Crucified Hearts

Christian morality is rooted in the character of God as revealed in Christ. It is not an achievement by which we are considered righteous, rather, it is the fruit that is born by those who are already righteous through faith in the blood of Christ. To act right we must first be right with God. And being right with God, being justified and reconciled to him, is by faith alone.

Christian morality is of great value in the world, it is of great value with God, as it is founded on the laws of his kingdom, however, such morality is only possible in the Christian life through the imputed righteousness of Christ and indwelling of the Holy Spirit that we receive when we are justified by faith in Christ’s atonement for our sins. His perfect righteousness is “credited” to us to through faith alone (Rom. 4). We are acquitted of our sins as long as we continue to exercise faith in his act of acquittal at the cross (Rom. 3.19-31). We are justified by faith without works of the law. Therefore, no human being can boast of righteousness except in the cross of Christ our Lord.

Because we receive the Holy Spirit at baptism, in it being conformed to his death and his resurrection through faith (Rom. 6), we begin growing in the moral life, what the Bible calls sanctification or holiness. This is the work of a lifetime as we will always have inclinations and propensities towards sin to combat and overcome by the grace of God. There’s never a time when we can say we have arrived at perfection and yet we strive for being complete in the love of God toward our neighbors.

The following scripture describes such Christian morality. Living this life is evidence of the faith that we profess in the righteousness of Christ. May we ever go on from grace to grace, His image, the image of Christ crucified, formed in us.

If there were no danger of falling away from grace, no danger, even daily, of straying from the morality of Christ, then such instruction would be superfluous. But in fact, the apostle Paul urges a life of continuing growth and obedience in Christ lest we stray again like sheep who wander away from the shepherd.

Ephesians 4:17-32 NASB

“So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
— Ephesians 4:17-32