I have been going to different web sites that I used to visit and I see what they call the Gospel is still being preached and taught, stronger than ever I guess because the Internet has opened up the whole world to spread most any message people want to put out there.
The old Gospel message I believed for over a quarter of a century is still the same which is you have “to do this to get that” and continuing doing what ever “that” is in order to escape the flames of hell. It is still a work oriented redemption that is preached and I don’t expect that will change anytime soon.
Now that I see the Gospel for what it actually is I can also see that all the preaching and teaching that is done contrary to the true Gospel can not change the fact of what happened at the cross. It is what it is and it is a done deal and a true fact that God sent His Son to redeem the entire human race and that is exactly what He did.
Many do not believe Jesus did this for the entire human race and they are putting fear in people’s hearts by telling them they have to be careful or they will burn forever when they die. Of course in the same breath they preach that God is love which is something I find hard to figure out. However, whatever is being preached out there cannot change the fact of the cross. It is something that cannot be changed.
Some say well you have to believe it for it to be yours. Since when does believing something make it true? Is it not true whether you believe it or not? Believing something does not make it fact. It is already fact which is why you believe it!!! You cannot change the fact that the cross was the redemption of the whole world and that remains a fact whether you believe it or not.
It is time to realize that the event of the cross cannot be changed. You can fight it, preach it with your own understanding, teach it with a passion and try and make people believe it is not true and you have to do something to obtain it and whatever else you can come up with, but you cannot change it.
You can come up with your own interpretation of what the Bible says and you can do your best to pass that along to others but you still cannot change what actually happened at the cross. Trying to fight this is only in the mind and leads many to frustration because it soon becomes apparent when you try to keep the rules and regulation put out there by the church; it is something that is impossible to keep. If what most churches preach that you have to do to get into heaven was true, then we are all in deep trouble, including the ones that preach it. It is impossible to make it to heaven by what you do or don’t do.
You cannot change the fact that your redemption was done totally and fully apart from any of your involvement in it and that it is yours whether you believe it or not. You cannot change the fact that Jesus paid the penalty for the whole world. You cannot change the fact that all sin was looked after by His sacrifice. You can not change the fact that God had a plan for the redemption of the entire world and that that plan was fully carried out by His Son at the cross. You cannot change the fact that He placed all under unbelief so He could have mercy upon all. You cannot change the fact that all means all and not just a few like is preached out there. You cannot change what is already fact!!!
I am no longer bothered by what anyone believes or says about what I put here on this site when it comes to the redemption of the world. I have come to a full realization that the work of the cross is complete and it is what it is. It cannot be changed by me or anyone else regardless of what I do or don’t do. Trying to make it look like it isn’t so by the preaching and teaching out there has no effect on what actually transpired at the cross. It is what it is and you CANNOT change it!!!
In the many years since first beginning to learn about Jesus and what He did at the cross, I always heard that the battle we were fighting, and it was a battle for many years, was us having to choose between Jesus and the devil. It was always a matter of making a choice as to whom we would serve on any particular day and on the days the devil was stronger than Jesus, we would fall back into some of the things we were told were not pleasing to the Lord and of course then we fell into condemnation because of whatever it was we were told was sin that we had fallen into.
But today as I was reading 1 John 3:8 we see that Jesus was “manifested to destroy the works of the devil.” Now if we believe Jesus accomplished what he came to do, which I do whole heartedly, then how can it be that the battle is still between Jesus and the devil? How could the church leaders that were supposed to be teaching us tell us that we had to choose between Jesus and the devil? This of course placed a tremendous burden on all of us because each time we would do something the “church” said we should not be doing we immediately assumed we had chosen to follow the devil on that particular day. On other days when we thought we were doing good, we assumed we had chosen to follow Jesus instead of the devil.
When I look back at some of these teachings it almost makes me angry to think I even for one minute thought these teachers knew what they were talking about. How can I for one minute think that I still have to choose between Jesus and the devil in my everyday living? I suppose I still can in my mind if I believe that Jesus did not accomplish what He came on earth to do. There is no doubt my mind can still feel alienated from God but that is exactly what it says, it is only in our minds that we feel alienated and think we may be following the devil instead of Jesus. It is impossible to be alienated from Jesus regardless of what we may do or think.
So what is this battle we are supposed to be fighting? Is it because we have chosen to follow the devil instead of following Jesus? Or is this our minds telling us another lie because of the indoctrination we have received over the years by listening to the preachers that are preaching a false system that they call the Gospel? I believe it is the latter. It is not an easy thing to try and move away from years of indoctrination because our minds are easily influenced by what we have heard “pounded” into our heads for years and years. However, easy or not, it is something we must move away from because it is not the Truth of the Gospel. To move away from a stand we have taken and stayed with it for years and years is not easy but I believe it is extremely important to do so when Truth begins to be revealed to our hearts.
To remain in or return to a system that we now know to be false can only bring more bondage. The Truth is geared to make us free so anything that brings bondage cannot be Truth. The Gospel of grace and peace is something that frees us to see ourselves as God sees us and to quit trying to figure out God. I no longer try and figure out how God operates but now see myself as God sees me, which is in Christ. I am also learning to look at others in the same light because God sees the entire human race in His Son.
I am not sure if I understand what or who or where this “devil” is or how he/it operates in this present world. I somehow lean towards believing that it is mainly our minds that control our daily choices, whether they are good ones or bad ones. I am not sure I can blame an external force that tells me if I am to choose to follow Jesus or follow the devil on any given day. I believe our choices are made totally by ourselves and it is not a matter of whom we will follow or fall prey to, but a matter of what choices we will make in this life.
The choices we make while we live here on earth are very important because when we make bad ones, there are consequences to these choices. Can I blame the devil for these choices I make? I somehow feel that is trying to place the blame on something or someone else when in fact it is our own choices we make with our own minds. It is very easy for us to try and lay blame on someone else for the misfortunes we may be experiencing but when it comes right down to it, we are responsible for our own actions here on earth.
When the question arises as to whether we can make a “choice” of going to heaven or hell I think if you have read some of the posts on this site, you will know that I believe that this has nothing to do with our choices. The fact remains that Jesus redeemed the entire human race and our (all of humanity) destiny is already secured through the obedience and faith of Jesus Christ.
The question of whether the devil is real in this present world I suppose remains unanswered for me. A few of us have been discussing this over the past few days and weeks but can we come up with an answer that we know to be accurate? I think not. I suppose this is something that each one of us has to settle in our own minds as I doubt very much anyone has a true and reliable answer to the question.
One thing I am convinced of is that it is NOT the way the evangelical church has presented it to be and that is we chose whom we will follow and suffer the consequences, whether they be good or bad. I know that I do not choose to either follow the devil or Jesus and that the battle is between the two of them. Jesus destroyed “the works of the devil” which is a subject for another post at some point. The works of the devil are definitely not whether I go to bars, dance commit adultery or whatever else we may think it is. But whatever that work was, it was destroyed by Jesus at the cross. He redeemed mankind from that “work” and we are now free from the clutches of whatever that was.
In Romans 1:16 Paul says it quite plainly that he is not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ and he goes on to say that it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. The word salvation can be used in the same way as redemption if it is used to say that we were saved from the condition of sin. The entire world was “saved” when that word is used in that respect. In this particular instance it is not talking about redemption but about salvation of the soul.
