jjacobs@isx.com (Jim Jacobs) (06/23/91)
Callen:
I am a "lurker" on the newsgroup soc.religion.christian. I do not have
an account at a site that gets a regular newsfeed. However, I am able
to manually skim the news files through a borrowed account and thus try
to read many of the posting to s.r.c.
First of all, I have enjoyed your series of postings on sin,redemption,
Christ's work, etc. They seem to be quite sound doctrine and are a
refreshing change from many of the rather confused postings on that
group. Your expositions on our sin nature, the effectiveness of
Christ's work, and justification by faith were excellent.
I was somewhat less appreciative of the last posting on final Judgement.
This is in part due a lack of detailed study on the topic. I'm not sure
that I have strong disagreement with your points, but would like to
raise some items for your consideration.
You seem to take the courtroom metaphor as attempt to describe the
manner in which God will conduct the final judgement. I agree with you
that by itself this will lead to error and misunderstanding. The
strength and best use of this metaphor as I see it, is that it correctly
elucidates our justification before a holy God who can tolerate no sin.
In careful legal terms, we can see how God frees us from guilt, declares
us righteous, and adopts us. It is a view at our _positional_
sanctification and holiness given to us by God through faith in Jesus
Christ. We _experience_ sanctification and growth in holiness through
the inner working of the Spirit. Our final purification before God will
come (when Christ completes his work in us and we are with Him) when our
experience "meets up with" our position. Luther's phrase:
"simulataneously just and a sinner" is appropriate for our current state
and will be replaced by "just and no longer a sinner" in our latter
state.
All of this is to say the courtroom metaphor is valid for describing
>From a legal perspective how God saves us from our sins and sin nature.
It should not be used to provide dogma about the details of how He will
conduct the final judgement. At that time (as you show quite well), the
righteous which already ours in Christ will be seen clearly before all.
Second, I would like to address several comments to the issue of
holiness. I believe our first motivation in striving toward holiness
must be that God commands it. Obedience is key. The strongest and most
fundamental motivation though should be our desire to please God. We
love Him (because He first loved us) and so desire to please Him and to
conform to the image of Christ. In the end "we shall be like Him, for
we shall see Him as He is" (I don't have my references, Bible, or notes
here, thus the lack of quotes and verses). The Bible is pretty clear
that is the holiness of God is the most central attribute of His
character. In Isaiah and Rev. we see Him described as "Holy, holy,
holy". The Hebrew language has a standard feature absent in western
languages known as the "plurality of intensity". In this literary
device the repetition of a word signifies the exceptional magnitude and
accents the intensity of it. Christ speaks (I think it is where He
mentions "the blind leading the blind") of falling into a "deep pit" or
"tar pit" in some translations. The actual transliteration from
the ancient text however is "pit pit"!
Applying this principle to holiness, we see that God is "holy, holy,
holy". This intensity is far beyond our capacity to understand and
everytime someone (like Isaiah or John) is exposed to it, they collapse
with fear for their sin and weakness and are able to endure God's
presence only through His purifying and strengthening work. We never
see God described as "love, love, love" or "mercy, mercy, mercy"
although are vital elements of His character.
Our desire for holiness is both to please Him and to become like Him.
Now, we have the holiness of Christ in a positional state, and we are
being sanctified into increasing holiness as the Spirit transforms us.
Then, we shall be made like Him, and will be holy because He is holy.
The best books on the character of God and His holiness that I have seen
are "The Holiness of God" and "One Holy Passion" by R.C. Sproul. Also,
Jerry Bridges book on "The Pursuit of Holiness" is the best practical
help for encouraging our training in holiness in obedience to God. All
are highly reccommend.
Well, Callen, I'm sorry this turned out so long. I got on a roll and
didn't edit myself well. Thanks again for your posts. By the way, I am
sending a copy of this to our friendly moderator if I can get his email
address right. I greatly respect him and appreciate his efforts with
the group.SDG.
In Christ,
Jim Jacobs
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Jim Jacobs, jjacobs@isx.com, ISX Corporation
4353 Park Terrace Dr., Westlake Village, CA 91361