9. I Am Justly Innocent in God's Presence
I now see that the phrase “I am justified freely by His grace” comes out from an incomplete understanding of the reality of our Salvation. The words come from knowing that God did something for me, but they leave God over there and me over here.
Paul began his account of human rebellion with this: Having known God, they did not glorify Him as God. And suddenly, our understanding of our Glorious Salvation takes on a whole new dimension. God initiates all towards all in all ways and all moments.
Not Glorifying God as God. This idea, then, that God brought me forth out of His own thoughts through the good speaking of Jesus, only so that He is over there doing His stuff, and I am over here doing my stuff, this idea is the essence of human rebellion. It is failing to glorify God as God.
God as God sets us free of Himself, yes. God never “forces” His knowledge on anyone. BUT – God as God is filled with an overwhelming DESIRE to be known by us, and that immense and unstoppable DESIRE that is God presses against us enormously. God’s desire to be known by us will never violate us, but it will also never go away or reduce even a little bit.
God with Me. Now we see that the word “propitiation” is at the center of our passage and of Paul’s meaning, and it is propitiation that is itself turning around in our understanding, and indeed that which turns us around as well.
Grace is God’s immediate presence with me. Faith is my acknowledgement that God is always present with me. And Salvation is the wondrous LIFE God and I share together. Jesus, always giving Himself away inside every aspect of the togetherness I share with God, is who causes it all. This is what Paul actually wrote. – The just approval of God coming through the faith of Jesus Christ into all those who believe. – Jesus is CONVINCED that God is with me.
Mouth Tightly Shut! Okay, our Jesus Secret page is taking shape. We begin, as usual, with the speaking of faith. Our first box will be “I Close My Mouth.” This is incredibly important, and is, in fact, our FIRST confession of faith. Through the nine months of 2008 during which I was hammered every day by the voices I had known screaming against any thought of union with Christ, their pressure was ENTIRELY to speak myself against God. I REFUSED; my mouth was closed tightly shut (by staying in Jesus).
Then we want a definition of “Propitiation” followed by a definition of “Justly Innocent.” A small Jesus Secret box would be appropriate at the end.
Statements of Faith. God has entrusted His words to me. By those words, entrusted to me, I realize that I have fallen short of God. I acknowledge my sin and my guilt. In knowing my complete guilt, I then close my mouth. I never speak of myself, ever again, as if I exist separately from Jesus.
The just approval of God enters into me out from Jesus’ faith. It is Jesus’ own confidence in God by which God approves of me. My approval from God is fully just, because I believe into Jesus. I am not and cannot be separated from God. I am made justly innocent, with no remembrance of sin, by God’s presence with me in favor.
Jesus has won my devotion by His own devotion to me, in giving His life to me. My faith inside Jesus’ blood, His life inside of me, is the demonstration and proof of God’s just approval of me. Through faith in Jesus, I have no need to be “right” in myself ever again. God declares me justly innocent through faith.
Brought to Jesus. The word preached by Buddy Cobb, which was very large in my life for twenty years, was not legalistic or the law itself, but it was the meaning of the law as God intended. From mid-1990 to mid-1998, I embraced that word fully in my thinking. This was after I had come out from the obliviousness of autism and while our children were small.
Living under God’s meaning of “the law” was a nightmare. And at the end, to keep my sanity, I determined that I would know Jesus-with-me ALONE. The law accomplished exactly what God intended in my life, it brought me to Jesus. Even today, I remember the horror, and it keeps me CERTAIN in Jesus in me.
With Mouth Shut. Having mulled over my life story, now written, I see that the most important moment of my Christian life was in June of 1996, when God spoke to me, “~ Son, you have a sectarian heart. ~” I replied, “Yes, Father, You are right.”
I did not know it then, but I recognize it now, that what I did, just before I replied to God, was the most important thing I have ever done. – I shut my mouth concerning myself. Yet this shutting of my mouth came out of many years of the clear and specific PRESSURE of God towards me. But in that moment, it was complete. In that moment, I justified God, and I acknowledged God-with-me, regardless. And in that moment God took full responsibility for me in a way that I could come to know.
