“For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.” (Romans 8:7)
“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)
I heard someone once criticize the Christian faith for its obsession with death. That was weird, I thought, because I find so much love and joy and life in it! But I do acknowledge the crucial aspect of death in the good news of Jesus Christ. And while it’s a beautiful part of the transformation message, it’s good not to get stuck on it or dwell on to excess, as perhaps some have done.
Let’s start from the basics of theology. God is love – and also holy. That means He is completely loving, completely good and completely right in all that He does. “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne, O God,” wrote the Psalmist. And as one who has great love, he has long desired to share His love with humankind. But he needs us to be of similar caliber to join Him in this fellowship.
Clearly, we are not up to God’s level of goodness, but are we really that bad? What is most striking about us humans is that we are obsessed with ensuring we live morally upright lives. We try so hard to be good and often will justify our actions to anyone who might listen that we are behaving in the best way possible.
So much so that we can hardly admit to ourselves how badly we fail at it. Who admits that they have done wrong without excuse? Some never see that in their lives. But how disturbing it is when we do! Reflect upon what you are capable of, especially if no one could hold you accountable.
Another striking aspect of humans is that we divide the world into us and them. And that’s why there is evil in the world: it’s because of them, not us. But human history tells the story of the great inhumanity of man amongst all groups. We must recognise what human nature is like: we wish in our hearts to do good and be good, but we hopelessly and constantly fail. We really do have a sin problem. And we are unable to come remotely close to God’s level of goodness.
It’s not that God hates people who sin. It’s that he loves pure goodness, and he wants that goodness to be in the people with whom He dwells. How we got this way is told in the story of the Garden of Eden. There our original parents decided to acquire the ability to have their eyes opened to know both good and evil, contrary to God’s command. How can that be undone?
Enter God’s cunning plan of salvation: “For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many!” (Romans 5:15). The good news is that God accepts Jesus’ death as the means to forgive our sins when we believe this good news. Nothing else can ever permit us to abide with God.
Belief in this good news, however, is more than a conscious decision to agree with a faith statement. The entire soul is cleansed and purified, and it must be a deeply felt experience. Paul explained that Christians are baptised because it is an outward witness of the inner cleansing: “…don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3) We need to know that on a very deep level.
That’s why it makes sense that as Jesus died, we die with him so that our sinful nature dies. Paul continues: “We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” (Romans 6:6-7). That’s why the good news is more than just forgiveness of our sins. It’s about getting rid of the sinful nature altogether!
This is what Jesus meant when he declared “The truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). The freedom that humankind so desperately needs is the freedom from sin. For there is no free will when someone is powerless to do what they will to do. As Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34).
To use Jesus’ metaphor, we become new wineskins – fit for the new wine of the Holy Spirit and fit to be spiritually resurrected with truly new life in our mortal bodies! This fulfils God’s ancient promise to put an end to disobedience as spoken by the prophets: “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 11:19). And “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33).
This makes us capable of living the sin-free life because we are given the love and power of God in our very beings. As Paul also wrote: “…you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life…“just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:22,4).
Too incredible to be true? Look at the 12 disciples. They are good examples of those who were not seemingly capable or worthy of living a godly life. Jesus hand-picked these very ordinary men who kept acting in a very ordinary way through their time with him on earth. Who would have thought they would start a worldwide church after Jesus died?
All of this changed on the day they received their personal “anointing” or baptism in the Holy Spirit. That’s the moment they became a new people of God. On that day, they began to act much like Jesus, and finally understood what Jesus meant all along by the Kingdom of God he constantly preached about.
Reflect: Have I really got what it takes to live a life of love without being empowered by the Holy Spirit? Am I experiencing this new life with God as a Christian?
Prayer: Jesus, reveal to me how much I have needed forgiveness for all that I have done with no excuse. Assure me that, by believing you died for me, not just forgiven me of my sins, but you have taken away my sinful nature.
Journal: How is the hope of living a truly new life growing in me? Do I sense the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit?
Why is death the threshold to new life?