Before
you begin your Bible study, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, be sure you
have named your sins privately to God the Father.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(Known, Unknown and Forgotten sins) (1Jn 1:9)
You will then be in fellowship with God,
Filled with the Holy Spirit and ready to learn Truth from the Word of God.
"God is spirit, and those
who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth," (Joh 4:24)
A New
Species
(Doctrine
of Positional Truth)
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he
is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new
things have come. (2Co 5:17)
This
is a very familiar passage, which is frequently quoted but often distorted. The
implications of being a new person are usually associated with some
experiential change. When many believers first accept Jesus Christ as Savior,
they become the recipients of some type of legalistic bullying; or they may
simply be impressed with certain Christian types, and as a result want to do
what that person does . . . they want to imitate. So they are led or inspired
or bullied or coerced or shamed or pressurized into giving up something. Now,
anything that the Word of God causes you to give up is fine; but to give up
something simply because of some other pressure is definitely not a bona fide
part of the Christian life. No one ever gives up something or anything, in the
energy of the flesh, by the strength of the old sin nature without wanting to
boast about it at some time, some place, somewhere! (And boasting is a sin)
DISTORTIONS
I
have attended many young peoples’ camps, and they all wind up in the same sad
way: inspirational singing around a campfire, a few glowing testimonies, an
inspirational message on discipleship; then the faggot-[Bundle of
sticks]-on-the-fire ceremony with the “what-will-you-give-up?” pitch.
When the young people come down from the mountain, they give a glowing
testimony in their churches about how they gave up their girlfriend or
boyfriend, and now they have a closer walk with the Lord. Then they quote, (2Co 5:17) implying that
they are new creatures because they have given up something for God!
Their unsaved counterparts are doing the same thing. They are giving up
things in order to go to heaven; they are giving up things because they are
unhealthy; they are giving up things because of the disapproval from
"society." The idea of making some sort of sacrifice has had appeal
to the human race almost since the fall in the Garden of Eden. (Gen 3:7) Unfortunately and tragically, it is
almost impossible to approach this verse without remembering some of the
distortions to which it has been exposed. It is fixed in most of our minds,
erroneously so, that we are new creatures because we
have changed our lives; because we have changed our behavior pattern; because
we have changed our routine; because we have made a supreme sacrifice. Once we were having fun; now we are not having fun because
we are doing this for God and because we are new creatures. And frankly,
it just doesn’t sound like fun to become a new creature, when, as a matter of fact, it
is the most wonderful thing in the world when you understand it in the light of
its context.
So
the interpretation of this passage causes us a great deal of trouble, because
we associate it with what we are doing for God rather than with what God is doing for us. It is one of those
passages which, by itself, is difficult to begin because it draws a conclusion.
But let’s start with the word “therefore.”
GRACE
ORIENTATION
The
Greek word, “hoste,” actually brings us to our first conclusion in this
passage. While it is translated “therefore,” it would be better translated “so
that.” It is the conclusion of the previous sixteen verses of this chapter in
which all of the marvelous provisions of the grace of God have been defined. We
have now come to the ultimate in the field of grace Principles . . . Grace
Orientation. “Conclusion” is the best translation here.
“Conclusion: if, (First-class condition ‘if, and it is true’) any man. .
.” “Man” is a generic term, (“Tis”) meaning “anyone,” any believer-priest. “If
anyone in Christ.” (There is no verb here in the original text)
Before
I go any further, I want you to notice an important point: a new creature is IN CHRIST! You don’t have a “new
Creature” first; you have CHRIST FIRST! “In Christ” is referring to positional
Truth. The only sense in this passage in which we are new creatures is through
our union with Christ. (Gal 3:28) The
reason for that becomes quite obvious in the Greek: the word “new” is an
adjective, (Kainos) and it is a word for a NEW SPECIES! There is another Greek
word for “new” — “neos,” which means “new in time.” But this latter word is not
used in this passage.
In the Devil’s world, there is a BRAND NEW SPECIES that has only existed since
the ascension of Christ. (The New Covenant
Spiritual life) The new species came into being
with the baptism of the Spirit, which did not occur until after Jesus Christ
was glorified.