To use the word saved in that way is saying that the world was saved apart from their involvement or belief because it was at that time that God redeemed the entire world. And it is proper to use the word saved in that respect when referring to the world having been redeemed. This of course being the time the world was reconciled back to God and the condition of sin was removed from mankind by the obedience of Jesus Christ on the cross. So pertaining to redemption, everyone is saved. Pertaining to the soul (mind, will emotions) not everyone is saved as it is an ongoing process.
However once the plan of redemption was completed 2000 years ago, Paul talked about the need for people TO BE saved. The same Paul that said that all people were saved (redeemed) is the same Paul that said people still needed to be saved. Remember that the term saved as used by Paul is applicable to the situation he was talking about at the time. I am not talking about any particular place right now but just generally where Paul used the word saved. We have to see what he was talking about at the time. It is the same as any other verse we may use. We have to make sure we use it in its proper context or we will confuse the issue further. The salvation Paul mentions when referring to redemption, is something that was done between God and Jesus and mankind had no involvement in it whatsoever.
We can now look at whether salvation is instantaneous or is it a process? I have heard it said both ways and I think it is safe to say it is both. If you are using the word as it refers to redemption of mankind back to the Father, it is instantaneous. If you are using the word as it refers to our soul which is you mind, will, emotions, intellect etc, then it is a process. So it is really both but the vast majority of places the word is used in the New Testament it is referring to the soul.
Because we are in the process of being saved it does not mean we have not been redeemed (saved). There is a salvation that brought redemption to the entire world and there is a redemption that has the potential to bring salvation to the entire world. The salvation that brought redemption has nothing to do with man’s belief or involvement. Knowing about that redemption leads to salvation of the soul. Salvation of the soul does not lead to redemption, keeping in mind what the soul is.
I know there are many theories as to when this salvation occurs in different people and many questions are raised over this to which I don’t have the answer. I know when mine began to be made manifest in me and that was almost 30 years ago. I am still very much in that process and the total fulfillment of that will not occur in my soul until I pass from this life. None of us know what the afterlife will be like and can only speculate which is why I leave the subject alone.
This salvation is what Paul called in Romans 12:1 the renewing of the mind. This is the salvation that this whole world still needs as it has to do with the soul (mind, will, emotions, intellect). So there is a salvation (redemption) the whole world has received and there is a salvation the whole world needs. The salvation the whole world has received was the salvation of being set free from the condition of sin and has nothing to do with man’s belief. It was totally done by God through Jesus and His obedience. The salvation that the whole world needs has to do with man’s belief.
I personally very seldom use the word salvation when it comes to the redemption of the entire world. I prefer to separate the two and simply use the word redemption. Earlier on in this writing I wrote about the use of the word salvation being used when referring to redemption because I know there are some out there that do not separate the two words and that is fine. I find that it is easier to explain if you make a separation of the two.
So each time I use the word salvation I am using it in context of the renewing of the mind and not the redemption of the entire human race. When I use the word redemption, I am talking about the event of the cross and what Jesus did there for the entire world. This is the Gospel that Paul talked about. I think the two words should be separated. So if I was asked the question if I am saved or not saved? I would say I am in the process of being saved (my mind) but I have been redeemed (saved) at the cross.
When it comes to the evangelical church they believe your belief gets you redeemed and you end up missing hell because of your belief. This is self righteous as it says they are redeemed because of something they do which is of course believing. When we look at anything we do for redemption it can be called nothing but self righteousness. Our belief system is not involved in our redemption. Our belief system is involved in the process of salvation (renewing) of the mind. This is the process where we begin to understand who we are in Him and also who everyone else is in Him, and that leads to salvation of the soul.
The only salvation that people need at this time is for their hearts and minds to be delivered from the concept they are measured by God in any form of actions they may perform. There is no other salvation that is needed in the world. As I said earlier in this post, when the word salvation is used to indicate redemption, it is not something that is needed any longer because it was fully accomplished at the cross. The knowledge and belief of this redemption is what is needed by every one of us and that brings about the process of salvation that is so needed by the entire world. The world does not need to be redeemed. They already are redeemed. They need to be saved from the wrong mentality that redemption is based on our ability to do anything to gain it.
The reason the world does not need to be redeemed is because we were “in Him” at the cross when Jesus was at the cross. This redemption did not happen when we said some sinner’s prayer somewhere. What the world needs is to be saved so they can see redemption. Our minds need to experience salvation and see the redemption that has already been completed. This is where I saw the need to separate the two words.
Romans 1:17 says for therein is the righteousness revealed. What does he mean by “therein”? It means the righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel which is the redemption of all mankind. The righteousness of God is revealed in the knowledge of the fact that we are redeemed. That is the beginning of the process of the salvation of the soul.
Are we still redeemed without having this knowledge of redemption? Of course we are as it was done for all mankind and apart from mans involvement. When this righteousness begins to be revealed in our soul, then the salvation process is at work. In most places we see people begin to have a knowledge of Jesus Christ and His Gospel (redemption) through a threat that if they don’t believe they will go to hell and burn for all eternity. No one should begin their process of salvation of the soul in that manner. You should not come to know good news through someone preaching bad news to you. Salvation should come to the soul through the knowledge of righteousness that came through redemption.
Is it important to separate redemption and salvation? I think it is very important because in the vast majority of the places the word salvation is used it is not referring to redemption. The word saved is used 37 times from Acts to Revelation and in all but four of these times it means to heal, preserve, save from self and be made whole. So we see that it is not referring to redemption but to the salvation of the soul.
The word salvation appears 39 times from Acts to Revelation and the meaning (according to Strong’s) is “to rescue physically or morally”. Again we see the meaning of the word refers to the soul and not to redemption.
I think it is important to separate the two because of their two totally different meanings and also to what they refer to. In my own case I have found this distinction between the two words has made it quite clear in my mind and heart that it’s important to know what the words mean and to take them in their proper context. If we separate them it certainly makes it easier to understand what is being talked about when either of the words is mentioned.
I know some use them interchangeably and as I said earlier in this post on this, there is a meaning of the word salvation that refers to redemption. I personally find it easier to understand their meaning when I separate them. I am not sure if I have explained this as well as I should have but hopefully I have shown a bit as to the importance of their separation. As I have mentioned before, when I saw the difference between the meaning of these two words, it made redemption much clearer to me and salvation of the soul much clearer as well and easier to understand.
My greatest struggle with Chapter six of Romans has been that I looked at the word sin as my and other people’s actions. I always saw it as something I did wrong or something I did not do that I should have been doing. I never saw it in the light that I now see it which is the fact that it is not talking about my deeds and wrongdoings. It is talking about the sin of one man Adam which was the sin of unbelief. When looking at it through the proper perspective it takes on a whole new meaning and it becomes clearer as to what Paul was talking about. As you read further in these posts keep what I just said in mind and it will make it easier for you to understand as well. The issue of sin and its meaning has been on my heart for a long time now and I simply cannot lay it aside until the Lord gives me the proper understanding of it. I will continue to study it and read and re-read not only the New Testament but also the Old Testament scriptures that deal with that subject to see what it means.
I am convinced it is a topic that has baffled and confused many people over the years. I know it has for a lot of us in this area and I know that because we have had many discussions on this very subject. This subject is something I need to understand. I think it’s something that needs to be made clear in our own minds so we can better understand what the meaning of sin is.
