FACING FACTS

 

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).

So maybe you’re one of those Christians who just does what he or she likes. Well, that would make you a lawbreaker, wouldn’t it? Then you would need to ask yourself: Why are you so comfortable with breaking God’s Law? How can you be comfortable with breaking God’s Law if the great keeper of God’s Law is in you – unless of course He’s not at work in you? And if that is the case you are condemned under the Covenant of Works. Or perhaps you’re one of those Christians who are overloaded scruples. Don’t do this! Don’t do that! – a stickler for all the little nit-picking things. “Absolutely no cigarettes, absolutely no alcohol whatsoever” – that type of thing. You are, of course, free to smoke and/drink if you wish. But some look for bits of sawdust in other people’s eyes. They follow man-made rules and regulations as if they were the Word of God. Well, these types of folks are acting as if they are under the Covenant of Works. They’re supposed to be acting in accordance with the Covenant of Grace.

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?