Sunday, January 31, 2016
1. How the Justice of God and the righteousness of God work together.
2. The doctrine of Justification.
3. The doctrine of Imputation.
Righteousness - dikaiosune = "that which pertains to the integrity of God which is made up of His righteousness and justice."
Throughout the word of God there are scores of passages that link justice and righteousness together, more than any of the other of the attributes of divine essence.
PSA 33:5 He loves righteousness and justice;
PSA 72:2 May he ( Solomon and his son Rehoboam) judge Thy people with righteousness, And Thine afflicted with justice.
PSA 89:14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Thy throne;
PSA 97:2 Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
PSA 99:4 And the strength of the King loves justice; Thou hast established equity; Thou hast executed justice and righteousness in Jacob [a reference to fallen man in Israel].
PSA 106:3 How blessed or happy are those who keep justice, Who practice righteousness at all times!
PSA 119:121 I have done justice and righteousness [because of that, because I have operated in your character and integrity]; Do not leave me to my oppressors.
PRO 8:20 "I [Chokmah-wisdom-MD] walk in the way of righteousness, [God's character and integrity] In the midst of the paths of justice,
The RFOG you cannot live in as a child of God unless you operate in His justice and +R and learn to put on the breastplate of Righteousness.
A fortiori is a system of logic which comes from Latin phrase meaning "with stronger reason" - Webster's dictionary = with "greater reason or more convincing force."
ROM 5:12-14, Therefore, just as through one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death [that is spiritual death] came - through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned‑‑ = pantes heemarton means all of us sinned when Adam sinned. for until the Law [Mosaic Law] sin [sin nature] was in the world; but sin [sin nature-the sins that the sin nature produced] is not imputed when there is no law. God did not and could not condemn us for our sins because He had not yet given mankind a set of rules or do's and don'ts to follow before He gave the Law to Moses. Nevertheless death [spiritual death] reigned from Adam until Moses, [from the creation of man until Moses] even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
We did not sin like the first Adam, we were born sinners, he was not, he was created with perfect righteousness and he lost it --- and only in that sense was he is type of Him who was to come, TLJC, who kept Himself without sin!
Adam sinned even though he had a sinless nature, even though God gave him no commandments, but mankind sinned because he was born in sin.
The reason for this typology is the fact that Adam was created perfect from the hand of God, whereas Christ was born perfect by the grace of God.
Adam is a type of Christ from the standpoint of the federal headship of the human race whereas Jesus Christ is the federal head of the
Royal Family or He is the head of the body also called the church.
COL 1:18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first‑born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything.
1. Only two men in human history, Adam and Christ, are said to be federal heads. Adam is the federal head of mankind and Christ is the federal head of the new birth.
2. The first Adam was created perfect and sinned, bringing condemnation to the human race whereas the last Adam was perfect and was judged for our sins on the cross, bringing salvation to the human race.
3. Notice that neither the first Adam nor the last Adam started with an old sin nature. Both were minus anything related to sin; both had a free will to choose.
4. The choice of the first Adam was negative, putting the human race under sin; the choice of the last Adam was positive, putting the human race in the category of salvation.
5. Therefore we have type and antitype. Adam is the author of spiritual death; the last Adam is the author of eternal life—1 Co 15:22, 45.
1CO 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.
1CO 15:45 So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life‑giving spirit.
ROM 5:15 But the free gift [that is salvation] is not like the transgression [transgression of Adam]. For if by the transgression of the one [Adam] the many died [hoi polloi = altogether, the entire human race]
ROM 5:15 much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many - the human race with emphasis on the unlimited atonement.
Note that Verse 15 now brings us to the a fortiori of capacity for blessing, hence the a fortiori for blessing in time.
ROM 5:15 But the free gift [salvation] is not like the transgression [that is the transgression of Adam].
Under the principle of imputation we now begin to set up a contrast emphasising here the difference between the first and the last Adams, between the type and the antitype; in other words, between Adam and Christ.
The free gift means a grace gift, or a gracious gift. It refers to the salvation work of Jesus Christ on the cross being judged for our sins.
1. Christ as the antitype to Adam’s type, but He is impeccable, perfect in His humanity, not a sinner.
HEB 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
HEB 7:26 For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens;
2. Christ did not have a sin nature, because He did not have an earthly father and therefore he did not have the imputation of Adam’s sin, He did not have any personal sin, in contrast to the first Adam.
AMP - 1TI 2:15 Nevertheless [the sentence put upon women of pain in motherhood does not hinder their souls' salvation, and] they will be saved [eternally]
if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self‑control, [saved indeed] through the Childbearing or by the birth of the divine Child.
