Victory in Christ - Part 2

This is the next installment of a series I am writing concerning what Romans 6-8 teaches about our sin problem and God's plan for victory. To find previous installments do a search for the title: Victory In Christ.  Part 1 can be found here.

¹ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? ³ Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

The question then arises that since when sin increases, grace increases more, should we sin more so that there will be more grace? The answer in verse 2 is 'of course not!' Paul goes on to say, almost with a tone of incredulity, “How could we go on living a life of sin if we died to sin?” The fact is that when we were baptized into Christ at our salvation, we were baptized into Jesus' death. (I don't believe he is talking about water baptism here, but spirit baptism as in 1 Corinthians 12:13.) Being baptized into His death means that Jesus' death counts as our death. We went to the tomb with Him.

The result is that just as Christ was raised from the dead and was at that point free from the temptation and trials that sin brought before His death, we too should view ourselves as having died with Christ and should look at it as though we are on the other side of the resurrection. The truth of the matter is that we are on the other side of the resurrection as far as God is concerned. Ephesians 2:5-6 says, “even when we were dead in trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Our identity with Christ is so thorough that in a sense we are already in Christ in heaven. The goal then is to walk in newness of life, just as Christ does because we too were raised on that day.

Principle 2: Our identity is Christ and our position is 'in Christ'.

⁵ For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. ⁷ For he who has died has been freed from sin.

Paul then goes on to say that just like we have been united with Jesus in His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection. We were raised spiritually with Christ when He rose again, and our bodies in the future will also be raised.

The crucial point he makes in verse 6 is that when we died with Christ, what he describes as “our old man,” which I take to be the old sin nature went to the cross with Jesus so that the body of sin might be done away with, with the result that we would no longer be slaves to sin. The phrase “done away with” in some versions is translated as “destroyed”. As an argument in this direction he says in verse 7 that he who has died has been freed from sin. In other words after we die, sin won't be an issue. And we are to see ourselves as having died with Christ when He died. Even though we are actually still in the body and subject to temptation, the truth is that we have died to sin. Having died to sin means that sin has no power and no authority over us any longer to keep us in bondage. The chains have been broken.

Now, unfortunately, it doesn't often feel that way. It feels like sin still has a lot of power over us because of all of the habits we have formed in living our lives. But we should focus on the truth of what God tells us and not on how we feel at any given moment. Sin is deceptive and our flesh is vulnerable to habits and patterns of thinking. Both of these create a situation where we feel like sin still has the mastery. But it does not!

Principle 3: Because we died with Christ, we have been released from sin's power and authority.

Part 3 can be found here.

Victory in Christ - Intro and Part 1

Intro:

In my life experience, one of the most important passages of Scripture has been Romans 6-8. I believe that most of us have at least one area in our lives where there are nagging temptations; areas where we have a hard time gaining victory. I believe this passage along with some parallel passages provide us with the truths that are essential to victory and to receive grace and forgiveness. Perhaps the thoughts and meditation that I will share on this passage will be helpful to you as well.

The key idea here is that we need to know and believe the truth about God and what He has done for us. Then we need to act on that truth as if it's really true because it is. And finally, we need to allow our feelings and emotions to follow. We normally act on our feelings, letting them lead rather than the truth.

What I'm going to do is provide the text to this passage beginning in Romans 5:19 and then after each section comment on it bringing in other passages as necessary to explain how I think these verses can help us to become the kind of men God would have us to be. Sin is a fierce foe and these thoughts are not meant to imply easy steps that immediately solve all of our temptation problems. But if you take time to think through these Scriptures and meditate on them, I think you will find them helpful in the battle.

All of the scripture texts are from the New King James Version.

Part 1:

Romans 5:19-8:39¹⁹ For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. ²⁰ Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, ²¹ so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In Romans 5, Paul explains that Adam's sin was attributed to us because Adam was our representative. His decision to sin was counted as the decision of everyone in the human race and thus we all were made sinners at that point. We are sinners in our own right, but we were born sinners and guilty because of Adam's position as a representative of the race. In a similar way, Christ serves as a representative for all who are in Him. His obedience is counted as the obedience of His people. What we need to see here is that just as truly as we were made sinners by Adam's sin, those who are in Christ are made righteous through Christ. Often we think of the sin side as being more dominant than the righteousness side. Not so. In the passage just quoted, many were made sinners by one man's disobedience and many will be made righteous by another Man's obedience.