I am not saying I have come to a full understanding of this any more than having come to a full understanding of the cross and what Jesus did there. What I am saying is that it is important to know what it means when it says sin is dead as well as saying that we are dead to sin. I have been keeping quite busy over the past several days looking at this very subject and I feel the Lord is beginning to shed some light on it for me.
Understanding correctly is part of the process of salvation of the mind will and emotions (soul). I pray the Lord would open our understanding as He continues to reveal Himself to us and we better understand this awesome redemptive plan He instituted before the foundation of the world and completed it through Jesus at the cross.
In Romans 5:20 we see that the law entered that the offense might abound. This is talking about the offense of one man (Adam) and that is made clear in verse 18 where it says that by the offense of one judgment came upon all men unto condemnation. The law entered so the entire world could be declared guilty before God. We must notice here that it is not offenses that is being talked about but the offense (singular). It is not talking about actions on our part but is talking about the one offense that Adam did which was passed on (Rom 5:12) to all men.
The law entered with Moses that the offense of one man might abound and be put to the account of the whole world. The word abound means to increase or “to do or make to be more”. The law did not enter to straighten everything out. It entered to show that by one mans transgression, it was placed upon every human being. We see throughout Romans chapter 5 that the sin talked about is the sin of one man (Adam) and it is NOT talking about any actions or deeds we ourselves may commit. So if is not our actions, where did sin abound?
Verse 20 says that the law entered that sin might abound. It’s saying the law entered so that Adams transgression would be shown as having been passed to every person in the entire human race. Note the past tense of this word…sin abounded. I am sure we have all heard at one time or another that the term there was said to be abounds which made us think that it was in the present tense instead of past tense. When you look at the word as past tense it takes on a totally different meaning of course.
When reading this verse in its proper context, is it possible that sin does not abound anymore but that it abounded in times past? I think that is exactly what Paul is saying here. I know we have all heard sermons preached that tell us that sin abounds today but that is not what it is saying. It is not talking about places like San Francisco or any other part of the world where we have been told evils lurks in every corner. This has nothing to do with that at all. Sin abounded under the law. If sin abounded under the law and where there is no law sin is not imputed (held against anyone) does sin still abound? I think it is clear that sin does not abound anymore. Again keeping in mind that sin mentioned here are not our actions and deeds.
I know there are many evil and bad things going on in every part of the world but that is not what this is talking about. To say it is talking about present day evil things is taking these verses out of context. I know this is not what the doctrines we have learned before say this is, but when you go to the Bible and search out what it is really saying, we have to leave those doctrinal traditions aside and let the Lord show us Truth. The Bible was not written to validate our doctrines but to show the lordship of Jesus Christ and His plan of redemption.
Now let’s look at the last part of verse 20, keeping in mind that it says sin abounded, and see what it is that “abounds” now. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. We see here that it does not say that grace abounds now but in this context it is saying that grace did much more abound. Grace abounded at the cross. God took one man’s sin (Adam”s), applied it to the whole world through the law, and nailed it to the cross. We see that through the cross God took the sin of one man’s disobedience and judged one Man for the sin of the entire world.
He then, through the obedience of one man (Jesus) made grace much more abound and righteousness was passed on to every man. We have seen that sin did have its reign until the death of Jesus Christ (v21) but now we see that grace has taken over. Does sin still reign? No, it only reigned until its death, which is His death and then His grace now reigns. How long will grace reign? The latter part of verse 21 says it reigns for all eternity. I realize that some of the things I am saying here are foreign to most but we cannot base our beliefs on what we have always heard in times past. Whether it sits well or not, truth is truth. We cannot and should not twist Bible verses to suit our preconceived ideas. We must take our ideas and lay them aside and when we see the Truth of the Word come forth, that is what we must believe regardless of our religious upbringings.
Sin had its reign as we have seen. It abounded to all men through the law. It was killed at the cross when Jesus was crucified. Its reign has ended because grace much more abounded when Jesus resurrected. That same grace is now reigning instead of sin and that is for all eternity. The bad things that are going on, and they are numerous, is not what these verses are talking about. Those bad things are horrible and should not be. Those issues should definitely be dealt with in people’s lives. I am just saying that these verses we have read are not dealing with the present evil in the world. They are dealing with the offense of one man (Adam) and that is only one offense and not many like we may have believed. That one offense was passed on to the human race. The abounding grace that now reigns has also been passed on to the entire human race as well.
I know a post like this may raise a lot of questions in the readers and it has in me as well. I don’t claim to have all the answers and of course I know that I don’t. I am on a journey to learn what the bible actually says and not what I may think it says. If saying that sin no longer reigns and it is not popular in the majority of people’s ears to hear such a thing, then I make no apologies for what the Bible actually says. One thing to remember is that if grace is reigning then sin cannot be reigning. It has to be one or the other.
Romans chapter six starts off with a question that asks “shall we continue in sin”. We must remember that Chapter 6 of Romans continues on with the same pattern as Chapter 5 did. In Chapter five it was dealing with the sin of one man and one man only. That was the sin of Adam and not our actions and deeds. Chapter 6 continues on addressing the same thing as Chapter 5.
Should we still continue in the sin of unbelief of one man? That is the question being asked as Adam’s sin was the sin of unbelief. It is really asking should we continue in this unbelief that grace may abound. Verse 2 answers the question quite plainly. God Forbid!!! Should we be continuing in Adam’s sin of unbelief which is living under law? How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Shall we continue in Adam’s transgression that grace may abound? How do we know Adam’s sin of unbelief is dead? Just read Romans 5 21 again and it will tell you that the reign of sin ended. It only reigned until death. Note that these two words are past tense. Hath and reigned. Both past tenses. How did we become dead to sin? We became dead to sin when Jesus died and took the sin of the whole world upon Himself which was Adam’s sin of unbelief. When did sin’s reign end? It ended with the death of Jesus Christ. When did righteousness come to you? With the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
How do you live in sin? You can only live in sin by living under the law without Christ. You cannot live in Christ and live in sin. When were we placed in Christ? At the cross when the reign of sin ended. Please remember again that the sin spoken of here is not our actions and deeds. It is talking about the sin of one man Adam. We have all been told that if we are living in sin we are not living in Christ. If you are looking at this through the law instead of through God’s righteousness than it will look like people are living in sin because then we look at their action which is what the law does? In the context of the book of Romans sin is dead so we must know it is talking about the sin of one man.
Verse 3 says we were baptized into His death. Where did the sin that Romans talks about end? It ended with His death. If we were baptized into His death then we were baptized into the end of the sin of Adam and we have been baptized into Christ. Think about this….baptized into the death of what? We were baptized into the death of Adam’s sin of unbelief. Verse 4 tells us that we were raised with Him as well. It also says we should be walking in newness of life. Does that mean we never do anything wrong? If it does than none of us are walking in newness of life.
Verse 17 in chapter 5 says we shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. This is the newness of life it is talking about. It is talking about knowing that sin is dead and we now reign in Christ. If you know you have been planted together in the likeness of His death we also have to know we also have the likeness of His resurrection. Can any of this be through our works? No of course not. It is fully through the death burial and resurrection of Jesus.
The term sin turns up in two different parts of speech. One of those places it is a verb and in other places it is a noun. Now we know that a verb is not a noun and a noun is not a verb. They mean something totally different from each other. Even though they may be the same word they can have an entirely different interpretation. A verb as we know is an action or a deed. It’s something that you do. A noun is something that you are; it’s a person place or thing.
