The difference between THE FLESH and THE SPIRIT

It should be noted that if Adam had never sinned (disobeyed God) he could have lived forever in paradise with God. By this we know that "sin" is a fallen-condition produced in the the human spirit and is revealed as such whenever a sin is committed.

There is nothing at a mans disposal, nothing a man can do to overcome his fallen-condition and walk with God again. His sin (disobedience to God) kicked mankind out of paradise in order that he not live in paradise forever with his sin (rebellion against God). When Adam fell (i.e. became separated from God) all men fell and became "Flesh" (which is contrary to the Spirit).

In the Garden Adam (the representative of his race) could be considered a "Neutral Person", who was made a living soul. He was never... "Tested". Then God put him to the test: "Thou shalt not"! He failed! It was then that Adam revealed a "new" nature, which is a "sin" nature, one that showed his defiance and rebellion against God, and one that has hidden the "Spiritual knowledge of God" from his view (and ours who follow him) forever.

1 Corinthians 15:45-47 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

QUESTION: "When one becomes a Christian has the OLD MAN (who we are in Adam) been eradicated, or not?"

This is a very important question and it is one that the Scriptures can answer. The Scriptures contain the Doctrine of Two Men! The first man who is represented by the first man (Adam), and the second man who is represented by Christ. (1 Cor.15:45-47) They also contain the Doctrine of Two Positions! The first position represents "Death" because of sin, and the second position represents "Life" because of righteousness. (Romans 6:1-10)

To put it simply, either a man is IN Christ ( and therefore "Born Again") and is in the position of life, OR a man is Not in or of Christ (but born once of the flesh, of Adam only) and therefore remains in the position of death!

So when the First Man (Adam) sinned he died Positionally! He died to God in every way, body, soul and spirit. Once he died "Positionally" before God he began to die experientially on this earth as well. Not only was he dead "Positionally Speaking" before God, but his body (as well as ours) began to decay and die as well!
This was the inevitable outcome of his Position of death. His "sin" had cut him off from God's righteousness, and because we (the whole human race) were in his genes, we too have inherited his fallen nature by birth, only to die positionally just as Adam had.

What needs to be understood is not the workings of the man born once, but of the man born twice! Why does the Christian DIE? This seems a great paradox!? If we are (positionally speaking) now IN Christ, then our sins have been forgiven and before God we are just as if we have never sinned. (Again, all thanks to Christ!) So what is going on? If Christ has paid for all of our sins then why does the Christian still die?

The most important thing to remember is that God is DONE, FINISHED with this world and its kingdoms! Because of sin none of it is worth saving and He is letting it all run down. He is on a mission to usher in a new age, one who's inhabitants have eternal life and who obey Him on earth as they do in heaven and who walk with and honor Him in Spirit and in Truth (as He is).

This means that He is not interested in making the earth (this present age) paradise any longer. The evidence is clear. Because of sin this world, along with our bodies (Christian and non-Christian alike) are decaying and dying. He is after a New Man and a New World, one where righteousness reigns! When the time comes for this New world to happen it will mark the end of this present age.

Once one is Born Again of God, positionally speaking, they are taken and placed, body, soul and spirit into The Second Adam (who is Christ). In Him is Life Eternal. But at this present time Eternal Life only applies to our soul and spirit. The body (in its present state) cannot inherit the promises of God at this time, because in this life, in this world, "SIN" is still present and still at work.

In this world (or "age") there is no escape from "Physical Death" for any of us, except by the return of Christ! Remember too that this present body of flesh we're living in is Not placed Positionally in Christ (along with our souls and spirits), but it is Actual, meaning it will die some day, as everything does in this world. Everything else is "spiritual", including our bodies When we receive our New body at Christ's coming.

Through faith in Christ there is promised escape from soul and spiritual death (i.e. "separation from God"), but nothing is promised to preserve our body from death and decay in this life. We await our New bodies at the ushering in of the new age (when death has been destroyed) because (as Paul says)...

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:50-57

That we should receive NEW bodies at Christ's visible appearance is founded upon the "Hope of the Gospel"... Read Romans 8:19-25.

