Right With God

One need not fully understand the blessings of God to be partaker in “all things that pertain unto life and godliness,” which He, by “His divine power hath given unto us” (2Pe 1:3). Upon rebirth the recipient of these blessings learns to know them through Scripture, then the Spirit progressively gives the understanding concerning the purpose, function and appropriation of them all. It took much of our lives to get to them (i.e. salvation, etc.) and we will be spending the rest of our lives to learn to walk in them.

During the time we are gaining more understanding concerning the blessings of God for the saint, we are in full possession of them all, thus giving us title to them, but we can walk in only those we first know (through Scripture), then understand and appropriate (by the Spirit’s teachings). Just as a reborn has the Spirit of God (“lives in the Spirit”) within, the issue now is always increasing understanding concerning the “walk in the Spirit” (Gal 5:25), wherein lies the fullness of eternal “life and godliness.”

As the believer is fully aware, the primary purpose of all things is to glorify God, and His method of choice in doing so is primarily through “reconciliation.” The love of God, especially to the believer is the pinnacle evidence of His glory, which cannot more fully manifest itself in any other way than through “reconciliation”; and the heart of which God desires to be reconciled is the selfsame heart which offers the greatest resistance. If we do not understand God’s forgiveness concerning all of our sin, it’s doubtless that His forgiveness is rightly understood concerning any of our sin, but nevertheless complete forgiveness has been received for all reborn.

It is the pure conscience which reveals the proper comprehension of reconciliation, and it is when God shows us the “old man” and its deeds that He is glorified in our response of faith concerning being “sanctified” and reconciled with Him—which was “once for all” time established for us at rebirth (Heb 10:10). Within the last century I believe one of the greatest hindrances with many within Christendom is that we have been unknowingly taught (their teachers also) in our spiritual life to conceive the admixture of Judaism and Christianity (Judeo-Christian!#?) within our understanding. This explains why we often collate salvation and its blessed provisions with that of merit, for such was rightfully centric of God’s covenant with Israel, in that the provisions of forgiveness and all blessings were merit-dependent.

Thus, the guilt of sin believers retain will be in conscience only, for all reborn are completely guiltless (Rom 8:1). Though we are forever reconciled from rebirth, the level of our walk within “the ministry of reconciliation” (2Co 5:18) will be commensurate with the attribution that is made towards self in effecting or retaining it (Jhn 3:30).