Do you know God loves you as much as he loves Jesus?
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While driving one afternoon and crying out in my car to God, "Lord, I just want to be perfect," He replied, "Do you mean so that you wouldn't need a Savior?" And the tone in His voice was ... well, He sounded almost hurt. In the Jeremiah 19:5, God tells of something horrible that people were doing, something that "never entered His mind." The way He sounded (to my ears) was like to NOT save me had never entered His mind. He then encouraged me by reminding me that, apart from Christ's expiatory sacrifice, I could never have been adopted into His house and would not have Him for my Father, and Jesus for my elder Brother; and all of that wouldn't have happened if I had not been a sinner needing a Savior. Truly, "where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." (Romans 5:20)
There is an expanded Greek translation of the New Testament by Kevin Wuest, and a familiar passage in that translation is rendered in such a way that I was struck by it and it helped me understand grace as I had not before. In the original Greek text of Romans 8:33-24, there are no punctuation symbols, and so Wuest replaces the standard end-of-sentence periods with question marks. It reads like this: "Who shall bring a charge against God's chosen-out ones? God, the One who justifies? Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus, the One who died, yes, rather, who has been raised, who is on the right hand of God, who also is constantly interceding on our behalf?" For me, reading it this way made it so clear! God isn't bringing a charge against me! He is the one justifying me! Christ Jesus isn't condemning me! He is the one who died in my place and is now at God's right hand interceding for me! These verses, as I at last understood them, made Romans 8:31 more clear: "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?"
Well, the answer to that question (Rom 8:31) is quite clear from Scripture, especially Zechariah 3:1 "Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him." I find it helpful to picture in my mind, whether I am holding myself to account for my sins or holding others to account for theirs, that I am standing in a room with the sinner on trial, Satan on one side and Jesus and our Father on the other side. Only from one side of the room are any accusations being made. I don't want to be on that side. I don't want to side with Satan against that sinner, whether it's me or someone else. I don't ever want to side with Satan.
My last comment here is admittedly arguable, so please don't argue with me. It's just my understanding of the gospel at it's core; and it might not pass everyone's test of Scriptural views of the judgment: but the way I see it is, everyone is going to stand before God and be judged according to someone's righteousness. We can choose either to be judged according to our own righteousness, or we can choose God's offer that we be judged according to Jesus' righteousness. I recommend being judged according to Jesus' righteousness.
There is an expanded Greek translation of the New Testament by Kevin Wuest, and a familiar passage in that translation is rendered in such a way that I was struck by it and it helped me understand grace as I had not before. In the original Greek text of Romans 8:33-24, there are no punctuation symbols, and so Wuest replaces the standard end-of-sentence periods with question marks. It reads like this: "Who shall bring a charge against God's chosen-out ones? God, the One who justifies? Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus, the One who died, yes, rather, who has been raised, who is on the right hand of God, who also is constantly interceding on our behalf?" For me, reading it this way made it so clear! God isn't bringing a charge against me! He is the one justifying me! Christ Jesus isn't condemning me! He is the one who died in my place and is now at God's right hand interceding for me! These verses, as I at last understood them, made Romans 8:31 more clear: "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?"
Well, the answer to that question (Rom 8:31) is quite clear from Scripture, especially Zechariah 3:1 "Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him." I find it helpful to picture in my mind, whether I am holding myself to account for my sins or holding others to account for theirs, that I am standing in a room with the sinner on trial, Satan on one side and Jesus and our Father on the other side. Only from one side of the room are any accusations being made. I don't want to be on that side. I don't want to side with Satan against that sinner, whether it's me or someone else. I don't ever want to side with Satan.
My last comment here is admittedly arguable, so please don't argue with me. It's just my understanding of the gospel at it's core; and it might not pass everyone's test of Scriptural views of the judgment: but the way I see it is, everyone is going to stand before God and be judged according to someone's righteousness. We can choose either to be judged according to our own righteousness, or we can choose God's offer that we be judged according to Jesus' righteousness. I recommend being judged according to Jesus' righteousness.