When the law brings me to Jesus and by the revelation of His matchless charms, I see my own nothingness or lack of righteousness, I need not despair, for Christ stands before me offering to me as my very own His beautiful righteousness as a free gift. It is mine if I will receive it. "The righteousness of God is embodied in Christ. We receive righteousness by receiving Him." Thoughts From the Mount of Blessings, p. 18. John 3:16--He gave us Jesus. John 1:12--"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." And we may receive Him. I John 5:12--"He that hath the Son ..." We may possess Him. And when we possess Jesus, we have righteousness. Jesus promised to fill us with righteousness: Matthew 5:6--"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled."
Not by painful struggles or wearisome toil, not by gift or sacrifice, is righteousness obtained; but it is freely given to every soul who hungers and thirsts to receive it. "Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat, ... without money and without price." "Their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord," and "This is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." Isaiah 55:1; 54:17; Jeremiah. 23:6.[1]
The Bible calls it righteousness by faith; Romans 3:22: "... righteousness of God which is by faith." The law brings me to Christ, the living law. There I behold His righteousness in all its perfection and beauty. Such perfection makes me realize that all my righteousness is but filthy rags. Oh, how I long to be like Him! I realize that His righteousness is a free gift, but how do I receive it? Everyone will tell you it is by faith. But here there is apparently a difference of opinion.
Ellen White used a strong word concerning faith and its function in regard to Christ's righteousness:
It will do you no good merely to talk of the righteousness of Christ; you must appropriate it by living faith.[2]
Repeatedly, she uses this word "appropriate" in describing the activity of faith in receiving the righteousness of Christ.
Many have a nominal faith in Christ, but they know nothing of that vital dependence upon Him which appropriates the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour.[3]
Of course Christ's merits are His righteousness and here she uses that word "appropriate" again--also describing faith as a "vital dependence."
If you would stand through the time of trouble, you must know Christ, and appropriate the gift of his righteousness, which he imputes to the repentant sinner.[4]
Genuine faith appropriates the righteousness of Christ, and the sinner is made an overcomer with Christ; for he is made a partaker of the divine nature, and thus divinity and humanity are combined.[5]
The word "appropriate" has several meanings but the obvious one in this context is: "To take exclusive possession of." Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
In these quotations and many more Ellen White is telling me that my faith must take possession of the righteousness of Christ, so that I can claim it as mine. Other quotations use different terms to describe the action of faith but they do emphasize the idea of taking possession of His righteousness.
In order to meet the requirements of the law, our faith must grasp the righteousness of Christ, accepting it as our righteousness.[6]
Faith is the condition upon which God has seen fit to promise pardon to sinners; not that there is any virtue in faith whereby salvation is merited, but because faith can lay hold of the merits of Christ, the remedy provided for sin. Faith can present Christ's perfect obedience instead of the sinner's transgression and defection.[7]
Through faith we receive the grace of God; but faith is not our Saviour. It earns nothing. It is the hand by which we lay hold upon Christ, and appropriate His merits, the remedy for sin.[8]
"Grasp" and "lay hold" tell the same story as "appropriate." Genuine faith takes possession of the righteousness of Christ. This was the teaching and understanding of Ellen White, and Jones and Waggoner as well. (See Lessons in Faith published by Pacific Union College Press.) But this is not the kind of faith which we hear about today. Much of the time it is merely a trusting in Jesus and His righteousness as our hope for justification, etc., believing that God will accept it in my place, but the concept that it is something I may possess now and that by faith I can grasp it and claim it as mine now would probably be described as radical presumption or some peculiar fanaticism. To these messengers of 1888 and Ellen White faith was much more than some passive spectator activity. It was an active, involved participation which produced and accomplished tangible results.
But we must not forget the motivation for this type of faith. What is behind all of this? Prior to this faith performing in this manner is the action of the law bringing me to Christ where I behold His righteousness as "matchless charms" until I am so attracted to His perfection that I find myself charmed and gazing at Him. Do you recall this glory which we studied in II Corinthians 3 in Chapter V of this book? It is by beholding His glory that the changes are produced.
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord." II Corinthians 3:18. This beholding and faith seem to operate hand in hand. Notice these descriptions of faith and beholding:
... We can do this only as we grasp by faith the righteousness of Christ. By beholding Jesus we receive a living, expanding principle in the heart, and the Holy Spirit carries on the work, and the believer advances from grace to grace, from strength to strength, from character to character. He conforms to the image of Christ, until in spiritual growth he attains unto the measure of the full stature in Christ Jesus. Thus Christ makes an end of the curse of sin, and sets the believing soul free from its action and effect.[9]
Brethren and sisters, it is by beholding that we become changed. By dwelling upon the love of God and our Saviour by contemplating the perfection of the divine character and claiming the righteousness of Christ as ours by faith, we are to be transformed into the same image.[10]
Beholding is "contemplating the perfection of the divine character" and faith is "claiming the righteousness of Christ as ours." The result of such action is a transformation into the same image.
... Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith means the contemplation of Christ, beholding Christ, ever cherishing the dear Saviour as our very best and honored friend, so that we would not in any action grieve and offend Him.[11]
Faith as here portrayed is a contemplation of the righteousness of Christ, a meditation on His perfection in all its aspects, a reviewing in the mind of His character and virtues. It is a thinking of Jesus, a mental dwelling on Him in all of His activities and teachings. As I do this, I adore and love Him, and long to be like Him and realizing that He is mine for God has given Him to all of us, then I can certainly claim Him and His righteousness as mine.
In all of this, we must be cautioned against the thinking that this activity of faith is some difficult striving and struggle or effort to be like Him. Rather it is a spontaneous response to the matchless charms of Jesus. It is an action and response stimulated by Christ and His perfection. It is Christ working on my heart and mind producing thoughts and emotions, responses, longing and trust. Like a master musician, He is operating the heart strings of my soul producing beautiful, delightful vibrations.
This drawing and attraction of the beauty of Christ produces a love for Christ and a relationship which is but our response to His first loving us.
The faith that is unto salvation is not a casual faith, it is not the mere consent of the intellect, it is belief rooted in the heart, that embraces Christ as a personal Saviour, assured that He can save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by Him. To believe that He will save others, but will not save you is not genuine faith; but when the soul lays hold upon Christ as the only hope of salvation, then genuine faith is manifested. This faith leads its possessor to place all the affections of the soul upon Christ; his understanding is under the control of the Holy Spirit, and his character is molded after the divine likeness. His faith is not a dead faith, but a faith that works by love, and leads him to behold the beauty of Christ, and to become assimilated to the divine character.[12]
Do you grasp the love that is here described: "Belief rooted in the heart that embraces Christ," "place all the affections of the soul upon Christ," "a faith that works by love, and leads him to behold the beauty of Christ"? Faith and love always must act together. How can you love your spouse if you do not have faith in him or her? So with Jesus when we view His righteousness. How can we help but love Him and also how can anyone help but trust Him? This love and relationship is described as follows:
This spiritual relation can be established only by the exercise of personal faith. This faith must express on our part supreme preference, perfect reliance, entire consecration. Our will must be wholly yielded to the divine will, our feelings, desires, interests, and honor identified with the prosperity of Christ's kingdom and the honor of His cause, we constantly receiving grace from Him, and Christ accepting gratitude from us. When this intimacy of connection and communion is formed, our sins are laid upon Christ; His righteousness is imputed to us.[13]
Again it is not something you have to do or are required to do. If His matchless charms have grabbed your heart and mind, you will be delighted to have "supreme preference, perfect reliance, and entire consecration." These are not requirements, but rather natural responses to His great love for us as seen in His attractive character. Our faith must work by love, because of love, not because of obligation or duty. This understanding and reaction leads us to one more definition of faith found in the Spirit of Prophecy:
... The only faith that will benefit us is that which embraces Him as a personal Saviour; which appropriates His merits to ourselves. Many hold faith as an opinion. Saving faith is a transaction by which those who receive Christ join themselves in covenant relation with God. Genuine faith is life. A living faith means an increase of vigor, confiding trust, by which the soul becomes a conquering power.[14]
"Saving faith is a transaction." It is a two-way street. It is not only Christ giving Himself and His righteousness to me but I also give. My part is "to join myself in covenant relation with God." Biblically, this is terminology used to describe marriage vows. Great Controversy explains it thus:
In the Bible the sacred and enduring character of the relation that exists between Christ and His church is represented by the union of marriage. The Lord has joined His people to Himself by a solemn covenant, He promising to be their God, and they pledging themselves to be His and His alone. He declares: "I will betroth thee unto Me forever; yea I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies." Hosea 2:19. And again: "I am married unto you." Jeremiah 3:14. And Paul employs the same figure in the New Testament when he says: "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." 2 Corinthians 11:2.[15]
Like a woman deeply in love with this man she is happy and pleased to commit herself to him promising to love, to honor, to obey and to cherish. Love produces the total commitment.
This is the kind of faith presented with the 1888 message. How encouraging to know that all of this is ours when the law brings us to Christ. Oh how much He loves us and what a pleasant plan God has devised to save us! The plan itself reveals God's great grace and love and desire that we might truly be His.
Notes: