In about 178 AD, a pagan named Celsus wrote a scathing denouncement of Christianity, calling believers of Jesus Christ “the most uneducated and vulgar persons.” For a high-minded Greco-Roman scholar, nothing was more unthinkable than a faith that welcomed the lowest of society.
However, as William Barclay wrote, “Christianity made people who were things into real men and women, more, into sons and daughters of God … It told men that, even if they did not matter to other men, they still mattered intensely to God … Christianity was, and still is, the most uplifting thing in the whole universe.”
There is nothing in creation as glorious as the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which we remember here at Christmas. Consider what was proclaimed at the Savior’s birth. An angel declared that Jesus would save people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). Mary exclaimed that God’s mercy had come on those who fear Him. Zechariah praised God for redeeming His people. Angels sang to the shepherds immediately following the Messiah’s birth.
As we mark the celebration Christmas brings, we should consider why the Gospel is so full of joy, hope, peace, love, and grace — as was so powerfully described at Jesus’ first coming. People don’t always view Christianity as it ought to be. Many individuals often think of true Christianity just like any other religion — as a list of rules, outdated or oppressive, or demanding and burdensome. This is tragic.
The Gospel is not a message of salvation by merit, or rule-keeping, or class. On the contrary, the Gospel is good news because it reveals God’s greatest gift given in His Son. It is the message of salvation freely given by God to His people from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation (Romans 6:23).
We do not always consider, however, the implications of this heavenly gift. When God sent Jesus into this world, He gave us a bountiful number of gifts because the Son is infinitely glorious. This Christmas, we are focusing on four of those gifts, that are ours in Christ through faith (1 Corinthians 1:30). In the last post, we saw Christians receive the gift of God’s wisdom.
The second and third gifts Paul describes in this passage are righteousness and holiness (or sanctification).
We start with the gift of righteousness: what is it? This question is one of the most important a person could ever ask. There are three truths about this righteousness God has given every believer in Christ.
The righteousness Paul has in mind is the forgiveness of sins. This theme of forgiveness is woven throughout the New Testament (Luke 1:77, Mark 1:4, Matthew 26:28, Acts 5:31, Acts 10:43, Romans 4:7). When God bestows the gift of righteousness, He erases our sins. Our sins are removed from us as far as the east is from the west, and God remembers them no more.
Consider this monumental gift of forgiveness. God forgives us for our sins in ignorance and for sins we don’t even know we’ve committed. Then add all the litany of sins we know about. How vast is God’s forgiveness! No wonder angels declared great joy to the shepherds! No wonder Mary and Zechariah praised the Lord unceasingly!
Amazingly, God’s gift of righteousness does not stop at forgiveness, though. Forgiveness erases the evil, sin, and disobedience. However, humanity needs something more, because we could never achieve a perfect righteousness before the Lord on our own. God, then, gives us the gift of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. Not only does God pay off the debt of our sin, but He deposits Christ’s righteousness into our account through faith.
The idea of imputation is found throughout Scripture. Abraham did nothing to become righteous (Genesis 15:6). He simply believed in the Lord’s promise, and God credited him with righteousness. Paul wrote that this righteousness is not something within us (Philippians 3:9). This righteousness belongs to another but is freely given. It is the very righteousness Jesus Christ achieved.
This righteousness is perfect, flawless, eternal, unchanging for believers. We cannot taint, soil, ruin, discredit, disturb, or tarnish it in any way. What an indescribable gift!
Christ’s gift is also a legal declaration in Heaven that we are righteous in God’s sight. It is not an experience, nor does it happen in the realm of something we see, feel, or do. It is not a process, but a once-for-all statement about believers, that we are free from all guilt from our now-forgiven sins and that we have the positive righteousness of Jesus Christ covering us like an impenetrable shield in the judgment. What a gift!
Paul adds that Jesus has become for us sanctification — holiness — as well as righteousness.
In 2006, the Barna group conducted a study to analyze how professing Christians think of holiness. The results showed that most people truly had no clue about holiness. So, what does it mean to be holy? We can look at this answer in two ways.
Holiness is first positional. Christians are set apart as God’s chosen people. One striking example of this idea is found in the book of Exodus, where the word holy occurs nine times in the first 25 chapters. In the last 15 chapters, though, the word holy occurs 50 times. That means that 85% of the uses of the word holy occur in the final 37% of the book. Besides being a statistician’s dream, these numbers are telling us that this portion of the book deals with things specifically consecrated to God for His use. The priests, tabernacle, and utensils were holy and set apart for special use to serve God in worship.
This is holiness, that Christians are marked as belonging to God for special use to serve Him in worship. Holiness begins positionally when we come to faith in Christ. Although we are unworthy in the world, God says, “I am going to set you apart for a special purpose in service to Me.” What an amazing gift that God would take us out of the mire of our sins and that He would make us His own special people. We were the lowest of the low and the wickedest of the wicked, but God, in great grace and mercy, set us apart to belong to Him despite all our sin. Incredible!
Sanctification is also progressive, where we learn to manifest the reality of holiness in each of our daily lives. Paul wrote that Christians are all in process of being transformed into the glory of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18). Day by day, we continue to reflect His glory in our lives, and that work happens by the power of the Spirit.
It is important to ultimately remember that all believers are in the process of reflecting the Lord’s glory. No Christian has finished their transformation this side of heaven. Holiness manifests itself in our lives increasingly and progressively as we grow in faith. We learn to be like Christ, and we must allow space for everyone to grow and learn without crushing each other for weaknesses.
The gifts of righteousness and holiness are indescribable and infinitely glorious. What makes these bestowments even better is that God always gives them together. God doesn’t grant justification without sanctification, nor sanctification without justification. Additionally, these precious gifts have not been hidden from Christians. Rather, God makes the reception of these gifts plain through His work of changing us to conform to the glory of Christ.
What a Christmas gift!
Dr. Robb Brunansky is the Pastor-Teacher of Desert Hills Bible Church in Glendale, Arizona. Follow him on Twitter at @RobbBrunansky.