Angelic Conflict part 278: Defeater of death – Rom 5:12-21; 8:1-11; Col 1:27; 3:2-3.
length: 62:18 - taught on Mar, 18 2014
Class Outline:
Title: Angelic Conflict part 278: Defeater of death - ROM 5:12-21; 8:1-11; COL 1:27; 3:2-3.
ROM 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned —
ROM 5:13 for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed [charged to their account] when there is no law.
ROM 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
ROM 5:15 But the free gift is not like [has no comparison to] the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many [all humanity] died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
ROM 5:16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.
ROM 5:17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned [as king] through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign [as kings] in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
God is a great transformer of lives. He turns slaves into kings. He deposes the dynasty of sin, chains it in the dungeon, and en-thrones the dynasty of righteousness.
Comparison of lordship of Adam vs. Christ.
The lordship of death was a despotic tyranny, while Christ reigns by means of the cords of love.
One of the greatest benefits to reigning in life through a willing following of Christ is the restoration of the personality.
Sovereignty over life restores the personality of a person so that they, in freedom, become the person that God sees and desires.
Christ restored the free will of man to choose righteousness and life by binding the strong man whose power was based on sin and death.
Adam and his sons can choose some things, but not everything. He may decide all the unimportant things of life, but not the important ones; the spiritual ones. The sons of Adam must choose to believe in the Son of God as their Savior and then through regeneration, the baptism of the Spirit, being made a brand new creature in Christ, entered into union with Christ, given the spirit of Christ; all of which happens simultaneously at salvation, they may now choose the things of the spiritual life.
When a man is justified by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, the slavery of sin and death is broken.
The freedom provided by Christ is so great and wonderful because He reverses the positions of master and slave. We were the slaves of the dread master death; now we are the masters of life, and death is the slave of the Lord of life.
When a man is born again, he receives new life in Christ, and God gives a free will to choose the important things. As he continually yields to the Lord, His Spirit, and His word, he can make the choices of righteousness, and the Lord transforms his entire personality.
God's purpose in the Christian life is to train the Christian's free will until it is in complete conformity with the will of God so that he may prosper.
This is not sinlessness but walking in that will or willingly yielding to that will. There is no sinlessness in the Christian way of life.
The confidence and contentment of sharing God's glory and glorifying God is:
God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
We are told this so that we see ourselves as brand new creatures and that Adam and the old things have passed away, and behold new things have come; exciting and wonderful things. Christ in me is a guarantee of justification, eternal life, and royalty in Him, and that royalty means ruling, reigning, living as a king over all things in this life. How could I possibly be the old creature if the Lord Jesus Christ indwells my body?
But it is not Christ forcing the individual. It is Christ dwelling within and giving a new spirit so that we are born from above.
The new spirit works on different principles from the old soul; consequently, an entirely new manner of life is possible for one who has new life in Christ.
Set your mind [phroneo = to think, to be minded in a certain way] on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Phroneo is used 26 times in the NT and several times it refers to actively thinking the things of God or the things of men.
For those who are according to the flesh set their minds [phroneo] on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly [huperphroneo] of himself than he ought to think [phroneo]; but to think so as to have sound judgment [sophroneo]
Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude [phroneo]; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you
For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds [phroneo] on earthly things.
In each of these uses of phroneo the verb is in the active voice, referring to our volition to have objective and sound thinking. As a man thinks in his soul, so he is, which is his true personality. PRO 23:7
Lordship over sin and death comes from the power which Christ furnishes to each believer through regeneration, His Spirit, and Word. Therefore, reigning in life comes from within and not from outside the person, further emphasizing that it isn't the circumstances that matter, but the thinking of the inner man.
This power is not outside of the believer but within, from the inner man, the spirit from Christ given to every believer at the moment of salvation, the HS within, and the metabolized word of God within.
No one changes overtly at salvation. One could say that a countenance may change or a look of happiness will replace the old grisly look of bitterness when doctrine enters the soul of the believer, but all of those are results of changes within, power within, wisdom within, the HS within. The believer is not to lose control to some spiritual force, but his will is in concert with, fellowship with, or partnership with the person of God the HS (He is a person and not a force) and the word of God that is alive and powerful. The holy roller is not holy in the Biblical sense.
So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man
For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control
At every moment of the Christian life, the whole being of the believer must be in subjection to the willing center of the individual's personality that chooses to walk in the plan of God for his life. No one can make the choice for him. Christ does not force Himself on anyone, but He certainly does influence His own through the living word and the filling ministry of God the HS, but only in concert with the free will of the believer.
My reason is not shut off, but I reason with the doctrine in my mind, meaning I systematically analyze my circumstances and apply the doctrine that God the Holy Spirit has empowered me to understand and apply. He gives me all the power and ability, but in the moment, if I am to reign in that moment, I must choose to apply what principles of the mind of Christ that God the HS has supernaturally supplied to me.
You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ's, let him consider [logizomai = to reason, take inventory, to think on] this again within himself, that just as he is Christ's, so also are we.
ROM 5:17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned [as king] through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign [as kings] in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
It should be noted:
No one reigns in life independent of Christ.
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.
He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Whenever we remove ourselves from His lordship through sin or human good we are no longer reigning over life. The branch must abide in the vine if the branch is to rule in life with the vine. Long periods of time not abiding in the vine causes the branch to dry up and incur divine discipline. Whenever we see ourselves being defeated by anything in life we must recover in grace and start walking with Christ again.
It should be noted that those who are called to reign have received abundance of grace, and of righteousness. These two gifts, grace and righteousness, are characteristic effects of the work of Christ.
All our sins are taken from us and placed to the account of the Savior. That is the abundance of grace. All the righteousness of God is placed to the account of the individual believer; that is the abundance of the gift of righteousness.
In the account book, where everything was against us and nothing to our credit, God reversed the record: the debit account is paid in full, and the once empty credit page now carries the deposit of the righteousness of God. Now nothing is against us and everything is for us.
The implications of this text should have an extraordinary impact on every positive believer and should deeply enrich his Christian life.
A believer with only a superficial knowledge of scripture will miss this completely. They will be saved eternally through their faith in the work of Christ, but they will never reign in this life.
We are not to be of the sort who expect Adam to share the throne with Christ. Adam has been thoroughly removed as head and king of every believer. Those believers who choose for the word of God, meaning they choose for Christ to rule their lives will rule in life. There is no grey area. Though no one is sinless, the question of lifestyle or walk is clearly under the tyranny of Adam or the love of Christ. Every believer has a daily opportunity to choose one or the other.
We must come to understand that the prerogatives of royalty are ours and that the right of royalty has been given to us. In the very center of my personality, my intellect, sensibility, and will, I am to take the throne that Christ has handed to me, the kingship, the inheritance, the royalty and apply that to my life so that I will reign in this life. That is being alive in Christ, not only in heaven, but on earth, today. This is vastly beyond a series of rituals under the Law.
Against such things [walking by means of the Spirit the fruit of the Spirit] there is no law.
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