What Did God Do? part 2 - The Law

I am feeling nudged back into a deeper look at the questions raised about a week ago. I just went back and read that post What Did God Do? and realize that so far I am only scratching the surface. These are not issues that I feel so much compelled to explain as a means to convince others to agree with me as much as they are issues that I feel very compelled to clearly understand myself, and even more importantly to experience their transformational power in my own heart and have them demonstrated more openly in my relationships with others.

What has been circulating in my mind ever since I woke up this morning is the question raised before, “What did God do that the Law could not do?” I only touched on it previously and I need to sit on it much longer and look around in the context to see what the Law was “trying” to accomplish but could not.

As I look back over the previous chapters I find some places where the Law seems to be trying to do something. We have to keep in mind the qualifier from 7:12 that “the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good”. Therefore, whatever the Law is attempting to accomplish it must be something good and right even though it may not be succeeding.

...They show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them. (Romans 2:15)

The Law supplies the conscience with the information it needs to operate. It is implied here that the Law is a natural law just like gravity, heat, or the laws of motion that is governing our very existence.

...You bear the name "Jew" and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth. (Romans 2:17-20)

The Law (the requirements of God) is viewed by some even today to be able to empower them to become “the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth.” It is implied here that there is a lot of knowledge and truth about God in the Law.

You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? (Romans 2:23)

God is honored by those who are in conformity with His Law.

For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? (Romans 2:25-26)

The Law here seems to have power to give meaning and value to certain rituals or symbols depending on other factors like perfect obedience.

...(The Jews) were entrusted with the oracles of God. What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, "THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS, AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED." (Romans 3:2-4)

The Law was entrusted to the Jews. It has something to do with the faithfulness of God and it is somehow used to vindicate God's truthfulness.

What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. (Romans 3:9)

The Law is indiscriminate in exposing sinners. It is the great equalizer.

Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:19-23)

The Law silences all mouths (assumed to be those in opposition to it as well as those who try to justify themselves with it) and makes all the world accountable to God (instead of the Law?). It cannot be used to justify any flesh in God's eyes. It is used to produce a knowledge of sin. It is a witness to the righteousness of God. It has something to do with the glory of God.

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. (Romans 3:28 NAS95)

Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law. (Romans 3:31)

The Law has something to do with “works”. While it is not the same thing as faith it is not neutralized by faith but established by it.

For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified; for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation. (Romans 4:13-15)

The Law does not produce heirs of God among people on this earth. The Law somehow produces “wrath”. The Law exposes violations.

...For until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. (Romans 5:13)

The external revelation of Law creates the condition in which sin is “imputed” against people.

The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. (Romans 5:20)

Apparently the Law was introduced to accelerate the exposure of sin.

For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? (Romans 6:14-16)

Being “under law” empowers sin to be a slave-master over you. But that does not mean that not being under law makes you at liberty to sin (transgress the law). When that is done we only demonstrate that we are obedient slaves under our master of sin.

Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man. (Romans 7:1-3)

The Law has something called “jurisdiction”. The Greek word meant “to rule:--have dominion over, lord, be lord of, exercise lordship over.” Not a very loving-sounding disposition conducive for a healthy marriage relationship. The Law identifies categories of sin like adultry.

But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET." But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me. (Romans 7:6-10)

The Law apparently has bonds that cause us to feel bound, restricted, not free. Being under the Law is described as the “oldness of the letter”. Law is definitely not sin, but causes us to know about sin – particularly on the inside when it exposes the thoughts and motives of our heart. The Law is not life-giving but is manipulated by sin to result in death. But it is the sin that produces the death, not the Law.

Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. (Romans 7:13-14)

Paul is very careful to point out that the Law is not the cause of death. The Law is good but is diabolically used by sin to effect death. When this is more clearly understood then the Law becomes the means whereby we can become aware of the utter sinfulness of sin. The Law is spiritual, not itself tainted by any sin.

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

The Law results in a feeling of condemnation in those who try to live under the Law while trying to please God with conformity through obedience.

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, (Romans 8:3)

When we are living in the flesh – as described in chapter 7 as those who make it their first priority to know and keep the Law instead of living by faith – the Law is weak and really helpless to empower our obedience. Therefore, we are always trying to get strength from ourselves to keep the requirements of the Law. What God did through His own Son was provide a different method for fulfilling the Law with a reliable and constant source of power outside of ourselves. That means is called being “in Christ Jesus”. It is spirit-oriented but does not ignore or nullify the requirements of the Law.

