Check Your Panoply
Chapter Seven
Pursue Righteousness!
The second part of our spiritual suit of armor is the cuirass
of righteousness which Paul tells us to put on, in order to be invigorated in the
Lord and in the might of His strength.
As related to Christ—as
members of His body—we have no work to do, for we are complete in Him (Col.2:10). In
this realm, all has been accomplished by Christ and so we are seated (not standing)
together among the celestials, in spirit. The term “seated,” of course, is to be
taken figuratively, and suggests relaxation and rest at God’s right hand, where
Christ is, in Whom we are complete.
In the Lord,
however, our cooperation is needed. In order to enjoy this celestial status even now, we
are not told to be seated on our celestial allotment, but rather to stand
on it and withstand all the efforts of the powers of darkness who are trying to
drag us down to the lower planes of soulish sensations and earthly things.
GOD’S VAST LOVE
Why
does God vivify us together in Christ and seat us together among the celestials, in Christ
Jesus? Because of His vast love with which He loves us, He being rich in
mercy, we being dead to the offenses and lusts. The spiritual blessings were ours
before the disruption of the world, ere we were born and could engage in any offenses or
lusts. These blessings will be ours in fact after the rapture when immortality has
set a definite end to the presence of sin in us. But in the present body of humiliation,
we can only reckon ourselves to be dead to the offenses and the lusts (Eph.2:4-6;
Rom.6:11).
The vivification, the
rousing, and the seating are great, timeless truths, as grand as God’s vast love with
which He loves us in the past, the present and the future. On God’s side,
there is His rich mercy; but there is nothing on our side to make us eligible for these
spiritual blessings. He has given us faith, and the power of that faith has transformed
our lives so that we do not merely live on as we did before we believed. The unbelievers
around us are still dead to God, but no longer are we! We are already living
to God, and, therefore, to the same extent, dead to the offenses and the lusts. This is
true of every believer, though in varying degrees. Everyone will admit that only those
living to God will now enjoy the vivification, the rousing, and the seating, as described
in Ephesians 2:5,6. All of this does not mean anything to an unbeliever, since he is dead
to God, and the transcendent greatness of His resurrection power is not operating in him,
as it is in us (Eph.1:19;2:5;3:20). However, as long as we are aware of the
operation of the might of God’s strength in us, we are certainly dead to the offenses
and the lusts.
IN GRACE AND FOR GRACE
In order
to be vivified together in Christ, we have not to prove that we are already dead to sin,
we have only to believe that we are saved in grace and for grace. There are
many who wish to work for their salvation, but no one can gain it on such terms. Again,
there are many who have received their salvation by grace, through faith, but they imagine
that all further blessing must be earned by their own efforts. Our present and
future salvation, however, is in grace and for grace (Eph.2:8). All the
glories pertaining to the vivification, the rousing, and the seating are ours as freely
and gratuitously as the initial gift of life which we received when we believed. The
celestial blessings are ours because we are members of Christ’s body; not because of
our attainment, but rather because God’s vast love lavished them upon us before we
had any deserts, either good or bad. They are ours, even apart from our own faithfulness
or service, for it is in grace and for grace that we are saved. All this is channeled to
us through faith, yet even this faith is not out of us; it is God’s gift to us, His
oblation or approach present with which He wins our hearts.
When we once see that God
is so rich in mercy and loves us because of His vast love, then we are already living to
God and dead to the offenses and lusts. He is the One Who vivifies us together in Christ
since we are saved in grace and for grace. There is no room left for offenses and lusts
while we are becoming more and more aware of this vivification of our spirits which will
stir our hearts and increase our interest in Christ’s work and exaltation. We may
become so intimately one with Him that His official duties are ours as well. When we see
that we will share in His future activities, and therefore search the future glories that
are His, then we are living to God, as He is!
All of this is included in
the grand truth that, in spirit, we are already seated together among the celestials. Our
vision of this celestial status may be dimmed by the powers of darkness for we are still
in the “wicked day.” We have found that God wants us to know the truth and
remain in it, so that we can stand and withstand. He also wants us to pursue
righteousness and shun unrighteousness (Eph.6:14).
