Grace Life
C H U R C H
Proclaiming Jesus Christ and the Gospel of God's Grace
Grace Life Articles 2
"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ."
Col. 2:13
Understanding that you have a new identity in Jesus Christ is foundational to living the victorious grace life. That life is found only in Christ.
"Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." (Rom. 6:3-4)
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Cor. 5:17)
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Gal. 2:20)
"For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." (Col. 3:3)
When you trusted in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, God radically changed you. You didn't feel it and you may not have even known it. The fact is, the Bible says you received a new identity in Christ. Because you're in Christ, you died with Him at the cross, you were buried with Him, and you've been raised to new life with Him!
Just as we know and proclaim that Christ died for us, we must also understand and proclaim that we also died with Him!
"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died." (2 Cor. 5:14)
Since we died with Christ at the cross and are now alive with Him, the life we now live is Christ's life living in us and through us in the details of our lives. We experience victory in our lives as our faith rests in the knowledge of who we are in Christ because of what He has accomplished for us by His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and being seated in heaven. This is God's way for us to grow spiritually day by day. This is the grace life God has provided for us through His Son, Jesus Christ!The Apostle Paul's teaching on spiritual growth always centered on Christ in the believer. We see this as he argued against legalism in his letter to the Galatians, describing it as "those weak and miserable principles" (Gal. 4:9), and expressed his longing that they be established in Christ.
"My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you..." (Gal. 4:19)
God's will for us is that the life of His Son live out more and more in our lives. As we understand from God's Word that this is His will for every believer, that the Holy Spirit is working in us to accomplish this, and as we trust in it and rest in it, we give the Holy Spirit the freedom to transform us to become more and more like Christ!
It cannot be overemphasized how important it is that believers understand what God is doing today in His children as He forms the church, the Body of Christ. He wants us to know all that Christ has done for us, all that we have spiritually accomplished with Christ, and what the Spirit of Christ is doing in us and through us. These are the true riches of his grace!
Our union with Christ means that we are alive with Him in heaven and His Spirit is in us as we live on earth. This is how God sees us in our wonderful union with Christ!
"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus." (Eph. 2:6-7)
By faith we are to rest in the facts that we are no longer in the old Adam. We died to that old man at the cross (separated from him). We died to all that the old man produces, which is sin. We are now united and in oneness with the last Adam, the risen Christ (1 Cor. 15:45). We are now alive with Him! We are now to walk by faith and trust in the Holy Spirit in us to produce the fruits of righteousness through us.
"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him."
Rom. 6:8
"For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body." (2 Cor. 4:11)
When Christ becomes your life, you have absolutely everything you need to live a victorious Christian life. You don't have to ask for more spiritual blessings or experiences from God. You already possess them by being in Christ! You are complete in Him!
"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority." (Col. 2:9-10)
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." (Eph. 1:3)
We are alive with Christ! Know it, trust in it, and rest in it.
"For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."
Col. 3:3-4
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will - his good, pleasing and perfect will "
Rom. 12:2
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"For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has died has been freed from sin."
Rom. 6:6-7
Clearly understanding that God says you are alive with Christ rests on an understanding that you've also died with Christ. It is imperative that you know that your old self has died. You are a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17)! You have a new life. You are in Christ and the life of Christ is in you. These spiritual realities in the believer are accomplished solely by God through the cross-work and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Words are inadequate to express how amazing this work of God is in the lives of his children!
Knowing and living out the reality that the old you has died is a fundamental part Pauline identification truth that I believe is not properly taught or emphasized nearly enough. You will hear many sermons on giving (more than enough), obedience, prayer, and serving, but very few on on our amazing new identity in Christ and as specifically related to us having died with Christ. This foundational teaching from God's Word, which is absolutely essential to how we grow spiritually God's way in our walk with Christ (sanctification), is not easy to find in churches today. This is a tragedy.
The Apostle Paul certainly wanted the saints in Rome to understand that not only had Jesus Christ died for their sins, they had also died with Christ. He wanted them to understand that their death with Christ was foundational to living their new life in Him! It's key to experiencing victory over sin in our lives.
"We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." (Rom. 6:2-4)
Because we were put into Christ when we trusted Him, God says we also died with Christ, were buried with Him, and were resurrected with Him! The old you, connected to the first Adam, died with Christ and was buried. The new you, in union with the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45) and a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17) because you rose to new life in Him, are alive with Him. His life has become your life!
"When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory." (Col. 3:4)
Furthermore, since your old man was crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20), you share in His death to sin. The Bible says that Christ died to sin once for all. By faith, you are to see yourself as God sees you - dead to sin. Since we have died with Christ, we are freed from sin.
"...because anyone who has died has been freed from sin." (Rom. 6:7)
You are no longer a slave to sin, the old master. You have a new master, Christ, and you are now a slave to rigtheousness (Rom. 6:18).
When our old sin nature wants to rise up in us, we must remember what God has done for us at the cross. As we see ourselves as having died with Christ at the cross and rest in that spiritual fact, the Holy Spirit is free to manifest the life of Christ in us. His death is also our death. His life is our life.
The cross is central to all of this. It was there that Jesus died for our sins. It was also there that we died with Him. What happened 2000 years at the cross was God's way to reconcile us to Himself, recreate us in His Son, and bring eternal glory to Himself. We need to understand and appreciate the power of the cross in our faith walk on a daily basis.
"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel - not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Cor. 1:17-18)
Paul made the cross a strong focus of his teaching because God had revealed to him the great power in the work of Christ at the cross. He understood that there was great power in understanding and relying on what happened at the cross.
"For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (1 Cor. 2:2)
Our new identity in Christ, which should lead us to praise God for the new life we have in the risen Christ, should also lead us to praise God because our old selves died with Christ at the cross. Through the cross, God has provided us with the one way we can experience liberation from sin in our lives.
Our faith must rest on the fact that our old selves died with Christ at the cross. We must see ourselves as God sees us. The sin nature that produces sin in us was condemned by God at the cross. We were judicially separated from it by God. We died to it. We have been freed from the old master, sin, and are now alive to a new master, Christ!
As we rest in these spiritual realities based on our union with Christ, the Holy Spirit works in us to produce the godly character He desires for us. This is all the work of God through His amazing grace! We need not struggle, strive, or follow a rule system in order to have the life of Christ become more and more evident in our lives. That way leads only to frustration and failure. God's way is by faith - trusting in Christ to increasingly live out His life through us because He is our life!
