Christ, Our Righteousness

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nicole-cArticle: Christ, Our Righteousness by Roger Nicole (original source – https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/christ-our-righteousness)

“To know that one has died and been raised is far, far more pastorally significant than to know that one has, vicariously, fulfilled the Torah.” – N.T. Wright, Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision, p. 233

N.T. Wright in his advocacy of a “new perspective” on Paul and his teaching makes a special plea that “justification” should relate to the question “who belongs to God’s covenant with the world?” rather than “how can you be saved?” Wright’s answer to the question is “Jews and Gentiles alike, who believe in Jesus the Messiah.” This position is discussed widely in the present issue of Tabletalk. The subject of our essay is to consider how the perfect obedience of Christ to the Mosaic law does apply to those who believe in Him. The answer to this question, according to the Reformed understanding of Scripture, is “the active obedience of Christ is imputed to the justified believers as their positive cover in the last judgment.” The Westminster Confession of Faith states, “Those whom God…freely justifieth…accepting their persons as righteous…by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them” (11:1).

First, this position is articulated in an emphatic way in Romans 4:3–24. The pivot of this passage is the word logizomai, to credit, to include in one’s accounting. This word is used ten times in this context in Romans, and the word is used elsewhere in a similar fashion in Psalm 106:31, Galatians 3:6, and James 2:23. Continue reading →

Bold Thoughts About God’s Love For Us

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love01As a pastor, Paul was very concerned for the spiritual welfare of God’s children and prayed that each one might be “rooted and grounded in love, having strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Eph. 3:17-19)

I think many Christians feel that AT BEST, God has a grudging acceptance of us. It is as if God is saying, “I accept you but I don’t like you that much. However, seeing you accepted Christ, I guess I have to accept you too.”

That kind of idea stands in total contrast from the biblical revelation. Nothing could be further from the truth! God, for no reason known to us (and certainly not because of anything He saw in us), decided to personally elect each and every one of His saints so that they would be saved, and sent His Son to the world to accomplish their redemption. We read, “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” – 2 Thess. 2:13, 14. Ephesians also drives this exact same point home to us in the clearest of terms. God has gone to enormous lengths to save each of His precious sheep and He did so, because He wanted to. He actually wanted us. He actually loves us. As believers we must renew our minds to this fact.

When our emotions and even our circumstances seem to suggest something other than this, we must take such thoughts captive and believe (and rest in) the Father’s love for us. 1 John 3: 1 says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” We are told to “see” something. May I ask, “do you see this?” Has your heart been awakened and enflamed because you know of God’s love for you personally?

John Owen once stated, “Men are afraid to have good thoughts of God. They think it is a boldness to eye God as good, gracious, tender, kind, loving. I speak of saints. They can judge him hard, austere, severe, almost implacable, and fierce (the very worst affections of the very worst of men, and most hated by God). Is not this soul-deceit from Satan? Was it not his design from the beginning to inject such thoughts of God? Assure yourself, then, there is nothing more acceptable to the Father than for us to keep up our hearts unto him as the eternal fountain of all that rich grace which flows out to sinners in the blood of Jesus.”

Think about that. Then think on it again. Oh, that God’s people were saturated in this truth of the love of God! I’m convinced it would change so much about us.

Ray Ortlund writes, “We might think it would be more honoring to God to hold back from bold thoughts of his love in Christ. We might think, He is so holy. I am so opposite. God must despise me. And if he does, well, it’s only right. But Owen calls that thinking “soul-deceit from Satan.” He asserts that “there is nothing more acceptable to the Father” than our seeing God above as flowing out to us in gracious love, that we believe it and receive it in Christ… If Owen is right, then we are sinfully cautious. ‘But when he came to his senses . . .’ (Luke 15:17).”

Again, precious child of God, think about that!

In all He calls us to walk through, yes, even the trials you are going through just now, there is not a single detail of it that has not come to you except through the providential rule of One who loves you with an eternal, unbreakable, immutable (never changing) love.

