revealing His righteousness
to us, His perfect law-keeping as fully Man. And the more we see His
righteousness, the more we see the lack of our own righteousness. And the more
we see the lack of our own righteousness the more we seek His righteousness. In
a word, this is called Sanctification.
Sanctification
is something that takes place inside of you. Whereas Justification takes place
outside of you. Sanctification is a progressive thing. That’s why we call we
call it Progressive Sanctification. It is progressive in that as you trust in
the Saviour and His righteousness more and more, you will trust in yourself and
your own righteousness less and less. It’s not a “Let go and let God” exercise.
It is an exercise in which both you and Christ who is in you are engaged.
Let’s
see if we can begin to tie things together. When Paul said, “I have been
crucified with Christ”, he is stating in no uncertain terms that he is dead to
the law as a Covenant of Works. And that He is now alive to God. And he now has
faith in the Son of God to keep that Covenant in every way on his behalf. Paul
is declaring then that He is in Christ. Whatever Christ has done, He has done
for Paul. Paul’s old way of life has been crucified along with Christ. Paul
then has been justified by faith in Christ. But with justification comes
sanctification.
Christ
is at work in Paul helping him subdue any tendencies to go back to his former
ways. Paul has been rebuking and correcting the Galatians for going back to
their former ways. They are seeking to place themselves back under the Covenant
of Works. They’re under the Covenant of Grace, but they’re beginning to act as
if they’re under the Covenant of Works again.
The
law given to Moses as handed down by God on Mount Sinai was never given as a
means of fallen human beings gaining salvation by keeping it. That was the
misunderstanding and the complete distortion of God’s law by the Pharisees and
now the Judaizers at Galatia. God’s law, in all its aspects, moral, civil, and
ceremonial, was given to show us up as sinners in need of a Saviour, i.e.,
Jesus Christ, and not as a way for us to save ourselves.
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There
is some confusion among some as to whether the law Moses received from God on
Mount Sinai was given as a Covenant of Works. It certainly has clear echoes of the
Covenant of Works. However, Westminster Confession of Faith 7:2-3, 5 states, “The
first covenant made with man was a covenant of works, whereby life was promised
to Adam, and in him to his posterity, upon condition of perfect and personal
obedience. Man by his fall having made himself incapable of life by that covenant,
the Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the Covenant of Grace:
whereby he freely offereth to sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ,
requiring of them faith in him, that they might be saved … This covenant of
grace was differently administered in the time of the law, and in the time of
the gospel…” We focus on the words, “Man by his fall having made himself
incapable of life by that covenant,” i.e., the Covenant of Works. Therefore, since
the fall, due to incapability, life and salvation has never been attainable for
sinners by keeping the law. However, the Mosaic administration of the Covenant
of Grace was given as a rule of righteousness, a way to live one’s life as it
pointed to the Christ to come. The Westminster Confession of Faith goes on to
say in chapter 19:1-3, “God gave Adam a law, as a covenant of works … This law,
after his fall, continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness; and, as such,
was delivered by God upon mount Sinai in ten commandments, and written on two tables
… Besides this law, commonly called moral, God was pleased to give to the
people of Israel, as a church under age, ceremonial laws containing several
typical ordinances; partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, his graces, actions,
sufferings, and benefits; and partly holding forth divers instructions of moral
duties. All of which ceremonial laws are now abrogated under the New Testament.”Therefore, since the fall, sinners can never be saved by their own keeping
God’s law as a covenant of works. The Mosaic law was never given as a covenant
of works, which is another way of simply saying that sinners have always been saved
by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
How
does all of this apply to us? Well, you are either under the Covenant of Works
or the Covenant of Grace. One is about trying to save yourself by your own good
works. And the other is about doing good works because you have been saved (Eph. 2:8-10). Neither
the Covenant of Works nor the Covenant of Grace are about ignoring God’s Law.
The
Judaizers are like those in our own day that, (sometimes unwittingly), hold to
a view that it’s faith plus works for our salvation, i.e., what is called a “works
righteousness”, or more technically, a semi-Pelagian or Arminian view of
salvation. Whereas the Judaizers are saying that the Galatians needed to do
something to gain salvation, Paul is saying that his days of doing works to
earn salvation died with Christ. Works righteousness is simply shorthand for
Covenant of Works righteousness, for which fallen humanity, i.e., sinners need
not apply. Only Christ could qualify to do that job.
Perhaps
you’re one of those who, like the non-Christian, ignore God’s Moral Law. Some
Christians seem to think that Christ cancelled the Law or Covenant of Works. But
Christ only fulfilled the conditions of the Law. He didn’t cancel it (Matt.
5:17-18).
Your
way of life before conversion has been crucified with Christ. So why are you
acting according to the former ways? Your former ways have been put to death
with Christ. Therefore, face the facts and act as if this were true. Unless of
course you are not in Christ. The church has always had problems with these
same issues down through the centuries.
Conclusion
If
you are in Christ, you have been Justified. You are no longer under the Covenant
of Works as a way of salvation. Therefore, you should stop acting as if you
were.
If
Christ is in you then you should be acting as one under the Covenant of Grace. You
should be looking to Christ as the great Covenant keeper. And as you watch the
One who kept the Covenant of Works perfectly, you should see more and more of
your own imperfections. This should cause you to progressively, with the
assistance of Christ in you, subdue even any notion to break God’s Law. It’s
all about facing facts and then living in accordance with them.
The
facts are that if you’ve been Justified you have been and are being Sanctified.
And if you are being Sanctified you have been Justified. Therefore, you should
be acting in accordance with this knowledge. Those are the facts, so how do you
feel about that?