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Gal. 2:20)
"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." (Col. 3:1-3)
The Apostle Paul's teaching on spiritual growth centered on Christ in the believer. We see this as he argued against legalism, describing it as "those weak and miserable principles" (Gal. 4:9), and emphasized growing in Christ:
"My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you..." (Gal. 4:19)
Rest in these facts from God's Word: Your old sin nature was crucified with Christ at the cross 2000 years ago. You have been separated from it. Christ has not only you saved you from your sins, He has also delivered you from the power of their source, your sin nature. You are now united with Christ and it's His life living in you and through you.
This is God's way of transforming us - making us increasingly like His Son! That is His primary purpose for us and it's all for His glory!
Walk joyfully by faith as we rest in all that we have spiritually accomplished because we are in Christ.
"We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
Rom. 6:2-4
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"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you fulfill the law of Christ."
Gal 6:2
The Mosaic Law was just one of several law codes God has given people throughout human history. Adam and Eve lived under a law code in the Garden of Eden. Noah had to follow the laws of God in his age, so there was a code he lived under. Later, Abraham was required to obey certain commands and laws (Gen. 26:5). He lived under what is sometimes called the Abrahamic code.
As members of the church, the Body of Christ, we don't live under any of these law codes or any other law codes.
"For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace." (Rom. 6:14)
Please understand, the law does is have its use today, but its not for believers. The law reveals to lost people that they are sinners and that they continue to sin. The law shows people that they can't measure up to God's holy standards. The Holy Spirit uses the law to convict people of their sins and show them that they desperately need Jesus Christ, and Him alone, to solve their sin problem through the forgiveness of their sins.
It is important to understand the purpose God has for the law today, so we don't confuse ourselves and others. Unfortunately, many Christians are confused and frustrated in their walk with Christ because they're not using the law properly. They're not living under grace.
"We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers - and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me." (1Tim. 1:8-11)
Believers today have been made righteous through Jesus Christ. We live under God's wonderful grace, and we have the great joy of being one with Christ! As members of the church, the Body of Christ, our wonderful spiritual position is that we are in Christ and Christ lives in us! Being in Christ is the foundational identification truth that provides believers with a righteous standing before God. Christ's righteousness became our righteousness when we were saved. Being identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and being seated in heaven means we have died to sin and the law (Rom. 6:1-14, 7:1-6).
Even though we do not live under a new law code today, there is a law God wants us to fulfill as members of the Body of Christ - "the law of Christ" (Gal 6:2). What is this law and what does it involve? Unlike the Mosaic Law, which was a burden to the Israelites (Acts 15:10,19,28), the Bible says the commands of Christ are not a burden.
"This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world." (1 John 5:3)
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matt. 11:28-30)
Today, as members of Christ's church in the age of grace, we are called to live out the law of Christ, or "the law of the Spirit of life" (Rom. 8:2).
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." (Rom. 8:1-2)
Though there is some debate over just what is the law of Christ, God's Word reveals that we fulfill the law of Christ when we love God and when we love others as Christ loved us (Matt. 22:37-39; Mark 12:29-31; John 13:34-35; John 15:12). The law of Christ is living out the love of Christ. All of the other commands and directives in the New Testament concerning how believers should live flow out of love.
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, If you love one another. (John 13:34-35)
"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." (John 15:12)
"And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love." (1 Cor. 13:13)
Though Christians do not live under the 613 commandments of the Mosaic Law, the law of Christ has some new commands and some old ones as compared to the Law of Moses, with love as the focus for godly living. Under grace (Rom 6:14), we live out the law of Christ as the Holy Spirit works in us to produce the fruit of the Spirit. Self-effort and striving are not involved. It is the life of Christ living out through us.
Let's be very clear here. The law of Christ has absolutely nothing to do with believers following the Mosaic Law or any other law system in order to be saved, grow spiritually, or receive God's blessings. Rather, the law of Christ has everything to do with believers loving each other with the love of Christ which is produced by the Holy Spirit.
Furthermore, I believe the law of Christ also relates to the work of the Holy Spirit in believers to grow them spiritually and produce in them the love of Christ. This work of God in all believers (sanctification) results in them increasingly experiencing victory over sin in their lives. The law of Christ is not a law system or performance system to follow in order to gain something.
"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not covet,' and whatever other commandments there may be, are summed up in this one rule: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." (Rom. 13:8-10)
Loving like Christ is impossible for us to do - only Christ can do it! The Apostle Paul teaches us that the only way we can love this way is through the presence and work of Jesus Christ in believers (Gal. 2:20). It is the love of Christ working in us and going out to those around us. This is a love that is the fruit of the Spirit of God.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law." (Gal. 5:22-23)
One of the foundational truths to understand and embrace in order to live the grace life is that godly Christian character is produced by the Holy Spirit, not by self-effort. This is the only way that we are spiritually transformed God's way and grow in Christlikeness.
Because we were put into Christ when we believed, God wants us to rest in our heavenly position in Christ (Eph 2:4-10). He wants us to understand that in our co-crucifiction with Christ (Gal. 2:20) we have died to (separated from) sin and the law. The Holy Spirit applies that work of the cross in our daily lives and from this death the life of Christ is increasingly manifested.
"We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body." (2 Cor. 4:10-11)
"And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." (Rom. 8:4)
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." (Rom. 8:1-2)
The law has major weaknesses.
It can bring death, but not life. Because the law exposes sin for what it is and is even used by the sin nature to produce sinful desires, it actually produces death (Rom. 7:9-13). This clearly shows us that following the law is not God's way for believers grow spiritually in their walk with Christ.
The law also has no power to save sinners. No matter how hard we may try to live a perfect and holy life, the Bible says all of us sin. Even if we were to somehow keep 99.99% of the law, but fail in just one point, we would be guilty of breaking all of the law (James 2:10)!
"The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God." (Heb. 7:18-19)
The law was weak, useless, and made nothing perfect! Thank God that He introduced a better hope - GRACE!
The law of the Spirit of life is far better than the law. It has the power to actually deliver the believer from the law of sin in the sin nature and it has the power to deliver the believer's conscience from condemnation by the Mosaic Law, or any other law system. Furthermore, the Spirit works in the child of God to produce the very righteousness the law demands but fails to produce!
