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We have seen that in the progressing stage of God’s full salvation the believers experience God’s redemption continuously in being forgiven of their sins, washed, and sanctified. Now we shall see that the believers experience God’s redemption also in being justified and in being reconciled to God in the second step.
In the continuous experience of God’s redemption the believers are first sanctified and then justified. Daily in our Christian life we need to be justified by the righteous God.
The believers are justified in the Spirit. First Corinthians 6:11 says, “These things were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” This washing, sanctifying, and justifying are inward and in life. Inwardly the Spirit works to justify the believers in life. First, we are washed from sinful things; second, we are sanctified, separated, unto God; and third, we are justified, accepted, by God.
If we would experience God’s redemption continuously in being justified, we need to be found in Christ. In Philippians 3:9 Paul aspired to “be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God based on faith.” This indicates that Paul aspired to have his whole being immersed in Christ and saturated with Christ so that all who observed him could find him in Christ. We also should aspire to be found by others in Christ. To be found in Christ actually means to be observed, seen, or discovered by others in Christ.
Being found in Christ is a matter of the practical experience of Christ. We need to live in Christ, remain in Christ, lodge in Christ, speak in Christ, act in Christ, and move in Christ, having our being in Christ. Then whenever an angel or a saint finds us, we shall be found in Christ. Furthermore, being found in Christ is not a once for all matter — it is a daily, even an hourly, matter. Day by day and hour by hour, we need to be found in Christ by those who are watching us.
In Philippians 3:9 Paul does not speak merely in a general way but in a very definite way. He says that he did not want to have his own righteousness, but he wanted the righteousness which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God based on faith. “Not having my own righteousness… but…the righteousness which is of God” is the condition in which Paul desired to be found in Christ. He wanted to live not in his own righteousness but in the righteousness of God and to be found in such a transcendent condition, expressing God by living Christ.
The righteousness which is of God based on faith is that righteousness which is God Himself in Christ lived out of us to be our righteousness through our faith in Christ. Such righteousness is the expression of God who lives in us. It is based on faith because it is on the basis, or condition, of faith. Faith is the basis, the condition, for us to receive and possess the righteousness out of God, the highest righteousness, which is Christ.
There is a requirement or condition for being found in Christ, and this condition is that we do not have our own righteousness, which is of the law, but that we have the righteousness which is of God based on faith. It may seem to us at times that we are found in Christ. However, there will be no reality in these times unless we fulfill the condition of having the righteousness of God through the faith of Christ. We need to be found in Christ in the righteousness of God through the faith of Christ.
The righteousness which is the condition for the believers to be found in Christ is actually Christ Himself living out of them to be their righteousness. Christ is the righteousness by which we are justified by God (1 Cor. 1:30). Day by day we need Christ to be our righteousness. The more we gain Christ and live in Him, the more He as our righteousness will become our expression before both God and man. Then we shall not simply be found in Christ in a general way, but we shall be found in the very righteousness which is Christ Himself lived out of us.
As Christ lives Himself out of us, He lives a righteous life in us. In Titus 2:12 Paul tells us that “we should live soberly and righteously and godly in the present age.” This indicates that we need to live a righteous life through Christ. This is to live Christ as our righteousness so that we may be found in Him to be justified by God.
In the continuous experience of God’s redemption, the believers are justified by works through living the divine life as the issue of the divine life. James 2:24 says, “A man is justified by works and not by faith only.” To be justified by faith is for receiving the divine life (Rom. 5:18); to be justified by works is through living the divine life. Since the living is the issue of life, to be justified by works is the issue of being justified by faith. Abraham’s offering of Isaac (Gen. 22:9) and Rahab’s receiving the messengers and thrusting them out (Josh. 2:1, 21; 6:23) are both works which issued from their living faith. A living tree surely brings forth fruit. To be justified by works does not contradict being justified by faith. The latter is the cause, bringing forth the first, and the first is the effect, the outcome and proof of the latter.
As we live the divine life, this living will issue in certain works. Then in our living we are justified by our works and not only by our faith. To be justified by faith is mainly objective, but to be justified by works is subjective in that these works are the issue of our living the divine life.
