I’m not totally depraved. I’m not just a sinner saved by grace. I’m not more morally corrupt in God’s sight than I think I am.
I’ve heard preachers and read authors who reminded me how fallen I am. I’m weary of it. Not because it hurts my ego, but because it contradicts the Gospel. Consider this passage from Paul (bold-face type mine) . . .
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,
following the course of this world,
following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead in our trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of grace in kindness toward us
in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:1-10).
When Paul writes “we” (we were dead . . . we once walked in sins . . .we once lived in the passions of our flesh . . . we were by nature children of wrath . . . we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus), and when he writes “you” (by grace you have been saved), he refers to those who have put their faith in the grace God has given in Christ Jesus. That includes me.
So I can say that I was dead in the trespasses and sins in which I once walked. I was by nature a child of wrath. But our rich-in-mercy God, because of his great love, made me alive together with Christ, raised me up with Christ, seated me with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. I have been saved by grace through faith. I am now part of his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.
I know I need reminders of what I once was. I do forget my absolute dependence on God’s mercy in Christ. I do tend at times to think I’m better than I really am.
I also realize that some preach a “gospel” which is no gospel at all—a gospel that minimizes sin and maximizes in-born potential if I’ll just think positive thoughts and declare positive propositions. That “gospel” is anti-Christ, delusional and at best brings only a better attitude. On the Last Day it will be shown for the hollow, deceptive lie it is.
But when a preacher or author tells me that I’m totally depraved, just a sinner saved by grace, or more morally corrupt in God’s sight than I think, he or she is preaching “another gospel” too. It’s a “gospel” that offers “only” justification, not the process of sanctification. It’s a gospel that (properly} magnifies the work of Christ on the cross, but ignores the work of the Spirit in the believer. It’s a “gospel” that reminds me of what I was, but overlooks what I now am and am becoming in Christ by the Spirit’s empowering presence. Here again is the apostle . . .
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the Spirit of life has you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.
By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,
he condemned sin in the flesh,
in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us,
who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1-4).
Not only am I now not condemned (which can mean “not guilty” or “no longer condemned to live as a prisoner of sin’s power”) “the Spirit of life” has freed me and by means of Christ’s cross is fulfilling the law’s righteous requirements in me!
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.
For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:18).
When I read the Lord’s Word, when I pray, when I meditate on his creation masterpiece, when I hear his Word preached, when I sing in worship to him I am “beholding the glory of the Lord”. None of that leaves me unchanged. I am “being transformed” into the image of “the glory of the Lord . . . from one degree of glory to another.” This, Paul explains comes not from ourselves or our surroundings, but “from the Lord who is the Spirit.” I am caught up in the caterpillar-to-butterfly metamorphosis process by the Spirit.
I’m no longer totally depraved; I’m a new creation in Christ Jesus, The old I once was has passed away. The life of the new, eternal creation has reached back to where I live and gives me a taste of it now (2 Corinthians 5:17). I am a sinner saved by grace. I was rescued from sin and death. I didn’t escape. But I’m not just a sinner saved by grace. I’m an adopted child of the Father who is faithfully and patiently making me more like his Son. And I’m not more morally corrupt in God’s sight than I think I am—not any more. Christ’s righteousness now is mine. And the Lord who is the Spirit is transforming me into his image from glory to glory.
This is Gospel. This is the Gospel of grace through faith. Therefore, I’m not worse than I think I am; I’m already better than I dare hope. And when the Son of God appears, I will be like him, for I shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2).
Recent Comments