June 12: Not Guilty by Association

Wiley Richards is a retired professor of theology and philosophy at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.

After all the child abuse scandals and political intrigue in Florida, we may be reluctant to admit we live in the state. In the eyes of some, we may be guilty by association. Nevertheless, I am still proud to be a fifth generation son of Florida, specifically of the Big Bend section of the panhandle. However, we face a similar stigma by being members of the human race. We have evidence of enough atrocities through the centuries to prove Adam’s sin has had a profound impact. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, we have been freed of that guilt by association with a fallen race.

• We are not guilty by association because we have a new freedom (Rom. 3:19-20). The Jews had a firm conviction of what the Law could do. Obedience to its precepts ushered the person into a special relationship with God, or so they believed. To reach that sublime goal, they erected scores of prohibitions to achieve a state of righteousness before God. Sadly, the law only revealed and defined sin. This revelation condemned those under the law, the Jews, because they never completely obeyed it.

The law’s primary function was to reveal the character of God and prepare the way for the Good News in Jesus Christ. The whole world, along with the Jews, is condemned by the law in that all people fail to live up to the mandates seared into their consciences. In the thought of C. S. Lewis, no people, no matter how primitive or refined, live up to the standards of right and wrong they know to exist.

• Also, we are not guilty because we have entered into a new righteousness (vv. 21-23). This new concept of righteousness is only pre-figured in the law, because it emanates from the Lawgiver Himself. Both the law and the prophets attested to God’s coming revolutionary act (v. 21). They spoke of the time when God’s righteousness, the righteousness residing in Himself, and not the state reached by obeying the law, would be available through Jesus Christ. No longer bound to Jewish rituals, even the Gentiles, sinners before God and falling short of the glory of the Divine, are made righteous through Christ.

• This wonderful condition is made possible through a new substitute (vv. 24-26). The Jewish system of sacrifices as commanded through Moses prefigured a greater event to come. The Day of Atonement prescribed in Leviticus 16 found its fulfillment in the death of Christ. Because of His death for sin, sinners are justified before God’s bar of justice and are bought out (redeemed) from the bondage of sin. By receiving the benefits of the atonement through faith, sinners demonstrate God’s righteousness. God becomes both just and justifier.

• The new status of being righteous in Christ becomes open to all through faith, the new avenue (4:1-3). Faith is not totally new, of course, as Abraham’s example proves (Gen. 15:6). The principle changed the status of the discussion. Faith, though something we “do,” is not a work, but its opposite. Coming as a result of God’s grace and grounded in His mercy, faith brings the repentant sinner before God, sinless because forgiven.

• Finally, we are not guilty by association because we have a glorious new position (5:1-2). By being declared righteous by faith, we enter into harmony with God’s purpose for our lives. In a condition of peace, all contentions disappear. Further, our new standing opens direct access to the Heavenly Father. In this new relationship we are changed from glory into glory in His presence.