gregoryfl
05-02-2009, 01:00 PM
Eph 2:1 You were made alive when you were dead in trespasses and sins,
Notice that we were dead in two things, trespasses AND sins. There is a difference between the two.
Trespasses have to do with specific acts of sin, while sin (not sins, but sin) has to do with a state of being. In other words, trespasses are always about what a person does, while sin is about what a person is. Let me make one point of clarification though. There are actions that can be done that are called sins, but I am referring to sin itself, as a principle.
Under the law covenant, there was the sacrifice for sin, and the sacrifice for trespasses. While they seemed to be the same, they were not. Sins and trespasses are basically the same, but sin is not the same as either of them. Sin is the root law or principle, or state of existence, behind those acts that are called sins or trespasses.
With that in mind, here is what scripture says about the relationship between sin and our flesh, which needed to be dealt with by the sacrifice for sin. Paul described it this way:
Rom 7:17,18 So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing.
All who have ever lived have lived in sinful flesh, flesh in which sin dwells. It is not alive however, until the law brings sin and temptation together in intercourse thus birthing the act of sin. This state of existence included Jesus himself, for it is said of him:
Rom 8:3 For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin...
2Co 5:21 For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
The reason Jesus is said to have dwelt in the likeness of sinful flesh is because he never sinned. Because of that, he knew no sin. Yet, he was made to be sin for us. Why? Because by him being born of a woman, under law, and thus being shaped in iniquity, conceived in sin, thus dwelling in a sinful body, he could then condemn that sin by never giving into its desires. He lived under the law, which gave sin power in his body. The law brought the sin in his members and the temptations he faced together, but he never allowed the two to consummate. He was kept by the power of his Father dwelling in him so that sin never got one chance to be birthed in him. By him going all the way to his physical death without sinning, he was able to condemn sin in that very body of sin he lived in. In other words, he found sin guilty of killing an innocent man, one who had never sinned!
This may sound like blasphemy to speak of Jesus actually having sin in his body, but the problem is in identifying what one has with who they are. Dwelling in sinful bodies, being born in sin, does not make us sinners, anymore than me wearing a police uniform makes me a police officer. Living in bodies with sin in its members merely sets up impossible odds for anyone who is empty of Life, the Life of the one who made us to dwell in. Like Paul, we were all "alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and [we] died." Rom 7:9
Now though, we are apart from law, dead to it, so that, filled with the fullness of God in Christ, we are alive, never to die. This all came about because Christ took that sinful body of his outside the camp, in which dwelt the beginning of that new creation of which we are a part of, and sacrificed it, and us in him, as sin. That body of sin is no more. His body is now one of immortality, glory, power, and spiritual.
Nowhere in scripture is it said that Christ was our trespass offering. Rather, he is only spoken of as our sin offering. Here is one such instance:
Heb 13:11,12 For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside of the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside of the gate.
This is a direct fulfillment of the type, spoken of here:
Lev 4:21 He shall carry forth the bull outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering for the assembly.
The reason it was to be outside the camp was because it was a repulsive sacrifice, unlike some of the others, such as a simple burnt offering given on occasion which were sweet smelling sacrifices to him. The offering for sin symbolized the rejection of that sin on the one bearing the sin. Sin was thus condemned and consumed.
Why is this distinction important? Christ could not be a sacrifice of trespasses because he never sinned. He did however dwell in a body of sin, which is why he could be our sacrifice for sin.
How then were our trespasses dealt with? He dealt with the root, the source, sin itself, which dwells in our bodies. He destroyed sin's power by killing us so that rather than being dead in sins, we are now dead to sin. Every act that could flow out of that root has been dealt with totally, with finality. Paul speaks about it this way:
Rom 4:25 who was delivered up through our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.
