Those that seek to establish their own righteousness, miss the righteousness of God
Let’s imagine that every argument goes something like this: One side is always maximizing Christ’s accomplishment and minimizing man’s righteousness, while the other side is always minimizing Christ’s accomplishment and maximizing man’s righteousness. Which side would you like to be on?
I am going to briefly go over a few arguments. Its important to note that anyone believing in human free-will and eternal torment do so at the expense of the Cross in favor of human righteousness.
As I stated in my previous article, God’s ultimate goal is to be All in all. God will not become All in a creature until all ‘self-rightousness’ in that creature is gone. So any attempt for man to claim salvation by any act independent of God is indeed, self rightousness.
In fact, whatever a person claims he or she did to be saved that someone else did not do…directly takes away rigthousness from Christ and puts it on them. Let me demostrate this point with a few examples:
If a man claims to be saved by his ‘free will’ choice, then Christ’s righteousness for salvation only goes as far as man’s choice. Therefore, man is made righteous by his choice, not Christ’s act.
If a woman claims to be saved by not committing certain sins, then her ability to ‘not commit’ sins is what makes her righteous. Therefore, Christ’s death for all sin is limited to the ability of the woman not to perform these sins. Again, the woman can claim righteousness by not sinning.
Self righteousness is only extinquished in a person when they come to realization that All if of God, including salvation. The whole process from start to finish. Therefore, if you have faith, it was given to you by God. If you repent, its God that gave you repentance. If you do good works, its God that created the good works for you to walk in. The result of knowing that all is of God is the complete elimination of human self rightousness.
Again, every argument against Christ saving all mankind and favoring eternal torment is based on adding righteousness to human behavior and taking away the completed rigtheousness of Christ on the cross.
Here are just a few examples:
Human free-will vs. God’s complete Sovereignty:
Human free-will believes that despite Christ’s death for sin, His entombment, and His resurrection…its man’s decision that determines the effectiveness of Christ’s work. In fact, Christ’s work does nothing unless man makes the right decision. This glorifies man’s righteous decision.
God Sovereignty believes that God is the Potter and humans are the clay. Its God that forms the wills and decisions of man leading to an eventual end in which Christ saves every single person so that God will be All in all. Even vessels of dishonor will be reached by the power of the cross. Man’s decision is a result of God’s plan and serves a purpose of glorifying God and giving creatures experiences that will serve to multiply their future joy with God. This glorifies God and Christ and makes man’s decision a result of God. There goes man’s righteous decision.
Eternal Separation vs. the salvation of all:
The belief of eternal hell or annihilation teaches that God’s creatures cannot be reached by the cross. God either stops loving them, His hands are tied because of free-will, they are just too evil, or any other multitude of reasons. The bottom line in this argument is that Jesus came to die for sin and yet failed. God’s love and Christ’s death are no match for man or creature.
However, the salvation of all taught in scripture, teaches that Christ’s cross is more powerful than sin and God’s love eventually wins the heart and mind of every creature ever created. Human choice and action are no match for the Sovereign God and Jesus Christ accomplished salvation on the cross, without the need for a human to add their accomplishment in order to be saved. This truth glorifies God and the cross as being more powerful than the sin of man.
Jesus made it possible for you to be righteous and not sin:
Many people believe that Jesus made it possible ‘for you’ to now live righteously and without sin. So, Jesus did His work, now He passes the baton to the human so that they can live as He did. Therefore, this belief argues that Jesus made it possible for the human to perform for God and live righteously. The Son of God gave us the ability to live righteously but it is up to us to do so. Ultimately, again, Jesus saved no one and it is up the human to pick up that baton and save himself.
However, in truth, we are saved by dying with Christ and being resurrected with Christ. We are saved by His act. We are saved by Christ’s faith, His death for sin, His entombment, and His resurrection. Humans participate with Christ in what He accomplished. Christ did not set an example that we must now complete in order to save ourselves. Just like we get death from Adam, we get salvation from Christ…by no action or choice of our own. This magnifies the glory, power, and love of God for all creation. This is the only way that proves Christ is greater than Adam.