Eventually, the believers are made God’s righteousness in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21b). This means that we become righteous not only in our deeds and behavior but in our being. God desires to have a people on earth who are not only righteous persons; He wants a people, who, in the sight of God, the Devil, the angels, and the demons, are the very righteousness of God. To be made righteous before God is one thing; to be made God’s righteousness is another thing. By being constituted of Christ as the righteousness of God (Rom. 5:19b) we shall be made in Him God’s righteousness.
Second Corinthians 5:21 says, “Him who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf, that we might become God’s righteousness in Him.” Christ did not know sin in an experiential way by contact or personal experience. Nevertheless, Christ was made sin (not sinful) on our behalf to be judged by God (Rom. 8:3) that we might become God’s righteousness in Him.
Christ died on the cross not only for our sins but also as sin, having been made sin on our behalf by God. We were not only sinful — we were sin itself. We were the constitution of sin, the embodiment of sin. When Christ died for us as our Substitute, God considered Him not only the sin bearer but sin itself. Now in resurrection Christ comes into us as life, and this life lives within us to constitute us into the righteousness of God. In substitution Christ was made sin for us, and now, in His constitution, we become the righteousness of God in Him.
The phrase “in Him” in 2 Corinthians 5:21 means in union with Christ, not only positionally but organically in resurrection. We were enemies of God (Col. 1:21) by becoming sin, which came from the one who rebelled against God. Christ was made sin for us by becoming one with us through incarnation. When He died on the cross, God condemned Him in the flesh as sin for us so that we might be one with Him in His resurrection to be God’s righteousness. Therefore, in the organic union with Christ we are made the righteousness of God. This means that we not only become righteous; we are the righteousness of God. We not only become righteous persons; we become the very righteousness of God itself.
Second Corinthians 5:19 and 20 indicate that there are two steps for the believers to be fully reconciled to God. The first step is as sinners to be reconciled to God from sin (v. 19). For this purpose Christ died for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3) that they may be forgiven by God. This is the objective aspect of Christ’s death. In this aspect He bore our sins on the cross and died there for our sins. The second step of reconciliation is as believers living in the natural life to be reconciled to God from the flesh (2 Cor. 5:20). For this purpose Christ died for us — the persons — that we may live to Him in the resurrection life (2 Cor. 5:14-15). This is the subjective aspect of Christ’s death. In this aspect He was made sin for us so that we might be judged and done away with by God in order that we may become the righteousness of God in Him (v. 21). By these two aspects of His death He has fully reconciled the believers to God.
These two steps of reconciliation are portrayed by the two veils of the tabernacle in the Old Testament. The first veil is called the screen (Exo. 26:37, lit.). A sinner was brought to God through the reconciliation of the atoning blood to enter into the Holy Place by passing this screen. This typifies the first step of reconciliation. The second veil (Exo. 26:31-35; Heb. 9:3) still separated him from God, who is in the Holy of Holies. This veil needed to be rent that he may be brought to God in the Holy of Holies. This is the second step of reconciliation. In the progressing stage of God’s full salvation we are reconciled to Him in the second step.
Most genuine Christians today have been reconciled to God only in the first step. They have been reconciled to God in part through Christ’s death on the cross for their sins. When we believed in the Lord Jesus, we were forgiven by God, reconciled to Him, and brought back to Him. Formerly we went astray from God, but through repentance we returned to Him and have been reconciled to Him. However, we have been reconciled to God only partly. Although we have been saved and reconciled to God in the first step, we still live according to the flesh (2 Cor. 5:16a); that is, we live in the flesh, in the soul, in the natural life. The veil of the flesh, of the natural man, still separates us from God. This means that our natural being is a separating veil. Therefore, we need the second step of reconciliation, the step in which the separating veil of the flesh is crucified so that we may enter into the Holy of Holies. This is full reconciliation, which brings us not only out of sin but also out of the flesh, the natural man, the natural being, so that we may be brought back to God and become one with Him.
