There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1)
I believe that part of the confusion about grace versus the law (rather than grace that allows us to become obedient to the law) comes from misinterpreting the scripture above. It has become common practice to read this scripture to mean that as long as the Spirit of Jesus lives in us, we are saved. But that if we try to be obedient to the law, we are then taking ourselves out from under grace and now living "according to the flesh."
But this omits the tiny word "walk".
It is only as we "walk" according to the Spirit, which signifies obedience, that we are saved and have no condemnation. Because obviously 'having condemnation' means 'not saved.'
Can we truly have the Holy Spirit residing in us all week, and not give any thought to the Father or Jesus during that whole time until Sunday arrives and forces us to do so? Or would doing so grieve the Holy Spirit so much, that He might in time leave us? Why does David, a man after God's own heart, plead with God not to take His Holy Spirit from him, if the Spirit will always stay once He arrives?
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)
"See there!" you might say, "We have been made free from the law!"
But that is not what is being said at all. What is being said is that we have been made free from the condemnation of death that sin brings, WHEN we abide by the law of the Spirit in us, the Spirit that we receive through Jesus Christ. Again that implies that we are walking by the Spirit rather than by the flesh. It does not imply that simply because the Spirit has taken up residence in us, we are now made free.
It is our obedience to the law of the Spirit that sets us free from the death that sin brings. If we are not consciously walking by the Spirit, but neglecting the things of the Spirit instead and walking only according to our own desires, then we are not being obedient to the Spirit, and are back under the law of "sin and death".
What is the law of the Spirit but the will of God? What is the will of God except that which is expressed through His commandments? What then does the Holy Spirit allow us to do but walk in obedience to the commandments, the will of God, rather than according to the desires that our flesh wants which will always turn us away from doing the will of God?
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4)
Jesus condemned sin in the flesh by first walking in perfect obedience by the Spirit, as an example of what is possible when we live by the law of the Spirit, and then he condemned sin in the flesh by giving US His Holy Spirit to enable us to do as He did..walk in obedience to the law (the will) of God.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:5)
Again, we must take honest inventory of our lives, working out our salvation with fear and trembling: are we living in the things of the flesh or are we living according to the things of the Spirit? Which one are we mindful of? Which one are we paying attention to? Which one are we living according to? Are we living according to the Spirit of God? Are we then being obedient to His will in all things? How can we be when we don't even remember what all those things are because we don't have enough of the Spirit regulating us to even read His Word? It is really quite simple to determine where our hearts are; our heart is where most of our time and thoughts are spent.
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. (Romans 8:6-7)
Wait, the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God? So if I am placing myself under subjection to the law of God, I must not be carnal. Right? I must be doing so by the Spirit of God. Because the flesh cannot be subject to the law of God. But the grace doctrine says that abiding by the law is legalism and not grace at all! How can that be when the Word says that it is only those who are carnal that do not subject themselves to the law of God?
So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:8)
Now how are we going to rationalize that one? What are we going to tell ourselves so that we feel better about this scripture? Oh, I know, let's go to that scripture where Paul says:
For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. (Romans 7:19-20)
"See" you say, "Paul sinned too! Yet we know he was saved!" But again you misinterpret his words. Read on in Romans 7:1:
Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?
and Romans 7:6:
But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not!
and back to Romans 7:24-25:
O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God - through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
What he is saying here is that our flesh, our desires, must die, in order to fulfill the law through the Spirit. But it does not make the law evil. It simply means that now we abide in the Spirit who will fulfill righteousness in us and thus we will be saved...not because we are living according to the letter of the law, for this type of obedience excludes the Spirit, but according to the will of God that the law contains, being obedient to the law THROUGH the Spirit.
But in no fashion does Paul ever declare that he is not anything but obedient to the law in every way...THROUGH the Spirit of Jesus Christ that resides in him.
You may say, this is all just semantics. But that is not the case.
It is just semantics that leads us all to death through a grace doctrine that does not bring about righteousness.
This is why, in Acts 15, when some of the Jewish believers wanted to force the Gentiles to be circumcised, saying:
"Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." (Acts 15:1)
Peter stood up at the Jerusalem council to say:
"Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. [He is referring here to the house of Cornelius]. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us." (Acts 15:7-8)
Let's take a quick look at that scripture concerning the house of Cornelius to see what it was God saw in them:
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously, to the people, and prayed to God always. (Acts 10:1-2)
Peter's response to Cornelius in Acts 10 was this:
In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. (Acts 10:34-35)
Cornelius was not circumcised according to the law, and was not even allowed into a Jewish synagogue, but in whatever way it was possible for him to be obedient to God, including almsgiving, he was doing so. It was because of his living in righteousness, according to Peter's words, that the Spirit was given to Him. A willingness, in fact, a strong desire to be obedient to God, is what the Lord saw in Cornelius to then give him the Holy Spirit.
