Tag: original sin

Dead, Not Innocent: What Romans One Actually Says About the Man Without God

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Romans 1:18). A study of what Paul actually claims about the man without God in the world — guilty for suppressed light, incapable by inherited death, and already abiding under wrath rather than merely threatened by it.

This study picks up where “The Gospel Before the Wrath” leaves off — that piece establishes what Paul says about the gospel itself in Romans 1:1–17, before he ever turns to diagnose the unbeliever. This is a companion study as well to “Without God in the World” — that piece traces how the apostles addressed the gospel differently depending on the hearer standing before them; this one establishes what Romans 1 says is actually true of that hearer before a word is spoken to him.

There is a way of speaking about the unbeliever that has become common in evangelistic circles, and it is wrong in two directions at once. It treats him as an innocent who simply hasn’t heard — as though the gospel is news arriving to a blank slate. And it treats his darkness as a private, gradual decline — a man dimming his own light over the course of a lifetime, as though given a longer life or a gentler upbringing he might have turned out otherwise. Romans 1 will permit neither error. The man without God in the world is not innocent. And the darkness that now defines him was never his biography to begin with. Untangling these two claims — real guilt, and real incapacity, resting on a fall that is corporate rather than personal — is where any faithful ministry to the unbeliever has to begin.

He is not ignorant. He is guilty.

Romans 1:18 opens not with mercy but with wrath: “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” The very next verse tells you why the wrath is just — “because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them” (1:19). Verse 20 goes further: His eternal power and Godhead are “clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, so that they are without excuse.”

This is the first thing that must not be softened when the unbeliever’s condition is described. He is not an innocent who simply hasn’t heard. He has already received a testimony — creation itself — sufficient to leave him without excuse. Whatever else is true of his condition, ignorance is not his defense. Paul will not permit it as one.

The knowledge was suppressed, not absent.

Verse 21 tells you what he did with what he had: “because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” This is not a man groping toward God and falling short. This is a man who had light and turned from it — deliberately, culpably. What follows in verses 22–32 — the exchange of God’s glory for images, the exchange of truth for a lie, the downward cascade into degrading passions and a reprobate mind — all of it is described as God’s judicial response to that suppression: “God also gave them up” (1:24, 26, 28), three times. The darkness he now stands in is not a starting condition. It is a sentence already being executed.

One caution here, because it is easy to mistake this passage for something it is not. “Their foolish heart was darkened” is not a description of an individual life — not a man born with some capacity for light who dims it gradually through his own choices as he matures. The language is representative and historical, not biographical. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man” (1:22–23) gathers up the larger biblical pattern of human revolt. The exchange of glory for an image finds its closest verbal echo not in Genesis 3 itself but in Israel’s own history of idolatry, described in almost identical terms — “they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass” (Psalm 106:20), and “my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit” (Jeremiah 2:11). Paul is tracing a pattern that runs from Adam’s original revolt, through the nations’ idolatry, into Israel’s own repeated failure — the same kind of corporate statement as “by one man sin entered into the world” (Romans 5:12). It is not the biography of any particular man ministered to today. He was not born innocent and did not personally re-enact this decline from some starting point of light. He was born already dark, already condemned, already an heir of the very exchange this passage narrates — “in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5), “by nature the children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). Romans 1:21–23 tells how the race came to be in this state. Total depravity tells what every individual already inherits from it the moment he is born. The unbeliever is not partway down a slope he is personally descending — he is already standing at the bottom of a fall that occurred in Adam and was re-enacted by the nations, and he arrived there by inheritance, not by gradual erosion within his own lifetime.

None of this makes him a passive inheritor only. He did not create the fallen condition into which he was born, but neither does he stand inside it innocently. Born into Adam’s darkness, he personally repeats the race’s refusal every time he withholds from God the honor and thanksgiving creation’s testimony still requires of him. The inherited condition explains why he does not come to God on his own. It does not excuse the suppression he continues to enact himself.

And yet he cannot see rightly, or move Godward, on his own.

