At the end of Romans 8, Paul challenges the entire universe, demonstrating to all living things that nothing can condemn or lay a charge at the feet of God’s children (see Rom. 8:31–39).
How can you, dear child of God, feel insecure, unworthy, and condemned in the presence of so marvelous an anthem? Paul does not answer a charge against God’s children with their own good deeds, their own clean record, nor with their own victorious living.
He answers only with Christ.
Paul’s life was spent trying to extinguish the specific falsehoods that eroded the notion that God’s demeanor toward us is grace-full. His letters throb with countless “blame-extinguishing” declarations.
These explosive statements are designed to inoculate the church from any accusation that can be laid at her feet.
God accepts only one person, His beloved Son.
And we are in Him.
So He accepts us on exactly the same basis as He accepts Christ.
Therefore, we need not struggle to earn God’s favor. We only need to come to Christ and rest in Him.
On balance, I would say that understanding that we are a new species in Christ is not a license to practice sin. A proper apprehension of God’s irrevocable love and acceptance of His children actually does the opposite. It wins our hearts over to Him.
Granted, because we are His children, the Lord will chastise us if necessary (Heb. 12:5–11; Rev. 3:19). But such chastisement is an evidence of His burning love for us. It in no way affects His unconditional acceptance. I address the balance between libertinism and legalism elsewhere.
When we discover that our relationship to the Father is actually Christ’s relationship to His Father, it changes everything. Our souls find rest. Even our vocabulary changes.
No longer do we say things like, “I’m working on my relationship with the Lord.” … “I’m struggling to be a better Christian.” … “I’ll eventually get to where I want to be someday.”
If you peel back those statements to their core, you will make the startling discovery that you are at the center of the Christian walk. These statements betray the fact that the Christian life, in your eyes, is all about your ability to be a good Christian, your walk, your testimony, your spiritual growth—you, you, you.
Discovering that God has given us His relationship to Christ causes the entire focus of our lives to shift radically. All of our self-centered “I need to do better” language evaporates. Instead, we begin to speak about what is real in the eyes of God now. We take our place in Christ and we stand there boldly. We then live from that high mountain.
To restate it: You and I do not have a separate fellowship with God the Father. We have been called into the one unique fellowship of God’s Son (1 Cor. 1:9; 1 John 1:3). Christ’s perfect, unclouded relationship to His Father is the marvelous legacy that He has given to you and me.
The implications of our union with Christ are inconceivable. Yet they are profoundly real and within the reach of our experience. For instance, we share in the actual experiences of Jesus Christ.
And those experiences are reproduced in our lives. For instance …
• Our prayers to the Father through the Holy Spirit are Christ’s prayers (Rom. 8:26–27, 34).
• Our appeal to others on behalf of God is Christ’s appeal to others (2 Cor. 5:20).
• Our affection for the members of the body is Christ’s affection for the members (Phil. 1:8).
• Our deadness to sin is Christ’s deadness to sin (Rom. 6:2–6; 2 Cor. 4:10; 5:14).
• Our sufferings are Christ’s sufferings (2 Cor. 4:10–11; Col.1:24; Phil. 3:10).
• Our burial of the old fleshly nature was Christ’s burial (Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12).
• Our spiritual resurrection was Christ’s resurrection (Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12–13; 3:1; Eph. 2:6; Phil. 3:10).
• Our spiritual ascension was Christ’s ascension (Eph. 1:20–21; 2:6).
• Our spiritual glorification was Christ’s glorification (Rom. 8:30).
• Our spiritual enthronement was Christ’s enthronement (Rom. 5:17; Eph. 1:20–21; 2:6).
I have purposely worded the above in the particular order in which it appears to stress the point that we so often miss. That is, you and I are completely and inseparably identified with, incorporated into, and united with Jesus Christ.
As members of His body, we are part of Him. Thus His history is our history, and His destiny is our destiny.
To put it another way, your history and your destiny is a person.
Jesus Christ is not just our Lord and our Savior; He is our pathfinder, our trailblazer, our pioneer, and our forerunner.
The forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus. (Heb. 6:20 nkjv)
What, then, can we expect to happen to us if we follow the Lord? Everything that happened to Him. (The exception is His sin-bearing, redemptive work. That belongs exclusively to Him.) What Jesus experienced is your history as well as your destiny.
So whatever He experienced will in some measure be experienced by you.
These things are only “positional truths” for those who do not have eyes to see. They are the reality from God’s vantage point. And that is the only vantage point that’s worth considering.
This post is an excerpt from Chapter 24 of From Eternity to Here.