"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desire of the sinful nature." (Gal. 5:16)
The law of Christ is loving God and loving others as Christ loved us. It also relates to God's way of producing the love of Christ in us as He makes us more and more like His Son. The law of Christ is not burdensome because the Holy Spirit living in us produces this Christ-like love as we rest in our glorified and heavenly position in Christ. As we live by the Spirit, we will fulfill the law of Christ - we love God and others. As we live by the Spirit, the Spirit produces wonderful fruit in us, including love (Gal. 5:22-23).
"...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
Phil. 1:6
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"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one come to the Father except through me."
John 14:6
Life is full of decisions. We make them everyday. Contrary to what the world says, the Bible makes it clear that there is one decision that is far above all others: Have you trusted in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and to receive eternal life?
If you have not trusted in Him for the forgiveness of your sins, God wants you to know that you are a sinner and have sinned against Him. He wants you to know that you desperately need Jesus Christ to save you from your sins.
Without Jesus Christ, it is impossible for you or anyone to experience God's wonderful grace and live a victorious life. Instead, you have a major spiritual problem with grave eternal consequences. In your current sinful condition, the Bible says you are lost, dead in your sins, an enemy of God, and your destiny is hell and eternal separation from God!
The Bible says very clearly that the only way you can be rescued from your terrible sinful condition and have a right relationship with God is through faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." (John 3:16-18)
"But now, a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Rom. 3:21-24)
The moment you put your trust in Christ, all of your sins are totally forgiven, you receive the perfect righteousness of the Son of God, and you also receive receive eternal life! How great is that! You are actually "born again" spiritually (John 3:3) and Christ lives in you through the Holy Spirit (Gal. 2:20)!
Here is important information from the Word of God that you need to know:
1. There is only one God. He is a loving God. He is perfectly good, perfectly holy, and perfectly righteous in all that He is and in all that He does. God always was and always will be. He is eternal.
2. God created all things - all that is seen and unseen. However, God did not create anything that is contrary to his perfectly good, holy, and righteous nature. Therefore, He did not create sin.
3. God wants all people to enjoy intimate fellowship with Him. However, when sin entered the world through the first humans, Adam and Eve, every person born after that was born with a sin nature which is opposed to the ways and standards of God. Because of that first sin, all humans since Adam and Eve have been born as sinners.
4. Because of our sin nature and the sinful acts that come from that nature, we are enemies of God and unable to please Him in any way through our own efforts or actions. In this spiritual condition our destiny is hell and eternal separation from Him.
5. However, because God loves us beyond our full comprehension, He had a wonderful plan since eternity past to save people from their sins and bring us back to Him in a holy, intimate relationship. God sent His perfectly good, holy, and righteous Son, Jesus Christ, into the world in order to die for the sins of the world. All people who put their trust in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished by His death and resurrection have all their sins forgiven by God and receive eternal life.
6. When you receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, at that moment you receive the righteousness of Christ, you become a child of God, you become a co-heir with Christ, and you are indwelt and sealed by God the Holy Spirit.
7. Because you are sealed by the Holy Spirit and He now lives permanently inside you, you can never lose your salvation. You are eternally secure in Christ. The Holy Spirit will also comfort, guide, and teach you as He leads you and works in you to become more and more like Christ.
Have you received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? If you haven't, it's not too late.
The Bible says that the moment you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins you will be saved, born again, receive eternal life immediately, and become a child of God!
You can be saved right now, right where you are! You don't have to go anywhere or perform some special ritual to be saved. All you have to do is make a faith decision in your mind, right where you are, to trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and to receive eternal life. That's it.
If you have just received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, I welcome you into God's family! You have been saved! You are now a child of God because you have trusted in His Son, Jesus Christ, and His work at the cross for the forgiveness of your sins! You have made the best decision and the most important decision you will ever make in your life! You now have eternal life! It is truly eternal life. You cannot lose you salvation!
The life God wants for you has just begun. Now, it is important for you to start reading the Bible regularly and let God's Word work in you and transform you into the person He wants you to be. It is also important that you join a local assembly of believers. God intended His children to come together to worship Him and grow in Christ as a community. Carefully and patiently check out the churches in your area to find one where the Bible is proclaimed as the only source of truth and sound doctrine, and the gospel of Jesus Christ and God's grace to us through Him is clearly proclaimed.
It's very important that you avoid churches that teach that you have to do things for God in order to be forgiven of your sins, stay forgiven, be accepted by God, grow spiritually, or receive blessings. This is false teaching that, sadly, dominates the church today. Legalistic teaching like this will eventually frustrate you, confuse you, and rob you of the joy and peace God wants you to experience as His child. Christ has set you free (Gal. 5:1)!
We thank our heavenly Father for sending His perfect Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to be our Savior!
"But whatever was for my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness I my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith."
Phil. 3:7-9
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"Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."
2 Cor. 9:7
Most likely, and unfortunately, your answer to at least one of these questions is "yes." The sad reality is that many churches, pastors, and preachers burden their people with these type of demands and fall into the legalistic error that the Apostle Paul strongly rebuked in his letter to the Galatians. Just as false teachers had come in and deceived many of the believers in Galatia that they had to be circumcised and follow other Old Testament laws in order to live godly lives, many leaders in the church today teach that you must tithe in order to be obedient to God.
The tragedy in the church today is that because the legalistic teaching of tithing has been has been pounded into the heads of believers for so long and by so many people, many will continue this practice, sometimes with disastrous financial results, even when it is clearly shown from God's Word that it's not the way God wants us to give today.
Even ministries and churches that claim to proclaim the gospel of God's grace to us in Christ and the freedom we have in Christ, turn right around and passionately insist that believers must tithe in order to be obedient to God! They don't insist that any of the other laws that were part of the Mosaic Law in the Old Testament be followed. Why don't tithing teachers demand that all male Christians be circumcised? Why don't they teach that the dietary restrictions given to Israel be followed? Why don't they promote the continuance of some form of animal sacrifices? However, when it comes to tithing, those commands must be followed! Why is it that the the part of the law that pertains to tithing be followed?
This selective use of the law to get people to give money is clearly wrong. It's legalism. In fact, this selective use of the law also proves on its face that this teaching is wrong. God's Word is clear - if we want to obey the law, we have to obey all of it.
"Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law." (Gal. 5:3)
It's very disturbing how many well-known pastors and preachers burden people, many of whom don't know the Word of God very well, by telling them that God wants them to tithe and that they're "robbing God" if they don't. They are told that they are disobeying God and will miss out on His blessings if they don't tithe. What a terrible burden to put on God's children who love the Lord and want to serve Him!
Many of these tithing teachers even tell people who are suffering great financial hardship due to loss of a job or other difficult circumstances that they most continue to tithe. In fact, they say that the best way to get out of their finacial difficulty is to tithe, because God will then bless them financially! Really? Is this how God is working today? How does this teaching square with God's Word that stresses that believers must provide for their families?
"If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." (1 Tim. 5:8)
Now that's a very strong statement by the Apostle Paul! In the age we're in now, properly providing financially for your immediate family and even your extended family is very important to God - and He commands it! Why isn't there more teaching on this topic?
Tithing teachers will even question your love for God if you're not giving at least 10% of your gross income to your local church or to their ministry. They will question your love for people and your commitment to the church if you're not tithing. Some of them might even demand to see your tax return to make sure you're tithing! Many times, the pleas are subtle. Please don't listen to them! God doesn't want you to give this way!
Let me be very clear. I do believe there are many honest and devoted Christian leaders today who teach tithing because they truly believe this is God's Word on the subject. They honestly believe that God wants Christians to tithe just as God commanded the Israelites to tithe. However, they are wrong because of a failure to properly understand God's Word. If they understood anything about the gospel of grace, they would realize that this is not the way God wants His children to give today as members of the Body of Christ!
However, I don't believe that all of this tithing teaching is simply a result of there being differences in interpretation of the Word of God in this area. The root of this problem is much deeper and it's rooted in sin. Churches and other Christian ministries face great financial pressures to keep their ministries going. There are more ministries than ever looking for donations. Many of them fear that if they don't teach some form of tithing, the people will give even less than they do now (this is usually unsaid). This is false teaching based on fear and it is sin. The leaders involved in this kind of fear-based teaching don't mind guilting people into giving a certain amount (tithing or tithing plus more) as long as the money keeps rolling in.
Only God knows how many pastors teach tithing, not because they believe it's the right way for Christians to give, but because they know it's the best way to receive the most money from their people. Only God knows how many church leaders fear that teaching grace giving could cost them their jobs because of a lack of funds or because the churches or denominations they belong to reject grace giving. I believe this sin is more widespread in the church today than people realize.
Since you may believe or have been told that you must tithe based on verses from the Old Testament, let's take a close look at how the Israelites back then were to tithe according to the Mosaic Law. Three tithes were required, with two of them being annual tithes:
Israel's most basic tithe was for the support of the Levites (Lev. 27:30-32; Num. 18:21-24) who maintained the Tabernacle (and later the Temple). Since the Levites did not own their own land, this tithe, also known as the Levite Tithe, was to supply them what they would have produced had they received a land inheritance.
It is important to understand that since Israel was a theocracy (a government of officials divinely created and inspired), tithing was also a form of taxation. The Levites acted both as religious leaders and government officials. The Levites performed many of the same duties that our local government officials do in the United States today. The tithing system God gave to Israel was unique to Israel and the unique role the Levites had as spiritual leaders and civil government officials of God's chosen people on the earth.
Therefore, in today's terms, the Levite Tithe was a ten percent income tax for the support of the national government of Israel.
A second tithe was to be used in worship at the three great annual feasts in Jerusalem (Deut. 14:22-24). This tithe for the feasts, also known as the Festival Tithe, did not go to the Levites. This tithe was set aside for the individual Israelites to travel to Jerusalem for the three annual holy days in Jerusalem and spend freely on their choice of food and drink. In essence, this tithe was used to fund vacations for the Israelites!
Finally, there was a third tithe that was required every three years to provide for the needs of the poor (Deut. 14:28-29). There is some debate as to whether this tithe for the poor was in addition to or served as a substitute for the tithe used in worship. This tithe, often referred to as the Welfare Tithe, funded Israel's national welfare system. This tithe was not given to the government but was to be given away to the needy. The people themselves ran the welfare system!
After calculating these three tithes together (averaged over three years because the Welfare Tithe was collected every third year), the total annual tithe amounted to 23 1/3%. In today's language, Israel basically had a compulsory 23 1/3% income tax.
Like with the rest of the laws, the Israelites anticipated blessings for obedience to God's command to tithe and curses if they disobeyed (Mal. 3:10; Deut. 28:15-68).
Today, as God's children through Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit living in us, we have a Spirit-given hunger to obey God. We want to do what is right and follow His commands. Therefore, many of us have questions about giving: How should Christians give to the work of the church? If tithing was good for Israel, why isn't it good for Christians? If so many prominent pastors and preachers say that we should tithe, how can they all be wrong? The answer to these questions may surprise you - and hopefully liberate you!
Furthermore, the answers to these questions should not be based solely on church traditions, what someone has told you to do, or how you feel about the matter. Our ultimate authority on this issue and all issues related to our responsibilites as members of the church is the Word of God. It is there that you will find clear direction - God's direction. Have confidence that the Holy Spirit will guide and teach you as you study the Word in the area of giving.
Did you know that the Apostle Paul and all the other New Testament writers never taught that a Christian, a member of the Body of Christ, should tithe? There is no example in the Bible of the early church tithing!
In 2 Corinthians 8-9, Paul's most extensive writing on the subject of giving, Paul exhorts the Corinthians to complete the collection for the poor at the Jerusalem church, a project that had begun a year earlier. In his plea, he makes it abundantly clear that giving is a heart issue. At no time does he mention tithing as the system to follow, the principle to use, or the starting point to follow when it comes to giving. Why? Paul understood that tithing was the system of giving that was part of the Mosaic Law that God gave to His chosen nation on the earth, Israel. That system of giving is not for the church, the Body of Christ!
"Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law." (Gal. 3:23-25)
We are to be grace givers today! As members of the church, the Body of Christ, "we are no longer under the supervision of the law" (Gal. 3:25). Can the Word of God be any clearer? How can this truth from the Apostle Paul be missed? One of the main purposes of the Law of Moses was to show people that they couldn't keep the law and, therefore, needed a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ! Now that faith in Christ has come, believers today are not under the law program God gave to Israel.
