The Purpose of the Epistle to the Hebrews

The purpose of the Epistle to the Hebrews is threefold: (1) to provide the solution to the Hebrews’ dilemma, (2) to prove beyond a doubt that the “mystery” revealed through Paul, and “the dispensation of the grace of God” committed to him, were indeed God’s “eternal purpose … given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,” and (3) to prove that God’s blessings under grace are infinitely “better” than anything Israel, or we, ever knew, or ever could know under the Law.

1. THE SOLUTION TO THE HEBREW’S DILEMMA

To correctly interpret any book of the Bible it is helpful to place ourselves, as it were, in the position of those to whom, or about whom, that book was written.

Let us begin, then, by placing ourselves in thought among the Hebrews addressed in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Imagine yourself listening to Peter’s Pentecostal address and, deeply convicted, joining those who ” came forward” and tremblingly asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” and hearing Peter reply:

“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:37,38).

Now suppose you do most heartily repent. Suppose you are baptized for the remission of sins, and do receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Suppose all this is fully verified by the way you live, joining all the other disciples of Christ in living spontaneously and affectionately for each other, as our Lord commanded in His Sermon on the Mount (Acts 2:44-47; 4:32-37).

Suppose further that you hear Peter promise to Israel the return of her risen, ascended Messiah and the long-prophesied”times of refreshing” upon her repentance and the “restitution [making right] of all things” (Acts 3:19-21).

Would you not now be bitterly disappointed if Israel’s leaders, instead of recognizing the overwhelming evidence of Christ’s resurrection, and accepting the offer of His return to reign, persecuted His disciples and sealed their hatred of Him by murdering Stephen while he pleaded for their forgiveness?

And would it not further discourage you if God responded to the stoning of Stephen by saving the leader of the rebellion against Christ and sending him forth to proclaim salvation by free grace to the Gentiles, while Jews from Jerusalem to Rome continued to reject their Messiah (Acts 22:18; 13:46; 18:6; 28:25-28)?

Would you not ask: “What about us? We believe in Christ. And what about all the Old Testament promises about Israel’s redemption and her “times of refreshing” under the reign of Messiah? As the nation continued in her rebellion might you not well ask, “What can Peter’s ‘Hope to the end’ (I Pet. 1:13) mean now? Israel’s rulers have ’set themselves against the Lord and against His Anointed’ and will not change. Must we conclude that God has failed to keep His Word, or that His millennial promises were but a glorious dream?”

This was the predicament in which the believing Hebrews under the teaching of the Twelve now found themselves. In such a situation would not this letter from Paul provide the greatest encouragement? He knew, and was already proclaiming the truth that:

“. . . God hath concluded them all [both Jews and Gentiles] in unbelief that He might have mercy upon all” (Rom. 11:32; cf. Ver. 33).(Appropriately the apostle did not go so far as to teach these Hebrews the truth of the one “joint body,” for would Hebrews naturally rejoice at being one with Gentiles? Surely not, until having come to see the truths in which saved Gentiles were now rejoicing.)

To Paul the exalted Lord had revealed a sacred secret (“mystery”) not yet made known to the Judaean disciples, and probably not yet fully understood by all his own Jewish followers among the Gentiles. Hence this Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews, explaining how, through the blood of Christ shed at Calvary, they could rejoice with the Gentile believers 1 as “partakers of the heavenly calling” (Heb. 3: 1).

II. THE ETERNAL PURPOSE

Again and again the Apostle Paul stresses the fact that God’s present work of grace was His “eternal purpose.”

Titus 1:2,3 tells us that “God, who cannot lie, promised” eternal life in Christ “before the world began,” and “in due times” manifested this great truth through Paul. It is sad and almost unbelievable that so many clergymen and their followers miss this important fact, for this promise was obviously not made to any human being, and just as obviously not to the angels. Clearly God made this promise to Himself in the counsels of the Trinity. It was His purpose, His determination from the beginning to usher in the dispensation of grace upon Israel’s fall. Again, in 11 Timothy we have light on this subject:

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in [i.e., vested in] Christ Jesus” (II Tim. 1:1).

“Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (11 Tim. 1:9).

Still another example is found in Eph. 3:11, where in language so typical of Paul, we read of: “. . . [God's] eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. “

In the closing benediction of this letter to the Hebrews, this promise made by God to Himself, is called “the eternal* covenant,”**

* In the A.V. the Greek aionios is rendered “everlasting” 24 times, but ,,eternal” 42 times. It refers not, essentially, to how long a thing may last (though sometimes implying this) but rather to uninterrupted duration, and often as here, takes in the past as well as the future. Thus this “eternal covenant” does not merely concern the future, but the past as well, since it was made “before the world began” and will continue valid through the ages to come.

** True, several other covenants are also called “everlasting ” but to which of them could Heb. 13:20 refer? Which of them bases the resurrection of Christ from the dead upon the blood that confirmed it? Further, to which of them could the term “the everlasting [or "eternal"] covenant be applied?

Thus God today is saving men on the basis of an “eternal covenant,” a covenant He made, not with any man, but with Himself before the world began, with respect to “eternal life,” to be vested in Christ, who was to die for our sins. This is the true “covenant of grace”!

But while the apostle refers to this eternal purpose again and again in his epistles to the Gentiles, he gives conclusive evidence of its validity in this epistle to the Hebrews, demonstrating through its many types that God’s heart was full of this “mystery, ” this sacred secret, long before He revealed it to Paul. (Hebrews is God’s great commentary on the types. Seldom does Paul mention any of the Old Testament types in any of his Gentile epistles. But in writing to Hebrews this is naturally quite different. Hebrews deals with far more types than all the rest of Paul’s epistles put together, and his Hebrew readers would naturally be interested in their significance.)

Does the reader object that if the glories of the mystery” were typified in Old Testament times they were not a secret? We reply that this objection stems from a misunderstanding of typology, for which of the Old Testament types were said or even known to be types at the time, or were said to foreshadow anything still future? Consider them alland each one individually: the priesthood, the altar, the offerings, the shed blood, the camp, the tabernacle, the holiest place, the ark, the mercy seat, the washings (Gr. baptismos), Sinai, the Sabbath and all the rest. Did God reveal at the time that any of these were typical at all, much less what they typified? Not one! Search and see. Thus the “mystery” was still a secret indeed in Old Testament times.

It is only now, through the revelation of the mystery” to Paul that we can clearly see that God had the blessings of the present dispensation in mind all the while, indeed, that His heart was filled with hem.

Here we must express our disappointment over some who hold that the mystery revealed to Paul involves only one particular truth, such as that of the joint body, or our heavenly position, while, indeed, it is that great body of truth which we rightly call Pauline, beginning with salvation itself, for who before Paul ever arose to declare:

“BUT NOW the righteousness of God without the low is manifested. . . “(Rom. 3:2 1).

“We declare, I SAY, AT THIS TIME, His [Christ's] righteousness, that He [God] might be just and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Ver. 26).

Israel’s rejection of Christ did not take God by surprise. The temporary blinding of Israel, and the ushering in of the dispensation of grace were integral parts of “the mystery … hid from ages and from generations, but now … made manifest to His saints” (Rom. 11:25; Col. 1:26). But there is more:

III. THE BETTER THINGS OF HEBREWS

The Epistle to the Hebrews has long been known as “the book of the better things,” and rightly so: “For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did” (Heb. 7: 19).

It must be clearly understood, however, that the “better hope” of Heb. 7:19 has no reference to the New Covenant, (The New Covenant, discussed at some length in Heb. 8 and 9 is separate subject and should be dealt with more ully in a separate study. Meantime see the author’s booklet, The Lord’s Supper. ) for note:

1. The New Covenant was promised about 600 years before Christ, when God said, “Behold the days come . . . that I will make a new covenant. (Jer. 31:3 1, cf Heb, 8:13).

