Question description

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:14–15

Each time I read the above passage, I can help but struggle with a variety of contexts that often bubbled into a set of questions. Some of these have caused me to question my faith and at the same time, made me wonder if the questioning of my faith won't lead to the sin of unbelief. 

1. how can simply believing in Jesus make me righteous? There must be something more that I must do to earn and deserve God’s love for me.
2. How to maintain my belief to keep me righteous all the time?
3. How to explain this to my friends who are unbelievers and get them to understand the concept? Wouldn't it sound like a license for them to even go deeper in their unbelieving acts?

A real-time event would be helpful.

Thank you in advance.

Answer description

This is a great question. Because understanding this gives you the foundation of all that happens in salvation. Many books have actually been written on this subject. In theological terms it is known as "The Great Excahnge". Now I am not a theologian nor had any theological training. But I will try to explain "the great exchange" for you in simple terms.

God is completely righteous, no errors or sin. Thus we need righteousness to be acceptable to God. But what we have is sin, so God cannot be in fellowship with us. But God had a plan to solve this problem and His answer was Jesus, who is also completely righteous because He is the Son of God. God sent His Son to the cross to bear our comdemnation (be punished for our sins) (Rom 8:3) As a result we Christians think of our sins as being forgiven by Christ's sacrifice. But much more than that actually happens. In that moment when we accept Christ, all our sins are lifted off us and laid on our Savior, Jesus. But also at that very moment, Jesus's righteous is placed on us. (II Cor 5:21) That is the Great Exchange. We trade our sins for God's righteousness. This is God's greatest example of grace. For we do not deserve to receive such a gift. So now, when God looks down on us from above, He sees us as perfect because we have Jesus's righteousness. He sees none of our sins because Jesus took away all the sins we have committed or ever will commit. How could God ever love us that much when we can DO nothing to deserve any of it ? I think that is impossible to understand. And in answer to your second question, can we lose our righteousness once we have it ? The answer would be no. We could DO nothing to earn our righteousness, so how could we ever DO anything that would make God take it away ? God cannot change. Thus it would be impossible for Him to change His mind and take back the gift He already gave us.

I hope I have been able to explain things in terms simple enough for you to be able to share with your unbelieving friends. It is all about God's grace and "grace" can be difficult for people to understand in this era of always looking to "self" first. But the power of the Spirit can do anything. So before sharing with an unbelieving friend, pray !! Ask the Spirit to provide the words and the transforming thoughts necessary to change a heart. But also remember, salvation is done by God, not you. You are merely the messenger. So thank you for your question. I love to talk about The Great Exchange.

Scripture references

Supporting resources

• The Avodah Life

• Do Everything in Jesus’ Name

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