law of moses, yahweh's
teachings
PART III: BY THE LETTER OR THE SPIRIT?
2Co 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament (covenant); not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
In the next verse (vs. 7) Paul calls the letter, “The ministration of death, written and engraven in stones.” This is how the law, or the letter as Paul sometimes refers to it, kills the carnal man allowing the spirit to give life to the new man.
Ro 8:7 Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
The carnal man, the flesh, is at odds with Yahweh because it strives to please itself in lust, pleasure and laziness. In this way it will not submit itself to the law that requires it to control lust, regulate pleasure and work. Why does the flesh fight against the law? Because:
Ro 7:14 We know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
The law is spiritual because a spiritual, holy Yahweh gave it. We on the other hand are not spiritual and so have a law (if we should write a law) that would cater to the flesh, that is why Paul says: “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man” (Ro 7:22). Notice he could not say this acting from the outward man (flesh) but from his spiritual inward man, since his outward man is contrary to the law as he says in Gal 5:17.
Ro 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not [in] the oldness of the letter.
We’re delivered from the penalty of the law. How? By the one and only way, which is death; for the wages or penalty of sin, (transgressing the law) is death Ro 6:23. When Paul talks about the old man dying it is symbolic of Messiah’s death, for we didn’t die, Yahshua did, and we take His death and apply it to our body.
OLD MAN DEAD
Ro 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion (2961) over a man as long as he liveth?
#2961 kurieuo; AV - have dominion over 4, exercise lordship over 1, be Lord of 1, lords 1; total 7. Definition: to be lord of, to rule, have dominion over, to exercise influence upon, to have power over.
This is not saying the law is only in effect as long as we are alive, it’s saying the law only has dominion over us. But read on.
Ro 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion (2961) over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Ro 3:19 What things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become GUILTY before God.
1Ti 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient.
Ga 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
But we are not alive (as far as the law is concerned) but have died in Yahshua and owe the law nothing. The law sees a big stamp over us, “Paid in full.”
Ro 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. 4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead (lets call this death #2) to the law by the body of Messiah; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
When the woman’s husband dies is she free from the law and can now have relations with another man? No, she is free from “the law of her husband” but not from the law of adultery or fornication. Paul is not saying believers are rid of the law through Messiah’s death but that we are cleared of any hold the law had over us because we are now righteous before Yahweh. The law no longer has dominion (as in verse 1) over us for we are no longer alive.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions (passions) of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death (call this death #1).
Are we in the flesh now? Pinch yourself. Then what did Paul mean?
6 But now we are delivered (2673 katargeo- destroy , loosed, abolish ) from the law, that being dead (#2) wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
Paul speaks of death #1 in verse 5 which results in due time in the lake of fire, called in other scriptures as “the second death.” He says we’re “delivered from the law” by death #2, the death of the “old man.” Paul uses katargeo in Ro 3:31, “Do we then make void (katargeo) the law?” His answer is a resounding NO! Instead we establish or reinforce the law. Katargeo is also translated “loosed” in vs 2 above. In vs 4 above Paul says the same thing, “Ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Messiah.” He says the same thing in the following:
Ro 6:14 Ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Ga 3:13 Messiah hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us:
Ga 4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
The same message is heard in Mt 26:28; Ro 3:24-26, 4:25; 2Co 5:21; Ep 5:2; Ti 2:14; He 7:27, 9:12&28, 10:10; 1Pe 1:18-19, 2:24; 1Jn2:2, 4:10; Rev 1:5 and many more. In fact if you don’t understand this statement you’ve missed the primary message in the NT, and the entire Bible. Yahshua’s death paid the penalty called for by the law and we are now free from the law, we don’t owe it anything.
What is Paul saying is dead?
Not the law! Not you or me as an electrician or a carpenter, you still remain that. Not you as a Gentile or you as a freeman or a slave, Yahshua doesn’t change that. Not you as a man or a woman, you can check that next time you’re in the shower.
What has changed?
The road/path you walk is now different. Your destination has changed. Your desires aren’t what they used to be. Your master has been replaced with another. Your love has been transferred from the world to the Creator. Your distaste is now of the things of the world and not of the things of Yahweh.
