We, as people who have trusted in Christ’s finished crosswork, His shed blood, death, burial, and resurrection alone, as sufficient payment for our sins, are made acceptable in God’s sight and are accepted in His Son. Jesus Christ’s performance not only saved us from our sins, but His capable work in us and through us makes our daily walk acceptable to God our Father… as we are “rooted and built up in Him.”

“As (the same way that) ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” (Col. 2:6-7)

• So, how exactly did we “receive Christ Jesus the Lord?” Was it by our works? NO! It was by faith in His finished crosswork at Calvary.
• Well then, how does Paul say the Christian walk functions? Is it by our works? NO! It is by faith in Jesus’ finished work on Calvary’s cross.

Sin-laden mankind could never please God, so God did for US what WE could never do for himself; He paid for his sins in full, justifying us before God… and being crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20, Rom. 6:3-4), he has freed us from the tyranny of “SIN IN THE FLESH.”

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. … But God commendeth (demonstrated) his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8).

“Knowing this, that our old man (old self) is crucified with him,(so) that the body of sin might be destroyed (Gk. kartargeo, made void), that henceforth we should not serve sin. ⁷ he that is dead is freed from sin. (Rom. 6:6-7)

It is the love, “the love of God,” “the love of Christ,” not our (feeble) love for Christ in all that the lord did for us, that forms the basis for our Christian life. Our appreciation for this is what “constrains” (empowers, impels, motivates) us (2 Cor. 5:14). Jesus Christ loved us enough to die for our sins, be buried, and be raised again the third day to make us, now in union with Christ, accepted before God, being thereby justified. “We thus judge (we conclude)” that we Christians should allow Christ’s love for us to work in and through us by means of His indwelling “Spirit of life.” We walk by faith in an intelligent understanding of His Word to us, as seen in Paul’s epistles (Romans through Philemon), thereby making our lifestyles acceptable to God. This then is our practical sanctification.

As people who have trusted in Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection alone as sufficient payment for our sins, Christ’s righteousness—His perfect performance—has been applied to our account (imputed). We have a right standing before God (justification): “we (have been) made the righteousness of God in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:21). We Christians need not to strain, to perform under religious demands, seeking God’s favor and acceptance. God has already accepted us “in Christ,” because of our faith in what Jesus did for us on Calvary’s cross! “God hath made us accepted in the beloved (in Jesus Christ)” (Eph. 1:6).

We are not under the Mosaic Law (Rom. 6:14-15), but God still cares how we live. Once we understand and rest in God the Father’s great love for us and the sacrifice of His Son on our behalf, it transforms our thinking. Since God loves us so much, we Christians should not live our lives selfishly, doing whatever we want. We should, by faith, offer our lives to Him so He can accomplish His will in and through us. Jesus Christ gave His life for us, so He could then also give His life to us when we trust in Him alone, so that He could live His life through us!

Our Christian service comes about through our hearing, studying, learning, and believing sound Pauline Bible truth; then letting the indwelling Holy Spirit use that doctrine to work in us (cf. 1 Thes. 2:13), to generate “the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, unto the praise and glory of God” (Phili. 1:11). The “fruits of righteousness” are Christ living His live in us, conforming our lifestyles to our position “in Him.”

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith (continuing faithfulness) of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate (hinder or disrupt) the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (Galatians 2:20-21).

We could not achieve the righteousness of salvation by our performance, and we cannot achieve righteousness in godly living by our performance. If our performance was ever the issue for salvation or godly living, then “Christ is dead in vain (He would have died for nothing)” (Gal. 2:21).

Our only legitimate life now is Christ’s own resurrection life! “Christ liveth in me.” We live by His faithfulness and by His performance, now working in us. It was the Son of God, “who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20) “the love of Christ constraineth (hold, compels and motivates) us… (Christ) died for all…” (2 Cor. 5:14) and again in v15, “(Christ) died for all.”

God’s grace, which is seen as everything that He has done for us on Calvary’s cross, teaches us that in… “Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly (responsibly), righteously (in a way acceptable to God), and godly (reflecting God’s values)” (Titus 2:11-12). 

We can do this because we who have trusted Christ are “new creatures in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:17). Our lives should reflect our new identity “in Christ.” Christ died to save us from our sins, so why should we return to them? We should let Christ Jesus live His life in us and through us “to prove that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:2). We can do this by placing our faith in this sound Bible truth, which God uses to transform our minds, and lives! So, the flesh strains us… but Christ’s love constrains (impels) us!