I was thinking about something yesterday, sent it to my sister, and thought it might make a good blog post. It's probably going to be long, but that's because I'm pompous, long-winded, and extremely tiresome.
Over the past several years, I've begun to realize how Christ's life has been so obvious overlooked in the evangelical church. I never learned about His life unless it was within the context of moralism and how I should try to live a good and godly life. His 40 days of temptation in the wilderness was a time to see an example of standing up against temptation, and His words to the Pharisees were to give us a true understanding of how God wants us to live.
In other words, Christ's death and resurrection were a gift; His life, however, was an example for us all to follow and imitate: Christ died for our sins, yes, but it's up to use to live the life of righteousness He typified for us.
Without using a bunch of big words/concepts, which I really tend to do, here's the problem: God deserves two things:
1. A life of perfect obedience. A single iota of disobedience merits an eternity of punishment. No amount of suffering will make our transgression go away. I need to be punished for my sin, and my inability to atone is reflected in the fact that such punishment is eternal.
2. A life of pure obedience. It's not enough to be obedient. In fact, obedience should be founded upon a life of perfect and abject love for God. Righteousness isn't earned by simply not doing what's wrong; it's earned by doing exactly what is right. In Mark 12, Jesus shows us what the crux of such righteousness is: it's 100% perfect love of the Lord in all things. Without this, we cannot be declared righteous, and thus cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.
So here's the question I was pondering while cleaning bathrooms the other morning (my wife is a slave-driver): what does it mean that Jesus fulfilled all righteousness?
That question, I think, is what's wrong with the evangelical church. They get the first thing God deserves very well (they are Christians, after all), but don't seem to understand the second at all.
We're sinners in the sight of an angry God, and He has every right (and to fulfill His justice, He is obligated) to condemn and punish our sin. Christ died so that this punishment would be meted out upon Himself, rather than upon His people (or the world, if you're evangelical or Lutheran). But the evangelical church seems to stop there, and the resulting message usually sounds something like this:
1. Christ died so you might have eternal life.
2. Once you are saved, you are now enabled by the Holy Spirit to do righteous works.
3. Righteous works are evidence of your faith.
4. Therefore, the more righteous works you show, the better you can take comfort in your faith.
5. Moreover, the Bible commands us to be righteous, and therefore, if we are to be godly Christians, our efforts should be constantly straining toward this goal. If we fall, we didn't try hard enough, or have enough faith to inspire us.
Unfortunately, this isn't the entire story. It's half of the story, and when we miss the other half, I think we will either be driven to cynically give up (which was my response) or to despair (which I've seen in many others).
Reconciling us to God isn't just dealing with our punishment, though I certainly don't want to minimize Christ's atoning and propitiating death. But even if God's wrath for disobedience is appeased, He still deserves and demands perfect hearts in obedience. Not only does He deserve perfect obedience, but He also deserves perfect glory and honor from His people, at all times.
Anyway, here's where the Reformers, I think, better understood Christ's life than we do today:
1. Christ lived a perfect life so that, in doing so, He would merit the righteousness which comes from a perfect heart lived perfectly before the Lord.
2. He honored and glorified God in all ways, in all things, and without reservation.
3. His works were perfect in intention, motive, and result.
4. In the wilderness, He withstood temptation and expelled Satan from His presence (as Adam, Israel, and we fail utterly to do).
5. In Christ, God is, therefore, afforded the perfect honor and glory He justly deserves.
6. Christ was crucified and punished to atone for our sins. He died the death we deserve, giving to God the perfect sacrifice which is sufficient for the enormity of our sin.
Therefore, when we talk about our "works" as Christians, I think we need to be careful with how we define them:
1. Our lives, when lived through the power of the Holy Spirit, are not lived to afford God the righteousness His perfect nature requires. Christ accomplished this fully and completely, and we can add absolutely nothing to it.
2. Our lives, when lived through the power of the Holy Spirit, are not lived to make God more pleased with us based on our climbing a ladder of achieved holiness. Because of Christ, through faith, God looks upon His righteousness and has appeased His wrath for our sin.
3. Our lives, therefore, when lived through the power of the Holy Spirit, and when we are continually reminded what Christ has accomplished, can be lived as a thanksgiving offering to the Lord; in our work, we are saying thank you to the Lord for Christ not only taking our punishment, but also earning and giving to us the righteousness which is required by Holy God.
This is why I get so skeptical when I hear people talk about works. They tend to sound something like this:
1. Yeah, Christ died for you
2. Yeah, you're saved
3. But you need the works to back it up and live the life God wants from you
4. But (just to cover our bases), you can't do it yourself, which is where the Holy Spirit comes in
5. It's You and God, workin' together, defeatin' the sin in your life
Rather than,
1. Christ lived for you
2. Christ died for you
3. In Christ, you are saved
4. In Christ, God is fully appeased
5. You are given the Holy Spirit as a promise and seal of what's to come
6. Your life, therefore, will be lived out of thanksgiving for the perfect and completed work of Christ
7. Nothing you do can add/contribute to or take away from Christ's perfect work
8. Therefore, what you need to hear regularly is Law and Gospel
Christ actively lived the Law for us. He obeyed God perfectly, all the while affording to Him the honor He so justly deserves. He then passively was crucified for our sins, transgressions which were not committed by Him.
This is what was called the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ, and, without understanding it, we'll never really know what it meant for Christ to fulfill all righteousness.