The old man or old way of life is dead. The old way of life was leading to death #1. This new way of life will bring you eternal life. The old way of living detested the law and transgressed it always. The new man, this new way of thinking, loves the law and obeys it.
So Paul’s metaphor of the old man dying doesn’t mean we’ve changed physically. Yahweh said, “I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts.” It’s a mental, emotional change, it’s a conversion, and our eyes have been opened. The mind is the center of thinking, the heart the center of our desires. We’re converted from struggling against Yahweh and His commandments with our carnal self, to embracing Him and His commandments with our new spiritual motivated man, see the contrast in Ro 7:22 and 8:7.
Ro 8:7 Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.
Note: Carnal is just another word for flesh. #4559 and 4561, translated flesh 147 times, carnal 11, fleshly 3.
So it is a change in attitude, not any change in how we obey the law or any change in how it’s interpreted. Yahweh has not changed, nor has His law, neither has the world, or sin, or obedience. The only change that has taken place is within us. The old mind (man) has been converted to a new mind (man). Our old desires (man) are replaced with new desires (man).
Ro 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence (lust). For without the law sin was dead.
“Is the law sin? God forbid.” It’s not the law that brings death #1 but the breaking of it. The law is like a searchlight exposing sin for what it is, without it we can’t know what is sinful from what is not. The law tells us we’re guilty, and this is how it acts as “our schoolmaster [to bring us] unto Messiah” (Ga 3:24).
Ro 3:20 For by the law is the knowledge of sin. Ps 19:11 Moreover by them (commandments) is thy servant warned.
Paul adds that sin, with the opportunity given it by the law, produced in him more sin. His transgressions of the law multiplied as he learned more of the law. Only sensible, since without the law sin couldn’t exist, sin is totally depended on the law for its existence because, “Sin is not imputed when there is no law” (Ro 5:13).
9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
“Sin revived,” sin came back to life only after the law appeared, of course, because sin can’t exist without its lifeline – the law. You can’t break a law that doesn’t exist.
10 And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found to be unto death.
The law, which was given to sustain life, instead brought death #1 to him. How?
11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
Paul says sin, given life through the law, beguiled him (or he deceived himself as in 1Co 3:18), and sentenced him to death, in essence, slaying him.
12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
We can’t blame the law, it’s perfect, it didn’t cause death. What killed Paul then? Sin! The transgression of the law, not the law itself. Paul explains.
13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
The law, the searchlight, brings sin out in the open, clearly visible. The law strengthens sin (1Co 15:56), yet the law is holy, just and good. How can something that strengthens sin be holy and good? Sin to the world is fun and harmless even though, unbeknown to them, it is leading all to destruction because they don’t recognize the law, which Paul says makes sin appear exceedingly sinful so that it can be recognized as not fun but evil. Would we classify a microscope as bad because it enables us to see a deadly disease that is spreading amongst us? God forbid! But the disease, that it might appear a disease, working death in us by that which is good; that the disease by the microscope might become exceedingly disease like. This enables us to kill the outward self with antibiotics that takes out the disease and leaves us a new or healthy man. In our spiritual life the antibiotic is the Messiah and the disease is sin. Just as a microscope identifies disease as such so the law identifies sin as sin. Without the law we would not know sin was living in our lives.
Ga 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster (guardian) [to bring us] unto Messiah, that we might be justified by faith.
The law identifies sin as harmful, we realize we need help to escape sin’s penalty, the law guides us to Yahshua who pays our debt. Just as we have access to antibiotics that ward off disease as it returns again and again we have Messiah to flush away sin that we commit again and again. Sin is not discernible by the spirit, nowhere do the scriptures say this, and it is made visible only by the law. Yahweh’s Holy Spirit activates the law in us, which in turn identifies the sin; we then know we’ve sinned.
Ro 3:20 For by the law is the knowledge of sin. Ps 19:11 Moreover by them (commandments) is thy servant warned.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
The law is spiritual, always was spiritual and always will be spiritual. After all it is from Yahweh, how could it not be anything but spiritual, holy, good and perfect? However Paul says he is carnal/flesh, bought by sin, his human nature has sold him out. This depicts Paul as weak and at the mercy of his flesh, but bear in mind Paul’s objective in this exaggerated picture he is painting is to demonstrate the contrast between walking in the flesh and walking in the spirit, and he is using himself as a stand in for all of us who will follow. He is about to tell us how he has and is triumphing over this dilemma, and take a look at 1Co 9:23-27 and Ph 3:3-14 for just how determined and successful Paul is at overcoming the flesh. Can this be the same Paul, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Messiah's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2Co 12:10). See also Ro 13:14; Col 3:5 and He 4:1 for what we should do. Remember you must “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Php 2:12).