2. The New Covenant was made at Calvary (Matt. 26:28).

3. The New Covenant will be fulfilled when our Lord returns to “turn away ungodliness from Jacob” and “all Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:26,27). Thus the New Covenant has not yet been “brought in,” or fulfilled, but the “better hope” of Heb. 7:19 has indeed been “brought in” by the revelation committed to Paul. This is the “better hope” of God’s “eternal covenant,” the promise He made to Himself in ages past.

The types of the Old Testament, which had no future significance at the time, now blossom with meaning and shower us all-and particularly the Hebrew believers of Paul’s day-with blessings far better than anything the Law ever offered or could offer.

The Levitical Priesthood, comprised of many priests, has now been replaced with one Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, “a priest forever, after the order of Melchisedec,” who was not even a Hebrew, much less a Levite.

Those priests could not continue in office “by reason of death,” (Heb. 7:23). But this Priest, “because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable Priesthood” (Ver. 24).

The Levitical priest, says the apostle:

“. . . standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:

“BUT THIS MAN, AFTER HE HAD OFFERED ONE SACRIFICE FOR SINS FOREVER, SAT DOWN ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD” (Heb. 10:11,12).

How much, how very much more, could be said about this “better” Priest in contrast with the thousands who had lived and died under the Old Covenant! but time and space forbid.

The Altar, of course, has been replaced by Calvary and our Lord’s finished work of redemption.

The Church of Rome has erected an altar, indeed, thousands of altars, for the continued sacrificial offering of Christ in the Sacrifice of the Masswhen supposedly, “the real body and blood” of our Lord are offered again and again, but this is not only unscriptural; it is blasphemous. Even an earlier Catholic Dictionary (Cath. Publ. Soc.) states under the word “altar”: ‘Vhether the Christian altar is mentioned by name in the Bible is doubtful.” But we can answer that: “There is no “Christian altar” mentioned anywhere in the Bible. Our altar is the cross, where Christ offered Himself for sin “once for all.” Thus Paul declares:

“WE have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat [partake] which serve (I.e., still serve.) the tabernacle” (Heb. 13:10).

The Offerings of Old Testament times are now seen to typify the one better offering of Christ Himself as our Savior and Redeemer. We are saved, not again and again, by the offerings of slain beasts, much less through some ritual immolation of Christ in the Mass, but “through the offering of the body of Christ once for all” (Heb. 10: 10).

Moreover, in Old Testament times our Lord was seen as the victim in sacrifice (e.g., Isa. 53:7), but here in Hebrews He is the Victor (Heb. 1:3, et at). In the Old Testament He is offered in sacrifice; here He offers the sacrifice-Himself

“. . . that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil,

“And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:14,15; cf. Col. 2:14,15).

The Shed Blood, rivers of it from the Levitical offerings, have now been replaced by “the precious blood of Christ”; His life’s blood poured out to pay our debt of sin.

“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by [in virtue of] His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Heb. 9:12).

The Camp, i.e., Judaism, too, has been replaced by a Person. Paul’s closing appeal to these Hebrews (Heb. 13:13) was not to go forth from camp to camp, or from one camp to another, as from Judaism to some denominational Church, but to,

“. . . go forth unto HIM, without the camp, bearing His reproach.”

Thanks be to God that in bearing His reproach we enjoy “the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil. 3:10).

The Tabernacle, of course, was typical of, and has been replaced by, “the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man” (Heb. 8:2). The former tabernacle (and the temples that followed), says Paul, were evidence that the way into “the holiest of all,” i.e., the true holiest place in heaven, was “not yet made manifest,” as it is now to us.

The Holiest place of the tabernacle, still closed to Jewish believers at that time, except representatively through the High Priest once each year, reminds us of our free entrance into “the holiest of all” in heaven itself. By grace we enter the presence of God,

“. . . by the blood of Jesus . . . a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh” (Heb. 10:19,20).

Think of it! The old dead way replaced by “a new and living way,” specially consecrated to our use through the blood of Christ! This is the great Pauline doctrine of our access to God (Rom. 5:2).

