Important Update!

Due to the time and focus required for our new Study Bible Project, we’re simplifying our workload to ensure that this critical project receives the attention it deserves.

This means that we will no longer be posting new content on this blog. We found that we were doing the same work twice – creating blog posts and then recreating them for our Daily Email Goodies.

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Grace as Justification, Not Just Pardon

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I used to think that being forgiven was the goal. But grace showed me something deeper: justification. Forgiveness says, “You’re no longer guilty.” Justification says, “You are righteous.” Grace doesn’t just clear the charges – it gives you a new identity.

I am not on probation with God. I am fully accepted, fully embraced and fully righteous – not because of what I’ve done, but because of Who He is.

Steve Martin

Merely a Role

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“Sinner” is merely a role that we are currently acting. In fact, we are “justified” (declared/constituted “righteous”) in our divinely assigned role. The fact is plain – we pre-date sin, and we pre-date our role as sinner. We were in Christ, before the Disruption of the World. We’re 100% righteous. We’re as righteous as Christ.

Is the “grace” that we receive from God “undeserved”? Only in a relative sense! Yet, in the absolute, certainly not!

Clyde Pilkington

The Grand Conclusion: A Beautiful Story, Not a Blood Transaction

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What happened at Calvary was not substitution. It was an envelopment into union. Jesus was not a replacement for us – He was bringing us with Him into life.

One day, we will join Him fully in that life. We will wake up in His immortality, as He shakes us and says,

“Good morning! Welcome to immortal life!”

That is the power of the Approach Present. That is the beauty of love.

Steve Martin &
Clyde Pilkington

Sacrifice Is a Beautiful Word

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The word sacrifice has been tainted by notions of punishment and wrath. But in reality, sacrifice is a word of love.

• We sacrifice for our families, not because they are guilty and need appeasement, but because we love them.
• We give up time, energy, and resources – not as a punishment but as an expression of devotion.
• True sacrifice creates value, enhances relationships, and reflects the very heart of God.

God, as the ultimate Giver, delights in sacrifice because it is an expression of love. He gave His Son, not as a wrath-bearer, but as the embodiment of His love – a love so great that He entered into our death so we could enter into His life.

Steve Martin &
Clyde Pilkington

Union, Not Substitution: What Really Happened at the Cross

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When Christ came, He did not step in as a substitute to take our punishment – He stepped into our experience to unite us with Himself.

Just as we were in Adam – united with him in his fall – we are in Christ, united with Him in His death, burial and resurrection (Romans 6:3-5). The work of Calvary was not a legal exchange but a relational reality.

Rather than Jesus standing in our place as a representative, He brought us into His Own experience. He did not suffer instead of us – He suffered with us. He did not die to satisfy divine wrath – He died to overcome death itself!

The key concept here is union:

• Adam was not our substitute – we were in him. The entire human race came out of him, which is why we inherited his mortality.
• Likewise, Christ is not our substitute – we are in Him. Just as we were joined with Adam in death, we are joined with Christ in life.

Paul writes,

For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His (Romans 6:5).

Christ did not bear the Father’s wrath on our behalf. Instead, He entered into the full human experience of darkness, suffering, alienation and death, so that we could share in His resurrection life.

Steve Martin &
Clyde Pilkington

The “Approach Present”: Sacrifice by Another Name

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In the Scriptures, the concept of sacrifice is referred to in the Concordant Version as an “approach present” – a phrase that carries deep meaning. The word korban in Hebrew (קָרְבָּן, qorbân^[1]), is commonly translated as “offering,” and means to “draw near or to bring close,” and is defined by E.W. Bullinger as “an admittance-offering.” The idea is not one of punishment or appeasement, but rather of offering a valuable gift in order to approach God.

An approach present is, in essence, a sacrifice given as a gift. It is not about satisfying wrath but about establishing closeness. Just as a person might bring a meaningful gift to a loved one to express devotion, the sacrifices in the Old Testament were acts of offering something valuable as a means of approaching and communing with God.

But now, everything has been turned around. The direction of the approach present has changed. It is no longer humanity offering gifts to draw near to God; instead, it is God Who is presenting the approach present to us. He is the One Who made the sacrifice, giving up something of infinite value – not to satisfy His own wrath, but to bring us near to Himself.

Steve Martin &
Clyde Pilkington

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[1] SEC, H7133.

Sacrifice vs. Substitution: A Crucial Distinction

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For centuries, mainstream Christian theology has taught that Christ’s death on the cross was a substitutionary sacrifice – that He took our place, suffered the punishment meant for us, and appeased an angry God – but what if that’s not the full story? What if the cross wasn’t about substitution at all, but about union: God entering into our experience so that we could enter into His?

To grasp the depth of Christ’s work, we must first differentiate between sacrifice and substitution. These terms are often used interchangeably, but they carry vastly different meanings.

• Substitution implies a transactional replacement. The idea is that Christ was punished in our place so that we wouldn’t have to be. This perspective suggests that God required satisfaction for sin – payment in blood – and Jesus stepped in as our substitute to endure divine wrath.
• Sacrifice, on the other hand, is something entirely different. Sacrifice is not about punishment, but about giving – offering something of great value for something even greater. Parents sacrifice for their children, spouses for each other, soldiers for their countries. In each case, it is not about taking someone’s place in suffering but about willingly giving of oneself out of love.

This distinction is vital because the idea of substitution distorts the character of God. It portrays Him as a wrathful judge needing appeasement rather than as a loving Father who gives of Himself for the sake of His children.

 

 

 

 

Steve Martin & Clyde Pilkington

 

Sin Is an Environmental Nuisance

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The only solution to sin is death and resurrection to immortality. Then, all will have the vigor of righteousness. Until then, we with Paul rejoice that, when we sin, it has no bearing on who we truly are.

The fact that God “chooses us in Him before the disruption of the world, we to be holy and flawless in His sight,” demonstrates that we pre-date sin, and it is a mere environmental nuisance that we are currently passing through.

They have nothing to do with us, and who we are!

Clyde Pilkington

Our Goal in Relationship to Christ

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It is notable that Paul never engages our attention with the life of Christ while on Earth.  Then, he tells us, He was a “Servant of the Circumcision” (Romans 15:8). All His practices and precepts were directly connected with the proclamation of the Kingdom, which is now in abeyance. We have no vital relation with Him until His resurrection. We, too, are accounted as alive in resurrection. We, too, are ascended and seated among the celestials in Him (Ephesians 2:5-6). Let us conduct ourselves, then, in harmony with this. This is our goal.

A.E. Knoch (1874-1965)
Concordant Commentary on the New Testament
(Philippians 3:10)