The word sin in the Book of Romans turns up 45 times. This word shows up 44 times as a noun and only one time does it show up as a verb. The word sin is a noun and therefore it is a condition, it is a person a place or a thing. Sin is a person. Adam was the person of the man of sin. He is the one that introduced this condition. So when we begin to see that sin is not imputed where there is no law he is telling us that the actions and deeds of somebody else could not, by the law, be imputed unto you. The law was never given to point out your fault. It was given to point out the sin and transgression of one man Adam so we could understand that we do not have that condition because we are in the last Adam Jesus Christ.
We have seen in chapter 5 that sin’s reign ended in the death of Jesus Christ. One mans disobedience and its ability to separate the human race from God was ended with the death of Jesus Christ. When we look at the word sin and we look at it in the term of a verb, which are actions and /or deeds then we have a misunderstanding as to what the word means. The first part of Romans 6:1 asks “shall we continue in sin”. We could read it this way “should we continue in Adam” that grace should abound. He was the person that brought sin into the world and it was imputed to everyone through the law. It had nothing to do with our actions or deeds.
Romans 6:2 says we are dead to what was in Adam so how can you live any longer in it? We are completely dead to sin, keeping in mind that the meaning of sin is not talking about your actions but talking about the unbelief of Adam. You are dead to its condition. You are no longer therein. The incredible thing about this Gospel is that it shows that when Jesus died you died with Him. How dead to sin (Adams condition that he passed on to all) are you? How dead was Jesus to this condition? That is how dead you are to it as well. Verse 5 says we have been planted together in the likeness of His death which is what killed Adam’s condition of sin. The likeness of His death does not mean your actions and deeds died with Him. Those are more than likely very much still with you. What He took to the grave was Adam’s condition of sin because we have seen that it is a noun and not a verb that it is talking about.
I don’t know if I am explaining this well or not but I know that over the past several days I have begun to see the sin that Romans is talking about in a brand new light. Throughout Romans 5 it was talking about Adam’s transgression that was dealt with and the same continues on in Chapter 6. The chapters and verses were added there by man and when Paul wrote this he was writing a letter. We tend to stop at the end of one chapter and think that because we have moved on to another chapter the subject has changed. This is not so and it is taking things out of context. Read Romans 5 and 6 keeping in mind that the word sin is talking about Adams condition and not your actions and deeds, and you will see that book in a totally new light.
Romans 6:6 says our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed. The condition of sin was destroyed that henceforth you should not serve sin. You should never serve that condition of sin. How do you serve that condition of sin? You serve that condition by constantly trying to resolve the issue of sin between you and God. You go back into serving sin when you try to do anything to gain favor with God or to try and be acceptable in His sight. You do not become a servant to sin by doing wrong. No, you become a servant of sin by going under the law which is the strength of sin.
Verses 4 and 5 plainly say that you are dead because we have been buried with Him. We were baptized into His death. Verse 7 says that if you are dead you are freed from sin. This is again a noun and not a verb. This is not talking about being freed from actions and deeds. If being in Christ means we will never do wrong again then none of us are in Christ. We are freed from being under Adam’s condition that he passed on to all mankind. We are free from living under the unbelief that he passed to all. That condition was crucified with Christ. Our old man is crucified with Him that the body of sin might be destroyed. What is the body of sin? The body of sin is the body that was in Adam and his condition. It has been destroyed. We are now in a new body, the body of Christ.
Verse 8 says that if we be dead with Christ we shall also live with Him. How do you live with Him? You don’t live with Him through actions and deeds. You live with Him knowing that you have died with Him. If you believe that you died with Him you also have to believe the condition of sin died with Him as well and you have to believe you are living with Him. Nothing survives crucifixion. We were raised together with Him according to Ephesians 2:6. The word together there means “to rouse from death in company with”. Verse 9 says that Jesus was raised from the dead and dies no more. I am sure all of us believe that Jesus will not die anymore. Death has no more dominion over Him. When He rose again He conquered death and it has no more power over Him. Sin has no more dominion over us anymore than it has dominion over Jesus because we were raised together with Him.
I know these truths are not according to the tradition we have learned in the past and it may be foreign to some. However, when this is studied and the proper meanings are attached to it, you can then see how this was a huge part of the redemptive plan of God apart from our involvement on our part in it. Like a friend of mine said in one comment, “he didn’t even leave the born again part up to us”. He did that for the entire world as well. He left nothing up to us when it comes to being redeemed. Absolutely nothing.
Verse 10 says that in that He died He died unto sin once. How many times did He need to die for sin to be destroyed? Once. Always keep in mind what has been said that sin is. If you look at any of this through your “old eyes” that sin is your actions and deeds, then you will have a problem understanding this. If you understand this through the proper understanding of what sin is, then you will see how much clearer it gets. Paul is telling them there is an issue that we must resolve when it comes to sin. When the word sin is looked at as being actions and deeds that we do then we look at the external actions of people and conclude they are living in sin. To see this in its proper light, it is vitally important to see what sin isn’t.
Verse 11 Likewise reckon yourselves also to be dead indeed unto sin, but in that He liveth He liveth unto God. This is quite clear we are dead to sin. The word likewise there means “so in like manner” we are to recognize that we are as dead to sin as Jesus is. Jesus died once to sin. We died once to sin as well because we were in Him. Think on the word likewise for a while. Meditate on what it says. It is saying in the same manner as Jesus is dead to sin so are we. And that in the same manner He is dead to sin, which is through crucifixion that is how we are dead to sin also, through His crucifixion (Gal 2:20). We do not die to sin by our own efforts. We do not die to sin by trying not to do this or that. The only thing you can compare now regarding your relationship to sin is to see what relationship Jesus has to sin right now. That has to be the comparison because it says likewise; you are the same as He is with respect to sin.
You cannot compare your relationship to sin through the law. You must compare your relationship to sin through the lordship of Jesus Christ. Through the law you are going to see yourself as a sinner but through grace you are going to have to see your relationship to sin through Jesus’ death burial and resurrection. We cannot view anything except through the death burial and resurrection of Jesus. This applies to sin as well as anything else. The likewise in verse 11 does not only refer to the sin question but it also refers to being alive unto God. How alive to God is Jesus Christ? In likewise manner so are you. If you look at the law and it says if you do this or that you are a sinner, then you will see yourself as a sinner. But lets remember the law is dead and the just shall live by the faith of the Son of God. It is also not our faith, but His. That is another subject I will soon write about.
Are you righteous because you follow the law? No, you are righteous because you are in Christ. No law can supersede the incredible power of the righteousness you have freely been given from God through the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He completed His plan apart from any of our works or belief. I know it is difficult to see that all this is ours without our belief. Difficult or not, it is a fact that it is apart from our belief. If it was the case, that you had to believe for it to be true, at what point would you know if you have believed enough? No, it is all about Jesus and nothing about us at all when it comes to redemption. Reckon yourself dead because He is dead. Reckon yourself alive because He is alive. Remember the words likewise and together. They really have great significance in our understanding of the cross.
Romans 6:13 says we are not to yield our members as instruments (literally weapons) of unrighteousness unto sin. How do we yield our members? That is done by falling back under the law because where there is no law there is no sin and there is no transgression. The last part of that verse says we are to yield ourselves to God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Yield yourself to faith (His faith) and not to law because the law is not of faith. Verse 14 continues on by saying that sin will not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under grace. Is it saying it is because you will never do anything wrong ever again? No, it is saying sin will not have dominion over you because you are no longer under law.