We also learn in this passage that the law entered so that the offense might abound. Romans 4:15 tells us that where there is no law, there is no transgression and 5:13 tells us that sin is not imputed against a person when there is no law. So God brought the law to people who were already sinners so that the offense might be increased. But, and that is an important 'but', where sin increased, God's grace increased all the more. The result is that just as sin reigns and is triumphant in the death that it causes, grace will reign and be triumphant unto eternal life. Sin cannot gain the upper hand over grace. Grace is always greater.

Principle 1: Sin abounds but grace abounds more! 

Look for Part 2 here 

 

Importance of Being in Christ - Part 7

What we have learned so far:

As Christians, we are in Christ. Being in Christ means He is our federal head; our representative. Also it means we died with him to the law and to the world – both the world religious system and the world system of lusts and temptations.

But it also means that when we died with Christ, we died to sin.

Romans 6:2 asks this question: “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” The author assumes that we would know the fact that we had died in Christ and that this would have an actual impact in our lives in the way we live. He goes on in the next verse to remind us that those who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into his death. That means that somehow, spiritually speaking, we were in Christ when he died and that his death counts as our death and that all of this precludes our living a life of sin.

In verse 6 Paul lets us know that our old man was crucified with Christ so that the body of sin might be destroyed and in the next verse lets us know that he who has died has been set free from sin. It's obvious that are going to have to take this by faith, because it certainly doesn't feel like we have been set free from sin. Sin seems to still exert enormous pressure on us. But notice what verse 14 says. Sin shall not have dominion over us. Even though sin is still present and there are temptations all around us, it does not have authority over us. It is a toothless tiger. We are not under obligation to it as we once had been.

How to put these truths into practice in the battle:

(Note that the following principles are based on believing and acting on the truth of what God has done and is doing, not on making man-made lists of do's and don'ts.)

First, we need to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. (Romans 6:11) This means that we are to count God's statements as true. It is not mind over matter. It is believing and acting on what God has told us.

Secondly, we are not to allow sin to reign. (Romans 6:12) Since sin no longer has dominion, we are not to allow it to reign. It will try, but it does not have the right to rule and so we should not allow it.

Third, we should not present our members as weapons of unrighteousness. (Romans 6:13) By members he means the parts of our bodies like our hands, feet and eyes. Sometimes we just hand over parts of our body to unrighteousness and then they are used as weapons against us. It's as foolish as a soldier handing his enemy his personal weapon so that his enemy can kill him with it. We have a choice as to who we give the members of our body to. Verse 13 says that we should give the members to God to be used for righteousness. So, you see, we have a choice. It is a conscious choice that must be made at each encounter with a temptation to sin.

The fourth thing to remember is that if we are a true believer in Jesus Christ, there is no condemnation. (Romans 8:1). We live under that umbrella that no matter how we falter and fail, there is no condemnation coming our way. That frees us to get up and try again knowing that God is working to help us do the right thing.

The fifth thing to remember is that I have been set free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2) There is a God-established law that sin results in death. A Christian has been set free from that. That is part of the salvation that we have in Christ.

Next, we need to understand that Jesus Christ was a man like we are except without sin. He was tempted, he got tired, he was a man. Because he was able to live his life without sinning, God tells us that in doing so he condemned sin in the flesh. In other words, he showed that man does not have to respond to temptations. He can overcome because of the power of God at work in him. That is what Romans 8:3 is telling us when it says that “he condemned sin in the flesh.”

Finally we need to realize that the requirement of the law is fulfilled in us as we walk according to the Spirit. The external law was never meant to accomplish anything except to show us our guilt and inability to keep God's commands. In the New Covenant God writes his laws on our heart so that it is in our heart to do the right thing and to live obedient lives. Even though we often fail, as we yield to his Spirit, we find ourselves fulfilling his commandments naturally.

Implications of Being in Christ - Part 6

Last time we looked at our death to the world and its religious system. Today we examine the implications of our death to the world's temptations and lusts.