...so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:4)

This again makes it very plain that God is not at all attempting to sideline the Law in any way. What He has done is to provide a means whereby the Law can be fulfilled in us if we will walk in the spirit and be led by the true Spirit of God. Then the Law will be demonstrated in our lives, thereby establishing the importance of the Law.

Since the Law is a description of God in a nutshell, it should not surprise us that God does not want to get rid of it. That would be the same as God wanting to commit suicide. He wants us to be restored to His image that He originally created us to reflect, not eliminate His own image that is described in the Law.

The word “salvation” means to restore to an original, pristine condition. That is also the same meaning of the root word for “heal”. The root of salvation/salvage comes from Latin and the root word for “heal” comes from a Germanic background, but they both mean the very same thing.

God is using the healing process to restore our souls and spirits to their original blueprint as created in Eden so that He can restore the family system of relationships that heaven has always been based on. Our relationship to the Law is really a symptom our relationship to God and must be based on love-bonds in place of fear-bonds. That love has to be first received into our hearts by knowing and experiencing God's passionate love for us so that we can exercise that love, and in turn we can respond in a live of joyful obedience – natural obedience – even spontaneous obedience to the requirements of the Law.

That is what God does that the Law cannot do.

(next in series)

Now No Condemnation

There is, then, now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit; (Romans 8:1 YLT)

I have two questions that came up as I reviewed the present verses around the end of chapter 7 and the first of chapter 8. I know I have covered this maybe several times but I always feel it is important to still be willing to look more.

If I put myself into the mind of the persons Paul was addressing in Romans 7 (which is not at all hard for me to do), I realize that my normal reaction to the detailed description of a person's condition, as Paul described his own experience to be, would arouse in me feelings of condemnation toward such an individual. That is one of the stock attitudes of people who are working very hard to be obedient to all the rules to please God. They naturally tend to perceive others who reveal their weaknesses and talk about sin dwelling in their flesh with an attitude of condemnation. Somehow they assume that what that person needs is a stronger sense of guilt to cause them to quit sinning and tow the line more carefully. It is believed that condemnation is an important part of the Christian life; it is the “stick” as opposed to the “carrot” approach that they believe God uses to push and pull us toward a righteous life.

Many Christians today have various methods to employ this tool. In some circles it is very common to preach the terrors of hell-fire and damnation to frighten sinners into repentance. It seems to work quite effectively and many are seen to respond, so it is assumed that it is a valid method to intimidate souls into salvation. Others use much more subtle approaches of displeasure or disdain. But there is one common thread through all of these things and that is fear.

So if I am one of the people listening or reading this discourse by Paul describing his own emotions and struggles and then declaring (7:25) that though with his mind he is serving the Law of God but with his flesh the law of sin, I would naturally respond with reactions of some level of condemnation toward Paul. I would assume that the reason he is struggling so hard and obviously not succeeding in his fight against sin is that he is not trying hard enough, not surrendering enough, maybe not intimidated enough, so he must need to feel more condemned to compel him toward a more righteous life of obedience.

I think that one reason Paul used this detailed description and made sure he used himself as the example and not anyone else is because he knew ahead of time that it would evoke just this kind of response in his listeners. It was just that core attitude that he wanted to expose as the faulty thinking that keeps this type of person trapped in their frustrated attempts to achieve righteousness through their relationship with the Law and their strong attempts to be obedient and to get right with God.

The presence of condemnation in the heart, especially when it is considered a legitimate part of God's plan of salvation, is a fatal flaw in the spiritual life that keeps us trapped in the very experience that Paul has just described in chapter 7. Condemnation simply is not the means that God uses to draw us to Himself but we have a very hard time accepting that idea. The problem is that when we believe that condemnation is legitimate, in becoming like the God we imagine we will inevitably end up using it to motivate others to join us in our “service” and “obedience” to the God of our twisted perceptions.

The other question that came to me and is very much integrated with what I am looking at here is the sudden shift in “person” that Paul uses in his writing at this point. He has been talking for some time about “I” and “me” in the first person as he describes this unenviable position of struggle with sin in his flesh, but he suddenly shifts to second person in 8:2 where he exclaims, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”

I believe that Paul does this so that he personally takes all of the heat and becomes the lightening rod for all of the condemnation that he knows will be aroused by this description so that it is not directed at anyone else. At the same time he also knows that those who share the same struggle secretly inside have by this time begun to realize that they are experiencing the same reality that Paul is describing. He has now awakened in their heart a growing desire for escape from this feeling of being trapped. Paul is externalizing by expression the secret, hidden feelings of every person who is trying to please God through a religion of fear so that they will identify with his own frustrations enough to listen to the glorious true realities that God has for us to experience. Right at the point that we are willing to admit, if we are honest, that what he has just described is all too like what we are feeling, he then switches the focus from himself to us by saying “you”. He takes the light that he has up to this point been shining only on his own feelings and frustrations and turns it suddenly into our heart exposing the fact that we too share these feelings of helplessness even though we may have kept them hidden and repressed for many years. But he does this at the critical moment as he begins to reveal the wonderful good news that we should not accept condemnation as a part of God's plan for our lives, but that God wants to set us free from this spirit of sin and death (the essence of condemnation) into a completely different paradigm and perception of reality. The Spirit of life is the real antidote that we need to motivate us in a successful experience of salvation, not the life-sucking emotions of condemnation and its surrounding negative attitudes and fears.

Just before I looked at this passage today I read the presentation in My Utmost and found some striking insights to compliment what I have been learning in Romans 7 and 8. Here is what he said.

Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. John 13:13.

To have a master and to be mastered is not the same thing. To have a master means that there is one who knows me better than I know myself, one who is closer than a friend, one who fathoms the remotest abyss of my heart and satisfies it, one who has brought me into the secure sense that he has met and solved every perplexity and problem of my mind. To have a master is this and nothing less—“One is your Master, even Christ.”

Our Lord never enforces obedience; He does not take means to make me do what He wants. At certain times I wish God would master me and make me do the thing, but He will not; in other moods I wish He would leave me alone, but He does not.

“Ye call me Master and Lord”—but is He? Master and Lord have little place in our vocabulary, we prefer the words Saviour, Sanctifier Healer. The only word to describe mastership in experience is love, and we know very little about love as God reveals it. This is proved by the way we us the word obey. In the Bible obedience is based on the relationship of equals, that of a son with his father. Our Lord was not God’s servant, He was His son. “Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience . . .” If our idea is that we are being mastered, it is a proof that we have no master; if that is our attitude to Jesus, we are far away from the relationship He wants. He wants us in the relationship in which He is easily Master without our conscious knowledge of it, all we know is that we are His to obey.

Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. September 22

After I read the second paragraph I stopped and pondered what this meant in the light of what I have been learning about how the brain works. I decided that the problem described here was based on the motives of fear. I too, have many times wished God would force me to do the right thing, but He does not desire to do that for me, sometimes to my great frustration. And I share the sentiments of the author when he says there are other times when I wish He would leave me alone and He does not. His conviction is gentle but persistent and He desires for me to move from a relationship of fear to one of genuine love.

Then as I read the next paragraph that was confirmed for me. “The only word to describe mastership in experience is love, and we know very little about love as God reveals it. This is proved by the way we us the word obey.” Boy does that ring a bell for me! I still struggle against gut-level negative reactions every time I hear Christians use the word “obedience”, especially with that certain intonation that subtly applies the inference of condemnation without explicitly expressing it.

What Chambers is describing here is a wonderful illustration of what I have been seeing in Romans 6 and 7, and I really like the way he describes the right way to perceive the idea of Master. It dis-attaches it from the natural negative implications that we feel when that word is used and places it in a completely new context of the thriving, loving relationship of being part of a family. That is the desire that God has, the experience that He wants to draw us into when we present ourselves to be His slaves (6:16).

The real experience for us in salvation is to be drawn into bonds of love replacing our old fear-bonds that we are so used to. As I thought about this I became actually frightened, for I realize that I am so used to depending on fear-bonds in my relationship toward God to motivate me that love-bonds seem weak and flimsy by comparison. But my heart tells me that I was designed for something much better that a life of fear and the accompanying condemnation that it always produces. I was designed to live and thrive in the atmosphere of love and trust and peace that produces a natural response of the fruit of genuine righteousness. I am still many times confused as to how to get there from here, but I have to trust that the One who is revealing this to me will also be faithful to continue and finish the project that He started with me.

For the law of the Spirit of the life in Christ Jesus did set me free from the law of the sin and of the death. (Romans 8:2 YLT)

(next in series)

Be Perfect as your Father

"Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48 ) (see my Utmost for His Highest for today.)

Perfect is a description of the attitude in the heart that results in how one treats others. I have always thought it was a description of external conformance to a list of requirements and ideals that felt unattainable so I always felt resistance to this verse. It triggered the reaction inside of me that legalism uses the Law to produce as described in Romans 7.

But when reading My Utmost it suddenly hit me with much more clarity just now that Jesus is talking about a disposition of the heart, not a description of performance. That becomes much clearer when I honestly consider what being “perfect” is in God's context.

If being “perfect” for God meant the same thing that I always thought it meant for me, then God would be always careful to do the right thing to get everyone else to think He was perfect. He would never fail to keep all of His rules and Laws and would never be caught doing or thinking anything bad.

Now of course, that would seem to be very easy for God to do because He is all-powerful and furthermore is not even tempted by sin. But it seems to me, with that view in mind, to be uncaring and even harsh of Him to demand that I have to do the same as He is doing with all of my disadvantages. But now that I think about it that is basically what I have thought for most of my life.

But Chambers said something here that alerted me to a completely different perspective on this word. I have always placed the word “perfect” in the realm of the externals, the behavior – including the thoughts – the performance arena of my life. Since I was nearly unaware of how to live from the heart successfully I had no alternative option from which to consider this word. This text was always used to impose a sense of inadequacy, guilt and shame on me with the supposed effect of causing me to want to work even harder to become externally perfect with the added burden of including my own imagination and impulses. That was an impossible task and a burden that neither we nor our father's could bear. But it was laid on us nonetheless.

Now I am beginning to see this text quite differently. Chambers implies that perfection as God demonstrates it is in the perfect attitude and disposition that He has toward us. It is seen in His gentleness, forbearance, forgiveness, graciousness, and strong, passionate desire for us to come close to Him so that we can receive more life and be filled with joy in the presence of His love.

The biggest obstacle for me to see perfection in that light previously was that my internal picture of God did not perceive Him in that light. Oh, I might have been able to string those words together as a verbatim repeating of some Biblical proof texts. But my heart did not feel or experience the reality of those words in the way I thought and felt He was treating me, and certainly not in the way most people who claimed to represent Him treated me.

My picture of God was mostly formed around a stern, rigid, rule-imposing authority figure who seemed rather distant but demanded that I love Him in spite of His unattractiveness. To make matters worse, I read many statements that described a natural obedience motived by spontaneous love in response to God's love and it all seemed totally confusing and meaningless to me. I could never comprehend how that could be a reality in my life by trying harder to keep rules and discipline my thoughts and .... and I could never honestly say that I could feel any love coming toward me from God. Now after spending significant time in Romans 7 I can see more clearly how I was “married” to the wrong spouse spiritually which made it impossible to be “perfect” even though that was the constant demand of the “Law” and all the rules of performance that I was directed to focus on. The more I tried to be perfect the more I seemed to experience the opposite reactions, in my heart, at least if not externally.

But now after receiving several years of radical modification of my views about God and starting to see Him as a heart-based being who is passionate about His love for everyone, who lives from His heart and desires us to live more from our hearts than being focused on performance, it is becoming easier to see this word in a different light.

I am realizing that it is crucial that I first experience the truth about how God really feels about me and treats me before it is even possible to approach the idea of perfection and arrive at a correct understanding of it. If I treated people the way my heart thought God was treating me for most of my life, my attitude toward them would be very distant, somewhat harsh and quite demanding of conformance to my ideals for them. I am sad to say that that is really a pretty accurate description of what my life has looked like and still does far too much. I have treated people the way my heart felt treated by God and the damage from that has been enormous and devastating. But I cannot change the way I spontaneously act toward others until I get a better picture of the truth about how God really feels toward me. And I can't get that changed by means of force, even toward myself. Instead, I have to be exposed at the heart level to the humbleness, gentleness, and kindness of God that leads me to repentance. I have to get a correct understanding of who Jesus really is and what He has done for me. And I also need to be filled with a new Spirit at the heart level that energizes and gives life to all of these new understandings and truths about God. That is what I see as the Romans 8 experience.

Now I am beginning to see that when I look at the word “perfect” as a description of attitude more than performance that it becomes much more within reach. Not that I can change my own heart by trying harder. But I am starting to learn that my heart will change naturally if it is exposed more openly to the grace and beauty of God's real feelings and dealings with me. Instead of focusing on trying to be “perfect” – which only tends to trigger the opposite feelings as described in Romans 7 – I find that as I fill my mind with more and more truth about God's passion and emotions and heart attitudes about me that my own heart begins to warm and desire to reflect what I see in Him.

That reminds me of a verse coming up later in Romans 12. It contrasts the difference between a life of attempted conformance and a life of spontaneous and joyful combustion. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2 NIV)

The pattern of this world is to insist on external conformity through force and hard work, motivated by fear, intimidation or shame. The religious life modeled on this pattern is not that much different but uses the Law of God as its tool for measurement. It is primarily a left brain religion that is very keen on being right, believing the right facts and doctrines and focused on looking good. That is the goal of that interpretation of “perfect”.

True religion, in contrast, is a heart-based transformation that comes naturally by filling my mind with new things that dislodge the lies about God. It is a transformational experience that reorients the relationship of my left and right brain so that I can be led by the Spirit of God and live as a Christian naturally and spontaneously. The compelling motivation of my life will be springing from my heart instead of being driven by my head. My life can move from fear and shame and force to love and value and peace. It is only then that I am even able to perceive and agree with what God's will is and I will then perceive His will as something good, something that is pleasing and desirable and I will be glad to be perfect.

Slavery 201

As I think about it more I am becoming really enamored with the prospect of being a total slave of Jesus Christ. It used to set off a low-level reaction of rebellion and resentment inside of me that I have to be a slave to someone and there is no option outside of that according to Romans 6. But after recent experiences it is beginning to dawn on me that being a slave of Jesus Christ is an extremely desirable relationship to be in. It is a real privilege to be able to cry out for help to my Owner when I am in trouble and know that He is very interested in the welfare of every one of His slaves.

God is extremely jealous for His slaves. Since they are totally His property He is fully responsible for their health and welfare. Since it is His slaves that He has chosen to use as His instruments of outreach and self-expression in this world, He is very keen to do everything possible to equip them to accurately reveal the message of the truth about Him. I crave that kind of jealousy. When someone loves me so much they are furiously jealous of my affections and deeply desire my undivided loyalty to them, that conveys something important about their heart and the value they place on me. God does not want me to be compromised by any deceptions of the enemy, for all deception is designed for only one purpose, to get me to doubt God and create within my heart a handle for the enemy to manipulate me and to insert his destructive lies so that through me he can further wound the heart of God.

As a slave of Christ I am fully owned by Him. Naturally He takes extremely good care of all of His property and intends to restore it and maintain it in as premium a condition as possible. Unlike most slave-masters, He gives an amazing amount of autonomy to His slaves. He does so in order that they will reflect His own character and as He demonstrates His intense value for freedom. But since we are in the middle of an deadly war He cannot allow me the freedom of living outside the bondage of slavery to Him for I am not equipped to live on my own because of my fallen human nature. When I refuse to be a slave of Jesus I am immediately stolen and enslaved by the cruel agents of Satan that bind me with galling chains designed to torture, degrade and destroy me. Since there is no possibility of neutrality because of Satan's obsession for soul-snatching, my only safety is in remaining under the protective ownership of slavery to Jesus.

I am just beginning to comprehend a little bit how desirable it is to be in this slavery. It is really something to be greatly envied. In fact, the very angels of God are amazed at the privileges endowed on the slaves of God, especially those who have been rescued from the cruel bonds in Satan's kingdom. Jesus is extremely protective of His slaves and never takes His eyes off of them for a moment, not because He doesn't trust them but because He knows He cannot trust the enemy to leave them alone. The enemy is always plotting how to break their bonds to Jesus or to lure them away from His protection so he can viciously attack them unsuspectingly. Sometimes he launches an all out physical and/or emotional assault against them, but the slaves of Jesus learn to cry out for help at such times and Jesus always immediately comes to their aid in one way or another. It may not always be in the way they expect, but Jesus knows what is best and they learn to trust His wisdom and care for them even though they often do not understand the methods He uses to protect them. Sometimes it seems that they are abandoned, but they learn to trust even in the darkness of their ignorance of what He is presently doing. They trust the passionate heart of love that provides the glue, the bonding influence that binds their hearts close to His.

Many times the enemy comes with subtle attempts to deceive God's slaves in any way possible. He knows that if they will endorse any of his lies about God that he will then have an access point from which to launch even deeper attacks into their hearts and minds. He tries to allure them with promises of better satisfaction and pleasure than God has for them. Or he promises access to power and control over others that they think will bring fulfillment. These deceptions are almost always designed to be undetectable by the slaves as they are beyond their perceptive abilities to detect. The only protection and safety of God's slaves is to stay in connection and constant communication with God's Spirit at all times so they can be alerted by God who will warn them of deceptive dangers that they cannot perceive themselves. As they continue to trust the heart of God to protect and guide them they will be guided by His Spirit to avoid the many schemes of the enemy and will remain in the safety and inner peace enjoyed by all of God's loyal subjects.

Since God's slaves realize they are helpless to create provisions for their own needs, God has also assumed full responsibility for providing for all of the needs of His slaves. He gives each one of them the vision of what He wants them to do for Him each day and then promises to also provide the provision for them to fulfill that vision. Consequently they are free to focus their attention on carrying out the desires and instructions of their Master instead of wasting time grubbing around in frustrating attempts to keep themselves alive and healthy. That is not to say that they do not have to work or fix their food or take care of their bodies. Part of the duties of God's slaves is to participate and cooperate with the plans that God has for each one of them. But the plans of God almost always look very different than human plans, so His faithful and loyal slaves learn that as they carry out His instructions they are not only provided for but they become His means for providing for His other slaves as well.

God's kingdom of slaves operate under very different principles and relationships than the kingdom of darkness. While the slaves of Satan are driven by demeaning selfishness to directly clamor for whatever they can get to satisfy their own needs and desperate cravings, the slaves of God are arranged within a circuit of interdependence and mutual caring. In God's kingdom, life flows from the throne of grace – that flaming source of passion and limitless energy – out into the connected and dependent circle of all His loyal creation. As each receives life it immediately becomes an animated source of life to minister to the next recipients in the circuit while returning praise to the Source of life and joy. Each being in turn receives life and fellowship from the beings above and around them while allowing themselves to be open channels to let that life, love and energy flow out to others in need. All of this interaction is coordinated perfectly through the vibrant and interactive communication system directly linked to God in the Holy Spirit – God's nervous system.

Just like our body is designed to process nutrition and life-giving elements from its surroundings through the complex interdependency of all of the cells and organs, so too the body of Christ is designed for total interdependence and mutual support. And just as the body is primarily the container for our minds and hearts and spirits to interconnect with others and live in ways that extend beyond our own bodies, so too the slaves that make up the body of Christ are to exist as the supporting “container” for the head – Jesus Christ Himself.

And just like the brains and minds of a healthy, mature person will make sure to nurture and protect the body that supports it, even more so will the Head of the body of Christ jealously guard, protect and nurture every cell, organ and appendage of His body. He will not tolerate infections to spread or wounds to go untreated. Every attack on the body of Christ is instantly recognized and will be cared for by the head. But just like our own bodies, the head needs the rest of the body as the means to minister to itself. The hands will care for the feet and other parts, the eyes will alert the body to its surroundings. The ears will not only receive communications but will be the means of entry for enriching music and the calming sounds of nature. The feet and legs will support and carry the body and the internal organs will process and provide useful material to nurture and provide for every cell of every part of the body.

In all of these functions every cell or entity is a slave under the guidance of the nervous system designed to contribute to the perfect functioning of the whole. When any cells become rebellious and independent and grow out of their intended functions, eventually they have to be separated from the body like a tumor or cancerous cells that would threaten the health of the whole body if left unchecked.

But I am now getting too far away from my original thoughts. I still want to ponder on the privileges that I can enjoy being a slave of Jesus bound to Him with cords of lovingkindness that can never be broken. I want to train my heart to instantly cry out to God when I am afraid or in trouble. I want to learn to listen instantly to the quiet, gentle promptings of His “nervous system”, the Holy Spirit instead of just following my own instincts, impressions or cravings. I want to learn to consistently trust His heart and know that He can always take everything that happens to me, no matter how inexplicable or painful from my viewpoint, and will rearrange life to weave everything into an eventual blessing for me that I will eagerly and thankfully praise Him for in the end. And knowing that He is that kind of Master and Friend I want to train my heart to praise Him even before I can see how things are going to work out because I trust His heart, His ability and His desire to always bless me.

Luke 17:1-10 is an insight to what the slaves of Jesus look like. Because of their implicit, trusting relationship to the Master and because they are willing to serve Him first with an attitude of joyful humility, they will be filled more and more with the faith requested by the disciples and described by Jesus in the early verses of that passage. In fact, in the end those who become veteran slaves on a permanent basis will discover to their amazement that their own spirit of service is simply reflective of the very same spirit in their Master as He Himself turns the table on them and desires to serve them in the same way. (see Luke 12:34-37)

I suppose the problem that I and most others have to work on is the re-translation and reinterpretation of the words and their implications in this context. All of the negative, resentment-producing ideas triggered up in our minds and emotions by the words “slave” or “service” are because of the way the kingdom of darkness has used them to abuse us and those around us and skew our image of God. It is the counterfeit interpretations that have taken predominance in this world that leave us confused and afraid of God. Then when God invites us into an intimate, life-giving relationship with Him while using these words and illustrations we become afraid.

But really, our fear grows out of the ignorance of our heart about the truth about God's heart. We are afraid of becoming His slaves because of our past abuse, but the slaves of God are treated better than the unfallen sons of God. The slaves of Satan are harshly bound with chains of fear, shame and cruel, heartless pain while the slaves of Jesus are bound with love. (see Hosea 11:4) It is true that God's slaves will not be free from pain, but pain while in the service of God is recognized, shared and ministered to and becomes a means of growth and development and bonding while pain in Satan's kingdom leads to bitterness, anger, despair and finally death.

God's slaves are encouraged to come boldly to the throne of grace where their Master sits enthroned in the fiery passion of His love for them anytime they are in need. Jesus never drives His slaves with force, fear or intimidation; He always leads His slaves by example and attraction in gentleness. He protects and provides for His slaves everything they need to keep their spirit in harmony with His Spirit. They will not always be completely protected physically or even emotionally from harm, but He will always guard their spirit and will always turn the scheming attacks of the enemy into even greater achievements of grace.

I choose to present myself to God to be bound to Him with His love-bonds and become a slave of obedience to Him. (Romans 6:13-18) It is His work to do the bonding and the love has to be received from His heart. But I really like the privileges and pleasures enjoyed by the slaves of Jesus and I choose to be one of them.

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What Did God Do?

Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 7:24 - 8:4 NAS95)

It seems clear to me that these verses cannot be properly understood unless they are closely connected, which the chapter break seriously disrupts. There are many places in my Bible where I have crossed out the chapter break to alert me to not hesitate in my reading at that point if I want to grasp the real meaning of the passage. This is definitely one of them.

As I look at the section I have several questions that I want to clarify. Those questions inevitably create more questions but the answers that come are almost always very interesting and stimulating. It is why I continue to dig my way through the Bible with a fine-tooth comb – not just to intellectually learn interesting facts but more so to interact with the original Author who wants to reveal Himself to my heart through this means.

I dwelt a little bit previously on what condemnation is, but I think there must be more I don't yet catch. I see two places where it is mentioned here and it creates a real question in my mind. What does it mean when it says, “He condemned sin in the flesh”? I want to go much deeper into that.

Another question that comes to my mind for God is, “What did God do that the Law could not do?” I want to know the answer that emerges directly from the context, not the first thing that comes to mind from typical religious thought.

Another pattern that I see even more clearly that is the backdrop for all the other things here is the paradigm shift from living in the flesh to living in the Spirit. I am convinced that living in the flesh as described at length in chapter 7 means living from the head with a focus on the externals. Living in the Spirit is changing my priorities internally from a head religion to a heart-led spirituality that is strongly rooted in the emotional, intimate side of my being. I believe that keeping this paradigm shift in mind will help greatly while looking for the answers to the first two questions.

