No longer Sinners - but "Rightiousness from God"

 

2 Corinthians 5:17f (the Bible, NT)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the

new creation has come:

The old has gone, the new is here!

All this is from God, who reconciled

us to himself through Christ and

gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

that God was reconciling the world

to himself in Christ, not counting

people’s sins against them.

And he has committed to us the

message of reconciliation.

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors,

as though God makes his appeal

through us.

We implore you on Christ’s behalf:

Be reconciled to God.

God made him who had no sin to be

sin for us, so that in him we might

become the righteousness of God.

.

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In churches in Sweden you often hear:

"We are sinners saved by grace."

But that is a wrong (ugly) teaching. It

takes away what God has done and

what Christ actually paid for.

You were a sinner. You then were

saved by grace. BUT YOU BECAME

THE RIGHTIOUSNESS OF GOD.

If you are still a sinner saved by grace

you are still living in the Old Covenant.

If you teach in that manner, you don´t

teach the New Testament, you don´t

teach the new Covenant in Christ.

The New Covenant which God made

with Christ, is a Covenant out of re-

surrection and new birth; referring

to Christ but also to all his followers.

Christ didn´t just carry our sin, HE

WAS MADE SIN when he took our

place on the cross, and God had to

look away from him. God cannot

stand in a covenant with someone

made a curse to his full being.

Through your faith, explored in the

baptism, you show you drowned,

died, with Christ; and when you

rise up from the water you show

you also resurrected with Christ.

When he became "the firstborn

from the dead" (Hebrews), you

were counted in, and it becomes

the minute you accept Christ as

your Lord.

You then get born again, and you

are no longer a sinner no matter

all mistakes you may do. Because

you have received Christ´s rightious-

ness and fullness. You are now one

with him.

God has no family of sinners, he

only has family of his own kind,

proud sons and daughters of the

mosthigh. Straighten your neck!

When you do, it is true meakness -

You acknowledge God´s high

thoughts about you, after what

he did with you.

People in church often do not dare

to have a high confession; fear is it
that wants to keep us in bondage.

It can also be an excuse when you

don´t believe in God´s high calling,

like "I´m a forever a sinner, so let´s

continue in sin.. and trust God´s

grace". Wrong teaching is a danger.

The high confession is actually one

about what God has done, without
our bad help.. We should strive to

be in line with God´s viewm, not our

own bad view of ourselves!

This what I have described IS the

truth about the New Covenant in

God´s Son.

Of course we probably fall into

various sin after we have received

Christ and have acknowledged his

salvation. But - listen here: the

revelation of who you have been

made in Christ is the power that

more and more lifts you out of sin

and out of condemnation and low

esteem:

condemnation is of no good, it

only leads you into law-works

were you try to please God out of

fear; and such "own-salvation

attempts" actually neglect your

need of a saviour, neglects Christ´s

work on the cross.

Jesus said that the least one in

God´s Kingdom is greater than

John the Baptist, who he said was

the greatest prophet during the

Old covenant. How can that be?

Well, Jesus refers to the teaching I

am giving. He is showing that John

was not born again into the family

of God. He was yet just a servant,

not a son.

You couldn´t become a son, be

born again, until Christ had be-

come glorified after the cross;

scriptures points this out clearly.

This is why the Book of Ephesians

says that angels marvel to look in-

to the new that now were to come

with Christ; a new breed of born

again believers, Christ´s pure bride.

We do need much, much, much

more revelation about the cross...

You shall serve God. And you
should follow Christ, indeed..
But, you shall do it as a son in

the house, not just as a servant.
You should be working with your

father as a son, in his company.

You follow in Jesus footsteps
when you - just like Jesus - "do
nothing but what you see the

Father is doing", but at the same

time remember Jesus did it as

the Son in his Fathers family

business, Jesus was not just a

plain servant.

// Bjorn Hellman