But this spoke he of the Spirit, whom
those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit [The New Covenant
Spiritual life] was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified. (Joh 7:39) cf. (Act 1:5)
Although
(2Co 5:17) does not contain the word
“Salvation,” it includes it. In the Old Testament, billions of people were
saved by believing in Christ as He was then revealed. The pattern is Abraham.
“And he believed in the Lord; (Jesus Christ) and he counted it to him (It was
credited to his account) for righteousness.” (Gen 15:6
cf. Rom 4:3)
When people were saved in the Old Testament,
they were born again just as we are; they were justified just as we are;
they had the TEMPORARY ministry of God the Holy Spirit, (Pro 1:23) they were given eternal life just as
we are. BUT . . . they were not “kainos,” Why? Because never before in history
had anyone been put into UNION WITH CHRIST. Not
until the Day of Pentecost, (30 A.D.) did the PERMANENT baptism of the Holy
Spirit occur.
Old
Testament saints are just as much saved as we; but there is a difference
between Old Testament RITUAL saints and New Testament REALITY saints, and that
is that Christ had not yet been glorified. Up to that
time, Christ was the target of Satan and the angelic conflict; but now
that Christ is glorified at the right hand of the Father, the target is the believer. Since
Christ is present in the New Covenant Church Age believer, the angelic conflict
is intensified. (Gal 4:19) Why?
Because the plan of God is moving rapidly, and Satan sees the time is getting
short. (Rev 12:12)
Since
Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, “Operation Footstool” (Psa 110:1; Heb 1:13)
is becoming a Reality; when the demons will be removed from the earth. (Zec 13:2) Christ, the
First-fruits, (1Co 15:23) is a "New Species" and is the only One at
present with a resurrection body. But we are a new species in Christ!
We
are not a new species because we have given up bubble gum or changed our
behavior pattern or cut our hair or whatever we do that we say makes us
different. We are a new species because at the moment of salvation, when we
were born again, we were “picked up” by God the Holy Spirit and entered into
union with Jesus Christ. This is the baptism of the Spirit.
The
word “new” is important here. We are new creatures — “a new species of
creation” actually. The word “ktisis” means “a creature or a new creation.” We
are a new species in creation. We have been made that by what God did. WE ARE
NOT A NEW SPECIES BECAUSE OF ANYTHING WE HAVE EVER DONE! Whatever great
triumphs you have in the Christian life, whatever you give up, (Whether it is
bona fide or not) if you give it up in the power of the Spirit and as a result
of growth, that is fine; (Rom 8:13) BUT
DON’T EVER QUOTE, (2Co 5:17) IN
CONNECTION WITH IT! This verse has nothing to do with what you have done or
what you are going to do by way of victorious living. It has to do with one
thing only — a thing God did for you at the point of Salvation. There are
approximately forty things that constitute the believer a brand new species.
Now
I emphasize this, not to give you a sense of fat-headedness, (For certainly, you must recognize that this is God’s grace)
but to cause you to realize that you are in the most unusual, the most exciting
and the most difficult place in history . . . that you
personally are in an unseen conflict. There are many observable, known
conflicts in history at the present time; but you are a part of a conflict that
is so fantastic and so amazing, and yet so difficult,
because so powerful is the pressure from demons, to make life look "normal"
that we are to try and get all we can! to think and
talk as if we just had or did not have; a Job, food, girl, clothing, man,
money, power, fame, social life, sexual life, house, family; (Mat 6:31-34) that we
would be happy. This angelic conflict
has reached an intensified stage never known before in history; and we are in that battle
and a part of that conflict. Everything we see and hear on television,
in the news, at work, at school describes life as if it really depended on the
lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of
life! (To be proud of our abilities, thoughts,
and or ourselves; instead of God and His)
(1Jn 2:16) One of the first Doctrines
you must understand in order to withstand the satanic onslaught is Positional
Truth; and this Doctrine is also the key to understanding, (2Co 5:17).
“Therefore
(Conclusion) if any man (Anyone, believer-priest, male or female) is in Christ,
(Positional Truth) he is a new creature.” (A new Spiritual species with a new
Spiritual nature, that needs new Spiritual Food; Mat
4:4; 1Co 2:12-13; 2Pe 1:4) You have been created a new Spiritual
species by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. No wonder the baptism is under so
much attack! No wonder we have people who think that the baptism of the Spirit
is an experience! No wonder, when the “holiness” crowd and the “tongues” crowd
and all of the cult and ism crowds, have an emotional experience, they call it
the baptism of the Spirit! Let us take a look at the Doctrine of Positional
Truth, or Positional Sanctification, as it is the basis for orientation to the
grace of God.
