Warfare - Part I

I believe that the time is coming, and may already be here, when God is calling us to come to a greater knowledge of who we are in Christ.  The war is on between flesh and spirit in each of us and we must learn to take up our cross daily and follow Him, crucifying our flesh.  I plan on returning to this scripture reference of taking up our cross daily a little later.

When I read Romans 7:14-8:2, I see Paul discussing the two natures of flesh and spirit, and the conflict that exists among them.  In verse 17, the phrase "no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me" suggests that even though I have given my heart and life to Jesus Christ to be Lord and Saviour, sin still dwells in my flesh, the part that is the seed of the first Adam. The Greek word for "dwell" is "oikeo" ( pronounced oy-keh'-o ) and means "to occupy a house", i.e.  Reside; (fig. inhabit, remain, inhere); by implication to cohabit - dwell.

It is my opinion that this is explaining why I find myself continually doing things that I know are wrong, sinful, and go against God and His plan for me.  Even though I am now a new creature in the Spirit, I am still on this earth in a fleshly body, which has been dying since my "first" birth.

Adam had the perfect relationship with God for a time, but the moment  he sinned, he died spiritually.  He was therefore separated spiritually from God,  and any person born of Adam has also been born spiritually separated from God, born into the bondage of sin and death.  The seed was contaminated and corrupted, so that the human race, all of us, one race, have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.

God had to create another race, an uncontaminated race, to give us a Way to be freed from this bondage of sin that we were born into.  It makes sense to me that when Jesus came unto this earth as God in the flesh, He could not be born from the same seed that was already corrupted, but had to be interjected as the new Seed of woman through the virgin Mary, being conceived by the Holy Spirit.  Through this method, a new race, a "grace race" was created.  A way for us to reconnect spiritually with the Most High God, the only Way.  This meant that Jesus would have to live His life on this earth as a Lamb without blemish, the perfect sacrifice, enduring all temptation without sin, the very thing neither Adam nor any of us could do.

The scripture tells us that when Jesus was fervently praying in the garden, that His prayers were so intense, that He was so incredibly stressed, that blood was dripping from His pores.  I believe He knew that He was about to become spiritually disconnected from His Father, which He had never had to do before.  This could explain the prayers of Him asking the Father if there was any other way that this cup might pass from Him.  But yet, He said ( I believe three times ), "not My will, but Yours be done."   So at this time, Jesus, having lived the perfect sinless life, submitted Himself to the will of the Father, allowing Himself to become the propitiation for sin, such that when He was crucified, He was spiritually separated from the Father.

In Romans 8:29 it says that "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;".    This firstborn reference is the spiritual birth of Jesus from the grave.  By Jesus being called the firstborn of many,  this must mean that there will be a second born, a third born, etc..  I believe this means that Jesus is the firstborn in spirit among  many.   When Nicodemus asked Jesus how could a man be born again, part of His reply was "that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' ".  Jesus, resurrected from the grave by God the Father, is the firstborn of the Spirit, the first one to be...born...again.

So now, just as in Adam we all sinned (born of the flesh), in Christ we are all born again (born of the Spirit). 

Yet this conflict, this war between flesh and spirit continues within us.  From the reference in Romans 7:22-23, the term "waging war" is used.  This coincides with Romans 6:12-13, which says "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."  The word "instruments" also translates as the word "weapons".

To be continued...