Being called saints also implies a real acceptance of us by God. We know that God is holy. We understand that this holiness is utterly intolerant of sin. We know that the Scripture teaches that God cannot tolerate sin in his presence. We have read that the righteousness of God is now revealed against all unrighteousness. We know that the Word of God promises unending punishment for those who have rebelled against his righteous authority. It is clear that in spite of the truth that God loves all men, with a love that far transcends any love that we may have for them, he will, in that final day, judge them because of his holiness and his justice.

Yet, in spite of the fact that we are still weak and still sin, because of Christ, God calls us " holy". If we are holy, and we are in Christ, then we are acceptable to him. In fact, Paul says this very same thing in just a few verses. Down in verse 6 Paul speaks of our being "accepted in the beloved". The beloved, of course, is Jesus Christ. We’re accepted by God "in" the beloved, Jesus Christ. We’ll talk more about being "in Christ" when we get to our discussion of verse 6.

There is a mechanism inside of all men, I believe, that values acceptance by others. In fact, the truth is, we spend a large portion of our time striving to be accepted by those around us. Sadly, many Christians spend a lot of time and energy seeking to be that which is pleasing to God. While it is true that we can do things that are on pleasing to God, namely commit sin, we cannot make ourselves "unacceptable" to him. Our behaviors can, and many times are unacceptable. What we, ourselves, were not accepted on a behavioral basis to begin with. We were "accepted in the Beloved". Our trouble, then, is not so much to be accepted by God. We already are accepted by God. Our sure goal should be to crucify ourselves and conform our behavior to God’s standards out of love and gratitude to the God who has accepted us. This is, I’m sure you’ll agree, a very different matter.

If God is completely holy, and he certainly is, then an inherently unholy creature can never measure up to his perfect standards. What would be necessary would be for someone who is not inherently sinful to come and meet those standards. Of course, this is precisely what Christ did. We unholy creatures could never satisfy his righteous standard. So God, in his great love, sent his only Begotten Son to meet that standard for us.

One powerful argument for the idea that our righteousness is an alien righteousness, not righteousness of our own, is that this righteousness completely satisfies God and makes us fully acceptable to him. Even the boldest, most prideful Christian would not, I would hope, claim he was as righteous in and of himself as God is. We’ll realize that this lack of ultimate righteousness is a part of the human condition. In fact, that’s the excuse that many use to justify their bad behaviors. " I’m only human". We won’t comment on the "I’m only human" part. We’ll just say that the recognition of this common trait of humanity is universal. We all know we’re fallible, and that we make mistakes, sometimes grave ones. When I consider all the shortcomings, mistakes, and stands that I commit a regular basis I wonder at the vastness of the mercy of God. And what I think that I am "accepted in the beloved" in spite of those lacks on my part I am filled with a sense of all gratitude.