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Paul is describing his double life or split personality. Try as he may Paul admits he (his flesh) still does what his heart and mind wish him not to. This is the new Paul, the 2-part Paul, part A is the flesh (outward man), part B is his heart and mind (inward man), stimulated by the spirit. The outward man is dead, in that Paul hates its desires. He doesn’t walk the outward man’s walk, the outward man clings to him because he is still alive in the flesh.
ATTENTION: Paul is speaking here as a converted, spirit filled man, otherwise he could not say, “But what I hate, that do I.” The law is written on his heart and when he transgresses the law, he hates what he did. This is the new Paul, the one that delights in the law (vs 22). He now recognizes the law and is subject to it, keep in mind “the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (8:7).
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
When he sins his heart and mind confirms to him the wrong in transgressing the law, thereby proving the law is good and the breaking of it is bad. His heart and mind know this because they are moved by the spirit, this is what Yahweh meant when He said He would place the law in their hearts and minds. Just remember Paul is speaking here as the new man.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Is this a cop-out? No, because Paul has already told us this part of him is dead, he has acknowledged the death of Yahshua as his, he has accepted the pardon from the wages of sin, he has turned from his old walk and so he can say “it is no more I” that sin.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
He gets no help from his body, only the works of the flesh which he details in Ga 5:19-21. “For to will is present with me,” his mind and heart are willing because he is a new man walking in the spirit, not in the flesh.
Let’s stop here and read where Paul was inflicted with a bodily illness with the blessing of Yahshua.
2Co 12:7 There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 8 For this thing I besought Yahweh thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
If those who claim this chapter (Ro 7) could not possibly be understood to suggest the great apostle actuality was meaning what he was writing, then why did he need help to subdue his flesh? It’s obvious, he was given this affliction to weaken his flesh so that the Spirit of Messiah could gain strength in Paul over the weakened flesh. For when the flesh is weak the spirit is strong and when the flesh is strong the spirit is weak.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
The fact that he hates what he is doing verifies the spirit is pointing out to his heart and mind that these things are wrong because they go against the law.
THE LAW IS LIKE A CHEVY
Paul obeyed the law of
Moses but wasn’t fallen from grace because he never tried to be justified by the
law. He was justified by Yahshua and didn’t obey the law to become righteous by
it like the Galatians but because it was the obedient thing to do.
A strange hypocrisy comes from those who look at anyone obeying, let’s say the 4th
commandment, they define this person as a legalist, fallen from grace, trying to
be justified by the law etc., but when they themselves obey the 8th
or 9th commandment for instance, it’s just fine. These people can
obey certain commandments and never think of themselves as trying to be
justified by them but when others obey commandments they believe to be obsolete
they accuse them of trying to gain righteous through obedience.
The point to remember is that you can’t be saved or justified or made righteous
by the law, it was not designed to provide that, it was intended only to point
out sin (Ps 19:11, Ro 3:20 & 7:7). Now because the law is unable to make people
righteous is it a failure, has it failed to accomplish its mission? No, because
it was never intended to justify anyone, that is why to try and use it to be
justified results in complete failure. It would be like taking a car to the
airport and trying to fly with it. Cars were never designed to fly but that
doesn’t mean they’re useless or failures, for they perform very well what they
were intended for.
To insist that people must become righteous through the law, as certain Jews in
Galatia did, is what Paul calls
“the yoke of bondage.”
It’s impossible, they’re
never going to get off the ground with it. Peter speaks of this in Acts 15:10
when he says,
“Why
tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our
fathers nor we were able to bear?” No one
can do the impossible and using the law for what it was not made for (to become
justified) is an exercise in futility, like trying to fly in your Chevy.
THE HOLY LAW vs THE EVIL LAW
Ro 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
He once again tells us he’s doing what the spirit tells him is wrong and again, as in 17, no longer has to take the blame because he is dead in Messiah.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
He finds a principle or rule that exists, even when he desires to be good evil is right there struggling to overthrow the good, what he calls in 18 “in me dwelleth no good thing.”
22 For I delight in the law (torah) of God after the inward man:
Paul, like David, can say he delights in Yahweh’s law, the torah, but can only say this with the new, inward man because the old man hates Yahweh’s law (8:5&7).
23 But I see another law (not torah) in my members, warring against the law (torah) of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Satan’s law, the law of the flesh, which would be the law of this present world, tells us: if it feels good do it, don’t worry be happy, eat, drink and be merry, don’t be a party pooper, it only counts if you get caught; in other words look out for number one. This law or principle is naturally imbedded in our beings, our carnal flesh, and is so powerful only the spirit of Yahweh can help us overcome it. Paul seems to imply, even with the spirit-placed law of his mind warring against this law of the flesh, it still captivates him under the law of sin that he maintains is in his members (mouth, eyes, ears, hands and feet).
This demonstrates without a doubt that Paul is speaking as a converted spirit filled believer, for there is no struggle in those who walk after the flesh because it pleases them to no end to satisfy the fleshly desire and all day long that is their aim.
Ga 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary (#480- adversary, opposed) the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Many passages of scripture feature this strive between flesh and spirit, including Ec 7:20; Ro 6:13; 1Ti 6:11-12; Heb 12:4; Ja 3:2 & 4:1; and 1Pe 2:11.
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
Ro 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Adam Clarke: “There seems to be an allusion to an ancient custom of certain tyrants, who bound a dead body to a living man, and obliged him to carry it about, till the contagion from the putrid mass took away his life! We may naturally suppose that the cry of such a person would be, Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this dead body?” Whether Paul experienced such a site, who can tell, but one thing is for certain Paul knows where to go for help.
25 I thank God through Yahshua Messiah our Master. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
It’s pretty difficult to deny Paul is here speaking as a spirit filled believer. His answer seems to be that he can have the best of both worlds. When he says, “with the flesh (he serves) the law of sin” he is not saying anything different then what he said in 17, 18, 20 and 23. Chapter 8 details how things work.
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Messiah Yahshua, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
There is “no condemnation” only to those who “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” If you try to do both and have the best of both worlds there is condemnation, for to walk in both worlds would be impossible, because the war that Paul mentions in 7:23 could not take place. If you think your walking in both worlds you are in fact only walking in one and that is the flesh. If you are “in Messiah Yahshua” there is nothing to condemn you for because you are pure and righteous in Yahweh’s eyes.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yahshua hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Look back at 7:25 when Paul said, “with the flesh (he serves) the law of sin” but here he exclaims I am free from the law of sin. Both times in this verse the word ‘law’ is used in the sense of principle or standard, not as a translation of ‘torah’. The law (or principle) imbued by the Holy Spirit through our new life in Messiah frees us, because this old self has died, death # 2.
3a For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh,
The law was incomplete and so unable to help us. The law was weak only because the flesh was weak. Remember the law is holy and perfect in itself and only when it is applied to the weak flesh does it show its failure. The law after all was not designed to save but condemn. That is its job.
Ro 8:3b God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Condemned sin in Yahshua’s flesh. see 1Pe 2:24 & Ro 6:6
1Pe 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness.
Ro 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [him], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
2Co 5:21 For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Heb 10:10 we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Yahshua Messiah
We take His death and use it to kill our sinful flesh, not in reality but figuratively, killing the leadership role the flesh played in our lives. Paul explains it as killing the deeds of the body not the actual body itself in Ro 8:13, Col 3:5, Gal 5:25, Tit 2:12, 1Pe 2:11. And when this is done then there cannot be any condemnation to those “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”.
Are we condemned, if as Paul does in 7:15 we do that which we hate? No way! Because Paul explains when we do deeds we hate it is not our will but the “no good thing” (18) in us that is responsible. And because our desires are lead by the spirit we know the deeds we just did by the flesh are not imputed, “For he that is dead (he’s speaking figuratively here) is freed from sin” (Ro 6:7). And this is encouraging, “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Messiah in God” (Col 3:3).
