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please God. 9But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God
dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him."
[Christ]
It appears that in verse 9, Paul is suddenly seeing us in the eternal or heavenly realm, which is in our
true identity.
Rom 13:14 (RSV) "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the
flesh, to gratify its desires."
1Cor 3:1-3 (RSV) "But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men
of the flesh, as babes in Christ. 2I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready
for it; and even yet you are not ready, 3for you are still of the flesh. For while there is
jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving like ordinary men?"
We are trying to get people to accomplish something that is impossible. We will never be able to
live the Christian life successfully! Only Jesus Christ can live the Christian life. We can only allow Him
to live it through us. We will never be successful living it in our own strength. Trying to set and keep
rules, laws, standards, moral values - call it what you will - we will never be able to keep these laws. It is
self-defeating according to God’s own word.
Rom 7:5 (NKJV) "For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused
by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death."
Rom 7:8 (NKJV) "But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all
manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead."
These scriptures would appear to be quite clear: The law (or rules or standards or values) arouse
sinful passions. That is self-defeating; that is, the law itself, or rule or standard or value, carries within it
the seeds of its own defeat. It even says that it resulted in all manner of evil desire! Yet, in spite of these
scriptures which promise us failure, God’s people, particularly leaders, keep right on trying to use the law
(or rules or standards or values) to keep themselves and others in line - to keep them from sinning.
How long will it take before we begin to see the light? Rules do not work no matter if they came from
Moses or if you make them up yourself. Why do they not work? Leaders think it seems so obvious that if
we know how to do right, we will come nearer doing right. So we should tell people what is right and
wrong so they can follow the rules. Isn’t that logical? It seems very logical. Why does this method not
work?
A very simple answer is this: God doesn’t want it to work! Because it is legalism! It is not
“Walking by the Spirit.”
What is legalism?
Legalism is any approach to Christian living that focuses on keeping rules as a means of
experiencing victory or growing spiritually. Legalism is a system in which a person seeks to gain
God’s acceptance or blessings by what he does. (from Grace Walk by Steve McVey)
Where did we get the sense of right and wrong, good and evil? Where did it originate? It’s been with
us a long time. Even total unbelievers around the world think in terms of right and wrong, good and evil.
All religions have some sort of rules to follow to attain righteousness or to get to heaven or to do alright -
that is, to do good versus do evil.
dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him."
[Christ]
It appears that in verse 9, Paul is suddenly seeing us in the eternal or heavenly realm, which is in our
true identity.
Rom 13:14 (RSV) "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the
flesh, to gratify its desires."
1Cor 3:1-3 (RSV) "But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men
of the flesh, as babes in Christ. 2I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready
for it; and even yet you are not ready, 3for you are still of the flesh. For while there is
jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving like ordinary men?"
We are trying to get people to accomplish something that is impossible. We will never be able to
live the Christian life successfully! Only Jesus Christ can live the Christian life. We can only allow Him
to live it through us. We will never be successful living it in our own strength. Trying to set and keep
rules, laws, standards, moral values - call it what you will - we will never be able to keep these laws. It is
self-defeating according to God’s own word.
Rom 7:5 (NKJV) "For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused
by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death."
Rom 7:8 (NKJV) "But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all
manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead."
These scriptures would appear to be quite clear: The law (or rules or standards or values) arouse
sinful passions. That is self-defeating; that is, the law itself, or rule or standard or value, carries within it
the seeds of its own defeat. It even says that it resulted in all manner of evil desire! Yet, in spite of these
scriptures which promise us failure, God’s people, particularly leaders, keep right on trying to use the law
(or rules or standards or values) to keep themselves and others in line - to keep them from sinning.
How long will it take before we begin to see the light? Rules do not work no matter if they came from
Moses or if you make them up yourself. Why do they not work? Leaders think it seems so obvious that if
we know how to do right, we will come nearer doing right. So we should tell people what is right and
wrong so they can follow the rules. Isn’t that logical? It seems very logical. Why does this method not
work?
A very simple answer is this: God doesn’t want it to work! Because it is legalism! It is not
“Walking by the Spirit.”
What is legalism?
Legalism is any approach to Christian living that focuses on keeping rules as a means of
experiencing victory or growing spiritually. Legalism is a system in which a person seeks to gain
God’s acceptance or blessings by what he does. (from Grace Walk by Steve McVey)
Where did we get the sense of right and wrong, good and evil? Where did it originate? It’s been with
us a long time. Even total unbelievers around the world think in terms of right and wrong, good and evil.
All religions have some sort of rules to follow to attain righteousness or to get to heaven or to do alright -
that is, to do good versus do evil.
