Living by grace is an essential aspect of the New Covenant. What Christ accomplished through his sacrificial death and resurrection affects our entire being – spirit, soul, and body. (1 Thes. 5:23) He alone was able to orchestrate this “great salvation (Hebrews 2:3),” being the unique God-man, born of the virgin Mary by the operation of God’s Holy Spirit in her life (Luke 1:30-35). Jesus lived a perfect life of dedication and obedience to his heavenly Father, which culminated on the cross, where he voluntarily shed his blood as God’s holy Lamb in order to provide forgiveness of sins and reconciliation to the Father. When he rose from the dead, he was designated the Son of God (Romans 1:4), the all-powerful Messianic King and Lord, who will one day return to the earth to judge the living and the dead as the divine Son of Man (Daniel 7:13-14).
Jesus: The Fusion of the Eternal with the Temporal
God is not limited by any created dimension. However, God assigned us to live in a world fenced in by the dimensions of space and time. Those who put their faith and allegiance in Christ and experience the new birth also live in another reality – the eternal spiritual realm.
Human beings, by virtue of our tripartite nature (spirit, soul, and body), are uniquely and amazingly fitted to interface with both the material world and the spiritual one.
To God, all things are in the present. His revealed name, given to Moses, is the “I Am.”
Jesus, the Second Person of the Godhead, who has existed from all eternity as the Logos (John 1:1), in obedience to his Father’s will, entered into our time-space experience as a human being through a miraculous fusion of the eternal with the temporal inside Mary’s womb called the Incarnation.
He was indeed a true extra-terrestrial, being the only person who came from heaven and is truly God and truly man, the “monogenes” or only begotten Son of God. The truth of the Incarnation has been held fast by the church since its inception and is clearly stated in Scripture.
Jesus understood that his “origin” was and is divine and that he has always existed.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 (NASB) And He was saying to them, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. John 8:23 (NASB) "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." 57 So the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." John 8:56-58 (NASB)
In Jesus the Messiah, the eternal “I Am” became a human being.
As a human being, he was subject to the limitations of time and space. He entered the world as a baby and grew and developed into a man in the ordinary way. The mystery of the Incarnation produced a person who was and is truly human and truly God, thus elevating humanity beyond comprehension.
Working Out what Is Within…
In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. 8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. 9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, 10 being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 5:7-10 (NASB)
When Jesus, the perfect only Son of the Father, entered the human experience, he was responsible to live out of his inward or spiritual identity in a fleshly body.
The spiritual side of our being was always meant to be the core from which we live and derive our identities, too. Adam forfeited that, plunging the world into chaos. Against all odds, Jesus came to show us that kind of life and to make it possible for us to live out of a redeemed spiritual identity.
Because of his divine birth and origin, he did not inherit a sin nature from Adam, as we do.
There was nothing in him that was “out of step” with the Holy Spirit. It was completely “natural” for him to hear his Father’s voice, see what his Father was doing, and follow his Father’s lead without hindrance.
So Jesus said, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. John 8:28 (NASB) Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. John 5:19 (NASB) "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. John 6:38 (NASB)
The eternally perfect Logos of God became an historically perfect human being over time through continued obedience to his Father. He worked out in his life that which was eternally true about him on the inside.
He had to make choices along the way to obey his Father, even when it cost him supremely. He learned obedience from the things he suffered as he lived out of his union with his Father.
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8 (NASB)
This gives us a key to understanding how our own sanctification or spiritual transformation takes place.
In this case, I use these words to describe the process of learning obedience to God over a lifetime through which the Holy Spirit transforms our character and behavior to match what Christ already accomplished for us through his death and resurrection. By placing us in a world governed by time and space, God requires us to believe and live by faith in his promises, obey the Holy Spirit, treasure the fear of the Lord, and rely on the transforming work of grace.
So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13 (NASB)
Living by grace is a cooperative effort between us and God in which we too learn to live out what is true spiritually on the inside through the new birth. Jesus the Messiah did the hard lifting at Calvary. However, the salvation he won for us must be actively worked out in our personal histories through belief in the truth and cooperation with the indwelling Holy Spirit.
God is not content to merely forgive us. The Spirit is committed to making what is true spiritually and eternally about us become our experience and history.
We will be judged and rewarded on how well we live out our new inward identity in Christ.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, 14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. Titus 2:11-14 (NASB)
This does not mean that we “save” ourselves by works. Our justification (being made right with God) will be the subject of the fourth installment of this series. Justification is what made us children of God. It was entirely Christ’s work. None of us can make ourselves right with God. Our glorification at the resurrection will also be Christ’s work. None of us can raise ourselves from the dead.
Our sanctification or transformation, however, is an ongoing partnership with the Holy Spirit, for which we are accountable to God.
According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 (NASB)
Conclusion
Legalism teaches us that we must earn God’s blessings and favor by our obedience to his commands. Failure to do so will result in our bringing upon ourselves the judgments associated with disobedience. Everything is on us, and we always fail miserably, because no one can keep the Law. Its whole purpose was to reveal our desperate need for a Savior.
19 Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. ... 21 Is there a conflict, then, between God’s law and God’s promises? Absolutely not! If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it. 22 But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ. Galatians 3:19-22 (NLT)
The New Covenant teaches us that Christ perfectly obeyed the Law and paid in advance the penalty for our failure to measure up. When we put our faith and allegiance in Christ, we are credited with the benefits of his obedience and released from the just penalty of our disobedience. Through the new birth, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us, regenerating our spirits and living the Christ life through us. We also are given the promise of one day being raised from the dead as the final installment on this great salvation. In the meantime, we have the opportunity to glorify God by cooperating the Holy Spirit in the transformation process, whereby we learn to obey God from the heart. We will be rewarded according to how effectively we live out by faith the truth of our new inward identity with Christ and his Spirit.
So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13 (NASB)
God has given us the responsibility to live by grace in a dynamic cooperation between us and the Holy Spirit as we steadfastly hold on to the truth of God’s Word.
