A Tale of Two White Shirts

Imagine you were given two white shirts as gifts. Shirt 1 was soiled due to poor packaging. Shirt 2 is dazzling white. Now imagine you need a cloth to wipe the dust off of your desk. Which shirt out of the above two would you pick for the task? Obviously, you would pick the soiled shirt. Why? It’s already dirty, so you wouldn’t mind some more dirt on it. The clean shirt, which is safely kept in the closet, would not even come to your mind for the task at hand.

Acquaint with religion and pretty soon you will hear a phrase, “we’re just sinners saved by grace”. Although the phrase sounds very pious and humble, it is absolutely un-scriptural to the core.

To understand this, we need to see how a person becomes a sinner. How or when did a person become a sinner? Paul said, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, …” (Rom 5:19). It was through Adam’s disobedience that we became sinners. We did not have to move one finger to inherit sin. In other words, it is not the sin action that makes a person a sinner, but the old self, the sin nature, which drives the person to sin.

But what happens when a person receives Jesus Christ to his or her heart by faith? I'll let Paul continue: “so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” The same person who was a sinner by Adam’s disobedience, when He receives Jesus Christ by faith, is now made righteous (made in right-standing with God) by the obedience of Jesus Christ, because the old self of the humanity was nailed to the cross (Rom 6:6). The new creation in Christ Jesus has a brand new nature in His spirit, and is sealed by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:17, Eph 1:13). So the newly created person in Christ Jesus is no longer a sinner saved by grace.

The question that is often followed is, if the old self has be crucified when Christ died, why then does a born again person sin? First of all, not every church goer has heard the unadulterated Gospel. What is often preached from the pulpits is a gospel that is mixed with works, meaning you must do this and that to become righteous - when in fact, the liberating Message of the cross is about an exchange of lives - ours for His (Gal 2:20).

Secondly, this new birth happens in one’s spirit. We are made up of three parts – spirit, soul (mind, will and emotions), and body. Since the new-creation happens in the spirit, one cannot “feel” the amazing changes that happens in the spirit. We move and act on our dominant thought or belief. “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he”. So when a person’s dominant belief is that he is “just a sinner”, that is exactly what he or she will be drawn to. Add law and self-effort to the mix, the same person is turbo-charged to fail, because the strength of the sin is law (see 1 Corinthians 15:56).

The law was given to reveal the human inability to attain and keep the righteousness of God by our strength. If righteousness comes by our frail attempts at keeping the law, then Christ died in vain (Gal 2:21)! I say ‘attempts’, because we are incapable to keep all the commandments in perfection, because when you break one you break ‘em all (James 2:10). 

All of us needs His grace through Jesus Christ, and praise God, it is freely available. All we do is move out of the way and receive Him; not a doctrine, not a teaching, not a theology, not an emotional high, but Him. Sin will no longer have dominion over a person if he or she is under grace and not under law (Rom 6:14). Grace is about trusting solely in the life of Jesus in and through us, for without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5). It is His life that helps us bear fruit.

Look at it this way: prior to being saved, could any of our good works qualify us to be in right standing with God? No, because we cannot earn His righteousness. We are saved purely by grace through faith (see Eph 2:8-9). Likewise, one’s action does not alter the new nature in Christ Jesus. Does this mean that the message of His grace and love will be used as a “license to sin” as assumed by some? Let me answer that with another question - would anyone choose that dazzling white shirt to clean the desk? 

It is the knowledge our new identity in Christ Jesus that sets us free.


Related posts:
Purpose of the Law

Self-righteousness or His righteousness