January 18, 2022 TWO LAWS
Romans 8:1-5 “There is therefore 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. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did; sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,”
I encourage you to spend some time reading and meditating on Romans 7 and 8 where Paul gets to the heart of the issue of law and grace. There are only two possibilities: we live under the law of sin and death (the flesh), or we live under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. According to many scriptures, we see that it is possible for one who has trusted Christ as Savior and has been set free from the law, to revert back to living according to the law. (See the book of Galatians) But the focus for today is on the fact that we can live according to the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus! Trying to live under the law is burdensome, and leads to frustration and un-fulfillment. The law was given to show man that he was incapable of keeping the law and that he needed a Savior. “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” Galatians 3:24. A central theme of the New Testament is that we have been set free from the law through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and can now live according to the Spirit. We now stand before God with our sins atoned for by Jesus being the perfect sacrifice for our sins. We are no longer condemned because we cannot keep the law; by our faith in Christ, there is no condemnation for us. Those who are in Christ have been justified and made righteous in Him. Because we are justified and have been made righteous, and are now sons and daughters of God, we can enjoy fellowship with our heavenly Father. As alluded to above, it is possible for a believer to revert back to living according to the flesh, which is sin; living according to the flesh is a downward spiral leading to spiritual death. We are called to walk according to the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus; only in the Spirit do we find life that satisfies. We must understand that God has done all He needs to do in order for us to live according to the Spirit; we make the choice to do so. Walking according to the Spirit is a matter of continually choosing to do so because our flesh is at war with our spirit and it is wanting control. In Galatians 5:17 we read “For the desire of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” May it be our desire, and our choice, to live according to the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus; we do so by absorbing His word, by following the leading of the Spirit, and by obeying the commands of our Lord and Savior. He is always leading us to life.
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
Romans 11-12 “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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