“in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—”

Jesus reconciles us to God by the death of his physical body. The heretics against whom Paul is writing rejected the true humanity and deity of Christ. They taught that Jesus only suffered and died only in appearance.

“in the body of His flesh through death”

The “body” here is the literal, physical body of Christ while he was on earth. There is no reconciliation without the bodily death of Christ (Heb. 9:22). There can be no actual death unless Jesus was truly human (Heb. 2:17; 10:10; 1 Pet. 2:24).

“to present you holy”

Jesus presents us positionally perfect before God by his death. The Lord Jesus will “present” us to God in a way that is acceptable to him. Our status before God will be eternal, infallible, unalterable. It will be the same status that Jesus holds before God. The word “holy” means set apart, and Jesus sets us apart unto God as uniquely his.

“and blameless, “

Jesus will present us “blameless,” not flawless or sinless. No Christian is without fault in his experience. “Blameless” means without spot (Eph. 1:4; 5:27; Phil 2:15; Jude 24). This spiritual privilege is more than mere acquittal. God will never bring any sin to our attention because Christ fully and adequately paid for them. God will not pick flaws and faults in us because of Christ.

“and above reproach in His sight—”

“Above reproach” is used five times in the New Testament Greek (1 Cor. 1:8; 1 Tim. 3:10; Tit. 1:6-7). It is a legal term meaning unaccused and, therefore, free from all charges. Satan accuses Christians (Rev. 12:10), but Jesus is our Defense Attorney (1 John 2:1) before the Father. Because of Christ’s death, the believer is free from any charge that Satan may lay against him (Rom. 8:33). Satan cannot lay a charge against us. Even though we may deserve blame, Christ’s death made our status before God undeserving of blame.

Neither Satan nor God will impeach the believer because he is unimpeachable because of the death of Christ. There is no possibility of God laying a valid charge against the Christian (1 Cor. 1:8; 1 Tim. 3:10; Tit. 1:6-7). He paid the price for sin for all; all to him we owe. 

“In His sight” means in the penetrating gaze of God. When facing God, Christ set us apart, especially before an absolutely holy God, we will be without blame before him, and he will lay no charge against us when we stand before him.

Principle:

At the moment of trust in the blood of Christ to forgive us, our status and standing before God stands perfect forever.

Application:

The perfect work of Jesus Christ is the genius of the gospel of grace. Religion does not provide an eternal standing before God for us. At the point of salvation, we become automatically and instantaneously free from accusation; we are positionally holy, without blame, or charge before God forever. At the moment we come to trust Christ as our Savior, God puts to our account all the exhaustless wealth of the Lord Jesus. We spend the rest of our Christian life learning of the wonder of what happened when we received Christ. We understand what we are eternally worth. The split-second we come to Christ, God puts to our spiritual bank account all that Jesus is before him.