Misconception of Salvation
Question: Is making it in easier now that we have salvation through Christ Jesus?
Your weapon never changes the difficulty of the war. Your weapon changes the way you win it.
Let’s understand that salvation was not possible without Jesus’ sacrifice, but the plan of restoration through Jesus was always there (John 1:1-14, John 17:5). The law in the Old Testament tells us right from wrong whereas salvation provides a means to obey the law despite our sinful nature (Romans 7). If there was no law, then we would not need salvation. What I mean by this is that if there was no standard to uphold, why would we need grace? Jesus said He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17) hence the importance of the law to begin with.
Romans 7:21-25 (NKJV)
21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Romans 7:21-25 (MSG)
21-23 It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. 24 I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question? 25 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.
Paul knew that there was a disconnect. He wanted to follow the law, but because in our flesh dwells no good thing (Romans 7:18), it did not want to cooperate with following the perfect law. Although I’m not a regular fan of the message Bible, I love the last sentence! Jesus set things right to overcome the flesh that keeps us from doing good (Galatians 5:17).
You see this flesh issue, is one that dates back to Genesis.
Genesis 3:1-7 (NKJV)
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
The serpent got to Eve’s flesh and deceived her. Let me tell you a secret, that same tactic is what the enemy uses on you to this date: your flesh.
James 1:13-15
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
The Old Testament is a perfect example of how people, God’s people, were enticed by their desires (their flesh) and allowed the enemy to lead them astray. The same areas of flesh that were written about in the Old Testament are the same areas that the enemy attacks today. Ecclesiastes 1:9 tells us that there is nothing new under the sun and 1 Peter 5:9 explains to us that whatever you are going through is never unique to just you, there are others who are or who have experienced similar sufferings. The enemy is an old dog with the same old tricks…he never uses anything new.
So, it is incorrect and ignorant to think that it’s best to start in the New Testament to understand the faith or disregard the Old Testament because the Old Testament is where the war began.
The issue of the flesh is the same battle that Eve, Moses, David, and so many other people in the Old Testament were fighting. We are fighting the same battle to overcome our flesh, the only thing the enemy can get to, but we have a different weapon; Christ Jesus. We cannot understand how to use our new weapon in Christ if we do not understand the battle we are fighting which is why we need the Old Testament.
2 Corinthians 5:17-19 (AMP)
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]. 18 But all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ [making us acceptable to Him] and gave us the ministry of reconciliation [so that by our example we might bring others to Him], 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people’s sins against them [but canceling them]. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation [that is, restoration to favor with God].
Galatians 5:16-26 (NKJV)
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
In this war against the flesh, you have the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ Spirit to live a new life and be born again to overcome the works of the flesh. Don’t be deceived in thinking things have gotten easier since Christ Jesus, but know that through Him we are given a new way of life.