I Close My Mouth. I have closed my mouth concerning my ‘self’ against God. I am silent forever about ‘right’ in myself. I hold my peace, for I see only the Salvation of God. All that opposes God is rooted in and comes out from the deep accusation against God that He is false, that His word is not True, and that He has done wrong against me. This is the only cause of all psychotic “lostness,” and there is no reason for it whatsoever. I recognize fully that apart from Jesus, I must be utterly wrong. I close my mouth; I am with Jesus.
A Need to Ramble. I just created an interesting problem for myself in everything I am writing at present. I cannot write what is next in either Symmorphy VII: Completion or Our Glorious Salvation without a detour into “writing to learn.” Our next term is propitiation; propitiation is at the core of what I must explain. This lesson has no other purpose than to provide a brief framework for writing the Jesus Secret page. Thus I am free to expand it into a rambling pursuit of a clear understanding. What I write here, then, will help me to shape the flow of Life into space, which is next in Completion. Then, I will have what I need to write “Defining Lostness” in Salvation.
A Similar Word. This lesson will now fill the Zoom session, and then it will give me the building blocks I can use to write effectively inside the other two arenas, Completion first and then Salvation.
It happened this Thursday morning, August 15, 2024, as I was sitting here looking at the next box and thinking about Jesus as “propitiation.” My mind went back to my elementary school years, sixth or seventh grades, when I understood science and adopted a “scientific” mind to comprehend things inside its sphere. The thing that made that happen was learning what a “catalyst” is and how it functions. And of course, propitiation and catalyst are two words carrying a similar meaning.
Searching for Catalyst and Fire. So I turned to Perplexity AI, and I asked it to give me a simple explanation of a catalyst and how it works, using a specific example. It did so, using the water molecule of H2O as its example. To say the least, I was “blown away.” Then I asked it to explain in a similar way how hydrogen uses oxygen to “burn.” I was beyond overwhelmed at the clarity and simplicity God has given us in this most basic of elements in the physical creation.
I want to go through these things with the exact text from the AI (a tool only for quickly putting together human knowledge) and then a translation into God with us. We will begin with “fire” before we look at “catalyst.”
The Formation of Fire and Water. Inside our explanation, I want you to remember from our study of A Highway for God, the incredible extent to which the four elements of fire, water, earth, and air FILL Scripture. These four elements serve first as a depiction of God Himself, second as a definition of God with us, and third as a description of the unfolding of the Kingdom.
AI: When hydrogen burns, it undergoes a chemical reaction known as combustion. This process involves hydrogen reacting with oxygen to form water, releasing energy in the form of heat and light.
~ When God reveals Himself, He undergoes a process involving God reacting with humans to form rivers of Spirit flowing out, releasing the Energeia of God, now known by all.
Combustion of Hydrogen. AI: Here’s a simple explanation of how this process works and why oxygen is essential using the combustion of hydrogen. The combustion of hydrogen can be represented by the chemical equation: 2H2+O2→2H2O+Energy. This equation shows that two molecules of hydrogen (H2) react with one molecule of oxygen (O2) to produce two molecules of water (H2O) and release energy.
~ Hydrogen, now two, the Father in Spirit and Word together, contain a positive power. Oxygen, depicting humans, is a negative, possessing authority to make God known, but no power to do so. Water and Fire, then, are God made known.
Energy Release. AI: The reaction releases energy because the bonds formed in the water molecules are stronger than the bonds in the separate hydrogen and oxygen molecules. This energy is released as heat and light, which is why we see flames when hydrogen burns.
~ Water, then, is the flow of God and humans as one together through Spirit and Word. The bonds between God and us are far stronger than when we are both “on our own.” When we rest utterly with God, inside of Him, and when God rests utterly with us, inside of us, then there is a whole lot of extra Energeia left over, now for the sake of others, enabling others to see and know the Living God.