The whole concept previous to chapter 6 and all the way through chapter six has been the issue of being in sin. What puts you in sin? Actions and deeds? No, the thing that puts you in sin is being under the law and believing that you have to do something to become righteous. Look at verse 14 again….sin will NOT have dominion over you because you are not under law but under grace. Romans 5:21 tells us that sin hath reigned unto death. It is dead and it has no more reign. The last part of verse 21 says that grace now reigns for all eternity. It is not talking about any actions or deeds that are going to bring life to you. It is talking about the prescription for life itself. It is the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ that brings grace and life living in your conscious mind. Through knowing this you are able to reckon yourself indeed to be dead unto sin and alive unto God.
How dead to sin is Jesus? I think we would all agree He is totally and fully dead to sin. Likewise that is also how dead we are to sin. Stop looking at actions and deeds that you or anyone else does as sin because that is not the context of these chapters. I am not saying there are not many things in people’s lives that need to be changed. I think that goes without saying. Don’t approach your behavior from the position of sin consciousness but approach it from the position of righteousness consciousness. This is not challenging whether anyone does right or wrong. The challenge is how you view it. Are you viewing your behavior as a sinner or are you viewing it from a position of righteousness? If you view yourself as having the righteousness of God in operation in your life and that no sin will ever be held against you, you can then begin to see the grace that was so freely given to all mankind.
The problem lies with us not knowing our identity. If you do not know your identity in Christ then you will continue looking at your actions and deeds as if that is what the Bible calls sin. We have seen, and in my opinion proven that sin is not actions and deeds. If you look at yourself in your true identity, then you will see yourself as righteous and holy and perfect in God’s sight. When you see this you will begin a quality of life based on God’s righteousness and not your own self righteousness. You will see that your life is not based on the law and the sin of the first Adam. Look at Jesus’ standing on all these issues, and likewise look at yourself the same way.
Romans 6:15 says What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? God forbid. This is the one place in Romans that the word sin is a verb and is talking about going about and doing wrong. It is the only place in Romans where the word sin is a verb with all the other 44 places it is found being a noun.
Verse 16 continues on by saying and asking “don’t you know”. In this verse the word sin is no longer a verb but a noun and it is not talking about actions and deeds. It is asking if you are going to continue in Adams offense and transgression and unbelief that leads to death or are you going to follow after the second Adam and His righteousness that leads to life? Remember it is not your actions that lead to death. It is the offense of one man Adam that leads to death. Keeping this in focus now, is it your obedience that leads you to righteousness? It is saying that obedience leads to righteousness but it is not our obedience. As by one man’s disobedience (Adam) sin was passed on to all men and as with the obedience of one man (Jesus) righteousness was passed on to all men as well. Neither one is talking about your actions but the actions and obedience of the first and last Adam. Your obedience can never make you righteous. It is talking to yielding to the obedience of Jesus Christ that leads to righteousness.
Verse 17 says but God be thanked, that you were (past tense) the servants of sin, when you were under the law and at that time you were serving sin. You were serving the condition of sin by yielding yourself to the law. But God be thanked that you have obeyed or believed from the heart (not obeyed by your actions and deeds) that form of doctrine whereto you were delivered. The conclusion of what this is talking about is found in verse 18…being then made free from sin (you were made free…you did not free yourself) you became servants of righteousness.
What a huge transformation this is. Under the first Adam you were slaves to sin, even if you did everything right, but now you are slaves to righteousness. The word slave means being a prisoner to something and being into something you cannot escape from. Under the first Adam you were a slave to sin whether you were obeying the law or not obeying the law. The law was the prison guard that held you captive. You could not get out of that prison by yourself regardless of how hard you tried. It was not your actions and deeds that held you there in the sin of the first Adam, it was the law.
Romans 6:19 says as you have yielded your members to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield ye your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. Paul was speaking to them here after the manner of men because of the infirmity (weakness, frailty, feebleness) of their flesh. They were obviously like most of us still are and somewhat weak when it comes to understanding this awesome Gospel. The weakness that we have in our flesh becomes very apparent in most of us at times I am sure.
Verse 20 says you were, not are, the servants of sin. You were free from righteousness. There is no mixture here at all. You are either in sin (operating in under Adam’s unbelief) or you are in righteousness. You cannot be in righteousness and be in sin at the same time. What he is saying is that when you were under the law you were a servant of sin but now the law has been crucified (it became flesh) and you are no longer under the law therefore you are under righteousness. Under the law they were completely free from righteousness. There is no way they were or could become righteous under the law.
Verse 21 he asks them what fruit they had in those things. The things he is talking about the things they used to do under the law to try and become righteous. He further tells them they are now ashamed of what they did under the law to obtain favor with God. The answer of course to the question of what fruit they had in those things is none. The only thing it caused them was shame when they saw they were trying to obtain something that was impossible to obtain. Righteousness is not obtained by our works. Going back under Adams condition of sin under law is called living in sin.
This is not sex, drugs and rock and roll like some say. It is not your actions and deeds. It is actually your “good works” that you are trying to gain favor with God by doing. You mean I can be living in sin by doing good? Yes, if those good works are something you are doing to gain God’s favor and obtain righteousness. That is living in unbelief because you are trying to become something you already are which is what Adam did in the beginning. Remember the tree in the garden was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Not just the evil tree but it included knowledge of good as well.
Verse 22 that now that they have been freed from sin, keeping in mind the “noun” meaning of sin, they have become servants of God and the end of that fruit is everlasting life. This everlasting life doesn’t come through your actions and deeds. It comes through the righteousness that is in Christ Jesus that was freely given to every person on earth. You have become a slave of righteousness. You have been captured by God and made a prisoner of righteousness.
Romans 6:23 says the wages (penalty) of sin is death. Whose death is this talking about? It is talking about the death of Jesus Christ. In that He died He died unto sin once (v10). The wages have been paid for sin which was death. I know we have all been told that if we sin it will kill us. Well keep in mind that this “sin” is not our actions and deeds we have to understand who paid the price for Adam’s offense. Jesus paid the penalty totally and fully on our behalf. This is not directed to us at all. It is a revelation of how Jesus paid for the sin of the whole world.
The last part of the verse says “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. After He had paid the penalty for sin through His death He rose again so we have eternal life. When this Gospel of Grace and Peace begins to make its way into your heart and soul you will not be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine that comes around. It is something that will firmly establish you in His grace, knowing it has nothing to do with your belief or will.
It will make you free to be who you really are. Your true identity is based on what Jesus did and not on what you do or have done in the past. You will see that Jesus paid the full price (wages) for the sin (Adams’ offense) of the whole world. Why for the whole world if it was Adam’s offense? Because as by one man sin entered into the world and that sin was passed on to all. In this same manner (likewise) righteousness was passed on to the entire world through the last Adam, Jesus Christ.
Is there something for us to pay when it comes to “the wages of sin” as mentioned in this verse? No, the full price was paid by Jesus at the cross. That’s why He could say “it is finished”. His mission on earth was finished and He had fulfilled everything He had come to do. He paid the full price (wages) on our behalf. Because He paid that price we now have God’s gift, Jesus Christ our Lord.