The Ark of the Covenant is now seen to be “the coffin of the covenant.” The word ark does not mean much to most people, but we all should know that the first occurrence of this Hebrew word, ahrohn, is found in Gen. 50:26, where it is rendered “coffin.” (This is not the same word used for either Noah’s ark or the ark in which little Moses was laid.) And the covenant it enclosed was the Law (Ex. 25:16,21,22) already typified as in a coffin, covered with a “mercy seat,” from which God (representatively) met with His people. Ah, little wonder Paul speaks of the Law as “that being dead wherein ye wereheld” (Rom. 7:6).

The Mercy Seat is now replaced by a “Throne of Grace,” to which we are all freely invited, not only once a year, under the severest restrictions, but “in time of need”–our need! (Heb. 4:16).

The Baptisms (Gr., baptismos) or washings of Judaism were “imposed on them until the time of reformation” (Heb. 9:10). They were a temporary institution. Now, thank God, He says: “. . . Ye are washed … in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (I Cor. 6:11).

Mount Sinai cried, “Get away; get away; don’t come near,” with the mount “altogether on a smoke” and an earthquake and thunderings and lightnings driving the people back. But Grace says, “Come; draw near” (Heb. 4:16; 10:22). The blood has been shed. The price has been paid. The way is open.

Finally, the Sabbath, the day of rest. This too has been fulfilled in a Person. Since He, with His Father, rests in the finished work of His redemption, we find our rest in Him. This is surely the appropriation of our position in the heavenlies.

“For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His” (Heb. 4: 10).

Pastor Edward Drew used to say: “Our Lord came down to earth to do something, and when He had finished what He had come to do, He went home and sat down. And now we can rest in His finished work.”

Truly, we have just begun. Think of all the other types referred to in this great book: Pharaoh, Egypt and its slavery, the wilderness, the smitten rock and the manna, Canaan, the fall of Jericho, the harlot Rahab, the scarlet cord and still others. Little wonder Hebrews is also looked upon as the Bible’s great ‘look of types”–types explained by Paul, the revelator of “the mystery” and its riches of grace!

The Mystery in Ephesians

Tom Ballinger

This epistle was written from a Roman prison by the Apostle Paul around 64 A.D. It was written to the saints at Ephesus, and to “The faithful in Christ Jesus” anywhere. The truth contained in this epistle is the most profound truth in all the Word of God. It is the loftiest truth in the Scripture where there is no room for anything but PRAISE and PEACE from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The “Mystery” is here revealed. It had been kept secret since the world began; not made known to the sons of men (3:5); hidden in God (3:9)., never revealed in the Scriptures, but made known to the Apostle Paul by means of a special revelation (3:3). The great “Mystery” (i.e. the secret), is that of the Church of the “One Body” (2:16) with Christ Jesus revealed as its Head. It concerns the “one new man” (2: 15), (i.e. “a perfect man”) (4:1 3). It makes known a sphere of blessing “Far above all heavens” (4:10) which had never been the subject of man’s delight. But now it is made known that God has an election out of the earth that was chosen in Christ before the world began ( 1 :4). This calling is destined to occupy the heavenly places where Christ is now enthroned and seated at The Father’s Own Right Hand. Those who have received the “adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself” ( l :5) will one day be received up into glory “far above all principality and power” ( l :21). and there to enjoy the inconceivable glory. Truth contained in this epistle is immeasurably higher than the glorious truth concerning the Kingdom.

This company of believers has already been blessed with “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places” (1 :3). They are viewed as having been quickened, raised, and exalted together with Him. The Church of the One Body is the only company and calling of God’s redeemed that is said to be “To the praise of the glory of His grace.”

Paul is given a revelation of such a nature that man and all his religion find no place for forms and ceremonies. We learn in the Ephesian Epistle that God is concerned with His own purpose. His own will, His own Son and His own inheritance.

Ephesians is for those who have enlightened eyes that they may see the revelation of the Mystery. This epistle is considered “strong meat” of the Word. It is certainly for those who have grown in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is written for those who are faithful (i.e.full of faith). It is impossible for those who still hold to ritual, rites, form and ceremony to grasp the truth recorded here. It is for those who have passed on from types and shadows and symbols. It concerns the realm of the spirit where full grown men of God are to live, even while they are tabernacling in the flesh. As the Lord Jesus Christ grants wisdom and revelation in the Word of Truth, full grown, mature men of God are to grow accustomed to seeing the things that are invisible, as they begin to move in mind, heart, and spirit among the invisible and eternal things.

This Ephesian Epistle was written after the landmark of Acts 28:28 was reached. The dispensational boundary line was crossed at Acts 28:28 and Israel’s hope was left behind, unfilled and set aside. The churches which had been established during the Book of Acts found that the miraculous had ceased. Signs, wonders, and miracles were no longer the order of the day, but rather SILENCE. Perhaps the most awesome and far-reaching pronouncement made since the angels heralded the birth of Christ was made in a Roman prison when the Apostle Paul solemnly pronounced Israel’s blindness in Acts 28. For with his pronouncement in Acts 28:28, Kingdom truth ended abruptly. Ephesians explains God’s purpose and silence during this present age. Shortly after Paul made known to the Christians that the Lord is no longer dealing on Kingdom grounds but rather on the basis of the Mystery, they turned from him and the new revelation. Before Paul is martyred he testifies that all they that are in Asia be turned away from him (2 Tim. l :15), and all have forsaken him (2 Tim. 4:16). Most evidently, the majority of Christians in Paul’s own day failed to acknowledge the landmark of Acts 28, as they do today. They took truth made known after Israel was set aside and read it back into those epistles Paul wrote before he knew the Mystery.

Paul told Timothy that as a workman that needeth not be ashamed, he must rightly divide the Word of Truth (2 Tim. 2: l 5). That is, he must differentiate between those epistles written during the age of the miraculous and those written after. This we will do as we set forth below the two sets of epistles. Recognize that the Apostle had two ministries – one during the Acts period and the other after the Acts period ended.

Ministry During the Acts Period Past Dispensation Galatians-Hebrews 1&2 Thessalonians 1&2 Corinthians Romans

Ministry During the Post Acts Period Present Dispensation Ephesians-Colossians Philippians Titus-Philemon 1&2 Timothy

Present Truth is found in those epistles written after Israel was set aside. When Paul ceased being BOUND FOR ISRAEL’S HOPE and became A PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE GENTILES, he received a new and fresh revelation.

The epistles written by Paul after the Acts 28 crisis are seven in number. Five are written from prison and two are written between the Roman imprisonment recorded in Acts 28 and the imprisonment that ended in his death. Charles H. Welch gives a good outline of the seven epistles in his work entitled, “Heavenly places” which we will set forth below.

A.Ephesians	The dispensation of the Mystery made known to and through the Apostle, as the prisoner of Jesus Christ.
B. Philippians	Bishops and Deacons; Prize of the high calling; Work out . . . salvation; Try the things that differ.
C. Colossians	The dispensation of the Mystery, and similar teaching to Ephesians with warning added concerning the prize. Personal exhibition of truth.
D. Philemon	Teaching having personal regard to individual servants with respect to work of administration while the new teaching was being established.
A. 1 Timothy	The Mystery of Godliness; Bishops and Deacons appointed; Special instructions in view of the great dispensational change.
B. Titus	Bishops appointed to maintain the truth against Judaistic opposition. The truth which is after godliness.
C. 2 Timothy	No Bishops or Deacons; Intensely individual. The Crown; Right Division; Opposers of the Truth.

THE SALUTATION

“PauI, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the FAITHFUL in Christ Jesus.. Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. ” 1 .1-2.