Why Oxygen Is Necessary. AI: Oxygen acts as an oxidizer, meaning it accepts electrons from hydrogen during the combustion process. This electron transfer is crucial for the reaction to occur.
~ Wow! Two words – “accepts” and “crucial.” Our diagram of the pathways of power is becoming so helpful in understanding every part of Synergeoing with God. It is CRUCIAL for God-known, that we receive those things of Himself God is giving to us with full acceptance. Hence we have this instruction – Let us approach [everything inside the Holiest] with a true heart, in full assurance of faith. We know this to mean that we embrace everything of God given to us in the bold declaration that it is now part of us.
Bond Formation. AI: Oxygen has a high affinity for electrons and forms stable bonds with hydrogen. The formation of these new, stable bonds in water releases energy, which is the essence of the combustion process.
~ Okay, now I’m looking at some other webpages on the periodic table of elements and the configuration of water. http://hobart.k12.in.us/ksms/PeriodicTable/energy%20levels.htm – https://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth111/node/838
The more I look now at the patterns of the elements and how they work together, the more amazed I am to see the singing of Jesus, not just incidentally, but in every detail. I asked AI to give me a reduced version of the configuration of water and why the hydrogen and oxygen atoms form bonds.
Achieving Stability. AI: A water molecule consists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Each hydrogen atom has one electron and one proton, but it would prefer to have two electrons for stability. Oxygen has two electron rings: the inner ring is stable with two electrons, while the outer ring has six electrons and needs two more to be stable with eight.
To achieve stability, hydrogen and oxygen share electrons through a process called covalent bonding. Oxygen shares one of its outer electrons with each hydrogen atom, and each hydrogen shares its single electron with oxygen. This sharing makes each hydrogen atom feel like it has two electrons and the oxygen atom feel like it has eight electrons in its outer ring, resulting in a stable configuration for all involved.
Stability and Neediness. Looking, now at the periodic table, I see that each element has a ring or concentric rings of electrons, like the rings of Saturn. The first ring is stable with two electrons, the second ring is stable with eight electrons, and the third is stable with eighteen electrons. All elements that are stable are the noble gases, helium, neon, and so on. They do not need or connect with other elements.
The most needy element is carbon. Carbon has 6 electrons, 6 protons, and 6 neutrons. Carbon is human flesh, literally; carbon, when it connects with all others, forms LIFE. Most organic (life) molecules possess hydrogen and/or oxygen with carbon. Yet a diamond is pure carbon.
Needing One Another. I love the beauty of patterns and have always thought that the periodic table of elements must contain hidden secrets. But we are getting sidetracked really fast.
The central point is this. God made the majority of the elements to be needy in themselves. In order to be fulfilled, they must connect with other elements. The “noble gases” are not very useful. Helium is the second most common element in the universe, but it serves little purpose. When carbon, human flesh, connects with oxygen, the human spirit, and with hydrogen, representing God, then all sorts of LIFE springs forth into creation.
Energy Barrier. AI: For hydrogen to burn, the reaction must overcome an energy barrier. Oxygen helps lower this barrier by participating in the bond-breaking and bond-forming processes, making it easier for the reaction to proceed. Without oxygen or another oxidizing agent, there is no substance to accept electrons from hydrogen, which is necessary for the combustion reaction to occur.
~ There is an “energy barrier” between God and creation that must be “overcome.” There must be something in creation able and willing to accept God-with-me in order for God to become known. Yet this explanation has left out something very important, the catalyst, the in-between.
Energy Release. AI: The energy released during combustion comes from the formation of new bonds between hydrogen and oxygen. Without oxygen, these bonds cannot form, and thus no energy is released.
~ Hydrogen cannot reveal itself as fire by itself, but remains invisible and unknown, even though it is the most frequent element in the universe. God cannot reveal Himself inside of creation without coming into union with some form inside of creation. The form God has chosen is mankind, you and me. When God comes into union with humans, energy is released, a woman clothed with the sun, and water is formed, rivers of Spirit flowing out as the knowledge of God.