We have heard many times I am sure that when you sin after you have become a believer in Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit will convict you of that sin. If you do something wrong then it is widely said that you will get conviction. This is taken from John Chapter 16 verses 7 to 11. As I have mentioned many times in these posts, this is just another example of scriptures being told to us they mean one thing when they actually mean another thing. It’s time to turn some of these Bible verses right side up and get their true meaning. The word sin in this case is a noun and it is not talking about actions and deeds the same as it is throughout Romans.
Jesus says after He has departed He will send the Comforter and He lists three things that the Comforter will do after Jesus is gone. He will reprove the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. Let’s look at all three of these and see what the Jesus was saying here.
Verse 9…of sin, because they believed not on me. The Holy Spirit is not here to reveal fault. So what does it mean He will reprove the world of sin? The word reprove properly translated means convince (convict). The Bible is clear that Jesus did not come to reveal anyone’s faults. We also know that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit agree as they are one. So if Jesus was not here to reveal faults and the Holy Spirit is here doing just that, they would be in disagreement. If Jesus made us righteous and the Father sees us as holy and blameless in His sight and the Holy Spirit is here pointing out faults, how can we say they agree? It looks like we would have a disagreement going on here. There is something wrong with that picture. If the Holy Spirit sees fault and Father and Jesus don’t, who is He going to report to? :--))
So what is being said in verse 9? Who does it say the Holy Spirit will convince of sin? Those who do not believe in Him whom God has sent. If you believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world and that He has brought us this incredible righteousness, then you do not qualify for convincing (conviction) of sin. The ones that qualify for this are the ones who have not believed. This has nothing to de with redemption, but salvation of the soul which is the mind, will and emotions. When you bear in mind that sin here is a noun and it is talking about unbelief being the transgression of Adam, then you can understand what He means by convincing of sin because of their unbelief. If you believe, you cannot be convinced of unbelief (sin).
In verse 10 He says “of righteousness. The reason He says of righteousness because He says He is going to His Father. Ephesians will tell you what happened when Jesus went to the Father. He raised you up and made you to sit in the Heavenlies with Christ Jesus. This is what He means by the convincing of righteousness. It is because we know what He came to do and when we know He is gone back to the Father we are convinced of His righteousness being ours.
Verse 11 says “of judgment”. The Holy Spirit is not here to tell you about a judgment to come. He is here telling you that judgment has passed. This was done at the cross of Jesus Christ.
If you are under the law you are going to hear a voice convincing you of your faults and failures. If you are under grace you will hear the Holy Spirit pointing out to you that you are righteous and holy. God is not pointing out your faults. The Holy Spirit will continually try and convince you that you are righteous and holy and also that judgment has passed. He will try and convince you that you are living in unbelief (sin) as it is made clear in verse 9.
When you see someone or yourself for that matter doing something that you know it is breaking one of God’s laws that He gave, and you judge either yourself or that person by what they do or don’t do, you then become a Pharisee. It does not make you a good Christian by keeping the law nor does it make you look good in God’s sight because you are trying very hard to keep His law and do good. You don’t have to do anything to look good in God’s sight because you already look, not only good, but perfect in His sight because He looks at you in Jesus.
If you are looking for freedom by trying to do something to attain it, you will remain in your bondage. There is no church program or leader that can do anymore for you than what Christ has already done. If you are looking to man’s programs and preaching to make you free than you are on the wrong road. You cannot add anything to the finished work of the cross. Some people may be able to help you by pointing out what Jesus has already done for you at the cross but that is the extent of the help they can give. If you are being told that you are to try harder and continue to try then you are going deeper into bondage in whatever it may be you are struggling with.
The Gospel is a revelation of what has already happened. The same as the law was a revelation of what had already happened. The law was a revelation of the condition of man before the law ever came. Sin was in the world before the law ever came. Was the law given to straighten out the situation? No, it was given to show just how terrible man’s sin was. It was given so man could see their condition because as we have seen, man thought they had to do something to get right with God. The law revealed there were none righteous, no not one. Like my friend Randy says “under the law there were none righteous, no not one…under Christ there are none unrighteous, no not one”. I think that is something we have to ponder on and see what it really says.
The law was given for man to come to the conclusion that he was hopeless. It was to show there was no possibility to ever make it in this life by keeping the law. How ludicrous it is when the vast majority of us came to knowledge of Christ and the church system immediately placed us back under the law. We experience such joy when we come to Christ and then we are taught what we must do or not do to continue on and the first thing that goes is that joy that was so awesome.
The reason is all these rules and regulations (law) reveal what is wrong with you and how can you continue in joy and peace by continuously being told what is wrong with you? It is not a very happy day when all you hear is what is wrong with you and never hearing what is right with you. That was the purpose of the law and it did its job quite nicely. It is time we heard what’s right with us because of the cross and not because of what we do or don’t do. It doesn’t make you a better person by having your faults pointed out all the time. All it does is add more fuel to the fire and it makes you struggle even more.
If you are somewhere that you have and are being told you have to keep all their laws, rules and regulations to make yourself right with God, you are NOT hearing the Gospel of Grace and Peace. The Gospel you are hearing is another Gospel as Paul mentioned in Galatians and he called them stupid for even listening to it. The Gospel of Grace and Peace is a Gospel about what is right with you in spite of your failings and shortcomings because it was all done for you at the cross apart from any involvement on your part. Be careful who you listen to.
Those of you that read this blog on a regular basis know that I believe that redemption has been provided at the cross for all mankind. I have made this quite clear as you first open the blog by what the description of the blog says. Of course the name All Included says it all as well.
I said all that to say this….I know I had been told for the past 28 years or so that we as people that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ now had a great responsibility to win those that are lost. To win the lost meant I had to witness to them about the saving grace of our lord Jesus Christ and whenever possible get them to say a sinner’s prayer; I guess to make sure this was sealed and somehow make sure they “meant” the words of this prayer and were remorseful and repentant.
Today I am thinking of a discussion that a friend of mine had with a person who is very faithful at church attendance and what ever else a “good Christian” is supposed to do. He posed these questions to this man which is this….do you believe the Lord made a covenant with us and in that covenant lays the responsibility for us to win the lost? Is it our responsibility for us to tell people about Jesus so they will repent and in the end will not have to spend eternity in hell? This man that this question was posed to would be a man that has been under the teaching that the answer from his denominational teaching would have to answer yes to this question, if he was to be answering honestly. And his answer was, as far as I know, yes.
Let’s look a bit at why I think the answer to these two questions was wrong and not according to scripture. It may be according to the vast majority of what denominations and Christians out there will teach but is that really how it is? First let’s look at who God made the covenant with. The new covenant was not made with us to begin with as God had made many with the Jews and each and every one was broken. The covenant was made between God and Jesus Christ. He actually made a covenant with Himself as Jesus is God.
That covenant of course was so that people would be redeemed back to the Father as Adam had gone into unbelief and that had been passed on to every human being. So where does the responsibility of winning the lost lie? It lies of course with Jesus and not with us at all. That responsibility was His and when He had accomplished the task of redeeming the world, He said it is finished. The responsibility was never intended to be upon mankind for the lost to be redeemed.
