Isaiah 53:11 “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.”
I
remember from the sixties a song with the line… when will they ever learn, when
will they ever learn? As I sit at the keyboard right now, I hear that line
playing over and over in my head… when will they ever learn? The scripture is
replete with the concept of accounted or imputed righteousness. Paul plainly
states that one of unbelieving Israel’s main faults was that instead of
accepting God’s accounted righteousness, they were busy trying to establish
their own righteousness and as a result of that, they MISSED God’s
righteousness…. the song continues in my head, when will they ever learn?
Recently,
there has been a group of theologians that are critical of Luther’s
understanding of imputed or accredited or accounted righteousness. They
insinuate that imputed righteousness is not really imputed. That no one is
really righteous without acting and behaving righteously. That makes a lot of
sense to the human mind… and the song goes on… when will they ever learn?
As
I have come to understand the spiritual transformation process, imputed
righteousness is the only thing that makes sense to me. It is the source of
Sabbath Rest. God’s declaration that one is righteous based upon faith frees
one up to love and trust God completely. Remember the first and greatest
commandment according to Jesus. “Thou shalt love the Lord they God with all thy
might and with all thy strength.” That means that one must really truly love
God! There is absolutely no fudging on that point. It is something one either
does or they do not.
There
is no room for saying well, I love God, but I am afraid of him…. People,
people, people… when will we ever learn? Can I get some honesty? One does not
really love and trust someone they fear. I will guarantee, that the fear of God
that most evangelicals harbor, secretly for the most part, causes them to be
unable to really fulfill the greatest commandment. It is impossible to love
with all your heart, mind and strength someone you fear. If you fear you do not
love…. Yet, pastors think that they must teach their people to fear God… a
little fear is healthy they say…. There goes the song again; when will they
ever learn, when will they ever learn?
Let
me make this really clear. Imputed righteousness, accounted righteousness is
the ground… it is the foundation… it is the true catalyst for love for God.
Love for God is the motivation for real, genuine, true, sincere,
transformation. It will not happen short of complete trust and complete trust
cannot happen without absolution. One must be given the righteous status freely
without merit in order to completely trust.
And
on and on the lyrics play… when will they ever learn? When will they ever
learn?
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