April 13, 2021 A CHOICE TO MAKE
ROMANS 7:18 “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.” Romans 6:17-18 “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” Romans 8:1-2 “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
Romans chapters six through eight are loaded with truths that we must come to grips with if we are to mature in the faith; it would be good to read and re-read these chapters and ask God to reveal His truth regarding what we read. Let me say at the outset that I am convinced that misunderstanding what Paul is saying in Romans 7:14-25 is the one greatest error of the church today; if we misunderstand these verses, we will constantly feel that we are both fleshly and spiritual at the same and will feel that we are bound to sin. HERE THIS: Romans 7:14-25 was not Paul’s testimony; these verses are not a picture of the life he was living-they described his life he lived in the flesh, before he came to know the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Many today misuse these verses to justify their sin, saying that “Paul sinned,” “We all have a sin nature,” “We are human, we can’t help but sin-we are not perfect.” (Do not misunderstand, I am not suggesting that we come to a place of ‘sinless perfection.’) There are dozens of scriptures that make it abundantly clear that what Paul writes in Romans 7:14-25 is not a description of the life we have in Christ Jesus; it is a description of a life lived according to the flesh. If the power of sin is not broken, then Jesus’ death and resurrection did not accomplish what we say it did. It is sad, but I have heard believers say that they cannot help but sin when certain circumstances arise. If there is a force or power in us driving us to sin and we are helpless-we are to be most pitied. Here is the crux of it: if we sin, we do so by choice-there are no valid excuses for sin. We must make the choice of walking according to the Spirt, or according to our flesh. The old sin nature has not been annihilated, but it has been rendered powerless if we walk according to the Spirit-that is the good news of the gospel. We do not have to sin! We have been “set free from the law of sin and death.” When we are tempted to sin, we have the power to say no to that temptation: temptation is not a sin, yielding to it is. I John 2:1 tells us “My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (It does say ‘If’ we sin, but I know that we as believers will at times find ourselves guilty of some sin-but we have to know that we sin by choice.) The point is that as new creations, we have the victory over sin. If what I am presenting is new or if it contradicts what you presently believe-that’s ok, but be willing to re-think it and check it out in the scriptures. There is a lot more to explore on this subject, but I trust that this will awaken us and motivate us to search out the scriptures with an open mind with the goal of discovering our true identity as sons and daughters of God. Let us no longer walk according to our old nature; let us walk according our new nature-the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 5:16 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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