Victor Adekunle

No. There is no middle ground or independence here. It's all or none of one or the other. This is most likely due to another lie of the enemy; he deceives us into thinking we can be independent of God and not enslaved to sin. This is a lie as only slavery to God can break the stronghold the sinful nature has over our wills. There may be various reasons for this: the most commonly encountered stems from a need to be accepted by our peers and society at large. Others include fear of persecution and fear of being unable to live up to the standard expected / declared.

We inevitably live in obedience to the doctrine in which we are instructed. Good doctrine ensures that we obey God and not sin. We should honour good doctrine because it reflects God's instructions to us. We should avoid all teaching that is contrary to God's will; for instance, defeatist propaganda that says we can never achieve living above sin.

Slaves consistently obey their masters. We are slaves to whomever we choose to obey - Doing acts of righteousness are a manifestation of being under the control of the Holy Spirit while doing bad things reflects being under the control of the sinful nature. Slavery to sin is broken by accepting the finished work of Christ in liberating us, and by deliberately living a life of obedience to God. No man can serve two masters; True obedience to God doesn't allow room for obedience to the sinful nature.

By willingly placing ourselves (physical bodies and minds) and our capabilities at the disposal of either master. We sin unconsciously because breaking the sinful nature's control requires a conscious effort. The sinful nature is inherent to all mankind so some of its more subtle manifestations may be considered socially acceptable. We might have learnt some of these behaviours over time until they become subconscious actions. By deliberately placing our physical bodies, minds and capabilities at His disposal. There's no neutral state, the only way to break sin's hold is to consciously "use" ourselves for God's glory.

When sin had dominion over us, our bodies "obeyed" its leading. Our wills were programmed to fulfill the sinful nature's bidding. Whether premeditated or instinctive, our actions were a manifestation of the "controlling" sinful nature.

Essentially to "deduce" . No. It's the glory of God to conceal a matter and the honour of kings to reveal it. Prov. 25:2. We're coming to a faith-based deduction. We'll gradually realize that we can live Godly lives through the help of the Holy Spirit.

Through our union with Christ, the price of the spiritual consequence of our Adamic nature has been paid. Christ's crucifixion involved putting the flesh to death and this is symbolic of the invalidation of the power of the sinful nature over us - the flesh has been put to death. The power of the sinful nature made us slaves to its demands : the **** of the flesh, the **** of the eyes and the pride of life. The death of the flesh freed us from this slavery. In our struggle against temptation, we are no longer to feel powerless and think resisting is futile. If we remember that the flesh no longer has control of our wills, we can make a stand. "Resist the devil and He will flee from you" James 4:7b.

He refers to the historical, actual death of Jesus. His death becomes our own through faith; we need to believe that we are connected to Him and that when He died, the price of the spiritual consequence of our Adamic nature was paid. This is reality and accepting it even though we weren't present when He died, or see Him resurrect is an act of faith - a prerequisite for pleasing God.

Buried = Immersion in water Raised from the dead = Emergence from water

First of all, Christ's death denotes a universal law of union where the consequences of one party's actions are borne by the other party (parties) in the union. This "union" was evident as a physical one between Adam and all his descendants (inheriting a sinful nature and the punishment of the original sin). Some would argue that God became flesh in order to take advantage of this universal law of union and change mankind's spiritual destiny, as even though Christ himself did not sin, physical death was inevitable for him because he was born of a woman and inherited the consequences of Adam's sin (Romans 6:23). And so He died, but couldn't be "remanded" in Hades because He knew no sin", thereby conquering death ( couldn't be held prisoner by death) and establishing a new lineage (different from Adam's - since the natural consequence of His Adamic nature had taken its course). We can show that we "believe in" our union with the One who died and rose again (Christ) by baptism - an act of faith. The father was audibly heard saying "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased" at Christ's baptism and Paul says for without faith, it is impossible to please Him. His baptism foretold an act of faith that his spiritual descendants would partake in. The different phases of baptism represent the processes of our union with Christ. Immersion signifies our participation in his death while His resurrection is represented by emergence from the water.

We transitioned from Adam's headship when we died with Christ; for every soul that is corrupted with the sinful nature must die (Ezekiel 18:20). Since death is the natural consequence of sin, Christ's death brought about the end of a dispensation for all mankind - from Adam to the last human. However, He (and we) didn't stay dead as new life was breathed into Him on the third day (Romans 8:11) to begin a new dispensation - reconciliation with God. Just like Adam's headship was based on being the first of humankind, Christ's headship is also based on being the first resurrected soul. To realise this change of Headship, we need to acknowledge His finished work (confession) and accept the baptism of the Holy Spirit (new life). The implications are: 1) no more "spiritual death" / Reconciliation (Hebrews 9:27) 2) no longer dominated by the sinful nature (Romans 8:11) 3) partakers in His divine destiny - becoming humankind's judges and kings in His kingdom (Romans 8:17).

All humankind derive their physical DNA from Adam while everyone who will be saved derive their spiritual DNA from Jesus. Without Christ representing everyone, salvation would be impossible through Him. He came in the fullness of time to pay the price once and for all.

A designated member of a family (e.g father) may act on behalf of everyone in the family. Likewise, a democratically-elected president's actions reflects the viewpoints of his electorate. A father is often the head of the family while a president and those he represents are compatriots.

Sin or the sinful nature predated the law. Genesis 6:5-6 describe manifestations of man's sinful nature as "evil thoughts" and "wickedness on the earth". The law was an attempt to realign man's (external) behaviour with God's standard and it failed miserably. We often consider the sinful nature as a passive state; however, just as God's nature "actively" opposes sin, the sinful nature also "actively" opposes true holiness. Therefore, man's knowledge of God's behavioural standard couldn't cause true repentance; rather it resulted in his sinful nature becoming more obvious.

Reconciliation indicates the end of hostilities in a relationship. When sin entered into mankind, it caused a change in our relationship with God; even though He still loved us (His creation), our sinful nature was at odds with His holy nature thus creating a divide. Christ's sacrifice bridges that divide as He can now overlook our sinful nature and relate with us face-to-face again, just like Adam, which was His divine will from the beginning. The blood of Jesus constantly intercedes for us before God. Transformation to His nature is a lifelong process and we're likely to occasionally yield to sin despite being saved. However, our sin won't be punished by separation anymore because of Jesus' sacrifice. Therefore apart from serving as an initial bridge reconciling us with God, Jesus also gives us the opportunity to maintain a relationship with God by preventing present and future sins from causing God to withdraw from us.