Ro 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled (4137 complete) in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
The righteousness of the law, some might say what righteousness? But Paul and David have told us the law is spiritual, holy, just, good, perfect, pure, sure, true, upright, faithful and righteous. The righteousness of the law is complete in us by Yahshua, just as he said he would in Mt 5:17-20.
Ro 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death (#1); but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
A fleshly walk cares for the fleshly world but a spiritual walk desires the things of Yahweh.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
The carnal mind, which caters to the flesh, is hostile toward Yahweh and His law. It will not obey Yahweh’s law and couldn’t even if it wanted to.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Walking in the flesh you will never desire to obey the law and so you cannot please Yahweh.
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Messiah, he is none of his.
The good news is the flesh is dead and we live through Yahshua in the spirit.
10 And if Messiah be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
By accepting the Saviour into our lives we take on his death as payment for the wages of sin, resulting, figuratively, as the death of our own body because of sin. We then begin a new life, figuratively, in the spirit with what is the opposite of sin, righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Yahshua from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Messiah from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Yahweh’s spirit will someday soon quicken, make alive, our dead bodies.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Our job through the spirit is to mortify, meaning put to death, destroy or kill, the works, desires or lusts of this flesh.
Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness (excess), 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance (argumentative), emulations (indignation), wrath, strife, seditions (dissension), heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Looking at this list, we can see all these things are against the law. Paul is saying the flesh is programmed to break the law, but if we walk in the spirit we won’t break the law (vs 16). How is this possible? Because “the Spirit lusteth (1937) against the flesh” vs 17 [#1937 epithumeo: - to turn upon a thing]. Yahweh has put the law in our hearts and minds. The law in our hearts and minds (activated by the spirit), this law, which is contrary to the desires of the flesh (vs 17), attacks these desires and judges them sinful (see Ro 7:13), enabling us to refrain from sinning. The clearer and more sinful the law can portrait a sin the easier it is for us to refrain from that sin. Take the sins of murder, adultery, idolatry or swearing, in most believers minds all these are obviously very sinful so that we seldom come close to transgressing them. Whereas envying, lying or coveting many times can be mulled over in our minds in an attempt to circumvent them, causing us to take them lightly and many times falling prey to them.
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
This list describes the desires of the spirit, there was no need for Yahweh to lay out a law against such as these. It’s conceivable Satan would outlaw desires such as these.
24 And they that are Messiah's have crucified the flesh with the affections (passions) and lusts.
This is the death of the old man.
THE LAW NOT FOR THE RIGHTEOUS
1Jn3:4 Sin is the transgression of the law.
This is a true statement.
Ro 7:1 The law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Believer do you still live? No, you’re dead; your death has paid the debt the law required
Ro 7:4 Ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Messiah; see 2Co 5:21
We are now righteous men and women and the law has no say over us.
1Ti 1:9 The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient.
Ro 3:19 What things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become GUILTY before God.
Ga 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
We are not under the law because we are righteous and pure in Yahweh’s eyes so the law does not demand any payment.
The Canadian law of murder says (let’s pretend), if I murder another human I will be imprisoned for 20 years. The Canadian law of murder has no hold over me in any way; I am not under dominion to it, not bound to it, not under it. The law of murder is still in force but it has no dealings or impact on my life. It is there to show us what not to do only and cannot affect us otherwise. The minute I murder someone I am under this law of murder or under its dominion, I am bound by it. How? I am then forced by this law to pay its penalty or debt, which would be 20 years in prison. Let’s say the Queen is coming to town, to show her good graces she pardons me. I am then out from under the law of murder once more, it no longer has dominion over me and I am no longer bound by it. The Canadian law of murder is still in force only it can’t touch me because it doesn’t have dominion over me any longer. Before long I murder another person and again I am back under the law of murder and all its consequences. Unless the Queen pardons me again I will remain under this law until I pay the penalty required, which is 20 years.
So we are righteous and no longer under the law because Yahshua pardoned us. However the law is still in force and when we transgress the law only then could it have any dominion over us if not for Yahshua.
Isa 53:12 He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Ro 8: 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? 34 Who [is] he that condemneth? [It is] Messiah that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Heb 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
1Jo 2:1 If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Yahshua Messiah the righteous:
If one is saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, dead to sin and walking according to the spirit, not the flesh, does not Yahweh see that person as pure, without spot or wrinkle? If we do slip up and transgress the law we are still pure and righteous because, before anyone can charge or condemn us, Yahshua is there to intercede on our behalf.
