Off the top, for those of us that believe Romans 7:14-23 still applies in fullness to those who are in Christ, we do not understand that Romans 7:25 and ALL of chapter 8 applies to those who are in Christ way more than the lion’s share of Chapter 7.
Good, now that I have that off of my soulish chest….heh, I will move onto the point of this post.
Romans 8 shatters the lies that we are made to believe that we are under the bondage of sin as believers.
Romans 8 says that we are NOT OBLIGED to sin. That means we are not bound to the obligation to sin. Again, let that sink in, gang.
Verse 12.
Imma post it in Greek first because the Greek is just lovely.
Ἄρα οὖν, ἀδελφοί, ὀφειλέται ἐσμὲν οὐ τῇ σαρκὶ τοῦ κατὰ σάρκα ζῆν,
And my translation:
So therefore, brothers (including sisters), we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
You are not a debtor to the flesh.
You owe the flesh nothing.
You are not required to sin.
You are not guaranteed to sin or required to sin a little each day in order to certify your humanity. Now, will we screw up. Yes. And for that, we have 1 John 1:9. But is it your doom to live and dwell in sin as a sinful screw-up the rest of your redeemed days. Let me savor this response.
Nnnnnooooooo…….
Just no. Just stop it. Stop with the incessant thinking that you are required to sin because you are a human. Stop with the idiotic mindset that sin is your usual way of existing. Yes, we all know there is going to be the mess-up, but the reality is as you become more Christ’s and become more IN Christ, you will sin less. Moreover, our position in Christ is seated in the heavens above the fracas of the natural realm and above the fracas of the demonic realm.
Following our initiation and baptism into Christ, water baptism being the primary means of healing and deliverance for new believers, sin goes from being something to which we are in bondage, to something that is a choice. Your will is released from bondage following your conversion and baptism, and now sin becomes a choice rather than a destiny.
The other nature gets kicked out increasingly and the process of increasing being-set-apart begins to take hold. And yes, you are faced with hundreds of choices and decisions with respect to sin. Are you going to let it have its way or are you going to choose in the direction of your destiny. As you progress in Christ, a natural affect of that consequence is that you will indeed sin less.
Therefore, we are moving from a place where sinning is the rule to a place where sin is the exception. We were designed to flow in a victorious and overcoming lifestyle of being his bride and his son.
Gang, this is not even a contest. We were redeemed, and we need to begin pushing the envelope and instead of settling for a lifestyle where we tolerate a little bit of sin ans normal and natural each day, we need to challenge ourselves and begin pushing to see how far we can go in affection, depth, holiness, sanctity, tenderness, and height of relationship.
Sin is not a guaranteed destiny of yours, but rather it gets reduced to an option.
If any one is in Christ, they are a…
New creation…
Beloved friend, you are new in Him, and he adores you a whole lot.
You are not required to sin, but now you have the capacity and the anchor that will stabilizes you in order to enable you to choose the right path.
Just as the Holy Spirit enabled the Upper Room Disciples to speak in tongues, so you to have the power and enablement within as a follower of Jesus to walk in the manner that befits a son of the King. In Romans 8, you are given a litany of exhortation that shows what it looks like to be in Christ.
- Freedom from sin’s legal hold and right to your life. 8:2
- A capacity to live by the Spirit. 8:5
- The mind controlled by the Spirit. 8:6
- Capable of pleasing G-d because you are in the Spirit. 8:8
- Belong to the Father. 8:9
- Alive and in righteousness. 8:10
- Indebted to no flesh or to sin. 8:12
- Capable of putting to death the deeds of the flesh. 8:13
- Capable of being led by the Spirit. 8:14
- Capable of being sons of G-d. 8:14
- Adopted is your relaity. 8:15
- You have the inner witness of the Spirit if you are in Christ and in the Spirit. 8:16
- Now, you need to follow the Spirit and cultivate a relationship with the Spirit in order to strengthen this inner witness and discernment, but He is present and able to provide you with that inner witness. But it is something that you have to be sensitive to and cultivate.
- You are heirs. 8:17
- You are capable of handling suffering. 8:18
- You are what all creation longs for. 8:19
- We are expressions of the hope of creation. 8:20
- We are being redeemed in our bodies. 8:23
- We are assisted by the Spirit when we are weak. 8:26
- You have a friend who will help you to search your heart for everything G-d wants to fix or repair in you. All that is damaged or wounded or out of alignment, is on G-d’s to-do list. 8:27
- You are not subject to the enemy’s accusation or condemnation. You do not have to be subject to your own condemnation. G-d has such a lovely and strong and multi-facted destiny of hope for you. G-d, being on your side, means the enemy of your soul, the devil himself, and all of his hordes, cannot and will not ultimately prevail, while there is still a “yes” in your spirit to the L-rd, no matter how weak that “yes” is.
- That is what is meant by the inability of the enemy to separate you from the L-rd. It’s not merely a separation to hell. It is a capacity of the L-rd to tighten the relationship He has with you and you have with Him so that there is not a seperation in this life. Paul is not merely talking about condemnation to hell. He is talking about the interactions you have with G-d in the here-and-now. 8:38-39.
Gang, This, this right here, is the power in Romans 8. We are not merely secure in His hand and made safe from hell, but we are secure in the present moment, from one moment to the next.