Aug 12th 2009
(Read Romans 8:1 to 14 prior to reading the article and also many of the passages in the article are based on interpreting the Romans)
The carnal realm and the carnal nature were formed out of man’s (Adam’s) disobedience. Prior to this man was totally free from sin. Sin and death had no power over him. Man had God’s nature in him and no sin. The law of the Spirit was in governance in that realm. It was simply obedience to a single command.
When Adam sinned, it gave entry to sin and death. Sin found its place in man and the world around and started to sink its roots deep into them. Man’s continuous wrong choices played a major role in sin increasing till it became a part of his own nature and started to control him.
There was a struggle between the godly nature and the sinful nature in him, till the later won and he became extremely and totally sinful.
As time went by and the consciences of men became hardened, they could not differentiate from right and wrong. Therefore, God had to put rules and regulations in place. However sin taking occasion of the law proved to be more sinful and lawlessness increased. Man became totally carnal and sin was the master in the realm he had created out of disobedience and continuous wrong choices.
When Christ came he created another realm contrary to the one that existed. He did that by first destroying the power that sin held through His obedience. Adam chose to disobey when sin and darkness had no power. Christ chose to obey when sin and darkness had complete control and power. The foundation that the spiritual realm exists on is that Christ has destroyed the power of sin on the cross through His sacrifice.
When we believe (see) this, we are totally free from the bondage to sin. As we come to the cross we must believe that our sinful nature (the origin of all sin in us) has been destroyed with Him on the cross (Romans 6:6) and we have received a new nature. This new nature is according to the Spirit. Now, since we are in the flesh there will always be temptations, however we have the power of the Spirit that enables us to overcome them.
Further to this Christ set forth the law of the Spirit in motion again, which is also a single command and it is loving God and loving one’s neighbor as a result.
Now believing the work of the cross helps us enter this spiritual realm but our obedience and continual yielding to the Spirit’s instruction is what would keep us there.
Adam and mankind not only disobeyed but chose to continuously follow their own way willingly disobeying God. This led them to completely leave the realm of the Spirit creating a carnal one. However we should walk the contrary. Obey God’s command of walking in love and yield our will and ways to God and walk according to the Spirit.
In order to start walking in the Spirit we need to identify our areas of mistakes and apply the fundamental truths on which the realm of the Spirit exists.
1) Our focus is in the carnal realm, it should be in the spiritual realm.
Today there are a lot of church cultures that revolve around the natural/carnal realm rather than the spiritual realm. There many indicators to this.
One of them is how much we strive and struggle to change laws that govern the carnal or natural realm. Laws are good and are not evil; neither should they be viewed lightly. There is also a place to confront the changing morals. However, true redemption does not come through that. Laws by themselves are only made to govern the carnal realm and cannot produce true liberty. Their duty is to place restrictions and offer guidance to an otherwise blind society devoid of a conscience. It results in bondage rather than freedom in the end ,working on the basis of fear rather than love.
Our focus should be right. Redemption comes through the cross of Christ on which the law and realm of the Spirit is founded on and exists. It requires obedience to the Spirit rather than a set of rules and regulations.
That should be our main focus and emphasis. Laws existent and non existent can only do little as is evident that the Law (by itself) in the Old Testament did not produce freedom from sin but rather sin took occasion of the law to produce more sin. Nevertheless, laws have to be in place or taught when people are walking in the flesh and not in the Spirit in the church. For where sin is prevalent, there is carnality and worldliness ( Galatians 5: 18 to 25 ). People cannot discern between right and wrong from their consience in such a state and therefore have to be taught the law. In such a case, the law should be used with the intention of leading people to redemption in Christ.
2) We do not teach that the cross has delivered people from sin.
Many teachings we see in the church today are tolerant towards sin others are totally ignorant to the truth that life in the Spirit is to walk free from the bondage to sin. However good a teaching might seem or if there be any form of godliness that denies the power of Christ/cross in bringing total freedom from sin, it is carnal, worldly and sensual.
The foundation to the realm of the Spirit is that Christ has set us free from the power of sin. If we don’t know that, aren’t we carnal and walking in that realm? For the realm of the Spirit is freedom from sin’s hold.
If we preach a message that lets people become comfortable in their low sinful standards, aren’t we empowering sin even further?
3) A lack of obedience to the Spirit.
We here the quote many times “There is therefore now no condemnation…”, however the prerequisite for that is often ignored; that it applies to those who walk in the Spirit and not the flesh. Walking in the Spirit requires obedience to Him and yielding our will to His. This is often painful but the liberation that it brings after that is powerful and vital.
Today, we think we can walk according to our desires and that God will be with us. On the contrary we have to do/walk as the Spirit wills for him to back us up. When we try to apply faith to a situation that is not God’s will, it is fleshly and the results that it produces will not be towards eternal life.
In conclusion for us to walk in the spiritual realm, we have to first see that the cross has totally and completely destroyed the power of sin. Secondly we need to build a culture around that truth, learning to walk in obedience to the Spirit, and yielding ourselves to God’s will.
“For those that are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God”.
