I wanted to go ahead and study on the "war of the wills" so to speak, but the Lord wouldn't allow me to do that yet. Instead, He led me to study Rom 6:7 first. it's funny though, He always has His reasons in doing so. i found as i studied this scripture, that He was just adding to and leading up to "doing the Father's will" as sort of an inserted sequel...
ok, so here is the scripture:
"FOR HE THAT IS DEAD IS FREED FROM SIN."
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jhn&c=10&v=1&t=KJV#top
seems like it's simple enough to understand, right? but, upon looking further and digging a bit in the Word, i found that the meaning in it is much more profound than meets the eye. :)
"For He that is dead..."
this is not referring to physical death, but rather the Believing sinner being identified w/ Christ in His Death on the Cross.
"dead" in the greek is one who DIED OFF once for all, OFF from the evil nature, this being separated from the sin nature. This work is complete, already done! There is no requirement on OUR part, other than that of Faith in Christ, and what He's done for us, and reckoning {considering ourselves dead unto sin (the sin nature having dominion or ruling over us in our lives.)} Christ DID everything else for us.
***I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH the importance of not just reading through this material, but studying it out for ourselves! knowledge alone will not save us from eternal hell, nor will it help us in the next trial we are faced with, it's is how much we UNDERSTAND. As we begin to study it ourselves, then the Holy Spirit is given the latitude to open up the Word and reveal to EACH of us His Word and what it really means. See, i am doing the work here, but i can't carry you into Heaven piggy back, YOU have to answer to God for YOUR time alone with Him and submission to His Word, not me. I am only responsible for what i have shared with you, but what you understand is a reflection of YOUR relationship with Christ. i've made some of the things available on the right hand sidebar of these blogs to aid and assist folks in THEIR endeavors to better understand the Holy Writ.***
ok, nuff said with that. :) ok, where was i, oh yeah, dead.
"dead" this being "dead" would mean that we are dead to a certain thing, in this case, this THING would be sin.
Even thought we are dead to sin, we must not assume that we are either walking in sinless perfection by our own emission, nor that we could never fall back into sin. These are two things that trip up a Christian in their walk, along with many many others, but these are some two main things that cause problems where "being freed from sin" and the understanding of this scripture are concerned.
it's simple to believe that because God has saved me, that i cannot fall into sin, (which if the Believer remains IN CHRIST) than they will be lead of the spirit to do the Will of our Heavenly Father, and not their own will. (i think i am getting ahead of myself here, let me take it back a notch).
Every Believing sinner MUST come to the realization that the ONLY acceptable way to God is through Jesus Christ and being baptized into Christ (again, NOT water, although that is neccessary...see teaching on Rom 6:4 for more on Baptism). There are NO EXCEPTIONS in God's book. in order to make it into the Book of Life, we must come by the Lamb...that is why this book is referred to as the "Lamb's Book of Life." Jesus said in John 10 (v.1) "He that enters not by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber" then Christ exclaims, (v.9) "I AM the DOOR."
so it is imperative that we remain "In Christ." The hardest thing for us as humans to realize is that we are in a constant weakened state without Christ.
Let's go on:
"is freed from sin," presents the Believer as being cut loose from the sin nature. "Freed" in the Greek is "dikaioo." and means "to Justify, to declare Righteous, to render or make Righteous, acquit of a charge charge, to absolve."
Here is the link to blueletter for an example to show you where i get this from:
http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G1344&t=KJV
this is the present result that he is in a state of permanent freedom from it, permanent in the sense that God has set him free permanently from it, and it is his responsibility to maintain that freedom from it moment by moment.
This is the part i've been waiting to get to here:
J.S. says this about maintaining the diconnection between the sin nature & the beilever.
"The Christian is exhorted to maintain that relationship of disconnection which God has brought about bwtween him and the indwelling sinful nature. However, God has not taken away the Christian's FREE WILL, and does not treat him as a machine. It is possible for the Christian by an act of his will to connect himself again with the evil nature, thus bringing sin back into his life."
He goes on to explain that since the Christian is now alive unto Christ, when sin actually DOES occur, the Christian does not actually live to sin, like before they were converted. Before conversion, we just naturally lived our lives for ourselves, and there was not acknowledgment of sin in our lives. when we sinned, we did it almost unknowingly. But once the believing sinner is united in baptism with Christ, the Divine Nature of God is imparted into the person's heart, giving them a sin consciousness, so much so that when sin takes place, the very presence of sin becomes unbearable in the heart of the believer. When an act of sin occurs in the Christian's life, they are so heavy and overburdened by this sin, that if repentance does not come immediately, the Christian becomes miserable and the situation becomes intolerable.
When the Christian has sinned, along with the need to repent, there is usually suffering or chastening that follows. This is what keeps us from being able to take advantage of Divine Grace, as many preachers have taught you can live life as you like and God will accept that. Not hardly, in fact, His word says that if He loves us, He will chasten us and correct us. if you have no God that chastens and corrects you, you have no God that loves you.
Next teaching, if the Lord will's, we're going to teach on "doing the will of the Father."
