Unlimited: Standing in Grace
Aug 23, 2022 1053
through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand (Romans 5:2a.)
Paul here describes being justified through faith as “this grace in which we now stand.”
Being justified through faith isn’t like playing with a yo-yo, in which your salvation is up and down, or where you can have it one moment and you can have lost it the next by one mistake. Justification is a “standing” before God.
Through Christ we have “gained access” into the status of the righteous. It is faith in Christ that unlocks the door of salvation.
Paul describes being justified through faith as “this grace in which we now stand.”
Harry Ironside distinguished between your “standing” and your “state”, writing that he does,
never have a fear about the standing of the children of God. That is eternally settled.
Standing refers to the new place in which I am put by grace as justified before the throne of God and risen in Christ forever beyond the reach of judgment. State is condition of soul. It is experience. Standing never varies. State is fluctuating, and depends on the measure in which I walk with God. My standing is always perfect because it is measured by Christ’s acceptance. I am accepted in Him…. But my state will be good or bad as I walk in the Spirit or walk after the flesh… My standing gives me title to enter… into the holiest and to boldly approach the throne of grace in prayer.
Spiritual Application
Notice that we “stand” in faith. We don’t “crawl and grovel” in faith. Reflect on your own spiritual experience. Are you “standing” in faith?
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