If you are a person that believes that you have to tell people about Jesus in order for them not to go to hell, then I hope you are spending all the time you have available to accomplish this huge task. Even when you are sleeping, if this type of responsibility has been placed on you, there are people slipping into hell for all eternity. If that is your belief than I would suggest that you spend as much time as is humanly possible in warning people about the danger they are in. I know if you really believed this, that is exactly what you would and should be doing. If you examine yourself you will see that deep down you don’t really believe it is your responsibility because I am sure if you did, you would be doing something about every person you come across like neighbors, friends, family etc. If you come to the conclusion that this responsibility was not placed upon the human race, then you also have to come to the conclusion it was placed upon Jesus and then you have to decide as to how many people were lost (all) and how many people he redeemed from their lost condition (all).
No, redemption was a total work of the cross and none of it was placed upon us. Think about how ludicrous it would be for God to have placed a responsibility as huge as making sure people don’t go to hell on us as human beings. Would it have been feasible for Him to trust imperfect human beings with such a task? No, absolutely not. This responsibility was placed upon His Son because it was a perfect sacrifice that was required in order for this task to be perfectly accomplished. How many were lost and how many did He win and keep from hell? The answer to both of those questions is all. All included.
When Adam began to look at things in the manner that “this is wrong and this is right”, which was after he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, His mind immediately began to see things in the wrong perspective. The mind of man began to look at what he must do or not do to be right with God. The mind immediately began to see God in the wrong way. To help man come to the end of that false belief system that he had to do good things to be right with God and when he did bad things he was not right with God, God applied His law.
This law that He applied was not a law which man could keep nor could they attain right standing with God through it. It was plainly said in Galatians 2:21 that if righteousness could be attained by the law then Christ died in vain. If the law could have been kept by any man in order to be made right with God, then there would have been no need for Jesus to come and die on the cross. Why do we, most of our lives strive to keep the law to be made right with God when it is very clear in many places that it does not have the capacity to make us right with God?
Trying to keep the law is not what produces a good Christian life simply because God made it very clear no one could keep the law. The Law of Moses is not a partner with the sacrifice of Jesus to produce a good Christian lifestyle. The law is against the grace of God. It doesn’t make the law unholy or unnecessary for that matter. The law was perfect to do the work it was intended for. The law did have a purpose which it did very well to fulfill.
The purpose that God gave the law is not the same purpose that man has always used it for. Man has used it for them to feel good about themselves because they glory in that they keep this one and that one and think they live good holy lives because of the few they keep. It is also used extensively to condemn others. The law was not given to straighten out the human race. It was given to show mankind that their ways are not the right way to be made right with God. Keep in mind that if you break one of these laws you have broken them all.
When God saw the direction that man (Adam) had taken, He gave His law to show man it was not the right way and it would show there was none righteous, no not one. The law was given to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24) and it was not given to straighten your life out. Your life can never be straightened by trying to keep the law or rules and regulations. You have to look at why God gave His law in order to understand it can never make you right with God. That was not its purpose when it was given and it is not its purpose today.
I might add the law was not given for us gentiles anyway as it was given to the Jews. So what happens is we are told we must begin keeping the law, which is impossible, but not only that we were never under law as gentiles anyway. Of course now there is neither Jew nor Greek, nor gentiles nor anything else because we are all one in Christ Jesus. We were all made one at the cross.
When we go back to Genesis we see it was man that partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was not just an “evil” tree as such but it also included good as well. When man (Adam) partook of that tree it was not God that changed His opinion towards man it was man that changed his opinion towards God. It was not God that turned His face away from man but it was man that turned his face away from God. It was not God that ran away from man but it was man that ran away and didn’t want anything to do with God anymore.
I know most of us have seen this the opposite way but when you read it in its proper context we see that is just not so. I know we have all had the perception that when Adam ate of the tree it was God that turned the other way and wanted nothing to do with man. This is just not so. When you read the account of it in Genesis it just does not bear out. It was Adam that went and hid from God (Gen 3:8) and not the other way around.
When God asked Adam why he hid from Him he replied it was because he was naked (Gen 3:10). Well if you go back a bit and read you will see that Adam was already naked before he ate from the tree. He no longer saw God the proper way and he decided he had to hide from Him. Unbelief had entered to the extent that Adam no longer saw God how He really was. He didn’t believe God any longer and he hid from Him. Man’s problem began in the way he perceived God and not how God perceived man.
This problem is still very much prevalent today. When we see God as angry, and ready to pour out His wrath and judgment upon us, we tend to want to hide from Him. God does not hide from man to this day. Man will try to do everything he can in order to get right with God because of fear and a total misunderstanding of how God looks at us. We will be like Adam and feel naked before Him and will want to hide.
All this does is what it did to Adam and that was He went into unbelief. It was not his actions and deeds that made him hide from God. It was that he no longer saw God the way God really was. He had acquired knowledge of good and evil and he didn’t believe properly any longer. He saw God as angry and ready to pour out His wrath upon Him. He was seeing God in the wrong light. When we begin to see ourselves the way God sees us, which is in His Son, and then we no longer feel naked and want to hide from God. We see Him as Who He really is, a God of love and compassion that loved us enough to give His Son to die on a cross for us. We can then see ourselves as He sees us which are righteous and holy and perfect because we are in His Son.
Over the past several weeks I have had the privilege to have several “email conversations” with a good Internet friend from England. One of the things we talked about was the issue of sin and not only it’s meaning but also its consequences. Since that time I have read a bit in Genesis where the fall of man is recorded and I have made these few observations that I will share in this post. I must say I have never seen this event the way I see it now. I always saw it the way I was told it was and that was that God just chased Adam out of the garden because He couldn’t stand to look at him any longer.
In Genesis 3:22 we see that God says man had become like one of them and knew good and evil. Note that this is not saying that it is just evil but good is included in that as well. So why was Adam sent forth out of the Garden? The remainder of verse 22 tells us that God did not let him stay in the garden lest he eat of the tree of life and live forever. Is that not good that he would have lived forever? Yes that is good except for one thing, he would have lived forever in his fallen state of unbelief and that was not God’s plan. If you look at the latter part of verse 24 you will see why God did not want him to live forever in his fallen state and that was so that the “way of the tree of life” would be kept.
The way of the tree of life? What does He mean by that? He means the way of the cross that was in the future although already completed as far as God’s plan was concerned as it was done before the foundation of the world. But it still needed to be physically done by Jesus coming to the cross. The whole concept of why Adam was taken out of the garden was so he would not eat of the tree of life and live forever in his fallen state of unbelief. God had a plan that in the future he would totally destroy this race he had created and would replace it with a brand new creation.
Had he left Adam in the garden of course he would have eaten from the tree of life, then mankind would still be in their fallen state and would live forever in that state. That was simply not the plan. The plan was for the way of the tree of life to be manifested so that man could live forever in their new creation state and not in their fallen state which would have happened if Adam had partaken of the tree of life after having partaken of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
God wanted the way of the tree of life to be kept as planned. The way of the tree of life has been kept as planned before the foundation of the world and that is why we can live as new creations in Christ. We now partake of the tree of life and have everlasting life because of it. That way that God wanted to keep was the cross and the end of the world as stated in Hebrews 9:26. The word world there does not mean the end of the planet but the end of an age and more specifically the end of the Jewish reign on earth.
I know that over the years I believe Adam had been banned from the garden because he had sinned and God could not look upon him any longer. There is nothing in the account of the fall of man that even remotely hints at this at all. I know I had personally taken this and believed it because I was told that’s what it meant. However, upon reading this more closely, I see that it was a total false belief.
