Daily Victory Through Faith
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:18–19)
The path to spiritual maturity and living in the fullness of the Spirit is one of simple faith in the work of Christ as it is taught in his Word.
Some have said that we grow through striving, through enduring hardship, through personal sacrifices, or through good works. None of these matters are unimportant, for like Paul, we will all endure much for the kingdom of God. But neither are they the means by which we enter into living in the fullness of the Spirit.
In fact, what we should learn during our hardships is to depend by faith more on Christ. During disappointments and difficulties we realize how little is our own strength: “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small” (Prov. 24:10). So in this sense hardships may point us toward maturity and may lead us to living in spiritual fullness, but not because of the hardship itself. Rather, through the hardship we realized our own weakness, and learned to depend more on Christ.
It is not our determination, not our endurance, not our experiences that bring the fullness of life that Christ taught about. His fullness comes only through our faith in him, in the simple promises he has made to us.
Through Adam came our sin nature. Genesis 5:3 lays down the principle, that Adam brought forth a son “in his own likeness,” and that includes his spiritual likeness. As the scripture above states, “By one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners” (Rom. 5:19). Paul wrote, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” (Rom. 7:18).
The sinful nature of the human race is well established through observation. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Though there also remains the vestige of the image of God in us, this image is damaged because of sin and marred. We cannot save ourselves. We need someone else to do the work for us. We need God’s man to lead us to victory.
Christ is the Second Adam: Paul expounded on this principle in both 1 Corinthians 15:45–49 and Romans 5:12–21. We bear the likeness of the first Adam in our physical body and our sinful nature. “‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45). Just as Adam represented the entire human race in the Garden of Eden, so Christ represented the human race on the cross and through his resurrection. Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection from the grave provides “justification and life for all men” (Rom. 5:18).
How is this justification received? Is it received by us punishing ourselves? Is it received by penance, by fasting and participation in unpleasant rituals? I knew a woman who was so sorry for her sins that for years she would crawl on her knees from the back of the church to the front — on a marble floor — seeking to pay for her own sins. She later became a believer in Christ and realized the uselessness of this activity.
Justification is by faith in Christ. Romans 5 opens with this powerful truth: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). We are justified only by the work of Christ and through our faith. It is not by punishing myself that I am forgiven. It is only through believing that Christ has born my own sin in his own body and died for me on the cross. Once I believe this, I am a new person. I am forgiven and the righteousness of Christ covers me.
This is the Christian conversion that happens only through the miracle of God’s Spirit bringing conviction to our hearts and helping us to believe in Christ. We cannot become saved without this all important work of God’s Spirit (John 16:8–11). We are “born of the Spirit” when we believe in Christ (John 3:5–8).
The fullness of the Spirit in the Christian life is also received by faith: There is the thought among many that we are saved after death by the grace of God, but until then we must live by struggling and striving in our own personal best effort. But the Scripture says otherwise. The means by which we receive his life in us is simple faith — just like our salvation.
Miles Stanford wrote:
There are two main aspects to this source principle. First, the Lord Jesus is the source of our Christian life — we were born into Him; God has made us complete in Him. This truth we are to hold by faith; it is true of each of us. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature” (II Cor. 5:17). Second, as we hold to this fact by faith, we are brought into the practical reality of it day by day in our experience. Little by little we receive that which is already ours. The important thing to know and be sure of is that all is ours; we are complete in Him — now. This fact enables us to hold still while He patiently works into our character that life of ours which is hid with Christ in God. (Miles Stanford, The Principles of Spiritual Growth)
We are apt to confuse our experiences that reveal our need of him and the means by which we receive his fullness. We do not earn our sanctification any more than we earn our salvation. It is all by grace through faith. We grow only as our faith grows — “that which is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23).
Take this thought to your heart today and rejoice: You have all of Christ in you! All of his mercy, all of his grace, all of his righteousness, and all of his fullness. “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Col. 2:6–7). Simply say to him, “Lord, thank you for my salvation and for the abundance of life you have given to me today!”
