PSGivens

The "old nature" is what has been crucified. Our new life is Christ is what now should motivate us and drive us. Strangely enough, there is still an inward battle between the old and new nature and even Paul struggled with this battle. There is one throne - one controlling place within us - and when Christ comes to live within us, the struggle is for who takes the seat on the throne. This is why we must renew ourselves, constantly die to self, ask for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit... so that Christ will rule as He deserves to rule and as we should desire for Him to rule. Jesus "loved me and gave himself for me"... that is His attitude toward me.

Christ's death on the cross as our only atonement for sin is the "good news" of the New Testament. In that day and in ours it must be declared and accepted as sufficient alone. In Paul's day, circumcision often seemed like part of the payment for sin... in Luther and the reformers' day, the church may have seemed like part of the gospel... today it may be some other tradition of the church (or our family). "Solo Cristo salva"... only Christ saves... anything more than this lessens the sacrifice at Calvary and corrupts the pure gospel.

We are, as others have said here, a product of our culture and our learned traditions. Unfortunately, these traditions sometimes have a tendency to "trump" the gospel. We are so blinded by our own way of seeing and doing things, that we cannot understand other culture's response to the gospel. Many instances in Scripture of people sincerely coming to Christ would not pass the test in our own churches (didn't say the ABC's of salvation, no one drew the bridge diagram for them, they didn't say the words we expect to hear, they didn't "walk the aisle", etc.). We have to be so absorbed into the truth of Jesus and the truth of the gospel that these cultural issues are set aside. I spent many years ministering and connecting with an elderly man in our city who came to Christ in our church. Paul's background was an incredible search for God from his childhood, but he could not read until he was saved and began "listening" to the gospel on tape or in church and trying to follow along. Neither could Paul articulate his deep passion for God... He didn't ever use "church" lingo... he would say "when I got God" or when "God came to me", etc. I did not doubt his salvation, but had to struggle with his cultural background and how he articulated his faith.

Paul's personality was what we might call "type A". He had a drive and a zealous nature for his spiritual quests before conversion to Christ and after his conversion as well. He knew and pursued the traditions of the Jewish faith and because of that, also knew the Gentiles and why they were, in his mind, "outside" of the faith. Paul used these experiences and traits in his quest to make Christ known to all.

Paul's source is the ultimate source - then and now - that is, Jesus. Jesus taught that He was the exclusive way, truth, and life. He is truth and the source of all truth. Paul's revelation came from this source and ours must come from Him as well through the word. We are hopefully sitting under those who recognize the ultimate authority of the word. We can learn from gifted teachers, from mentors in the faith, from each other, from circumstances, and from the indwelling interpreter of truth, the Holy Spirit. However, all of these sources must line up with the word of God as it becomes part of us.

Jesus described Himself in many ways... once as "the way, the truth, and the life" emphasizing that "no one comes to the Father" in any other way. Sometimes we have differences that are not critical, but at other times, doctrinal error, half truths, lies, deceptions of the gospel can have eternal consequences. In Paul's day and in ours, we must be wary of those who would lead us astray. The word is our source, and we need to be saturated with it (engrafted or planted in us, James would say) in order to stay on the right path.

Jesus (as God incarnate) never changes. He rescues us from sin through repentance and faith in His atoning death. Those who lived before the cross looked ahead to this rescue and we look back on it... to God, who is above and beyond time, there is no difference. He keeps us as we depend on the work of the Holy Spirit who empowers us to live Godly lives.

What was the purpose of Christ's death according to verses 14 and 15? In what sense is this mission accomplished? In what sense will it see its final completion in the future? What is the result in our lives from Christ's accomplishment? Clearly, the truth in these verses is that Christ has destroyed the author of sin and freed us from slavery to sin and the fear of death. I'm also reminded as I think about this question that God is beyond our comprehension of time, so that the accomplishment of Christ's atoning death is past, present, and future at the same time. What we will see at the end of the age "already is" from God's true perspective. What is the result in our lives in the here and now? Paul's words in 2 Corinthians are the clearest and most concise... "He made the one who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." Remembering that daily is the challenge as we move forward (and often struggle) in our walk.

The truth of our salvation should be confirmed first by the truth of God's word and then by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Relying on these dual confirmations keeps me from basing the assurance of salvation on how I "feel" or whether the circumstances in my life are as I wish or something less than that. Signs and wonders are real and, to me, are the extra confirmations that God so graciously chooses at times to reveal.