Cross Examination

You have often heard Christians who are struggling with their faith be counselled to "examine" themselves in order to see if they are truly Christians. The passages they are often given to look at is 2 Corinthians 13:5.

"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?"

The first part of the verse is what is often quoted. Various meanings are put into the verse to describe what examining ourselves entails. Most often it has to do with judging your actions up against those of others or the standards of the particular denomination or fellowship you belong to. Basically, it is about seeing how well you are doing at keeping the law. Are you going to church enough? How are you doing at giving? Are you spending enough "quiet" time with the Lord? And, of course, do you have any "unconfessed" sin in your life? The list is endless, but you get my drift. The byproduct of this is that many Christians end up questioning their salvation or their standing before God because of it.

However, the test we are to examine ourselves with is given in the same verse. The second half of the verse tells us that the test of whether we are in the faith is if we realize that Christ lives in us. That is the test. If you know Christ lives in you then you are in the faith. It is plain and simple. Now, if He is not, you should question your salvation because you are not saved. It has nothing to do with how well you are performing the rituals and traditions of a particular body of believers. Christians are not under law. It has everything to do with how well you understand the Gospel.

"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." Titus 3:4-7

When you think that the test of your faith is whether or not your performance measures up to God's standards, you have failed the test before it begins. We are not righteous because of anything we think we are doing for God. We are righteous because of everything God has done for us. A Christian is justified by the grace of God not by what we do before or after we have come to faith in Christ. The rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit we are saved by is the restoration of the life of God given to us at the moment we accepted Jesus Christ as our savior. Salvation is by grace and a Christian lives by faith. God's grace is Him doing for us, in Christ, what we are incapable of doing for ourselves. Therefore, we live by faith in the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide us from within as we bear the fruit He produces through us. That is how we are justified, by recognizing that Christ has done and is doing everything for us to bring us to God.

"Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace." Galatians 5:2-4

The conclusion to all of this is that if you examine yourself through the prism of your works, Christ is of no value to you at all. You are still a believer, still saved, and in no danger of losing your salvation. However, in your mind, you will be alienated from Christ because you will think your salvation is lost. Quite frankly, you should feel this way. There is nothing more sobering than believing that your salvation is tied to your ability to live up to God's standard of perfection or even the imperfect standards of religion. However, God can still use it by allowing you to come to the end of yourself. If you are trying to justify yourself before God through performance, you have fallen from grace and back under law. God, in Christ, is right there with you as you try and do so, but He will always be reminding you to let Him live the life only He can live. We had a test from God in which to examine ourselves, it was the law. We failed miserably. Christ, has taken that test for us and aced the test on our behalf. If we believe any different we have failed the test.