JOE IN ADULTERY
After someone (let’s call him Joe) is saved and washed in the blood, of course we agree he is righteous and pure in Yahweh’s sight. He is told by his brothers and sisters in the assembly what is right and what is wrong to do in his new life. Twenty years elapse and Joe has continued to live a life devoted to Yahweh. One day he starts an affair with a married woman, even thought he knows the law says do not commit adultery. After each meeting with this married woman he goes back to his spouse and successfully forgets about it until the next time. It matters not whether Joe blames his spouse for having this affair, considers this his second wife or however else he has deceived himself. The question is he has transgressed the law and what will become of him?
Does Yahweh look upon him as if he’s kept the 7th commandment? Does he have victory over sin and death because all other transgressions of the law he has repented of and is forgiven? How should he view the following scriptures?
Heb 6: 4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
Heb 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.
2Pe 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Master and Saviour Yahshua Messiah, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known [it], to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
My question is the same as Paul’s: “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?” (Ro 6:15).
If we conclude Joe has backslid, even thought he might be the most active and spiritual in church, we would do so based on the fact that he transgressed the law. What would be the difference between him and someone else who might transgress other laws? Would Yahshua be able to cover his sins despite the person, can His blood and the power of the Holy Spirit overcome sins that are not repented of or through self-deception are not even acknowledged?
Would Joe be exempt from adultery since Yahshua fulfilled the law?
What can we do for ourselves to prevent falling into self-deception and sin? I think we should follow Paul’s example.
1Co 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring [it] into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
Heb 12:1 Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Not that keeping the commandments will gain us any favour or eternal life, since that is ours as a free gift, but it will enable us to hold on to the gift.
Mt. 19:16 One came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
1Jn3:22 Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
1Co 7:19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.
1 Jn 2:3 Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
Our carnal (or flesh, since both are from the same Greek word) nature is not removed, it is very much alive and well.
2Co 10:2 Some, which think of us as if we WALKED ACCORDING (2596) to the flesh. 3 For though we WALK IN (1722) the flesh, we do not war after (2596 according to) the flesh:
2596 ~ kata; AV-according to 107, after 61, against 58, in 36, by 27, daily + 2250 15, as 11, misc 165; total 480. Definition: according to, toward, along.
1722 ~ en; AV-in 1902, by 163, with 140, among 117, at 113, on 62, through 39, misc 265; total 2801. Definition: in, by, with etc.
We have to know the difference between “walking according to the flesh” and “walk(ing) in the flesh.” The KJV doesn’t make this easy. Before we start let’s point out that Paul uses ‘walk’ or ‘walking’ in place of living or acting. The Greek word kata is here translated ‘according to’ whereas in Romans it is translated ‘after’.
Ro 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Messiah Yahshua, who walk not after (2596) the flesh, but after (2596) the Spirit.
Ro 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after (2596) the flesh, but after (2596) the Spirit.
Ro 8:5 For they that are after (2596) the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after (2596) the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Ro 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after (2596) the flesh.
Walking (or living or acting) ‘according to’ or ‘after’ the flesh both mean being led by its desires and conforming to its standards, whereas, walking ‘according to’ or ‘after’ the spirit is being led by the spirit and following its direction. Another term Paul uses is “in the flesh” or “in my flesh” to describe our actual existence in this flesh and bones body we are given.
Ro 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.
2Co 12:7 There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.
Ga 4:14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not.
Php 3:4 I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:
Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake.
Col 2:5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit.
Php 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
So “according to the flesh” or “after the flesh” is bad, it’s submitting to the pull of our flesh/carnal nature, the world. “In the flesh” is something we can’t do anything about until we are released from this fleshly body and given a spiritual body. Paul means, although we walk around in fleshly bodies we don’t submit to the law of that flesh, or struggle not to anyway. This always has to be in the back of our mind when reading Paul, nowhere does Paul imply we are released from our flesh.
Yahshua has neither the power nor the mandate to remove our carnal nature, we are stuck with it until we literally, physically die. Paul speaks of our carnal nature dying only in the sense that it no longer runs our lives. I do not believe we now have a pure and holy nature of the Holy Spirit as some believe, Yahweh’s spirit has been placed in our hearts and minds but it is not our nature, our nature is still carnal/flesh, or more often refered to as our “human nature.”.
