Our text has many components of love and faith. The first word, “As,” holds a world of challenge and mystery. It is a reminder of the past and an encouragement for the future. That one little word means to us, “in the same way, because of, since established, building on a proper basis.” Here is the mental image of a faith blossoming from its original seed well planted, well watered.
This verse is a reflection of how it all happened, and why it happened. Paul encourages his readers to properly stand on the faith originally experienced for salvation. He also points to the cloudy future that has been challenged by those misguided who have invaded the congregation. The strength of our profession for Christianity depends on how we see Christ as Lord. When we were first converted away from the world toward Jesus, it had to be with a faith well grounded on his identity, not our good intentions.
Every follower of Christ must be born into the sacred environment like every other follower. He must admit his helplessness in the face of eternity. He must turn away from his good intentions enmeshed into a completely new lifestyle. It is a going from and a going to that all Christians recognize as their pathway.
Because all true believers abandoned their sinful way of life, they had no standing for the next life outside of Jesus Christ the Lord. Any element of future sin becomes a call for God’s forgiveness. What does it mean for our verse to insist, “as you have therefore received…?” Everyone’s rebirth is different from everyone else, but there are classic similarities. We all must recognize our own sinfulness. We all must grasp on to the work that Jesus did on the cross in our behalf as payment for sin. We all must have the confidence as he rose from the grave so shall we not remain dead. We all must allow the Holy Spirit to work within us for grace and comfort, for guidance in teaching. When we became a new creation in Christ, a revolutionary act occurred. On that original event we must build a service for God.
How it happened that believers did not just transition. New believers experience the effect of faith on every part of their life. From that experience is a marching forward into all the tomorrows before us. We receive Christ as Savior, not because we had to, but because we were invited to. The original step of faith is the first step of a thousand miles in our spiritual journey. There can be no element of pride or contentment in the old way. As we have received Christ Jesus our Lord means that we rest on him and him alone. That means that belief in Jesus is not merely accepting a series of facts about him. It is that belief in Jesus that is the result of a gift of faith from God himself.
We must be able to say, “here I stand!” Then we must be able to say, “here I go forward!” Our dedication to Christ is a constant walk, a consistent walk. When we look back over our spiritual shoulders to see how that we originally received our salvation we turn our heads toward the narrow path that leads to the golden gates. Our spiritual growth includes a shunning of all that is contradictory to Scripture. Each step we take forward is an effort to please God. All the faith of the past at our conversion must be a conquest forward against all the obstacles that life has to offer.
Our walk in Christ is intentional and purposeful so that we might gain an ever increasing intimacy with he who died on the cross for us. As we have received Christ Jesus our Lord, so must we walk in him because everything in us only prefers that. We had a beginning with Jesus at some point. Now it is an obligation for us to demonstrate growth in our spirit for our soul’s well-being as influenced by the Holy Spirit. This is ever proceeding forward so much so that the gates of hell cannot prevent us, cannot resist us. (Matthew 16:18) The steps we take in Christ are not selfish. As we grow and go with him, we need to look about so that we may gather others into the family of God. Spiritual growth is intentional and purposeful. It is the outgrowth of that one moment that we said yes to Jesus. We are adopted as children of God who take pity on those still trapped by the ways of the world. We have received him and now we must proceed with him. We proceed with him so that we might succeed for him.
Christian Writer 