Paul makes it clear that God intended for the law program to be temporary. During this time period the law was in charge and had a disciplinary function in dealing with individual Israelites and the nation as a whole.
In Gal. 4:1-7 Paul continues his explanation as to why the law is not binding on Christians. He uses the example of a child who's an heir of an estate being no different than a slave because he is "subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father" (4:2). This child period represents the time of the law's control. During this time, people were in bondage, slaves to the "the basic principles of the world" (4:3). In this context, "the basic principles of the world" means the legalism of Judaism and may also mean all the other forms of law living found in man-made religious rules and observances in the gentile world that are not part of Judaism (also in 4:9). Then "when the time had fully come" (4:4), which indicates that the work of the law required a lengthy period of time, God sent His Son.
Believers in Christ have now received "the full rights of sons" (4:5) and are no longer slaves. Paul is describing Christians as adult sons living in a new age. Now that we have full sonship status in Christ, the authority of guardians and trustees (the Mosaic Law) has ended. We no longer need the law to guide us, lead us, or discipline us. The law's guardianship ended when "God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts" (4:6). Our slavery to the law has ended! We have been set free from the authority of the law and Christ is now our teacher. Christ now teaches us about grace!
Because our relationship to God radically changed when we believed in Christ, we have the great joy and privilege to live under a new and better program through Jesus Christ - grace!
"For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace." (Rom. 6:14)
"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross." (Col. 2:13-14)
The law code that God gave to Israel is not for people in Christ! It is not for the church! God canceled the written code, took it away, and nailed it to the cross! We have died to the law (Rom. 7:4) and the tithing commands that are part of the law.
In Rom. 7:1-6, Paul uses the analogy of marriage to show that Christians have died to the old husband when we died with Christ at the cross. As a result, we now have a new husband - Jesus Christ. We're now married to Christ - and He directs our lives, not any law system! Don't go back to the old husband - the law and it's tithing system! If you do, that's spiritual adultery because you now have a new husband!
"So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God." (Rom. 7:4)
"But now, to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." (Rom. 7:6)
This whole issue of whether or not Christians have to obey the law of Moses was settled at the very first church council in ca. A.D. 50, only about 20 years after the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! Church leaders met at Jerusalem to deal with a significant problem. Jewish believers from Judea had gone to Antioch and were telling the believers there that unless they were circumcised according to the Mosaic Law, they couldn't be saved (Acts 15:1). The church was faced with the question: Is a Gentile acceptable to God without becoming a Jew?
The apostles and elders, led by Peter, Paul, and James, the Lord's brother, decided that the Gentiles were not under the law. Not only was it decided that it was not necessary for Gentiles to be circumcised in order to be saved, it was also decided that the Gentiles were not required to obey the law of Moses. They were to live under grace!
This was a significant decision. The church leaders in Jerusalem recognized that God was doing a new thing "by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself" (Acts 15:13).
"It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God." (Acts 15:19)
The only thing the Jerusalem leaders required the Gentile believers to do was to show grace by abstaining from practices offensive to godly Jews - "You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things." (Acts 15:29)
That was it! THERE WAS NO REQUIREMENT TO TITHE! This is not surprising because the Jerusalem Council decided that the Gentiles were not to live under the Mosaic Law. How can the tithing teachers fail to understand what happened here? Many of them probably do understand, but don't want to take it to its logical conclusion. They need donations and that's their priority. Their tithing position on giving has been formed and is motivated by what they need and want. This may sound harsh, but how else do you explain this tight clutching to tithing that was part of the law?
All of this isn't difficult to understand unless you're trying to support tithing today. Then it's very difficult because you're trying to make a case that's contrary to the clear teaching from God's Word!
In order to better understand and appreciate the wonderful age of grace we live in now, it is important to understand how the law worked for the people of Israel. Under the Mosaic Law, if Israel lived up to the mandates set by God, then the promised blessings would be received. However, if they failed to obey the mandates, then curses and judgment would follow (Deut. 28:15-68).
"However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you..." (Deut. 28:15)
The law system God gave to Israel was a system of conditional blessings. If the nation Israel followed God's commands, blessings would follow. If the people did not obey the commands, they would face curses.
Grace works very differently.
"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Rom. 3:23-24)
Grace is a free gift - it's an undeserved gift from God. Grace is a free gift system and it is just the opposite of the law system. It is a system of unconditional blessings. A believer in Christ receives every spiritual blessing at the moment he or she is saved! None of these blessing are earned in any way! God's grace to us today operates solely as a result of the finished, all-sufficient work of our Lord Jesus Christ at the cross.
"But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!" (Rom. 5:15)
Because of what Jesus Christ has done for us, we live today in what is often called the age (dispensation or administration) of grace, or the church age.
The Bible shows us that God has progressively revealed himself to humanity through different dispensations, or administrations, which also involved God establishing relationships with people through covenants. God's wonderful grace is evident throughout the entire Bible - both in the Old and New Testaments. However, His grace is so majestic and radiant through the earthly appearance, ministry, cross-work, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it is accurate to designate the age in which we now live as a special and unique outpouring of God's grace to us.
Furthermore, the Bible clearly states the impossibility of these two principles, law and grace, co-existing in order to save people or sanctify them.
"And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace." (Rom. 11:6)
Today, believers belong to Christ as members of His church. Christ is building His church today. As believers, we are in Christ and He is in us! We are part of a unique spiritual organism that God planned in eternity past - the Body of Christ! This new program started at Pentecost, 2000 years ago, shortly after Christ's resurrection and ascension. It was then, when the apostles were all together in one place, that they were all filled with the promised Spirit and baptized into the Body of Christ. This was the birth of the church that Jesus predicted He would build (Matt. 16:18)!
The issue of how we give as members of Christ's church goes to the very heart of the ministry Christ gave to the Apostle Paul and the gospel of grace he proclaimed to the Gentiles. Christ has set us free from living under any kind of law system in order to please God. We have been set free in order that we may "serve God in the new way of the Spirit" (Rom. 7:6). All of this is possible through God's grace to us. God's grace not only saves us, but God's grace is also the spiritual mechanism He has given to us, through His Son, to teach us and lead us to live godly and holy lives.
