Semper Reformanda

And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Romans 5:11 (KJV)

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We cannot rejoice in Christ, if we do not know Him. We cannot know Him until He becomes the central desire of our hearts. He cannot become the central desire of our hearts if it was not in the Will of the Father. But we know it was in the Will of the Father, because Christ fulfilled it. Piper writes, “practically, to rejoice in God, you rejoice in what you see and know of God in the portrait of Jesus Christ. And this comes to its fullest experience when the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5).”[1] There is a subtle difference drawn here, rejoicing in God’s gifts and rejoicing in God himself. From the use of kauchaomai καυχάομαι (joy), the latter seems to be the referred meaning. It refers to the sort of pride that is attached to kinship, like family pride. (G2744)[2] The grand access that the advent grants us is this sort of joyful kinship we share with Christ. Our joy is not only in the reconciliation, but the regeneration that follows that grants us familial ties with the divine. This is the central focus of our joy.

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[1] Piper, J. (2014). The Dawning of Indestructible Joy

[2] https://biblehub.com/greek/2744.htm

God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things. Acts 17:24-25 (KJV)

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God does not need anything from us. This is the liberating truth of the scripture. But something so freeing could also be highly irritating to our pride and ego. The Athenians, to whom the Apostle Paul spoke to, they could not agree. Because their elaborate and sophisticated trap to please the divine simply gets invalidated. But what does it really mean to say God is self-sufficient. He cannot be pleased by men and their rituals; as Calvin classically argued.[1] That is true. It means that salvation cannot be bought but it is received; that is another classical reading. That is true too. It also means that we submit to the providence of God; that is also true. But sometimes we do commit the innocent mistake of thinking of God’s sustenance as an add-on; that we are getting something extra. For instance, I was struggling financially and God blessed me with a job. This is not entirely true. Whatever we have is already God’s gift. The scripture says that even the ability to enjoy work and sleep is because God has allowed it to be. This is why we cannot please God with what we own. Because even that (what we own) we have received out of His grace. The liberating truth of the advent that is worth pondering is the understanding that God is not only self-sufficient, but He allows His self-sufficiency to be accessible for us.  

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[1] https://biblehub.com/commentaries/calvin/acts/17.htm

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Romans 3:25-26 (KJV)

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It is impossible to love a just and an angry God. There is no prayer reaching him that way. But that is not the hope we share. God is just. Christ is God. And he is our justifier. The Apostle Paul affirms that ‘the just shall live by faith.’[1] Christ achieved for us this administrative justice[2] of the Father, all the while, clarifying that YHWH hates sin not us. Christ demonstrates YHWH’s love for us. He is both just and merciful. The joy of the season could be sum in these words ‘the just shall live by faith.’ Yes! The just shall live by HIS faith; by the faithfulness Christ has demonstrated to us and on our behalf. The advent is not about meeting some abstract law by the power of your will, but to rest in the assurance of Christ.

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[1] Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38

[2] https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom38.vii.viii.html