3. Like the first Adam, TLJC did not have an earthly father to pass down the genes of the old sin nature.
4. The typology of the two Adam’s, then, can only be carried to a certain point. It cannot be carried into their persons because as persons they were quite different.
5. Adam was unique because he was created perfect and fell whereas Christ was unique because He was the only one ever born perfect and remained in His humanity impeccable.
6. Adam is the federal head of the human race through physical birth, while Christ is the federal head of the new creature through spiritual birth.
7. Here the analogy ends and the contrast begins which is the fact that the first Adam brought condemnation on the entire human race whereas the last Adam brings salvation to the human race.
8. Because of the first Adam the justice of God condemns man, but because of the last Adam the justice of God is free to provide blessing for man—beginning at salvation through imputed righteousness and justification.
9. Therefore, while the human race is born in Adam the human race is born again in Christ.
1PE 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1PE 1:23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God.
JOH 3:3 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
JOH 3:7 "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'
ROM 5:15 But the free gift [salvation] is not like the transgression [Adam's sin]. For if by the transgression of the one [Adam] the many died [human race] much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many -
1. That blessing from the justice of God, i.e. the imputation of divine righteousness and resultant justification sets up a potential for blessing in time which means an a fortiori of greater blessings in eternity.
ROM 5:9 Much more then [now that we are saved and], having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
ROM 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all [that is while we were yet sinners, Christ died for all], how will
He not also [NOW that we are] with Him freely give us all things?
2. The point of reference for the human race is the integrity of God—righteousness and justice.
3. Righteousness demands righteousness and justice demands justice. When God works on our behalf it is because these things have both been fulfilled.
4. The major principle is that Justice executes what righteousness demands.
All of the divine attributes must go through the justice of God, not because justice is the greatest of all the divine attributes, but because that is the function of justice = to guard the blasphemous accusations that others make toward the character and nature of God.
It is for our benefit that we know this principle of justice guarding the divine attributes or the essence of God so that He cannot be accused of compromising His nature with how He treats both angels and man.
Satan's goal = to attack the character and nature of God and the decisions that He makes.
5. Our point of contact is always the justice of God. We are never going to be given anything from God which compromises His character, but we are going to be given wonderful things which glorify His person.
6. Everything depends upon our potential, and our potential depends upon the doctrinal content of our soul.
3JO 1:2 Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.
1TH 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
PSA 23:5‑6 "You have prepared before me a table in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; my cup is overflowing.
Only prosperity and grace shall pursue me all the days of my life, and I shall remain in the house of the Lord forever [eternal blessings]."
PRO 30:7-9; Two things I asked of Thee, Do not refuse me before I die: Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion,
PRO 30:9 Lest I be full and deny Thee and say, "Who is the Lord?" Or lest I be in want and steal, And profane the name of my God.
7. From justice to righteousness is the highway through which all of these blessings come to us.
8. All blessing from God originates with divine justice and terminates with the divine righteousness that was imputed.
9. If God provided the greater in justification it follows a fortiori that He will provide the less in temporal blessing from the justice of God.
ROM 5:15 For if by the transgression of the one [Adam] the many died [the human race] much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many -
The provision of temporal blessing glorifies God, and for any born again believer to have any of the blessings of life in the devil’s world it is glorifying to God.
11. The phrase "much more" means that God provides more in grace than man had in innocence before the fall. God provides more in the imputation of divine righteousness than He did in the garden where no righteousness had been imputed.
12. If God did the most for us when we were spiritually dead in Adam He can only do much more than the most for us now that we possess divine righteousness and resultant justification.
ROM 5:15 “But not as that transgression [Adam’s original sin], so also is that gracious gift [the work of Christ]. For if by the transgression of [that] one [Adam] the many [human race] died [spiritual death],
much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, by the one man, Jesus Christ, who has provided superabundance for the many [who believe].”
1. The believer in Christ through salvation adjustment to the justice of God has been placed in a greater position than that which was lost by Adam in the garden.
2. God provides more in grace adjustment to the justice of God than man ever possessed originally in the garden.
3. The gift of grace, Jesus Christ, provides the a fortiori link.
4. The justice of God did the most in judging our sins when Christ was carrying them on the cross.
5. If the justice of God did the greater at the cross it follows a fortiori that the justice of God can do the less—temporal and eternal blessing for the mature believer.
6. The sin of the first Adam results in the condemnation of the human race but now the grace gift of God provides more for the many than was lost originally.
7. Hence, the believer is not restored to the status of Adam before the fall, he is restored to something far greater than Adam ever had.
8. This constitutes a double a fortiori. If God can do the greater at salvation He can do the less after salvation. If God can do less after salvation He can do greater than less again and again and again for all of eternity.