A Catalyst. AI: A catalyst is a substance that speeds up a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process. It works by providing an alternative pathway for the reaction with a lower activation energy, which makes it easier for the reactants to transform into products. Let's consider a simple example involving the formation of water (H2O) from hydrogen gas (H2)and oxygen gas (O2)In this reaction, the catalyst could be platinum (Pt).
~ Platinum is like silver, a metaphor of Christ Jesus in His redemptive qualities. Jesus, as propitiation, provides the pathway for God and us to come together to form something wondrous – reciprocal Love among humans.
Process. AI: The hydrogen and oxygen molecules adsorb onto the surface of the platinum catalyst. This means they stick to the surface of the platinum, which helps to weaken the bonds within the hydrogen and oxygen molecules. On the catalyst's surface, the hydrogen and oxygen molecules break apart into individual atoms. This is easier on the catalyst's surface because the bonds within the molecules are weakened.
~ God’s Spirit is connected to itself. The human spirit is connected to itself. Both stick to Jesus; both trust Jesus. Both let down their barriers when they are with Jesus.
Coming Together. AI: The individual hydrogen and oxygen atoms then come together to form water molecules (H2O). The platinum catalyst provides a surface where these atoms can easily meet and bond. The newly formed water molecules detach from the platinum surface, leaving the catalyst free to facilitate another reaction cycle.
~ He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Jesus provides the place where God and humans can easily bond. The result is the water of life, the knowledge of God. Yet this “detachment” does not reference not needing Jesus, but rather, it means that Jesus sets us free of Himself, that we might know the Father.
Role of the Catalyst. AI: The platinum catalyst lowers the energy barrier for the reaction, making it easier and faster for hydrogen and oxygen to combine into water. Importantly, the platinum itself is not consumed or altered in the reaction. After the water molecules are formed and leave the surface, the platinum is ready to catalyze another reaction.
~ Because God trusts Jesus and because we trust Jesus, it is easier for God and us to connect together inside of Him. Yet Jesus continues in His role, continuing to connect God with us and us as one Church together, in every next step. The moment of our Salvation happened when Jesus, in His human agony, joined Father and us together inside His soul.
Walking Together. We could continue endlessly in this study. In times past, I would not have seen these wondrous meanings, however, because I did not know the Gospel. But now, knowing the Gospel, it is not surprising at all that everything in creation, including all the study of true science, just sings with that Gospel, the singing of the Lamb.
Now platinum/silver represents redemption, the key meaning Paul is bring into Romans 3. This is the nature of Christ Jesus, the one who gives Himself to the joining together of God and us. And the key word in that redemption is propitiation. Amos said that two cannot walk together except they be agreed. Yet two walking together will ALWAYS create offense.
Resolving the Offence. God is very different from us, and we are very different from God. We imagine our concerns to be petty to God, and we imagine God’s concerns to be unknowable to us. I have never interacted with anyone in my life, including God, who did not do things different from me, things I did not like. To say, “I am not offended” is a psychotic and anti-human delusion. It is not and never can be true. Instead, such a claim serves as an effective barrier to keep walking together faraway.
Propitiation is a quality belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. We can share in that quality only as Jesus is an active part of our own beings. Propitiation resolves the offence. God and we accept that resolution BECAUSE we trust Jesus.
Always Seeking a Way. Yet in the two primary verses defining propitiation, here in Romans 3 as well as in 1 John 4, it is God who is the initiator, God who is determined to prove His love, God who is determined to declare us to be justly innocent. In His determination to prove His love and to make us devoted to Himself, God, in every moment, is always seeking a Way to connect with us and that Way is always Christ Jesus.
Being made justly innocent, utterly without sin, by His grace and favor through the redemption, the winning back, that is inside of Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as propitiation [the continual resolving of offence] through faith inside of His blood, the demonstration and proof of His just approval.