Here the chapter must be read alongside the rest of Paul’s diagnosis, or the man in front of you will be misjudged in the other direction. Ephesians 2:1 calls him dead in trespasses and sins. Ephesians 4:18 says his understanding is darkened, his heart hardened. Titus 1:15 says his mind and conscience are defiled. Scripture elsewhere shows that a conscience can be seared past feeling through continued, willful rebellion — 1 Timothy 4:2 describes false teachers whose consciences have reached exactly this state, cauterized by long practice until they barely register what they once felt keenly. The general unbeliever’s conscience need not have gone that far to still be defiled and unreliable rather than trustworthy.

Both of these must be held without collapsing either one into the other. His conscience still bears some witness — Romans 2:15 says Gentile conscience “bears witness,” accusing or excusing, sufficient again to condemn — but that witness is not the same as spiritual life, and it cannot reconcile him to God any more than a smoke detector can put out the fire it warns of. He is dead Godward: unable to do what would please God (Romans 8:7–8), unable to receive spiritual truth as spiritual truth because the very faculties by which he hears and reasons are themselves darkened, and require the Spirit’s renewing work before they can discern what is spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). His guilt, his inherited corruption, and his consequent inability must all be held together. His inability does not excuse his rebellion, and his guilt does not mean he retains the power to heal the nature from which that rebellion proceeds. Together they are exactly what makes his rescue an act of sovereign grace rather than an achievement he simply hasn’t gotten around to.

This is a different condition than Israel’s, and it changes how he must be addressed.

Everything above describes the man who is, as Paul puts it elsewhere, “without Christ… having no hope, and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12) — atheoi: without God. The rest of that verse — no covenant, no commonwealth, no promise — belongs to the wider description Paul gives in that sentence, not to the word atheoi itself; but taken together, the verse leaves this man with nothing of Israel’s covenant standing to his name. This is not the condition of a Jew who had the law, knew the covenant, and turned from it. That man’s category is different: Israel can be summoned back — shuv, to turn back or return — because there was a Mosaic covenant already given to Israel, and already broken by Israel. That is why Peter can say to Israel, without preamble, “this Jesus, whom ye have crucified” (Acts 2:36) — the charge presumes a covenant relationship Israel already had and violated.

The Gentile has no Mosaic covenant to which he can be summoned back. That does not mean he stands in no relationship to God at all — the first section of this study has already shown that he does, through creation, and that he has violated it. What he lacks is not a relationship but a covenant: he has never possessed the commonwealth, the promises, or the law entrusted to Israel. He must therefore be introduced to the God he has refused to honor, and brought, through the gospel, into a covenant fellowship he has never before possessed. That is why Paul, before Gentile hearers, does not open with an accusation of covenant-breaking the way Peter does with Israel — he opens by establishing who God even is (Acts 17:24–29) before he ever calls for repentance. Both men are guilty. Neither is innocent. But one is a covenant-breaker being summoned back to a covenant he broke, and the other is a covenant-stranger being brought near for the first time — and collapsing that difference, treating the Gentile as though he merely needs to turn back to a covenant he never held, will produce confusion in him, not conviction.

The wrath in view is present, not only future.

Notice the tense in verse 18: the wrath “is revealed” — present, ongoing, already operating through the very handing-over described in the verses that follow. This is not only a warning of a coming day, though that day is certainly in view elsewhere in Paul. It is a description of a condition already abiding on the unbeliever now — he does not merely risk wrath, he currently abides under it, exactly as John says: “he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36). This is why the gospel cannot be offered to him as an improvement or an addition to a life otherwise neutral. He is not neutral. He is under a sentence already in force, and what he needs is not encouragement but rescue.

What alone can give him life.

None of this — creation’s testimony, his suppression of it, his deadness, the wrath already abiding — is reversed by anything said to him directly. Paul has already given the remedy, in the verse that stands just before all of this: “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16). The gospel is not merely information added to a man who lacks data. It is power brought to a man who is dead. The same Spirit who opened Lydia’s heart to attend to what Paul spoke (Acts 16:14), who fell on the Gentiles at Cornelius’s house before any of them had done a single thing to secure it, is the only one who crosses the distance Romans 1 describes. The task of the one who preaches is to proclaim the whole of what Paul proclaims here — the true God, the suppressed knowledge, the abiding wrath, the crucified and risen Christ who alone answers it — and to leave the piercing of the heart to the one who alone can pierce it.

In short: the man without God in the world is not an innocent bystander waiting for good news he has never heard. He is a suppressor of light already given, judged in that suppression by being given over to it, dead in his capacity to reverse it by inheritance from a fall that is corporate and historical rather than personal and gradual, and under a wrath already abiding rather than merely threatened. He cannot be summoned back to a covenant he never held — he can only be brought, for the first time, into the covenant fellowship he has never possessed, face to face with the very God whose testimony in creation he has spent his life suppressing — and only the Spirit, not the preacher’s skill, will make him see it.

Notes on SIN

“Sin” holds no gravity unless there is an enacted law (Rom 7). The imaginations of the heart, every thought, and actions that opposes the order of God – or every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God – 2 Cor 10:5 – is sin. Trusting in God and casting all our cares upon Jesus is the proper way – 1Petr 5:7 – but if we choose to worry, doubt, and murmur that is sinful. We could also define sin as a spiritual force (a law imputed because of the original sin – Rom 5), which is active in the members of our being – which war against the law of mind to bring us again into its captivity – Rom 7. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die – Rom 8:13 – the effect of yielding our members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin – Rom 6:13 – yielding our member’s servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity – Rom 6:19. All unrighteousness is sin (1 John 5:17)

Sin was present even before Adam transgressed, wasn’t it? The first recorded sin is the rebellion of Lucifer. Sin is breaching of the proper boundary which God hath laid. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee (Psalm 119:11) – it is then clear that sin gets its leverage by our disobedience to God’s ways. It is defiling of the mind and conscience – Titus 1:15/Heb 12:15/Ezekiel 28:18 – but keeping a good conscience toward God is the right way. And the effect of conceiving lust in the heart – James 1:15 – is that one would become insensible to any moral and spiritual obligations (fail to recall that we are debtors – Rom 8:12 – one could be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin – Heb 3:13 – Harden not your hearts – Heb 3:8,15) – that is to be deprived of the fear of God, which was the state of all of us one time – Eph 2:3/Col 1:21 – before mercy and truth purged us – Pro 16:6/ Eph 2:4,5. For the fear of the Lord tendeth to life – Pro 19:23 – The fear of the Lord hates all evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth – Pro 8:13 – by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil – Pro 16:6. The first virtue which enters the heart of man when he is purged of his iniquities is the fear of the Lord – for it is the beginning – Ps 34:11/111:10/Pro 1:7,29/2:5/9:10/14:27/15:33/19:23 etc…

For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not – Ecclesiastes 7:20 – If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us – 1 John 1:8.

Sin was present way before Adam – by which even the heavenly things got defiled – Heb 9:23 – Lucifer the anointed cherub was perfect in his ways until iniquity was found in him – Isaiah 14:13/Ezekiel 28:2,6,13-15. Iniquity = perverseness, unjustness, unrighteousness; wickedness, etc… I would say ‘sin’ is the condemnation, the consequence of letting lust to be conceived in the heart – Rom 6:12,13/James 1:15. The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation – Jude 1:6 – they left the God-ordained path and were condemned – Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to be utterly unchaste – Jude 1:7 – whose effect was suffering the vengeance of eternal fire – Jude 1:7.

For that they (Israel) hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof – Proverbs 1:29-30 – why? Because they forsook the fountain of living waters – Jeremiah 2:13 – they denied the Holy One and the Just – Acts 3:14/Luke 12:9 – they put away the word of God from them, and judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life – Acts 13:46. That is a sin unto death – 1John 5:17 – they blasphemed the Holy Ghost, which is unpardonable sin whose end is eternal damnation – Matt 12:32/Mark 3:22,28,29/Luke 12:10.

Through Adam sin entered into the world and all men got condemned, and sin was not imputed until the law came (Rom 5:12,13). So we see that the Law was added because of transgression – Gal 3:19 – If the law came later, then what did Adam transgress? Another law? Yes, Thou shalt not – Gen 2:17 – and its repercussion affected all of the human race – Rom 5:12-14.

