No Longer a Slave to Sin
Sin is Stronger than Me
My critical and judgmental patterns scared me, as did my rage. My sins felt stronger than me, because they were. I tried with all my might to stop, to no avail. Being “on fire” for Jesus didn’t help. Serving in ministry kept me busy doing good but didn’t stop my thoughts of wanting to tell someone off for how they offended me. I didn’t know what to do. I concluded that if I could grow in righteousness, I might be able to control my sin. I was wrong. That was never going to happen. I cannot control my sin, and I can’t grow myself in righteousness. I needed to learn what was true about me in Christ.
A New Heart and a New Nature
When I accepted Jesus as my Savior, I invited Him to come into my heart and wash me clean. And He did. He came to live in my heart by the Holy Spirit. What I didn’t understand at the time was that the only way He could dwell within me as a holy God was to make me holy and righteous. A holy God must dwell in a holy place. He can’t dwell in something that is impure and grows incrementally in cleanliness and holiness. It has to be a perfectly eternally righteous and holy place.
A new nature and heart were promised by God through the prophet Ezekiel. “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19 ESV)” “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:24-26 ESV.)”
One with Christ
At my salvation, the Holy Spirit baptized me into Christ. It was a spiritual and relational act. The Holy Spirit united me with Jesus’s work on the cross and His resurrection. Some theologians call this unification a co-burial and co-resurrection.
Paul writes about it in Romans 6:3-7 ESV. “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.”
This unification with Jesus made me one with Him, and through my belief in Him and the Holy Spirit’s work, my sinful heart was exchanged for a new heart and a new nature that is given Jesus’s righteousness and holiness. This is not only a positional imputed righteousness and holiness, I was actually made righteous and holy in this new nature by the Holy Spirit. Scripture tells us this in Ephesians 4:24 ESV. “And to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” I did nothing to earn it and can do nothing to keep it or lose it. It was and is the work of God’s grace in me.
Obedience in Place of Sin
In learning about my new heart and new nature, as well as the holiness and righteousness that were mine in Christ, I recognized that I had lived my whole Christian life as if I were still a slave to sin. It wasn’t true. Jesus died and rose again to break the power of sin in me. I could live as a slave to righteousness. When I was tempted to sin, I could stop and remember that my new nature could obey. Christ in me could give grace and compassion instead of judgmental criticism. I could trust God with my fears and hurts instead of raging. Christ in me by the Holy Spirit could deal with my sin.
With this fresh understanding of the Holy Spirit’s work in me, I no longer identified myself by my sin or the sin done against me. My identity was my new nature in Christ. As I matured, I wanted to believe the words and live them. I wanted them to be cemented in my head and then be trusted in my heart. Living in this way began to release me from the stranglehold of sin, and freed me to love. All glory to God for His miraculous grace.
Romans 6:17-18 “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash