Give way to the BETTER at the expense of the good.
Rom. 7:9-14: "And 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; for sin,
taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it
killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and
righteous and good. 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,
that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. For we
know that the Law is spiritual but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to
sin."
Many law-keeping people have a problem accepting that the Law that was written in tablets of stone nailed to the cross and is not now the means of establishing or maintaining a relationship with God. They reason that if the Law is spiritual, holy and good it is not to be identified with the evil of the people trying to live by it, that is very true. They believe it is as much the means of a spiritual relationship with God today as it was at its conception. Some accept that a relationship with God is initiated by Grace alone, but the maintaining of that relationship is measured by how well we keep the Law and the rules of religion.
In Christ fulfilling the Law and freeing us from its obligations by no means renders the Law unholy, unspiritual or evil. As humans...though believers...when we, through our own ability, try to keep the law and abide by religious rules to substantiate our spiritually we feed the law of sin and death in our flesh...of which we are to reckon dead because of the blood of Jesus...and the law of sin and death finds an opportunity through the law because the Law is in incapable of stimulating our inner man that is in union with Christ. When we try to apply the keeping of the Law in our spiritual relational journey in energizes the Law of sin and death and arouses our fleshly man to try independently of grace to please God by keeping the standard set out by the law.
Notice carefully the scripture says, "this commandment...results in death for me." Even though the Law is good it has to give way to the better, the apporation of living by grace.
As a believer we must realize what we become when we try to measure up to the external standard of righteousness the Law demands. It is not that the Law is evil...BUT, the Law energizes something in us (our flesh man) which is a KILLER...SIN! We must realize that the Law works together with the law of sin and death to take our focus from the all sufficiency of Christ to gain and maintain our relational salvation relationship. On the other hand, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus ALWAYS works together with the righteousness of God.
It is imperative to understand the verse before the passage referenced above, Vs. 8: "But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind, for apart from the Law sin is dead."
We afford sin an opportunity when we apply the keeping of the Law and religious rules to gain favor with God. That fosters legal mindedness and increases our sin consciousness and the more sin conscious we become the more sin will have its way in us.
Many law-keeping people have a problem accepting that the Law that was written in tablets of stone nailed to the cross and is not now the means of establishing or maintaining a relationship with God. They reason that if the Law is spiritual, holy and good it is not to be identified with the evil of the people trying to live by it, that is very true. They believe it is as much the means of a spiritual relationship with God today as it was at its conception. Some accept that a relationship with God is initiated by Grace alone, but the maintaining of that relationship is measured by how well we keep the Law and the rules of religion.
In Christ fulfilling the Law and freeing us from its obligations by no means renders the Law unholy, unspiritual or evil. As humans...though believers...when we, through our own ability, try to keep the law and abide by religious rules to substantiate our spiritually we feed the law of sin and death in our flesh...of which we are to reckon dead because of the blood of Jesus...and the law of sin and death finds an opportunity through the law because the Law is in incapable of stimulating our inner man that is in union with Christ. When we try to apply the keeping of the Law in our spiritual relational journey in energizes the Law of sin and death and arouses our fleshly man to try independently of grace to please God by keeping the standard set out by the law.
Notice carefully the scripture says, "this commandment...results in death for me." Even though the Law is good it has to give way to the better, the apporation of living by grace.
As a believer we must realize what we become when we try to measure up to the external standard of righteousness the Law demands. It is not that the Law is evil...BUT, the Law energizes something in us (our flesh man) which is a KILLER...SIN! We must realize that the Law works together with the law of sin and death to take our focus from the all sufficiency of Christ to gain and maintain our relational salvation relationship. On the other hand, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus ALWAYS works together with the righteousness of God.
It is imperative to understand the verse before the passage referenced above, Vs. 8: "But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind, for apart from the Law sin is dead."
We afford sin an opportunity when we apply the keeping of the Law and religious rules to gain favor with God. That fosters legal mindedness and increases our sin consciousness and the more sin conscious we become the more sin will have its way in us.
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