SUBSTITUTION



Our whole salvation rest on the principle of substitution. Adam and the first creation came through the Fall under the dominion of sin and death; the latter is the direct result of sin. This law of sin and death comes not from God, but from the devil, who man gave his ear for the wrong and evil counsel. The salvation by the second Adam, Jesus, is NOT a restoration or transformation of the old creation, but a new creation, which should by the new birth of the Spirit, take the place of the old one. Our justification consisted in Christ, as our substitute, taking the sinners place and bearing his guilt and punishment. The Lord walked in this position His whole life, from Bethlehem to Calvary.

He was God and the second Adam in one person and lived a life of obedience, which the first Adam ought to have lived. He did not come to do His will, but the will of His God, so that the life of the Father might be revealed through Him. Christ did not want to please Himself, but fulfil the law; and the righteousness of our substitute becomes our personal possession through faith. (Phil.3.9)

So we have exchanged our position with Christ. God laid our guilt on Him and He bore the curse and punishment, while we receive through faith His righteousness as our own possession.

Just as justification rests on the principle of substitution, so does our sanctification. This sanctification does NOT mean that our old creation will be purified of its sin and evil desires, while the good qualities are held back for consecration to God. The whole old creation has been eliminated on the cross; and by this sacrifice it became possible for the new creation to take its place.

We are dealing here with a new creation, a complete replacement, not just a suppression of the old life. The life of Christ takes the place of the old self: "I have been crucified with Christ, I live, but not longer I, but Christ lives in me." (Gal.2.20)

In the same way as my spirit is the life of my body, Christ is the life of the new creation. As soon as my spirit leaves the body, it is dead, for it can not live independently. The same with the new creation, whose life is Jesus. The moment you cease to trust your Saviour, you have sunk back into the old creation.

The life of Jesus is usually impeded in two ways: first, when we imagine that the old creation can be sanctified by the removal of sin; and second, when we, although being aware of the death of our old self and replacement with the life of Jesus, we nonetheless proceed in a well-meaning way in our own efforts and thereby prolong our self-life. We easily forget that we as children of the new creation can accomplish nothing without Him. In Him is everything we need: love and grace, patience and life. We need to leave our whole life in the grave of Jesus, for "we are complete in Him"; but we so like to be perfect in ourselves and rest on our experiences. In the state of the new creation we have nothing of ourselves but are only channels of His life.

When God sets us apart for Himself and gives us the Spirit's life and power, we don't have actually the Spirit, but He has taken hold of us. Only after all our own life is gone and we have and are nothing of ourselves, can be made room for the manifestations of the Spirit's life and power. To live and work in us freely, the Holy Spirit has to take us where we don't rest on His gifts and work in us; for even the most glorious experiences can replace His own person. He Himself will do His work in us. You have nothing to do but to allow Him to work. This way you come to rest and cease to waver. Surrender your will once and for all and then He will work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure.

(by M. von Brasch)