Page 20 - lifeandgrace
P. 20
We have been made alive. After the old man is put to death on the cross, we have a new man alive in
Christ. Eph 2:1 (RSV) "And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins"
Even as Jesus rose from the grave, so we have been made alive also. Jesus has given us Life - actually it is
His Life that has come into us. His Life is eternal so we now have Eternal Life within us. He is Eternal
Life. Remember that we are principally spirit beings because we were created in the image of God who is
Spirit.
One great mistake we make is not seeing ourselves as spirits. Instead we see our bodies as the real us,
and yet, this is not at all the eternal part of us. Our bodies are decaying and will someday be restored,
renewed by God. But our spirits are already eternal. They will never pass away. Man is first of all, a spirit.
Secondly, Genesis 2:7, he is a living soul which lives in a body which the Lord created.
One tragedy for mankind from the fall in the Garden of Eden is that every human being now inherits
the nature of his forefather Adam. Romans 5:12 (NKJV) tells us, “Therefore, just as through one man sin
entered the world, [This refers to Adam.] and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because
all sinned;"… Though Adam did not die physically for about 900 years, he died spiritually the day he
sinned just as God said he would. Since Adam walked around for 900 years, and he walked and talked
and had a personality (a soul), it is obvious that neither his body nor his soul died. The part of him that
died was that part made in the image of God: his spirit. To die in this context means to be separated from
your surroundings. He was now separated from God and no longer had communion with him.
Unwittingly, he had turned traitor and become a slave of Satan, the god of this world. He now had a sin
nature though the word does not say it exactly like that.
That which allowed Adam to have a relationship with God was dead towards God and alive in Satan
in effect. The nature of Adam was now the nature of sin. Men with the nature of Adam do not need to
decide to sin. They sin as a matter of their nature. Eph 2:3 (NKJV) “among whom also we all once
conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were
by nature children of wrath just as the others.” They do not have to choose to sin, it is their nature.
Dogs bark because it is their nature. Barking does not make a dog a dog. If cats made barking sounds,
they would still be cats because that is the nature God gave them. Lost men sin because it is their nature.
No decision to sin is necessary. They have inherited this from their forefather Adam.
It is this sin nature that makes them children of wrath (meaning the wrath of God). Men go to hell
primarily because of their sin nature, not because of sins. So long as we are in Adam - with a sin nature,
we are consigned to hell because we are in the kingdom of darkness or kingdom of Satan. Only in Christ
do we have eternal life because we have been transferred to the kingdom of light. Col 1:13 (RSV) “He has
delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,"
When we turn from the world to Christ and believe that He has died for our sins and been resurrected
that we might have eternal life, we are born again or born “from above”. We become partakers of His
nature since His Life has entered into our spirits and given them life. 2Pet 1:4 (NKJV) "by which have
been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the
divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” Our spirit is made alive in
Him. Our spirit is indwelt by God Himself, and thus we are partakers of His nature. Let me repeat that:
We are partakers of His divine nature!
One wonderful blessing of having the nature of God within us is that we can choose not to sin. Rom.
6: 14 (NKJV) "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
Christ. Eph 2:1 (RSV) "And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins"
Even as Jesus rose from the grave, so we have been made alive also. Jesus has given us Life - actually it is
His Life that has come into us. His Life is eternal so we now have Eternal Life within us. He is Eternal
Life. Remember that we are principally spirit beings because we were created in the image of God who is
Spirit.
One great mistake we make is not seeing ourselves as spirits. Instead we see our bodies as the real us,
and yet, this is not at all the eternal part of us. Our bodies are decaying and will someday be restored,
renewed by God. But our spirits are already eternal. They will never pass away. Man is first of all, a spirit.
Secondly, Genesis 2:7, he is a living soul which lives in a body which the Lord created.
One tragedy for mankind from the fall in the Garden of Eden is that every human being now inherits
the nature of his forefather Adam. Romans 5:12 (NKJV) tells us, “Therefore, just as through one man sin
entered the world, [This refers to Adam.] and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because
all sinned;"… Though Adam did not die physically for about 900 years, he died spiritually the day he
sinned just as God said he would. Since Adam walked around for 900 years, and he walked and talked
and had a personality (a soul), it is obvious that neither his body nor his soul died. The part of him that
died was that part made in the image of God: his spirit. To die in this context means to be separated from
your surroundings. He was now separated from God and no longer had communion with him.
Unwittingly, he had turned traitor and become a slave of Satan, the god of this world. He now had a sin
nature though the word does not say it exactly like that.
That which allowed Adam to have a relationship with God was dead towards God and alive in Satan
in effect. The nature of Adam was now the nature of sin. Men with the nature of Adam do not need to
decide to sin. They sin as a matter of their nature. Eph 2:3 (NKJV) “among whom also we all once
conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were
by nature children of wrath just as the others.” They do not have to choose to sin, it is their nature.
Dogs bark because it is their nature. Barking does not make a dog a dog. If cats made barking sounds,
they would still be cats because that is the nature God gave them. Lost men sin because it is their nature.
No decision to sin is necessary. They have inherited this from their forefather Adam.
It is this sin nature that makes them children of wrath (meaning the wrath of God). Men go to hell
primarily because of their sin nature, not because of sins. So long as we are in Adam - with a sin nature,
we are consigned to hell because we are in the kingdom of darkness or kingdom of Satan. Only in Christ
do we have eternal life because we have been transferred to the kingdom of light. Col 1:13 (RSV) “He has
delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,"
When we turn from the world to Christ and believe that He has died for our sins and been resurrected
that we might have eternal life, we are born again or born “from above”. We become partakers of His
nature since His Life has entered into our spirits and given them life. 2Pet 1:4 (NKJV) "by which have
been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the
divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” Our spirit is made alive in
Him. Our spirit is indwelt by God Himself, and thus we are partakers of His nature. Let me repeat that:
We are partakers of His divine nature!
One wonderful blessing of having the nature of God within us is that we can choose not to sin. Rom.
6: 14 (NKJV) "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