POSITIONAL
TRUTH
(1)
THE MECHANICS OF POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION
(1Co 12:13)
says that “by means of One Spirit we are all baptized into One body.” (The Body
of Christ) Most know there are eight baptism illustrations; (The baptism of
Noah, Moses, John, Christ, the Cross, God the Holy Spirit, the pre-canon New
Covenant believer and fire) but only One baptism that saves. (Eph 4:5; Col 2:12;
1Pe 3:21) Here the word (‘Baptized’)
refers to the moment of Salvation a point in time which is perpetuated forever.
At that moment, God the Holy Spirit enters every believer into union with
Christ. (cf. Joh 14:20; Act 1:5; Eph 4:5)
(2)
POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION BELONGS TO THE CARNAL AS WELL AS THE SPIRITUAL
BELIEVER. (1Co 3:1)
But by His doing you are in Christ
Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification,
and redemption (1Co 1:30)
The Spiritual believer
is in the bottom circle as well as in the top circle. The carnal believer is
out of fellowship, and out of the bottom circle: but he is in the top circle,
One is in the bottom circle and one is out; but both are in the top circle. One
is a SPIRITUAL believer and one a CARNAL believer; but BOTH are in union with
Christ and in the top circle.
They are called in, (1Co 1:2)
“sanctified in Christ Jesus,” And this is really something, because when you
read on through the book and see how all those Corinthian believers were out of
line . . . the ones who committed mental attitude sins, the ones guilty of sins
of the tongue, the ones who were guilty of lasciviousness, the ones who were
spending their time in court suing other believers, and all the rest … you
wonder how they could be classified as “sanctified in Christ Jesus.” Yet,
carnal or Spiritual, it is true of every believer today, just as it was then.
All are in Christ Jesus; all are sanctified in Him. (1Co 6:11)
Remember,
those believers you glare at are also in Christ Jesus. The worst believer, the
best believer, the greatest believer, the inferior believer, the believer who
is just in by the skin of his teeth, the believer who is a Spiritual giant —
all are in union with Christ, sanctified in Christ. Sanctification means “to be
set apart.” All believers are set apart unto God at the point of Salvation;
they have a permanent relationship with Him. You are no more in union with
Christ than any other believer; you are no less in union with Christ than any
other believer! Positional sanctification is an
absolute. That belongs to every believer, regardless of his failure or
success in the Christian life! This is another grace orientation Principle.
(3)
POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION PROTECTS THE BELIEVER
One of the marvelous things about positional Truth is that it carries
with it some guarantees. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, a new
Spiritual species.” Now, as a member of the new creation, as a new Spiritual
species, you are protected from the last judgment: “It is appointed unto man
once to die, but after this the judgment.” (Heb 9:27)
There is a judgment coming after death for the unbeliever. But…
He who believes in Him is not judged;
he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God. (Joh 3:18)
Therefore
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Rom 8:1)
There
is just ONE WAY to go to the Lake of Fire as a believer! The ONLY way, is to
be a believer living in the Tribulation period who takes the mark of the beast;
(Rev 14:6-12) if an unbeliever takes the mark of the beast or does not
take the mark — DOES NOT send him to the Lake of Fire. NOT believing in Jesus
Christ DOES! (Joh 3:18; Rev 14:6-7) A Believer who is given the GRACE, to see and hear an
angel tell him NOT to worship the beast and take his mark; AND DOES! ...HE ALSO
WILL... Go to the Lake of Fire. (Rev 14:9-12)
This should give you some idea about God’s plan. God’s plan is perfect
because God is perfect. God’s plan is perfect, not only because a perfect
Person devised it, but because He also did the work.
So
you have perfect planning; (God the Father) perfect revelation; (God the Holy
Spirit) and perfect work. (God the Son) Where does that leave you and me? It leaves us out in the cold when it comes to work.
That’s why some Christians are always “working” — they feel so left out. Now it
is important to realize that you have a perfect security.