Ro 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature.
Php 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Messiah Yahshua. 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:
1Co 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring [it] into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
How does Paul control his carnal/fleshly nature? He gets help from the Holy Spirit and gets the best results by attacking its weaknesses. In 2Co 12:7 the “thorn in the flesh” knocks him down should he get puffed up and so he can “Take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities (hardships), in persecutions, in distresses for Messiah's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (vs 10). When the carnal/flesh is weak then the spirit gains strength.
Ga 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other.
When one is strong the other is weak and when the one is weak the other is strong. When we’re rich, famous, healthy, comfortable and content the spirit is weak and we don’t need any support. But when we’re poor, sickly, miserable and distressed the flesh becomes weak and we tend to turn to Yahweh for help.
Let’s see what Paul means by being dead through baptism.
Ro 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as (5618) Messiah was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5618 ~hosper; AV-as 39, even as 2, like as 1; total 42. Definition: just as, even as.
This is most definitely symbolism he’s using, “LIKE AS Messiah was raised.” Yahshua was physically raised from being dead, He had stopped breathing but was given a new life by Yahweh (see vs 9&10), He is “the first born from the dead” (Col 1:18). We have yet to die but in this comparison Paul means we aren’t raised from being dead physically but only “walk in newness of life.” Not walk in a new life but in “newness” of life. A new walk, not a new life, big difference.
Ro 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness (3667) of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of his resurrection:
3667 homoioma- AV - likeness 3, made like to 1, similitude 1, shape 1; total 6. Definition: that which has been made after the likeness of something, a figure, image, likeness, representation, resemblance.
More symbolism, Yahshua’s death and resurrection resembles in some ways our change from living in the world and for the carnal/flesh to living in the spirit and for Yahweh.
Ro 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [him], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
What has been “crucified with” Messiah? Not you or me as living humans but only our “old man.” Paul uses the terms “old man,” “outward man,” “the flesh,” “natural man,” “carnal mind,” and “fleshly mind” all to describe the desires of our human nature, not our human nature itself, but these terms only speak of the desires or tendencies of our human nature. So when he says the “old man is crucified” he doesn’t mean our human nature is dead only the desires are dead. No, not even that for our fleshly desires still pull at us but it is the leadership these desires of the flesh held that is dead. Look at the last part, “that henceforth we should not serve (1398) sin,” serve means to be in bondage, to be a slave, submit to. We should not submit to sin but submit, as Paul does, to the law, “So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (Ro 7:25).
Ro 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Yahshua Messiah our Master.
“Likewise,” again Paul’s not saying exactly as, but like. “Reckon,” consider, count it as such, regard yourselves as NOT dead indeed but only “dead indeed unto sin.”
Ro 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
So as a result of all this you will not let sin “reign.” The old man is dead so sin can’t control your life, it will not rule over you, it no longer is in command. You take off (kill) this old man and “put on the new man” (Eph 4:24, Col 3:10), you’re changing uniforms of one army for another but you are still the same person. That’s what conversion means. To end verse 12 we see we won’t obey the flesh but we’ll obey the spirit, the inward man for “we know that the law is spiritual” (Ro 7:14), now Paul says, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man” (Ro 7:22).
Ro 8:7 Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
This must mean that the spiritual mind is “subject to the law of God.”
Ro 6:13 Neither yield ye your members [as] instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness unto God.
The word “as” (5613) is a similitude, often translated “as if” or “like” or “as it were.” The similitude is, yield yourself as if you “are alive from the dead.” You, as a human, are not “alive from the dead” or resurrected because you haven’t died yet. What does Gal 2:20 say? “Messiah livith in me,” no different then these others which point out that Messiah or His spirit, which is the Holy Spirit, lives in us. That is the new man.
Ro 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yahshua hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Ga 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
1Jn3:24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
Ro 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Messiah, he is none of his.
Look what Gal 2:20 also says, “the life which I now live IN THE FLESH I live by the faith of the son of Yahweh.” The new inward man lives in the flesh but not serving the flesh, this is possible by faith, we touched on this above concerning 2Co 10:3.
