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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Wed, 9 Sep 1992 17:19:39 CDT
Reply-To:     bradk%isdgsm@rtsg.mot.com
From:         Brad Kaiser <bradk%isdgsm@RTSG.MOT.COM>
Subject:      RE: HOW are we RIGHTEOUS in Christ?

I hope to treat this discussion in greater depth later, but I really
can't ignore Jesse's last post, which read in part:

>> Read "The Attributes of God" by Stephen Charnock ( 2 vol. )
>> God has 2 types of attributes :

>> 1) communicable

>> 2) incommunicable

With all due respect to Messrs. Charnock and Carnes, I find the Bible
a better source for information on the attributes, abilities, and
intentions of God.  Here is what the Bible says on whether God can
create within us a spirit of righteousness, righteousness which is
indeed bestowed upon us by Him who is the font of all righteousness,
and not in any sense our 'inherent' possession.

I have taken the liberty of adding emphasis:

   For our sake He made Him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we
   might become the righteousness of God in Him.
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
               -- 2 Cor 5:21

                                  ----

   His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life
   and devotion, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own
   glory and power.  Through these, he has bestowed on us the precious
   and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share
                                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   the world because of evil desire.
               -- 2 Pt 1:3-4

                                  ----

   The way we may be sure that we know Him is to keep His commandments
   ... whoever keeps His word, the love of God is truly perfected in
                               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   him.

               -- 1 Jn 2:3,5
                                  ----

   They [our natural fathers] disciplined us for a short time as
   seemed right to them, but He does so for our benefit, in order that
                                                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   we may share His holiness.  At the time, all discipline seems a
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful
                                             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
               -- Heb 12:10

                                  ----

   No, you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God,
   the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering,
   and the spirits of the just made perfect, and Jesus the mediator of
       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   a new covenant, and the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently
   than that of Abel.
               -- Heb 12:22-24

   [NOTE: 'the spirits of the just made perfect', not the spirits of
    the utterly corrupt externally covered with righteousness
    'imputed' to them by a mere forensic transaction.]

                                  ----

   ... but nothing unclean will enter [Heaven], nor anyone who does
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   abominable things or tells lies.  Only those will enter whose names
   are written in the Lamb's book of life.
               -- Rev 21:27

                                  ----

   For God did not call us to impurity but to holiness.
                                              ^^^^^^^^
               -- 1 Thes 3:7

                                  ----

   Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into
                                               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   Him who is the Head, Christ, from whom the whole body ... builds
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   itself up in love.
               -- Eph 4:15-16

                                  ----

   If you consider that He is righteous, you also know that everyone
                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   who acts in righteousness is begotten by Him.  See what love the
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of
                                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   God.  Yet so we are. ... Beloved, we are God's children now; what
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   we shall be has not yet been revealed.  We do know that when it is
                                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   revealed we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   Everyone who has this hope based on Him makes himself pure, as He
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   is pure.
               -- 1 Jn 3:1-3

I honestly do not see evidence that the concept of infused
righteousness is unscriptural in the slightest.  But the notion of God
"cooking the books" to "impute" righteousness to the utterly corrupt
positively appalls me.

In Christ's Everlasting Love,

Brad Kaiser
(bradk%isdgsm@rtsg.mot.com)

  "Hatred destroys.  Only love creates."
            -- St. Maximilian Kolbe, shortly before his arrest and
               martyrdom at the hands of the Nazis.
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