I will take my text from, 1 Corinthians 1:30-31, “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.” Until one becomes conscious of both the legal and literal aspects of redemption in His revelation and knowledge, there will be a haziness in our teaching and a lack of solidity in our thinking, understanding, and living.
The legal side of redemption is what God did for us in the body of Christ that He had prepared for himself. The work done on Calvary is now in the past but efficacious to us for our salvation in the present. Romans 4:25 is a good illustration of this, which states, “He, Jesus, was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Another good example in scripture is 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” These two passages illustrate to us perfectly what God did for us in the redemption process.
The literal aspect is seen in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” And in Colossians 1:12-15, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.” The legal work is done, and the literal is what we have now working in our midst today. It is what the Holy Spirit is accomplishing in our lives in the here and now. If all we knew was the legal aspect of redemption, it would lead us into a cold, and dead formalism. There would be doctrine without reality and in a sense knowledge alone would rule. If one only knew about the literal side of the equation of the redemptive plan, this would lead to fanaticism, with the emotions and experiences being magnified above the Word of God. We are in need of understanding of both.
When we understand the literal aspects of redemption, we can fully know what belongs to us, the true believer, in Christ. We can grasp the rights that we have as sons and daughters. We learn how to accept that rightful place in the family of God. We can then enjoy our privileges and it begins to become a reality for us. Therefore, all that is legally ours, becomes literally ours by the ministry of His Spirit within us and the confirmation of His Word.
Let us do a study about the legal side of things to gain a little more understanding. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” This is what God, who is a Spirit, wrought in the flesh. Our sins were placed upon the man Christ Jesus. He was stricken and smitten of God and afflicted for us. Isaiah 53:5-6 states, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” He not only laid our sins on the man Jesus, but he became sin for us. A master verse that explains the legal features of the plan of redemption is Romans 3:21-26 with a little of the literal side mixed in as well, “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” The Spirit has based our present righteousness upon the work that has already been accomplished through His great substitutionary work on Calvary. Titus 2:14 says, “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
Now let us study some facts regarding the literal side of the equation. One of the most priceless scriptures explaining this, is found in 2 Corinthians 5:17-18, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” It is of utmost importance that we grasp the fact that all that has been wrought through the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ Jesus belongs to the individual believer. Ephesians 1:17-23 is a great chapter showing the legal and literal threads of the redemptive plan. “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that fills all in all.” He reveals firstly what he did for us, secondly, His process of building the very nature of God into our spirits, and thirdly, what we receive is through the exceeding, great ability of the work of Christ, and not of ourselves.
Colossians 2:15 shows us the legal background of Him conquering the forces of darkness before He arose from the dead. “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” This is an exhilarating thought! It is as though we were right there with Him in that victory. Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” This is once again a part of the legal concept being not in the present tense, but in the past. Romans 6:6-11 tells us, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he lives, he lives unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We were crucified with him and died with him. In Colossians 2:12 we were buried with him. “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.” In 1 Corinthians 15:22 we are alive in Him. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Then in Ephesians 2:5-6 we see, he has raised us up to sit in heavenly places with him. “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” In these scriptures we get a perfect living picture of the entire substitutionary work of Christ, in which we can have a perfect identification. All the work was already done and it was done for us. These show the legal background of our redemptive plan. You can claim it and say, “Yes, I was crucified with him, therefore, I identified with him in his shame and his deep agonies on the cross. Even more than that, God not only put my sin upon him and made him sin because of sin itself, but because of me, he took my sin. He was taking my place and was acting in my stead. My sin stripped him naked and caused the crown of thorns to be put upon his brow. My sin drove the nails into his hands and feet. Love took my place and suffered on my behalf that I might be ransomed out from under the very authority of darkness and the power of sin and spiritual death, unto life. When he died on the cross, he and I went to the place where I should have gone alone, but he went with me as my substitute. He went with me to suffer in my stead.”