(4)
POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION QUALIFIES THE BELIEVER TO LIVE WITH GOD FOREVER
There are three things which are necessary in order for a believer to
live with God. First of all, his sins have to be taken care of — and they were
— at the cross. Every sin of everyone who has ever lived or ever will live was
poured out on Christ and judged. But, even with your sins forgiven, you still
haven’t everything necessary to live with God forever. That’s only part of the
package. You must also have the same kind of life that He has. Could you be
happy living with a “zombie” if you are a person who has a lot of life? Our
lives must also be compatible with God’s life. We must be given His life and we
have been. Jesus Christ is eternal life; we are in union with Christ; we share
His life; and therefore, we have eternal life.
And the testimony is this, that God
has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has
the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. (1Jn 5:11-12)
Now
that is not all. Even with eternal life and your sins forgiven, you couldn’t be
in heaven. Why? God says that heaven is one place where everyone who is there
has to be as good as He is good. Well, let’s all give up right now, because
there is no way! BUT THERE IS! Jesus Christ is PLUS R. He has God’s perfect
righteousness, both in His humanity and in His Deity. We are in union with
Christ, and therefore, we share His righteousness. That is all it takes. “The
sin question” That was settled at the cross. It is now the “Son question.” Are
you a new creation in Christ Jesus? “If any man be in Christ, he is a new
species of creation.” Why? Because he has eternal life and because he has the
righteousness of God! “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Co 5:21) So positional sanctification qualifies
the believer to live with God forever!
(5)
POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION DEFINES BOTH ELECTION AND PREDESTINATION
Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every
Spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him
before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before
Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the
glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. (Eph 1:3-6)
The
word for predestination, “proorizo,” is usually translated “predestined”; but
that isn’t what it actually means. It means “to be pre-planned.” The point is
that God the Father planned a future for Jesus Christ, and Christ was therefore
“called” or “elected.” Since we are in union with Christ, we share His
election; and we were elected before the foundation of the world. In other words,
there never was a time when Christ didn’t exist. He lived in eternity past with
God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. During some period in eternity past,
some planning occurred. In that planning Christ was given an eternal destiny;
and since it was planned in the past, we call that “election.” Since it was
designed in the past, we call it “predestination.” So we share His election and
we share His destiny.
(6)
POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION PRODUCES A NEW SPIRITUAL SPECIES ON THE EARTH
(2Co 5:17)
This is a “species” which had never existed before — a species which started on
the Day of Pentecost, the day the New Covenant Church Age began. It is the
“missing link” in the Old Testament. Moses, Abraham, Elijah — none of the great
believers of the Old Testament were included in this new Spiritual species, the
Jews started as a new racial and Spiritual species, later a new nation, with
laws of Divine establishment. (Free will, marriage, family and nationalism)
They had a ritual plan through hands on
illustrations, looking to the judgment of the Lamb of God. (Joh 1:29)
We have THE PROTOCOL PLAN. Exact correct
precise procedure, just as Jesus submitted to this system so must we. (Heb 12:1-2)
By staying in fellowship and Thinking with
God's Thoughts every day; taking in a maximum amount of Truth and reading every
book! If we never quit, we will reach maturity; and beyond! (Isa 57:10; Jer 17:13;
Jer 18:12)
(7)
POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION GUARANTEES ETERNAL SECURITY.
For I am persuaded, that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. (Rom 8:38-39).
You
are in union with Christ, and nothing or no one can remove you from that
position.
(8)
POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION EXISTS IN TWO CATEGORIES: Category One — retroactive;
(Rom 6:1-4) Category Two — current (Col 3:1-2). Retroactive positional Truth is
identification with Christ in His death. In His death, He bore our sins but
rejected human old sin nature good. (Sin nature production) Therefore
retroactive positional Truth excludes sin nature production from having any
part in the plan of God. Since we are identified with Christ in His death, and
since in His death Christ rejected sin nature production; positionally we have
rejected sin nature production. “For you have died and your life is hidden with
Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be
revealed with Him in glory.” (Col 3:3)
Current positional Truth is identification with Christ in
His resurrection. In His resurrection body, Christ ascended and was
seated at the right hand of the Father, (Heb 1:13)
the place of ultimate glory as well as the place of superiority to all angelic
creation. (Heb 1:4) In union with
Christ, believers are positionally at the right hand of the Father and
therefore positionally superior to angelic creatures at the present time. Under
ultimate sanctification in the future, the believer with a resurrection body
will be physically superior to angelic creatures. (Heb
1:14) “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His
death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.” (Now
and in eternity) (Rom 6:5)
(9)
THE IMPLICATIONS OF POSITIONAL SANCTFICATION
First, the believer shares the life of Christ. (1Jn 5:11-12) There is eternal life again!
