three key truths

Sin, Law and Spirit are three important truths addressed by Paul in the book of Romans. I was listening this morning to chapter 7 of the great book. I was reminded that there is a condition, something like a disease, that is the common reality of every single human being. The Bible calls this condition "sin". Sin has been mankind's inner companion ever since Adam and Eve chose a different direction than God offered. That inner rebellion somehow has passed down across all generations. God put a plan into motion to counteract sin. He raised up a family that became a nation and gave them rules to follow that were right and true, but the people consistently failed to keep these rules, which were called the Law. The reason they failed to keep the Law is because of the strong grip that Sin has on the inner person. Paul teaches us that we can know what is the right thing to do but still choose to do the wrong thing. So we need the power of the Spirit of God, a greater power than we have within ourselves alone. When Jesus died He broke the power of Sin because He did what we could not do. He lived a sin-free life and then died for us, who could not make ourselves right. When we realize that we have this Sin condition and when we realize that only Jesus death is sufficient to break sin's power the Bible says we have entered into a new dimension of living. Sin is still part of our nature as human beings but the Spirit of God now lives inside us as well and we can choose to allow that Spirit to rule us rather than Sin.

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Sin, Law and Spirit...what is your understanding? How have your responded to this point? How will you act going forward?

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Romans 7:⁴ So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. ⁵ When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. ⁶ But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

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blessings,

Rob Smith