Here are some clues that I find for the question about condemning sin in the flesh. Just two verses previously he says there is no condemnation for those.... The condemnation in this sentence is targeted at people, and implied in this statement is that previously these same people were feeling a great deal of condemnation, most likely while in the state of being described in all of chapter 7. However, in the second phrase the condemnation is directed at sin, not toward people. That makes me wonder if I really understand enough what the word really means. If condemnation is a feeling, how can sin have that feeling? Or is condemnation something imposed by someone else? We have to be very careful about our assumptions.

As I look at this and ask for clarification from the Holy Spirit, I begin to notice even more clues in the immediate context. Whatever it means that Jesus did it was a direct result and a part of the plan that His Father was carrying out to do whatever it was that He did related to the second question. It also is connected with Jesus coming “in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin...”

This creates another interesting connection. Jesus was in the likeness of sinful flesh (whatever that meant) and at the same time condemned sin in the flesh. That sound like He ended up possibly condemning Himself since He was in the flesh that was being condemned. I want to go deeper into that also.

But another clue lies just beyond that phrase. It is the results of His condemning sin in the flesh. It says “so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us.” Whatever it was that God did through Jesus expressed in the phrases it resulted in the Law being able to be fulfilled in us.

Now that raises another very interesting link, because it appears to me that in the previous passages it was the Law that was causing all of the troubling condemnation to start with. Many people reacted to that by trying to get rid of the Law and say that under the New Covenant the Law no longer applies to us. You know, we don't live under the Law but under grace mentality. That is another phrase wrested out of context to try to neutralize the thing that plagues our conscience and seems to create so much condemnation inside of us.

But Paul seems to have no interest here in sidelining the Law to fix the condemnation problem. Instead, he says that the real solution comes from God in such a way that, far from being sidelined or neutralized, the Law is suddenly quite satisfied with those people who are results of whatever it is Jesus did described in these verses. This is an echo of what he said back in Romans 3:31, “Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.”

So what emerges from assembling these clues and arranging them into the picture? What I am starting to see is the condemnation that results when a Holy God and sin get into close proximity with each other. In the Garden of Eden it was when God was approaching that Adam and Eve began to feel the increasing heat of condemnation in their hearts and ran to hide. Was God there to condemn them? Absolutely not! But their perception of God in their hearts had been twisted and distorted by sin in their doubts about His integrity, honesty and care about them. They now believed Him to be dangerous and even likely to be coming to kill them. Nothing much has changed since. We still have the same feelings about God based on the same lies embedded in our hearts.

But what happened when Jesus showed up, sent by God to this earth, and took on the likeness of sinful flesh? What was the result of God Himself in the form of Jesus getting that close to the very same contaminated flesh in which so many lies about Him resided? How was it that condemnation showed up in the middle of that mix? And furthermore, why did He do it that way? Why, really, was it necessary for God's Son to take on Himself our flesh, mix it up with the presence of sin and experience whatever this phrase means, “condemned sin in the flesh”?

I believe it is important to know the answer to these questions because those answers are directly related to the resulting effects of the Law being satisfied in the life of everyone who chooses to live in Christ Jesus. I also think it is vitally important to understand these issues to eliminate many of the confused and tragically mistaken ideas about why Jesus came to live and die as a human. We need to understand what it was that God had in mind when He sent His Son to do whatever it was that He did.

That launches me into the second question, “What did God do that the Law could not do?”

Well, I guess I would start by asking, what do we think the Law was attempting to do but not succeeding? I look back into chapter 7 and I see this in verse 10. “This commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me.” So if God accomplished what the Law could not, then God was able to produce the result of life for me through whatever it was that Jesus did.

Another thing that God did was mentioned even more recent in 7:24,25. He says that God will set me free from this body of death through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Well, I haven't really unpacked this very far, but I want to come back again and continue to listen to what the Spirit has to say to the churches. (see Rev. 2 & 3) You and me are part of the churches and the Spirit is very eager to communicate with us if we take the time to listen and receive and absorb the life that God has provided for us “in Christ Jesus”.

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