…unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. —Matthew 5:20

The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but that he is good in his motives, having been made good by the supernatural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds right-doing is right-being. Jesus Christ came to place within anyone who would let Him a new heredity that would have a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus is saying, “If you are My disciple, you must be right not only in your actions, but also in your motives, your aspirations, and in the deep recesses of the thoughts of your mind.” Your motives must be so pure that God Almighty can see nothing to rebuke. Who can stand in the eternal light of God and have nothing for Him to rebuke? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that through His redemption He can place within anyone His own nature and make that person as pure and as simple as a child. The purity that God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within, and that is exactly what Jesus has undertaken to do through His redemption.

No one can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does not give us rules and regulations— He gives us His teachings which are truths that can only be interpreted by His nature which He places within us. The great wonder of Jesus Christ’s salvation is that He changes our heredity. He does not change human nature— He changes its source, and thereby its motives as well.

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Journal DJR
Good morning Lord, I like what Chambers wrote today. I am, however, beginning to see the work Jesus Christ did as more of a “done deal, whereas he at least insinuates that it is not quite done… until I do my part. Some of Chamber’s verbs in today’s devo are past tense, indicating that the work was complete (by Jesus on the Cross and Resurrection) Others are present tense insinuating that there is still work to be done.

“came to place within anyone who would let Him a new heredity” & ‘He can place within anyone His own nature”

Wouldn’t it be better to say that You “have placed” your new nature in me and my only requirement is to “wake up” to it and live from it?

Perhaps it’s just a semantic difference. But it seems helpful to me to see it as a done deal. You bought back the whole human race. Of course there are lots of scriptures that say that. I guess we’ve just ignored them or interpreted around them in the past, choosing other scriptures…

1 Corinthians 15:21 For since by man [came] death, by Man also [came] the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

1 Timothy 2:4 God “desires all men to be saved,”
1 Timothy 2:6 Jesus “gave Himself a ransom for all.”
Hebrews 2:9 “Jesus tasted death for everyone.”

So what remains to be done? It is seeming to me to be more like simply waking up. Perhaps waking up means simply believing what is already so. And that is Faith. And that is all that is required.

Ephesians 5:14 “Awake, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.”

So Waking Up, (to what You have already completed and provided) provides a lens thru which I am looking at life these days. Staying awake seems important too. That sounds like connection, which you have been teaching us.

I wouldn’t fight with a brother who sees a need for people to prove their belief by saying a formula prayer or reciting a creed and preaching condemnation for all who didn’t. But for me, I’m beginning to see that You died for all. All means all. Some wake up to the fact. Those who don’t miss out on some blessings. But all still means all.

Please teach me more about this. Teach me all that you want me to know about this. Not more so I can argue with other believers……but more for the love of Christ.

Lord I believe. Help my unbelief. Thank you. I love you.

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Here is Richard Rohr’s Daily Devotional…

A Nonviolent Atonement
Monday, July 24, 2017

In the thirteenth century, the Franciscans and the Dominicans invariably took opposing positions in the great debates in the universities of Paris, Cologne, Bologna, and Oxford. Both opinions usually passed the tests of orthodoxy, although one was preferred. The Franciscans often ended up presenting the minority position. Like the United States’ Supreme Court, the Church could have both a majority and a minority opinion, and the minority position was not kicked out! It was just not taught in most seminaries. However, it was taught in some Franciscan formation centers, and I was a lucky recipient of this “alternative orthodoxy” at Duns Scotus College in Michigan from 1962-1966.

I share this background to illustrate that my understanding of the atonement theory is not heretical or new, but has quite traditional and orthodox foundations, beginning with many theologians in the Patristic period.

Thomas Aquinas and the Dominicans agreed with Anselm’s (by then mainline) view that a debt had to be paid for human salvation. But Franciscan John Duns Scotus (c. 1266-1308) said that Jesus wasn’t solving any problems by coming to earth and dying. God did not need Jesus to die on the cross to decide to love humanity. God’s love was infinite from the first moment of creation; the cross was Love’s dramatic portrayal in space and time. That, in a word, was the Franciscan nonviolent at-one-ment theory. (Continue reading)

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