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ..." (Titus 2:11-13)
"And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity." (2 Cor. 8:1-2)
It is by God's grace through faith that we are progressively sanctified (becoming more like Christ) as the Holy Spirit works in us to make us more and more like Christ. We are not to follow or live under any kind of law system in order to produce righteousness in our lives - including how we give to the Lord and His work. Giving is a "grace" - a disposition created by the Spirit in each believer and we are to trust in this work of God in us. We trust in this work of the Spirit in us in the area of giving just as we are to trust His work in us in everything that we do.
However, the tithing teachers like to point out that Christians should tithe because tithing pre-dates the Mosaic Law.
"Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, 'Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.' Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything." (Gen. 14:18-20)
They will say that Gen. 14:18-20 shows that tithing was a practice way back in the days of Abraham. However, if you carefully read the entire chapter in order to understand the context, you will learn some interesting facts. One of the things you'll find is that the "everything" (14:20) did not belong to Abram. It was actually the property of other people, including Abram’s nephew, Lot, who had been captured by the armies of several kings.
Abram and 318 trained men had gone to battle against these great armies and routed them! Melchizedek recognized that God had granted this miraculous victory. Abram’s statements (14:22-24) show that he owned none of the goods that were recovered and even though he could have kept them for himself, he refused.
"But Abram said to the king of Sodom, 'I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing that belongs to you...'" (Gen. 14:22-23)
Abram gave away ten per cent of other people’s things. It was an act of thanksgiving to God on behalf of people who had been miraculously rescued from a life of slavery. This was a one-time event. It wasn't done by following any kind of law code. It has nothing to do with the teaching today that you should give ten per cent of your gross weekly income to a group of professional religious leaders. These leaders, who profess to know the Word of God and claim to handle it well, should know better.
If such people insist that you should follow the example of Abram in Genesis 14, then it seems that you should tell them that you'll have to go to their homes and take ten per cent of their property and give it away! Following God's Word in its proper context and in its detail may have great impact on those who insist that you must tithe!
God doesn't want or need our money! God wants our hearts. With God, our motivation for serving Him and our motivation for giving is everything.
"If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." (1 Cor. 13:3)
God looks at our hearts. He is not pleased with giving that doesn't flow out of love. He wants our giving to be motivated by our love for Him and love for others. This kind of godly love grows in us as we understand and appreciate all that God has done for us through His Son, Jesus Christ. Our love for God and others will lead us to be generous givers!
"... see that you also excel in this grace of giving." (2 Cor. 8:7)
Under grace we are encouraged to give generously and it's a decision we need to make in our hearts.
"Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." (2 Cor. 9:7)
2 Cor. 9:7 is a key verse that clearly and concisely tells us how God wants Christians to give. Any giving that is not from the heart, that is done with any reluctance or under any kind of compulsion, or is not done cheerfully, is not the kind of giving that God wants! Therefore, when believers are told they must tithe or give at least 10% to a church or ministry, they are being led into legalistic bondage, the very kind of bondage Christ has set us free from!
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Gal. 5:1)
The "yoke of slavery" that the Galatians were falling into was that some of them were following parts of the the Mosaic Law as their rule for right living before God. They believed that this pleased God. Some of them believed that they needed to be circumcised as was required under the law. Paul strongly rebuked them for putting themselves under the law again and not standing in the freedom they had in Christ. After being saved by grace through faith, they were turning away from grace and trying to live the Christian by self-effort and following the law.
"You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?" (Gal. 3:1-3)
The Galatians were being deceived by false teachers. They were trying to live the Christian life contrary to God's way. They were not living by grace. Countless believers today are being deceived in the same way.
The Apostle Paul hated legalism. He called it a "different gospel - which is really no gospel at all" (Gal: 1:6-7) and accused the false teachers of "trying to pervert the gospel of Christ" (Gal. 1:6-7). Paul knew that any kind of legalism - in order to be saved or progressively sanctified - denied the power of the cross to transform lives. Paul was against anything that denied the power of the work of Christ at the cross and the power of His resurrection.
Paul's rebuke of the Galatians also applies to anyone who teaches or believes that Christians are bound to follow the commands and rules of the Mosaic Law that God gave to the nation Israel. Again, that law code was for Israel, not the church! As members of the Body of Christ, we live under grace (Rom. 6:14) and we're to live by the Spirit.
"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." (Gal. 5:16)
Paul also explains to the Galatian believers that legality is a poor system to live under and would enslave them again.
"Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God - or rather are known by God - how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?" (Gal. 4:8-9)
In our giving we're free to give as the Holy Spirit guides and leads us. The percentage is not the issue!
If you tithe because you believe that God is commanding you to tithe based on Old Testament scriptures, you are putting yourself under law - "turning back to those weak and miserable principles" (Gal. 4:9) instead of living the way God wants us to live as members of the church. Christ died to save us and to free us. Do not allow yourself to be enslaved by law living all over again! Law living will retard your spiritual growth and keep you from enjoying a warm and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, which is what God wants most for you!
God wants our giving to be a joyful response from our hearts as we joyfully and thankfully consider all that Jesus Christ has done for us and all the blessings He has lavished on us because we are in Him! Our giving is a faith and love response to what Jesus Christ has done for us and what He's doing in us!
Christ has given us so very much. He gave Himself up for us so that our sins may be forgiven and that we may experience life at its very best - life in Him! What a perfect and wonderful example of giving!
"I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." (2 Cor. 8:8-9)
God desires that our giving be so much more than just about the money we give. It is about giving our lives to the Lord and giving ourselves to the people around us. He wants our giving to reflect our love for Him and others.
In your Spirit-led desire to give generously to God's work, don't let yourself be put under a performance-based system to receive God's approval or acceptance! If you tithe because a pastor told you to, or if you tithe because you believe you need to follow those Old Testament commands in order to please God and receive His blessings - please stop! Under grace God doesn't want you to give a certain amount or percentage because someone has told you to. Furthermore, God is already very pleased with you because you are in His Son, Jesus Christ! You already possess every spiritual blessing because you are in Christ!
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." (Eph. 1:3)
Trust in the Spirit of Christ in you to produce the righteous fruit (Gal. 5:22-23) that He promises to produce as you rest in Him. Trust in Him to transform you into a generous and joyful giver!
"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." (2 Cor. 9:6)
Now, if you decide in your heart that you desire to tithe, as meaning 10% of your income, or that you'll give at least 10% (as a starting point) of your income, that's great! The key is that you decided in your heart what to give. Under grace you are free to give any amount or percentage - less than 10%, 10%, or more than 10%!