Jesus hung on the tree bearing our sins, until our old spiritual dead self was gone. He suffered there until the demands of justice were satisfied and there were no longer any charges against us. This is where our spiritual death and union with Satan was wiped out, and Jesus became justified and made alive in the spirit. This justification was for me and you. He did not go through any of this on his own account but on our behalf. The wonderful scripture we find in Acts 13:33 then becomes a reality. “God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” Christ was born again in the most incredible, and terrible surroundings, that we could be rebirthed and receive righteousness through him. Now we can understand Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” This is the legal side of the new birth.
In the mind of justice, we were re-created, down there in the grave, at the same time as Christ was, because he is the head of the body, the first-born from among the dead. Jesus was the first one to be ‘born again’ or ‘re-born’ from the dead. In his birth, the whole body of Christ had the legal work accomplished for them. He conquered the adversary, but in the mind of justice, we were there with him. When he stripped Satan of his authority and dominion, it was your victory and mine. Again, we were there in the mind of justice. We put our heel upon the neck of the enemy! Defeated and broken, we were raised together with Christ. Satan is conquered and the new birth accomplished. The new creation, in the mind of justice has become effective, and now we are not only raised together with Christ, but we are seated with him. Every member of the body of Christ is seated at the right hand of Majesty on High. We are one with Him and complete in Him because all that he did, he did for us. Colossians 2:9-10 states, “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.”
He is the head of the body, and as the head, he cannot be exalted so high but that the body, aka the believers, are there with him sharing in His Glory, and sharing in all his victory. Ephesians 1:4-6 gives us a preview of our redemption, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Verses 7-9 continue, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.” This allows us to see the background of the literal union between us with Christ. We can understand now what it means to hear him say in Philippians 2:13, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” And Colossians 1:28-29, “Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.” Paul’s dream was to present in Christ every believer, perfect. Ephesians 5:27, “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
The inner man has become a new creation. Ephesians 3:16-20 tells us, “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” He has received the life and nature of God, and now the Spirit, through the Word, is building into ‘the hidden man of the heart,” an ability to live as Jesus did in his earthly walk. We are to walk in love, pursue it and follow it. Love never fails and thinks no evil, always thinking the best in every situation. Love holds no enmity. If you can imagine Jesus hunting up the man who drove the nails in his hands and telling him, he died for him, then you can understand this love. As we read, Paul said, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts, grounded by faith.”
Christ and his word are one. John 1:1 and 14 tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” When the word dwells in a believer’s heart, and gains control of his whole being, that is Christ gaining control. The Lordship of Jesus over a life is in reality the Lordship of the Word. The word gains the ascendency in such an absolute way that it dominates their thinking. This Lordship becomes a new kind of love called, ‘AGAPE.’ When this ‘inner man’ this ‘hidden man of the heart’ becomes governed by the love nature of God, he subconsciously takes the place of Jesus. It is not just a mental concept or affirmation, but an actual, literal experience. 2 Corinthians 5:4 tells us, “For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” Now we understand what we read in Ephesians 3:20, “Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us.” The ability of God in us, is unveiled, aka revealed. Not only is it revealed, but it is clasping the hand of Omnipotent Love; Our whole inner being swinging us out of the orbit of sense and knowledge, and into the orbit of revelation where knowledge and revelation becomes a reality.
Now I know what Jesus meant when he said, “When he, the Spirit of truth is come (or the Spirit of reality), he shall guide you into all reality; for he shall not speak from himself (the flesh), but what things soever he shall hear, these shall he speak ( from the Spirit): and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come.” In the King James Version, John 16:13-14, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you.” This is the resurrection and life dwelling within us. This is the Holy Spirit working in us through His word; all that was purchased for us, all that is legally ours in our daily walk with the Lord.
Our amazing God in His mercy, takes His righteousness and His holiness and His truth and reality, and builds them into us, until we fit into His dream and His will for us. Then He can say to us as He said to Christ in Matthew 17:5, “While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” And Matthew 12:18 says, “Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.” As true believers we have been made children of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and have access to the full privileges and promises of His Word and are seated with Him on high, daily. All the legal work has been done for us. All the legal documents and paperwork have been signed and they are stamped, “Paid in Full.” We have overcome and we have conquered, therefore, we can live our lives in victory and in His love. This is not just a legal matter, or figurative terms we use or Christianese we speak, but a literal salvation. As an obedient child of God, this is our new reality!