The Apostle Paul is the writer of this epistle and he says so in the salutation of the letter. Paul is writing this to the saved at Ephesus. AIl the saved are saints; “saints” means set apart ones. You don’t wait until after you are dead for some church to make you a saint. This epistle is of necessity addressed to the saved and not only that, it is addressed to the FAITHFUL. There is a big difference between being a saint and being a FAITHFUL saint. Remember that all the saved are “Saints” but not all the saints are “FAITHFUL”. The word FAITHFUL means “believing what God has said.”

This letter is addressed to the saints , but more in particular to the ones who will believe the latest revelation from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You have many people who are saints but don’t believe the latest revelation that we have from God. The Lord would have us understand and believe the latest TRUTH we have from Him. A FAITHFUL saint believes the latest report that he has heard from God. Now “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing (cometh) BY THE WORD OF GOD.” (Rom. 10:17).

The Apostle Paul, as the “prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles”, has a special revelation that is connected with him as the Lord’s prisoner. This special revelation given to Paul after Israel is set aside is called Paul’s “prison ministry.” It is while he is in prison that the RISEN-ASCENDED- GLORIFIED Lord Jesus Christ gives the latest revelation to Paul the Apostle. HE reveals to him a most carefully hidden secret. This secret, called “the Mystery”, has been hid in God. God the Father had kept a secret and had not made it known until He gave it to Paul the prisoner by special revelation. Paul calls this special revelation “the testimony of the Lord’s prisoner” in 2 Tim. 1:8. He tells Timothy not to be ashamed of this testimony. In PLAINER WORDS, the testimony for PRESENT TRUTH is to be found in the epistles written BY PAUL THE PRISONER, not Paul the free man. However don’t misunderstand.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine,for reproof for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Tim. 3:16)

Present truth for the church which is “His body the fullness of Him that filleth all in all” is found in this peculiar cluster of epistles we call the prison epistles. The FAITHFUL believe what is heard from God, not just that which is written for other ages and dispensations but those who believe that which was written by the Lord’s prisoner. The PRISONER of the Lord is the chosen vessel to make known God’s secret purpose. It is in the epistle to the Ephesians that this secret, the Mystery, is made known. The high truth concerning the Church of the One Body is explained and revealed here. The FAITHFUL recognize Paul’s distinctive ministry as the great revelator of God’s secret purpose. That is, the purpose that God had planned before the world began, before any promises were made to any of the “fathers”. It is only the faithful who will believe PRESENT TRUTH. That’s why Paul addresses this to the saints at Ephesus and the FAITHFUL IN CHRIST JESUS.

As he always does, he bestows the blessings of “Grace, and peace” to the readers of this epistle. Grace is, of course, the main characteristic of Paul’s ministry. In Eph. 3:2, Paul says that “the dispensation of the GRACE OF GOD is given me to you-ward”. So, since God’s administration of HIS program of GRACE was given to Paul to explain, it is natural that Paul opens his epistles with that famous salutation of his – GRACE BE TO YOU AND PEACE from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. You might notice that Grace and Peace has God the Father as the originator and source and this GRACE and PEACE comes through and flows out from The Lord Jesus Christ. There is no grace or peace apart from being in Christ. The unsaved have no peace with God; they are at enmity with God, but after being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1). Those that have peace with God can also have the peace of God (Phi1. 4:7).

<The Great Mystery The Great Mystery in Ephesians 2>

He Lived The Life That We Could Not?

An axiom often repeated by evangelicals when presenting the gospel message is that Christ came into this world to live the life that we could not (prominent among Law-oriented Covenant theologians). A Biblically unfounded concept which suggests that our salvation is based partly on the righteous life that Jesus lived under the Law prior to His sacrificial death on the cross.

The Theological Basis

Scripture tells us that when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son to be born of a woman, born a Jew, and therefore born under the Law (Gal. 4:4). Throughout His life Jesus lived in perfect obedience to the Law of Moses and it is this Law abiding life that some theologians have labeled His “active obedience” which they claim is credited to our account as our “active righteousness.” His death on the cross is called His “passive obedience” and is credited to our account as our “passive righteousness.” The supposition being that divine salvation through Jesus Christ is in part based on vicarious Law keeping.