However, you should never let your freedom in Christ be an excuse to give little or nothing at all. The Apostle rebuked this kind of thinking in Romans 6 when he argued that God's wonderful grace does not give believers license to continue practicing sin. Because we are new creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17) and have died to sin, we have been set free from the power of sin. In fact, the grace of God teaches us to live godly lives (Titus 2:11-13). Our understanding and appreciation of God's grace to us through Christ, which includes are wonderful new identity in Christ and our freedom in Christ, will lead us to be generous and joyful givers!
You will "excel in this grace of giving" (2 Cor. 8:7) when you decide in your heart what you should give; when you don't give reluctantly or under compulsion; when you give joyfully and generously; when you give according to what you have, not according to what you don't have; and when you give regularly (2 Cor. 9:7; 8:12; 8:1-2; 9:6; 1 Cor. 16:1-2).
When choosing a church, be wise! You would be very wise to avoid any church that teaches you must tithe in order to obey God. Remember who you belong to, who lives in you, and who is your life - Jesus Christ! Christ has set you free!
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Gal. 5:1)
"But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law." (Gal. 5:18)
Don't live your Christian life under the law or any law system. Let the Spirit of Christ work in you and live out through you to make you a fantastic giver! That's God's way - a life of faith directed and empowered by Jesus Christ in all that you do (Gal. 2:20)!
Thank you Lord Jesus!
"For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have."
2 Cor. 8:12
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"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
1 John 1:9
Unfortunately, religion usually complicates things and this is certainly the case with the predominant teaching in the church today on forgiveness. Because there is so much incorrect teaching on this vitally important subject, countless believers find themselves living in bondage to guilt, shame, and fear because of the sins they commit. They've been taught and believe that even though they're saved and possess eternal life, they have to regularly confess their sins to God in order to either be forgiven of their sins or stay in fellowship with God - or both! This kind of teaching greatly diminishes the power of Christ's work on the cross and the wonderful spiritual identity all believers possess the moment they're saved.
Tragically, so many believers don't know and appreciate that in Christ God has finally and completely dealt with all of our sins and the sins of the whole world! Christ came to take away the sins of the world - and He did just that (John 1:29)! At Grace Life Church we're dedicated to helping people understand and experience the truth that because of what Jesus Christ did at the cross, all of their sins have been forgiven!
It's not what we do or say that somehow activates God's forgiveness (this is legalism), it's what Christ did at the cross that completely and forever provides the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus Christ shed His blood for us at the cross to redeem us and forgive us of all our sins (Eph. 1:7-8). The sacrifice of Himself was the only sacrifice - because it was a perfect sacrifice - that could efffectively, finally, and forever deal with sin. The forgiveness of sins has been provided by Christ alone. He died in our place and received the punishment for our sins that we deserved. Only the cross-work of Jesus Christ deals with the sin issue. There's no other way!
As believers, God wants us to rest and rejoice in the reality that all of our sins have been taken away! When we do sin, it's normal and proper for us to be saddened and disappointed in ourselves - but God doesn't want us to stay stuck in that emotional condition. He wants us to move on living lives of victory that He's provided for us! He wants us to rest in and rejoice in the complete forgiveness we have in Christ. This total and unconditional forgiveness covers ALL sins - all past, present, and future sins! God's grace is truly incredible! His grace motivates us to live godly lives (Titus 2:11-14)!
Why do so many of God's children (probably the vast majority) fail to enjoy this total and complete forgiveness in Christ? The reason is found in the teaching, traditions, and scholarhip in the church today that have moved away from the clear teaching on forgiveness in God's Word. This has been a problem for centuries! Often times the error and confusion on forgiveness are the result of teaching centered on an incorrect interpretation of 1 John 1:9.
Many Bible scholars think that every part of every letter written in the New Testament was written only to believers. As a result, they believe that all of 1 John was written to believers. But you and I know that churches today are full of unbelievers! That was certainly the case in first century churches as well. Furthermore, a careful examination of the first chapter of 1 John should lead an objective observer to conclude that the Apostle John was addressing unbelievers in the beginning of his letter.
Furthermore, the interpretation that 1 John 1:9 teaches that believers need to regularly confess their sins in order for God to forgive them (keeping short accounts with God) and to stay in right fellowship with Him cannot be found anywhere else in the New Testament epistles! The Apostle Paul didn't teach it - and he wrote 13 out of the 27 New Testament books! The many churches Paul wrote to apparently weren't aware of this teaching! Surely, you would think that this would lead reasonable thinking people studying God's Word to, at the very least, be extremely cautious in forming any kind of firm doctrine on God's forgiveness based on 1 John 1:9 alone. Please understand that it's in the epistles, and primarily in the Apostle Paul's epistles, that we receive clear instructions from Christ on how to live the Christian life on a daily basis.
Unfortunately, religionists, traditionalists, and legalists don't appear to be open to the possibility that the interpretation of 1 John 1:9 is wrong. It appears that they'd rather continue to keep believers in bondage to the guilt and shame that result when they sin or they forget to confess their sins, than teach them that God has actually already forgiven them for ALL their sins!
One of the primary reasons John wrote 1 John was to deal with false teachers that had come into a church in Asia. These false teachers were teaching that Jesus had not come in the flesh - that He was an illusion. They also didn't believe that they had sins that needed to be forgiven because they didn't believe sin was real. Many scholars believe that John was probably confronting an early form of false teaching known as gnosticism. Gnostics believed that they possessed superior spiritual knowledge. They believed that all flesh was evil and that only spirit is good. They also didn't believe that there was sin - to them it wasn't real.
"1That which was from the beginning, we we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched - this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you may also have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4We write this to make our joy complete." (1 John 1:1-4)
In these first four verses in the letter John is confronting the false teachers. He states the fact that he, the rest of the apostles, and other people saw Jesus Christ in the flesh. They looked at Him, heard Him, and touched Him. John wanted the false teachers to know that many people could testify to the reality of Christ - that he was not an illusion. He also says that there are some people in the audience he's writing to (including the false teachers) who were not in fellowship with Christ because they were unsaved.
