“So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.”
~ Romans 7:4
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you know how to explain sin? Do you know the purpose of laws? Paul in Romans 7 explains sin and the purpose of laws. If there were no laws, sin would rule over and ruin lives. Laws identify the boundaries in which there is a consequence when sin entraps a guy, gal or kid. A law may be made to enforce and/or maintain a societal consensus. A moral value may exist to satisfy and/or appease a just conscience. Communal based and international shared laws exist to persuade acceptable behavior. Laws serve to judge life decisions. A law that is created through an existing legal system that is enforced with a fine and/or jail time is no different than a value that is born out of moral and ethical mores that is enforced with disgust and/or with disgrace. Laws exist because guys, gals and kids have an inherited sin nature that originated from the Garden of Eden fiasco. Laws exist because guys, gals and kids cannot always physically and/or mentally control his or her emotions and/or passions. Out of control emotions and/or passions can lead to infidelity and murder. Your Heavenly Father has identified as sins infidelity and murder. Your grandpaa thinks that most guys, gals and kids would prefer to live lives which would have them always being upright but . . . the sin spirit is a powerful, treacherous player on planet Earth. The sin spirit is so formidable and insidious that it can easily overcome laws. The sin spirit is stimulated by laws. A law is a lure to the sin spirit to do what it can do to break the law. The sin spirit creates an urge or impulse in guys, gals and kids to do what is illicit to do – such as disobeying a governmental enforceable edict or law or compromising a life moral or ethical value. The sin spirit has the ability always to create in a guy, gal or kid an unhealthy desire to want to do what has been defined or determined as being illegal or immoral to do. The sin spirit is in an ongoing war with God – as God the Spirit. God – as God the Spirit, can mush or defeat the sin spirit at any time; guys, gals and kids are who cannot mush or defeat the sin spirit. To let the sin spirit win in a battle between doing what is virtuous and doing what is sinful – by doing what is sinful, means a guy, gal or kid has crossed the line of a law or value of a prohibited activity and/or outlawed action that defines a moral transgression or principled failure. There is only a climbable fence between good and evil. Laws exist to try to influence guys, gals and kids to what to be on the right side of the fence – which is the side where always doing good is done. When a kid is born, the kid is born on the sin spirit’s side of the fence. The sin spirit’s ploy is always to do everything possible that it can do so that when the moment comes when a guy, gal or kid dies, the guy, gal or kid will never have gotten to know what it is like to live on the other side of the fence.
Your grandpaa is beginning to sense how the Apostle Paul felt when he was wrestling with explaining sin. Paul first places laws and sin in their functions. Paul makes it very clear right away that even though laws and sin are still very active players, the law – meaning the Mosaic Law, has been replaced and that sin has been defeated once and for all. Paul explains this in what is now verse 4, “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.” Death is an absolute given for every single kid who has been and will be born on planet Earth. Death is just another chapter in the existence of a soul. The sin spirit wants all guys, gals and kids to pass through door of death into hell’s fiery furnace. God – as God the Spirit, leads guys, gals and kids who God – as God the Father, specially elected before He created planet Earth, to and through the faith/grace door and into the body of Christ. The faith/grace door is situated on the other side of the fence of where laws are found. Once in the body of Christ, there is no way that a guy, gal or kid can cross back over the fence and live again in the sin spirit’s side of the fence. As a guy, gal or a kid reaches the entrance of the faith/grace door, he or she will see and will need to pass by a blood covered cross that has God – as God the Son, hung on and nailed to. As a guy, gal or kid passes by the cross, he or she will leave at the foot of the cross all the sins that the sin spirt has caused and will cause in his or her life during his or her lifetime. God – as God the Son or Jesus Christ, sacrificed His life on a cross so that every guy, gal and kid who passes by the base of the cross will know that when they pass through death’s door, that they will enter into a realm of absolute beauty, joy, peace, warmth . . . everything that is totally opposite of what will be experienced by the guys, gals and kids who pass through death’s door into hell’s fiery pit of darkness.
Paul makes it clear that even though a guy, gal or kid is led by God – as God the Spirit, to cross over the fence from a law to a faith driven life that this does not mean that the sin spirit will ever stop molesting, tempting . . . to try to get each guy, gal and kid who has passed through the faith/grace door to act out by sinning. Justification means that after God – as God the Spirit, has prompted a guy, gal or kid to go to and then through the faith/grace door into the body of Christ, that God – as God the Father, has put His unconditional acceptance stamp on that guy, gal or kid and that He has given the guy, gal or kid the unmerited gift of eternal life. Sanctification means that even though God – as God the Father, has given each guy, gal and kid who He specially elected before He created planet Earth His irrevocable assurance that He has embedded the eternal life gift in them, there will still need to be a cleansing in each guy, gal and kid from the sin spirit’s poisoning attempts. God – as God the Spirit, has been tasked to do this purifying – which He will do until the moment that the guy, gal and kid passes through heaven’s door into heaven.
Romans 7 (562)