NEWNESS OF LIFE
When it speaks of newness of life the word resurrected or resurrection is never used, it only speaks of “walking” in newness of life or “walking” in the spirit, as opposed to walking in the flesh. There is a big difference; many somehow seem to see in the scriptures a new resurrected person where they only talk of a converted, changed person. The words resurrected or resurrection are used only in the future for us and most often in the past for Yahshua. Paul’s symbolic use of words like new or old man and crucified and dead can be understood by his over all message and his own example. He never claims what many today do; he never says his carnal nature is dead or that he has been resurrected.
Php 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Messiah Yahshua. 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:
Paul continued to struggle and fight his carnal nature for fear he might fall short.
1Co 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring [it] into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
We say we stand in grace and Paul knew very well that he at present stood in the grace or favor of Yahweh but still said: “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1Co 10:12).
2Co 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament (covenant); not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
In the next verse (vs. 7) Paul calls the letter, “The ministration of death, written and engraven in stones.” This is how the law, or the letter as Paul sometimes refers to it, kills the carnal man allowing the spirit to give life to the new man.
Paul served the law but how did he do it, by the letter or the spirit?
Ro 7:25 With the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Ro 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not [in] the oldness of the letter.
What is the difference between obeying the law by the letter as opposed to doing it by the spirit? The "oldness of the letter" is a phrase which denotes our old way (before conversion) of attempting a literal outward obedience to the law. “Newness of spirit” is our new way (after receiving Messiah) of willing obeying the law from the inward depths of our heart.
If the law is fulfilled in Yahshua why is it necessary to keep any of the commandments? Let’s look at just one commandment, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” How did they in the OT keep this by the letter and how do we today keep it by the spirit? No one ever kept the law by the letter, not even Yahshua. Even in the OT the ones who kept the law did so by the spirit. The “letter of the law” is a phrase never found in the Bible, it has evolved from some of Paul’s words meaning the old way of literal outward obedience to the law as opposed to obeying the law from the heart, like Moses, David, Daniel etc.
No one ever did and no one ever will serve the law by the letter. It can’t be done, obeying the law literally or physically, not even Yahshua did it, he had to do it from the heart.
Ps 40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, 8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
To love your neighbor as you love yourself can only be done by the spirit, never by the letter. You can often fool your neighbors and even fool yourself but you can’t fool the one who reads your heart.
What is the difference between this and post Pentecost?
Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit UPON All flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. (Act 2:17)
The big difference is “upon all flesh.” Before Pentecost Yahweh put His spirit in only His chosen people, but after Pentecost, thanks to ‘Yahshua the door’ opening Israel to all nations, the Spirit as well was given to all peoples. “All flesh” can not mean everybody because we all know a few people who definitely don’t have the Holy Spirit. “All flesh” is understood to mean all people or all nationalities. Another big difference was the scope by which it was given, with 3000 in one day. However by 70 AD the numbers were probably pretty modest.
Where does it say that the Holy Spirit was not available before Pentecost? It doesn’t! It was held back from the disciples until the appropriate time, as it is with everyone, to facilitate Yahweh’s timeline and design, but this didn’t include John the Baptist or his mother and father or many others who lived and died before Pentecost.
The only difference between the Old and New Covenants was Yahshua. The 1st was before Him the 2nd was after Him. The 1st was with the blood of animals the 2nd with His blood. The 1st was confirmed by Moses the 2nd by Yahshua. The 1st had to accommodate the people as they were without a permanent covering for sin the 2nd didn’t, because the permanent covering was available.
What both covenants had were: the law, the Israelites, faith, Yahweh and the promise of eternal life. Both were made between Yahweh and Israel, both promised obedience for eternal life through faith, and both had the law written on the hearts of those with faith.
When you stop and think about it, it would be impossible for anyone in the OT to obey the commandment to love Yahweh with all thy heart and soul, without having a circumcised heart and without have the law written on their heart by the spirit. What about loving your neighbor as yourself, how could anyone do that without the law in his or her circumcised heart?
1Co 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
SOWN IN:-----------------RAISED IN:
corruption-------------------incorruption
dishonour-------------------glory
weakness--------------------power
natural-----------------------spiritual
We now have a corrupt body, a weak body, a natural body.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shal