Second, the believer shares the righteousness of Christ. (2Co 5:21) Third, the believer shares the
election of Christ. (Eph 1:4) Fourth,
the believer shares the destiny of Christ. (Eph 1:5)
Fifth, the believer shares the Son-ship of Christ. (Gal
3:26) Sixth, the believer shares the heir-ship of Christ. (Rom 8:16-17; 1Pe 1:4-5)
Seventh, the believer shares the sanctification of Christ. (1Co 1:30) Eighth, the believer shares the
kingdom of Christ. (2Pe 1:11)
You
can take any one of them, or any combination of them, and no matter how you slice
it, you are in a plan which won’t quit! YOU may quit,
but the plan won’t. That is the beauty about being in the plan: you can quit,
yet you are still in the plan. The plan moves on; it just picks you up and
carries you along as though you were riding the surf on a big wave. There is no
way to get around it — the plan is going to go right on; it is going to carry
you; so you might as well get with it!
You
may think you have been “carrying God on your back.” Then one day you “drop
Him,” and you go around saying that it is all over. I am not being blasphemous
I am just describing the way a lot of people feel. Where you made your mistake
is in thinking you did anything in the first place. If you start out with
grace, you can’t do anything but win; if you start out with legalism, you can’t
do anything but lose. But God’s plan is still going to win because grace is
still there, even when you are legalistic. When you take a look at some of the
characteristics of positional Truth, however you line them up, it all comes out
the same: God did all the work! There is no way for you to slip in even one
ounce of glory — even with a verse like! (2Co 5:17)
(10)
CHARACTERISTICS OF POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION
First of all, positional Truth is NOT an experience. It is neither
emotion nor ecstatics. It is not an emotional experience.
Secondly,
it is not progressive. Since positional sanctification is perfect at the moment
of salvation, it cannot get better and better. The moment you accept Christ,
you enter into union with Him; you have a perfect position, and you always will
have. It cannot be improved in time or in eternity. It will be just as perfect
a million years from now as it was the moment you entered into union with
Christ.
Thirdly,
positional Truth is not related to human merit. It is neither human old sin
nature good nor energy of the flesh. Here are the implications of retroactive
positional Truth. There is no place in the plan of God
for human power. Grace amplifies Divine
Thinking and excludes old sin nature and
satanic thinking. (Mat 16:22-23)
(Isa 55:8-9)
Fourthly,
positional Truth is eternal in nature. It will last forever!
Fifthly,
positional Truth is known only through the Word of
God, by the teaching of the Word, by understanding the Word. (Col 2:2-3) In other words, anything you learn or
know about positional Truth, you get out of the Bible! No one taps you on the
shoulder and whispers it in your ear. You don’t get the whole thing laid out
for you in a dream. You get it only from the Word of God!
Sixthly,
positional Truth is obtained in toto — completely — at the moment of Salvation.
This is accomplished by means of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is one
of the 40 things God does for us at the moment of Salvation. “Therefore, (A
conclusion) if anyone in Christ, (Positional sanctification) you are a new
Spiritual species of Creation!” And you are a new Spiritual species of creation
because of the work of the Holy Spirit at the moment of Salvation.
SPIRITUAL
DEATH
OLD
THINGS ARE PASSED AWAY . . . You may have followed along this far, but now you
think, “Old things are passed away? That means my fifteen cases of gin which
went down the drain . . . the girl friends I said good-bye to . . . the
monastic type of life I’ve led since I’ve been saved . . . the places to which
I no longer go . . . I now go to church!”