Sin is the transgression of the law of God – 1John 3:4/ When lust* (which is ingrained in our corrupt nature – Mark 7:20-23) hath conceived* (when we make provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lust – when we let sin reign in our mortal body – when we yield our members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin – when we yield ourselves, servants, to obey sin unto death – Rom 6:12,13,16/13:14), *it brings forth sin – James 1:14, 15/ Adam transgressed the law of God – Gen 3:3/Rom 5:12-17/1Tim 2:14/Gal 3:22/Rom 7:14/ To him that knows to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin – James 4:17/ When ye sin so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ – 1Cor 8:12. So you see, when sin is referred to, it always speaks in relation to the law. A covenant consists of commandments, seals, and promises. The Old Covenant was faulty (Heb 8:7,8), but we must not be ignorant of the fact that God hath brought in a new one (a better covenant – Heb 8:6 – which too has its law, promises, and seal). Ergo, the transgression of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus too is counted as “sin” (Heb 2:1-3/10:28,29).

Are we free from sin? Yes and No. The fact of the matter is that we are judicially free from “the sin” – the power of sin gets broken when we believe in Jesus Christ – Rom 6:12/8:3. Know that, it is not flushed out of our being yet, but we are told to make no provision for sin to reign over again – Rom 6:12/13:14. Our flesh/man’s physical nature, which is corrupt – Eph 4:22/Rom 7:17-20 – isn’t reinstated yet – the price is already been paid on the cross of calvary – Col 1:14 – but the redemption of our vile body isn’t taken place yet – Rom 8:23/Phil 3:21 – For he that is dead alone is freed from sin – Rom 6:7. Though we are freed from the power/ dominance/jurisdiction of sin/ and we now hold the rein – Rom 6:12-14,16/13:14/1Cor 9:27/2Cor 10:5 – Yet not without sin! – Rom 7:24-27/1John 1:8/2Cor 7:1/Eph 4:22/1Pet 4:1,2/John 15:2/Mark 7:20-23.

Then what are we remitted from? The original sin – Rom 5:12/ Remission of sins that are past – Rom 3:25/ the believing Jews are redeemed from the transgressions that were under the first Testament as well – Heb 9:15/ Purged from old sins – 2Pet 1:9/ The times of this ignorance God winked at – Acts 17:30.

He saved us (from everything that we need to be saved from or that which separated us from God) and planted us on the Rock which is Christ – to walk in newness of life – Rom 6:4.

Now, we are washed, we are sanctified, we are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God – 1Cor 6:11 – to not draw back unto perdition – Heb 10:38,39 – but that we might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness – Col 1:10-13.

God hath secured you in Christ; the power of sin is broken (Rom 8:3/ 6:12,14); delivered from the power of darkness (Col 1:13); he gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world – Galatians 1:4 – Christ hath blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way (Col 2:13,14,15); you’ve been justified freely; washed with the Word and sanctified by the Spirit (Rom 3:24,30/Gal 3:8/1Cor 6:11); your spirit has been revived by the Spirit of God when you believed (1John 3:9/John 3:6/1Pet 1:23); your body now is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1Cor 6:19); ye have an unction from the Holy One (1John 2:20/Acts 3:14); exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us is made available through Christ to walk this life (Eph 2:7); hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light (Col 1:12); have received the Spirit of adoption (we are sons), whereby we cry, Abba, Father (Rom 8:15,23); now we can come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:16/10:22); the love of God is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5); ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise (Eph 1:13): and we have a hope which is sure and steadfast as an anchor of our soul (Heb 6:19); we have the Holy Spirit the comforter whom the Father hath sent and Jesus Christ the high-priest of our profession interceeding for us all the time (Rom 8:26,27,34/Heb 7:25); we have forgiveness/cleansing of sins when we walk in the light (1John 1:7,9); hath made us accepted in the beloved (Eph 1:6). In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace (Col 1:14/Eph 1:7). What more could you ask for? According to as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue – 2Pet 1:3.

