Justification mandates that we be PERFECT. "You must be perfect as God is perfect" (Matthew 5:48), that we be HOLY exactly as God Himself is holy. "Be holy as God is holy" (Leviticus 20:26, 1 Peter 1:16). The LAW demands such. I have never ignored the Law or watered it down. The Law demands absolute, perfect righteousness and love from conception to death with NO exceptions in thought, word or deed. And if you desire to strip Christianity of Christ and the Gospel.... if you desire to strip Scirpture of grace and mercy... if you desire to eliminate the Cross, the Blood, the Lamb.... then yup, you are absolutely correct: either you are PERFECT and HOLY as God Himself or you are not. Pretty simple.
Of course, you have this reality (over and over and over): "Everyone sins" (First John 3:4), "There is no one that does good, not even one" (Romans 3:12). "All have sinned" (Romans 3:23). Thus, if you chose Option B (looking in the mirror rather than the Cross, appointing SELF the Savior rather than Jesus) then what you see and rely upon is a sinner. Not a Savior. "By works shall no one be justified" (Galatians 2:16), "If justification were through our keeping the law then Christ died for no purpose" (Galatians 2:21). "No one will be justified in God's sight by works (Romans 3:20).
But I disagree with you that two books of the Bible have done that (the two books being Matthew and Revelation). I think those books DO include another truth - the Gospel. Mercy. Unconditional love. Forgiveness. Salvation. Justification (narrow). "Being found IN CHRIST, not having a righteousness of my own" (Philippians 3:9). "Christ saved us not because of deeds done by us but because of His own mercy" (Titus 3:5).
Being a Christian, I believe Christ is the Savior (and thus, I'm not. Not now, not ever. Not fully, not partly). "The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:23). "For by grace you have been saved because of faith, and this is not your own doing but it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).
Now... of course, those who are justified (narrow sense), who thus are Christians.... still have the Law. Not the watered down stuff legalist substitute so that they can claim to fulfill it and thus pat self on the back and belittle Jesus and the Cross, but the real Law. PERFECTION. Perfect righteousness, perfect love. And yes, while Christians do not fulfill that Law (SAINT Paul calls himself the "CHIEF of sinners"), while Christians stand in constant, contineous NEED of MERCY, nonetheless, morality (albeit not perfect) and love (albeit not perfect) ARE to be marks of a Christian.
However, having the MARKS of who IS Christian is not how one becomes a Christian - it is the marks of one who IS Christian. "'For God is at work in you (CHRISTIANS, JUSTIFIED ONES), both to will and to work for God's good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). "Not that I'm perfect but I press on because Christ has made me His own" (Philippians 3:12-14) So yes, becoming a Christian doesn't eliminate the Law - but we are not looking in the mirror for justified but to the Cross, we are not relying on our absolute, constant perfection for justification but to mercy, to the Blood.
I agree.... justification does not eliminate the law, but nor does the law eliminate justification. It's Law AND Gospel. But not both watered down with oceans of water, then confused, entangled, twisted, blended so that neither is either just we just have exited Christianity and have embraced a form of Islam. Or returned to the Pharisical Judaism of Jesus' day. CHRISTIANS are those who look to the Cross, to Mercy, to the Blood of the Lamb for justification, who embrace and trust in the GOSPEL (and yes, the two books you reference DO embrace that). And they do not forsake the Law, they "press on to make perfection our own" - perfect holiness, perfect righeousness, perfect love. But we don't rely on SELF for our justification ("If we could keep the law then Christ died for no purpose"), we trust in Christ.... the Savior, the Lamb, the Cross, the Blood.... mercy, grace, forgiveness, love.
Thank you.
Pax
- Josiah
.