Back to the Jerusalem Council, here is what Peter continued saying concerning the Gentiles and circumsicion, he was not speaking about the law, merely circumcision:
Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved in the same manner as they." (Acts 15:10-11)
In the same manner as they, these Gentiles, meaning by works of righteousness? By fearing God? Yes, exactly! Not because they had the ritual sign of circumcision, but because they had hearts striving to please God through obedience to His law!
Not by grace because they believed in Jesus. They didn't even know Jesus until Peter came and preached Jesus to them. The Holy Spirit sent Peter to tell them about Jesus. But they feared God and "walked" righteously already. The Jews did not consider them righteous only because they had not converted to Judaism through circumcision, this was ritual of the law. But the law that contained the will and desires of God, that was the part of the law that the Cornelian Gentiles were being obedient to. As are we to do still today. And then, by grace, Jesus blessed them with the Holy Spirit to enable them to become even more righteous...to transform them to perfection in the image of Jesus Christ the One who was obedient in every way to the Father's will.
But we must continue on just a bit further to discover what the Jerusalem council decided to do with the Gentiles:
Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath. (Acts 15:19-21)
In other words, here are the four most important "laws" for the Gentiles to abide by, and the rest of the law will be taught to the Gentiles from others who preach the law in every city, the Jews who are also believers in Christ, who have heard the law of Moses every Sabbath in the synagogues all of their lives, and are thus apt teachers of the law to these Gentile believers.
Law is still important to God. Law must still be important to us.
Grace gives us the ability to abide by the law through the Holy Spirit.
The grace doctrine of once saved always saved, however, promotes laxity in the law. Under the doctrine of once saved, always saved, we have no need to carefully work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
Case in point: I met a beautiful young girl recently who "loves" the Lord, and witnesses to her boyfriend about Jesus often, especially about grace...even as she lives with him in sexual immorality.
The law is not being preached in pulpits today, but grace is being preached, and it is producing a generation of believers who are not being spurred on to acts of righteousness, but instead to acts of doing whatever they "feel" the spirit is leading them to do. I must question what spirit that might be.
The grace doctrine today has superseded righteousness in favor of licentiousness, a doctrine known as antinomianism. The thing that we will see in the next posting, concerning the seven churches of Revelation, is that antinomianism, grace without the law, is the thing that God hates.
I believe that part of the confusion about grace versus the law (rather than grace that allows us to become obedient to the law) comes from misinterpreting the scripture above. It has become common practice to read this scripture to mean that as long as the Spirit of Jesus lives in us, we are saved. But that if we try to be obedient to the law, we are then taking ourselves out from under grace and now living "according to the flesh."
But this omits the tiny word "walk".
It is only as we "walk" according to the Spirit, which signifies obedience, that we are saved and have no condemnation. Because obviously 'having condemnation' means 'not saved.'
Can we truly have the Holy Spirit residing in us all week, and not give any thought to the Father or Jesus during that whole time until Sunday arrives and forces us to do so? Or would doing so grieve the Holy Spirit so much, that He might in time leave us? Why does David, a man after God's own heart, plead with God not to take His Holy Spirit from him, if the Spirit will always stay once He arrives?
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)
"See there!" you might say, "We have been made free from the law!"
But that is not what is being said at all. What is being said is that we have been made free from the condemnation of death that sin brings, WHEN we abide by the law of the Spirit in us, the Spirit that we receive through Jesus Christ. Again that implies that we are walking by the Spirit rather than by the flesh. It does not imply that simply because the Spirit has taken up residence in us, we are now made free.
It is our obedience to the law of the Spirit that sets us free from the death that sin brings. If we are not consciously walking by the Spirit, but neglecting the things of the Spirit instead and walking only according to our own desires, then we are not being obedient to the Spirit, and are back under the law of "sin and death".
What is the law of the Spirit but the will of God? What is the will of God except that which is expressed through His commandments? What then does the Holy Spirit allow us to do but walk in obedience to the commandments, the will of God, rather than according to the desires that our flesh wants which will always turn us away from doing the will of God?
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4)
Jesus condemned sin in the flesh by first walking in perfect obedience by the Spirit, as an example of what is possible when we live by the law of the Spirit, and then he condemned sin in the flesh by giving US His Holy Spirit to enable us to do as He did..walk in obedience to the law (the will) of God.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:5)
Again, we must take honest inventory of our lives, working out our salvation with fear and trembling: are we living in the things of the flesh or are we living according to the things of the Spirit? Which one are we mindful of? Which one are we paying attention to? Which one are we living according to? Are we living according to the Spirit of God? Are we then being obedient to His will in all things? How can we be when we don't even remember what all those things are because we don't have enough of the Spirit regulating us to even read His Word? It is really quite simple to determine where our hearts are; our heart is where most of our time and thoughts are spent.