RIGHTEOUSNESS APART FROM ACTS
In the
realm of faith, as elsewhere, there is always the danger of going to extremes, and
overemphasizing one aspect of a truth by dimming or neglecting another aspect which is
just as vital. Romans deals exhaustively with the subject of righteousness, proving the
sinner’s incapacity for righteousness, and God’s readiness and ability to grant
it. God accepts the attitude of faith in the sinner as being righteousness, and even this
faith is God’s oblation. Hence the only righteousness possible for a sinner at that
stage is to accept God’s gift of faith. It would be utterly unjust to reject
this oblation. To accept it is the only act of man which is supremely right. This
is expressed by the following words in Romans 4:5,6, “Yet to him who is not working,
yet is believing on Him Who is justifying the irreverent, his faith is reckoned for
righteousness . . . apart from acts.”
This is one aspect of truth
which we have to emphasize continually, since mankind has always wanted to earn its
standing before God. In Philippians 3:8,9 Paul sums up all that has been said before on
this topic: “I forfeited all..that I should be gaining Christ, and may be found in
Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is from God for faith.”
Let us always praise the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that, being now justified in His blood, we shall
be saved from indignation, through Christ (Rom.5:9; 1 Thess.5:9). But this does not
save us from the powers of darkness now! We are no longer under their jurisdiction,
but they are still our enemies. Righteousness apart from works has done away with the
estrangement between God and us; it does not affect, however, the attitude of our
spiritual foes.
Whatever is meant by the
cuirass of righteousness in Ephesians 6:14, it must not be severed from the other parts of
the panoply of God, or it will not offer sufficient protection against the stratagems of
the adversary or the onslaughts of the spiritual forces of wickedness among the
celestials. All those portions of the panoply in which we actively
cooperate—the cuirass, the girdle, the sandals and the shield—must be in their
proper place before we can be given the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit
(See volume 51, pages 228, 229).
VARIOUS ASPECTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
The term
“righteousness” as used in the Sacred Scriptures, has various aspects. In order
to bring out which one of them suits its use in Ephesians 6:14, we shall present a survey
of three of its principal aspects.
(1) Faith
righteousness (To the irreverent, faith is reckoned
for righteousness, Romans 4:5).
(2) Negative
righteousness (No longer slaves of Sin, but now
enslaved to Righteousness,
Rom.6:17,18).
(3) Positive
righteousness (Our spirit is life because of righteousness,
we have Christ’s spirit and
are His, Romans 8:9,10).
The following quotations
are taken from UNSEARCHABLE RICHES, volume 37, beginning with page 81, and
volume 35, page 95.
SIN PLUS SACRIFICE
“The
sins of the believer and the sacrifice of the Saviour, combined, bring
endless glory to God and uncounted blessings to the saint, far beyond any other possible
consummation. Both are essential, and neither would avail anything without the other. Both
are contrary to God’s revealed will, but both are the result of His intention.
All is out of Him and through Him and for Him (Rom.11:36). He is determined
to subject all to Him and be their All (1 Cor.15:28). His object is to reveal Himself as
Light and Life and Love. Sin and sorrow and suffering for a brief period are needed as a
background, hence their temporary term is justified. A sin-bearing, sorrowing and
suffering Saviour is the sufficient Sacrifice that completes the revelation of
God’s heart, which is the object of creation. Since this grand goal can be
achieved only through the sins of each one, God is justified in using them in
preparing His creatures for eternal bliss. He is justified because this is the only means
to His glorious end.
GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS
“This,
His righteousness, is not displayed in the sins of His creatures, divorced from
Christ’s sacrifice, hence He cannot justify anyone who does not gladly acknowledge
the bloodshed for his sake. In those in whom the two are combined, His goal has been
attained, at least as far as practicable while they are in the flesh. By faith we are
already dead to sin and alive to God (Rom.6:11). We are beyond the sphere of condemnation
(Rom.8:1). God’s righteousness, which we have, is only the threshold to
overwhelming grace and glory. Being the product of God’s love, it introduces us to an
entirely new sphere in which our own deserts are no longer in view, but those of Christ
Jesus, Who is worthy of every blessing and honor God is able to bestow upon Him.
“God’s
righteousness differs radically from man’s. All that He does is just, because
it contributes to His grand purpose to reveal Himself and thus bless all His creatures.