Saved by works vs. Saved by grace:
Those that believe it is ‘their’ faith or ‘their’ faith and works that saves, ultimately deny Christ’s work. Faith is a gift from God to bring us to a realization of Christ’s accomplishment for our salvation. We only have faith if God gives it to us. So, the belief that we independently provide this faith to God actually glorifies man. Same with works. If Christ’s cross needs our faith and works to be effective, then it is these ‘faith and works’ that actually save us, not Christ. This glorifies man’s work over Christ.
However, the truth is Christ’s act on the cross saved all humanity. God gives faith to some to realize this now and will provide judgement for the rest to come to this understanding. We have faith and we do works BECAUSE we are saved, not in order to be saved. This is all of God. He provides the salvation. He provides the faith. He provides the work. Salvation is all of God, not man.
Satan as creator of evil vs. God as Creator of evil
The belief that Satan created evil simply takes God off His throne. According to this thought, an outside presence created evil and exacted it on God’s creation when God did not want it there. Because of this evil and man’s free-will, God cannot do and get everything He wants. Therefore, He is not the Placer and Subjector as scripture says, but instead the reactor to Satan’s evil and man’s choice. This glorifies Satan and man over God.
However, the truth is that God created evil for a purpose. Evil will be used to bring every creature to a greater understand of God’s love and power that would not have been possible without it. Evil will also give each creature a greater capacity of joy having experienced the opposite. This means that God is in control of all evil and uses it for the ultimate good for every creature. Thus, glorifying God over all creation, not the creation over God.
The following arguments also put limits on the reach of Christ’s cross and the treasures available because of faith.
Preterism:
Preterism replaces what God will actually do for the whole universe to see and experience, with a figurative, whimsical, already accomplished ‘in a corner that nobody can see’ non-accomplishment. I’ve heard some people in this camp argue that Jesus has already returned and God is already All in all. This view promotes the secrecy of Christ’s accomplishment and denies the reality of it.
However, the truth is that God will actually deliver His creation from this ‘body of death.’ How can God be All in a person that still has ‘sin and death’ operating in him? How can God be all in His creation when ‘sin and death’ still exist? Everyone that dies in Adam will be made immortal by Christ. The apostle Paul says God becomes All in all when creation is made immortal. That means that God becomes All in all when ‘sin and death’ no longer exist. Preterism denies the outright victory of God through Christ.
Israel only and Acts 28:28 arguments
These arguments focus on Paul’s message being for Jews only or only some of his letters applicable to us today. There is a fatal flaw that disproves both of these beliefs. FAITH!
Sin and death are the issue that is dealt with in scripture. God, through Christ, dealt with sin and death. As human beings, we still have sin and death operating in us. Therefore, how can Paul’s letters that deal with sin and death, which is our issue, not apply to us? It’s as illogical as saying that Jesus dealt with ‘sin and death’ and Paul explains this in detail, yet it doesn’t apply to us even though ‘sin and death’ does. Either way, this limits Christ full accomplishment for all mankind and all that believe.
For both of these arguments, it is faith that disproves them because that is the method by which we have these promises. For instance, Paul says that becoming a son of God is THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS. It only matters if you put on Christ, not if you are a Jew or not. Paul also talks about promises that apply to all mankind, while highlighting special promises to those of the faith.
Those in the Jews only and Acts 28:28 camps put limits on the riches of Christ saying that the promises given strictly by faith are limited to a small, exclusive group based on nationality and/or the era in which they lived. How can anyone say that only Jews or only early members of the Body of Christ have specific promises that God says are for those that have FAITH? God does not close the full operation of faith and make it useless if you were not born in a certain era…or born a Jew.
These views limit the riches of Christ and His cross. However, the view that these riches and promises presented in Paul’s letters are for all humanity and on all that believe shows that Christ’s promises transcend the time and nationality limits put upon Him based on these arguments.
Oh, that we might stop putting limits on Christ’s cross. Let us understand Paul’s words in the beginning of Romans 10. Anything that a human claims to do that earns them salvation, when another person does not do this thing and loses salvation…is an act of human self-rightousness. Any act a human claims to make independent of God is human self-righteousness. Any creature that claims to give to God first, seeks to establish their own rightousness.
We must reject this need to be righteous in ourselves in order to fully embrace the righteousness of God, which comes by way of Christ, not us.
Grace and peace.
Saved ignoble 
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