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. (Romans 8:6-7)
Wait, the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God? So if I am placing myself under subjection to the law of God, I must not be carnal. Right? I must be doing so by the Spirit of God. Because the flesh cannot be subject to the law of God. But the grace doctrine says that abiding by the law is legalism and not grace at all! How can that be when the Word says that it is only those who are carnal that do not subject themselves to the law of God?
So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:8)
Now how are we going to rationalize that one? What are we going to tell ourselves so that we feel better about this scripture? Oh, I know, let's go to that scripture where Paul says:
For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. (Romans 7:19-20)
"See" you say, "Paul sinned too! Yet we know he was saved!" But again you misinterpret his words. Read on in Romans 7:1:
Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?
and Romans 7:6:
But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not!
and back to Romans 7:24-25:
O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God - through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
What he is saying here is that our flesh, our desires, must die, in order to fulfill the law through the Spirit. But it does not make the law evil. It simply means that now we abide in the Spirit who will fulfill righteousness in us and thus we will be saved...not because we are living according to the letter of the law, for this type of obedience excludes the Spirit, but according to the will of God that the law contains, being obedient to the law THROUGH the Spirit.
But in no fashion does Paul ever declare that he is not anything but obedient to the law in every way...THROUGH the Spirit of Jesus Christ that resides in him.
You may say, this is all just semantics. But that is not the case.
It is just semantics that leads us all to death through a grace doctrine that does not bring about righteousness.
This is why, in Acts 15, when some of the Jewish believers wanted to force the Gentiles to be circumcised, saying:
"Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." (Acts 15:1)
Peter stood up at the Jerusalem council to say:
"Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. [He is referring here to the house of Cornelius]. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us." (Acts 15:7-8)
Let's take a quick look at that scripture concerning the house of Cornelius to see what it was God saw in them:
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously, to the people, and prayed to God always. (Acts 10:1-2)
Peter's response to Cornelius in Acts 10 was this:
In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. (Acts 10:34-35)
Cornelius was not circumcised according to the law, and was not even allowed into a Jewish synagogue, but in whatever way it was possible for him to be obedient to God, including almsgiving, he was doing so. It was because of his living in righteousness, according to Peter's words, that the Spirit was given to Him. A willingness, in fact, a strong desire to be obedient to God, is what the Lord saw in Cornelius to then give him the Holy Spirit.
Back to the Jerusalem Council, here is what Peter continued saying concerning the Gentiles and circumsicion, he was not speaking about the law, merely circumcision:
Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved in the same manner as they." (Acts 15:10-11)
In the same manner as they, these Gentiles, meaning by works of righteousness? By fearing God? Yes, exactly! Not because they had the ritual sign of circumcision, but because they had hearts striving to please God through obedience to His law!
Not by grace because they believed in Jesus. They didn't even know Jesus until Peter came and preached Jesus to them. The Holy Spirit sent Peter to tell them about Jesus. But they feared God and "walked" righteously already. The Jews did not consider them righteous only because they had not converted to Judaism through circumcision, this was ritual of the law. But the law that contained the will and desires of God, that was the part of the law that the Cornelian Gentiles were being obedient to. As are we to do still today. And then, by grace, Jesus blessed them with the Holy Spirit to enable them to become even more righteous...to transform them to perfection in the image of Jesus Christ the One who was obedient in every way to the Father's will.
But we must continue on just a bit further to discover what the Jerusalem council decided to do with the Gentiles:
Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath. (Acts 15:19-21)
In other words, here are the four most important "laws" for the Gentiles to abide by, and the rest of the law will be taught to the Gentiles from others who preach the law in every city, the Jews who are also believers in Christ, who have heard the law of Moses every Sabbath in the synagogues all of their lives, and are thus apt teachers of the law to these Gentile believers.
Law is still important to God. Law must still be important to us.
Grace gives us the ability to abide by the law through the Holy Spirit.
The grace doctrine of once saved always saved, however, promotes laxity in the law. Under the doctrine of once saved, always saved, we have no need to carefully work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
Case in point: I met a beautiful young girl recently who "loves" the Lord, and witnesses to her boyfriend about Jesus often, especially about grace...even as she lives with him in sexual immorality.
The law is not being preached in pulpits today, but grace is being preached, and it is producing a generation of believers who are not being spurred on to acts of righteousness, but instead to acts of doing whatever they "feel" the spirit is leading them to do. I must question what spirit that might be.
The grace doctrine today has superseded righteousness in favor of licentiousness, a doctrine known as antinomianism. The thing that we will see in the next posting, concerning the seven churches of Revelation, is that antinomianism, grace without the law, is the thing that God hates.
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