What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Isaiah 5:4

Therefore, if we sin willfully (it is the deliberate transgression of the divine will – transgress the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus/ the perfect law of liberty – Rom 8:2/ James 1:25/2:12) after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins – Heb 10:26/2Pet 2:20-22. He that despised Moses’ Law died without mercy – Of how much sorer punishment to us, if we sin willfully – Heb 10:26-29/ Rom 6:1. For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again – Pro 24:16. The just man will be in a constant struggle with himself for the uncleanness of his heart than having pleasure in it. To him, sin is something which he contends with on a daily basis, though much grace is made available to deal with it. He fasts often and prays continually and is diligent to intercept the vile disposition, which he holds within the members of his body. Such a one is a spiritual man. But we are talking about those who are yet carnal (choose to live after the flesh) and walk as a mere man – 1Cor 3:1,3 – If ye commit sin (if we continue in sin – if we perpetrate that which our corrupt nature already is disposed of/ constituted of – James 1:14,15/Mark 7:20-23/Matt 5:28/Rom 7:24-27/Eph 4:22/Jeremiah 17:9), then ye are convinced of the law as transgressors – James 2:9! There is no doubt that there is forgiveness in Christ – 1John 1:7,9 – but due to not putting to death the inherent sinful nature through the Spirit – Eph 4:22/2Cor 7:1/Col 3:8/Rom 8:13/13:12 – many have become unfruitful – Mark 4:19 – forsook the right way – 2Pet 2:15 – being cast forth as a branch, and is in a withered state, according to the spirit – John 15:6/1Tim 1:19 – and one could be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin – Heb 3:13 – Harden not your hearts – Heb 3:8,15.

A catalyst is an outside substance that speeds up a chemical reaction. In fresh, wet concrete, calcium is the catalyst that causes it to harden quickly. Here SIN is the catalyst!
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance – 1Pet 1:14.

But are we under the law anymore? Why do we even mention the word “sin” if the majority insists that we are not under any kind of law? Bible clearly states that sin is the transgression of the law – 1John 3:4. This then means that there is a law that we need to adhere to, isn’t there? And if there is such a law, then there should be some form of punishment involved when one transgresses it! Unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath (Romans 2:8). For there is no respect of persons with God (Romans 2:11)

For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation (Hebrews 2:2,3).

Could any defile the marriage bed and get away with it? Heb 13:4/ Could we condemn/ judge others and escape the judgment of God? Rom 2/ Could we yield our bodily members to uncleanness and escape its consequence? Rom 6:18,19/ Could any live after the flesh and be secure? Rom 8:13/ Could anyone love this world/money and keep his soul? John 12:25/Mark 8:36/1Tim 6:6-11/ James 4:4/1John 2:15/Luke 8:14/ Could we commit fornication and be spared? 1Cor 6:18/ What will be the effect if we partake of the Lord’s supper in an unworthy manner? 1Cor 11:27-31/ Why wouldn’t we take a sword to defend ourselves? Because Jesus has commanded us not to, has he not? – Matt 26:52 etc……

For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life – Pro 6:23. God says, My son, bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck and it shall keep thee – Pro 6:21. Only fools despise wisdom and instruction – Pro 1:7. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul – Pro 15:32. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight – 1John 3:22. The things that the Spirit of the Lord inspired men to write are the commandments of the Lord – 1Cor 14:37 – holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1:21). For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous – 1John 5:3. And this is love, that we walk after his commandments – 2John 1:6. By this, we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments – 1John 5:2. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him – 1John 3:24. And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth, not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked – 1John 2:3-6.

Most laws condemn the soul and pronounce sentence. The result of the law of my God is perfect. It condemns but forgives. It restores – more than abundantly – what it takes away – Jim Elliot.

For without a law sin is dead – Rom 7:8 – If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us – 1John 1:8,9/Rom 7:16-23/2Cor 7:1 – If the Bible declares that we are not without sin, and sin can appear as sin only if there is legislation – how come we say there is no law for us to abide by? I am not prescribing the Judaistic circumcision and observance of Torah/ the Jewish sanctuary atonement ordinances (the ceremonial laws), which the Gentiles were not required to observe according to Acts 15 and Acts 21. But the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is our mandate. In the Old Testament, all the law and the prophets hang on two commandments “loving God and loving man” Matt 22:40 – The New Testament instructs us also the same – Rom 13:8-10/Gal 5:14. James 2:8 calls it “the Royal law”/ the Law of Christ – Gal 6:2. Only a soul that goes through purification by obeying the truth through the Spirit can genuinely love the brethren – 1Pet 1:22 – to possess “the unfeigned love” is crucial – 1John 3:16/2Cor 6:6. Elect through sanctification of the Spirit, unto (until) obedience – 1Pet 1:2 – obedience unto righteousness – Rom 6:16 – How shall we escape, if we neglect? – Heb 2:2