All the evil that He does is right. When He locks up all in stubbornness, He is justified
by the fact that this is the essential prelude to His mercy for all (Rom.11:32). But His
justice goes far beyond what we count righteousness. In view of His self-revelation it is
just for Him to justify the unjust, to be merciful to the criminal, and to be gracious to
the chief of sinners, for these acts are necessary ones, in revealing Himself to His
creatures and in preparing them for the implicit confidence and absolute faith in Him
which will be the portion of all at the consummation.
HUMAN RIGHTEOUSNESS
“Many
imagine that, if we had a human righteousness; if we never did wrong, that that would
entitle us to a magnificent reward in the hereafter. But why should it? Do we do this
among ourselves? A man who breaks the law is put in jail, but a man who keeps it does not
receive a reward. Our righteousness, even if we had it, would only save us in a negative
sense from the penalties of wrong doing. It would not assure us of anything, either in
heaven or on earth, in the hereafter.
THE KEY TO UNTOLD BLESSING
“In
contrast to this, God’s righteousness is the key to untold blessing for the saints
during the eons and inexpressible felicity for all creation hereafter. God’s
righteousness comes to us in Christ. We are involved in His deserts. Not only are
we saved by His sacrifice, but we are one with Him in His resurrection, His
rousing, His vivification, we have ascended with Him, we are seated with Him among the
celestials, and are to be used as a display of the transcendent riches of God’s grace
(Eph.2:5-8). Hence, let us glory in His righteousness. Let us no longer seek to do
what is right in our own eyes, or the eyes of our associates, but that which He
approves; what accords with His righteousness, the good works which He has made
ready that we should be walking in them (Eph.2:10).
LET US ACT IN GRACE
“Much
that passes for right among men is wrong in the sight of God. Human righteousness has no
true standard. Those who claim their “rights” almost always trespass upon the
“rights” of others. An insistence on our rights is almost always a prelude to a
greater loss in another sphere. Let us not rest on our own righteousness, even though we
should use every effort to do the right thing in our contact with others. It is
seldom that we can see their side as we see ours, and there may be hidden reasons which,
if known, would reverse our judgment. That is why it is always better for the saint to act
in grace wherever possible, for this will usually bring our actions up to the level
of justice, if not above it.
THE SPIRIT’S LAW OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS
“Inherent
sin prevents humanity from living righteously, and law is unable to subject the flesh, it
cannot alter the disposition, for sin finds its strength in law. Even in the case of a
saint, law is unable to govern conduct; law is definitely important, and the saint has
died to law. The place of law is filled by the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
The law could not give righteousness because it could not vivify, but now the believer has
the spirit which is life because of righteousness.
“Righteousness must
then be the power to live righteously. God has such power; He alone is able always to act
righteously. The evangel shows that He can justify from sin, and also bestow upon the
believer the ability for righteousness. He gives us, in Christ Jesus, His own
righteousness. This is, even now, the spirit of life which contacts with our spirit and
makes it righteous, so that the just requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us.
Consequently we have power to do righteousness apart from the law’s demands; in fact,
the spirit of life is the law to us, since it corresponds to the just requirements of the
law.
NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE RIGHTEOUSNESS
“In
our first approach to the evangel of God, we learn that we have righteousness by faith in
Christ Jesus. Deeper acquaintance teaches us of our death with Christ and for this reason
we are not to live in sin. Still further insight shows us that we have the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus. Thus we proceed from faith in a righteousness provided by God, to
negative righteousness seeing that we died with Christ, and are not under sin, and
then to the positive righteousness coming to our spirits because we have the same spirit
of life which resides in Christ Jesus; that is, in our spirit we are now constituted
righteous, and ultimately we shall receive the full value of our first faith
righteousness. This will inhere our whole being and bless us to the full with God’s
own righteousness, which will be satisfying to Him and a delight to ourselves. The spring
of righteousness then is God, in and through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
SLAVES TO RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR HOLINESS
Let us
try to repeat this chain of thought by quoting a few passages from Scripture, beginning
with Romans 6:14: “Sin shall not be lording over you; for you are not under law, but
under grace.” Now, this thought is familiar to us—that we are no longer under
law, but are now under grace. But how are we to connect up grace with righteousness?