"5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives." (1 John 1:5-10)
1 John 1:5-10 are the verses where there's a lot of confusion and incorrect teaching. They are used to teach believers that they need to keep confessing their sins to God (keep short accounts with God) in order to be forgiven and remain in fellowship with God. These verses are used to support the teaching that believers, because of a certain level of sinfulness, can be out of fellowship with God. As I said before, nowhere else in the New Testament epistles can the concept of "being out of fellowship with God" be found in describing a believer, a child of God! Churches and denominations for centuries have also used these verses to support the error that a person can lose his or her salvation because of sins committed and not confessed to God. The joy and peace that have been robbed from God's children because of incorrect teaching on these verses is no less than a tragedy!
Another point needs to be made here. Some people believe that since John uses the word we in these verses he must have been referring to himself and other believers. If this were true, all the verses in this letter where he uses we would also refer to believers. However, this isn't true. John is simply using a literary technique to make his points. He's using we to refer to all people in general.
John's message in verses 5-6 is very clear. "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth." God is light and in Him there is no darkness. We are either in the light, a saved person, or in darkness, a lost person. This comparison of light vs. darkness to describe being saved or lost can be found throughout the Bible. If someone claims to have fellowship with Christ but is lost, he is lying and not living in truth. He's walking in darkness.
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin" (v. 7). This verse says that if we walk in the light, meaning that we're saved, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus continually cleanses us of all our sins. It should be clear here that it's not our confession that leads to forgiveness. We are forgiven because of what Jesus did at the cross for all of us. Please notice that this verse says the blood of Jesus "purifies us from all sin." ALL of our sins are purified by the blood of Jesus.
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" (v. 8). Here John is dealing with the false teaching (possibly by the Gnostics) that there is no such thing as sin - that it's an illusion. Again, John uses the "we" not to include himself or other believers, but simply as a figure of speech. He is referring specifically to the false teachers who believed they were without sin. They were deceiving themselves and the truth was not in them. This reference to the truth not being in them means that Christ was not in them and they were, therefore, lost.
If verse 8 is addressed to believers according to a lot of the false teaching out there, what true believers actually think they don't sin anymore? In order to become saved you have to admit to God that you're a sinner in desperate need of forgiveness which is found in Christ alone! Also, can the truth not be in a true believer? Jesus Christ is the truth (John 14:6). It's clearly wrong to believe that this verse is describing the state of a saved person, a true child of God.
Now we come to verse 9, the verse that is used to teach that believers need to confess their sins to God in order to be forgiven. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (v.9). What John is simply saying here that if the false teachers confess that they do sin and put their trust in Jesus, then God will forgive them and purify them from all unrighteousness.
Please, again, notice the word "all" in these verses. It really means ALL! When we were saved, we weren't purified of only our past sins and unrighteousness, we were purified of ALL ours sins and unrighteousness. When God purifies us, we are purified forever! We don't need to confess our sins to God for forgiveness or to somehow remain in fellowship with Him. We are already completely and totally forgiven saints of God! We're always in fellowship with God because we're in Christ! Praise our Lord Jesus Christ for what He's done for us!
We need to understand and rest in the truth that God has completely and forever settled the sin issue. Before Christ's death, the sin in the world separated the human race from God. Christ was the only solution to the terrible sin problem that kept us as enemies of God. At the cross, Christ reconciled the world to God by the sacrifice of Himself.
"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the minstry of reconciliation: that Christ was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them." (2 Cor. 5:19)
"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'" (John 1:29)
It was God's plan from eternity past and it was His initiative that has successfully dealt with the sins of the world. We are not the initiators. When people are told that need to confess their sins continually to somehow activate and receive God's forgiveness and cleansing, they are being led into a law system, or legalism. In this system man now cooperates with God in initiating forgiveness. This diminshes the cross-work of Jesus Christ and the power of God's grace because what Christ did at the cross was not enough to take away ALL our sins. This is false teaching.
This may be hard for you to accept based on a lifetime of teaching that's told you otherwise - that you need to recall your sins and confess them in order to be forgiven. What about all the sins you've forgotten and failed to confess? Confessing our sins to God after we've been saved does not cause God to forgive us. The truth you can rest in and rejoice in is that God has already forgiven you of all your sins and you've been totally purified, or cleansed, because you're in Christ and a child of the living God!
Our total forgiveness is based on the finished work of Jesus Christ at the cross, where the perfect, sinless, Son of God, shed His blood to take away the sins of the world! There is no other basis for our forgiveness before God!
In fact, when it becomes evident that John is clearly addressing believers in the second chapter of 1 John, he says "I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name (2:12)." It's very clear that John saw believers in the church as totally forgiven children of God!
Jesus took away all the sins of the world at the cross! Believers don't need to confess their sins to God in order to be forgiven because God has already forgiven all of their sins! This total forgiveness is continully hammered home in the Apostle Paul's writings.
"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross." (Col. 2:13-14)
"Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." (Col. 3:13)
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding." (Eph. 1:7-8)
"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." (Eph. 4:32)
As we understand and rest in the truths that in Christ we are God's children, totally loved, totally accepted, totally forgiven, perfectly righteous with the righteousness of Christ, and eternally secure, we will be protected from falling prey to false teaching that opposes or waters down these important truths.
Remember, God relates to us much differently than people, including believers, relate to each other. He and He alone can totally forgive us, give us His perfect rigtheousness, and give us new and eternal life that we can never lose! He carries out His promises to us through His perfect love and grace. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that God relates to you just like people do, who often disappoint you and fail you. He is God and they are not. He will never disappoint you, go back on His promises to you found in His Word, or fail you.
In Christ, our great God has given us everything we need spiritually. As a result, our fellowship with God is secure forever. Sadly, many Christians, perhaps most, aren't aware of the amazing and wonderful new identity they have in Christ. They either believe it's too good to be true, haven't been taught it, or just reject it because they like things the way they've been doing them! Many Christians are in bondage and actually like it! The reality though is they are missing out on so much and they don't know it.
Our church and ministry is dedicated to helping people understand the riches of God's grace to us in Christ. In the process, we will confront any teaching that leads people away from their secure and intimate relationship with Christ. Unfortunately, bad teaching on forgiveness dominates the church today and has been a major problem in the church since it began nearly 2000 years ago. Churches, denominations, and ministries of all sizes are putting people in bondage to guilt and shame by the erroneous teaching that their sins are not totally forgiven. We hope this article that defends our total and unconditional forgiveness in Christ is a help to you. The truth will set you free!
"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)
"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."
Eph. 4:32