But righteousness based on any Law keeping, even vicarious, is totally foreign to Scripture, and the erroneous implication from the above conjecture is that Christ Himself derived His righteousness from Law obedience. But to the contrary, Scripture testifies that Christ did not obtain righteousness through a Law obedient life, but from eternity to eternity is Himself the righteousness of God. Speaking of Jesus Christ the Apostle Paul writes:

But now APART FROM THE LAW the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets (Rom. 3:21).

The proposition that Christ came to live the life for us that we could not is based on the notion that we all (both Jew and Gentile) have broken the Law, and inasmuch as man cannot by his own efforts recover for himself his righteous standing before God, Christ Jesus came and kept the Law, for righteousness sake, in our stead.

Gentiles and the Law

Scripture teaches that the Law was given to the nation of Israel only and the Gentiles were themselves without law (Ex. 19-20; Jo. 15:25; Acts 15:10; Rom. 9:4; Rom. 2:14; 1Cor. 9:20-21; Eph. 2:12). This Biblical fact alone spoils the idea that Christ had to vicariously keep the Law for Gentiles who, in fact, were never under its jurisdiction in the first place.

Jews and the Law

As for the Jewish believer, Scripture reveals that he was made to die to the Law through the body of Christ (crucified with Him), that he might be released from the Law to be joined to Another – the risen Christ. In other words, Scripture does not teach that Christ came to live the Law for him but that he might, through Messiah’s death, be legally released from that which covenantly bound and condemned him (Rom. 7:1-6; 2 Cor. 3:9).

Therefore, according to the Scriptures, Law obedience (personal or vicarious) has no part in either a Jew’s or Gentile’s salvation or righteous standing before God, but instead it is revealed that “He reconciled them both in one body to God through the cross” (Eph. 2:16). The Law served another purpose altogther in that through it came the knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:20,28) and was never intended to be a means of salvation either through man’s personal efforts or vicariously through the obedience of Christ:

For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up ALL men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe” (Gal. 3:21-22).

Christianity Begins With The Resurrection

Throughout Christ’s earthly ministry He plainly stated that His work in this world was to die. Of course there is no question to the fact that He lived His life in perfect obedience to the Law to which He, as a Jew, was born and bound. But this obedience has nothing to do with our righteousness, but all to do with Christ being the spotless, unblemished Lamb of God who by His sacrificial death took away the sin of the world (Jo. 1:29; Heb 9:14; 1Pet. 1:19). William R. Newell in his commentary on the book of Romans has clearly expressed this truth:

True, He must be a spotless lamb. But for what? For sacrifice! He did not touch our case, had no connection with us, until God laid our sins upon Him and made Him to become sin for us at the cross. Christ was not one of our race, “the sons of men”: He was the Seed of the woman, not the man. He was the Son of Man, indeed, for God prepared for Him a body (Ps. 40; Heb. 10), by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). But, though He moved among sinners, He was “separated from sinners,” and had no connection with them until God made Him their sin offering at the cross” (Romans Verse by Verse).

Christ’s life, prior to the cross, lived out in perfect obedience to the Law could do nothing on behalf of sinful mankind. But He humbling Himself “by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8) as the unblemished Lamb of God is the obedience that saves.

It is true that Jesus Christ:

Came to die the death that we could not (as the unblemished “Lamb of God”)Came to give us the Life that we had not (being dead in our trespasses and sins).

But He did not come to live the life that we could not.

Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, came into this world born a Jew, born under the Law (Gal. 4:4), as a Jew lived a perfect life under that Law. And as the unblemished Lamb of God who “takes away the sin of the world (Jn. 1:29), “He (God) made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21),” – not vicariously through Him.

Christianity truly does not begin until the resurrection. We believers are in the resurrected Christ in Whom we have been made righteous (Rom. 5:19; cf. Phil. 2:8).

Written by Gary Nystrom