Colossians 3:3-5 tells us that since we died with Christ we are to put to death our members that are on the earth. What does he mean by this? He goes on to explain what those are. He lists such things as fornication, evil passions, covetousness and the like. These are the things that are not to have a place in our lives. Our death with Christ is a powerful truth that helps bring into our behavior the facts that are already true of us. We have died with Christ and since that is true, we are to look at those behaviors as though they were targeting a dead man. They are empty and ineffective.

The apostle John tells us that the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life are not of the Father, but are based in the world. This world system is contrary to God and an enemy of him. John says that if the love of the world in us, then the love of the Father is not.

Dying with Christ means that we should no longer live according to the lusts of men, but for the will of God. (I Peter 4:1, 2) Peter says that we should arm ourselves with this knowledge. The person who has suffered to the point of death no longer lives for the passions of the world. These two things are contrary to the other. You can't have both the lusts of men and the will of God at the same time. It's one or the other. And the person who recognizes his spiritual death will follow the will of God. The truth that God wants us to understand is that because we are in Christ, when he died, we died with him so that Paul tells us in the book of Romans that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed so that we should not serve sin. (Romans 6:6)

But how does this work? How can my death with Christ give me any power to have victory over sin? This leads us to the discussion for next time. When we died with Christ we died to sin. We'll look more at this next time.

Implications of Being in Christ - Part 5

Here's what we have learned so far in this series of what it means to be in Christ.

1. We have learned that when we trust Christ as Savior, we are placed into Christ by the Holy Spirit. Our body and spirit are then part of Christ. He is in us; we are in Him.

2. He has become our Federal Head which means He represents us. Just as assuredly as Adam made us sinners, Jesus makes us righteous. His perfect obedience is counted as our obedience.

3. We died with Him to the law. The law no longer has jurisdiction over us because its demands have been met both by the death of Christ to pay the required death penalty and by the life of Christ that He lived on our behalf.

Today we want to consider the fact that when we died with Christ, we died to the world and its system. Some passages of Scripture you might consider as you read this are: Galatians 6:14; Colossians 2:18-23; Colossians 3:2-3; 1 John 2:15-17

In Galatians 6:14 Paul says that the world has been crucified to him and he to the world. There are two aspects of this world system that we want to consider. The first is the world's religious system of self-improvement and the second is the world's system of desire and temptation.

First then the world's system of religious self-improvement. In Colossians 2:20, Paul tells his readers that they have died to the basic principles of the world. What does he mean by this? Well, the first thing he wonders is why they are still subjecting themselves to religious regulations. By this he means regulations that stem from human design. Jesus said something similar in Matthew 5:19. he said that we should not teach the commandments of men as though they were God's instruction.

Why do we create our own regulations for religious purposes? I think there are a couple of reasons. One is so that we are capable of keeping them. The commandments of God are difficult. He goes way deep into the inner man and asks for not only outward obedience but for proper internal motivations. He says that hatred is murder and lusting is adultery. Who can keep those kind of commandments and still stand? So we create our own because we think God certainly could not require such difficult things of us. We lower the standards to our level, to a series of behaviors and habits that are pretty easy to accomplish if one puts ones mind to it.

The second reason we create our own religious observances is because we believe that making it to heaven is a product of our behavior. Instead of accepting the free gift of eternal life based on the merit of Christ, we try to make check lists so that hopefully God will see how well we have done and let us into his kingdom. The problem is that the checklists are ours and not his.

Paul tells the Colossians in 2:23 that these things all have the appearance of wisdom. But the problem is that they do nothing to solve the real problems. They do nothing to put restraint on our old human nature. They are part of a self-imposed religion, not the God ordained religion.

The point is that we are to consider ourselves to have died with Christ and that makes us dead to all of the competing systems of religious performance that would attempt to make us look good before one another in pride or to make us look good before God. We should reject any attempt to put ourselves under such man-made systems. Rather, we need to come to God His way. He tells us that the debt has been paid and salvation is being offered as a gift. To those who accept his offer, God provides complete forgiveness, the crediting of righteousness to our record and an eternal position as an heir of God and joint-heir of Christ.

Next time we'll consider the other aspect of the world system to which we have died and that is the system of temptation and lusts.

Implications of Being in Christ - Part 3

This is the third in a series of articles on the implications of what it means to be “in Christ”. If you haven't read the first two articles, you should probably do that before coninuing.

