'Salvation' from Sin

I was sitting in my living room and listening to Romans on the I-Pod when I felt quickened by the Holy Spirit. Quickly grabbing my Bible and notebook I read along while scribbling the notes that seemed to leap into me. Here is a brief summary of what I think God highlighted at that time (and sorry to the theologians who are reading this but this posting has absolutely nothing to do with Calvinism :-0

Beginning a foundation for the highlighted verses, I'll start with chapter seven. In ch.7 vs. 14-25 Paul talks about how there is a law of sin that holds us in captivity. At the end of the chapter he asks, "Who shall deliver me from this body of death?" (KJV, ch.7 vs 24) And he answers, "...Jesus Christ our Lord..." (KJV, ch.7 vs 25).

Ch.8 vs 3 says that Christ conquered sin inside the flesh (He did this by living inside the body which was in the likeness of sinful flesh but committing no sin).

Vs 4 follows this up by saying that He did this in order for righteousness to be fulfilled in us; however, this life is only for those who walk after the Spirit.

So the question is how does one walk after the Spirit, because we obviously all want to be 'saved' from this pervasive law of sin? Verse 13 says, "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die." We can take this to mean that we have a choice to either fall on the Rock and be broken, or to pursue the natural method of self preservation and wait until the End of the Age when the Rock will crush all who are alive to themselves into powder.

Verse 23 gives an incredible amount of hope on a damp mood! Paul says that those who have the first fruits of the Spirit (they have heard the gospel and have had a taste of faith; my interpretation) groan inwardly, and wait in expectation the adoption and redemption of their bodies. In context he's obviously referring to the redemption of sin by being adopted as heirs of a resurrected Christ! But this is not something that any human has control over because if they did they wouldn't be waiting. So we must ask, waiting for what exactly? I thought as soon as someone says the sinners prayer that they are redeemed.

In verse 29 Paul said that who God foreknew He destined to be conformed to the very image of Christ. In the prior verses (26- 27) he said that the Holy Spirit is continuously working within our very hearts to help us with our infirmities. And this is so that we can be fashioned into the likeness of Christ! Will we ever be perfect while on this Earth, probably not, but I believe that God is preparing His end time army to be 'saved' from the 'bondage' of sin. That is, the sin that holds us captive. The sin that is addictive in the manner that it is our ruler, captor, and worst case scenario our god.

Hopefully this brings the well known verse in Chapter 10. vs 9 with another perspective: believe in your heart and confess with your mouth and you shall be saved from sin (Italics added).

Again, God will 'save' us! What I believe He has shown me to do is to literally follow chapter 8, vs 23: to look upwards with hope for the hour of our salvation! (Interpret this as while on Earth. Not to just be taken from this Earth.) Then chapter 10 verses 26-27 will become our reality: the Holy Spirit will reconstruct our hearts into the likeness of Christ!

He has also shown me that when the Holy Spirit begins to do this that it can be very painful. It may be an especially dark circumstance that God allows us to travel through. But He does this with the purpose of fashioning us through the process. Sometimes we may feel that we failed during this process. That's not entirely a bad thing! It simply shows us how weak and retched we really are! And God's words: He gives grace to the humble, really come to life! The beatitudes would also be a good resource if you are feeling beat up and condemned.

Then the next step is GLORIFICATION. After we are crucified with Christ (Romans 6 vs 6) we will enter into Christ's resurrection! And His authentic resurrection power, I believe, is the authority that the last day army will march with.