Are Christians’ Hypocrites, Part 3: How can Christians Possibly Think They’re Right with God Apart from how They Actually Behave?
Skeptics may view the Christian belief that salvation is an unearned gift from God disconcerting. There’s nothing scarier than people who think God loves and favors them for no other reason than they’re convinced it’s true, or because some primitive holy book says so, the arguments go.
How Christians can possibly believe such a thing, at first blush, will certainly not reassure the wary. Many have heard that, on the cross, Christ “paid for the sins” of those who trust Him for salvation. It’s astounding and seemingly far-fetched that a holy God would become a man in order to suffer and die in the place of chronic lawbreakers.
The Christian believes that Christ’s death satisfied God’s justice; or, more simply, the need to punish our sins. Scripture asserts: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” (1 Peter 3:18a) The morally perfect One suffered and died for the multitude of morally sick ones. So, God doesn’t overlook the sins of believers, but instead accounted for them fully through Jesus’ death. In short, God’s love for sinful men and women and His hatred of sin met at the cross. But this is only the half of it.
Christian grace is something even grander, which the unbelieving skeptic may see as even more worrisome than the mere cancelling of the penalty for sins.
Because scripture not only says the sins of believers no longer count against them, but that Christ’s perfect obedience on earth is transferred and applied to them also. The Apostle Paul writes: “For as by the one man’s disobedience [Adam] the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience [Jesus] the many will be made righteous.” (Rom. 5:19)
Christians thus possess a vicarious righteousness that is, well, perfect. And it is a fundamental aspect of Christian salvation because, as Micah McCormick explains,
. . . Christ’s obedience brings . . . [believers] . . . to a status beyond being simply forgiven. As stunning as it is to believe that we no longer face God’s eternal punishment, often Christians still labor under a sense of guilt, knowing that we are not the kind of people that we should be. But God has not only removed our filthy clothes, he has given us clean clothes (Zech. 3:4–5). We are not merely pardoned criminals. We are also beloved sons and daughters with whom God is well pleased, because we are united to Christ our head, and our obedience remains at God’s right hand, completely unassailable[1]
By virtue of Christ’s righteousness attributed to followers, Christians are vastly – perhaps infinitely – holier than unbelievers, which is why the New Testament audaciously refers to believers as “saints.” Again, while not an inherent righteousness, in God’s sight believers are credited with the exact same righteousness achieved on earth as Christ Himself. (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 5:19)
The writers of the New Testament are able to call fellow believers, “saints,” because their new status as God’s adopted children, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, is an immediate, present, and irrevocable reality. So certain and unchangeable is this reality upon conversion that Paul tells fellow believers, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6) Paul is using the past tense here, thereby telling converts that their adoption into God’s family and possession of eternal life is unequivocally and forever, a “done deal.”
Those familiar with the Old Testament may recognize this idea of imputed righteousness through faith. In the book of Genesis, Abraham was gifted a righteousness he didn’t possess and hadn’t earned. Scripture says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to Him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6) So, the idea of God conferring righteousness on someone merely on the basis of belief actually appears in the very first book of the bible.
The practical benefit of the new legal status given to the Christian – from guilty to not guilty and unrighteous to righteous — is enormous. How can sinners have assurance that God hears the prayers of – to paraphrase the Prophet Isaiah – a people with unclean lips living among unclean people? Christians have confidence God hears them because they approach Him on the basis of Christ’s perfect record. That permits an absolute, unflinching confidence.
All of this likely is not reassuring to the unbeliever. It may even seem like I’m trying to make the case Christians are not only hypocrites, but dangerous lunatics! “You mean, these Jesus-followers see themselves as possessing a vastly superior righteousness than those who don’t follow Jesus? Isn’t that an invitation for Christians to look down on others and even mistreat them?”
We’ll tackle that legitimate concern in our next installment. Don’t go anywhere. Actually, given the 24/7 accessibility of SpoofsandProofs.com, feel free to check out our book, The Un-Socialist Chickens, right here. No extra charge. (Well, that is, unless you buy the book. I know – there’s always a catch.)
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Footnotes:
[1] McCormick, Micah, “The Sinlessness and Obedience of Christ.” The Gospel Coalition website, 2023; at https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/obedience-sinlessness-christ/