It should also be noted that the Scriptures say that, "The sting of death (that which gives it its hurt) is sin, and the strength of sin is the law". This means that where there is no death because of sin there is no sting or hurt because of it. Our faith in Christ has ended our "Spiritual Death" or "Old, Sinful Position" before God. Now we know that the Scriptures say that the just shall walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:4-8), therefore "The Sting" of death applies to ones soul and/or spirit, not their bodies.

To prove the Scriptures are true in this case let's take a look at Hebrews 9:28 and Acts 7:59-60...

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

This doesn't mean that Stephen in his body didn't feel any pain or sting as they were stoning him, it means that he "died" (fell asleep) after they had done so. One thing for sure, he wouldn't have to experience the hurt and the power of death that others experience when they die in their sins. The time of Stephen's death is when the position he stood on by faith became real, and he entered and experienced paradise as a new creation in God.

The scriptures also say that the strength of sin (that which gives sin its power) is the law. The emphasis of all of this is to prove that where there is no law there is no sin thus no guilt of sin, therefore there is no power. Let's look at what happened when this "Power or Strength of sin" appeared inside of Paul...

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, you shall not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, worked in me all manner of covetousness. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive apart from the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Romans 7:7-12

And so "sin" is made extra powerful because of the law. In Paul's case it was the law that said: "Thou shalt not covet" that made his his sin strong as death.

Again look at the Scriptures! They say that without the law there is no sin! So does that mean that if God hadn't given the law there would be no sin??? No!!! It means that without the law there would be no knowledge of sin! But God did give man the law. He gave the law to Adam in Eden (of this tree thou shalt not eat), and He gave it to the Jews via Moses. He did not give the law to save anyone who tried to obey it, rather He gave the law in order to put men under the condemnation of it whenever they broke it! There is no mercy in the law.

To the Christian the Scriptures say:

For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God: for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Galatians 2:19-21

Again Paul is speaking "Positionally" in Christ. On the one hand he is dead - he is crucified with Christ - he is dead to the law and its power. This "Death" can only be reckoned "Positionally Speaking", by understanding thus reckoning oneself as being dead to the law but alive unto Christ. And yet he lives - Why? - because Christ now lives in him".

A man cannot serve both the law and God. The law was given to expose sin and give strength to death, while God is given to reveal himself in His Grace and Glory. "Once the law was alive and had done its job and slew me, so that the righteousness of Christ (that comes only by faith and not by doing the works of the law) would raise me from the dead", says Paul.

The only way to escape the influences of our "sinful nature", "flesh", "Old Man", is to escape from this body of flesh we live in. To die! "Positionally speaking, IN Christ man is perfect". But "Conditionally in himself" he is a sinner. Outside of Christ the man of flesh (i.e. the man born once of the first Adam only) remains a sinner through and through.

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. Romans 7:23-25

Paul understood the relationship between the Spirit and the flesh. He knew the war and struggle that was constantly going on inside him, vying for his affections! Yet this same Paul had also written Romans 6, and earlier verses of chapter 7....

Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Neither yield 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. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace. Romans 6:11-14

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
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. Romans 7:4-6

Paul had been crucified with Christ and he knew it! All that was left was for him to keep on reckoning it so. Paul was no longer a helpless bond-slave to sin, thanks to God crucifying him with Christ, so that he (the new man) should no longer be a slave to sin any longer, doing its bidding....

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that we should no longer serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Romans 6:6-7

Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, that is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Colossians 3:9-10

There is an Either, Or here! Either "you" have been crucified with Christ Or you haven't! Either you are still serving sin - Still practicing it? OR you have been renewed in the knowledge of God? Which?

So what about your "Old Man"? Do you claim to be sinless, without sin? Has your Old Man been eradicated or not? POSITIONALLY SPEAKING (i.e. the way that God sees us, IN Christ)? - He is a New Man, thus he is without sin (1 John 3:9). But, CONDITIONALLY SPEAKING? - (i.e. the way that we see ourselves) Well... you tell me! (1 John 1:8)

In other words --- In our being put to death with Christ and Born Again in Him, there has been a POWER change! So much so that if you claim to be a New Creation IN Christ then serve Him and not sin. (Either, Or!)

ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED???

In Matthew 13:18 ff Jesus is privately revealing to His disciples the parable of the sower, which speaks of "4" types of soils/hearts....

Matt 13:
18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Now ask yourself....

