The heartbeat of our lives as Christians

alien righteousness

The heartbeat of our lives as Christians

From the NIV Application Commentary on Ezekiel by Iain Duguid

The gospel is not merely the starting point from which we move on to ethics; it is the heartbeat of our lives as Christians. That is why Paul could say in 1 Corinthians 2:2: “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Presumably, Paul is not saying that he only preached evangelistic sermons while ignoring the task of discipleship. Rather, he means that every sermon he preached had a focus on the cross of Christ, whose implications he then drew out for every area of life. To put it simply, he never preached Ephesians 4-6 (the ethical imperatives) without Ephesians 1-3 (the gospel indicative). Our sanctification flows out of our justification. (33-34, Bold added)
(HT: Michael Tran)
il

Written by inwoolee

July 28, 2008 at 7:01 am

Posted in Gospel Driven Sanctification, Justification, Law and Gospel, Uncategorized

About Us

Iustitia aliena is a Latin phrase meaning “alien righteousness.” This was and continues to be the heartbeat of the Reformation– the basis of the Christian’s justification before God. The reason that we are, as Luther said, simul justus et peccator (righteous and simultaneously sinner) before God is because of this iustitia aliena credited to the Christian’s account by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Without the active obedience of Christ imputed to us, God would not be both “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26). Thus, God declares the sinner who has faith in Christ righteous, not based on the sinner’s own righteousness, but based solely on the righteousness of Christ.

This righteousness is called alien, because it is extra nos (outside of us) and not owing to anything in ourselves. It is the basis of the theology of the cross and opposed to the theology of glory. The former bids the hopeless sinner to look outside of himself, by faith, to the cross, to the righteousness of Christ, while the latter keeps the dead sinner looking at himself and his own supposed ability to keep the law for his justification before God. Though the theology of glory flatters man that he can justify himself before God it ultimately leads to condemnation.

For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to, to perform them.” (Gal. 3:10)

Joshua Lim (jl) in Irvine, Ca
Member of Anaheim Christ Reformed Church
Inwoo Lee (il) in Seoul, South Korea
Member of Oceanside United Reformed Church
Peter Chen in Alhambra, Ca
GP the phantom of the blogosphere Somewhere in the United States
Member of the OPC

For the sake of convenience, we’ll have the persons name or initials at the end of each post.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Currently Reading (Peter)

(i) Basics of Biblical Greek - Bill Mounce

Other than the Mounce Greek, I'm working on/digging into books on the Reformation, Apologetics, and more books on Biblical Greek.

Currently Reading (Inwoo)

(i) Concise Reformed Dogmatics - J. van Genderen & W.H. Velema

(ii) Confessions - Saint Augustine

(iii) Bondage of the Will - Martin Luther

(iv) Justification - Francis Turretin

(v) The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable - F.F. Bruce

(vi) Luther: Man between God and the Devil - Heiko A. Oberman

(vii) The Prodigal God - Timothy Keller

(viii) Institutes of the Christian Religion: 1541 French Edition (The First English Version, translated by Elsie Anne Mckee) - John Calvin

(ix) On Being A Theologian of the Cross: Reflections on Luther's Heidelberg Disputation, 1518 - Gerhard O. Forde

(x) The Law is not of Faith: Essays on Works and Grace in the Mosaic Covenant - Edited by Bryan D. Estelle, J.V. Fesko, David Vandrunen

(xi) The Heart of the Cross - James Montgomery Boice and Philip Graham Ryken

iustitia aliena