Propitiation Defined. God is always, inside Himself, very eager to connect with me, and I, in the depths of my humanity, am very eager to connect with God. Yet God and I are very different, even offensive to one another. Of ourselves, we are unable to resolve those differences, unable to connect, unable to know one another. Then, the Lord Jesus Christ enters God’s picture and mine. God trusts Jesus, and can accept me through Him. I trust Jesus, and can accept God through Him. As Jesus joins Father and me together inside His own Soul, the offensiveness between us that must arise as we walk together, sharing life together, can be continuously resolved. This quality of Jesus is propitiation. Propitiation is the Love of Jesus that provides the act of resolution between me and God, me and others forever.
No Remembrance. I have settled on justly innocent (adjective) or just innocence (noun) as the translation of the Greek word. “Justified” is satisfactory when we know it as “being made justly innocent.” Adam and Eve were “innocent.” They were not filled with the false, but neither were they filled with Jesus. This condition can be only temporary. Humans cannot refuse Jesus, the knowledge of God entering personally into themselves, without then receiving, in His place, the personal knowledge of all sorts of things not True.
“Just innocence,” then, is a binding and contractual rightness coming out from the entrance of Jesus. It is just to call that rightness “innocence” because there is NO remembrance of anything false.
It Never Was. It’s not “just as if I never sinned.” Just innocence is, “I never sinned,” or “I have never asserted my ‘self’ against God.” We can say this because the moment Jesus entered into us, His Soul became ours and ours became His.
When Jesus died upon the cross, the entirety of all that was old ceased to exist. It’s not just that it is gone; inside the New Creation, it never was. Just innocence then describes the nature of our bond with God through Jesus, a set-forth and contractual bond that knows NOTHING of evil or of anything contrary. It happened the moment we said, “Jesus, save me.”
Justly Innocent. Having closed my mouth, I now see Jesus alone as He enters actively into me declaring me to be justly innocent inside the presence of God. My innocence is just because there is no remembrance of anything false. Because I am made justly innocent by Jesus, God is free, in overflowing joy, to connect with me in all ways, that we might share life together. God justly approves of me because Jesus is my life and my all.
To Resolve. Writing this lesson has given me a true and certain sense of God’s meaning for propitiation inside of Jesus’ Blood. Being certain of the core meaning, we are in the right place to explore and to receive the unending increase that must come into our experience. The correct word is to resolve, not remove, offence. In fact, I am now convinced that resolving all differences between any two caused by any and all offence, is the primary work of Jesus in returning creation back to the Father, a work He shares utterly with us.
Let’s hear Jesus speak to us before we pray together.
The Jesus Secret. My Dear One, I am always your Salvation. You will know what I mean as you keep your eyes on Me, never worrying about yourself. You love Me and you trust Me, so you know that it is SAFE for you to connect with God our Father inside of Me, just as it is SAFE for God to connect with you. I make you both safe for each other by making you justly innocent inside of God.
Let’s Pray Together. “Lord Jesus, You have saved us to the uttermost. You have made us SAFE inside of God even as You have made God SAFE inside of us. God always wanted to share our lives with us and we always wanted to share God’s life with Him, but we could never know such a thing, Lord Jesus, until You came into our lives.
“We trust You, Lord Jesus, and through You, we can accept all the wildness of our Father. We know also, Lord Jesus, that God trusts You, and can accept all of our wildness as well. Lord Jesus, You have made us justly innocent inside of God’s presence with us, and You have brought God’s just approval upon every moment and interaction of our lives.
“Father, You complete each one of us, You complete me. And to our utter astonishment, we know that we complete You just as much. Father, Your Energeia, Your life force, completes our energeia, and our energeia, our life force, completes Yours. Through the confidence that is Jesus inside of us, Father, we synergeo with You in all things, making all things good.
“Lord Jesus, You resolve all differences between God and us, and we can receive each other because we love You. We ask, Lord Jesus, that You would make us to know just how much You share that same quality with us. Lord Jesus, You and we together are the same resolution between God and all our brethren, all across the earth, right now. We share all together; You are God’s answer to us.”