Stolen Valor
I recently listened to a podcast about institutions that are built on “celebrity power, charisma, and a spirit of grandiosity.” It examines the question of charismatic leaders and corruption in our culture. One of the topics that was discussed centered on “stolen valor.”
Stolen valor as defined by Wiktionary.org is “An instance of a person falsely claiming to have served in the military, or of a member of the military falsely claiming to have served in hazardous conditions, in order to gain the respect and other benefits associated with such service.” The podcast presented an interesting confrontation between two Navy Seals and someone claiming to be one. The Seals, because of their experience and expertise, could immediately identify the stolen valor being presented by the imposter — even though his tale sounded completely plausible to the uninitiated.
Something very similar happens in our faith life. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 St Paul writes, “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians+5&version=EHV>
Luther terms this the wonderful exchange:
“That is the mystery which is rich in divine grace to sinners: wherein by a wonderful exchange our sins are no longer ours but Christ’s and the righteousness of Christ not Christ’s but ours. He has emptied Himself of His righteousness that He might clothe us with it, and fill us with it.
And He has taken our evils upon Himself that He might deliver us from them… in the same manner as He grieved and suffered in our sins, and was confounded, in the same manner we rejoice and glory in His righteousness.”
–Martin Luther, Werke (Weimar, 1883), 5: 608.
From <https://tollelege.net/2009/11/19/a-wonderful-exchange-by-martin-luther/>
We often treat this exchange of Christ’s righteousness for our sin as stolen valor. We make this part of our story. Yet, we know that we did not earn it. We feel that we do not deserve it. We can’t fathom why Christ has made this gift. And that is what it is: Christ’s gift.
Even more than that, I consider everything to be a loss because of what is worth far more: knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have lost all things and consider them rubbish, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, which comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God by faith. I do this so that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, in the hope that in some way I may arrive at the resurrection from the dead.
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%203&version=EHV>
We have the righteousness of Christ now. Knowing that, how should we live that reflects Christ’s righteousness in us? What experience and expertise do we need to cultivate to make tangible “the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:1 EHV)
Being in the Body of Christ is part of the answer. As the greeting in 2 Peter 1 says:
To those who have obtained the same kind of faith as ours in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Peter%201&version=EHV>
This righteousness, this valor, is not stolen: it is yours now “so also grace would reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:21 EHV) For further study read Romans 5.
Trust the Promises
Steve Skiver