Works of Faith In Christ, Part 1

I stated that since God is in us, and our life is hid with Christ in God, then it would be only natural for us to press on for the prize of practical righteousness, rather than being satisfied with positional righteousness.  Paul put it this way:  "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  Certainly not!  How shall we who died to sin, live any longer in it..But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.  Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.  And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors -- not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.  For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if BY THE SPIRIT you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." (Romans 6:1-2; 8:9-13)

Those who state that this means that if we sin (live by the flesh), we are not saved are wrong.  Though Christians do not "live" by the flesh, we occasionally visit it.  That is why John tells believrs, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8).  "Living" by the flesh means day in, day out, continuously. But there are many who say that wo do not need to be concerned about our sin, so long as we believe Jesus died and rose again on our behalf.  They say that to be concerned about becoming righteous practically is to try to earn our salvation after being saved, and that to do that is to commit heresy.  They are also missing the "in Chist" part of salvation.  Would Christ in us defend the right to sin?  Should we seek out sin because we are under grace and not under law?

The passage I quoted from Romans 6 says plainly that we should not continue "in sin" (as we are immersed "in" Christ at salvation, this is saying we should not be immersed "in" sin or LIVE in sin; it does not say we will be completely sinless).  Romans 8 explains how we are to live - if not "in sin", then "in the Spirit".  In fact it says that if we continue to live "in sin", or "in the flesh" -- LIVE there -- then the Spirit is not in us, and we are not saved.

Therefore, it stands to reason that a person with the Holy Spirit in them, will show some sign that the Holy Spirit is in them; i.e., their works will declare it.  This does not mean that they go out and try to earn their way to heaven by works, or prove they are Christians by their works.  Romans 8:16 says, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God."  This is not something we strive for, it is something the Holy Spirit does through us.  Romans 8:29 says that we are "conformed to the image of Christ".  It does not say that we do the conforming; it says that God foreknew and predestined us to be conformed.  2 Corinthians 3:18 says that the Holy Spirit is transforming us into His image from glory to glory.  This does not mean that we are transforming ourselves; it means that God is doing it.  Any effort on our part to earn good works in the flesh lands us in hell.  Yet we ARE to submit to the Holy Spirit's work in our lives.

Many agree that God sanctifies us, and makes us righteous, yet they say that we do not HAVE to be sanctified to get to heaven.  They cite 1 Corinthians 3:1, 14-15, "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ...If anyone's work which he has built on in endures, he will receive a reward.  If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire."  They state that carnal Christians, those who do not even care about sanctification, will still be saved, but can choose to live in sin.  Yet the last thing that Paul tells these carnal Christians is, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.  Test yourselves.  Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you -- unless indeed you are disqualified"  (2 Corinthians 13:5)  Basically this is saying that those who LIVE carnal lives and do not even care about sanctification, should examine themselves to see if God is really in them.  If God is not in them, they are not saved -- never were.  To live carnal lives is to be unsure.  To live holy lives in our own power to prove that we are saved is legalistic and lands one in hell.  As Christians "in Christ, the way to live is to accept by faith that He is in us, count ourselves dead to LIVING in sin, and live by the Spirit, submitting ourselves to Him, trusting Him to conform us.  Here the "life of faith" goes beyond heaven, and gets into living our Christian life here.  The Bible says repeatedly, "The righteous shall live by faith."  This is not only meant as a means to get into heaven, but it means living life here. 

This has all been theological, and rather dry.  The next time, I would like to give an example of how I think this works in practical terms.