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In our relationship with the first Adam we had no freedom at all (sin had its dominion – Rom 6:14—NC), the members of the old Adam being under obligation to furnish personal righteousness before God (an impossibility before Christ came—NC), as moral beings responsible to Him (not just obedience, but also guiltless, which is only in Christ—NC). But our position as believers is declared by Paul to have been perfectly secured in the risen Lord Jesus Christ; our responsibility in the fallen Adam and in connection with him having been met and discharged as our federal head, the Lord Jesus became sin for us at the Cross, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (not became literally sin but with the appearance of sin, i.e. “the likeness of sin” - Rom 8:3; 2Co 5:21—NC).
To declare, therefore, that new creatures in Christ Jesus are under the law, either for salvation, or as a rule for Christian living is like unto prescribing rules to an apple tree. Simply seek to have the conditions of growth fulfilled and it will then “bear fruit.” So a human soul in order to “bear fruit unto God” (Rom 7:4), must live in that truth that sets it free.
The Christian has been born from above and was never meant to be in any other state than the freedom of heaven, in his life and service. This is shown by the words “even so” or “likewise” in Romans 6:11. We are told in verse 10 that Christ having been made sin died unto sin once for all, but the life He now liveth, “He lieveth unto God” (Rom 6:10). For that reason, since we are in Christ Jesus, having died with Him, we are to live as risen beings who died with Him; being now ourselves “alive unto God in Him.” The word “likewise” here shows that even “as He is, so are we in this world” (1Jo 4:17). Now He is not under law, yet He delights in the will of the Father in the very spirit and essence of it, as His inner and absolute pleasure.
Paul’s blessed doctrine that those who are in Christ Jesus are dead to the law and discharged therefrom, is absolutely necessary to those who would walk in the Spirit and make progress in their spiritual growth. To be filled with the Spirit at one time, does not prove that we will be walking in the Spirit at a later time. For example, Peter was filled with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, but later, at Antioch, we find him walking not uprightly according to the Gospel (Gal 2:14).
No blessing can take the place of the truth. “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” So our Lord’s promise, “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth” (Jhn 17:17). If we have been taught to believe what is contrary to the written Word of God, although we may have blessings now and then, we cannot become established in the risen Lord Jesus until we see and receive the truth.
How can the Holy Spirit lead the saints of God except He leads them into truth? He is the Spirit of Truth! To teach believers that they are under the law as a rule of life, is to teach what is contrary to the Word of God; for the Spirit of God has declared unto us in Romans 6 and 7, that we have died to that law (Israelites died the Law of Moses and to the law of sin; Gentiles have died to “the law of sin” (Rom 8:2; also Rom 5:21), that made such demands on us we that we could do nothing but sin (Tit 1:15—NC), even in seeking to keep it! So that the Spirit saith, “Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but
under grace” (Rom 6:14 – the old man will not dominate you, i.e. cause you to desire sin, which is a promise—NC).
We had to be discharged from the law so that we could serve the Father in the true spirit of service, which is always liberty and gladness. The same blessed Spirit of God has distinctly written to us, that “ye also are become dead to the law by the Body of Christ” (physical suffering in the body - Rom 7:4—NC); that our death with Him was a fact, and that we who are now in Him share that death, He being our Head and our Life, instead of Adam the first; because we, having died with the Lord Jesus (Gal 2:20; Col 3:3), have been positioned before the Father with Him.
—Wm R Newell
MJS daily devotional excerpt for Nov 24
“If spiritual thirst is the language of your heart, there is great blessing in store for you. When believers are being turned upside-down and inside-out they are apt to be much discouraged, and to have their souls ‘disquieted’ within them. But even amid the exercise the Father would give us the encouragement of knowing that He has taken us up to bring us into inconceivable blessing.
“We must travel through these processings, for the simple reason that if the Lord Jesus is to be everything, the old man must be nothing, and it is often times a long journey to reach this point in the history of the soul. Hence the long, dreary, and painful years of ‘self-occupation’ through which most believers drag their slow steps of spiritual progress.” -C.A.C.
To declare, therefore, that new creatures in Christ Jesus are under the law, either for salvation, or as a rule for Christian living is like unto prescribing rules to an apple tree. Simply seek to have the conditions of growth fulfilled and it will then “bear fruit.” So a human soul in order to “bear fruit unto God” (Rom 7:4), must live in that truth that sets it free.
The Christian has been born from above and was never meant to be in any other state than the freedom of heaven, in his life and service. This is shown by the words “even so” or “likewise” in Romans 6:11. We are told in verse 10 that Christ having been made sin died unto sin once for all, but the life He now liveth, “He lieveth unto God” (Rom 6:10). For that reason, since we are in Christ Jesus, having died with Him, we are to live as risen beings who died with Him; being now ourselves “alive unto God in Him.” The word “likewise” here shows that even “as He is, so are we in this world” (1Jo 4:17). Now He is not under law, yet He delights in the will of the Father in the very spirit and essence of it, as His inner and absolute pleasure.
Paul’s blessed doctrine that those who are in Christ Jesus are dead to the law and discharged therefrom, is absolutely necessary to those who would walk in the Spirit and make progress in their spiritual growth. To be filled with the Spirit at one time, does not prove that we will be walking in the Spirit at a later time. For example, Peter was filled with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, but later, at Antioch, we find him walking not uprightly according to the Gospel (Gal 2:14).
No blessing can take the place of the truth. “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” So our Lord’s promise, “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth” (Jhn 17:17). If we have been taught to believe what is contrary to the written Word of God, although we may have blessings now and then, we cannot become established in the risen Lord Jesus until we see and receive the truth.
How can the Holy Spirit lead the saints of God except He leads them into truth? He is the Spirit of Truth! To teach believers that they are under the law as a rule of life, is to teach what is contrary to the Word of God; for the Spirit of God has declared unto us in Romans 6 and 7, that we have died to that law (Israelites died the Law of Moses and to the law of sin; Gentiles have died to “the law of sin” (Rom 8:2; also Rom 5:21), that made such demands on us we that we could do nothing but sin (Tit 1:15—NC), even in seeking to keep it! So that the Spirit saith, “Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but
under grace” (Rom 6:14 – the old man will not dominate you, i.e. cause you to desire sin, which is a promise—NC).
We had to be discharged from the law so that we could serve the Father in the true spirit of service, which is always liberty and gladness. The same blessed Spirit of God has distinctly written to us, that “ye also are become dead to the law by the Body of Christ” (physical suffering in the body - Rom 7:4—NC); that our death with Him was a fact, and that we who are now in Him share that death, He being our Head and our Life, instead of Adam the first; because we, having died with the Lord Jesus (Gal 2:20; Col 3:3), have been positioned before the Father with Him.
—Wm R Newell
MJS daily devotional excerpt for Nov 24
“If spiritual thirst is the language of your heart, there is great blessing in store for you. When believers are being turned upside-down and inside-out they are apt to be much discouraged, and to have their souls ‘disquieted’ within them. But even amid the exercise the Father would give us the encouragement of knowing that He has taken us up to bring us into inconceivable blessing.
“We must travel through these processings, for the simple reason that if the Lord Jesus is to be everything, the old man must be nothing, and it is often times a long journey to reach this point in the history of the soul. Hence the long, dreary, and painful years of ‘self-occupation’ through which most believers drag their slow steps of spiritual progress.” -C.A.C.
