04.20. LESSON 20

LESSON 20

We live in a power-conscious age—mechanically, economically, and politically. A competitive race to make machines of more horsepower, corporations of more economic power, and states of more political power is on among the nations. Power is so highly valued by men that Satan, the wily adversary, can use this craze for counterfeit power as a most deceptive, disastrous tare. True power, however, is the ultimate test of religion. The powerless Christian of Romans 7:1-25, was not a success. That spiritual power is contingent upon the Christian functioning of the Holy Spirit is taught throughout the New Testament. Christ’s sermon in the Upper Room is the basic teaching on this subject. Next in fullness and importance, probably, is Romans 8:1-39. "Anyone who wishes to know the New Testament connotation of Spirit must use his concordance also for the term ’power’ which is its chief content" (James Denney).

"In the Flesh" verses "In the Spirit"

"The mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace; because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be: and they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:6-9). No passage in the Bible paints the flesh in darker colors than this one does. It makes the mind of the flesh and the mind of the Spirit utterly exclusive of, and hopelessly antagonistic to, each other; and makes the possession of the Spirit the dividing line between the two ways of life. The natural man not only does not, but cannot please God. He may be rich, cultivated, likable, and pleasing to others, but without the Spirit he is none of Christ’s and therefore cannot please God.

"There is therefore a sin of our nature as well as personal transgression... Our nature was corrupted by the fall of Adam before it was transmitted to us; and hence that hereditary imbecility to do good, and that proneness to do evil, so universally apparent in all human beings... All inherit a fallen, consequently a sinful nature, though all are not equally depraved" (Alexander Campbell, Christian System, page 30.). Campbell also says: "It is impossible" for "man in his present preternatural state... to do anything absolutely pleasing and acceptable to God."

Though God in Christ condemns sin in the flesh, he does not extirpate it abruptly as ’if by magic. In this world, he proposes to see that Christians "no longer be in bondage to sin," and under the tyranny of the flesh, in which still "dwelleth no good thing." Of course, he does this only with the full consent and faithful cooperation of Christians, who, instead of struggling directly with the flesh, "present" themselves unto God for him to deal with it in his own way. Almighty God, an infinitely wise and gracious Father, knowing that his bruised human children are unable to break the octopus grip of sin in their unaided human power, infallibly gives superhuman Power so as best to promote victory, strength, and spirituality in them. The Christian who tries it finds that it works, for his mind and his will remain his own; and his whole personality grows ever stronger, purer, sweeter, and more trustful until he can say, "We know that to them that love God all things work together for good" (Romans 8:28).

"The Body of This Death"

"And if Christ is ’in you, the body is (still) dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness" (Romans 8:10) —primarily Adam’s sin and Christ’s righteousness. This teaches, I think, that a man’s being a Christian does not prevent his dying. And that when his condemned body goes to the grave, his redeemed spirit, unbodied, goes to "be with Christ" (Php 1:23) to wait reunion with the re-deemed body at the resurrection. "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Romans 8:11). These unbodied saints will be with the Lord at his coming, and get their redeemed, glorified bodies, marvelously changed in substance but seemingly not in appearance, back to live in forever (1 Thessalonians 4:12-18). Christ’s resurrection is the first-fruits of our resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:23), and therefore our risen bodies will be like his risen body (1 John 3:2). According to Thessalonians, the generation of Christians who are living when Christ comes will be delivered "out of the body of this death" by way of instantaneous translation (1 Corinthians 15:52), as Enoch was translated (Hebrews 11:5); and "shall together with them (the risen) be caught up... to meet the Lord in the air."

"Satan, the deceiver of the whole world" (Revelation 12:9) wrecked triune man—body, soul, and spirit. That God’s redemption of triune man culminates in the resurrection of the body 1 Thessalonians 5:23 teaches: "And the God of peace himself shall sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." And thus either by resurrection or by translation final deliverance of all saints "out of the body of this death" is achieved. Of these two ways for saints, "preserved entire," to enter the "new heaven," Paul, according to 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, certainly preferred translation. But it was not so to be, and Paul has been with Christ, which "is very far better" (Php 1:23) than remaining in a dying body, all these centuries "waiting for... the redemption of his body" (Romans 8:23). Who can envision the rapture with which Paul will again live in his redeemed body that in some way inscrutable to men preserves, as new wheat preserves the identity of seed wheat (1 Corinthians 15:35-49), the identity of the body in which he so long ago lived and suffered?" "Our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself" (Php 3:20-21). "Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

Questions