Divine Immunity

While living in the Midwest and braving the long winters, I began drinking hot tea. This habit was solidified after moving to Canada, whose rich British history and cultural hospitality are tightly intertwined with the serving and drinking of tea. Now, most of the year I like to start my morning, and sometimes end my day, with a warm cup of tea.

I was incredibly grateful, then, when I received a box of tea bags recently as a gift. The taste was so pure I didn’t even need to add my usual cream. Several days passed before I realized this particular kind of tea was called “Divine Immunity.”

What a coincidence, I thought. That’s what I have.

Because I’ve believed and received Christ, I am “immune” to the threats of death. In the words of 1 Corinthians 15:55, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O grave, is your sting?” We are free from the penalty, the power, and soon, the presence of sin (note: that’s not original). Through justification, a product of God’s grace (Rom. 3:24), we are freed from sin’s penalty. Another has paid the debt we owe.

Christians are also immune to sin’s power through sanctification, which happens through the working of the Holy Spirit as the believer submits to God. We have been crucified with Christ and we no longer live, but Christ lives in us (Gal. 2:20).

Finally, believers will be free from sin’s presence through glorification, when God transforms our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body (Phil. 3:21). The Christian is free from sin forever (Rev. 3:21), and those who stand firm to the end will receive the crown of life the Lord has promised to those who love Him (Jas. 1:12).

Christians are not immune to the great evil or suffering in our fallen world. Children die. The innocent suffer. There is painful betrayal and grief and loss that hurts the heart of God. Yet the penalty and power of sin pose no threat to our eternity. We need not grieve like those who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13), and we need not succumb to temptation when we have the faith that overcomes the world (1 Jn. 5:4).

Not only are we “immune” but our immunity is divine. It comes from God. Because of Christ, believers are immune to God’s condemning wrath and judgment. Jesus took and bore what we deserve so we don’t have to. I think of vaccines. That which would ordinarily do great harm doesn’t because we’re protected. Likewise before God, we’ve been made righteous—we have “divine immunity”—not because of some organic tea leaves but because Someone else made the greatest sacrifice.