Here is a summary of what we've learned so far:

1. When we trust Christ as Savior, we are placed into Christ by the Holy Spirit. Our body and spirit are then part of Christ. He is in us; we are in Him.

2. He has become our Federal Head which means He represents us. Just as assuredly as Adam made us sinners, Jesus makes us righteous. His perfect obedience is counted as our obedience.

Because we are in Him, His death is counted as our death. We died with Him!

Romans 6:3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;

When we died with Christ, we died to the law, the world's system, sin, and in a sense, ourselves.

We'll cover each of these in succeeding articles, but for now let's begin with the Bible's teaching that as a Christian I have died to the law. First of all I will show you where the Bible teaches this and then we will discuss the implications.

Romans 7:3, 6: Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

The implications of this truth are far-reaching and life-changing. The first implication is that no charges can ever be brought against you if you are in Christ. Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” In Romans 8:33, Paul asks the question, “Who can bring any charges against God's elect?” The implied answer is no one because of all the Christ has done for us through his death and resurrection.

The second implication is that the power of sin in our lives has been broken. The reason for this is because the law gives sin its power. If you remove the law, the power of sin is also broken. Romans 7:5, 6 state it this way, “For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”

Notice what he is saying here. We have a sin nature within us and those sinful passions are aroused by the law. Think about what happens when you tell your kids that they can't have one of the freshly baked cookies on the counter. That command causes them to want one of those cookies.

In 1 Corinthians 15:56, Pauls says it this way, “The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law.”

Some of you are concerned with the thought of being dead to the law. The first thought is that if others hear this, they might just start living any way they want without regard to right or wrong. You're pretty sure that you won't do that, but what if others misunderstand the freedom that comes with being dead to the law? We'll get into the answer to this in other articles, but for now the short answer is that God gives a Christian his Holy Spirit which works out the requirements of the law from within. We'll look at this further in the coming days.

The third result of this truth is that the pressure to be proud and to judge is removed. If my sins are so great that I must have Christ to pay their penalty and then receive from him his perfect righteousness, and if I become dead to the law so that it's power over me has been removed, then I won't be seeking to place under the power of law. I will be seeking their release as well.

We'll examine the fourth and fifth implications of this great truth next time.

Importance of Being in Christ - Part 2

In the previous article we observed that a person who has truly trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ has been placed into Christ and is said to be “In Him”. This brings us to one of the most important concepts from the New Testament that we need to understand and that is the meaning and importance of Federal Headship. Adam and Christ are each the head and representative of a people. Adam is the representative of those who are in him and Jesus Christ is the representative of those who are in him.

In the book of Hebrews, the writer relates a story from Genesis 18. This story involves Abraham and a priest named Melchizedek. Here's the short version of the story. Melchizedek blesses Abraham and Abraham gives Melchizedek ten percent of all he owns. It's important for you to know one other piece of information and that is that one of Abraham's great grand-sons, Levi, was designated as a priest for Israel. He and his children after him were to serve in that role. Now here's the important detail that will help us understand the way Federal Headship works. In Hebrews 7:4-10 the writer tells us that Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek because he was in Abraham when Abraham paid the tithes. In other words, Abraham paid tithes on behalf of Levi because Levi was in him even though he had not yet been born.

So the basic idea is that it is possible for a head or representative to make a decision or take an action that is then attributed to those who are “in him”.

This is exactly what happened when Adam sinned. Look at Romans 5:12 – 21

Verse 13: Before the law, sin was in the world, but it was not imputed when there is no law.

What does not imputed mean? It means that sin was not counted against people when there is no law. And at that time there was no law in force. For example, there was no law against lying, but people still lied.

Verse 14: Nevertheless – Even though sin was not imputed, death reigned.

This tells us that somehow sin's penalty was still on these people, even though sin was not imputed.  People were telling lies, but those sins did not count against them and yet they died. Why?

The answer is that Adam's sin counted for the people who are in him. Romans 5:18 tells us that through one man's offense, death came to all men.

So we can say it this way: Truth #1 – Adam's sin was imputed to him and all of his descendents who were in him. Because all of us were in Adam at the time he sinned, his sin was counted against all of us. So even when there was no law for those early people, they were still guilty of sinning because Adam had voted as their representative to sin against God.