Why the Epistle of James identifying those that love the world as adulterers? What empowers him to condemn someone like that if it wasn’t for an enacted spiritual law that’s been established upon better promises? The Bible says that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good – Rom 7:12 – The problem was not the law but our hearts – For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin – Rom 7:14. When you come to Christ, your “condemned” status in Adam – Rom 5 – changes to “made righteous” through the last Adam – 2Cor 5:21/Rom 5:19 – but that is our “legal standing” before God – we were condemned in Adam, now are we free from it and have peace with God – Rom 5:1 – blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross – Col 2:14 – but that won’t change the fact that sin still lurks within every one of us, waiting for a chance to devour. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us – 1John 1:8/Rom 7:16-23/2Cor 7:1/1Pet 2:11/4:1,2. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof – Rom 13: 14 – Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin – Rom 6:13 – Now yield your member’s servants to righteousness unto holiness – Rom 6:19. One can derive power to resist his flesh and its urge only by walking and living in the Spirit.

Now tell me, which law are we not under? Are we free to sin? Is there any Christian out there who don’t have a propensity to sin, whose heart and mind is void of unclean thinking? I do have to fight on a constant basis to keep my heart clean; I have to depend on the Holy Spirit to keep my heart pure. I have to let the word of Christ dwell in my spirit richly in all wisdom to not let sin reign in my mortal body – Col 3:16/Rom 6:12. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee – Psalm 119:11/Eph 5:26. Otherwise, what is purging for? John 15:2 – why do we have to guard/keep our hearts with all diligence – Pro 4:23? What’s the point of making a confession, and the need for cleansing of all unrighteousness? 1John 1:9/Rom 1:18. The inherent sin, which we are indwelt with is a threat to every individual, if not dealt with – Rom 7:16-23/2Cor 7:1/ 10:5/Eph 4:22/James 1:21.

Can we commit adultery, fornication, drunkenness, lustful thinking, murder, covetousness, blasphemy, pride, etc, and remain a true Christian? For the tree is known by its fruit, isn’t it? Matt 12:33/Luke 6:44. We do guard our hearts on a daily basis in obedience to the word of God, don’t we? The whole New Testament is comprised of precepts. Are we not bound by these laws of God? If we are led by the Spirit, we are not under the Law of Moses (the ceremonial laws)(yet not without law to God, but under the law to Christ – 1Cor 9:21/ the righteousness of the law shall be fulfilled in us who walks after the Spirit – Rom 8:4). Because the first covenant (a covenant consists of commandments, seal, and promises) was faulty – Heb 7:19 – a second better one was sought and was established upon better promises – Heb 8:6,7 – that is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus – the perfect law of liberty – the Royal law – Rom 8:3/James 1:25/ we shall be judged by that law – James 2:8,12. We know that what things soever the law says, it says to them who are under the law – Rom 3:19 – Law of Moses exposed sin – Rom 7:7 – It was imposed on them – Heb 9:10 – Christ did not abolish the law – Matt 5:17/ 1Tim 1:8/ for it is holy, just and good – Rom 7:12,16 – the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith – Gal 3:24 – The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul – Psalm 19:7; but the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that’s what He abolished – Eph 2:15 – but the law of the Spirit of life in Christ washes us from our filth – Eph 5:26. The law condemned men – and sin by the commandment became exceeding sinful – Rom 7:13 – that the Grace and truth, which would come by Jesus Christ – John 1:17 – alone could save us. We find then, the law is holy, just, and good. 

Can anyone of us then look down on or judge those who perpetrate sin? NO. Are we better than those that commit sin? NO. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). It is solely the goodness of God that leadeth us to repentance – Rom 2:4/11:22/1Cor 10:12. Therefore, work-out your salvation with fear and trembling (pass the time of your sojourning here in fear – 1Pet 1:17). For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure – Phil 2:12,13.

