there is a post where some of us have been having a discussion around the concept of sin.
now the beauty of such discussions is that in trying to make one's point one has to delve into the word again and again.
and so in doing that i came across something that makes me want to just start an entirely new post, resetting the discussion, as it were, because i'm also resetting my viewpoint. learning on the go.
there are two parts to this, the Law, and the Saviour.
i'm going to start with hebrews 2:16 (i use the BSB translation)
- For surely it is not the angels He helps, but the descendants of Abraham. -
this doesn't say the descendants of abraham AND the gentiles.
so, one needs to become an israelite, and israelites place themselves under the Law. so far so good. and we know, deuteronomy 30:11
- For this commandment I give you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. -
but (let me just say, as a former critic of paul's writings, hear the man out, he's actually super-correct), romans 7:10
- So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death. -
why? because the preceding verse, romans 7:9 says
- Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.-
and so, the origin of sin, inasmuch as concerns its coming to life in one, actually comes from the Law itself! it would help to read romans 7 now, anyway, let me try to explain.
until such time as we receive a command, are placed under it, it doesn't matter what we choose to do. were adam and eve never to have received a command, they'd still be living happily in eden, and i strongly suspect they would never have started with offspring, either way, God's plan definitely DOES make it matter what we choose to do, because He gave command, and obeying His command always leads to life, and disobeying it always leads to death.
but when faced with choice we look at the fruit of that choice, both the fruit that comes from obeying and from disobeying. and we choose which fruit we want to eat. inevitably, there is a fruit of disobedience that just hangs there so lusciously, has such a sheen, is just SO tempting, that we munch it, and there we are, doomed to death. remember, it's not the ACT of eating, just the thinking of doing it tips one over.
But God wants us to live, not die, and so the Law came, commandments which, when kept, lead we who are doomed to die to life. and yet the very fact that we are alive in physical bodies is what causes us to disobey, romans 7:5
- For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death.-
romans 7:18
- I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. -
and romans 7:24-25
- What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. -
so, on our own, despite what deuteronomy 30:11 says, we are still doomed to make the wrong choice and die.
but God wants us to live, not die.
so far, straightforward, we all do understand, we need to die to sin, but HOW does one do that? that is what the Messiah is all about, so let's go look at what romans 8 says about our Saviour. reading romans 8 now would be good.
romans 8:9 (i'm going to split this verse into two parts, because this is what i want to talk about, first part)
- You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. -
and romans explains how one then succeeds in being dead to the flesh, like romans 8:5 says
- Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. -
now i want to be very correct here, and explain that what is already obvious. we cannot enter the Kingdom unless we are born again, born of the Spirit, it is the Messiah's baptism, not john's.
but here's the thing. all this time we're talking about the Spirit, of God. even when it concerns the baptism. so let's look at that first part of romans 8:9 again
- You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. -
IF the Spirit of God LIVES in you. now we are indeed born OF the Spirit, but is it living in us yet? why am i asking this? because to my utter amazement, i read the second part of romans 8:9
- And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. -
immediately followed by verse 10
- But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.-
Boom!
TWO Spirits required to dwell inside you! before the Spirit of God can be alive in you.
i'm gonna stop here, because i would like to hear thoughts.
Thought for Today: Wednesday January 29
Elohiym has placed inside each of us a well of strength that you could call upon if you are only willing to reach inside and get it. That means -- to live in accordance with the Law of our Moshiach, and to accept Him in our hearts, is to cast a gigantic flood-light of hope on our valley of problems and despair.
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And the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound their counsel; and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers, and the mediums and the necromancers...
Isaiah 19:3 ESV
Once God has decided to pass judgment on a nation, he will encourage the false prophets and teachers in their midst to that they will believe more of the lies that they already want to believe.
And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will fight, each against another and each against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom;
Isaiah 19:2 ESV
Remember that Egypt Is often used in prophecy as a metaphor of the whole world apart from Israel. “Kingdom against kingdom” could refer to upper and lower Egypt, but likely also refers to the kingdoms of all the world. God judges one nation by sending another nation.
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