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| Volume 24 Number 10 October 2022 |
Page 6 |
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| Volume 24 Number 10 October 2022 |
Page 6 |
T. Pierce Brown
One of the many “exceedingly great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4 NKJV) that God has given us is in Romans 8:1. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Although in the ASV the expression, “who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit,” is here omitted, it is in verse 4, and it is inherent in the meaning of “in Christ Jesus.”
We may have allowed the false doctrine of the impossibility of apostasy to cause us to react in denial of it in such a way that we lose sight of some grand truths that are affirmed here and in other places. I believe in the security of the believer and have no intention of allowing some perverted teaching to denude me of that wonderful truth.
It is our considered judgment that we have sometimes done the same thing with other mountain peaks of God’s revelation. The great truth of salvation by grace through faith is not simply a doctrine that we should talk about negatively in denial of false doctrine. A winning team does not simply take the opponent’s rebound when it misses the goal and dribble down the court with the ball, making all its points primarily on the other team’s missed ones. In all probability, part of the rash of articles in the last few years by those who seem to have discovered as a new truth the idea of salvation by grace has been caused by the fact that, in many cases, we have not properly affirmed the truth of God. Instead, primarily, we have written articles denying the false doctrine of grace only. It is doubly sad that many of those who have seemingly discovered the grand truth of salvation by grace are writing about in the same way that denominations have been since John Calvin’s time. I hear an increasing number of those I thought were Gospel preachers teaching salvation by faith about the same way Martin Luther’s followers taught it.
It is probably true that some of us have taught that a person is “in Christ” (upon penitence and prayer) and ‘out of Christ’ (each time he sins) much in the same way a needle of a sewing machine goes in and out of a piece of cloth. As I have talked with Christians about their fears and doubts, many have more of those than they do feelings of security. The feeling seems to be, “If I go to bed and have not asked God to forgive me for every specific sin that I have committed (not to mention mistakes and shortcomings), and I should die before I wake, I am probably going to wake up in hell.” As one dear lady put it many years ago, “I do not have any fears of going to hell for sins of commission, but I am afraid I have left something undone and will be lost because of the sin of omission.” Of course, if our going to Heaven is dependent upon not having left something undone, none of has or ever will have any security or hope!
What is involved in the fact that there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus? Among other things, the law of the spirit of life (the Gospel of Christ) not only made the Jew free from the Law of Moses but has made all of us free from “the law of sin which is in my members,” as Paul put it in Romans 7:23. We are no longer under bondage to sin, and “…God…will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape…” (1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV).
Some who teach the impossibility of apostasy teach that a child of God can’t sin. Many affirm that he can sin but teach that even a sin of adultery or murder, even if he died while committing it, could not cause him to be lost! As with other perversions, they make “there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ” mean ‘there will never be condemnation to those who ever were in Christ, whether or not they walk after the flesh.’ John 10:27-28 says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” They try to make it mean, “Anyone who has ever been a sheep and ever heard my voice and followed me could not quit following me if he wanted to, would not want to if he could, and if he did it would not matter.”
Instead of writing a whole book about it, a simple illustration might help show the difference in the way the Bible teaches it, the way some of us have made it sound, and the way the false teachers have taught it.
Suppose a man is walking across a chasm above a raging fire in a high wind on a tight rope. The false teacher says to him, “Don’t worry. You could not fall off if you wanted to, for once you have committed yourself to the rope you are eternally secure.” Some of us have taught in such a way that it sounded like, “Worry constantly! If you do not keep your balance constantly and walk the tight rope with such care that you make no false step, you are in immediate and mortal danger at all times of falling into eternal fire!” The Bible view is, “Attach this safety belt around your waist. Walk carefully, lest you make a misstep and hurt yourself. As long as you keep the safety belt properly attached, even if you make a misstep and hurt yourself badly, you will not fall into the fire below.” As 1 John 1:7 puts it, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” It is a constant cleansing – a constant security – and does not depend upon us not making a misstep or keeping the balancing rod in the proper position at all times but depends upon our keeping the safety belt properly attached. That is, a child of God must always have a penitent attitude for any sin, known or unknown, and always depend upon the blood of Christ for cleansing, rather than on a perfect balancing act.
So, “no condemnation to those who are in Christ” not only was true with regard to the Jew who was released from the condemnation of the Law of Moses but is true for those of us who have accepted salvation by grace through faith, on the terms divinely offered, and who continue to walk in trusting reliance on the blood of Jesus Christ. Sin must be condemned anywhere at any time, but if we remain “in Him,” “walking in the light,” He bears the condemnation just as He did when He took our alien sins when we were baptized into His death. He did not say, “walking in the light would prevent us from sinning” but would “cleanse us from all sin.” You and I have the choice of keeping the safety belt on. We can keep a penitent, loving and obedient attitude, relying on the saving grace of Christ and be secure. Or, we can have one of two other attitudes: one is an arrogant, presumptuous attitude that we have saved ourselves because we “never transgressed your commandment at any time” (Luke 15:29). We do an excellent balancing act in a high wind and never take a misstep. The other attitude is equally false. Once we have made a commitment to Christ, we have lost our freedom of choice. The goat may become a sheep, but the sheep may never become a goat! The Bible teaches no such foolishness! The sheep hear Jesus’ voice and follow Him. Once a person quits hearing His voice and following Him, he is a goat! Let us not allow our arguments against any false doctrine blind us to the great positive truths, precious promises and grand themes of the Bible.
