We enter God’s Kingdom when we are born again, the kingdom
of God representing the spiritual state or condition a born-again believer is
in. “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you:
and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an
heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in
my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
“And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said
unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.” (Luke
14:15, a reference to Communion) “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees,
when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of
God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!
for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21) “Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the
flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ” (John 3:5-6)
“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace,
and joy in the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 14:17) “For the kingdom of God is not in
word, but in power.” (I Corinthians 4:20) “Now therefore ye are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the
household of God.” (Ephesians 2:19)
What does it mean to “inherit?” Matthew 19:16 and Luke 18:18
are parallel passages, and comparing these two passages demonstrates that “have
eternal life” is the same as “inherit eternal life.” “And, behold, one came and
said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal
life?” (Matthew 19:16) “And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18)
I Corinthians 6:11 makes it clear that born again Christians
are fit to inherit (have, share, enter) the kingdom of God because they are
JUSTIFIED, and distinguishes them from those who are UNRIGHTEOUS (unjust,
unsaved) in I Corinthians 6:9-10. (Compare I Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians
5:19-21, Ephesians 5:5, and Revelation 21:8; also consider Ephesians 2:1 and
Colossians 3:6) Salvation is only possible through the imputation of Christ’s
righteousness.
We cannot be saved without the righteousness of Christ
imputed to us. Entrance into the kingdom of heaven requires perfection, a
perfection which is not merely outward righteousness but is both outward and
inward conformity to God’s standards. (Matthew 5:20-48) We cannot measure up to
that standard. For example, Christ taught the whole Law is summed up in two
commandments: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and
great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40) While we should make this our goal, if we are
honest we all must admit that our every thought, word, and deed does not always
stem from love of God and neighbor. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and
all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and
our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6) Our
righteousnesses cannot justify us or keep us saved and assuming that they can
is spiritually dangerous. “Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my
messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the
LORD'S servant?” (Isaiah 42:19) “There is a generation that are pure in their
own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.” (Proverbs 30:12) Our
works have everything to do with rewards but nothing to do with salvation.
(Matthew 16:27; I Corinthians 3:8-15; II Corinthians 9:6; Revelation 22:12;
Ephesians 2:8-9)
To impute means to ascribe or attribute something to
someone. Christ paid the sin debt to God, and the sin of a believer is ascribed
to Christ and the righteousness of Christ is ascribed to the believer so that a
genuine believer becomes perfect in the sight of God. “But now the
righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law
and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference.”
(Romans 3:21-22) “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Romans 4:5)
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him.” (II Corinthians 5:21) “I am crucified with
Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
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