That doesn't seem just or fair, but here's where it starts to get interesting. In verse 14 we learn that Adam was a type of him who was to come. Who is that? Jesus Christ. Adam was a type or a picture or an example of Jesus Christ. Just as Adam was the representative or head of a group of people, Jesus Christ is the representative or head of a group of people – but not all the same people.

Let's go on. Verses 15 and 16 tell us that the free gift is not like the offense and it is not like the results Adam had. Notice the difference. The offense of Adam brought death and condemnation to many. On the other hand, grace and the gift that came from grace brought justification to many. Through the righteousness of one man, Jesus Christ justification of life came to all men. He summarizes it all in verse 19 of Romans 5, “For by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience, many were made righteous.” Paul writes about the same topic in 1 Corinthians 15:22 where he says that in Adam all die, but in Christ all shall be made alive. That means that all those who are in Adam are condemned because of Adam's sin, but all of those who are in Christ will live because of Jesus' righteousness.

Truth #2 – Christ's righteousness is imputed to all who are in him. In the same way that everyone who is in Adam had his sin imputed to him, so also everyone who is in Christ has His righteousness imputed to Him. Notice that neither one of these acts of imputation by our head has anything to do with our actual behavior either righteous or unrighteous.

So we see that what is going on here is more profound that what we usually think. We usually think about our sins as the cause of God's judgment against us, and that is true. But it is a deeper problem than that. Adam brought the whole human race under the judgment and condemnation of God. He represented us in that decision and consequently we all face judgment.

But the good news is that in that same way, Jesus came and lived a perfect life in a human body and died on the cross as punishment for our sins. And so it is not simply a matter of being forgiven. What has happened is that if we have trusted in Christ, we have been placed into Christ. Since we are in Christ, his perfect obedience to God counts as our perfect obedience. His righteousness counts as our righteousness. And so even if we think of ourselves as always falling short and not measuring up, God does not see it that way. He sees us as perfectly righteous because of what our head and representative has done.

To see more of this series, look for Importance of Being in Christ in the title or put that phrase into the search box on the blog.

Importance of Being in Christ - Part 1

The New Testament refers to people who have been born again as being “in Christ”. I've been doing a lot of thinking about this topic over the years and would like to spend some time having us think about it together. I think the implications are huge for those of us who desire to live lives that are pleasing to God and lives that are growing in Christ-likeness.

The first question I would like us to consider is this: How do we get into Christ and what does it mean to be in Christ?

First of all then, how do we get into Christ? Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:30 "Of him are you in Christ Jesus." So it's God's doing that anyone is in Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12:13 we're told that in one Spirit we are all baptized into one body. In Matthew 3:11, John the Baptist said that he baptized with (in) water for repentance, but Jesus who would follow him would baptize with (in) the Spirit. Therefore we know that Jesus baptizes, or places, each believer into one body, and that body is the body of Christ. When a person trusts Christ and believes on Him, he receives the Holy Spirit and is joined to Jesus Christ.

But what does that mean? In some way that we can't understand we are united with him. We are one with him. We become part of him. He is in us and we are in him. There is an identification with him. There is a federal headship involved in which what is true of him is true of those who are in him. Decisions he makes are counted as decisions we make.

Let's look at some Scripture passages:

Our physical bodies are one with him – Ephesians 5:30 “For we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones.”

1 Corinthians 6:15 “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?”

Our spirits are one with him – 1 Corinthians 6:17 “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.”

1 Corinthians 2:12, 16 We have the mind of Christ.

Other thoughts

In John 15 Jesus said that he is the vine and we are the branches. He said that without him we can do nothing. The vine and the branches are really all one organism. It's sometimes hard to tell where the vine stops and the branches begin.

Paul told the Colossians in 1:29 that as we work, it is God who works in us.

In John 17:21-23 We find complete oneness. Christ is in us and we are in Him. The Father is in Him an He is in the Father.

In 2 Peter 1:4 we find that we are partakers of the divine nature. This is what the new birth is, isn't it? God raises us from the dead and gives us life. We are new creatures – old things are passed away, all things become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Understanding this first concept is important for understanding what is to follow. A person who is a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has been placed into Christ and somehow is one with him.

To see more of this series, look for Importance of Being in Christ in the title or put that phrase into the search box on the blog.