Notice that he was not delivered up for his own trespasses, but ours. Nowhere does scripture say he was made to be a transgressor. He could not be, for he never sinned. He is spoken of as being made sin however. This, as I have shared above, was the condition he was born in, although most confuse the issue by saying he was made sin only on the cross. Not so. They are confusing the difference between sin and trespass. Our trespasses, our acts of sin, were borne by him on the cross. This is how he dealt with what we do. But he went further than that, for trespasses and sins are merely the symptom of a greater problem, sin itself. Therefore he himself was made sin when he was conceived in his mothers womb "brought forth in iniquity. In sin [his] mother conceived [him]. Ps 51:5 It was in this state of who he was that he dealt with who we were, for we, in him, died that day with him and thus all of the old Adam died that day, and sin itself dealt with.
We today, who have Christ in us, are in the same place Christ was while he was on earth, as Paul said in Rom 8:10 If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
That is reality. His body was subject to the same frailty, futility, and decay that ours is. As a flesh and blood human, he could not, in that state, inherit the kingdom of God anymore than we can in ours. He is no longer in such a body, having put on the dwelling of God himself after his body was raised from the dead.
The truth of the matter is, nothing good dwells in our fleshly body. It is indeed dead because of sin. Sin dwells there, dead though it may be, being separated from law. This is why we do not evaluate anyone according to the flesh, nor do we judge based on the flesh, that which is outward. It is a bogus evaluation because it is based on who we used to be. And by the way, when I say anyone, I am speaking of everyone you come into contact with, not just believers. God is at peace, and conciliated with every person, whether they believe it or not.
That is also why we do not find our identity in the flesh. Please understand that neither did Christ when he was on earth. He always identified himself with reality, who he truly was, as the joining of God and man together. That is God's calling for us as well, to speak of what is true with ourselves and each other. Not only that, but we also do not evaluate Christ by his flesh either. We often fail to think of that, but it is what Paul said. Gone are the days of looking at the gospels and making judgments about our Lord based on his human life in the flesh. He is who he is now, and that is how we see him and relate to him.
In saying "It is finished," he truly could say that, having condemned sin itself, and all which spring from it's law, in his body. Thus we all died to both sin AND transgression, which we were in at one time, freed to be placed in another, namely, Christ.
Notice that we were dead in two things, trespasses AND sins. There is a difference between the two.
Trespasses have to do with specific acts of sin, while sin (not sins, but sin) has to do with a state of being. In other words, trespasses are always about what a person does, while sin is about what a person is. Let me make one point of clarification though. There are actions that can be done that are called sins, but I am referring to sin itself, as a principle.
Under the law covenant, there was the sacrifice for sin, and the sacrifice for trespasses. While they seemed to be the same, they were not. Sins and trespasses are basically the same, but sin is not the same as either of them. Sin is the root law or principle, or state of existence, behind those acts that are called sins or trespasses.
With that in mind, here is what scripture says about the relationship between sin and our flesh, which needed to be dealt with by the sacrifice for sin. Paul described it this way:
Rom 7:17,18 So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing.
All who have ever lived have lived in sinful flesh, flesh in which sin dwells. It is not alive however, until the law brings sin and temptation together in intercourse thus birthing the act of sin. This state of existence included Jesus himself, for it is said of him:
Rom 8:3 For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin...
2Co 5:21 For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
The reason Jesus is said to have dwelt in the likeness of sinful flesh is because he never sinned. Because of that, he knew no sin. Yet, he was made to be sin for us. Why? Because by him being born of a woman, under law, and thus being shaped in iniquity, conceived in sin, thus dwelling in a sinful body, he could then condemn that sin by never giving into its desires. He lived under the law, which gave sin power in his body. The law brought the sin in his members and the temptations he faced together, but he never allowed the two to consummate. He was kept by the power of his Father dwelling in him so that sin never got one chance to be birthed in him. By him going all the way to his physical death without sinning, he was able to condemn sin in that very body of sin he lived in. In other words, he found sin guilty of killing an innocent man, one who had never sinned!