The answer is given in Romans 5:21: “Sin reigns in death. Thus Grace also should be
reigning through righteousness.” This means that the old lord, Sin, was replaced by a
new lord, namely Righteousness.
This fact is referred to in
Romans 6:17,18: “You obey from the heart the type of teaching to which you were given
over. Now, being freed from Sin, you are enslaved to Righteousness,” and Romans 6:19:
“Now present your members as slaves to Righteousness for holiness!”
THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS
This can
be done because the place of the old law is filled by the law of the spirit of life in
Christ Jesus. Romans 8:2 says, “The spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus frees
you from the law of sin and death.” Why was the old law not able to give
righteousness? Because it could not vivify. But now the believer has a spirit which
is life because of righteousness. Romans 8:10 reads, “Now, if Christ is in you, the
body, indeed, is dead because of sin; yet the spirit is life because of
righteousness.” For, in Christ Jesus, God gives us His own righteousness.
KNOWING THE TRUTH IS MANDATORY
In order
to realize the divine logic of the truths in Romans it is mandatory that we know
them and also remain in them. With this in mind, Paul writes of the teaching
which we, as his readers, are supposed to learn (Rom.16:17). The same applies to
the teaching in Ephesians. In Ephesians 6:14 the apostle first exhorts us to stand, girded
about our loins with truth. It we follow these two appeals and do not cease studying
Romans chapters three through eight and Ephesians one through three on every occasion with
prayer and petition, we will become more and more aware of the fact that our spirit is
indeed life because of righteousness, and that, in spirit, we are vivified
together in Christ and seated together among the celestials. And when, in Ephesians 6:14,
Paul goes on and exhorts us to put on the cuirass of righteousness, we are reminded of the
appeal in Romans to present our members as slaves to Righteousness for holiness, in accord
with the spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus.
The following is quoted
from volume 26, pages 118-121.
NOTHING SHOULD LEAD TO INJUSTICE
“The
principal parts of the panoply which God has provided for us consist of truth and
righteousness, peace and faith, capped by salvation. Each of these has two aspects, as
they are related to doctrine or deportment, as we are seen in Christ or in the Lord.
Righteousness, for instance, as set forth in the early chapters of Romans, is ours by
faith. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Is this the breastplate
we are to wear in our warfare with wicked spirits? It is not. Such righteousness cannot be
put on. Every saint has it by faith. It must be wrought out in actual practice to form a
defense against our invisible foes.
“Wrong doing not only
reacts on our own spirits, but lays us open to the assaults of evil spirits, which are
always ready to magnify the failings of the saints. The armor for this is not a mere
breastplate to shield our front, but a cuirass, covering the back as well. It is intended
to suggest that our wily and wicked foes have no scruples, and will attack us from every
direction. We should leave no opening in our armor behind. Even the effects of our just
deeds should not lead to injustice.”
OUR WREATH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, NOW IN THE MAKING
There is
nothing fundamentally new in the apostle’s appeal, “Stand then . . . with the
cuirass of righteousness put on!” This exhortation does not differ from Romans 6:19,
“Now present your members as slaves to Righteousness for holiness!” Paul repeats
this admonition in a terse form in 1 Timothy 6:11 and 2 Timothy 2:22, “Pursue
righteousness!” The celestial allotment cannot be enjoyed daily by those who act
unjustly, and are stumbling blocks, and are lacking the fruit of righteousness that
is through Jesus Christ (Phil.1:11), and are loving the current eon rather than the advent
of the Lord.
Righteousness will be one
of Paul’s wreaths in that day (see volume 32, page 237). Looking back upon his life,
he could say, “I have contested the ideal contest. I have finished my career. I have
kept the faith. Furthermore, there is reserved for me the wreath of righteousness,
which the Lord, the just Judge, will be paying to me in that day; yet not to me only, but
also to all who love His advent . . . Demas, loving the current eon, forsook
me” (2 Tim.4:7-10). This wreath is a recognition and reward for the righteousness
which Paul displayed in his career. Wreaths are in the making, so to speak, in the present
life; they are for those who excel in righteousness or any other virtue, since the body is
dead because of sin, yet the spirit is life because of righteousness.