Question #1. Is "The word of the Kingdom (v.19)" the Gospel of Jesus Christ??? Yes - No

Question #2. Is one "Justified/Saved" through the hearing and believing of the Gospel??? Yes - No

Question #3A. Is "Justification by faith" an "ongoing process" (like sanctification is)??? Yes - No

Question #3B. Then is one "Justified" the moment one hears and believes??? Yes - No

Question #4. ('Both' the stony place and thorny place people "heard and gladly received" the word: "Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.") Did they have faith - were they justified??? Yes - No

Question #5. Do you believe what the Scriptures say about apostacy - perhaps as those who (represent the stony and thorny places - "if" they don't go on to bear good fruit) and who can then later fall away from the faith??? Yes - No

Question #6. Is "bearing fruit" a process (like "sanctification") or is it instantaneous when one first believes??? Yes - No

and finally, after you've answered all of the above....

Question #7. (Jesus says (v.23) that the only "good" ground is he who both "hears and understands" the word (going on to "obey it"), and goes on to produce good fruit.) Can one therefore, "Not Understand" the word, "Not bear any fruit" and yet be OSAS saved/justified by the mere "Hearing and Believing" of It, without also "Obeying It as well"??? Yes - No

Question #8. Does that mean if we "DON'T" go on hearing it and keep on obeying it after we've rightly understood it (Jn.13:17), and/or before we bear any good fruit (Mt.3:10), that we are in danger of falling away??? Yes - No

If you said "YES" then stony and thorny are "apostates", because they didn't go on to join their justified faith with their sanctified truth!

If you said "NO" then you are OSAS, denying that continued obedience and good fruit "ON OUR PART", enduring to the end (whatever that 'end' may be), are totally unnecessary to enter the Kingdom, if one has "faith alone"! (Stony and Thorny had faith "alone" too!

However, having "OUTWARD faith in a crucified Savior": WHICH IS WHAT 'JUSTIFICATION' IS..., yet WITHOUT our having and doing the necessary "INWARD faith of that same Savior: the resurrected Lord": WHICH IS WHAT 'SANCTIFICATION' IS: is dead... being alone... made null and void!)

Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

It is with the "heart" that a man "believes" in order to become "Righteous/Justified", and it is with this same "heart" that a man "obeys" in order to go on being "Righteous/Sanctified"!

The faith that contains justification + sanctification ("in being saved from as well as saved to") is the ONLY kind (being joined together and alive inside) that will save anyone!!!

Matt 10:22 ...but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

OSAS??? I think not! I say this because there are way too many sinners out there who think that they can draw themselves to the Father and the Son by something that "they" can do, thus save themselves, only to continue in sin.

Thank you for your time and reflections in these matters of the "faith". :-)

May you walk in the wholesome fear of God, and may God greatly and deeply bless you in "your understanding of these things"...for it is time for us to teach the others...

A WARNING AGAINST CALVINS TULIP DOCTRINE!

I can't even begin to state how many scriptures there are that say that God sent His Son into the world as payment for EVERYONE'S sins. THIS IS THE GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL! IT'S GOOD NEWS FOR EVERY MAN! It matters not whether the individual believes this or not - because it doesn't change The Message of what His Son did at all!!!

The Calvinists have changed many of the words; thus meanings of God, to say what He does not say whereby they deceive themselves and others who listen to them in saying what they want to hear what they say. The main sin against Calvinism (and it's a Whopper!) is that it both opposes and destroys The One True Gospel, by insisting that Jesus DID NOT - I repeat for effect: DID NOT come in order to save and pay for the sins of the world, but only came to save the likes of them: His elect Only. Thus we have a FALSE Gospel presenting a FALSE Christ! So this is NOT a war between Calvinism and Armenianism, but against Calvinists and God; against WHO Jesus really is and what His mission was!

Because Calvinists have chosen to believe that only God and His power is of any consequence in matters of salvation, they believe that their opponents ("everyone who disagrees with them") have chosen man and his power of free will over God. By taking this viewpoint, Calvinists (in being blinded by the truth) make a MAJOR blunder by throwing the entire dispute into an either one OR the other scenario.

Let us refer to this scenario of theirs as being the First Logical Fallacy (an error in reasoning), in which can be called, a "Fallacy of Distraction" which comes when a Calvinist presents a False Dilemma, one where only two choices are given when in fact there are other possible options.