The fact that God did not turn his face away from man continues on in Genesis 4:14 where Cain, after having killed Abel, thought that God would hide Himself from him. When we read verse 15 we see that is just not so. The Lord makes it clear that if anyone touched Cain because of what he had done; God would take vengeance on him sevenfold for doing this very thing. And not only that, God placed His mark upon Him to ensure that no one brought harm to him. Remember also that this is not a light thing that is being talked about but it was actually a murder.
Does that look like God had turned his back upon mankind because of what Adam did? No of course not. We see again that it was man that turned away from God and not God away from man like we have always been told. God does not turn away from you because of your actions and deeds. What happens is, because we misunderstand Who God is and how He looks at us, we turn from Him and not the opposite like is commonly preached.
Over the more than twenty years of faithful church attendance I was taught many things about many different subjects, not only from within the church but from the over 1000 books I had in my possession as well. These were from many different authors from a wide variety of denominational and non-denominational persuasion.
Some of these were prosperity, baptism, gifts of the spirit, how to live right as well as what living wrong meant and the consequences thereof. When I look back at how many different preachers/teachers/ so-called prophets I listened to it is mind boggling as to just how many different views I came across. I guess I didn’t realize just how many different directions all these teachings came from and I am only now realizing just how many different things I listened to regarding my relationship with God.
Today as I write this and I begin to reflect back on all these things I mentioned above and the many, many more things I have not mentioned, I am realizing that it is possible to teach on all these things and leave Jesus out of the picture totally. There was always one extremely important factor left out in all these different views. I am realizing that the vast majority left out the cross and what happened there over two thousand years ago.
We have to know that at the time the Old covenant and all its rules, regulations and laws came to an end, it was because Jesus stepped into the picture and went to the cross. It was to reveal to them that no amount of keeping rules and regulations or laws could offer them the righteousness that God required of man from the beginning of time. He came to show the world there was nothing they could do to gain favor with God. He showed them throughout the Gospels that it was an impossibility for man to attain right standing with God.
When Jesus and the events of the cross are left out of all these teachings, then religion develops. You cannot have a proper teaching of Jesus and what He accomplished at the cross and at the same time teach religious rules and regulations. If you try to teach any of these things apart from understanding what happened at the cross than you have stepped into a religious teaching and you have to try and teach the flesh to behave and/or change. We know of course this is not possible.
The more I think about all the things I mentioned above that I was taught and read over the years, the more I see why none of it worked and why I had so much frustration. It didn’t work because Jesus and His cross were completely left out. There is no victory in religious teachings because when you teach from a religious standpoint you are not teaching the cross. The cross is left out and of course so is Jesus. I can see clearly now why none of it worked. It was never supposed to work nor can it ever work.
It seems that the proclamation of the Gospel of Grace and Peace goes against what modern day Christianity believes. When this Gospel is presented to people and you tell them that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world the vast majority will agree with you. If you tell them the work was all completed at the cross and it was done apart from ourselves, the answer will again be that yes they believe that. And of course I could list more things than that that the answer is “yes we believe that”.
The problem with these answers is what they add to the sentence after saying they believe it and that is the words but, and or if. Yes we believe that whole heartedly but…..you continue on and the same thing crops up, we believe what you are saying if or and…………… If you look at the work of the cross (death, burial and resurrection) of Jesus I cannot see where there is any room for the word “but, if or and”. It is a finished work and if you add the word “but this” or “if that” or “and that” than you are adding to what it says. As a friend of mine Bill says when he is confronted with the word but, he just comes back and says “but what”? He tells them “I thought you said you believed this and now you say, yes but!!!
There can be no additions to what He did at the cross. Jesus did not die and resurrect with any conditions that we can say “yes He did all that but we have to do this or that or the other for it to be ours”. That is adding something to the message of the cross that just isn’t in the Bible. When we begin to add anything we have to do then we make it a Gospel of works to obtain and attain something that has already been done on our behalf. His last words were not “it is finished but, if or and”. His last words were it is finished. Period.
I know we all have a tendency to want to try to help this redemption plan along so that we can say , well look at me and what I do and also look at me and all the things I don’t do and that is just human nature to want to do that. To be able to rest in what He did at the cross we have to get past that and realize we play no part in our redemption. We cannot do anything to get it nor can we do anything to keep it nor can we do anything to lose it.
The work of the cross does not contain a “but, and or if” as that places the onus on us to do something for this redemption that was done totally apart from our involvement. Just look at work of the cross as a finished work that was fully and perfectly finished by the Son of God who was on a mission to redeem the world back to the Father. God did not place any conditions on this redemption and it was done because we could do nothing to obtain this. Leave the words “but, if as well as and” out of it and rest in His finished work.
I am continuing on a bit further with regards to the scriptures which I have posted over the past couple of days. By what I have read in the New Testament and the instructions that were given by several of the writers, it becomes clear that they were being told, not only by Paul but by Jesus and the other apostles as well, that in order to validate truth you had to go back to what they called at that time the scriptures. What they called the scriptures at that time was the Law, the Psalms and the prophets. That is where they were saying that all Truth regarding Jesus Christ could be validated by going to the scriptures.
I believe that when we go to the scriptures and see what was prophesied by all the Prophets of old regarding the coming Redeemer, that all these prophesies were fulfilled at the cross by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that the Word became flesh and it was nailed to the cross and Jesus went to the grave and everything that was said concerning Him went to the grave with Him as they had been totally fulfilled as prophesied. I believe that when Jesus said “it is finished” that He was uttering absolute Truth and that all had been fulfilled and thus it was finished.
Can we still live under the law, the Psalms and what the prophets said? We can still try to live as if a lot of those things they said are still in effect today or to come in the future but it doesn’t change the fact that they have been fulfilled in the past. We can retain our mind patterns that tell us that we still have a judgment to fear in the future and the wrath of God being poured out upon mankind, but it doesn’t change the fact that judgment and wrath are both passed.
Many of us I am sure heard sermons preached from the Old Testament but I doubt if any of us heard any that said they were talking about Jesus. Like Cliff mentioned in a comment on my post a few days ago, he had heard many sermons preached form the Old Testament but not many that spoke of Jesus. There were some that were preached out of Isaiah that we were told they spoke of Jesus and the cross but they were few and far between. Jesus makes it clear that the scriptures all spoke of Him.
He is the word and the word became flesh and was nailed to the tree. So what happened to all those laws, rules and regulations? They became flesh and died. They went to the grave and He resurrected with a brand new race of people that were totally new creatures. I believe if we are to follow any doctrine we are to make sure it is validated in the scriptures. I think when Paul was saying he wanted to know nothing except Christ and Him crucified, he was saying that the scriptures spoke of a coming redeemer that would redeem the entire world back to God and He would accomplish that through His death, burial and resurrection and He needed to know nothing else.
I am not sure I would want to follow any doctrine other than that my own self. I have seen so many doctrines that are simply rules and regulations we are to keep to stay in right standing with God that I have decided to leave all those aside. If I am asked if I believe in healing, I answer I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. If I am asked if I believe tongues and interpretations are for today, I just answer I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I have stepped aside from anything I used to say I believe in and simply say I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever He has done is all I need to believe in. Everything else is a “side order” and I find their significance to be of very little importance, if any importance at all. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and His cross. Everything lines up with that statement and if you are trying to get anything to line up apart from that, then you are looking at a line that is not straight but it will take you all over the place. Line up everything with the law, psalms and the prophets (scriptures) and you cannot go wrong.