But
that is not what it means at all. I know you are not going to take my word for
it, and I don’t intend for you to do so. We’ll take it up in the Greek. “Old
things’ is one word in the Greek. Although it is in the plural, I will give you
the singular form — “archaios.” Now let’s see what has passed away. You’re
going to love this: “that which existed in the beginning.” The word “archaios”
means, “Archaeology.”
The
reason it was given a plural translation is that you cannot give it a one-word
translation and have it make sense in the English. To what do “things which
existed in the beginning” refer? (Satan's thinking and
His nature) (Joh 8:44-45) Here
it goes back to the original sin in the Garden. By their own negative volition,
Adam and Eve entered into a condition called “Spiritual death.”(2Co 11:3) They died Spiritually the moment they
sinned. They had started out having fellowship with God. God the Son, (Jesus
Christ) came into the Garden every day to see them. (Gen 3:8)
When
God breathed into them the “breath of lives,” (Literally — Gen 2:7) He gave them a soul and a human spirit.
The human spirit enabled them to understand Spiritual
phenomena and to store and utilize Divine Thinking. whereby Adam and Eve could inhale and exhale Truth.
The human spirit was designed for relationship with God, the soul for
relationship with man. When the first man and woman sinned, they lost the human
spirit and picked up an old sin nature, (Relationship with Satan and the
demons) which immediately cut them off from God; thus they were Spiritually
dead.
Where
once they were trichotomous, (Body, soul and spirit) they were now dichotomous
body and soul only. The sin nature is in the soul and the cell structure;
therefore, Spiritual death is in the soul. That’s
why it is the soul which must be saved; and in these Scriptures, delivered from
the control of the old sin nature. (Heb 10:39;
Jas 1:21) The soul is composed of
self-consciousness; mentality, which has two frontal lobes — the mind, or the
staging area, and the heart where knowledge resides; volition; emotion; and
conscience, which is in the right or dominant lobe. Add to that an old sin
nature, and that is all they had!
Now,
in their mentality, they got a good case of pride going. Secondly, their
conscience began to fire up. They put on fig leaves — “operation
fig leaves” (Self- righteousness — socialism — the first thought
of evil after the fall; that if we are right with each other; we will be right
with God) followed by “operation patsy”
(“The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me
from the tree, and I ate.”) In other words,
it’s all God’s fault. Whenever a temptation becomes a sin, sin is
produced, in Reality the sin is then evacuated through the old sin nature; and
whenever there is a guilt reaction, human good comes through the old sin
nature. So both sin and human good are produced from
the old sin nature. The sin nature is the enemy of the soul. (Joh 2:24-25; Mat 12:34-37)
How
does this look in the soul? “Scar tissue” forms on the left bank of the soul
through negative volition toward Divine Thinking — the Bible. You’re too busy, you’re antagonistic, you’re occupied with
other things! That opens up a vacuum, (“Mataiotes” in the Greek) into
which is sucked Satanic, (Demonic and or human false) thinking. (1Ti 4:1) On the right bank of the soul, the lust
pattern of the old sin nature gets a mental attitude sin going. The mental
attitude sin is expressed in gossiping, maligning, nit-picking, various types
of revenge tactics, etc., and these sins are ejected through the old sin
nature.
Then,
terrible guilt complexes start up in the conscience; so what happens now? Well, you go back to church and try to make it all up.
You crank out human old sin nature works like mad; but
it’s only ejecting human good through your old sin nature. And that is not
good! The scar tissue must first be removed. Through the “rebound”
technique (1Jn 1:9) and the resultant
filling of God the Holy Spirit, Truth is inhaled into the left lobe of the
mind, transferred into the human spirit by faith; where it becomes “epignosis — Spiritual Thinking,” (The
Mind of Christ) and is exhaled through the
left bank of the soul toward God and out the right bank toward self, people,
things and circumstances, producing Spiritual growth. This process shaves off
the scar tissue in the soul. (Jer 15:19)
What
are the “old things” which are passed away? Something archaic, something older
than you are. Do you know what is older than you and I? The old sin nature and Satan's thinking. It isn’t literally passed
away as yet; but by the daily intake and Thinking with
the Word of Truth; the old sin nature's thinking can be removed! (Rom 6:17-18)
Since you are born with them, you are born Spiritually dead. Spiritual
death is the Principle of no relationship with God; and the “old things,” the
archaic things, is Spiritual death, the old sin nature, and false thinking, —
no relationship with God.
