Even after justification, the soul of the
believer continues to indwell a body of sin and death. Sin and death continue
to be a functional law within our mortal body. The issue moving forward now is
not your justification; that is a done deal. Nothing can change our
justification and peace with God through Jesus Christ. The issue moving forward
is whether you're going to live under God or under sin. Paul draws attention to
this choice by saying,
Rom 6:11-13 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (12) Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. (13) Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Notice that Paul is not yet even talking
about law. At this point in Rom.6, it's not about whether you're under the law
or not under the law. Sin has nothing to do with the law; sin was in the world
before the law ever existed. When God took the law out of our way, it didn't
get rid of Him. Is there still a God on the throne? Yes, there is. He removed
the law, but there are still standards of living. God wants you to live unto
Him. You couldn't do it by the law, which is why He took it out of the way. The
problem wasn't the law; the problem was you. You couldn't live unto Him by the
law.
Paul said, "I, through the law, am
dead to the law, that I might live unto God." God took the law out of the
way because you couldn't live unto Him by the law. Moving forward, sin is not
an issue of whether you're justified and going to heaven when you die; sin is
an issue of you living unto God, which a justified believer should want to do.
Sin gets in the way of your relationship with God and your ability to walk in
the spirit.
In summary, we are to walk in faith that we
are dead to sin, since sin cannot affect our justification before God, and that
we are dead to the law, since the law has no power to make us righteous. We are
not to put ourselves under either of these because they are detrimental to our
position and walk as Christians. God has delivered us from both sin and law,
but it is up to us to believe it and then live it. Romans 8 is the advice Paul
gives us as to how to live it.
Rom 8:1-14 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. … (4) That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (5) For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. (6) For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ... (12) Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. (13) For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
To walk in the Spirit, we must first know and understand our doctrine, then be obedient to its influences and instructions within us. Our lives ought to be shaped around the knowledge of our doctrine within our mind. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, Eph.4:23, and give into obedience of it unto righteousness, Rom.6:16. That is the will of God for you in this dispensation of grace, 1Tim.2:4.
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