As we approach the Lord’s day, may I encourage you to take a little time to meditate deeply on God’s personal love for you, His child. And as you do, I pray that God would do much in your life, drawing you ever closer to Him.

You are loved and cherished. Remember that!

What Star is This, With Beams so Bright?

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colinnichollArticle by Colin Nicholl, (original source TV documentaries on the wonders of the cosmos, and YouTube videos from the International Space Station about the oddity of watching Earth from a ‘tin can’ in space. Astronomy is the ‘wow’ science.

As fascinating as the latest missions by NASA and the European Space Agency are, to the average person nothing in astronomy is more captivating than the Star of Bethlehem. Quite simply, the whole world is engrossed by the Star. It is central to cherished Christmas traditions from Bethlehem on the West Bank to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, from Mexico to the Ukraine, and from Poland to the Philippines. Millions flock to planetariums for special presentations in the weeks before Christmas to reflect on the Star, the greatest astronomical mystery of all. The Star features prominently in our Christmas celebrations—we sing carols to and about it; we perch it atop our Christmas trees; and we send Christmas cards embossed with it.

However, when it comes our perceptions of the Star, it is as though we view it through a deep and dark mist. Our thinking, heavily shaped by movie representations, television documentaries, planetarium presentations, Christmas decorations, and Yuletide carols, is inconsistent and confused. Have a look at recent Nativity movies or religiously themed Christmas cards in your local card shop and you’ll appreciate the truth of what I’m saying.

One factor that vies to influence our thoughts about the Star is the beloved Christmas carols that we sing so gustily. But can we trust what they say? Was the Star a new celestial body, ‘a stranger midst the orbs of light?’, that prompted the Magi to ask ‘What star is this?’ Is it true that the Star shone in the eastern sky with ‘beams so bright’ and ‘to the earth…gave great light’? Were ‘all the stars above…paling, all their luster slowly fading’ because of the Star’s ‘royal beauty bright’? Did its ‘light’ guide the Magi ‘from country far, …to follow the star wherever it went’, even as it was ‘westward leading, still proceeding’? And when the travellers arrived in Bethlehem, did the Star ‘both stop and stay right over the place where Jesus lay’?

The sources

Our most important source about the Star of Bethlehem is Matthew’s Gospel. There, in his Nativity account, we discover that the Star was first observed by the Magi over a year before Herod’s slaughter of Bethlehem’s infants. Many months after this first appearance, the Star had a ‘rising’ in the eastern sky that deeply impacted the Magi, revealing to them that someone special had been born, a king, indeed the Jewish Messiah, and commissioning them to travel hundreds of miles to honour him and present him with extravagant gifts. Then, within a couple of months of the Star’s rising (the duration of the Magi’s journey), the Star was in southern sky to usher the eastern astrologers to Bethlehem before standing over one particular house there, pinpointing it as the place where the Messiah was.

The early church father Ignatius, writing a few decades after Matthew, probably citing a first-century hymn, describes the Star: ‘A star shone in heaven with a brightness beyond all the stars; its light was indescribable, and its newness caused astonishment. And all the rest of the stars, together with the Sun and the Moon, formed a chorus to the star, yet its light far exceeded them all. And there was perplexity regarding from where this new entity came, so unlike anything else [in the heavens] was it.’

The quest for the historical Star

Wouldn’t it be amazing to know what the Star was? If we could identify the Star and discover what the Magi saw, it would enable us to get into their sandals, to feel their awe, and to think their thoughts after them. The discovery would surely fill us with joy, reinvigorate our worship, and transform our celebration of Christmas. Matthew would be vindicated against his critics. Jesus would be seen to have been authenticated as Messiah by God. The Bible’s claim that God created the heavens and is Lord over them would be even more compelling. It would have the potential to be an astonishing boost to Christian witness in this increasingly hostile, atheistic world. Can you imagine what moviemakers would be able to do with the revelation of the mystery of the Star of Bethlehem!? So exhilarating is this vision that you might have thought that Christian benefactors would be pouring their money into sponsorship of cutting-edge research to identify the Star decisively once and for all. Continue reading →