Before
you can commit one sin, before you can perform an act of human good, before you
can crank up and do anything, your old sin nature is there, and you are
Spiritually dead. (Eph 2:1) Spiritual
death is as old as, (Gen 2:17).
Spiritual death as a Promise, as an anticipated judgment, came before sin. God
warned the first parents: “...For in the day that you eat from it you will
surely die.” But once the sin came, then the condition which had been Promised
— about which they had been warned — came into existence.
It
is the old sin nature which causes us to be born Spiritually dead: “Wherefore,
as by one man (Adam) sin (The old sin nature) entered into the world, and death
by sin; and so death (Spiritual death — and there’s the point at which the
picture changes) passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Aorist tense,
in a point of time) The aorist tense is important in. (Rom 5:12) “All have sinned” means that all
sinned when Adam sinned. Adam is archaic. The word “sin” in the singular refers
to the old sin nature. When it says that “all sinned,” it
means that we are born with Spiritual death, because we are born with his
nature. (Rom 5:12) is rarely understood.
Spiritual death passed upon the entire human race because the entire human race
sinned when Adam sinned.
A
NEW RELATIONSHIP
But
here is the beautiful thing: “Old things are PASSED AWAY.” The moment you
accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, “archaios” — Spiritual death — passes away,
and you enter into a relationship with God. There is another way of saying
this: (1Co 15:22) “In Adam (We are born
‘in Adam’) all die...” How do they die? Spiritually! We died the moment we were
born; we died Spiritually. We had no relationship with God. BUT, “even so in
Christ shall all be made alive.” Jesus Christ is eternal life; we share His
eternal life. “Old things are passed away!”
“Passed
away” is “parerchomai” in the Greek, which means several things: “to go,” “to
pass, “to come to an end.” The latter is the meaning in context. Spiritual
death has come to an end. It has come to an abrupt stop! The moment you accept
Christ as Savior, Spiritual death comes to its end; you are IN CHRIST!
“Parerchomai”
also means “to be neutralized” and “to disappear.” We could translate this:
“The ancient things, (Pertaining to Spiritual death) have vanished,
disappeared,” Spiritual death is gone. There is one thing you can say about
yourself as of the moment you accepted Christ, and you can say it with
certainty, with conviction and confidence: it is now impossible for you to be
Spiritually dead. Never again will you know anything about Spiritual death. You
may die physically but you have a relationship with God, and no matter how
sorry you are or how good, that relationship will always exist in time. The
“old things” — the “archaios” are passed away. They have come to an abrupt
halt!
GRACE
IN POSITIONAL TRUTH
Finally,
(2Co 5:17) concludes, “behold, all
things are become new.” “All things” is not found in the original text. It is
literally, behold, THEY have become new.” “Behold, (Focus on this; concentrate
on this) they have become (“Ginomai” in the perfect tense) NEW. (In the past,
with the result that they will always be new)” “New,” again, is “kainos” — new
in species. You are now an absolutely new Spiritual species, one who will never
again be subject to Spiritual death.
And
now this is the important thing: all of this is the work of God every bit of
it! There is no way that YOU can make YOURSELF a new creature. But this new creature needs a new way of Thinking.(1Co 2:12-16)
new "things" must be learned and
Thought and remembered; but we have a lot of help! (Joh 14:23-26) There is no manufacturing on your
part; there is nothing you can give up; there is no change you can make in your
behavior pattern; there is no new morality, no intensification of your life, no
system of asceticism nothing you have done makes you a new creature. God did it
all, AND THAT IS GRACE! He starts that way with us, and He ends up that way
with us. In between, we may get off base, but He
will never stop treating us in grace. (Jas 1:18; Jas 1:21-25)
Grace
always finds a way; never has grace failed even once. Grace is the character of
God; grace is the glory of God; grace is the Personality of God; grace is Who and What God IS! God the Father
planned it this way for this dispensation. Jesus Christ went to the cross and
ascended. Positional sanctification could not occur until the ascension. God
the Holy Spirit takes us at the moment of Salvation and enters us into union
with Jesus Christ, and we are positionally sanctified. The only Persons who can
receive glory from this plan are God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit!
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, [The Father]
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. (2Co 13:14)
End
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