The second step of reconciliation is much deeper than the first step, for it takes place not in the outer court outside the tabernacle but within the Holy Place inside the tabernacle. Instead of taking place once for all, this kind of reconciliation is continuous. If you consider your experience, you will realize that no matter how long you have been a seeking Christian, you still have the sense deep within that you are separated from God’s presence by something, mainly by your natural life, your old man, your self. You may be very good, nice, pious, “holy,” and “spiritual,” yet you know that there is still something separating you from God’s presence. You are not fully one with God, altogether in harmony with Him. Instead, because you are still separated from Him, you need the second step of reconciliation. You need the application of the subjective death of Christ to your situation. In other words, the subjective death of Christ needs to be applied to your natural life. This application of the subjective death of Christ crucifies your natural life, rending the veil that separates you from God’s inner presence.
If we are sincere and honest with God in our seeking of Him, we shall realize that this is our situation. This is the reason that often we begin our prayer with confession. We may say, “Father, I confess that I am still separated from You. In a sense, I am with You, but in a deeper sense I am not with You. I am separated from You not by something sinful but by my natural life. Father, forgive me, and grant mercy to me that I may apply the subjective death of Christ to my inward being to such an extent that my natural life will be thoroughly crucified.” This is to experience the rending of the veil within us so that, through the rent veil of the natural life, we may be reconciled to the inner presence of God the Father.
In order that we may be reconciled to God in full, the Father exposes our natural life and unveils our real situation to us. As a result, we condemn our natural being and apply the cross subjectively. Then as our natural man is crossed out, we experience the second step of reconciliation. In this step the veil of our natural man is rent so that we may live in God’s presence.
The believers are reconciled to God in the second step through the death of Christ not for the believers’ sins but for the believers themselves. The New Testament reveals that Christ died for our sins and for us. Christ’s death for our sins is an objective matter, whereas Christ’s death for us is a subjective matter. In 2 Corinthians 5 Paul does not say that Christ died for our sins; rather, he says that Christ died for us, for our being. “The love of Christ constrains us, having judged this, that One died on behalf of all; therefore all died; and He died on behalf of all, that those who live may no longer live to themselves, but to Him who died for them and has been raised” (vv. 14-15). In order to die for the believers themselves, Christ was made sin for them (v. 21a). When Christ died for our sins, He bore our sins. But when Christ died for us, He was made sin for us.
The believers are reconciled to God in the second step by God entreating them through the apostles as ambassadors of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5:20 Paul says, “On behalf of Christ, then, we are ambassadors, as God entreating through us; we beseech you on behalf of Christ, Be reconciled to God.” Here Paul is speaking to the Corinthians, who were still living in their natural life. They were believers, saved ones, and Paul addressed them as saints (1 Cor. 1:2). But although they were saints, they were living in the natural life. Their natural life was a veil separating them from God’s presence, and it was necessary for this veil to be riven. Hence, as God’s ambassador Paul beseeched them to be reconciled to God. Paul, an ambassador sent by God, was working with God to reconcile God’s people, who were still in the natural life, to God in His inner presence, that is, in the Holy of Holies. Here we see that God entreats the believers through the apostles as ambassadors of Christ to be fully reconciled to Himself.
Finally, the believers are reconciled to God in the second step in order to become God’s righteousness in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21b). Eventually, those who have been brought back to God in the Holy of Holies will experience and enjoy Him in the triune dispensing to such an extent that they will become His righteousness in Christ. This means that, in the organic union with Christ, those who have been reconciled to God in the second step become the very righteousness of God.
When we were saved, we went through the process of being forgiven, washed, sanctified, justified, and reconciled. Now in our Christian walk this process needs to be repeated continuously until the redemption of our body. Every day we need to be forgiven, washed, sanctified, justified, and reconciled.
The believers’ continuous experience of God’s redemption is illustrated by the children of Israel’s offering of the sin offering and the trespass offering. Whenever they offered the burnt offering for God’s satisfaction, they also had to offer the sin offering and the trespass offering. These offerings were presented morning and evening and also on feast days. Today, as believers in Christ, we need to offer Christ daily as our sin offering and trespass offering. We need Christ as these offerings because we have been stained by the natural life, the old man, the flesh, the lust of the flesh, and worldliness. Therefore, because of our sins and trespasses and because of our sinful nature, we need Christ as our trespass offering and sin offering. Throughout our Christian life we need God’s forgiveness, washing, sanctification, justification, and reconciliation. While we are enjoying the triune dispensing of the processed Triune God, we need to experience God’s redemption continuously.