This may sound like blasphemy to speak of Jesus actually having sin in his body, but the problem is in identifying what one has with who they are. Dwelling in sinful bodies, being born in sin, does not make us sinners, anymore than me wearing a police uniform makes me a police officer. Living in bodies with sin in its members merely sets up impossible odds for anyone who is empty of Life, the Life of the one who made us to dwell in. Like Paul, we were all "alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and [we] died." Rom 7:9
Now though, we are apart from law, dead to it, so that, filled with the fullness of God in Christ, we are alive, never to die. This all came about because Christ took that sinful body of his outside the camp, in which dwelt the beginning of that new creation of which we are a part of, and sacrificed it, and us in him, as sin. That body of sin is no more. His body is now one of immortality, glory, power, and spiritual.
Nowhere in scripture is it said that Christ was our trespass offering. Rather, he is only spoken of as our sin offering. Here is one such instance:
Heb 13:11,12 For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside of the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside of the gate.
This is a direct fulfillment of the type, spoken of here:
Lev 4:21 He shall carry forth the bull outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering for the assembly.
The reason it was to be outside the camp was because it was a repulsive sacrifice, unlike some of the others, such as a simple burnt offering given on occasion which were sweet smelling sacrifices to him. The offering for sin symbolized the rejection of that sin on the one bearing the sin. Sin was thus condemned and consumed.
Why is this distinction important? Christ could not be a sacrifice of trespasses because he never sinned. He did however dwell in a body of sin, which is why he could be our sacrifice for sin.
How then were our trespasses dealt with? He dealt with the root, the source, sin itself, which dwells in our bodies. He destroyed sin's power by killing us so that rather than being dead in sins, we are now dead to sin. Every act that could flow out of that root has been dealt with totally, with finality. Paul speaks about it this way:
Rom 4:25 who was delivered up through our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.
Notice that he was not delivered up for his own trespasses, but ours. Nowhere does scripture say he was made to be a transgressor. He could not be, for he never sinned. He is spoken of as being made sin however. This, as I have shared above, was the condition he was born in, although most confuse the issue by saying he was made sin only on the cross. Not so. They are confusing the difference between sin and trespass. Our trespasses, our acts of sin, were borne by him on the cross. This is how he dealt with what we do. But he went further than that, for trespasses and sins are merely the symptom of a greater problem, sin itself. Therefore he himself was made sin when he was conceived in his mothers womb "brought forth in iniquity. In sin [his] mother conceived [him]. Ps 51:5 It was in this state of who he was that he dealt with who we were, for we, in him, died that day with him and thus all of the old Adam died that day, and sin itself dealt with.
We today, who have Christ in us, are in the same place Christ was while he was on earth, as Paul said in Rom 8:10 If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
That is reality. His body was subject to the same frailty, futility, and decay that ours is. As a flesh and blood human, he could not, in that state, inherit the kingdom of God anymore than we can in ours. He is no longer in such a body, having put on the dwelling of God himself after his body was raised from the dead.
The truth of the matter is, nothing good dwells in our fleshly body. It is indeed dead because of sin. Sin dwells there, dead though it may be, being separated from law. This is why we do not evaluate anyone according to the flesh, nor do we judge based on the flesh, that which is outward. It is a bogus evaluation because it is based on who we used to be. And by the way, when I say anyone, I am speaking of everyone you come into contact with, not just believers. God is at peace, and conciliated with every person, whether they believe it or not.
That is also why we do not find our identity in the flesh. Please understand that neither did Christ when he was on earth. He always identified himself with reality, who he truly was, as the joining of God and man together. That is God's calling for us as well, to speak of what is true with ourselves and each other. Not only that, but we also do not evaluate Christ by his flesh either. We often fail to think of that, but it is what Paul said. Gone are the days of looking at the gospels and making judgments about our Lord based on his human life in the flesh. He is who he is now, and that is how we see him and relate to him.
In saying "It is finished," he truly could say that, having condemned sin itself, and all which spring from it's law, in his body. Thus we all died to both sin AND transgression, which we were in at one time, freed to be placed in another, namely, Christ.