[I found the following statement written by a dear brother in Christ as a response to someone’s FB post]

It isn’t fair to broad brush everyone into the same corner, but I feel that our religious / legalistic tendencies have a lot to do with Believers struggling to believe and live out the truth.

There is so much focus on the old man (who we were before Christ) that we are practically resurrecting what Christ died to destroy – our old man.

I see and hear an awful lot about repentance and “killing sin”etc.  I do believe we need to constantly repent, but our justification and sanctification is not in jeopardy. (Our fellowship with the Father is what suffers when we do not repent.)

The emphasis on repentance and holy living seems to put everyone’s focus back on the old man.

But Romans 6 and Galatians 2:20 along with a number of other Pauline passages put the focus/emphasis on who we are now, IN CHRIST.  Paul seemed to spend a decent amount of time helping the NT believers see the BEFORE CHRIST/BUT NOW IN CHRIST reality.

Can we really kill sin?  I don’t see much of a biblical argument for us killing sin.  If we could, then when we did kill said sin it would be erraticaded and gone for good.  Instead of telling people to kill sin, Paul seems to tell them of the new reality that it was Christ who died to sin on our behalf.  In Christ we die to sin also.  Our victory comes from Christ and our identification in what He did for us.

I know I am preaching to the choir here, but the choir needs to be singing about our new identity in Christ!  That is where our victory over sin and death (past, present and future) comes from.

Oh, while I am in this mode lets not forget how much we need the Spirit.  Please stop killing The Spirit by fear, unbelief and by preaching a non-biblical idea of cessationism. (Prolly stepping on toes and opening a can of worms here, but too many believers seem to be running scared from the Holy Spirit because they have seen abuse and misrepresentations of the Spirit.  But we have been given the Spirit.  He is our connection to the Father and the Son.  He is critically vital to our spiritual life.  It seems there are many zombie believers who don’t know what they have been given.

Ok. Rant over.

Love, grace and peace to you all!

#newidentity #abideinchrist #walkinthespirit

(The image above can be found at: https://www.boldgrace.org/articles/old-man-vs-new-man.html. Check out this interesting ministry)