God would brand a person as “righteous and holy” the very moment he believes in the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ (Rom 4:25/ 5:11,19/ Heb 9:22/2Cor 5:21/1Cor 1:30/Eph 5:1-2/Isaiah 53:4-6/1Pet 2:24/1John 2:2/4:10), to help him walk in newness of life, and not in corruption and bondage again. Being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross (Col 2:13,14). Does that mean, we need no more cleansing? No. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child (newborn in Christ)(Pro 22:15), and just like the toddlers are trained and taught; our good Father also, who is in heaven, allows us to go through many a process to purge all impurities from within us (Heb 12:5-11/Job 5:17/Pro 3:11/John 15:2). At the same time, the word of God also invades even the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, to bring into light all the intents of our hearts (Heb 4:12/John 15:3/1Tim 4:5), which would result, in an ongoing transformation into the likeness of God’s dear Son Jesus. Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit (1Pet 1:22).

Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God – 2 Cor 7:1 – by the washing of water by the word – Eph 5:26.

God can only set us free from all clutches and tyranny of sin that dwells in our flesh (nature), which continuously drag us away from doing the things of the Spirit (Rom 7:14-25); when we make up our minds to mortify the deeds of the body with its lusts and affections, through the Spirit, and reckon ourselves dead unto sin (Rom 8:13/1Pet 4:1,2/ Gal 5:24). Sin will always try to influence you: Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof; neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God (our compliance is required – this is part of working out our salvation – Phil 2:12) as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God (Rom 6:1-13). For (then) sin shall not have dominion over you (14).

For if we sin willfully (also means, loving this present world like Demas, departing from faith –1Tim 4:1/2Tim 4:4,10/1John 2:15,16/James 4:4 – like Judas Iscariot who was numbered with the twelve, and had obtained part of the ministry and apostleship – Acts 1:17,25/Matt 10:1-5 – who by transgression fell – Acts 1:25 – and err from faith –1Tim 6:10/ Heb 6:4-6/Jude 5 – dreadful among all sins – sin unto death –1John 5:16,17 – done willfully – intentionally – by personal choice – we have no right to pray for such –1John 5:16 – for it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance (if they fall away); seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame – Heb 6: 4-6 – As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly/ if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein (and be entangled with the pollutions of the world), and overcome – Heb 6:4-6/10:26-29/Pro 26:11/2Pet 2:20-22/1John 2:15,16/James 4:4/Rom 12:2 – who through the absence of faith denies the Lord that bought them, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of – 2Pet 2:1/1Cor 10/15:17/John 12:48/Rom 11:20-22 – Example: Judas Iscariot, Demas, Ananias and Sapphira etc… Matt 26:14/2Tim 4:10/Acts 5).

Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man whose heart departs from the Lord (Jeremiah 17:5). Know that Jesus cannot shed the blood again, and without shedding of blood is no remission (Heb 9:22). There will be no more offering for sin (singular – which God had condemned in the flesh of His Son)(Heb 10:18/Rom 5:12-/8:3). He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing (by spiritual fornication – that is coalescing with the world or be carnally oriented), and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? (Heb 10:26-29) After that we have received the knowledge of the truth (after that you are cut loose from the umbilical cord of the Spirit, to be led – them that are mature in spirit, that are of full age – Heb 5:13,14), there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries (1Cor 11:30/Rom 6:19/8:13 – KJV – but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin (this sin is due to the presence of sin within every one of us – Rom 6: 16/7:23/1John 1:8-10/2Cor 7:1 – sin not unto death –1John 5:16,17, yet could lead to death if neglected or unattended – Rom 8:13); and hence, when we confess our sins (if we are remorseful – He giveth grace unto the humble – James 4:6), he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness –1John 1:7,9 – All unrighteousness is sin – 1John 5:17 – and whatsoever is not of faith is sin – Rom 14:23.

To initiate us into the kingdom of Christ/ to justify and to reconcile us back to God – to make us walk in newness of life, the Blood of Christ alone would suffice – that is the justification of life – a free gift to all who would believe in the shed blood of the sinless lamb of God – Rom 3:24/5:18.

The sanctification of the Spirit and the washing of water by the Word and sufferings alone purifies our soul of its depravity – 1Thes 4:3/Eph 5:26/James 1:21/Heb 12:10,11/ 2Thes 1:4,5/Job 23:10/John 15:2/1Pet 1:22/4:12-14/5:10/ 1Tim 4:5/2Tim 2:21.

Did God choose us because we were a better lot?

Are “Sins and Diseases” interrelated?

CONDEMNED because of breaking the TEN Commandments!!! Seriously?