Rethinking Youth Ministry Training
This post is a very accurate example of how to non-aggressively identify and dispell the “fear/guilt leverage” the church has maintained over it’s congregation.
Thank you Frank for your faithfulness.
It’s a beautiful thing to know our Destiny is Jesus Christ, and that we get to experience what he experienced. Though it is very hard to swallow it’s comforting at the same time. I was recently going through some long suffering that made me literally want to die than rather go through it. As I was going through it I read in Mark 14:34″My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.” I realized that Jesus even wanted suffering to pass him to the point of death. That is powerful,and extremley comforting. What an honor to get to live by the Lords life. Great post brother thanks for the encouragement.
The liberation we have in Christ enables us to live in freedom from condemnation, guilt, and worry. These psychological mine fields have given way to green pastures, and quiet waters of life and living in Christ.
The simple yet deeply profound statement “in Christ” can never be over appreciated. It is as it has been said” in Him we move and have our being”.
Our destiny “in Christ” is also why Paul stated “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”
So important that we get what He has done and not waste one drop of His blood! Legalism has stolen from His kids too long. The enemy does not want you and I to know who we are because we become a real threat to his lies. This threat is Christ in us the hope of glory.
One of my favorite Chapters in “From Eternity to Here” and love the beautiful pattern that is hidden undeneath. In many ways we can see this similar pattern with a father and his son that is “So whatever He experienced will in some measure be experienced by you.” as my own son gets older and has begun to forge his own path I see the stark similarity and pattern that I experienced at his age (circumstances, views, interactions). It’s a beautiful pattern in life to remind us how the Lord has given us his own son who we now reside in.
Wonderfully pithy and comforting. And not just comforting in the abstract, it brings me to realize truths I needed to be reminded of and re-think everything- through Christ.
Thank you Frank, for this clear message. I even listened to your speech on the conclusion of Romans 8. It speaks right into my present situation, and I am very encouraged.
Now would you please give me a short comment on how you relate this message to Philippians 2,12 where Paul calls on the saints to “continue to work out their salvation with fear and trembling”. He goes on with “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose”. So, just as you said, it’s all about God in us. He is giving us the will and the accomplishments, but as I see it, we are still doing all this, and I see it as a responsibility that God has given us as disciples.
I speak to this in “From Eternity to Here” and “Jesus Manifesto”. . . it has to do with living by the indwelling life of Christ. The question is always the source. https://www.frankviola.org/books
Awesome Post! I so needed to hear this today! “As members of His body, we are part of Him. Thus His history is our history, and His destiny is our destiny.” Thanks for sharing Frank.
Wow! What an awesome reminder of how we are inexorably joined with Christ. It is so not about us, it’s about Jesus. Amen
Thanks for the reminder, Frank. It has been a while since I read From Eternity to Here. You do such a great job of reminding me of my tendency to focus on self instead of Christ. Your writings have been a major voice in my walk with Christ over the last several years. I sincerely appreciate you and your work.
Wow, convicting words. Very often I find myself uttering phrases like “I’m working on my relationship with the Lord.” I’ll think twice next time those words touch my lips.
Amazing reminder to me today. In fact, I was JUST thinking about how much my transition out of the institutional church was impacting MY view of MY ministry… me, me, me! Thanks, Frank, for pointing the way to God’s Word, where the focus belongs!
Frank, thank you for that very rich, life-giving post. I got the point. I just would like to ask the role of the so called exercise of man’s free will. Wrong use of man’s free will, seems to other teachers, can disqualify you from your destiny. Please comment even a very short answer will do. Thanks
Amen and Amen Frank! And as we fall more in love with Jesus, we will find that the things of this world lose their luster; and we will only want to share Him more and more – through our life, our actions, our deeds. Blessings, Tracy
Thank you so much, Frank, for always pointing us toward Christ!
You wrote:
No longer do we say things like, “I’m working on my relationship with the Lord.” … “I’m struggling to be a better Christian.” … “I’ll eventually get to where I want to be someday.”
Frank, it would be helpful if you would transform these statements so that they reflect the correct and proper relationship we have in Christ. In other words, what should we rather be saying now? I think an answer to this would help folks catch what you are trying to say as an example of the way we ought to be thinking and functioning.
Ross: That piece actually comes through in the book in full context. This post is an excerpt from one chapter (see the link below the post). No time for more, I’m afraid. Must run. Be blessed.
Hallelujah!!!
In a World of Pressure and Performance, Rest is what we need! Thank God for Christ! How antithetical it is to this Place? Wow!
WOW !! that is good. I have a very good friend that needs to hear that today. I emailed it to them.
Thanks.
Ron, I literally just did the same thing. 🙂