We finished Meditation
102 with the apostle Paul’s lament: “Who will free me from this life that is
dominated by sin?” (Romans 7:24*).
In Meditation 103 we
found Paul’s answer to that question: “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus
Christ our Lord.” (Romans 7:25*)
In that last meditation
we saw how Jesus Christ, God the Son, humbled Himself in becoming a man and
dying on the cross as God’s guilt offering for our disobedience to Him. Through
his death He saved us not only from the bondage of sin and Satan, but also from
God’s righteous anger and judgment. Jesus’ death granted us the pardon of our
sins, reconciliation with God and eternal life. (see also Meditations 5 to
11, 18 to 27 and 38 to 43)
Indeed, our repentance
and God’s pardon because of Jesus’ sacrifice is the first and foremost precondition
for victory over the power of sin. However, there is more to say about this vast
subject.
Honestly, I wonder how
many Christians don’t ever grow into a deeper understanding of their new
identity through Jesus’ death for them. And I think that is for this reason that many Christians keep
struggling with their sins without every gaining victory over the power of sin
in their lives.
Today many people,
also Christians, might turn to the social sciences and their specialists for
help. They might find themselves on the couch of psychologists, psychiatrists or all sorts
of therapists and counsellors. Indeed, in this way deep-seated, psychological,
behavioural and relational problems might be addressed and solved.
Yet, social science
cannot give an answer to man’s core problem, his disrupted relationship with
God which God’s Word [the Bible] calls ‘sin’. (see Meditation 102)
This disrupted
relationship with God comes to light in man’s disobedience to God’s holy Law
which Jesus summarises by saying: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and
greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as
yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets (the Old Testament) hang on these two
commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40**)
God’s Word shows that
only Jesus, during His walk on earth, obeyed God’s holy Law completely and lived
a sinless life. Only He lived in an impeccable relationship with God. Consequently,
only Jesus lived a true human life in the image and likeness of God. (see
Meditations 14 to 17)
I think that only if
the social sciences and its professionals could ‘produce’ Christlike, sinless
people, they would prove to be capable of solving man’s root problem of ‘sin’.
God tells us in His
Word that the solution for our ‘root problem’ consists of a restored
relationship with Him! To make that possible, God the Son came to earth to reconcile
us with God the Father through His death on the cross.
Yet, that is not the
end of the story. It is only the beginning! Our reconciliation with God leads us
into a new relationship with Him: a Father-Child relationship. The New
Testament writes more often about that new and powerful identity:
-- In his gospel, the
apostle John describes the start of this new relationship with God: “To all
who believed him (Jesus Christ) and accepted him, he gave the right [or: the
power] to become children of God. They are reborn! This is not a physical birth
resulting from human passion or plan-- this rebirth comes from God.” (John 1:12-13*)
-- Again, in his first
letter John makes it clear how to become a child of God: “Everyone who
believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God.” (1
John 5:1*)
-- Paul speaks about
God’s everlasting love for His people when he writes to the Christians in Rome:
“God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son,
so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters.” (Romans 8:29*)
-- The apostle Paul
writes to the followers of Jesus who lived in Galatia (former name for a region
in Turkey): “You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
(Galatians 3:26*)
-- The apostle Paul continues: “When the right time came, God sent
his Son (Jesus), born of a woman, subject to the Law (as a Jew). God sent him
to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the Law, so that he could adopt us as
his very own children.” (Galatians 4:4-5*)
In Paul’s letter to
the Christians in Ephesus (modern Turkey), he speaks about our reconciled
relationship with God and again uses the metaphor of ‘adoption’: “God’s unchanging
plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself
through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.” (Ephesians
1:5*)
As we just saw, to
become a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ, means that we need to be reborn
by God’s Spirit and adopted in God’s family.
About the necessity of
this rebirth by God’s Spirit, Jesus speaks to the Jewish rabbi Nicodemus: “‘I
assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God.’ ‘What
do you mean?’ exclaimed Nicodemus. ‘How can an old man go back into his
mother's womb and be born again?’
Jesus replied, ‘The
truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and
the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new
life from heaven. So don't be surprised at my statement that you must be born
again. Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or
where it is going, so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit.’” (John 3:3-8*)
The apostle Peter
addresses the followers of Jesus as being born again: “You have been born
again. Your new life did not come from your earthly parents because the life
they gave you will end in death. But this new life will last forever because it
comes from the eternal, living Word of God.” (1 Peter 1:23*)
From these texts it is
clear that rebirth is a precondition for victory over the power of sin. The
apostle John writes: “Loving God means keeping his commandments, and really,
that isn't difficult. For every child of God defeats this evil world by
trusting Christ to give the victory. And the ones who win this battle against
the world are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:3-5*)
We also read earlier that
rebirth is the work of God’s Spirit in our hearts. Therefore, it is clear that having
received God’s Spirit is another precondition for victory over the power of sin.
That will be the theme for the next meditation. So, hold on!
Translations: * New Living Translation; ** New International
Version
For more on ‘rebirth’ see Meditation 44.
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