Calvin and his followers teach the TULIP doctrine; and like the creators of all fallacies, they are experts at distracting ones attention away from what God means and says in His word into something other. This is intentional. They do this by using certain scriptures to try and prove what God says all the while rejecting and changing the rest of what God says against their doctrine in order to emphasize their belief alone as being the ONLY truth there is. They do so by claiming to have "special revelation or a type of hidden knowledge"; that the rest of us who know Christ personally, but believe differently, don't have! "MARK THIS, because this is what ALL false teachers who profess to know Christ do!"

In the case of the TULIP doctrine, this fallacy occures when only one of two options - the "EITHER/OR" scenario - is given by Calvinists, while in reality there are more options that also must be considered. A false dilemma occurs when one uses the illegitimate use of the "OR" operator. If you listen only to their viewpoint then that leaves you holding one or the other of these two options that are opened to you ("Either God OR man" - no other options or outcomes are given nor possible in their viewpoint).

In order to maintain the integrity of the word of God in this case, you must maintain a third option, the one where the Bible clearly teaches that both God and man play a role in determining who will be saved! Calvinists presume that only one party, either God OR man (but not both) can determine who is saved. Therefore; according to TULIP Calvinists, both scenarios can't be right!

So, because they claim; in the most educated of ways (like the scribes before them) to have found proof in the Bible that God plays a role in determining who would be saved and who would be lost and why, they have come to conclude that man has no part in determining the outcome and throw out and change anything they find in the Bible that says that man is also responsible in determining his salvation, and say point blank: >U>that's not what it means.
Therefore, because of their "Either/Or" mentality, they ignore the third option, that BOTH God and man play a part in the salvation process as the scriptures verify. And so Calvinists commit the logical fallacy of presenting a False Dilemma.

The Second Logical Fallacy that Calvinism makes is called "Complex Cause". This fallacy occurs when ONE factor is assumed to be the ONLY factor causing a particular effect when in reality there is more than one factor responsible for that effect.

Now the Bible contains many scriptures (for example) on God's role in determining who will be saved. Calvinists look at these passages and correctly identify God as a cause for WHO will be saved. However, where they err is by assuming that God is the ONLY cause there is. Therefore, they set about the task of changing, throwing out and negating the vast number of passages describing the role that a man plays in determining his salvation, and reduce men to nothing more than a zombie, a puppet without choice, who's decision or will, one way or the other, just doesn't matter.

Calvinists commit the fallacy of Complex Cause by assuming that the factor they have found ("the one where God is the ONLY determining factor") therefore it becomes the ONLY factor worth searching for and finding in the Bible. Therefore, Calvinists throw out, overlook and resist the possibility that there is a Complex Cause with more than one factors, namely the factor that BOTH God and man play a part in determining who will be saved.

Calvinists assume that because God determined who would be saved (they call this - "The Elect") before man ever made any choice, that he did it without regard for man's choices. They assume that because man's choices came AFTER God's choice of making certain men His Elect, that they were not a factor in the decision man made, but it was all strictly God's decision made before the foundations of the world.

God, in His foreknowledge simply knew beforehand WHO would be coming to Him. But Calvinists made it into a Power play that because God knew who would and who wouldn't be saved before any man even made any choice, He did so according to his foreknowledge. However, if God was employing His foreknowledge in the process of making this decision that means He was taking into consideration future events that had not yet happened.

In other words the Calvinists are saying that God made this determination of WHO ahead of time; not because He was not taking into account men's choices or manipulating them to be either saved or lost, as Calvinists believe, but in order to glorify himself by displaying His omniscience and love for ALL men through His foreknowledge, as it is written.

By making the assumption (against the scriptures) that God only loves a few men and that only (according to their understanding) a few men benefit from His death, then what the Calvinists have done, is to commit a Third Logical Fallacy known as "Wrong Direction". Calvinists assume that a man's acceptance or rejection of God is soley determined by God's selection of him even before time began.

It is important that we understand that it was God's selection of individuals beforehand (Him having the foreknowledge of who would and who wouldn't be saved by coming to Him) that was made because of man's (not God's) future rejection or acceptance of Him. Therefore, the Calvinists have Reversed the cause and effect relationship thus committing a third logical fallacy, the fallacy of Wrong Direction.