SIN AND THE NEW CREATION 1

Sin is an elevated or revered topic of discourse in the body of Christ today. I believe sin consciousness is an erroneous and unscriptural doctrine in most churches today. I’ll attribute this development to two critical factors:

·        Knowledge

·        Religion

A pastor friend of mine was recalling a conversion he once had with a Muslim in which he said the Muslim credited Islam as the “True religion”. This pastor friend of mine said “of course you’re right”.

There’s a world of difference between eternal life and religion. The margin is spectacularly wide. We often mistake or rather misunderstand the reason for the Gospel.

 However let’s take a closer look at the scriptures for insights.

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to him that believeth; to the Jews first and also to the Greek

Paul describes the Gospel of Christ as the revelation of the power of God unto salvation. In other words, it can be deduced further that the Gospel was God’s idea- The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, all was intentional- God’s idea playing out!

Paul clarifies this also in further letters to the Corinthians

1 Corinthians 2:4-5

And my speech and my preaching was not with the enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

4 That your faith should not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

The gospel which was committed unto the Apostle Paul according to Galatians 2:7 was not a physical gospel. It wasn’t a gospel that had any root or origin from a human point of view. The reason for the gospel was to demystify one person- The man Jesus Christ. This demystification was done to actualize the idea of God which is eternal life through His son Jesus Christ, given upon belief and confession of Jesus. This guarantees the believer a common identity with the Father and the household of God

Romans 10:8-10

But what saith it, the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, the word of faith, which we preach

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from dead, thou shalt be saved.

10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.

Ephesians 2:19

Now therefore ye are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God

The believer in Christ is NEVER in any portion of the New Covenant referred to in direct terms as a “sinner”, irrespective of his past, present or future. The scriptures however give a supportive alibi to the believer

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW creature: old things are passed away; behold ALL things have become NEW

Paul describes the man in Christ as new. The Greek word as used by Paul is the word “Kainos” which in direct term connotes “Unused or unworn” it is also used to refer to recently made objects of value. A Critical study of the preceding verse will give us a deeper insight into the definition of the man in Christ.

Culled from:  " Now are we"- The eBook by Agagwu Tochukwu

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