05/22/26 DON'T BE HELD PRISONER
(This is a 4-to-5-minute read, but I address several aspects of this great Biblical truth, and as usual, I try to make difficult concepts clear for young believers in the faith.)
As we see in the Book of Judges and Romans chapter 7, the carnal Christian life is an inward battle with a rebellious spirit. The recurring cycle for the carnal Christian is,
Rest (living by faith),
Rebellion (giving into temptation),
Rebuke (God convicts the backslider of sin),
Repentance (turning from sin back to faithful obedience),
Restoration (the repentant backslider is forgiven of his lapse),
Rest (living by faith)."
Most Christians are held captive by this cycle of inner conflict. Some never hear about God's provision to deliver the Carnal Christian from the Double Mind (the Old Man, the Carnal Mind, the Evil Heart of Unbelief, the Law of Sin and Death, aka the Sinful Nature).
The Bible tells us that there are two kinds of people: the lost (the Natural Man) and the Christian.
The Natural Man has not yet been converted, regenerated, saved, or justified. He is living his life strictly on the natural, fleshly, temporal level.
The Christian has entered into a relationship with God. The Christian is born of the Holy Spirit and led by the Holy Spirit and the fully dedicated Christian is filled and purified with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible tells us that there are two kinds of Christians: the Carnal and the Spiritual.
Since Adam's sin, all of his children are born with a weakened, afflicted Human Nature and a corrupted disposition, the Carnal Nature, which is often called the "Sinful Nature"
Our own personal sin separates us individually from God.
God calls sinners to personal faith and repentance.
When the sinner hears and heeds the call of God, he is Divinely and miraculously transformed into a new creation, a spiritually oriented person.
The sinner becomes a saint (a holy one) and begins to walk with God.
The new Christian still has his weakened, afflicted Human Nature and his Sinful Nature, but he is given a new nature, a Divine nature (a likeness to God).
It is the presence of God in us that is at war with the sinful nature, the sin nature.
Our Human Nature is the seat of decision.
Our Carnal Nature is inclined to sin.
Our Divine Nature is inclined to God.
This is where the inward battle takes place, which is addressed in Romans 7.
HOWEVER, though Romans 7 portrays the problem of the Carnal Mind (the Carnal Nature, the Sinful Nature, the Old Man, the Double Mind). God does not sentence the believer to a life of Carnality. At the end of Romans 7 we are told that Jesus is the Answer, the Solution, the Deliverer from the Law of Sin and Death (the Double Mind).
Romans 8 continues God's revelation concerning Christian victory over sin and death. It addresses and amplifies the message of deliverance from the Carnal Nature. Likewise, Romans 6 explained the death of the Old Man.
The hope for the Carnal Christian is the purifying infilling and continued presence of the Holy Spirit. God delivers the faithful follower from all sin (including the pollution of the Sinful Nature).
The Bible consistently tells us that God will purify His people, and His purification of our heart enables victory over our sin, inherent and personal.
If we sin after our conversion, we have an advocate with God. But we can live a life that is obedient and pleasing to God. We can live a Christian life that is free from inner turmoil continuous backsliding. If and when we need reconciliation, God is ready and eager to restore us. But if we walk in the light, we will not walk in the flesh, but in the Spirit.
Sin held us captive to do that which was evil, but Jesus set us free.
Sin Nature holds Christians captive to an inner battle, but Jesus sets us free.
Be saved, be sanctified entirely.
We have victory over sin when we trust and follow Jesus fully.
We have a choice to either be the slave of sin or the slave of God. We make our choice by either believing and trusting Christ or refusing His deliverance.
Read and Heed the command and invitation of God, and you will be Freed from the domination of sin in your life.
Romans 6:6-22
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
