Corporate Repentance - Robert J. Wieland

could commit if Christ had not saved me from it.
The righteousness of Christ cannot be a mere
adjunct to my own good works, a slight push to get
me over the top. My righteousness is all of Him or
it is nothing. "In me . . . nothing good dwells"
(Romans 7:18). If "nothing good" is there, as I am
part of the corporate body of Adam, all evil could
dwell there. Nobody else is intrinsically any worse
than I am—apart from my Saviour. Oh, how it
hurts us to begin to realize this!
Not until we can see the sin of someone else as
our sin too can we learn to love him as Christ has
loved us. The reason is that in loving us He took
our sin upon Himself. When He died on His cross,
we died with Him—in principle. For us, love is
also to realize corporate identity. "Be
tenderhearted, . . . just as God in Christ also
forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32). Paul prays for us,
not that we might "do" more works, but that we
might see or "comprehend" something—the
dimensions of that love (Ephesians 3:14-21).
The reality that Scripture would bring to our
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