“1What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
There is a lot of content in these verses so it’s important you understand my more general thoughts on Romans to understand my comments on these verses. I won’t have the space or time to fully elaborate but just provide a flavor. Hopefully this will suffice.
Romans is one of the most systematic theological books of the Bible. I think the first thing we need to recognize is to whom this letter is written. Paul ends Romans with verse 7 “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. We conclude from this that Romans was written to the Christians in Rome and is directed to all Christians; not that there isn’t anything for non-believers but that Christians are the primary audience.
The next item to note is who I think we are (based upon my understanding of scripture of course). In the beginning God made mankind in His own image/likeness. Gen 1:26 states “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”. What is that likeness? I contend it implies we have three parts to our being. Just as God is tripartite (e.g. God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and God the Son) we are not merely physical beings. We are beings with a body, a soul, and a spirit as written in I Th 5:23 when God spoke to the Thessalonians through the apostle Paul, “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. So, we are tripartite beings but in what state are we?
Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve mankind was born spiritually dead. Moses wrote God’s words in Gen 2:13 -14 “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Adam did eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil but did not immediately die a physical death but rather a spiritual death. Adam tried to hide from God. He was aware of the disunion of himself with God. We have physical life (e.g. we breathe). We have a living soul (e.g. we think). And, we have a spirit but due to original sin we are born with a spirit that does not commune with God; it’s dead to God.
With this background I think I can elaborate on Romans 6:3-4 and see God’s plan to deal with a dead spirit.
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
Clearly when we were baptized by the Holy Spirit we weren’t physically buried. Our spirit was buried with Christ and when He was resurrected and brought to life our spirit was brought to life as well (made new). “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Cor 5:17. Note the past tense of this sentence. It’s describing a completed action of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
In addition to this rebirth of our spirit I contend mankind does not have a dual nature (dual spirit) but has a single nature (single spirit). Either you don’t have a personal relationship with Christ (have a dead spirit) or you do have a personal relationship with Christ (have a living spirit). The war being waged is not our new nature with our old nature. The war is between Satan (the Power of Sin and our new nature). We still have our existing corrupted body and our hampered soul so it appears that we have two natures but I don’t believe that is accurate. I believe as Christ followers our true essence, our spirit is Holy.
Scripture infers the single nature in several areas.
“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” Mar 2:22. If God is going to put His Holy Spirit into a person then the person’s spirit had to be made new and Holy to commune.
“And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” Mar 3:25. A healthy person cannot have two spirits, one dead and one alive, or a spirit that vacillates between good and evil. The spirit has to be one or the other.
Now what practical implication might this have? I think for starters us recognizing that God knows our true identity is Holy in Christ we can be relieved of guilt, can be protected from shame, can understand that Satan has no power of a holy spirit, and that we can live boldly knowing that God is with us / in us. I recommend reading / re-reading Ephesians 1 in light of this and pay particular attention to the adjectives God uses to describe His people (e.g. saints) and their position (e.g. adopted as son) and the tense of the verbs (hint: past and present tense).
We have an amazing God that loves us more than we can imagine.
Your Brother in Christ,
Dave
No comments:
Post a Comment