No, Christ was born, lived, preached and died under, and according to, the Old Covenant, which he came to fulfill.
True. I don't know why you speak as if I disagreed with this somewhere. Certainly the blood/death in the form of a propitiation is necessary to fulfill the righteous requirement under the law, but that doesn't make the cruelty of the cross God's righteousness on display.
Righteousness is the same in both the Old Covenant and in the New, by faith apart from works
Well we're having some semantical confusion here. So let me show you some scriptures indicating what I mean by two different "forms of righteousness".
Hebrews 10:16, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
Matthew 23:26,
Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Romans 10
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above)
7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Not according to the NT.
When we are justified (declared by God to be "not guilty") by faith apart from works (
Romans 4:5,
3:21,
28), the righteousness of Christ is credited to us through faith, just as it was credited to Abraham through faith (
Genesis 15:6;
Romans 4:3).
It's not a righteousness of character, only of rightwise standing with God's justice.
Righteousness of character (holiness, sanctification) takes place in the Christian life of obedience in the Holy Spirit.
I think we may have some disconnect here. Allow me to rephrase. As we become conformed to Christ the justice of an eye for an eye is replaced with turn the other cheek, return good for evil, and pray for our enemies. This sentiment is reiterated in "forgive us our trespasses even as we forgive those who trespass against us".
The righteousness revealed in the Christ is the righteousness of God's Holy Character even because Jesus is the true Light. This same righteousness of Character is what we are believing in when we confess Jesus as Lord, the son of God. It is this Truth that sets us free from sin and the bondage of the law which is the power of sin. So it is I believe that when we pick up our cross and follow Jesus, we also become living sacrifices, and that we are the seed spoken of here: …
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Wherefore scripture says this:
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. This is a higher standard than what we understood righteousness to be before seeing Christ's self sacrificing Love on a cross. A scripture that comes to mind is,
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. And also,
For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
Righteousness of character (holiness, sanctification) takes place in the Christian life of obedience in the Holy Spirit.
Yes this is true, but the only point I originally was making is that there is a higher standard of righteousness in Christ that we grow into, even because we are conforming/transforming into Christ out of a carnal mindset.
It was punishment. Punishment is retaliation. Scripture is awash with instances of God's retaliation according to his law of retaliation.
It says
receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet KJV. Respectfully, this to me means the same as they punished themselves.
And that same Son paid the penalty for sin on the cross so God could have mercy without violating his justice.
We 're arguing semantics. I'm not contesting that in Jesus there is redemption. I'm saying that the cruelty of the crucifixion wasn't the wrath of God.
Respectfully, I don't see how the law was preventing God from having mercy because it would violate His justice. It's as if your saying that showing mercy is not a just act or that there was a law against mercy/compassion. Likewise, now that there are no more sacrifices for sin, then if we do sin, and God knows I have, how is His justice satisfied? Wouldn't it be better to say that it was God's mercy that sent His son to be sacrificed so that sins could be forgiven? (And we can/should forgive sin).
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Childeye said: The NT presents no wrath of God on the cross.
It presents Jesus dying (his blood poured out), as in the OT sacrifices, as the penalty for sin that God might have mercy on those who believe in his Son.
Who is the god of this world into which Jesus was sent? Have you not considered that it was the devil and his angels that was the administrator of the Old Covenant, the wicked husbandman who turns the temple into a marketplace and who crucified the Christ,.. and the Christ was the means to take away his power?
Hebrews 10:
8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
Matthew 21
40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
Childeye: While God is Holy, and sin is contradictory to His Nature, He understands that we are flesh beings and are corruptible.
Do you understand the nature of the Divine Soverign's holy righteousness?
God's righteousness is vindicated only by the justice of recompense from those who ignored it.
What would you think of a system of governing withou justice, where theft, murder and assualt were not dealt with?
We're simply talking justice that had to be met for sin to be removed. And God himself stepped up to the plate to take care of business, because of his love.
Don't get me wrong, I know that justice is necessary because of injustices. But there is no sound law where the just and innocent should be punished for the injustices of others. So when I forgive others their injustices done to me, then I am carrying my cross to follow after Christ, and in my mind I am a living sacrifice because I truly believe those who would sin against me, don't know what they're doing at the time.
I have never seen animal sacrifices as God's wrath being appeased. As if the death of the innocent and blameless pleased God. I saw such sacrifices as a means of cleansing one's own conscience. Animals were used like money to trade in those times, and people could assuage their guilt by sacrificing something of value to them as a payback of sorts.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
I believe that changing from a carnal mind to a spiritual mind is what is necessary to become perfected in Christ. So that only the lamb of God can take away sins, and actually transform the sinner, because conforming to his Character will make one perfect. The god of this world is the enemy of the Gospel. I therefore don't preach a god that is merciless, but a God that is merciful.
